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rec ommend promising candidates for public servic e. Some

three decades later, in 165

B.C.E., the first kno wn civil

service examination was adminis tered to candidates for

positions in the bur eaucracy. Shortly after that, an acad-

emy was established to train candidates. The first candi-

dates were almost all from aristocratic or other wealthy

families, and the Han bureaucracy itself was still domi-

nated by the traditional her editary elite. Still, the principle

of selecting officials on the basis of talent had been es-

tablished and woul d eventually become stand ar d practice.

Under the Han dynasty, the population increased

rapidly---by some estimates rising from about 20 million

to more than 60 million at the height of the dynasty---

creating a growing need for a large and efficient bu-

reaucracy to maintain the state in proper working order.

Unfortunately, the Han were unable to resolve all of the

problems left over from the past. Factionalism at court

remained a serious problem and undermined the effi-

ciency of the central government.

The Economy

Han rulers also retained some of the economic and social

policies of their predecessors. In rural areas, they realized

that a free peasantry paying taxes directly to the state

would both limit the wealth and power of the great noble

families and increase the state’s revenues. The Han had

difficulty preventing the recurrence of the economic in-

equities that had characterized the last years of the Zhou,

however (see the box above). The land taxes were rela-

tively light, but the peasants also faced a number of other

exactions, including military service and forced labor of

up to one month annually. Although the use of iron tools

brought new lands under the plow and food production

increased steadily, the trebling of the population under

the Han eventually reduced the average size of the indi-

vidual farm plot to about one acre per capita, barely

enough for survival. As time went on, many poor peas-

ants were forced to sell their land and become tenant

farmers, paying rents ranging up to half of the annual

harvest. Thus, land once again came to be concentrated in

the hands of the powerful landed clans, which often

owned thousands of acres worked by tenants.

Although such economic problems contributed to

the eventual downfall of the dynasty, in general the Han

era was one of unparalleled productivity and prosperity.

The period was marked by a major expansion of trade,

both domestic and foreign. This was not necessarily due

to official encouragement. In fact, the Han were as sus-

picious of private merchants as their predecessors had

AN EDICT FROM THE EMPEROR

According to Confucian doctrine, Chinese monarchs

ruled with the mandate of Heaven as long as they

properly looked after the welfare of their subjects.

One of their most important responsibilities was to

maintain food production at a level sufficient to feed their peo-

ple. Natural calamities such as floods, droughts, and earth-

quakes were interpreted as demonstrations of displeasure with

the ‘‘Son of Heaven’’ on earth. In this edict, Emperor Wendi

(180–157

B.C.E.) wonders whether he has failed in his duty to

carry out his imperial Dao (Way), thus incurring the wrath of

Heaven. After the edict was issued in 163

B.C.E., the govern-

ment took steps to increase the grain harvest, bringing an end

to the food shortages.

What reasons does Emperor Wendi advance to explain

the decline in grain production in China? What possible solu-

tions does he propose? Does his approach meet the require-

ments for official behavior set out by Chinese philosophers

such as Mencius?

124 CHAPTER 5 THE FIRST WORLD CIVILIZATION: ROME, CHINA, AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SILK ROAD

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

been and levied stiff taxes on trade in an effort to limit

commercial activities. Merchants were also subject to

severe social constraints. They were disqualified from

seeking office, restricted in their place of residence, and

viewed in general as parasites providing little true value to

Chinese society.

The state itself direc ted much trade and manufactur-

ing; it manufactured weapons, for example, and operated

shipyards, granaries, and mines. The government also

moved cautiously into foreign trade, mostly with neigh-

boring regions in Central and Southeas t Asia, although

trade relations were established with areas as far away as

India and the Mediterranean, where active contacts were

maintained with the Roman Empire (see Map 5.4). Some

of this long-distance trade wa s carried by sea thr ough

southern ports like Guangzhou, but more was transported

by overland cara vans on the Silk R oad (see Chapter 10)

and other r outes that led westwa r d into Cent ral Asia.

