Chapter
3
Ancient
India and China: Civilization spreads east
The Steppes
Silk Road
Himalaya Mts. Yellow River
Indus River
A
Asia Minor
(Turkey)
Japan
East
Asia
China
Yangtze
River,
AFRICA
India
Ganges
River
Southern
Ocean Trade Routes
LOCATIONS:
India, China, Japan, Asia Minor (Turkey), East Asia, Indus River, Yellow River,
the Steppes, Silk Road, southern ocean trade routes, Himalaya Mountains.
Preview
After the
world's first major civilizations arose in the Middle East, trade and
civilization spread eastward to the Indus River valley of India. India was the
birthplace of two major world religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, and India is
the source of our zero-based numbering system. India would become the hub of a
large trading network that extended from Europe all the way to China.
China,
the world's fourth early civilization, also began in a river valley: the Yellow
River valley of northern China. After China expanded south to the Yangtze River
valley, the land between the two rivers became China's heartland, known as the
"Middle Kingdom." After a ruthless emperor took control of China, it
became the superpower of Asia.
29. Asia
Asia
is the world's largest continent, sharing the landmass of Eurasia with Europe.
The Ural Mountains of Russia are considered the dividing line between Asia and
Europe. Asia was the site of three of the world's earliest civilizations, in Mesopotamia,
India, and China. Today Asia has three-fifths of the world's population and the
two most populous countries in the world, China and India. Because Asia is so
huge, geographers have divided Asia into several regions. On the western side
of Asia is the Middle East, which includes Asia Minor (present-day Turkey).
Farther east is central Asia. To the south lies the Indian subcontinent. On the
eastern side of Asia are East Asia (sometimes called the Far East) and
Southeast Asia.
30. India
Most
of the country of India is a triangular shaped peninsula that juts into the
Indian Ocean. Due to its central location on the Indian Ocean between China and
the Middle East, India became the ancient world's largest trading center. India
also gave the world important new ideas, including the numbering system we use
today and the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Today India is the second
most populous country in the world after China, and India is the world's
largest democracy. The capital of India is New Delhi. India and nearby
countries form a region known as the Indian subcontinent, or Southern Asia,
After
civilization first emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt, it spread east to India.
The earliest civilization in India grew along the Indus River valley of western
India (now Pakistan) around 2500 BC. The Indus Valley Civilization had a
written language and large cities with sophisticated plumbing systems. These
were the first people to grow cotton. Ships and overland trade caravans
connected India to Mesopotamia and Egypt in an early international trading
network. The Indus Valley Civilization lasted for about a thousand years before
it went into decline, possibly due to climate change that brought cooler and
dryer weather.
31. the
caste system
Under
ancient India's caste system, people were born into permanent classes for life,
and they could marry only within their own caste There were four main castes
with complicated rules of behavior: (1) the priests, (2) the warriors, (3) the
merchants, and (4) the common people, mostly peasants and laborers. Most people
of ancient India were members of the commoner class, which had limited rights. A
fifth group, the Untouchables, was outside the caste system. Considered not
fully human, Untouchables performed the worst jobs such as skinning animals,
cleaning toilets, and burying the dead.
While
the caste system may seem unfair to us today, it provided a means for different
kinds of people to live together peacefully while avoiding the slavery common
to many ancient cultures. Although discrimination based on caste has been
outlawed in India for decades, it still influences what kind of jobs people can
get and whom they will marry.
32. Hinduism
Hinduism
is the oldest major religion in the world today; it survived so long by changing
and adjusting to new circumstances. To Hindus, all religions are acceptable,
and the practices of other religions may be included as part of Hindu worship.
Hindus believe in an eternal and infinite spiritual principle called Brahman
that is the ultimate reality and foundation of all existence. Brahman can take
the form of many gods, including Brahma the creator of the universe, Vishnu the
preserver, and Shiva the destroyer.
For
Hindus, a proper life is unconcerned with worldly riches; the goal is to seek union
with Brahman, a quest that may take many lifetimes. Hindus believe in
reincarnation, meaning that the soul never dies and may be reborn again in a
different body. Karma, all of the actions of a person's life, will determine if
a person returns in the next life at a higher level on the ladder of
incarnation and closer to union with Brahman.
Hinduism
is the largest religion of India and a defining feature of Indian culture.
