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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Peopling of the World,Prehistory–2500 B.C.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Scientists study stones and bones to learn about the life ofthe earliest humans. Humans developed first in Africa and spread to other partsof the world. After hundreds of thousands of years of a wandering existence,people started settling in one place. They got food by farming and by raisinganimals. This success and their new technologies soon led to the first civilizations.

Summary

Human Origins in AfricaKEY IDEA Fossil evidence shows that the earliesthumans first appeared in Africa.

People can learn about the past by using writtenrecords. However, these records cover only the

last 5,000 years or so of human life on Earth. Tolearn about the more distant time before the firstwritten records, scientists need to use special skillsand tools. They are like detectives trying to solve amystery. That mystery is the puzzle of the prehistorichuman past—the story of humans before history.

The scientists concerned with this mystery arecalled archaeologists. They work at places calleddigs, pits dug into the ground to find objects buriedfor thousands of years. They uncover tools, jewelry,or other things made by people. Such objects arecalled artifacts. Archaeologists also dig up bones—the bones of ancient humans and of the animalsthat lived with them. Some of these bones havebecome fossils, meaning they have survived overtime because they were preserved in stone. Bystudying bones and artifacts, they can find cluesabout how the earliest humans lived.

In the early 1970s, archaeologists made someimportant finds in Africa. In East Africa they foundthe footprints of humanlike beings, calledhumanoids, who had lived about 3.5 million yearsago. In Ethiopia another team uncovered a rare,complete skeleton of one of these humanlikebeings—a female that they nicknamed Lucy.

Because these early beings walked upright, theycould travel long distances more easily than four-footed ones. They could also use their free arms tocarry food, tools, and children. These creatures alsodeveloped one other major human trait. They couldmove their thumbs across the palms of their handsand touch their other fingers. Because of this oppos-able thumb, they could pick up and hold objects.

Humans made important advances during aperiod called the Stone Age, when people used tools

made of stone. In this time, they also began to usefire and developed speech. Scientists divide theStone Age into two parts. The Paleolithic Age, orOld Stone Age, began about 2.5 million years agoand lasted until about 8000 B.C. The Neolithic, orNew Stone, Age went from about 8000 B.C. toaround 3000 B.C.

Much of the Old Stone Age overlapped the IceAge, when the earth was colder than it is now. Vastsheets of ice—glaciers—covered much of the land.About 10,000 years ago, the temperature warmedand the ice melted. The ice sheets grew smallerand people began to roam wider stretches of land.

In East Africa, archaeologists have found ahumanoid fossil that they named Homo habilis. Thename means “man of skill.” It was given becausethe site also held tools made of lava rock by thesehumanoids. Homo habilis lived about 2.5 millionyears ago. About 1.6 million years ago, another kindof humanoid lived. This one, called Homo erectus,began to use tools for special purposes. They dugfor food in the ground, cut meat from animalbones, and scraped animal skins. Homo erectus alsobegan using fire and may have had the first spokenlanguage. Many scientists believe that Homo erec-tus developed into humans or Homo sapiens.

Scientists once thought Neaderthals wereancestors of modern humans but no longer do.These hominids appeared 200,000 years ago. Theylived in caves or built shelters of wood or animalskins. At one time, they were thought to be roughand wild people. Now scientists think that they mayhave held religious beliefs. These people foundways to survive the freezing cold of the Ice Age.About 30,000 years ago, though, the Neanderthalsstrangely disappeared.

About 10,000 years before these people van-ished, a new group of prehistoric people appeared.They are called the Cro-Magnons. Their bodieswere just like those of modern people. Scientists

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think that these people worked with one another inplanning large-scale hunts of animals. They mayhave also had more skill at speaking than did theNeanderthals. Because they had these skills, theCro-Magnons were better at finding food. Thatmay explain why Cro-Magnons survived andNeanderthals did not.

Scientists have only a vague picture of the originof humans. The fossil record is sketchy. However,more discoveries may lead to new ideas about earlyhumans. What is clear now is that humans hadskills that helped them adapt and survive in differ-ent lands and climates.

