Wrapping Up an Era, Strayer 13

8/11/2014

So process your brain through this: you have this Strayer test, then a two week break from Strayer tests and a holiday to do the work for Strayer 14. Then an easy peasy final, end then 16 off days to tackle Strayer 15. So buck up, get mean, and make this test and Strayer 14 (not curved) your breakthrough moments. Don't let yourself look back on this time and effort with regrets, make damn sure you look back with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Now get this stuff posted!

30 Comments

Bingham

8/11/2014 04:14:05

How does this chapter distinguish among the various kinds of societies that comprised the world of the fifteenth century? What other ways of categorizing the world’s peoples might work as well or better?
Okay, so in this chapter, Stayer organizes societies in two ways. First, he organizes them into Paleolithic peoples, agricultural village societies, herding peoples, and established civilizations and empires. He then organizes those civilizations by region.

This is the easiest BPQ ever. He could have done it in some other ways: he could have organized by cultural region—Chinese, Indian, Islamic, Mesoamerican, and Christian. Another option would have been organization through webs of connections, starting with a single society and radiating out to an exploration of its nearer and more distant contacts. Which is a very cool way to reorganize this chapter/information as a study technique. Try that mind mappers!

James O.

8/11/2014 10:00:30

Hey guys! Really liking the layout and organization of this chapter! It feels so much easier to tackle (or maybe I am getting better at this :D)
I really have to give strayer credit for what he has been building up to all these chapters. He is tying things together in this chapter so nicely (especially in the section over europe) as he describes the circumstances that lead to changes that sound familiar to us today! Really cool chapter! I have a really good feeling about this one!

James O.

8/11/2014 10:03:18

Also Bingham! I was having some confusion answering the MQ: What changes affected the West African Village societies? (I understand the answers to the Iroquois section of the question)

Bingham

8/11/2014 11:57:12

Glad to help on the weekend...

In West Africa, three distinct patterns of political development were showing up among agricultural village societies, with the Yoruba people creating city-states; the kingdom of Benin taking shape as a small, highly centralized territorial state; and the Igbo peoples relying on other institutions—title societies, women’s associations, hereditary ritual experts serving as mediators, a balance of power among kinship groups—to maintain social cohesion beyond the level of the village.

Also, the Yoruba, Bini, and Igbo peoples traded actively among themselves as well as with more distant peoples and changed from a matrilineal to a patrilineal system of tracing their descent. (too bad, right?)

And you said you had part for this, so anyway...
In the Americas, in what is now central New York State, an increased level of conflict among Iroquois peoples triggered a remarkable political innovation—a loose alliance or confederation among five Iroquois peoples based on an agreement known as the Great Law of Peace. The Iroquois League of Five Nations kept peace, adjudicated disputes, and operated by consensus. It also gave expression to values of limited government, social equality, and personal freedom. (You'll be all over this next year with Diaz.)

The Iroquois developed a system that gave women unusual authority. Descent was matrilineal, married couples lived with the wife’s family, and women controlled agriculture. While men were hunters, warriors, and the primary political officeholders, women selected and could depose (push out) those leaders. Huh girls, that whole, "women get more freedoms....for a while" thing. But in this case, the limitation of women's rights came from outsiders, not the Iroquois people. Who? Why those European white men of course!

Isabella Jarosz

8/11/2014 14:21:31

MQ3: What role did Central Asian and West African pastoralists play in their respective regions?
If you were to make an assertion with this MQ, you could say that the pastoralists of Central Asian affected their region politically, whereas the West African pastoralists affected their region culturally.
Central Asian:
-Timur/Tamerlane, in the attempt to restore the Mongol Empire, caused destruction in Russia, Persia, and India
-his descendants never achieved this level of military success, however, they retained control of the area between Persia and Afghanistan for the rest of the fifteenth century
-last great military success of nomadic people from Central Asia
-eventually swallowed up by the expanding empires of Russia/China
West Africa:
-Fulbe generally lived in small communities among agricultural people, in which they were required to pay taxes to live pastorally. They generally disliked the agricultural people because they believe their way of living was wrong, creating a strong cultural superiority
-their gradual expansion eastward allowed them to adopt Islam, and this prior sense of superiority grew once this adoption of religion came to be
-some dropped out of pastoral live to become religious leaders
-Fulbe became a center of a wave of religiously based upbringings- greatly expanding Islam, and giving rise to a series of new religious states governed by them

Isabella Jarosz

8/11/2014 14:23:03

Or, I guess if I were to make the assertion respond directly to the question, you could say the Central Asian pastoralists had a political role, whereas the West African pastoralists played a more cultural role.

