Strayer 7 Classical Elsewhere

11/8/2012

Lot's of detail here as Strayer crams a lot into one chapter. These societies won't be as familiar to you. I think T charts, bullet lists and/or flash cards will be especially useful here.

31 Comments

Bingham

11/8/2012 12:50:30 am

Allow me to answer a big picture question for you! I like this one best: "What generated change in the histories of Africa and the Americas during the classical era?"

In Africa, forces of change included the migration of the Bantu peoples into Africa south of the equator, the emergence of Niger Valley urban centers, and the rise and fall of both Axum and Meroë.

Contact with the trade networks of Eurasia also generated change in Africa. Through contact along these networks, Christianity came to northeastern Africa, including Axum. Axum derived its written script from South Arabia.

The Bantu-speaking peoples adopted new crops, including
coconuts, sugarcane, and especially bananas, which Indonesian sailors and immigrants brought to East Africa early in the first millennium C.E.

In the Americas, the emergence of the Maya and Teotihuacán civilizations pushed Mesoamerican civilization toward greater complexity.

The Chavín religious cult provided for the first time and for several centuries some economic and cultural integration to most of the Peruvian Andes.

The spread of maize into North America made it possible for the Ancestral Pueblo society to take shape and allowed Cahokia to achieve a higher degree of sophistication than did the mound-building societies that preceded it.

Victoria Wren

11/10/2012 12:07:33 am

Uh-oh...you like this one, it MAYBE on the test (sarcasm) XD
Thanks Mr. B!

AriAnna Swaab

11/10/2012 12:06:02 am

How did the history of Meroë and Axum reflect interaction with neighboring civilizations? 1st margin question and my first post

Meroë (southern most city of Nubian civilization)

- Had constant interaction with Eurasian civilizations because of geographic location
- Meroë was influenced by Persian Empire, seen politically by how Meroë honored their all powerful and sacred monarchs, also a canal was dug that linked the Nile with the Red Sea
- Extensive long-distance trading connections, to the north via the Nile and to the east and west by means of camel caravans, gave Meroë wealth and military power
- Meroë access to iron weapons, cotton cloth, gold, ivory, tortoiseshell, and ostrich feathers gave the city a reputation for great riches in northeastern Africa and the Mediterranean
- There was a discovery of a statue of the Roman emperor Augustus, probably from a raid of their empire, that proves contact with the Mediterranean
- The conquest in 340s C.E. by Axum, the fact that the separate states emerged, Coptic (Egyptian) Christianity came to the Nubian states, and they stated using Greek, and they began constructing churches in Coptic or Byzantine fashion all show interaction with neighboring countries
- Later on because of Arab immigration Islam was introduced to Meroë

Axum (located in the Horn of Africa or what is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, also interior capital city)

- A substantial state emerged by 50 C.E., stimulated by the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean trade (port of Adulis)
- Axum honored royalty, like Persian Empires did
- Also to the Romans they felt that Axum was following their empire along the Persian Empire
- Though its connections to Red Sea trade and the Roman world,
mostly Egypt, Axum was introduced to Christianity, linking Axum
religiously to Egypt, Axum had a Coptic (Egyptian) style church
- Axum mounted a campaign of imperial expansion
- Islam emerged in Axum (which altered trade routes and diminished
the revenue available to the state)
- Axum took Christianity to present-day Ethiopia

For both Meroë and Axum
-Their long-distance trade, urban centers, centralized states, complex societies, monumental architecture, written languages, and imperial ambition reflected the major features of Eurasia, on a small scale
-Also they were both in direct contact with the world of Mediterranean civilizations

Bingham

11/10/2012 12:48:09 am

Um, wow.

Bingham

11/10/2012 01:13:46 am

Don't be foolish and slack on this process, we could be talking about a serious shanking!

I'll take what I think is a tricky: "With what Eurasian civilizations might the Maya be compared?"

Simple version: Because of its fragmented political structure, classical Maya civilization more closely resembled the competing city-states of Mesopotamia or classical Greece than the imperial structures of Rome, Persia, or China.

On another level, I'm reminded of the Greek city states, a seeming emphasis on intellectual life and a mastery of the natural world. Who knows what great traditions might have been passed down if not for their fall before the encounter with the "old world"? Also, this brings to mind Jenne-jeno and the Indus river civilization of the previous era. I get sort of wistful about the idea of advanced culture without the testosterone of empires and states, and all the human suffering that comes with them. Anyway, this may be a topic for class.

