World history blog

China has and still is one of the most powerful nations.   Once the Han dynasty fell in 220 ce, it left china in political fragmentation.   China finally regained its unity under the Sui dynasty.   They helped solidify china by adding g about 1,200 miles in length to it.   The sui dynasty marked the “golden age” for china because arts, literature, setting standards, pottery, landscaping, painting and ceramics thrived.   They selected officials based on merit.   Gunpowder was made in china, which was and is super super important.   One really bad characteristic of china was that is was heavily a patriarchal society.   One example of this is foot binding.   Also, women were confined to the inside of the house.   The tribute system is very important.   Vietnam won its independence when they fought china under the rule of General Ngo Quyen.   This victory ended a 1000 year direct Chinese rule.   The battle was at B...

Afro-Eurasian connections: The mix of Christianity and islam is called "ChrisMus".  The catalyst for the birth of a new religion was the birth of Muhammad Ibn Abdullah.  He was born in Mecca.  He claimed to be a messenger of Allah and people believed him.  Right after the death of Muhammad, arab armies emerged. They did many tribal raids.   Converting to islam was more convenient than convocation, so many people made the switch.  In Persia from 750 to 900, about 80% of the population made a switch to a muslim religion. Sufus was the representation of Islam's mythical dimension and the personal experience of the divine. Men have more power because Alah has made men more powerful than woman.  I hate this religion. 

Commerce and culture: Exchanging goods between different civilizations (trading) has been a very prominent feature of history.  Trade helped diffuse ideas as well as get animals and crops to different areas across the world.  Taxing trade changed political life.  States were put in specific places so that they could tax and then use that "money" to keep the civilization strong.  Trade routs were very helpful in may ways, but they were also devastating.  Diseases travelled these routs along with the people which allowed diseases to spread very quickly to any place along the silk roads.  Diseases such as the black death traveled.  Woman made huge advancements to the silk industry.  Silk represented wealth in china because of how amazing the fabric was.  Government needed huge quantities of silk to trade for horses.  Culture also was transported along the silk roads.  Buddism was a voluntary switch that many people chose to make....

The worlds population was very unevenly distributed from 500 BCE-1200 CE.  About 85% of the worlds population was in Eurasia.   The americas lacked domesticated animals and most of the animals were llamas and alpacas.  Africa lacked wild sheep, goats, chickens, horses, and camels, but since Africa was so close to Eurasia, it meant than once animals were domesticated, they could be moved to Africa.  Parts of Africa interacted with parts of Eurasia because of it's geographical location. Many civilizations in Africa grew because of the continents environmental variations. Meroë is a nile valley civilization and I really like the characters used in its name.   They were governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch.  It was held at least 10 times by women as well, which is really cool!  Meroë was very wealthy and had a very powerful military.  They had iron weapons and cloth, as well as many other materials which amounted to great wealth....

"The caste system has no impact on life today" said Chenzi K Ganesan.  This is false, because there are instances where people of lower power can not, or must do things in front of superiors. Still in India, the caste system is present. The French, Chinese Russian revolutions challenged and destroyed ancient monarchs. During the era of the second wave of civilizations in Eurasia, there was still a huge class divide. Chinese officials were clearly of a prestige, it was shown very very clearly. Emperor Wu Di established an imperial academy where potential officials were trained.  It was possible for landowners to sponsor young children to put them in the ring of education.  There is a story of a pig farmer  who became an advisor to the emperor. Most officials came from the landlord class.  The vast majority of the population consisted of peasants. It is weird because peasants were exploited and oppressed, but also celebrated. Merchants were not viewed this way bec...

Confucius was born 2,369 years ago. He was a mastermind who thought about many things.  He is one of the great philosophers, along with plato and socrates.  in Hinduism, writings known as Upanishads gave expression to classical expression. Chinese and greek philosophers thought about affairs of the world.  Indian, Persian, and Jewish thinkers thought about the relationship with God. Legalism, any problems could be solved by using the law.  A quote that made me think is " The relationship between superiors and inferiors is like that of wind and grass."  This is talking about family and political life. So in order for there to be balance, everyone must work in tandem. Yin Yang is a very important symbol, it signifies balance.  Many people use this to show that things are calm and peaceful as well.  The Vedas were a collection of poems, hymns, prayers, and rituals.  These were compiled by priests.  Unfortunately, they expressed a clear patriarch...