Timeline of World History, 300-1500 CE (AD)
When the Mayan, the Aztec, and Incan civilizations
flourished, what was occurring
elsewhere
in the world?
The Maya 300 – 1000 The Inca 1438 – 1532
The Aztecs 1440 - 1521
CENTURY CIVILIZATION EVENT
Ancient Egypt Pyramids
Hieroglyphics
365-day calendar
Zero The Roman Empire
Caesar Augustus
was the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.
30 A.D.
Jesus
was crucified by the Romans.
50 AD.
St. Paul the Apostle
organized little Christian churches throughout
the Mediterranean Sea.
100 A.D. the Roman Empire reached its greatest siz
e.
Network of roads - united the empire.
100 China Paper - The Chinese invented paper arou
nd 100 A.D.
In 800, the manufacture of paper spreads to the I
slamic Empire.
In 1100, as a result of the Crusades, Europeans b
egan to manufacture writing paper
When it came to technology, China was always CENTUR
IES ahead of
Europe.
300
The Americas The Maya
(Peak: 300 to 900 A.D.) in Central America.
The civilization reached its peak from the 300s t
o 900 A.D.
300 the Maya lived in the rainforest of Guatemala
.
600
King Pacal
ruled the city of Palenque.
He lived at the same time as
Mohammed.
He was buried deep within a pyramid, like ancient
pharaohs
of Egypt.
900 People migrated north to the Yucatan Peninsula
.
o
Many cities: Tikal, Palenque, Bonampak, Chichen Itz
a on the Yucatan
Peninsula.
o
Pyramids
o
Murals - painted the walls.
o
Astronomy - Earth moves around the sun
.
o
365-day calendar
- more accurate than the European calendar of that
time.
o
Zero
- The Maya invented zero.
o
Maize
- Corn was the main food.
o
Hieroglyphs
- the first in the Americas to develop a system of
writing.
The hieroglyphs were
picture symbols that expressed
ideas
. Using
tree bark, they made paper and wrote books.
o
Popol Vuh
was the sacred book of the Maya:
o
It contains ancient myths about the creation of the
universe.
o
The Maya lacked draft animals, the wheel, and iron
weapons
.
India
Golden Age of India
(The Gupta Empire: 320 - 500 A.D.)
Hindu-Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).
Zero - The Hindus invented zero.
Steel - Metallurgists were the first to invent st
eel.
page 2 of 5 Timeline of World History
CENTURY CIVILIZATION EVENT
300 The Roman Empire
Emperor Constantine
made Constantinople the new capital of the
Roman Empire, 330.
Christianity
(350) became the official religion of the Roman Emp
ire.
500
Japan Japan adopted the Chinese writing system and
religion (Buddhism).
600 Medieval Europe
Saint Augustine-
In Northern Europe, Christian monks converted
the pagan barbarians to Christianity.
St. Augustine converted England to Christianity.
The Islamic Empire
Muhammad
was the founder of the religion of Islam.
Mecca became the center of the Muslim world.
Muslim armies conquer Saudi Arabia.
Imperial China
The Golden Age of China
(The Tang dynasty: 600 -
900 A.D.)
The Silk Road
financed the Golden Age of China.
China exported silk, porcelain, and tea to the Mi
ddle East.
Silk - Invented by the Chinese. Porcelain - Inve
nted by the Chinese.
Confucianism:
The official philosophy: Scholar-officials run the
government.
Civil
service test and merit system: Government officials
were chosen by ability, not birth
By 750 The Islamic Empire Islamic Empire covered th
e Middle East, Central Asia,
North Africa, and Spain (the only Muslim country
in Europe).
In 711
Moors
invaded Spain. They ruled it for 700 years (711 to
1492).
They tried and failed to take Western Europe.
Muslim armies conquer North Africa. West Africa
The Trans-Sahara trade
begins:
Merchants from North Africa carry salt in camel
caravans.
They cross the Sahara Desert and travel to the
savanna (grasslands) of
West Africa.
700 -1000 A.D.
Kingdom of Ghana
This was the first great kingdom of West Africa.
