An Age of Accelerating Connections

1. An Age of Accelerating Connections Period 3

2. The Big Picture: Defining a Millennium • It’s diff. to see when one phase of human history ends and another begins (periodization –historians differ) A. Between approx 200-850 CE many classical states and civ. Were disrupted, declined or collapsed B. Columbus’s transatlantic voyages around 1500 mark a new departure in world history for most people C. How should we understand the millennium that stretches from the end of the classical era to the beginning of modern world history?

3. It has proven hard to define a distinct identity for this period • Some call it “postclassical,” but that term has little meaning • “medieval,” but that term is Eurocentric (Hendrick, Sawdon & Groom) & it also just suggests a lead in to modernity • Strayer uses the phrase “third-wave civilization”

4. II. Third-Wave Civilizations: Something New, Something Old, Something Blended • There were several distinct patterns of development: • Some areas saw creation of new but smaller civ where none had existed before • East African Swahili civ • KievanRus • New civ in E & SE Asia

5. 2. All were part of the increasing globalization of civilization a. the new civilizations were distinctive, but smaller to earlier civ b. all borrowed heavily from earlier or more estciv 3. The most expansive and influential third-wave civilization was Islam (more later)

6. 4. Some older civs persisted or were reconstructed (Byzantium, China, India, Niger Valley) • Collapse of classical Maya civ and Teotihuacan opened the way to reshaping of an ancient civ • Inca formed an empire out of various centers of Andean civ. 5. Western Europe: successor states tried to maintain links to older Greco-Roman-Christian traditions • but far more decentralized societies emerged, led by Germans • hybrid civilization was created of classical and Germanic elements • dev of highly competitive states after 1000 CE

7. III. The Ties That Bind: Transregional Interaction in the Postclassical Era • An important common theme is the great increase in interaction b/w the world’s regions, cultures and peoples • increasingly, change was caused by contact w/strangers, their ideas, armies, goods, or diseases • cosmopolitan regions emerged in a variety of places “miniglobalizations”

8. Contemporary Piece http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/04/160543754/mcdonalds-goes-vegetarian-in-india

9. B. Period 3 highlights the accelerating pace of interaction in the third-wave era, giving special attention to three major mechanisms of interaction: • trade – esp the growth of long-distance commerce • Led to the est of many new states or empires • Religious ideas, technologies and germs also moved along trade routes (cultural diffusion) • Large empires, incorporating many distinct cultures under a single poltical system • Provided security for long-distance trade • Many of the third-wave civilizations were larger than earlier ones (Arab, Mongol, Inca) • Largest empires were created by nomadic or pastoralist peoples (Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Aztecs) who ruled over agriculturalists

10. 3. large scale empires and long-distance trade worked together to facilitate the spread of ideas, technologies, crops, germs and religion • Diffusion of all of these occurred • Much of the technologies from China and India C. A focus on accelerating connections puts a spotlight on travelers rather than those who stayed at home. D. A focus on interactions raises questions for world historians about how much choice individuals or societies had in accepting new ideas or practices and about how they made those decisions.

11. Suggested Reading Schedule • Monday: pages 333-341 • Tuesday: Review Mon. reading/notes, read pages 341-348 • Wednesday: Review Mon. & Tues reading/notes read pages 348-355 • Thursday: Review ch 8 reading/notes • Friday - Sunday: keep reviewing ch 8 (a little each day) begin work on ch 9 • Reminder you have a list of terms and review packet to work on as well.