world civilizations

The Americas and Cultural Exchange in Central and Southern Asia

The Americas and Cultural Exchange in Central and Southern Asia

Allied American University

This paper was prepared for World Civilizations I, homework assignment 6, taught by Professor Harmon.

PART I

1. How did early peoples in the Americas adapt to their environment as they created technologies of food production and economics systems? The environment shaped the history of human settlements in the Americas, but later history shaped the way the lands and peoples of these areas have been described. Early peoples crossed into the Western Hemisphere from Asia, although exactly when this happened is hotly debated. All the highly varied environments, from polar tundra to tropical rain forests, came to support human settlement. About 8000 b.c.e., people in some parts of the Americas began raising crops as well as gathering wild produce. Maize became the most important crop, with knowledge about its cultivation spreading from Mesoamerica into North and South America.

2. How did the Aztecs build on the achievements of earlier Mesoamerican cultures, and develop new traditions to create their large empire? The Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, built a unified culture based heavily on the heritage of earlier Mesoamerican societies and distinguished by achievements in engineering, sculpture, and architecture, including the streets, canals, public squares, and aqueduct of Tenochtitlán, the most spectacular and one of the largest cities in the world in 1500. In Mexica society, religion was the dynamic factor that transformed other aspects of the culture: economic security, social mobility, education, and especially war. War was an article of religious faith, providing riches and land, sacrificial victims for ceremonies honoring the Aztec gods, warriors for imperial expansion, and laborers. Aztec society was hierarchical, with nobles and priests having special privileges.

3. How did the people of Mesoamerican and North American develop prosperous and stable societies in the classical era? The urban culture of the Olmecs and other Mesoamerican peoples influenced subsequent societies. Especially in what became known as the classical era (300–900 c.e.), various groups developed large states centered on cities, with high levels of technological and intellectual achievement. Of these, the Maya were the longest-lasting, creating a complex written language, multiple-crop milpas and raised beds for agriculture, roads connecting population centers, trading practices that built unity among Maya communities as well as wealth, and striking art. Peoples living in North America built communities that were smaller than those in Mesoamerica, but many also used irrigation techniques to enhance agricultural production and continued to build earthwork mounds for religious purposes.

4. What were the physical, social, and intellectual features of early societies in the Americas? Agricultural advancement led to an increase in population, which allowed greater concentrations of people and the creation of the first urban societies. In certain parts of North and South America, towns dependent on agriculture flourished. Some groups in North America began to build large earthwork mounds, while others in Mesoamerica and South America practiced irrigation. The Olmecs created the first society with cities in Mesoamerica, with large ceremonial buildings, an elaborate calendar, and a symbolic writing.

5. What were the sources of strength, prosperity, and problems for the Incas in creating their enormous empire? In the center of Peru rise the cold highlands of the Andes. Six valleys of fertile and wooded land at altitudes ranging from eight thousand to eleven thousand feet punctuate highland Peru. The largest of these valleys are the Huaylas, Cuzco, and Titicaca. It was there that Inca civilization developed and flourished. Like the Aztecs, the Incas started as a small militaristic group. But they grew in numbers and power as they con-quered surrounding groups, eventually establishing one of the most extraordinary empires in the world. Gradually, Inca culture spread throughout Peru.

6. What aspects of nomadic life gave the nomads of Central Asia military advantages over nearby settled civilizations? The nomadic pastoral societies that stretched across Eurasia had the great military advantage of being able to raise horses in large numbers and support themselves from their flocks. Their mastery of the horse and mounted archery allowed them repeatedly to overawe or conquer their neighbors. On military campaigns, Mongol horsemen were able to travel without stopping for days. Nomadic pastoralists generally were organized on the basis of clans and tribes that selected chiefs for their military talent. Much of the time these tribes fought with each other, but several times in history leaders formed larger confederations capable of coordinated attacks on cities and towns. From the fifth to the twelfth centuries the most successful nomadic groups on the Eurasian steppes were Turks of one sort or another.