NORTH

AFRICA

EGYPT

ARABIA

RUSSIA

PERSIA

AFGHANISTAN

BACTRIA

Constantinople

Antioch

Damascus

Alexandria

Black Sea

Aral

Sea

Hangzhou

Arabian

Sea

Indian

Ocean

Bay

Bengal

South

China

Sea

INDIA

CHINA

INDOCHINA

Turfan

Dunhuang

Pataliputra

Chang'an

Luoyang

Guangzhou

(Canton)

Hindu

Kush

Gobi Desert

Kashgar

Taxila

Barygaza

Masulipatam

SUMATRA

TIBET

MALAYA

JAVA

BORNEO

Chi

Oc Eo

Breakdown of Traded Goods

North India

South India

China

Arabia

East Africa

Region Imports Exports

tortoiseshell

ivory

spices

incense

slaves

precious stones

wine

metal

cloth and clothing

glassware

coinage

weapons

timber

silks

Traded goods:

Silk Road

Sea Routes

0 500 1,000 Miles

0 500 1,000 1,500 Kilometers

MAP 5.4 Trade Routes of the Anci ent World. This map shows the various land and

maritime routes that extended from China toward other civilizations located to the south and

west of the Han Empire. The various goods that were exchanged are identified at the bottom

of the map.

Wh y do you think China had so few imports? W hat other patterns do you see?

THE GLOR IO U S HAN EMPIRE (202 B.C.E.--22 1 C.E.) 125

New technology contributed to the economic

prosperity of the Han era. The Chinese made significant

progress in such areas as textile manufacturing, water

mills, and iron casting; skill at ironworking led to the

production of steel a few centuries later. Paper was in-

vented under the Han, and the developme nt of the

rudder and fore-and-aft rigging permitted ships to sail

into the wind for the first time. Thus equipped, Chinese

merchant ships carry ing heavy cargoes could sail

throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and into the

Indian Ocean.

Imperial Expansion and the Origins

of the Silk Road

The Han emperors continued the process of territorial

expansion and consolidation that had begun under the

Zhou and the Qin. Han rulers, notably Han Wudi (Han

Wu Ti, or Martial Emperor of Han; 141--87

B.C.E.), suc-

cessfully completed the assimilation into the empire of

the regions south of the Yangtze River, including the Red

River delta in what is today northern Vietnam. Han ar-

mies also marched westward as far as the Caspian Sea,

pacifying nomadic tribal peoples and extending China’s

boundary far into Central Asia (see Map 5.5).

The latter project apparently was originally planned

as a means to fend off pressure from the nomadic

Xiongnu peoples, who periodically threatened Chinese

lands from their base area north of the Great Wall. In 138

B.C.E., Emperor Wudi dispatched the courtier Zhang Qian

(Chang Ch’ien) on a mission westward into Central Asia

to seek alliances with peoples living there against the

common Xiongnu menace. Zhang Qian returned home

with ample information about political and economic

conditions in Central Asia. The new knowledge provoked

the Han court to establish the first Chinese military

presence in the area of the Taklamakan Desert and the

Tian Shan (Heavenly Mountains). Eventually, this area

would become known to the Chinese people as Xinjiang,

or ‘‘New Region.’’

MAP 5.5 The Han Empire. This map show s the territory under the control of the Han

Empire at its greatest extent during the first century

B.C.E. Note the Great Wall’s placement

relative to nomadic peoples.

How did the expansion of H an rule to the west parallel the Silk Road?

126 CHAPTER 5 THE FIRST WORLD CIVILIZATION: ROME, CHINA, AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SILK ROAD

Chinese commercial exchanges with peoples in

Central Asia now began to expand dramatically. Eastward

into China came grapes, precious metals, glass objects,

and horses from Persia and Central Asia. Horses were

particularly significant because Chinese military strate-

gists had learned of the importance of cavalry in their

battles against the Xiongnu and sought the sturdy Fer-

ghana horses of Bactria to increase their own military

effectiveness. In return, China exported silk, above all, to

countries to the west.

Silk, a fil ament created from the cocoons of silk-

worms, had been prod uced in China since the fourth

millennium

B.C.E. Eventually, knowledge of the wonder

product reached the outside world, and Chinese silk

exports began to rise dramatically. By the second cen-

tury

B.C.E., the first items made from silk reached the

Mediterranean region, stimulating the first significant

contacts between China and Rome, its great counterpart

in the west. The bulk of the trade went overland

through Central Asia (thus earning this route its current

name as the Silk Road), although significant exchanges

also took place via the maritime route (see Chapter 9).