Hinduism and the caste system served to maintain order among India's many
ethnic groups because each person knew his or her place in society, and people
who followed the rules could hope to move to a higher caste in the next life.
33. Buddhism
Not
everyone in India was satisfied with Hinduism. In the 500s BC, a young Hindu
prince raised in luxury became troubled by the suffering he saw in the world.
He left his wife and infant son to become a wandering monk, seeking a way to
end the suffering. After six years of solitary searching, he found an answer
and began to teach. His followers called him the "Buddha," or
"the enlightened one."
Buddha
taught that our life in the physical world is merely an illusion When people
let go of their worldly pain and worries, they can unite with the universal
soul and achieve a state of complete peace called nirvana. Like Hindus,
Buddhists believe nothing is permanent, that life constantly moves through
cycles of birth, death, and rebirth like the turning of a wheel. Although
Buddha accepted the Hindu belief in reincarnation, he taught that people could
achieve nirvana from their actions in this life alone, and he rejected the
caste system. For these reasons, Buddhism became popular among the lower
classes in India.
Today
Buddhism is a major world religion. Although it began in India, Buddhism spread
to the east and declined in India as Buddhism was absorbed into Hinduism.
Buddhists are now found in the greatest numbers in East Asia and Southeast
Asia.
34. Ashoka
Centuries
after the Indus Valley Civilization died, cities and civilization arose again
farther to the east in the fertile Ganges River valley. India was torn by
warfare between kingdoms until the first Indian empire was established in the
Ganges valley by the Mauryan Dynasty in 324 BC. Its greatest leader was Ashoka,
who extended his empire to the south in a bloody invasion that conquered all
but the southern tip of India.
Then
Ashoka had a sudden change of heart. He publicly announced his grief at the
suffering caused by his armies, and he rejected violence. He even gave up
hunting and eating meat. Ashoka converted to Buddhism, and he spread Buddhist
thinking throughout India and to neighboring countries. Ruling India with
Buddhist ideals, Ashoka's government promoted the welfare of the people by kind
acts such as digging new wells, building hospitals for people and animals,
allowing freedom of religion, and easing harsh laws.
Ashoka
also encouraged long-distance ocean trade. It was during his reign that India
became the center of a vast, southern ocean-trading network that stretched from
China to Africa and the Middle East.
35. Gupta
Empire
Historians
consider the Mauryan Empire and the Gupta Empire that followed (in the 300s and
400s AD) to be the greatest civilizations of India's classical period, a period
when India underwent great cultural and political advancement. The reign of the
Gupta Empire has been called India's "golden age," a high point of
Indian history when art, drama. literature, and science flourished.
Gupta
mathematicians invented the zero, an amazing number with no value that gives
value to the place of other numbers. The zero made it possible to calculate
numbers faster and more accurately, and it was adopted the world over. Doctors
developed an inoculation against smallpox. Farmers learned how to turn the
juice from sugarcane into dried sugar crystals that could be easily stored and
traded over long distances. Cette from India clothed people across much of the
ancient world. Gupta Indie was a land of wonders.
The
Gupta Empire declined in the early 500s AD when tribes of nomadic horsemen
called Huns invaded from grasslands to the north but the cultural patterns that
developed during India's classical period created a vital culture in Southern
Asia that endures to this day."
36. nomadic
raiders
People
of ancient times developed four basic patterns for making a living. Some were
still hunters and gatherers stalking wild game herds. but most people lived in
farming villages. Another group lived in cities supported largely by wealth
from agriculture. A fourth group lived in pastoral societies; these were
nomadic herders of the grasslands who did not settle down in one place like
farmers. They moved their domesticated (tame) animals-sheep, goats, cows,
horses, and camels-from pasture to pasture with the seasons.
Pastoral
people were mobile, and they developed military tactics to protect their
animals from thieves. Pastoral nomads of the steppes (grasslands of central
Eurasia) became skilled at using horses in warfare. and they sometimes raided
settled communities. These were the nomadic raiders who attacked Jericho,
Sumer, the Gupta Empire, and others Many governments of Eurasia began with
nomads sweeping in from the steppes and taking control. Centuries of warfare
between nomadic raiders and civilized peoples in Eurasia led to advancements in
military organization and technology unmatched elsewhere in the world.
