Asian Cultures Unit
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Transcript Asian Cultures Unit
ASIAN CULTURES UNIT
350 BCE – 1400 CE
China and India
350 BCE – 600 CE
Defense
Trade
Advances
East Asia
550 – 1400
Technological Advances
The Mongols
Status of Women in Asian Cultures
Comparisons to Americas &
Africa
Americas:
Government, Achievements, Religion
Africa:
Adaption to Environment, Trade & Blending of
cultures
China & India
350 BCE – 600 CE
First Chinese Empire
221 BCE: Qin became the first unified Chinese
empire
LEGALISM: political philosophy taught efficient
government key to maintaining order and
control
Qin Reforms
To
strengthen security, workers joined separate
defensive walls in Northern China
GREAT WALL OF CHINA
hundreds of thousands of peasants toiled and many
died
Trade & Buddhism
China’s most prized possession is: SILK
Revealing
the secret of its making was
punishable by death
Merchants traveling between China and
Central Asia used a series of overland routes
SILK ROADS: network of routes stretched
from China to Mediterranean
Linked
China to India, Middle East, and Roman
Empire
Brought Buddhism to China
Brought
more hope to Chinese than
Chinese Advances
Paper – made by grinding plant fibers, like
hemp, into a paste and left to dry
“books”
created by connecting several sheets to
create scroll
Iron plow and wheelbarrow
Seismograph – measured earthquakes
ACUPUNCTURE: inserting fine needles into
skin at specific points to cure disease and
relieve pain
Indian Advances
Hindu-Arabic Numerals: first to use the symbol
for 0
Without
which modern math would not be
possible
Numerals we use today
Earth revolves around the sun
Circumference of the earth
Accurate
to 1%
View map on pages 242-243
Compare insets on Roman and Han conflicts
with Nomads
What effects did nomads have on the Roman
empire?
The Chinese empire?
What was the most extensive empire between
100-400 CE?
Which group of nomads traveled the farthest?
East Asia
550-1400
China – Inventions &
Innovations
Porcelain – ceramic known as “china”
Sought
after around the world
Woodblock Printing
A
page of text is carved into a block of wood
Wood is coated with ink
Pressed to paper
THE DRAGON IS THE IMPERIAL SIGN
Movable Type – individual
letters
or characters
OF CHINA
carved
Rearranged
and reused
China – Inventions &
Innovations
Paper Money
Facilitated
Trade
Trade expanded along improved roads and
canals
Silk Roads – routes connected china to
markets in Central Asia, India and beyond!
Ship Building advances led to sailing around
Asia
Status of Women
Foot Binding:
Feet
tightly wrapped with pieces of
cloth
Restricted growth of feet so they
appeared small and dainty
Extremely painful
Over time bones deformed
Also limited movement
The Mongol Empire
STEPPES: grasslands, stretch across
north-central Eurasia
Home
to nomadic people
Too dry for farming
Lived as pastoralists, relying on herds
Traded for items they lacked
Or, swept through and took what they
wanted
Mongols
Sheep and Goat herders
Skilled with horses
Divided into clans
Each clan led by a KHAN: CHIEF
1206: Genghis Kahn “Universal
Leader” conquered rival Mongol
clans and became leader of all
Mongols
Genghis Khan
Built an Empire!
Built a powerful military machine
Enforced strict discipline
Demanded complete loyalty
Highly mobile, struck quickly
Military leader
Surrounded and trapped enemy
Brutality
Psychological warfare
Burned any town that resisted
Sent agents ahead to build fear of approaching forces
Mongol Empire
Over 20 years, Mongols conquered much of
Asia
Learned the art of siege warfare and
gunpowder
1227: at his death, Genghis Khan controlled
much of China and Central Asia
Mongols divided his empire into
Khanates:
regions
Heirs ruled each region
PAX MONGOLIA: Mongols ruled peacefully,
tolerated local beliefs, allowed local rulers to
stay in power, created stability
Japan
Archipelago: large island chain
Japan is the length of the eastern coast of the US
Volcanic
Early Japan
SHINTO: everything in nature, sun, rocks, trees,
animals has a spirit (kami)
No sacred text or structure
Build shrines to kami and perform ceremonies for
blessings
Shrines located in natural settings dedicated to
unusual trees, waterfalls, etc
Red Gateway marks the entrance to a shrine
Similarities with the Americas
Government
Achievements
Religion
Government
City-States throughout
Mesoamerica (Mexico)
formed alliances
Aztecs (1100s) required
conquered people to pay
tribute – tax
Inca (Peru) put governors
throughout their conquered
empire
Achievements
Maya and Aztecs kept
written records
Incans kept tax records,
census, livestock records
on
QUIPU:
knotted, colored
cords
Aztecs created a 365 day
calendar
Accurate calculations of the
movements of the planets
Trade & Architecture
Inca Roads: paved with stone
blocks, 14,000 miles, crossed
every terrain imaginable (sea
level to 12,000 miles high)
First known suspension bridges
crossed canyons and rivers
Machu Pichu: as advanced as
Rome
Religion
Inca kept mummies of
dead kings and
worshipped them
Created temples to
worship
Polytheistic
Ceremonies
led by found 3
In 1999, Archaeologists
priests
preserved bodies of Inca who
were sacrificed to the gods in the
mountains, and preserved
thanks to the dry cold.
Similarities with Africa
Adaption to Environment
Trade & Blending of cultures
Environment
Large size (3xs the USA)
has a wide variety of
climates and vegetation
Low,
wide plains run across
Northern and Western
interior:
SAHARA DESERT:
LARGEST DESERT IN THE
WORLD
East
is the Great Rift Valley,
Rivers:
Congo, Zambezi,
Niger, Nile
Outer
parts have several
mountain ranges
Agriculture & Trade
Hunter-Gatherers, to
Pastoralists, to farmers
As farming developed, people
needed more land and spread
out
Women
farmed, men raised cattle
Islam spread to Africa through
trade
Iron,
gold, cattle, salt,
Trade led to blending of African,
Arab, and Asian cultures
SWAHILI:
AFRICAN-ARAB