Silk became a popular craze among Roman elites,

leading to a vast outflow of silver from Rome to China

and provoking the Roman em peror Tiberius to grumble

that ‘‘the ladies and their baubles are transferring our

money to foreigners.’’

The silk trade also stimulated a degree of mutual

curiosity between the two great civilizations, but not

much mutual knowledge or understanding. Roman

authors such as Pliny and the geographer Strabo (who

speculated that silk was produced from the leaves of a

silk tree) wrote of a strange land called ‘‘Seres’’ far to the

east, while Chinese sources mentioned the empire of

‘‘Great Qin’’ at the far end of the Silk Road to the west.

So far as is known, no personal or diplomatic contacts

between the two civ ilizations ever took place. But two

great empires at either extreme of the Eurasian super-

continent had for the first time been linked together in

a commercial relationship.

Social Changes

Under the Han dynasty, Chinese social institutions

evolved into more complex forms than had been the

case in past eras. The emergence of a free peasantr y

resulted in a strengthening of the nuclear family, al-

though the joint family---the linear descendant of the

clan system in the Zhou dynasty---continued to hold

sway in much of the countryside. The vast majority of

Chinese continued to live in rural areas, but the number

of cities, mainly at the junction of rivers and trade

routes, was on the increase. The largest was the imperial

capital of Chang’an, which was one of the great cities of

the ancient world and rivaled Rome in magnificence.

The city covered a total area of nearly 16 square miles

and was enclosed by a 1 2-foot earthen wall surrounded

by a moat. Tw elve gates provided entry into the city,

and eight major avenues run e ast-west or north-south.

Each avenue was nearly 150 fee t wide; a center s trip in

each avenue was reserved for the emperor, whose palace

and gardens occupied nearly half of the southern and

central parts of the city.

Religion and Culture

The Han dynasty’s adoption of Confucianism as the

official philosophy of the state did not have much direct

impact on the religious beliefs of the Chinese pe ople.

Although official sources sought to flesh out the scat-

tered metaphysical references in the Confucian canon

with a more coherent cosmology, the pa ntheon of

popular reli gion was still peopled by lo cal de ities and

nature spirits, some connec ted with popular Daoism.

Sometime in t he first century

C.E., however, a new sal-

vationist faith appeared on the horizon. Merchants from

Central As ia ca rrying their wares over the Silk Road

broug ht t he B uddhist faith to China for the first time. At

first, its influence was limited, as no Bud dhist text was

translated into Chinese from the original Sanskrit until

the fifth century

C.E. But the terrai n was ripe for the

introduction of a new religion into China, and the first

Chinese m onks departed for India shortly after the end

of the Han dynasty.

Cultural attainments under the Han dynasty tended

in general to reflect traditional forms, although there

was considerable experimentation with new forms of

expression. In literature, poetr y and philosphical essays

continued to be popular, but historical writing became

the primary form of literary creativity. Historians such

as Sima Qian and Ban Gu (the dynasty’s official histo-

rian and the older brother of the female historian Ban

Zhao) wrote works that became models for later dy-

nastic histories. These historical works combined po-

litical and social history with biographies of key figures.

Like so much literar y work in China, their primary

purpose was moral and political---to explain the un-

derlying reasons for the rise and fall of individual hu-

man beings and dynasties.

Painting---often in the form of wall frescoes---became

increasingly popular, although little has survived the

ravages of time. In the plastic arts, bronze was steadily

being replaced by iron as a medium of choice. More

readily obtainable, it was better able to satisfy the growing

popular demand during a time of increasing economic

affluence.

THE GLOR IO U S HAN EMPIRE (202 B.C.E.--22 1 C.E.) 127

The Decline and Fall of the Han

In 9 C.E., the reformist official Wang Mang, who was

troubled by the plight of the peasants, seized power from

the Han court and declared the foundation of the Xin

(New) dynasty. The empire had been crumbling for

decades. As frivolous or depraved rulers amused them-

selves with the pleasures of court life, the power and in-

fluence of the central government began to wane, and the

great noble families filled the vacuum, amassing vast

landed estates and transforming free farmers into tenants.