I'm off the the Ren Fest; Barbarian Invasion! (I've already re-read the chapter, so yeah, I can!)

Victoria Wren

12/13/2015 07:44:25 pm

HAHA GROSS

Steffannie Alter

11/10/2012 03:44:09 am

I'd like to go ahead and attempt a margin review question, if that's okay:

In what ways did the arrival of the Bantu-speaking people stimulate cross-cultural interaction?

The biggest cross cultural-interaction was between the agricultural Bantus and the hunting/gathering people of Africa. The Bantu-speaking people had the advantage in numbers, disease, and iron-work, and with the exception of some groups of hunter/gatherers like the San, most were displaced, absorbed, or eliminated. The Bantu language, however, retained the distinctive "clicks" borrowed from the hunter/gatherers.
The Bantu-speaking people also interacted with the Batwa, forest specialists, who traded with the Bantus for their agricultural products. The Batwa adopted Bantu languages but maintained a non-agricultural lifestyle and a separate identity. The Bantu recognized the Batwa as first-comers to the region, so Bantu chiefs appropriated the Batwa title of "owners of the land," claimed Batwa ancestry, and portrayed the Batwa as the original civilizers of the earth.
Bantu farmers also adopted grains and domestic animals from the people of the region. They acquired coconuts, sugarcane, and bananas from Southeast Asia. The Bantu then diffused their methods of agriculture and iron-working technology as well as their cultural and social practices.

Bingham

11/10/2012 10:32:31 am

Excellent answer! I just want to make sure that everyone understands that Bantu is a language family, not a single language. Kind of like Romance languages.
These languages are spoken after the migrations in Central, eastern and southern Africa to this day.

AriAnna Swaab

11/11/2012 02:48:19 am

How does the experience of the Niger valley challenge conventional notions of “civilizations”? I’m attempting the 2nd margin question

-Among the distinctive features of the Niger Valley cities was the apparent absence of a corresponding state structure; Niger urban centers were not encompassed within some larger imperial state (unlike Egypt, China, and etc.)
-They had cities without citadels (a fortress that commands a city), complex urban centers that operated without coercive authority of state
-The urban centers resemble the early cities of the Indus Valley civilizations, compared to other more ‘modern’ or Eurasian civilizations
- The cities of the region emerged as clusters of economically specialized settlements surrounding a large central town (considered hierarchical), the urban artisan communities became occupational castes (in a way like jati in China), and the middle of the cities represented an African alternative to an oppressive state
- A series of direct and specialized economic groups shared authority and voluntarily used the service of one another, while maintaining their separate identity though physical separation (a unique way of urbanization)
- A network of West African commerce stimulated the middle Niger cities

Thor

11/14/2012 09:42:07 am

I'm pretty sure that jati was in India, not China

Liz

10/17/2013 03:23:03 pm

That's true, I would know!!!

Victoria Wren

11/11/2012 05:11:19 am

-In what ways did the arrival of Bantu-speaking peoples stimulate cross-cultural interaction?

•The Bantu-speaking peoples brought agriculture to sub-Saharan Africa
•They brought parasitic and infectious diseases, to which the gathering and hunting peoples had little immunity.
•They also brought iron.
•Bantu farmers in East Africa increasingly adopted grains as well as domesticated sheep and cattle from the already-established people of the region.
•They also acquired a variety of food crops from Southeast Asia, especially bananas, which were brought to East Africa by Indonesian sailors and immigrants early in the first millennium C.E.

Patrick S.

11/14/2012 06:18:32 am

So i'm not 100% sure but i found that foraging Batwa(Pygmy) people because forest specialists that produced honey, wild game, elephant products, animal skins, and medicinal barks and plants, all of which entered regional trading networks in exchange for agricultural products of their Bantu neighbors. They also adopted Bantu languages"

Victoria Wren

11/11/2012 05:19:26 am

In what ways did Teotihuacán shape the history of Mesoamerica?
•It had a core region of 10.000 square miles that was administered directly from the city
•Influence of armies spread further
•Had diplomatic connections with other areas
•Trade
•They imitated the architectural and artistic styles of the city

Victoria Wren

11/11/2012 05:24:46 am

What kind of influence did Chavín exert in the Andes region?