7. How did Chinggis Khan and his successors conquer most of Eurasia, and how did the Mongol conquests change the affected regions? In the early thirteenth century, through his charismatic leadership and military genius, Chinggis Khan was able to lead victorious armies from one side of Eurasia to another. To avoid tribal feuding, he gave his army a non-tribal structure. He rewarded loyalty and displays of courage, but he could be merciless to those who opposed him. His initial conquests were quite destructive, with the inhabitants of many cities enslaved or killed. Those who opened their city gates and submitted without fighting could become allies and retain local power, but those who resisted faced the prospect of mass slaughter. After the empire was divided into four khanates ruled by different lines of Chinggis’s descendants, more stable forms of govern-ment were developed. The Mongols gave important positions to people willing to serve them faithfully, and they did not try to change the cultures or religions of the countries they conquered. In Mongolia and China the Mongol rulers welcomed those learned in all religions. In Central Asia and Persia the Mongol khans converted to Islam and gave it the support earlier rulers there had done.

8. How did the Mongol conquests facilitate the spread of ideas, religions, inventions, and diseases? For a century the Mongol Empire fostered unprecedented East-West contact. The Mongols encouraged trade and often moved craftsmen and other specialists from one place to another. Missionaries were tolerated, as were all religions. As more Europeans made their way east than ever before, Chinese inventions such as printing and the compass made their way west. Because Europe was further behind in 1200, it benefited most from the spread of technical and scientific ideas. Diseases also spread, including the Black Death, as printing and the compass made their way west. Carried by ideas and rats that found their way into the goods of merchants and other travelers.

9. What was the result of India’s encounters with Turks, Mongols, and Islamic society? India was invaded by the Mongols, but not conquered. After the fall of the Gupta Empire in about 480, India was for the next millennium ruled by small kingdoms, which allowed regional cultures to flourish. The north and northwest were frequently raided by Turks from Afghanistan or Central Asia, and for several centuries Muslim Turks ruled a state in north India called the Delhi sultanate. Over time Islam gained adherents throughout South Asia. Hinduism continued to flourish, but Buddhism went into decline.

PART II: Journal

1. My views about immigration are… Illegal immigrants are a convenient scapegoat for our economic crisis. But with free markets and private property, the need for immigrant labor becomes obvious. Most immigrants, regardless of the color of their skin, are open to the ideals of liberty: private property, free markets, sound money, right to life, low taxes, less war, protection of civil liberties, and a foreign policy designed for peace. As an immigrant, I know very well what America means to people all over the world. From the time I was a teenager, I knew that the United States was where I was meant to be. I saw it as a land of freedom, a land of opportunity, a land where dreams become reality. For me, this country was all of those things and more. The life I have lived was possible only because I immigrated to the one place where nothing is impossible.

2. To me, American means… Being American to me means acceptance, caring beyond boundaries, and setting aside differences. The opportunity to go to school and learn with Blacks, Asians, Mexicans with any race and never had to or even thought to look at our differences only to see them as who they are. Our friends, school mates, beloved teachers, and school staff members. America is about people who do not just believe in change but work daily in changing lives. America to me is the people in schools nonprofit institutions, recreations centers who shape youth into better citizens for tomorrow. As America we do not hold grudges when a tragedy strikes humanity but put our differences aside and give a helping hand. And that’s why I serve in the United States Army because being an American soldier is everything to me.

3. Having different people from different countries in America… in America there are people from a variety of races, countries, cultures, etc…If you walk down the street in downtown of any city, you would see variety of restaurants with different cuisines…if you go to a social gathering could be a potluck, birthday party, dance party, or to a bar the chances of you meeting new people from different country or race are very high… I met people from so many different countries, it all started at school as I used to go to international student organizations events…after graduation, continued the trend and formed a friends circle with people from different countries…it would always be so much fun to hang out with cool people from other countries as you get to embrace their food, culture, entertainment, etc… To me, it’s an interesting experience getting to know other peoples culture, history and background. Not only does it gives you a different perspective on how other people live and helps you grow socially and mentally but it also allows us to learn what it is that truly divides our communities and each other as well as what steps we can take to bring us closer together, which is very important if we are going to work together to solves our community problems.