Wang Mang tried to confiscate the great estates, restore

the ancient well field system, and abolish slavery. In so

doing, however, he alienated powerful interests, who

conspired to overthrow him. In 23

C.E., beset by admin-

istrative chaos and a collapse of the frontier defenses,

Wang Mang was killed in a coup d’e

tat.

For a time, strong leadership revived some of the

glory of the early Han. The court attempted to reduce

land taxes and carry out land resettlement programs. The

growing popularity of nutritious crops like rice, wheat,

and soybeans, along with the introduction of new crops

such as alfalfa and grapes, helped boost food production.

But the monopoly of land and power by the great landed

families continued. Weak rulers were isolated within their

imperial chambers and dominated by eunuchs and other

powerful figures at court. Official corruption and the

concentration of land in the hands of the wealthy led to

widespread peasant unrest. The Han also continued to

have problems with the Xiongnu beyond the Great Wall

to the north. Nomadic raids on Chinese territory

continued intermittently to the end of the dynasty, once

reaching almost to the gates of the capital city.

Buffeted by insurmountable problems within and

without, in the late second century

C.E., the dynasty en-

tered a period of inexorable decline. The population of

the empire, which had been estimated at about 60 million

in China’s first census in the year 2

C.E., had shrunk to less

than one-third that number two hundred years later. In

the early third century

C.E., the dynasty was finally

brought to an end when power was seized by Cao Cao

(Ts’ao Ts’ao), a general known to later generations as one

of the main characters in the famous Chinese epic The

Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But Cao Cao was unable

to consolidate his power, and China entered a period of

almost constant anarchy and internal division, com-

pounded by invasions by northern tribal peoples. The

next great dynasty did not arise until the beginning of the

seventh century, four hundred years later.

Han Dynasty Horse. This terra-cotta horse

head is a striking example of Han artistry.

Although the Chinese had domesticated the

smaller Mongolian pony as early as 2000

B.C.E.,

it was not until toward the end of the first

millennium

B.C.E. that the Chinese acquired horses

as a result of military expeditions into Central

Asia. The horse was admired for its power and

grace, and horses made of terra-cotta or bronze

were often placed in Qin and Han tombs. This

magnificent head suggests the divine power that

the Chinese of this time attributed to horses.

CHRONOLOGY

The Han Dynasty

Overthrow of Qin dynasty 206

B.C.E.

Formation of Han dynasty 202

B.C.E.

Reign of Emperor Wudi 141--87

B.C.E.

Zhang Qian’s mission to Central Asia 138

B.C.E.

First silk goods arrive in Europe Second century

B.C.E.

Wang Mang interregnum 9--23

C.E.

First Buddhist merchants arrive in China First century

C.E.

Collapse of Han dynasty 221

C.E.



William J. Duiker

128 CHAPTER 5 THE FIRST WORLD CIVILIZATION: ROME, CHINA, AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SILK ROAD

TIMELINE

500 B.C.E.

250 B.C.E. 1 C.E. 250 C.E. 500 C.E.

Republic

begins

Twelve Tables

Jesus of Nazareth Constantine legalizes Christianity

Struggle of the orders

Decline and collapse of Republic Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of empire

Early Empire

Conquest of Italy and Mediterranean

Han Empire in China

Invention of paper

Rome

China

CONCLUSION

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM C.E.,

two great empires---the Roman Empire in the West and the Han

Empire in the East---dominated large areas of the world. Although

there was little contact between them, the Han Empire and the

Roman Empire had some remarkable similarities. Both empires

lasted for centuries, and both had remarkable success in establishing

centralized control over their empires. They built elaborate systems

of roads in order to rule efficiently and relied on provincial officials,

and especially on towns and cities, for local administration. In both

empires, settled conditions led to a high level of agricultural

production that sustained large populations, estimated at between

50 million and 60 million in each empire. Although both empires

expanded into areas that had different languages, ethnic groups, and

ways of life, they managed to carry their legal and political

institutions, their technical skills, and their languages throughout

their territory.

The Roman and Han Empires had similar social and economic

structures. The family stood at the heart of the social structure,

with the male head of the family as all-powerful. Duty, courage,

obedience, discipline---all were values inculcated by the family that

helped make the empires strong. The wealth of both societies also

depended on agriculture. Although a free peasantry was a backbone

of strength and stability in each, the gradual conversion of free

peasants into tenant farmers by wealthy landowners was common

to both societies and ultimately served to undermine the power of

their imperial governments.