•Enjoyed a strategic location, high in the Andes and situated on trade routes
•Religion beliefs drew on ideas from both the desert coastal region and the rain forest
•Shamans made use of the San Pedro cactus and its hallucinogenic properties
•Became a pilgrimage site

Jordan Janis

11/11/2012 06:07:33 am

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, Chavin-style architecture, sculptures, pottery, religious images, and painted textiles were being widely imitated in the Andes region.

Amanda Friefeld

11/12/2012 11:32:55 am

Things are emptier around here than usual... too bad ANYWAY..
What supports scholars' conention that Moche represented a regional civilizaton in the Andes?

so to start out i wasnt quite sure if there was a specific definiton for a regional civilization. if there is please share. But without one i found:
They had a complex irrigation system that fed their feilds of maize (corn in case you were too lazy to look it up), beans, and squash.
The civilization was governed by warrior- priest rulers who would take hallucionogenic drugs to connect with the gods.
There was constant ritual sacrifice going on, most of the poeple being prisoners.
Always a bunch of war going on, tons of rituals, and diplomacy.
This civilization was very wealthy and this reflects upon the elaborate burial monuments of past rulers.
The awesomeness of their artisians show a lot about the culture of the time because they didnt have a established form of writing.
Eventually this civilization dissapeared but scholers confer it was the fragile enviroment with earthquakes, floods, and droughts killed them off.

Bingham

11/14/2012 12:14:03 am

Not much action this week, huh? Fine. Allow me to mention however, that as with the GrecoRoman vs. Americas chart on slavery, the population chart in seven is important. (Important as defined by your behavior - it's for a grade)

Steffannie Alter

11/14/2012 06:45:56 am

Okay, I was reading the population chart and just writing down some of the trends and points in it, so I thought it couldn't hurt to go ahead and post those observations since I tend to think about it more when I do that, and hopefully it's at least a little helpful to other people as well.

Continental Population In The Classical Era:
- World population rose until 600 C.E., when it feel, and then continued rising through 1000 C.E.
-The world population fall did not occur in Central/South America.
-Continents from largest area to smallest: Eurasia, Africa, North America, Central/South America, Australia/Oceania.
- Countries from greatest to least population is mostly in the same order as size by area, but North America and Central/South America (3rd and 4th in physical size respectively) trade places.
-The highest world population shown was in 200 C.E.
-Australia/Oceania and North America had the least change over time- (Both had 1% or less).
-Eurasia had the most change in population.
-Eurasia always had around 3/4 of the world's population.

There's probably an obvious answer to this that I'm missing, but for Bingham or someone else more observant than I, what caused the world population to be so much lower in 600 C.E.?

Steffannie Alter

11/14/2012 06:47:59 am

The first point in the list should read "fell," not "feel." Sorry about that.

Bingham

11/14/2012 07:01:43 am

Yes, I think I can help with your query. Turns out, when that classical era ended and all those empires fell, all the cool stuff they did went away. Agriculture was less organized, water systems stopped working, and people became just generally poorer, in an absolute sense. So, population declined and stayed pretty low (relatively) for centuries. We'll look at this more later, but like Sandy, this is a reminder that governments actually do have a purpose, even if they get evil at times.

Steffannie Alter

11/14/2012 07:44:18 am

Okay, the lack of comments here, combined with Bingham's warning about the possible deadliness of the upcoming test, has had me rather worried, so I just went through the chapter again and typed out what I felt was the main information given on each civilization. I recognize it might seem kind of redundant, but reducing the majority of the chapter's content to these more simplified lists helped reinforce the knowledge for me, so I thought it couldn't hurt to post that here.

Meroe:
-All-powerful and sacred monarch, sometimes a woman.
-Human sacrifice
-Variety of economic specialties
-Made iron tools and weapons
-Rainfall-based agriculture (didn’t need to congregate around the Nile and weren’t as controlled by the capital).
-Participated in long-distance trade through the Nile and camel caravans
-Reputation for great riches
-Moved away from Egyptian influence
-Declined because of deforestation due to iron-work.
-Overtaken by Axum
-After it fell, the region became Christian and then later Islamic.
-Continuation of an old civilization

Axum:
-Emergence of a new civilization
-Agricultural- used the plow, unlike the rest of Africa- grew lots of grain
- Traded through the Red Sea and Indian Ocean
-Largest port was Adulis
-Taxed their trade.
-Center of monumental building and the arts
-Huge stone obelisks
-Language was called “Geez”
-Loose administrative structure that focused on the collection of tribute payments.
-Introduced to Christianity through trade, linking it religiously to Egypt
-Mounted a campaign for imperial expansion
-Declined due to environmental changes and the rise of Islam, which altered trade routes