Humans Try to ControlNature

KEY IDEA Humans began to grow food and raise animals.Their population increased, and they began to live in set-tled communities.

The first humans had faced a struggle for survival.For thousands and thousands of years, they

were concerned first with finding food and protect-ing themselves from the dangers of life in the wild.They used fire, built shelters, made clothes, anddeveloped spoken language. These areas of life areall part of culture, the special way of life followedby a group of people. Human culture changed overtime as new tools replaced old and people testednew ideas. Later some modern humans increasedthe pace of change.

The people who had lived in the early part ofthe Old Stone Age were nomads. They moved fromplace to place, never staying in one spot for long.They were always looking for new sources of food.They found that food by hunting and gatheringnuts, berries, leaves, and roots. The Cro-Magnonpeople, who came later, made tools to help them intheir search. With spears, hunters could kill animalsat greater distances. With sticks, those who gath-ered plant food could dig plants out of the earth.

These modern humans had a large kit of tools—more than 100 different ones. They used stone,bone, and wood. They made knives to cut meat,hooks to catch fish, and even a tool to make othertools. With bone needles, they sewed animal hidesinto clothes.

Cro-Magnon people also created works of art.This art gives us a fascinating glimpse into theirworld. These early humans made necklaces out ofseashells, the teeth of lions, or the claws of bears.

They took the tusks of mammoths—hairy elephant-like animals—and ground them down to makebeads. The most remarkable art from the StoneAge, though, is paintings. Thousands of years ago,artists mixed charcoal, mud, and animal blood tomake paint. They used this paint to draw picturesof animals on the walls of caves or on rocks.

Humans lived by hunting animals and gatheringplants for thousands of years. They lived in smallgroups of only 25 to 70 people. They often returnedto a certain area in the same season each yearbecause they knew it would be rich in food at thattime. Over the years, some humans realized thatthey could leave plant seeds in an area one year andfind plants growing there the next year. This wasthe beginning of a new part of human life: farming.

Scientists think the climate became warmer allaround the world at about the same time. Humans’new knowledge about planting seeds combined withthis warmer climate to create what is called theNeolithic Revolution. This was the agricultural revo-lution that took place during the Neolithic period.

Instead of relying on gathering food, peoplebegan to produce food. Along with growing food,they also began to raise animals. They raised horses,dogs, goats, and pigs. Archaeologists have studied asite in the northeastern part of the modern countryof Iraq. It is called Jarmo. The people who lived inthis region began farming and raising animals about7000 B.C. People were entering a new age.

People began to farm in many spots all over theworld. Each group developed farming on its own.Many of the places where farming worked bestwere in the valleys of major rivers. In Africa, peoplebegan growing wheat, barley, and other crops alongthe Nile River. In China, farmers began to grow riceand a grain called millet. In Mexico and CentralAmerica, people grew corn, beans, and squash. Inthe high Andes Mountains of South America, theygrew tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and white pota-toes.

The study of one village in what is now Turkeyreveals what early farming communities were like.The village, called Catal Huyuk, grew on the goodland near a river. Some workers grew wheat, barley,and peas. Others raised sheep and cattle. Becausethese workers produced enough food for all the peo-ple, others could begin developing other kinds ofskills. Some made pots out of clay that they baked—the first pottery—while others worked as weavers.

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Some artists decorated the village. Archaeologists have found wall paintings that

show animals and hunting scenes. They have foundevidence that the people had a religion, too.

Some people in the village worked as traders.Near the village was a rich source of obsidian, astone made from volcanic rock. Pieces of this rockcould be made into a very sharp cutting tool or pol-ished to be used as mirrors. People in the villagetraded the rock to those who lived far away.

Life in the early farming villages had problems,too. If the farm crop failed or the lack of raincaused a drought, people would starve. Floods andfires could damage the village and kill its people.With more people living near each other thanbefore, diseases spread easily. Still, some of theseearly villages grew into great cities.

CivilizationCase Study: Ur in Sumer

KEY IDEA Farming villages produced extra food anddeveloped new technologies. The result is the rise ofcivilizations.

