Chapter 6: India and Southeast Asia

Warm Up

1. Explain the Punic Wars and their importance:2. Define Latifundia and how it impacts Rome:3. Poor working class or Rome:4. Wealthy landowning class of Rome:5. Pax Romana:6. Spread of Roman culture and ideas:7. Sent to convert non Jews to Christianity:8. Person who dies for their faith:

• I. Foundations of Indian Civilization– A. Indian Subcontinent– India has three zones: northern mountainous

zone, Indus and Ganges basin zone, the peninsula– Indus river and the Ganges river crops include

rice, wheat, barley– Because of the geographical diversity of India it is

difficult to politically control India throughout history

– B. Vedic Age– Aryans and Dasas struggle for power in India and

this leads to rigid social classes in a system called caste

– B. Vedic Age– Social Classes:– 1. Priests and Scholars– 2. Warriors– 3. Merchants– 4. peasants and laborers– Below this is the untouchables (dealing with

dead bodies)– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15elGwkFUYE

– Caste system: people could not move up or down in the caste in this life, good move up next life, bad move down next life

– Reincarnation: person’s soul (atman) is continually reborn into a new form after death

– B. Vedic Age– People would work hard in the caste system so

they could move up in the next life– System of accountability for all people– Karma: one’s actions in life will determine how

they are reborn– Dharma: one’s duty in life– Person will be reborn until dharma is met– Brahmin was the god above all in the Vedic religion

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHbNz_5L78

– B. Vedic Age– Role of Women: They could study and participate in

rituals, they could own land, and they married in their early teens

– C. Challenges to the Old Order: Jainism and Buddhism

– Jainism practiced non violence and their goals is to achieve moksha (liberation from reincarnation)

– Siddhartha Gautama founded the religion of Buddhism

– Prince who left home and wandered the land looking for answers and enlightenment

– His goal was to seek the cure for human suffering– Resolved to find a way to overcome age and sickness

to keep people from having to suffer

– Buddhism teaches a path to enlightenment with the goal of achieving nirvana (release from reincarnation)

– Atman: a person’s eternal soul– Do not believe in the caste system– Do not worship any gods, Buddha forbade

followers to worship his image

– D. Rise of Hinduism– Hinduism is the reform of the Old Vedic religion– Hinduism believes in many gods– Brahman – single force, external being that

created the world– Vishnu—the preserver of the world– Shiva—the destroyer of the world– Ganges river becomes a pilgrimage site for Hindu

people to cleanse them of wrongdoings – (Confessional—Catholics)

• II. Imperial Expansion and Collapse, 324 BCE–650 CE– A. Mauryan Empire, 324-184 BCE– Mauryan Empire was founded by Chandragupta– Pataliputra is capital

– Empire had a large army (infantry, cavalry, chariots, elephants), taxed agriculture goods 25% of the harvest to the state, and had state monopolies on mines, shipbuilding, and armaments

– Ashoka is the most famous Mauryan emperor spread Buddhism throughout his empire

– B. Commerce and Political Fragmentation– 184 BCE Mauryan Empire collapses– Political Fragmentation brings a rise to artisans

and merchants (Middle Ages in Europe)– C. Gupta Empire, 320-550 CE– Guptas controlled iron deposits, established state

monopolies and collected 25% farm tax– Gupta mathematics invented Arabic numbers

and a concept of zero in Asia

– Women lost the right to inherit or own property and to participate in rituals

– Were seen as very low and treated that way– Suttee: in some places in India women were

required to burn herself alive on her husband’s funeral cremation to be with her husband in death

– If refused women were seen as prostitutes– Only way to escape this lowly view of women

was to join a religious community, be a courtesan, or be in a wealthy family

– 550 CE Gupta empire falls to the Huns

• III. Southeast Asia, 50-1025 CE– A. Geography, Resources, and Early Civilization– 3 geographical zones: Indochina mainland, Malay

peninsula, and this islands– Slash and burn farming technology– Crops: rice, soybeans, sugar cane– Domesticated chickens and pigs