Niger Valley:
-People came to Niger in search of access to water
-Domesticated animals
-Agricultural
-Iron-working
- City-based civilization
-No state structure or imperial power
-No widespread warfare or inequalities
-Jenne-jeno
- Economically specialized settlements which created occupational castes
-Specialized groups shared authority but maintained separate identities
-Scarce resources led to trade
-Large-scale empires and Islam penetrated the area

Bantu-Speaking People:
-400 similar languages
-Eastern and Southern Africa
-Slow movement of people a few families at a time
-Gave the region cultural and linguistic commonality
-Bantu-speaking people were agricultural- they displaced the hunter/gatherers
-Had the advantage in numbers, disease, and iron
-Adopted “clicks” from hunter/gatherers
-Encountered the Batwa, “forest specialists,” with whom they traded.
-Batwa adopted Bantu languages but didn’t become agricultural and maintained a separate identity
-Bantu thought of Batwa as the owners of the land, claimed Batwa ancestry, and portrayed the Batwa as the original civilizers of the earth.
-Adopted grains and domesticated animals from people in the region
-Acquired coconuts, sugarcane, and bananas
-Bantu spread their agricultural and ironworking knowledge around southern Africa
-Bantu social and cultural practices diffused
-Political systems ranged from no political specialists to substantial kingdoms
-Focused on ancestral or nature spirits; believed in witches and charms
-Believed in continuous revelation and had no desire to spread

Maya:
-Advanced math and astronomy
-Most elaborate writing in the Americas
-Engineered landscape
-Elite class and specialized artisans
-Fragmented political system- no central authority
-Resembled competing city-states of classical Greece
-Collapsed due to ecological and political factors
-Art showed rulers and individuals

Teotihuacan:
-Valley of Mexico
-Built to a plan
-largest urban complex in Americas at the time
-lots of buildings and roads
-Human sacrifice
-Grid-like streets
-residential apartments for commoners
-Had specialists for different jobs
-Elaborate art
-Few images of rulers or individuals
-Limited form of writing
-tribute was exacted from other areas
-Had a presence in Maya heartland
-Interacted with others both militarily and diplomatically
-Long-distance trade
-Influenced later architecture and art in Mesoamerica

Chavin:
-Buildings in a U-shape
-Situated on trade routes
-Clear distinction of social classes
-Elaborate temple
-Deities took the form of native animals, which was shown through its art
-Used cactus to hallucinate
-Its architecture, art, and religion were imitated
-Became a pilgrimage site and training center
-Created a religious cult instead of an empire

Moche:
-Complex irrigation system
-governed by warrior-priests
-Ancient rituals and human sacrifice
-War, ritual, and diplomacy
-Elaborate burials of rulers
-Skilled craftspeople
-Fragile environmental foundations that made it vulnerable to aggressiveness and internal conflict, leading to its downfall.

Ancestral Pueblo:
-Southwest of North America
-Pit houses; floors below ground level
-Kivas= larger pit structures for ceremonies
-Linked to one another in local, sometimes wide-scale, trade
-Growing dependence on agriculture

Elizabeth Martinsen

11/14/2012 08:00:17 am

Steffannie, I don't think this is detailed enough. ;)

Bingham

11/14/2012 11:55:39 am

Unbelievably awesome Stephanie! Besides the test, this will be hugely useful in April when we are reviewing fir the big exam. Great work! Thank you so much for sharing this.

Steffannie Alter

11/14/2012 07:48:27 am

Mound-Builders got cut off, so here's that one:

Mound-Builders:
-Independent Agricultural Revolution
-Supplemented diets through hunting/gathering
-Large earthen mounds
-Hopewell culture/ Hopewell interaction sphere
-Elaborate burial rituals that also showed astronomical knowledge
-Corn-based agriculture
--Cahokia; same time as Chaco, but had a larger urban presence. Both were made possible by corn-based agriculture, but Chaco showed direct contact with Mexico. Cahokia was a climax of mound-building while Chaco was a start-up culture
-Cahokia had a clear elite
-Replaced by Natchez, where elites (Great Suns) had to marry lower class, which tempered social inequalities

Giovanni

11/14/2012 11:04:49 am

This is weak guys, the freshmen have us beat in means of forum activity, because of this I decided to break my usual study habits and to post on here.

