Isolation and Expansion

1. Isolation and Expansion CIVILIZATION VS. GEOGRAPHY 700-1000 AD Expanding civilizations move to new regions seeking new resources

2. Africa • Geography and barriers • Sahara • Ocean • High ground with steep rivers • Only 5-6 major basins • Half rivers never reach coast • Dense forest • Malarial mosquitoes • Spread and exchange of cultures took centuries longer than Europe

4. African Exceptions • Ethiopia • Contact via sea trade • Monsoon winds • West Africa • Jenne – Jeno • C. 300 BC • Flood plain of Niger river • Crossroads of trade • North to South • Slaves • Salt • Copper • Gold

7. African Exceptions cont. • Ghana and Gao • C. 1000 AD • Sacred kings • Rich middlemen of trade • Lack of contact between E and W along Sahel reason Africa does not mirror Asia/Europe

9. America and Geography • Lack of N-S corridor kept Americas from mirroring Eurasia • No known contact between South America and Mesoamerica

11. The Maya • 3 contrasting environments • Volcanic highlands (Guatemala) • Limestone plateau (Yucatan) • Caribbean coast (Mexico) • Rulers 3 responsibilities (similar in all North American civilizations) • War • Communicate with Gods • Building ceremonial centers

13. Maya cont. • Mayan City-states • Too equally matched for imperialism • Constant warfare • Terror • Sacrifice • Centered around ceremonial building • Markets • Temples • Human Sacrifices

15. Maya cont. • Unique writing system • Astronomical observation • Genealogies of Kings • Mayan Civilization declines c. 1000 AD • Environment changes • Droughts and storms • El Nino currents

16. Mayan Calendar

17. North American Civilization • Civilization expands along Ohio & Mississippi river valleys • Maize Culture • Maize and beans move to central plains • New crops allow spread of people • Allowed large scale building • Mound building in Mississippi • Adobe cliffs in South West

18. Areas of Mound-Builder Influence

19. Maize

20. Islam and the Environment • Imp expansion slows in late 700s • Ecological exp. increases • New foods gathered and moved • Medicinal Plants • Examples • Coffee • Cotton • Sugar • New technology • Clearing forests • Fertilizer • Increases amount of arable land

22. Coffee Plant

23. Cotton Plant

24. Sugarcane Plant

25. Clearing Forests

26. Frontier Expansion in Japan • Drive to increase food production • Gov sponsored • Slow development of marginal land farming • Adopt barley to replace millet as secondary crop • Open new lands to agriculture by displacing “barbarians” • Ainu people • Developed fortified farming settlements

28. Ainu Peoples

29. India and Environmental Expansion • Gupta empire collapse 500 AD • Replaced by many rival kingdoms • Small kingdoms sent priests and warriors to clear/cultivate uninhabited “wasteland” • Forests • Swamps • Generated revenue by taxes these new lands

31. Tang China and Environmental Expansion • Improved canal system and irrigation • Land reform • Break large holdings among smaller holders • New rice strains from Vietnam • Moved southward • Away from steppes • Take land from southern “barbarians” • Exterminated • Assimilated • Marginalized • China’s southern movement led to conflict with coastal trading powers

34. New Agrarian States 700-1000 AD • Chenila (Cambodia) • Khmer (lower MeKong) • Viet • Cham • Java • Sumatra

36. Expanding Christendom • Conquest rather than new crops • Ireland & Scotland (monks) • Saxons (Boniface) 719 • Charlemagne • Carolus Magnus • Traveled to Italy 774 -> collected books, etc. • Proclaimed self successor of Rome • Conquered in name of a new “Roman” empire • First “Roman” expansion since Trajan • Charlemagne’s satellites (Christian states) • Slav states in Bohemia • Bulgars in modern Bulgaria

37. Carolingian Empire

38. Charlemagne

39. 700-1000 AD • Overall, a time of new environmental expansion and conquest • New crops • New farming strategies • Military expansion • Agriculture expanded into marginal areas • All to deal with population increase