The Human Web

Chapter 4: The Growth of Webs in the Old World and America

200 – 1000 CE (pgs. 82 - 115)

  1. What three principal changes occurred to the world webs during this period of time?

Shifts in Relative Wealth and Power

  1. Why was North China quicker to recover from the collapse of the Han Dynasty than Western Europe was from the collapse of the Roman Empire?
  1. What developed in Central Asia during this period which caused this area to flourish while China and Europe were in disarray?
  1. List and describe the major developments of and/or by the following cultures:
  2. Parthian Iran
  1. Sassanian Empire

c. Gupta Dynasty India

  1. What factors allowed China to reunify fairly easily beginning with the Sui Dynasty? What were China’s continued problems during this era?
  1. What material and cultural factors allowed Islamic culture and religion to develop and spread so rapidly?
  1. What factors caused Islam to split into Sunni and Shi’a sects?
  1. How/why is the relationship between urbanites and nomads in Muslim society significant?
  1. What were the economic consequences of the formation of the Muslim Empire?
  1. List and briefly describe the main challenges to Muslim unity that occurred in this era.

Expanding and Thickening the Old World Webs

  1. What and where were improvements in seafaring technology made? What were the overall effects of these improvements?
  1. What factors allowed camels to replace other pack animals, especially in desert environments? What were the overall effects of the use of Camel caravans?
  1. Why was the spread of rice paddy cultivation such a big deal? Give examples of how it affected parts of Asia.
  1. Even though spice trade impacted and connected the Moluccas, why did little change there?
  1. To what extent was Africa connected between 200-1000 CE? By whom? How was Africa affected by these contacts? (Give specific examples)
  1. What factors made the inclusion of the interior of Africa in the Old World Web not yet practical?
  1. In what ways and for what reasons did the leaders of steppe nomadic confederacies as well as Eurasian “civilized” societies promote linkage to the Old World Web?
  1. What were the consequences of the “disruption of far-ranging confederacies between 200 and 1000 CE”?
  1. Agriculturally, what developments allowed for more portions of Northern and Western Europe to become productive farmlands?
  1. What peoples were involved in invasions of Western Europe? What was Western Europe’s responses (i.e. what developed as a result of these invasions)?

New Roles for Religion

  1. What general factors caused the “portable, universal” religions to gain in strength and following after 200 CE?
  1. Giving specific examples, how did state sponsorship (or lack thereof) affect the spread and decline of religions?
  1. Why didn’t Hinduism spread beyond South Asia?
  1. How did missionary activities assist the spread of both Islam and Christianity?
  1. Overall then, what are the main similarities between all of the so-called “religions of salvation”?

Emergence of an American Web

  1. Why were the connections between the parts of the American webs weaker than those of the Old World Webs?
  1. According to the authors, what agricultural goods (and possibly technology) started in Mexico and spread to South America?
  1. What were the major cultural developments of the Classic Period Mayan civilization? Why did it collapse (possibly)?
  1. What were the basic characteristics of the Hopewell and (later) Mississippian cultural complexes of North America?
  1. What is the overall pattern of development of civilization in South America?

Chapter 5: Thickening Webs 1000 – 1500 CE (pgs. 116 – 154)

1. What were the main effects of the “introduction of urban practices into the

countryside”?

2. List and give examples of the ways in which the connections between peoples in

the Old World Web deepened (i.e. transportation, trade, regions, cultures, etc.).

3. In spite of these changes, what did not change?

4. How was Mongol conquest actually beneficial to trade systems?

How China Became the First Market Society

5. When was Buddhism largely accepted in China? In what ways did this acceptance

allow more foreign influences into China (and what were these influences)?

6. What factors caused economic prosperity during the early Song Dynasty?

7. For what reasons was the Song Dynasty largely incapable of dealing with nomadic

“Barbarian” peoples in its border regions?

8. What were the main results (politically, technologically and economically) of the

Mongol conquest/rule of China (i.e. Yuan Dynasty)

9. What were the major policies of the Ming Dynasty? Why did they do these things?

The Transformation of Islam 1000-1500

10. List the reasons why trading/commercialization was harder in the Muslim

dominated lands than it was in Europe and China.

11. Name and describe the major political development in the Islamic world during

this era. How did this development occur?

12. Name and describe the major cultural developments in the Islamic world during

this era.

13. Into what new areas did Islam spread during this era? What people(s) and

mechanisms were responsible for this spread?

14. Into what areas did Islam lose influence? Why?

Christendom’s Thickening Web

15. What two setbacks did Western European society suffer in the 1300s?

16. In spite of these major setbacks, Western Europe developed greatly socially,

technologically and politically. What were the two phases of this development?

For each, list the developments that occurred in each phase (make sure to refer to

this whole section to answer this one).

17. How are merchants and bankers important to the socio-political development of

Western Europe in this era?

18. What were the major technological and social developments in Europe during the

later middle ages?

The Old World Web’s Pacific Flank

19. In what ways are the developments in the Atlantic and Pacific flanks so similar?

20. What were the major socio-cultural and political developments in Korea, Annam

and Japan? What were these areas relations with China?

Southern and Northern Frontiers of the Old World Web

21. What were the major political, social, and economic developments in the Pacific

Rim/“Southern Frontier”? What areas were and were not incorporated into the

Old World Web from this region? Why or why not?

22. What were the major political, social, and economic developments in the Northern

Frontier (i.e. Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia)? What areas were and were not

incorporated into the Old World Web from this region? Why or why not?

The American Web

23. Even though there were powerful cultures and trading routes/networks, why did

those in the “American Web” end up being less powerful and extensive as those in

the Old World?