Over time, farmers developed new tools—hoes,sickles, and plow sticks—that helped them

grow even more food. They decided to plant largerareas of land. The people in some villages began toirrigate the land, bringing water to new areas.People invented the wheel for carts and the sail forboats. These new inventions made it easier to travelbetween distant villages and to trade.

Life became more complex as the villages beganto grow. People were divided into social classes,some with more wealth and power than others.People began to worship gods and goddesses thatthey felt would make their crops safe and their har-vests large.

One of the first civilizations arose in Sumer. It was in a region of Southwest Asia known asMesopotamia—between the Tigris and Euphratesrivers of modern Iraq. Historians consider a civi-lization to have these five features:

1. advanced cities, which can hold many people andserved as centers of trade;

2. specialized workers, who can focus on differentkinds of work;

3. complex institutions, which can give the people a government, an organized religion, and an

economy;4. record-keeping, which can lead to other pur-

poses for writing; and5. advanced technology, which can produce new

tools and techniques for solving problems.

Sumer had all the features of a civilization. Oneof the new technologies that the people of Sumercreated was the ability to make a metal calledbronze. Workers used it to make points for spears.

One of the early cities of Sumer was named Ur.It was surrounded by walls built of mud dried intobricks. It held about 30,000 people, divided intosuch social classes as rulers and priests, traders,craft workers, and artists. They were all supportedby the food raised by farmers outside the city walls,where they watched the animals and tended thefields. Some workers dug ditches to carry water tothe fields. Officials of the city government plannedall of this activity.

Inside the city, people hurried about their busylives. Metal workers made bronze points for spears,while potters made clay pots. Traders met peoplefrom other areas. They traded the spear points andpots for goods that Ur could not produce. Sometimestheir deals were written down by people calledscribes. They were educated in the new form ofwriting that Sumer had developed. Ur’s mostimportant building was the temple. There thepriests led the city’s religious life. Temples alsoserved as storage for grains, fabrics, and gems asofferings to the city’s gods.

Review1. Determining Main Ideas What evidence do

scientists use to study the life of humans beforewritten history?

2. Comparing How did the Cro-Magnon peoplediffer from Homo erectus?

3. Drawing Conclusions What great changecame in the Neolithic period? Explain why it wasso important.

Summarizing4. What are the five features of a civilization?5. What different kinds of activity went on in

Sumer?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Early River Valley Civilizations,3500 B.C.–450 B.C.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW The world’s first civilizations developed along rivers in fourdifferent regions. Each culture met problems caused by the geography of its par-ticular area. While the cultures shared many traits with each other, each had aspecial characteristic that made it unique.

Summary

City-States in MesopotamiaKEY IDEA The first civilization in the world arose inMesopotamia. It took the form of city-states.

There is an arc of rich land in Southwest Asiathat is called the Fertile Crescent. Two of its

rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, flow southeast-ward toward the Persian Gulf. Each spring thesnow in nearby Turkish mountains melts, swellingthe rivers. This flooding leaves rich mud in theplain between the rivers. Because of this, manythousands of years ago humans began to settle inthat plain, known as Mesopotamia. They grewwheat and barley. It was here that the first civiliza-tion began.

About 3500 B.C., the Sumerians moved into thisregion and settled. They faced three problems. First,the floods were not regular. One year they wouldcome in April, and the next year they might comein June. Once the flood passed, the hot sun quicklybaked the land into clay. Second, the small farmingvillages had no protection against enemies. Third, thearea lacked stone, wood, and metal to use for tools.

The Sumerians solved these problems. They dugditches from the river to their fields so they couldbring water to their crops. They built walls of bakedmud around their villages for defense. Becausethey could grow more food than they needed, theytraded the extra for stone, wood, and metal fromother lands.

Several large city-states were at the center ofthe Sumerian world. These cities had control over a surrounding area and could act independentlymuch like a country does today. Slowly some peo-ple rose to power in many of the city-states. Theybecame rulers, as did their children after them. Ruleof an area by the same family is called a dynasty.