Bingham

9/11/2014 02:01:02

I really like that you're thinking about these questions in multiple ways Isabella. That will or is leading you to deeper understanding.
So the qualifier is broad, "role", this word and similar ones like "encounters" or "connections" leave you with wide latitude in how to answer, it isn't limiting as with words like "influence" or "impact" or "reactions". Consider this too, if you saw this on the AP exam, you'd default to the Mongols and the Bantu people because they're even more important to the big story. (By the way, the link between the Fulbe and Bantu people is a bit obscure, but because their language is one of the West African Bantu languages, there must be some link.) But this is a MQ for THIS chapter, so you were right to start thinking in SPICE themes, and sort of reorganize what you got from Strayer on Tamerlane and the Fulbe. Here's how I approached it. Notice there is more than one way to skin a cat (something I do frequently, but don't tell). I've emphasized certain things differently, but we're both "right".

In Central Asia, the Turkic warlord Tamerlane (this is the name we used when I was in high school) constructed a “significant” empire that retained control of the area between Persia and Afghanistan during the fifteenth century. Ironicly perhaps, Timur’s conquests, had a more long-term change for the pastoral peoples of Central Asia, because his was the last great military success of nomadic peoples from Central Asia; in the centuries that followed, their homelands were swallowed up in the expanding Russian and Chinese empires.

In West Africa, pastoral peoples retained their independence into the late nineteenth century. Groups like the Fulbe, West Africa’s largest pastoral society, generally lived in small communities among agricultural peoples.
As the Fulbe migrated gradually eastward after 1000 C.E., they maintained their distinctive way of life and a sense of cultural superiority that became more pronounced as they slowly adopted Islam.

Some Fulbe dropped out of a pastoral life and settled in towns, where they became highly respected religious leaders. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Fulbe were at the center of a wave of religiously based uprisings (jihads) that greatly expanded the practice of Islam and gave rise to (established) a series of new states ruled by the Fulbe.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 03:37:53

So as I was reading this chapter I saw the "preview of coming attractions: looking ahead to the modern era" section. I know everything in the chapter is fair game, but is it safe to assume that no test questions will really come out of this section?

Bingham

9/11/2014 04:36:46

I don't think it's safe to make that assumption.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 04:19:07

MQ 1: In what ways did the gathering and hunting people of Australia differ from those of the northwest coast of North America?

The northwest coast of North America was a "complex"/ "affluent" gathering and hunting society while Australia was not. Therefore Australia lacked elements that N. America had: permanent village settlements with permanent homes, economic specialization, ranked societies, chiefdoms with dominant leaders, storage of food.

With this section (paleolithic persistence), Strayer talks for a long time about things Australia did (assimilated outside objects/ideas, mastered & manipulated thier environment, exchanged goods, created mythologies, practiced art). Strayer does not directly compare any of these elements with N. America. Should I infer that all of these things did occur in N. America as well since they were complex? Also am I missing anything with my answer?

Isabella Jarosz

9/11/2014 04:51:20

I had difficulty with this as well. I think you can assume that if Strayer does not assert that there is a difference, then there is no difference (i.e. the mastered/manipulated their environment, exchanging of goods- especially considering these are things that generally characterize hunter-gatherer societies). Your top answer looks good to me.

Bingham

9/11/2014 05:29:20

Yeah Allie, you're good. If this was Facebook, I'd have to say, "your good".

Bingham

9/11/2014 04:44:41

Let me show you the categorical/unit of analysis approach, and notice the relationship with the details in my answer. I (and you) begin by brain storming/word vomiting details. Then look for characteristics of the details that they have in common with other details. It is EXACTLY the same mental process of sorting documents into groups.

In what ways did European maritime voyaging in the fifteenth century differ from that of China? What accounts for these differences?