37. China
The
world's fourth great, early civilization also got its start along river valley,
the Yellow River of northeastern China, where farmers grew millet and wheat
Farming later moved south to the Yangtze (YONG-zah) river, where rice
production led to an increase in China's population The land between the rivers
became the center of Chinese civilization the so-called Middle Kingdom. Early
Chinese culture grew in relative isolation due to physical barriers and long
distances that separated it from other major civilizations of Eurasia. The
world's highest mountain range, the Himalayas, separates China from India.
The
Chinese have long believed in a philosophy that recognizes fundamental balance
in nature between opposite but complimentary principles called yin and yang. Examples
include day/night, hot/cold. wet/dry, and male/female. Central to Chinese
philosophy and religion is a belief that people should avoid extremes and seek
harmony with the balance of nature. (A philosophy is a system of basic beliefs
about life.)
With
nearly one fourth of the world's population, China today is
the world's
most populous country, and it has a fast-growing economy. China was a
superpower in the past, and it has become a superpower again in this century.
China and its neighboring countries of Mongolia, Korea, and Japan form a region
bordering the Pacific Ocean known as East Asia or the Far East.
38. mandate
from heaven
The
Zhou (JOH) dynasty took control of China in 1122 BC and ruled for nearly 900
years. To give their government legitimacy, Zhou and later Chinese rulers
claimed to rule with approval from the gods, a mandate from heaven. Although
this claim was meant to enhance the emperor's authority, it also established
the right to overthrow an ineffective emperor. The emperor was expected to
protect his people by ruling in a way that pleased the gods. If trouble
developed in the empire-droughts or military defeats, for example-people might
say the emperor had lost his mandate from heaven, and the emperor could be
overthrown.
Over
many centuries, China's history experienced a recurring pattern. A ruling
dynasty would start out strong and gradually weaken over time until it was
replaced by a new dynasty. Then the pattern would repeat.
Zhou
rulers controlled their kingdom through a feudal system, meaning that they
divided the land into smaller territories and appointed officials to govern
them. When the Zhou dynasty eventually weakened, some of these territories
developed into strong states that opposed the emperor and began fighting among
themselves. These bloody conflicts lasted for over two centuries, a time called
the Warring States period.
39.
Confucius
Confucius
was born in 551 BC, when Zhou rulers were losing control of their empire. He
tried to return harmony to China with a philosophy based on devotion to the
family, respect between the classes, high moral ideals, and learning. He
emphasized individual duty and responsibility, what we might call a strong work
ethic. The family was the center of Confucian society, with the father at the
head. The mother and children owed total obedience to the father. Family
ancestors were honored and not forgotten.
Confucius
promoted an orderly society in which people of higher rank were courteous to
those below, and those of lower rank were respectful lead by example, not
through power and harsh laws. "When the ruler to those above. Confucius
said a ruler should act like a good father and does right, all men will imitate
his self-control."
While
the teachings of Confucius were not very influential in his lifetime, they soon
became a guiding philosophy of Chinese civilization, and they still exert a
strong influence on Chinese culture today.
40. The
First Emperor
One
of China's warring states, the Qin (CHIN) kingdom of western China, grew
wealthy from agriculture based on extensive irrigation. With this wealth, the
Qin ruler raised a powerful army and spent twenty years ruthlessly conquering
China's warring states. He declared himself First Emperor in 221 BC. Thus, it
was the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, who brought China under a central
government and gave China its name,
To
help unify China, the First Emperor stripped the regional warlords of their
power, and he forced them to move to the capital where he could control them.
He also standardized the Chinese language, money, roads, and weights and
measures.
The
First Emperor ruled with a philosophy that considered people selfish and evil
by nature; he adopted strict laws and harsh punishments to keep people in line.
He also tried to control what people could think, it is said that he buried
scholars alive, burned books including the teachings of Confucius, and brutally
eliminated those who disagreed with him.
41. Great
Wall of China
Natural
barriers protected China on three sides: oceans to the east and south,
mountains and desert to the west. But China's northern border lay open to
attack from Huns. The First Emperor ordered a number of individual walls joined
together to form one great stone wall to defend China's northern border from
attack. Hundreds of thousands of laborers worked on the Great Wall for years,
and many workers died under the harsh conditions. Gates in the wall became
centers of trade with the nomadic peoples who lived outside. The Great Wall was
repaired and rebuilt a number of times over the centuries, and parts of it
still stand.