The Sumerians believed in many gods, each ofwhom had power over different forces of nature orparts of their lives. People, they thought, were justthe servants of the gods. They believed that thesouls of the dead went to a joyless place under the

earth’s crust. These views spread to other areas andshaped the ideas of other peoples.

Society was divided into social classes. At the topwere the priests and kings, after whom came wealthymerchants. Next were ordinary Sumerian workersin fields and workshops. Slaves made up the lowestlevel. Women could enter most careers and couldown property, but there were some limits on them.

The people of Sumer invented the sail, the wheel,and the plow. They were the first to use bronze.They also developed the first writing system—onclay tablets. They invented arithmetic and geometry,which they used to help them build large structures.

Centuries of fighting between the city-statesmade the Sumerians weak. In 2350 B.C., the con-queror Sargon defeated Sumer and captured othercities to the north. By bringing together many dif-ferent groups, he made the world’s first empire. Itspread the culture of Sumer to a wider area. A fewhundred years later, a different group of peopleconquered the Sumerian region. These people wereled by a king named Hammurabi, who is famousfor his code of laws. It was a harsh code that pun-ished people for wrongdoing. However, it also madeit clear that the government had some responsibil-ity for taking care of its people.

Pyramids on the NileKEY IDEA The earliest civilization in Africa arose alongthe Nile River. A ruler called the pharaoh brought peopletogether in a united kingdom.

Another civilization arose along the banks of theNile River of East Africa. The Nile flows to the

north, toward the Mediterranean Sea. It, too, floodseach year, and the waters leave rich soil on the riverbanks. There the people of ancient Egypt grewfood and began to build their own culture. Theyworshiped the Nile as a life-giving god.

For many centuries, the people of Egypt livedin two kingdoms, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt.

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The former extended from the Nile’s marshy deltaregion north to the Mediterranean, just 100 milesaway. Upper Egypt began at the Nile delta andextended south to the Nile’s first area of churningrapids. About 3100 B.C., the king of Upper Egyptunited the two kingdoms.

In the years between 2660 and 2180 B.C., thebasic marks of the culture of Egypt arose. Rulingover the land was the pharaoh, who was not only aking but also seen as a god. Pharaohs believed thatthey had an eternal spirit that allowed them to rulethe land after their death. So these kings builtthemselves magnificent tombs. The tombs were hugepyramids made out of massive limestone blocks.

Egyptians believed in many gods and in an after-life. One god, they thought, weighed the hearts ofeach dead person. Hearts judged heavy with sinwere eaten by a beast. Good people, with feather-weight hearts, would live forever in a beautifulOther World.

The pharaoh and his family were at the top ofEgyptian society. Below them were people of wealthwho owned large amounts of land, the priests, andmembers of the government and army. Then camethe middle class—merchants and people whoworked in crafts. At the base were the peasants. Inlater times, the Egyptians had slaves. People couldmove from one rank of society to another. Thosewho could read and write held important positions.

The Egyptians, like the Sumerians, developed a way of writing. They used pictures to stand forsounds. The pictures could be put together to makewords and sentences. At first they wrote on stone,but later they began to make a kind of paper out ofa water plant. The Egyptians invented many newthings such as a system of written numbers and acalendar. Their calendar had 12 months, each ofwhich had 30 days. They were famous in the ancientworld for their ideas in medicine.

After 2180 B.C., the pharaohs lost power. Egyptwent through a time of troubles until strong rulersonce again took control. They ruled for four cen-turies until the land fell prey to invaders in 1640 B.C.

Planned Cities on the IndusKEY IDEA People of the first civilization in India builtcities on the banks of the Indus River.

South Asia—modern India, Pakistan, andBangladesh—lies separated from the rest of

Asia by tall mountains. Just below the mountains

are two large plains that hold the Ganges and Indusrivers. The high mountains gave the people safetyfrom invaders. Because they lived close to the sea,the people could travel over the water to trade withother peoples.

The people along the Indus River had many ofthe same challenges that the people in Mesopotamiahad. Their river flooded each year and left soil goodfor farming, but the floods did not occur at the sametime each year. In addition, the river sometimeschanged course. The region’s weather caused prob-lems also. Each winter, strong winds blew dry airacross the area. Each spring, the winds broughtheavy rains.