Its wealth was based on the trans-Sahara gold tra
de.
The black Kingdom of Ghana controls the gold trad
e.
Muslim merchants trade their salt for gold
.
Muslim merchants spread the religion of Islam to We
st Africa
.
800-1100 The Islamic Empire
The Golden Age of Islam
,:
What financed the Golden Age of Islam? Trade alo
ng the Silk Road!
The Caliph of Baghdad
(described in
Arabian Knights
) ran the Islamic Empire.
Magnificent cities with great universities. (Ther
e were no universities in Europe.)
Muslim scholars: Brilliant in art, literature, as
tronomy, medicine, math.
Algebra, Astrolabe
- geographers used it to determine
latitude and longitude
.
Muslim Spain
became the intellectual center of Europe. A multic
ultural society
where Jews and Muslims lived together in peace and
harmony. Muslim scholars
conducted a massive project: To translate all the
classical writings from ancient
Greece and Rome.
Medieval Europe
The rise of feudalism.
Feudalism provided political order and local
government.
o
The Lord-Vassal System:
The vassal swore to protect his lord, in return fo
r land.
o
The Feudal Contract:
If the vassal did not fulfill military service, he
lost the land.
o
Land was power
: If you owned land, you were a nobleman.
o
Local:
Each lord ruled his estate as if it were a little
kingdom
The Norman Conquest
William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066.
The French duke defeated the Anglo-Saxons and becam
e the King of
England.
Being a foreigner, he made nobles swear allegiance
directly
to
him!
The Bayeux Tapestry chronicled the Norman Conquest.
Kings in England and France began building strong
central govt.
page 3 of 5 Timeline of World History
CENTURY CIVILIZATION EVENT
~1175
English legal system
King of England,
Henry II
set up the English legal system:
Common Law - Judges made law. Law was based on pa
st precedent.
Circuit courts - Judges rode from town to town. Rep
laced the lord ruling his own
manor.
Trial by jury
- replaced trial by combat (French) and trial by o
rdeal (Anglo-Saxon).
Habeas Corpus
-
A judge decides whether a man should have been arre
sted.
An independent judiciary - Judges are on their wa
y to being independent of the King!
1200 West Africa
The Kingdom of Mali
was founded in 1230 by Sundiata.
Sundiata
was the great warrior-king.
West Africans had an oral tradition - that is, th
ey were great storytellers.
The
griots
(oral historians) sang an epic story about Sundiata
’s life.
He firmly controlled the Trans-Sahara gold and sa
lt trade.
Medieval Europe
The Magna Carta, 1215
The Magna Carta was the beginning of Constitution
al Government
King John
of England broke every law in the book.
1271
Marco Polo
travelled to China in 1271.
He travelled 15,000 miles to visit the Middle
East, Central Asia, India, and China.
His book inspired Europeans to trade with China.
He reopened the ancient Silk Road . . . between C
hina and Europe.
Imperial China
Genghis Khan
crossed the Great Wall and conquered China.
The Mongols were barbarians on horseback who swep
t across Asia.
The Mongol Empire stretched from China to Russia.
The Mongols rule China
(The Yuan dynasty: 1279 - 1368 A.D.)
1300 West Africa
The Kingdom of Mali
reached its peak in the 1300s.
Mansa Musa
rules from 1307 to 1337.
He makes Timbuktu his capital city. It becomes a
center for trade.
Its wealth was based on the trans-Sahara gold tra
de.
West African mines were the most important single s
ource of gold for Europe. Gold
from the Kingdom of Mali became the foundation of E
urope’s economy.
Timbuktu
became a center of Muslim learning:
Muslims scholars studied government, law, and re
ligion.
Muslim merchants spread the religion of Islam and t
he Arabic language to
West Africa.
Muslims taught many people how to read and write
- in Arabic.
1324
Pilgrimage to Mecca
--
Mansa Musa
, a practicing Muslim, made a fantastic
pilgrimage to Mecca. His entourage: 60,000 people.
Each of the 500 slaves carried a
four-pound bar of gold.
The Islamic Empire
Ibn Battuta
made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325.