The
First Emperor also built for himself a magnificent underground tomb, and nearby
he buried a terra-cotta army of life-size soldiers to protect him for eternity.
(Terra-cotta is the brownish-orange pottery used today to make flowerpots.) One
pit contained sculptures of 6,000 Infantrymen (foot soldiers), and a second pit
held the cavalry (mounted soldiers) complete with life-size horses, all
arranged in battle formation One of the great archeological finds of the 20th
century, the terra-cotta army was uncovered accidentally in 1974 by a farmer
digging a well.
Hoping
to find a way to avoid death, the First Emperor experimented with a number of
potions until he killed himself by accidental poisoning. The Qin Dynasty lasted
for only fifteen years, but it began a Chinese tradition of strong central
governments controlled by powerful rulers.
42. Han
Dynasty
The
harsh rule of the First Emperor was so unpopular that the Qin Dynasty was
overthrown shortly after the emperor's death. Following a period of civil war,
the Han Dynasty took control of China in 206 BC. Han rulers adopted Confucian
ideas about creating a respectful and orderly society, and they set up a civil
service system to run the government with well-educated officials chosen by
written tests.
The
Han Dynasty expanded China's empire to the south and west. and it produced
marvels that would change the world, including the ship's rudder, the magnetic
compass, and paper. The four-hundred-year reign of the Han Empire was so
successful that it is considered the greatest of China's classical dynasties.
The
Han Empire eventually weakened, fell apart, and was replaced by three kingdoms
in 220 AD. About a hundred years later, Hun invaders took control of the
Chinese heartland. The period of classical civilization in China was over, but
the Chinese were left with an enduring belief that China was the center of
civilization.
43. the Silk
Road
During
the Han Dynasty, regular trade began over the Silk Road, actually a network of
trails that stretched 4,000 miles from China to the Roman Empire. Only the
Chinese knew how to raise silkworms and weave silk: Chinese silk was worth its
weight in gold in Rome. Europeans also acquired a taste for other Asian luxury
goods including spices, a taste that would later send Columbus on his voyages
of discovery.
The
Silk Road was a two-way street. Asian goods were traded for Western goods,
which flowed back along the Silk Road to China. Imports from the west to China
included gold, silver, powerful horses, new foods, and Buddhism. This overland
trade was made possible by the camel, the "ship of the desert," with
its large padded feet for walking on shifting desert sands and its ability go
long distances without food or water.
Trade
routes such as the Silk Road were pioneered by nomads. For a price, nomads
provided caravans with pack animals and protection. The Silk Road in the north
joined with the southern ocean shipping routes to form a trading web that
spread goods, technologies, and ideas between Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
44. Iron Age
Advanced
Bronze Age civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East collapsed
around 1200 BC following attacks from a group of raiders known as the "Sea
Peoples." Little is known about where the Sea Peoples came from and what
caused them to move into new territories but disruption of the bronze trade led
to a transformation to a newer metal technology, iron.
This
is when people learned how to use a draft of air from a furnace or bellows to
produce the hot temperatures needed to melt iron from iron ore and to shape it
into tools and weapons. Iron was much stronger than bronze, and it was less
expensive because iron ore was easier to find than the tin needed to make
bronze. Iron working not only mean better tools and weapons, it meant many more
of them, a major technological change.
After
iron working began in the Middle East, it spread to India and to much of the
civilized world. Iron had a big impact on agriculture and warfare. Iron plow
blades and hoes made it possible to work heavier soil than before, extending
agriculture into new lands and boosting human populations. Armies grew bigger
and deadlier due to more effective and less expensive iron weapons and armor.
There is no definite ending date for the Iron Age, but people today might say
we live in the "Industrial Age" or the "Digital Age."
Some
questions to consider:
If
you were sent on a mission to establish a new civilization on a distant planet
similar to earth, where would you locate your civilization? Why?
What
gives a government the right to rule over people?
Are
harsh punishments needed to keep people in line?
If
the Buddha were alive today, would he still wonder why there is so much
suffering in the world?
The
arrival of iron technology changed the world in big ways it possible to predict
how new technologies will change our world it the future?