Lets get started.
Okay, so in case you haven't noticed, Strayer always categorizes what he talks about WITHIN his categorizations, don't know if it's habit or not, but it's useful! For example, with this chapter, when he's speaking about African civilizations the things he seems to repeat the most are: do these civilizations have iron technology? If so do they make it themselves or acquire it through trade? Also, were trade and commerce important in the establishment (and the maintaining) of these civilizations? Another is were these civilizations imperial? If not what form of government did they have? how did they organize themselves? Another thing is what caused their decline??? This is a big one, these civilizations aren't here today, WHY IS THAT? Is it due to environmental factors? Or does have to do with, as Jeremiah would put it, cultural penetration? (COUGH COUGH ISLAM COUGH COUGH). Once you find what Strayer is stressing it's a lot easier to pick apart the text, trust me. This advice may or may not be too late for you now, but if it is you can still use it for future tests! Get more out of Strayer than the words he's written for you, make connections! This stuff is fascinating once you break it down and put the pieces together. Don't worry about the grade, worry about learning, that's the (original) purpose of school, if you learn and do the work the grades will follow suit.

End of educational rant, hope someone learned something.

Bingham

11/14/2012 12:04:38 pm

Lots of great points Giovani! I love that you have really climbed inside Strayer's head. That is vital, but oh wait, that requires effort. :'( damn! Couldn't resist a dig.
The point you make is well taken, Strayer is guiding you to the important connections, the things that matter, the thing College Board wants you to know, the things I want you to know, the things that will inform your art and your future. Hey, if this class is going to beat you up, you might as well climb on board and enjoy the ride...

Jessica Stevens

11/14/2012 12:58:31 pm

I made a spice chart for each of the new civilizations introduced and I was going to post a rendition of it, but Stephanie pretty much nailed it, so onto another topic!

Comparison Margin Question: In what ways were the histories of the Ancestral Pueblo and the Mound Builders similar to each other, and how did they differ?

Ancestral Pueblos:
• Had difficulty adapting maize into desert environment.
• Lived in pit houses.
• Kivas as ceremonial places
• Believed humans come from another world below (expressed in their dug out homes and centers)
• Chaco is considered a “start-up” of a culture that emerged quickly from very little history of it’s existence
• Developed roads
• Chaco is dominant center for production of turquoise
• Warfare, internal conflict and (debatably) occasional cannibalism increased when drought struck which lead to the demise of the civilization

Mound Builders:
• Independent Agricultural Revolution
• Domesticated crops were not enough to sustain societies and so it was more of a supplement to the traditional hunter-gatherer way of life
• Created societies distinguished by large mounds they built (hence the name...ya know…Mound Builders…)
• Traditionally enormous burial mounds
• The central mound in their dominant center, Cahokia, was the largest structure north of Mexico.
• Cahokia considered the climax of a long history of the mound building era
• Clear, distinct social hierarchies
• Elite held massive military power
• After Cahokia, Natchez people had chiefs called Great Suns who lived luxuriously and lavishly
• Elite, known as “stinkards” must marry other “stinkards.” That must have stunk. (Get it? Get it?)

Similar:
• Within both, settlements were linked through massive web of trading networks.
• Received treasures from far away, evidence of their extensive systems.
• Corn-based agriculture made the growth (Get it? Get it? Pun intended) of both societies possible.
• Had ties to astronomy, specifically knowledge of the patterns of the sun and moon.
• Larger, increasingly complex dominant centers formed, providing a connection for outlying settlements
• Monumental structures were an essential part of architecture
• Developed new technology
• Both had an extensive artistic tradition

P.S. Bingham: Do you prefer comparison questions for open ended answer tests to be done in a format similar to above? Or would you prefer the differences to be specifically juxtaposed, for example, Raul had red hair, while Roxanne sported blue.

Jessica Stevens

11/14/2012 01:00:25 pm

spelling error: **Steffannie I'm sorry!

Bingham

11/14/2012 07:08:39 pm

Good work Jessica! I like it and it will make your essays clearer when you write juxtaposed items within the one sentence for comparisons.

One correction, I believe the stinkards were the lower class, the elites had to marry them, presumably to get the gene pool diverse. But I'll have to check Strayer.

It's important to note that the pueblo people never had an independent agricultural revolution.

Bingham

11/14/2012 07:11:37 pm

Sorry Steffannie, I misspelled your name too, and I should know better. Sorry :'(

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Strayer 7 Classical Elsewhere

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