Historians have not learned much about thepeople who settled in the Indus Valley becausethey cannot understand their way of writing. Theyknow that people were farming along the river byabout 3200 B.C. They also know that the culture of these people covered an area larger than eitherMesopotamia or Egypt.

About 2500 B.C., these people began buildingtheir first cities. The cities showed careful planning.In Mesopotamia, cities were a jumble of streets laiddown without planning. In the Indus Valley, how-ever, the builders of cities created a grid of streets.They built a strong area called a citadel that waseasy to defend and held all the important buildings.They also had systems for carrying water andsewage. These features suggest people had devel-oped a strong central government.

The civilization of the Indus was peaceful.Because the houses were mostly like one another,scholars think that the Indus culture did not havesharp differences between social classes.

These early people left an important mark onthe region. Some religious objects include symbolsthat became part of the culture that developedlater in India. Historians have discovered that thepeople of the area traded with the people ofMesopotamia.

Around 1750 B.C., though, the cities began toshow signs of trouble. The Indus Valley civilizationcollapsed around 1500 B.C. No one knows the reason,but there are several possibilities. Satellite imagesshow there were earthquakes in the region.Because of the quakes, the Indus River may havechanged its course. This ended the good effects ofthe yearly floods. The people may have overworkedthe land and left the soil too poor to produce cropsany longer.

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River Dynasties in ChinaKEY IDEA The first rulers of China introduced ideasabout government and society. These ideas had a lastingeffect on Chinese civilization.

The last of the great early civilizations arose inChina—and continues to this day. China’s

geography insured that it would develop apart fromother cultures. It was isolated from other areas. Theland lies protected by a great ocean, huge deserts,and high mountains. Within China, though, are tworich rivers, the Huang He and the Chang Jiang.Almost all the good farmland in China lies betweenthese two rivers. The Chinese people also made useof the flood waters of these rivers. They had to becareful, though, for the Huang He could cause ter-rible floods that could kill whole villages of people.The mountains did not protect China totally. Manytimes during Chinese history, people living to thenorth and west of China invaded the land.

Just a few thousand years ago, some peoplebegan to farm along the rivers. About 2000 B.C., thefirst dynasty of rulers brought government to China.A Chinese legend tells of a clever engineer whotold the people how to build walls to control theflooding river and bring water to the farm fields. It is not certain that such a person lived, but it isknown that about this time the Chinese began tobuild cities.

Around 1500 B.C., a new dynasty began to rule.They are called the Shang, and they began to leavethe first written records in China. Objects found intheir palaces and tombs also tell us much abouttheir society. Chinese people built their buildingsof wood, not mud-dried brick as the other earlycultures did. Huge walls made of earth surroundedthese buildings to protect them. The walls wereneeded because it was a time of constant war.

At the top of Shang society were the king andthe nobles who helped him fight these wars. At thebottom was the mass of peasants who lived in hutsoutside the city walls. They worked hard on thefarms, using wooden tools because the Shang believedthat bronze was too good to be used for farming.

Shang society was held together by a strongbelief in the importance of the group—all the peo-ple—and not any single person. The most importantpart of society was the family, and children grew uplearning to respect their parents. The family playeda central role in Chinese religion, too. The Chinesethought that family members who had died could

still influence the lives of family members still alive.They gave respect to dead members of the family,hoping to keep them happy.

The Chinese system of writing differed fromthose of other groups. Symbols stood for ideas, notsounds. As a result, the many different groups inChina, who all had a separate spoken language,could still understand the same writing. The writ-ten language had thousands of symbols, however,which made it very hard to learn. Only speciallytrained people learned to read and write.

About 1027 B.C., a new group, the Zhou, tookcontrol of China. They adopted Shang culture, butstarted an idea of royalty that was new to China.Good rulers, they said, got authority to rule fromheaven. They claimed the Shang rulers were notjust and had lost the favor of the gods. That is whythey had to be replaced. From then on, the Chinesebelieved in divine rule. However, it also meant thatdisasters such as floods or war pointed to a rulerthat had lost the support of the gods and needed tobe replaced.