Of course, there were also significant differences. Merchants

were more highly regarded and allowed more freedom in the Roman

Empire than in the Han Empire. One key reason for this difference

seems clear: whereas many subjects of the Roman Empire depended

to a considerable degree on commerce to provide them with items of

daily use such as wheat, olives, wine, cloth, and timber, the vast

majority of Chinese were subsistence farmers whose needs---when

they were supplied---could normally be met by the local environment.

As a result, social mobility was undoubtedly more limited in China

than in the Roman Empire, and many Chinese peasants never

ventured far beyond their village gate in their entire lives.

On the other hand, political instability was more pronounced

in the Roman Empire. With the mandate of Heaven and the strong

dynastic principle, Chinese rulers had the authority to command by

a mandate from divine forces that was easily passed on to other

family members. Although Roman emperors were accorded divine

status by the Roman senate after their death, accession to the

Roman imperial throne depended less on solid dynastic principles

and more on pure military force. As a result, over a period of

centuries, Chinese imperial authority was far more stable.

Despite the differences, one major similarity remains.

Both empires were eventually overcome by invasions of nomadic

CONCLUSION 129

SUGGESTED READING

General Surveys For a general account of Roman history, see

M. T. Boatwright, D. J. Gargola, and R. J. A. Talbert, The Romans:

From Village to Empire (New York, 2004). Good surveys of the

Roman Republic include C. S. Mackay, Ancient Rome: A Military

and Political History (Cambridge, 2004), and M. Le Glay, J.-L.

Voisin, and Y. Le Bohec, A History of Rome, trans. A. Nevill

(Oxford, 1996). The history of early Rome is well covered in T. J.

Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze

Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000--264

B.C.) (London, 1995).

Roman Expansion An account of Rome’s expansion in the

Mediterranean world is provided by J. M. David, The Roman

Conquest of Italy, trans. A. Nevill (Oxford, 1996). On Rome’s

struggle with Carthage, see A. Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars (New

York, 2001). The Roman army is examined in A. Goldsworthy, The

Complete Roman Army (London, 2003).

The Late Republic An excellent account of basic problems in

the late Republic can be found in M. Beard and M. H. Crawford,

Rome in the Late Republic (London, 1984). Also valuable is

E. Hildinger, Swords Against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman

Army and the Fall of the Republic (Cambridge, Mass., 2002). On

the role of Caesar, see A. Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus

(New Haven, Conn., 2006).

Early Roman Empire Good surveys of the Early Roman

Empire include P. Garnsey and R. Saller, The Roman Empire:

Economy, Society and Culture (London, 1987); C. Wells, The

Roman Empire, 2nd ed. (London, 1992); M. Goodman, The Roman

World, 44

B.C.--A.D. 180 (London, 1997); and R. Mellor, Augustus

and the Creation of the Roman Empire (Boston, 2005), for a brief

history with documents.

Roman Society and Culture A good survey of Roman

literature can be found in R. M. Ogilvie, Roman Literature and

Society (Harmondsworth, England, 1980). On Roman art and

architecture, see F. S. Kleiner, A History of Roman Art (Belmont,

Calif., 2006). A general study of daily life in Rome is F. Dupont,

Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Oxford, 1994). On the Roman family,

see S. Dixon, The Roman Family (Baltimore, 1992). Roman women

are examined in R. Baumann, Women and Politics in Ancient

Rome (New York, 1995). On slavery, see K. R. Bradley, Slavery and

Society at Rome (New York, 1994). On the gladiators, see F. Meijer,

The Gladiators: History’s Most Deadly Sport (Boston, 2005).

Late Roman Empire On the Late Roman Empire, see

S. Mitchell, History of the Later Roman Empire,

A.D. 284--641

(Oxford, 2006). On the fourth century, see T. D. Barnes, The New

Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Mass., 1982).

On the fall of the Western Empire, see P. Heather, The Fall of the

Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians (New

York, 2006). On the relationship between the Romans and the

Germans, see T. S. Burns, Rome and the Barbarians, 100

B.C.--A.D.

400 (Baltimore, 2003).