He travelled 75,000 miles to visit
all
of the Muslim countries:
North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Indi
a, China.
In 1353, he visited the Kingdom of Mali.
1347-1350
The Black Death
The bubonic plague killed 25% of Europe’s populati
on. (50% in the
cities.)
China ended all overseas voyages in 1433.
Confucian scholars convinced the Ming emperor to
end the voyages.
From then on, it was against the law to make mari
time expeditions.
Because of their experience with the Mongols, the
Ming looked down on
all foreigners. The Ming became isolationist: Th
ey wanted nothing to do
with the outside world.
1488
Prince Henry the Navigator
sailed to the Indian Ocean.
1498
Vasco da Gama
sailed to India. (Zheng He reached it in 1433.)
page 4 of 5 Timeline of World History
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
1492 was a busy year for Spain:
1.
The Reconquista
- conquered the ............Muslims
2.
Expulsion
of the .......................................Jews
3.
The Spanish Inquisition
- persecuted ......Christians
People were tortured to extract confessions.
Those who refused to confess were burned at the s
take.
Columbus
landed in the Americas and claimed it for Spain.
CENTURY CIVILIZATION EVENT
1440-1521 The Americas
The Aztec civilization (Peak: 1440 - 1521) in Mexic
o.
In the 1200s, the ancestors of the Aztecs settled
in the Valley of
Mexico. Within 200 years, they had conquered all
of central Mexico.
Tenochtitlan
: The capital was built around 1350. (Today, it is
Mexico City.) It had 100,000 people.
It was as large as any city in Europe.
It was 8,000 feet above sea level.
It was built on an island in
Lake Texcoco
.
o
Canals
- Like Venice, canals ran through the city.
o
Causeways
- Roads connected the island city to the mainland.
o
Pyramids
o
365-day calendar
o
Hieroglyphs - system of writing. Pictographs: Pictu
res symbolized
objects.
o
Cotton
o
Irrigation
o
Tacos and tortillas
o
Avocado
o
Chocolate
o
Continuous warfare:
The Aztecs made war on their neighbors.
The conquered peoples were enslaved and used as hum
an
sacrifice.
Montezuma
became Emperor in 1502.
Cortes
conquered the Aztecs in 1519.
He was able to do so because the conquered peoples
of Mexico supported
him.
The Aztecs lacked draft animals, the wheel, and i
ron weapons.
1438-1532 The Americas
The Inca Empire
(Peak: 1438 - 1532) in South America.
As of 1492, it was the largest empire on the face
of the earth.
It stretched for 3,000 miles high in the
Andes Mountains
.
Cusco
: The capital was 11,000 feet above sea level.
(Denver, our highest city, is 5,000 feet above sea
level.)
The empire was centered in Peru, Ecuador, and Chi
le
The empire extended 3,000 miles along the west co
ast of S. America
.
page 5 of 5 Timeline of World History
The Inca were
outstanding engineers
who built great public works:
o
Network of roads - Like the Romans, they built road
s to unite the
empire.
o
Suspension bridges
o
Aqueducts
o
Terrace farming
o
Irrigation
o
Cotton
o
The Potato - a wonderful gift to the world!
o
Centralized government
o
The Welfare State
- No personal freedom, but the government fed
everybody.
o
An all-powerful emperor and a highly structured soc
iety.
o
Laws administered by judges.
o
Tightly organized agricultural system
.
o
Effective communication system- messengers over a r
oad system
.
1438-1532 The Americas
Extremely wealthy in silver and gold.
The Inca lacked draft animals, the wheel, and iron
weapons
.
No writing system whatsoever
, but the Inca counted by 10s. (As we do.)
In 1527, the Inca ruler died. There was a civil w
ar between his two
sons:
Husascar, the older brother was heir to the thro
ne.
Atahualpa
, the younger brother, won the war, but weakened th
e Inca
empire.
Pizarro
conquered the Inca in 1532.
He was able to do so because he killed the Inca r
uler, Atahualpa.
The Inca empire was highly centralized: It could
not run without the emperor
No comments:
Post a Comment