1. SIZE OF FLEETS: Chinese exploration was undertaken by an enormous fleet composed of several hundred large ships, while European explorations were undertaken by expeditions made up of a handful of small ships.
2. MOTIVATIONS: European motivations for exploration included the desire for wealth from trade, the search for converts to Christianity, and the recruitment of possible Christian allies against the Muslim powers. China, by contrast, needed no military allies, required little in the way of trade, and had no desire to convert foreigners to Chinese culture or religion.
3. USE OF FORCE: The Europeans sought to monopolize by force the commerce of the Indian Ocean and violently carved out empires in the Americas; the Chinese fleet sought neither conquests nor colonies.
4. DURATION: China ended its voyages abruptly after 1433; the European explorations continued and even escalated.
5. UNITY/DISUNITY: In terms of why China’s explorations were so different from their European counterparts, the fragmentation of political authority in Europe, unlike China’s unified empire, ensured that once begun, rivalry alone would drive Europeans to the ends of the earth.
6. ELITES INTERESTS: Much of Europe’s elite, including merchants, monarchs, the clergy, and nobles, had an interest in overseas expansion; in China, by contrast, the emperor Yongle was the primary supporter of the Chinese voyages of exploration, and after he passed from the scene, those opposed to the voyages prevailed within the politics of the court.
7. SELF IMAGE: The Chinese were very much aware of their own antiquity, believed strongly in the absolute superiority of their culture, and felt that, should they need something from abroad, others would bring it to them. The Europeans also believed themselves unique; however, in material terms, they were seeking out the greater riches of the East, and they were highly conscious that Muslim power blocked easy access to these treasures and posed a military and religious threat to Europe itself.

Isabella Jarosz

9/11/2014 05:01:37

MQ4: How would you define the major achievements of Ming Dynasty China?
I noticed that a lot of this particular answer is cause and effect that encompasses multiple areas of Chinese life. A political achievement may cause further achievement in the social aspect of Chinese life, and an economic achievement may cause achievements in political and environmental aspects of Chinese life.
SOCIAL:
-population grew as a result of the economic boom after the state's efforts to reinvent China
POLITICAL:
-reestablished civil service examination system that had been neglected under Mongol rule, creating a highly centralized government where the power lay in the hands of the emperor and his cadre of eunuchs
-state acted vigorously to repair the damage caused by the Mongol's reign, as described in the interaction-environment section
-Zheng He's expeditions served to establish Chinese power and prestige in the Indian Ocean and exert Chinese control over foreign trade in the region
INTERACTION-ENVIRONMENT:
-state acted vigorously (for reason described in Political) by restoring millions of acres for cultivation, rebuilding canals/reservoirs/irrigation works, planting (in some accounts) a billion trees in an effort to reforest China
CULTURAL:
-attempt to eliminate all signs of Mongol influence, so they looked to the past
+promoted Confucian learning from the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties
+Emperor Yongle sponsored an enormous encyclopedia of 100+ volumes in order to summarize/compile previous Chinese writing on history, geography, ethics, government, and more
-Zheng He erected a tablet honoring the Buddha, Allah, and a Hindu deity on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), spreading Chinese cultural beliefs in foreign lands
ECONOMIC:
-economy rebounded as a result of the efforts by the state to reinvent China
+domestic/international trade flourished
-undertook the largest and most impressive maritime expeditions the world had ever seen
+an enormous fleet was launched by Yongle, and six more were launched in the 28 years that followed

Bingham

9/11/2014 05:26:48

Really solid answer.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 05:36:23

Strayer when he is talking about Timur says that his army in comparison to Chinggis Khan "brought immense devastation yet again to Russia, Persia, and India." In the last chapter Strayer did not really talk about the Mongols' effect on India. I thought I remember Mr. Bingham saying that Mongols couldn't take over India. Did they still have devastating effects?

Bingham

9/11/2014 05:45:27

Yes, in one of the campaigns, Chinggis had the idea of returning from the west via India and return to the steppes through southern China. So he invaded through the Kyber Pass, as so many have done, including Alexander. But he found the humid climate was not to his liking. Many of his men and horses got sick, the rosins in their bows began to warp, and there wasn't enough grassland to support all those horses. So he turned around, after the usual pillaging, and returned to Mongolia by the usual route.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 07:11:37

I'm having a hard time with BPQ #1: Assume for the moment that the Chinese had not ended their maritime voyages in 1433. How might the subsequent development of world history have been different? Is there value in asking this kind of "what if" or counterfactual question? Or is it an irrelevant waste of time?

I'm mostly struggling with the value of asking this "what if" question. I know that their is an argument for asking "what if" questions since we do this a lot (especially with the extra credit debates), but I'm struggling to put it into words.