Early Christianity For a general introduction to early

Christianity, see J. Court and K. Court, The New Testament World

(Cambridge, 1990). Useful works on early Christianity include

W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia, 1984), and

R. MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (New Haven,

Conn., 1984). On Christian women, see D. M. Scholer, ed., Women

in Early Chr istianity (New York, 1993).

The Han Empire There are a number of useful books on the

Han dynasty. Two very good recent histories are M. E. Lewis, Early

Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (Cambridge, Mass., 2007), and

C. Holcombe, The Genesis of East Asia, 221

B.C.--A.D. 207

(Honolulu, 2001). The latter study places Han China in a broader

East Asian perspective. Z. Wang, Han Civilization (New Haven,

Conn., 1982), presents evidence from the mainland on excavations

from Han tombs and the old imperial capital of Chang’an. Also see

the lavishly illustrated Han Civilization of China (Oxford, 1982) by

M. P. Serstevens.

Visit the website for The Essential World History to access study

aids such as Flashcards, Critical Thinking Exercises, and

Chapter Quizzes:

www.cengage.com/history/duikspiel/essentialworld6e

peoples: the Han dynasty was weakened by the incursions of the

Xiongnu, and the western Roman Empire eventually collapsed in

the face of incursions by the Germanic peoples. Here, however, the

similarities end. Although the Han dynasty collapsed, the Chinese

imperial tradition, as well as the class structure and set of values that

sustained it, survived, and the Chinese Empire, under new

dynasties, continued into the twentieth century as a single political

entity. The Roman Empire, on the other hand, collapsed and lived

on only as an idea.

Nevertheless, Roman achievements were bequeathed to the

future. The Romance languages of today (French, Italian, Spanish,

Portuguese, and Romanian) are based on Latin. Western practices

of impartial justice and trial by jury owe much to Roman law.

As great builders, the Romans left monuments to their skills

throughout Europe, some of which, such as aqueducts and roads,

are still in use today. Aspects of Roman administrative practices

survived in the Western world for centuries. The Romans also

preserved the intellectual heritage of the Greco-Roman world of

antiquity. Nevertheless, while many aspects of the Roman world

would continue, the heirs of Rome created new civilizations---

European, Islamic, and Byzantine---that would carr y on yet another

stage in the development of human society.

130 CHAPTER 5 THE FIRST WORLD CIVILIZATION: ROME, CHINA, AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE SILK ROAD

131

PART

ATTERNS OF

IVILIZATION

6 THE AMERICAS

7 FERMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST:

HE RISE OF ISLAM

8 EARLY CIVILIZATIONS IN AFRICA

9 THE EXPANSION OF CIVILIZATION

SOUTHERN ASIA

10 THE FLOWERING OF TRADITIONAL

CHINA

11 THE EAST ASIAN RIMLANDS:

ARLY JAPAN,KOREA, AND VIETNAM

12 THE MAKING OF EUROPE

13 THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND CRISIS

AND

RECOVERY IN THE WEST

BY THE BEGINNING of the first millennium C.E., the great states of

the ancient world were in decline; some were even at the point of collapse.

On the ruins of these ancient empires, new patterns of civilization began

to take shape between 400 and 1500

C.E. In some cases, these new societies

were built on the political and cultural foundations of their predecessors.

The Tang dynasty in China and the Guptas in India both looked back to

the ancient period to provide an ideological model for their own time. The

Byzantine Empir e carried on parts of the Classical Greek tradition while

also adopting the powerful creed of Christianity from the Roman Empire.

In other cases, new states incorporated some elements of the former

Classical civilizations while heading in markedly different directions, as in

the Arabic states in the Middle East and in the new European civilization

of the Middle Ages. In Europe, the Renaissanc e of the fifteenth c entury

brought an even greater revival of Greco-Roman culture.

During this period, a number of significant forces were at work in

human society. The concept of civilization gradually spread from the

heartland regions of the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, the

South Asian subcontinent, and China into new areas of the world---sub-

Saharan Africa, central and western Europe, Southeast Asia, and even

the islands of Japan, off the eastern edge of the Eurasian landmass.

Across the oceans, unique but advanced civilizations began to take

shape in isolation in the Americas. In the meantime, the vast migration

of peoples continued, leading not only to bitter conflicts but also to

increased interchanges of technology and ideas. The result was the

transformation of separate and distinct cultures and civilizations into an

increasingly complex and vast world system embracing not only tech-

nology and trade but also ideas and religious beliefs.

