My interpretation of the 2017 APWH Period 3 Themes and Key Concepts

1. REGIONAL AND TRANSREGIONAL
INTERACTIONS C. 600-1450
Period 3 (Solberg APWH)

2. TRADE ROUTES GET BIGGER & BETTER!
 Old trade routes keep on getting more
extensive as transportation & tech improve
 Powerful trading cities emerge in Afro-Eurasia
 Timbuktu
 Swahili city-states
 Baghdad
 Venice
 Exchange networks in Americas develop
 Mississippi Valley, Andes, Mesoamerica

4. NEW TRADE ROUTES & NEW PRODUCTS!
 Mesoamerican and Andean trade routes
develop
 Luxury goods such as porcelain from China,
gems from India, and exotic animals from Africa
become more common on existing trade routes
 Better caravan organization & travel (caravanserai)
 New compasses & astrolabes
 Larger ships in the Indian Ocean
 Credit systems, banking houses for loans

6. TRADE EXPANDS
 States encourage commercial growth within the state
 Ex. Building the Grand Canal in China
 Inca road system
 Minting coins & paper money in the Caliphates & China
 Northern European membership in the Hanseatic League
 Empires expanded and drew new people into their
exchange networks
 Tang & Song China
 Byzantine Empire
 Mongol Empire (Pax Mongolica)
 Umayyad & Abbasid Caliphates

8. MIGRATION ALONG & AROUND TRADE ROUTES
 Pastoral groups and nomads adapt to and alter
environments
 Viking long ships are developed to travel rivers
 Berbers breed camels to travel the Sahara
 Central Asian pastoralists use horses along the
steppes of the Silk Roads

9. MOVEMENT OF PEOPLES
 Trade & migration led to the diffusion of
existing languages and the creation of new
ones:
 Arabic is spread throughout the Caliphates
 Bantu languages & farming techniques spread
south of the Sahara
 Swahili

10. MOVEMENT OF PEOPLES
 Some migrations had a significant environmental
impact:
 Bantu migrations spread iron & farming throughout
sub-Saharan Africa
 Polynesian migrations brought food and domesticated
animals to new islands
 Merchants set up diasporic communities where
their cultural traditions blended with indigenous
culture (Ex. Muslim merchants in Indian Ocean)

13. CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGES
 Islam (Muhammad) developed in the Arabian
Peninsula
 It reflected elements of other monotheistic
belief systems and local Arabian customs
 Islamic armies conquered lands & expanded
the religion through merchants & missionaries
 Travelers such as Ibn Battuta told of the vast
differences and integration of different
cultures.

15. CULTURAL DIFFUSION
 Literature, art & religion spread along these trade routes
as people make new contacts with each other
 Hinduism & Islam in SE Asia
 Buddhism in East Asia
 Christianity in Europe
 Science & Technology too!
 Greek & Indian math is used by Arabic scholars
 Printing & gunpowder spread from China to the Middle East
to W. Europe
 And food!
 Bananas to Africa
 Champa Rice from Vietnam to China

17. …AND DON’T FORGET DISEASES AGAIN
 Black Death follows trade & military routes
from Central Asia to China to W. Europe
 A result of Pax Mongolica

18. CONTINUITY & CHANGE IN AND WITHIN STATES
 Out with the Roman and Han Empires….
 In with the Byzantine and Sui, Tang & Song
Empires!
 Both rely on traditional sources of power (i.e.
land ownership & patriarchy) and new
innovations to better suit the changing times
 Ex: Buddhism in Tang China, Orthodox Christianity
in the Byzantine Empire

19. NEW FORMS OF RULING EMERGE
 Islamic Caliphates (Abbasid/Fatamid) in Middle East
and Iberian Peninsula
 Feudalism in W. Europe & Japan
 Mongol Khanates in Russia, China, Mid East
 City-States (Swahili) in East Africa & Mesoamerica
(Maya)
 Aztec & Inca Empires develop out of many networks of
smaller states
 Japan adopts writing, tea, some Confucianism from
china
 These places adapted many local cultures & traditions!

21. FEUDALISM

22. CONTACTS & CONFLICTS=CULTURE TRANSFER
 Chinese technology from Tang & Song dynasties
reached the Abbasid Caliphate through the trade
routes (ex. Paper)
 Mongols created “Pax Mongolica” and encouraged
transfer of ideas along Silk Roads (ex. Gunpowder)
 The Crusades failed to keep Muslims out of the
Holy Lands but exposed Western Europeans to
new technologies and ideas that spurred the
Renaissance

24. ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES
 New technologies = better agriculture
 Chinampas in Mesoamerica
 Horse collar & plow in W. Europe
 Waru-waru in Andes
 Chinese porcelain & Persian/Indian textiles are
demanded by foreigners leading to increased
production
 Iron & Steel production expands in Song &
Yuan China

26. URBAN ROLLER COASTER RIDES!
 Urban decline and revival is prevalent
 Reasons for decline:
 Invasion (Constantinople)
 Disease (Venice, Chang’an)
 Decline of agricultural productivity (Mayan?)
 The Little Ice Age in Europe
 Reasons for Revivals
 Opposites of the above!
 Less disease, warmer weather & relative
peace=more labor for food production

27. LABOR ORGANIZATION IS MORE DEFINED
 Free peasant agriculture in almost every region
 Liked to revolt in China when demands became too
high
 Nomadic pastoralism continues
 Guild organization in W. Europe
 Slavery (IN Africa, E. Mediterranean, Turkic
mamluks)
 Serfdom (Europe & Japan)
 Labor Taxation (Incan mit’a system)
 Military obligations (ex. Mongol Empire)

28. CLASS STRUCTURE & GENDER
 Class hierarchy & caste systems persisted
 Patriarchy persists too, however…..
 Women in some areas exercise more power
and influence
 Japanese court ladies
 Nomadic Mongol women
 SE Asian merchant community women
 West African matrilineal societies

30. FAMILY LIFE
 Religious expectations in Christianity,
Buddhism, Islam and NeoConfucianism
changed gender roles & family life as these
religions spread.
 Ex. Shari’a law replaces old Persian laws regarding
wives and children.
 Footbinding in China with the rise of
Neoconfucianism (Song Dynasty)