The Zhou gave the rights to large areas of landto members of the royal family and other nobles.The nobles promised to fight for the rulers and toprotect the peasants who lived on the land. Laterthe power of these nobles grew great. Eventuallythe Zhou rulers lost all power. The nobles foughteach other for control of China in a period calledthe “time of the warring states.” It lasted manyhundred years, and the Chinese people sufferedduring this time.

Review1. Determining Main Ideas What challenges did

the Sumerians face, and how did they solve them?2. Comparing and Contrasting How was the

religion of Egypt different from the religion ofMesopotamia?

3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhy did the pharaohs of Egypt build largetombs?

4. Clarifying What was special about the citiesbuilt by the people of the Indus Valley?

5. Determining Main Ideas What new idea ofkingship did the Zhou rulers bring to China?

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People and Ideas on the Move 9

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF People and Ideas on the Move,2000 B.C.–250 B.C.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW People of the plains of western Asia moved into the settledareas of early civilizations. Hittites created one empire. Aryans brought new ideasinto India. Partly in response to Aryan rule, the Hindu and Buddhist religions tookshape. Around the Mediterranean Sea, others spread their culture through trade.Hebrews struggled as they followed their religion based on belief in one god.

Summary

The Indo-EuropeansKEY IDEA Indo-European peoples moved into areas newto them, including Europe, India, and Southwest Asia.They met people already living there.

While some peoples built civilizations in thegreat river valleys, others lived on the huge

plains of western Asia. They rode horses and tendedcattle, sheep, and goats. They spoke many differentlanguages, but all of them came from the sameoriginal language. These people are called theIndo-Europeans. Then, for some reason, startingabout 1700 B.C., they began to leave their homes.They moved into some of the settled areas andbegan to conquer them.

One of these Indo-European peoples was theHittites. They rode two-wheeled chariots and usediron weapons to conquer the area that is nowTurkey. They moved farther and took the ancientlands of Mesopotamia. When they moved to thesouth, they ran into the Egyptians. Neither sidewas able to defeat the other, however, so theydecided to make peace.

The Hittites adopted many features of the cul-ture that had grown in Mesopotamia before theyarrived. Some they used without making anychanges, but others they adapted to suit their ownideas. The Hittites ruled their Southeast Asiaempire from about 2000 to 1190 B.C. Then they fellto a new wave of invasions.

Another group of Indo-European people namedthe Aryans moved into modern India. They firstcaptured the land of the people of the Indus Valley.They were divided into three classes of people:priests, warriors, and peasants or traders. Theycame to see the non-Aryans living in the area as afourth class. Over time, they developed complexrules for how people in these classes, or castes,could interact with one another. People were borninto their caste for life. Some “impure” people livedin a group outside this class system. They were

butchers, grave diggers, and trash collectors. Becausethey did work that was thought to be not clean, theywere called “untouchables.” They were kept awayfrom contact with the members of other classes.

Over many centuries, the Aryans took more andmore of what is now India. Eventually many pow-erful people tried to create their own kingdoms.They fought each other until one kingdom, Magadha,won control over almost all of India. Around thistime, an epic poem Mahabharata was written. Ittells the story of a war. The poem reveals theblending of cultures at the time and sets downideals that were to become important in Hindu life.

Hinduism and BuddhismDevelop

KEY IDEA Religious beliefs arose in India during the ageof Aryan settlement. Later these ideas developed intothe religions of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism is a collection of religious beliefs thatforms no one system. Unlike many religions, it

was not founded by just a single person. It is a reli-gion that allows great variety for its followers. Certainideas became common to the beliefs of all Hindus.

Hindus believe that each person has a soul.However, there is also a larger soul, called Brahman,that brings together all the individual souls. A person’s goal is to become free of desire and notbothered by suffering. When that takes place, theperson’s soul wins escape from life on Earth. It cantake a long time to reach that understanding. Hindusbelieve that the soul is born again into another bodyafter death. In the next life, the soul has anotherchance to learn its lessons. According to Hindus,how a person behaves in one life has an effect on theperson’s next life. Someone who was evil will bereborn into a poor position. Someone who did gooddeeds, however, will benefit in the next life.