As had been the case during antiquity, the Middle East was at the

heart of this activity. The Arab Empire, which took shape after the

death of Muhammad in the early seventh century, provided the key link

in the revived trade routes through the region. Muslim traders---both

Arab and Berber---opened contacts with West African societies south of

the Sahara, while their ships followed the monsoon winds eastward as

far as the Spice Islands in Southeast Asia. Merchants from Central Asia

carried goods back and forth along the Silk Road between the Middle

East and China. For the next several hundred years, the great cities of

the Middle East---Mecca, Damascus, and Baghdad---became among the

wealthiest in the known world.

Islam ’s contributions to the human experience during this period were

cultural and technological as well as economic. Muslim philosophers pre-

served the works of the ancient Greeks for posterity, Muslim scientists and

132

mathematicians made new discov eries about the nature of the universe and

the human body , and Arab cartographers and historians mapped the known

world and speculated about the fundamental forces in human society .

But the Middle East was not the only or necessarily even the primary

contributor to the spread of civilization during this period. While the Arab

Empire became the linchpin of trade between the M editerranean and

eastern and southern Asia, a new center of primary importanc e in world

trade was emerging in East Asia, focused on China. China had been a major

participant in regional trade during the Han dynasty , when its silks were

already being transported to Rome via Central Asia, but its role had de-

clined after the fall of the Han. No w, with the rise of the great Tang and Song

dynasties, China re emerged as a major commerc ial power in East Asia,

trading by sea with Southeast Asia and Japan and by land with the nomadic

peoples of Central Asia. Like the Middle East, China was also a prime source

of new technology. From China came paper, printing, the compass, and

gunpowder. The double-hulled Chinese junks that enter ed the Indian

Ocean during the Ming dynasty were slow and cumbersome but extremely

seaw orthy and capable of carrying substantial quantities of goods over long

distances. Many inve ntions arrived in Eur ope by way of India or the Middle

East, and their Chinese origins were therefore unknown in the West.

Increasing trade on a regional or global basis also led to the ex-

change of ideas. Buddhism was brought to China by merchants, and

Islam first arrived in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indonesian archipelago

in the same manner. Merchants were not the only means by which

religious and cultural ideas spread, however. Sometimes migration,

conquest, or relatively peaceful processes played a part. The case of the

Bantu-speaking peoples in Central Africa is apparently an example of

peaceful expansion; and although Islam sometimes followed the path of

Arab warriors, they rarely imposed their religion by force on the local

population. In some instances, as with the Mongols, the conquerors

made no effort to convert others to their own religions. By contrast,

Christian monks, motivated by missionary fervor, converted many of

the peoples of central and eastern Europe. Roman Catholic monks

brought Latin Christianity to the Germanic and western Slavic peoples,

and monks from the Byzantine Empire largely converted the southern

and eastern Slavic populations to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Another characteristic of the period between 500 and 1500

C.E.was

the almost constant migration of nomadic and seminomadic peoples.

Dynamic forces in the Gobi Desert , Central Asia, the Arabian peninsula,

and Central Africa prov ok ed vast numbers of peoples to abandon their

homelands and seek their livelihood elsewhere. Sometimes the migration

was peaceful. More often, however, migration produced violent conflict

and sometimes invasion and subjugation. As had been the case during

antiquity,themostactivesourceofmigrantswasCentralAsia.Theregion

later gave birth to the fearsome Mongols, whose armies advanced to the

gates of central Eur ope and conquered China in the thirteenth century.

Wher ever they went, they left a train of enormous destruction and loss of

life. Inadvertently, the Mongols were also the source of a new wav e of

epidemics that swept through much of Europe and the Middle East in the

fourteenth century. The spread of the plague---known at the time as the

Black Death---took much of the population of Europe to an early grave.

But there was another side to the era of nomadic expansion. Even

the invasions of the Mongols---the ‘‘scourge of God,’’ as Europeans of the

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries called them---had constructive as

well as destructive consequences. After their initial conquests, for a brief

period of three generations, the Mongols provided an avenue for trade

throughout the most extensive empire (known as the Pax Mongolica)

the world had yet seen.

c SEF/Art Resource, NY

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