Bingham

9/11/2014 09:04:45

Well then I'll leave the first part to you. Here's my thoughts about the value of counterfactual questions.
The usefulness of counterfactual questions is debatable. They do allow one both to highlight the role of contingency in the course of human history and to highlight the difficulty of predicting the future because of contingency. Also, counterfactual questions go beyond mere speculation, because they encourage historians (and budding historians) to think of what was possible in light of known historical facts. Thus a good “what if” question can help scholars think their way into historical reality and to hone their analytical skills. Still, no one can fully predict what the consequences of a change in events would have been, and in any case, the reality of the situation as it happened is the subject of history.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 08:43:24

MQ 5: What political & cultural differences stand out in the histories of 15th century China & Western Europe? What similarities are apparent?

- Sim: Both Europe & China continued earlier patterns of state building
- Diff: However, China created a centralized govt. that was widely encompassing of the culture. In Europe competing, independent states emerged.
- Diff: State-building was mostly driven by the needs of war. Nothing like this disturbed/ drove state-building
- Sim: Both experienced cultural blossoming
- Diff: In Europe art was influenced by the distant past (Ancient Greece). While Chinese art was a return to recent past (pre-Mongol)

Isabella Jarosz

9/11/2014 09:47:08

I would also add that for both, the infrastructure of civilization proved a durable foundation for demographic and economic revival. Or is this just a broad "assertion" of sorts for the similarities listed later?

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 09:53:29

MQ 7: What differences can you identify among the four major empires of the Islamic world of the 15th & 16th centuries?

1. Mughal Empire & Songhay Empire both governed largely non-Muslims. Ottoman & Safavid empires mostly governed Muslims
2. Both the Ottoman & Mughal empires continued interactions/encounters with other religions, Christianity & Hinduism respectively.
3. Mughal, Ottoman, and Safavid empires were all founded by Turks while Songhay was not.
4. The Safavid Empire was the only empire to forcibly impose Islam on subjects with the other empires allowing for some form of religious tolerance.
5. The Safavid Empire was the only empire that practiced the Shia form of Islam with the other 3 were comprised of Sunni Muslims.

What do you guys think? I'm not sure about my 2nd point...

Bethany

10/11/2014 09:40:54

Wasn't the Safavid empire founded by a Sufi religious order?

Allie Elkhadem

10/11/2014 12:37:03

It was founded by a Sufi religious order, but it imposed Shia Islam on its followers.

Would the fact that they were founded by Sufis be the basis for another comparison? Or would that just be a weak comparison?

Bethany

12/11/2014 13:58:11

I only mentioned that so that you could incorporate it into your third point, I don't think you have to make a whole new comparison.

Bingham

9/11/2014 09:54:56

No, include that Isabella, it's an important point.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 11:10:13

Here's my mindmap for this chapter!

https://cacoo.com/diagrams/TvwZgKhi2jrHkTqs

https://cacoo.com/diagrams/TvwZgKhi2jrHkTqs-C19F3.png

Bingham

9/11/2014 22:45:12

These are really great Allie! Stick with it.

Allie Elkhadem

9/11/2014 11:23:39

MQ 11: In what different ways did the peoples of the 15th century interact with each other?

- Empires brought together culturally different people.
1. Incan empire tried to integrate diverse peoples
2. Ottoman empire: Christians & Muslims interacted
3. Mughal Empire: Hindus & Muslims interacted
- Religion linked and divided people
1. Buddhism linked China, Korea, Tibet, Japan, & some Southeast Asia
2. Christianity linked European peoples. Division between EOC & RC persisted
3. Islam connected peoples & encouraged an Islamic identity and not regional ones. Hajj brought peoples together. Sharp division between Shia & Sunni
-Established networks of trade both domestic and long-distance
1. Trade connected people around Indian Ocean basin
2. Trans-Saharan trade connected west Africa w/ North Africa
3. American web of trade persisted with Inca & Aztec empires major players

Is this how you would structure a question with like a major point and supporting details?

Jackson Wagner

12/11/2014 13:15:28

I thought MQ#11 was perfect for Spice Themes division. Its neatly divided into Religion, Trade and Politics.
Assertion:A variety of political systems brought together a variety of culturally different people
Evidence: Ottoman empire acquired land with a large christian population leading to interaction between them. The Mughal empire made attempts to accommodate they're largely Hindu population which led to more interaction between Hindu's and Muslims.
Assertion: Religion linked people separated by great distances
Evidence: Christianity linked peoples from England to Russia, although the great divide between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy endured
Assertion: Long established trade routes allowed people to share goods from different environments despite long distances.
Evidence: Southern Nigeria acquired horses from drier northern regions. Hunting societies in Siberia exchanged furs and other forest products through the Silk Road.

Wrapping Up an Era, Strayer 13

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