Another religion that arose in India was Jainism.It was started by Mahavira, a man who lived from

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about 599 to 527 B.C. He believed that every crea-ture in the world—even animals—has a soul.Because of that, people must be sure not to harmany creature. Today, Jains take jobs that are certainnot to hurt living things.

Another new religion, Buddhism, arose aboutthe same time as Hinduism and Jainism. Buddhismhas millions and millions of followers all around theworld. It was started around 528 B.C. by SiddharthaGautama.

Siddhartha searched for a way that would allowhim to escape the suffering of human life. He spentmany years searching for this answer and triedlearning from many different teachers. Finally, hesat down and meditated under a tree. After 49 daysof this meditation, he had his answer. He was nowcalled the Buddha, which means the “enlightenedone,” and he began to teach others.

The new teaching was based on the Four NobleTruths:

1. Life is filled with suffering and sorrow.2. Suffering is caused by people pursuing the

immediate pleasures of the world.3. The way to end suffering is to end all desires.4. The way to end all desires is to follow the

Eightfold Path leading to nirvana—release fromselfishness.

As with Hinduism, the Buddha taught that thesoul would be reborn into a new life. This chain ofnew lives would continue until the soul, like theBuddha, reached understanding.

These ideas attracted many followers. Manypeople who lived in the lower classes of Indiansociety saw these ideas as a chance to escape fromthe limits placed on them. His teaching also spreadin southern India, where the Aryans did not havemuch influence. Some followers took the ideas toother lands. In the centuries after Buddha’s deathin 483 B.C., Buddhism appeared in Southeast Asia.Later it was carried to China and then to Koreaand Japan. Merchants and traders played an impor-tant role in spreading the religion. Strangely, inIndia where Buddhism was founded, the religionfaded. It was possibly just absorbed into Hinduism.Many places that are important to Buddhismremain in India, however. Buddhists from aroundthe world travel there to visit locations connectedto the life of Buddha.

Seafaring Traders KEY IDEA Trading societies developed civilizationsbeyond the Fertile Crescent region.

In the Mediterranean area, a new culture aroseon the island of Crete. It is called the Minoan

culture after a legendary king. The Minoans werepeaceful people who lived in rich cities that weresafe from invaders. They controlled trade in theirarea and sent their fine pottery, swords, and metaldrinking cups to other lands. They also sent othercountries their style of art and architecture. Thisstyle later had influence on the art of Greece.

Archaeologists have explored the ruins of ancientcities of the Minoans. They have found beautifulwall paintings that offer looks into Minoan culture.One interesting feature of life on the island was thehigh position that women seem to have held. Anearth goddess seems to have headed all the gods ofCrete, and women ruled over some important reli-gious places. Among other peoples who lived nearby,women did not play such important roles.

Minoan cities were damaged in 1470 B.C. by aseries of disasters. First, a number of earthquakesrocked the island, destroying buildings. Then a vol-cano exploded on a nearby island. That was followedby huge waves and clouds of white ash from thevolcano’s fire. These shocks seem to have been toomuch for the Minoans. The Minoan civilizationended about 1200 B.C.

Another people arose on the eastern shore ofthe Mediterranean because of their role as traders.Living in several city-states in what is today Lebanon,they traded far and wide. Some may have evensailed as far as Britain—and perhaps around Africa.They were the Phoenicians.

The Phoenicians put colonies all along the coastof the Mediterranean Sea. Colonies were 30 milesapart because that was the distance that one of theirships could travel in a day. One of those colonies,Carthage, in North Africa, later became a majorpower in the Mediterranean world. Phoenicianstraded such goods as wine, weapons, metals, ivory,slaves, and objects made of wood and glass. Theyalso made a red-purple dye that was highly valued.

The important achievement of the Phoenicianswas their alphabet. They used symbols to stand forthe sounds of consonants. They wanted a way ofwriting so they could make records of their tradeagreements. They brought their system of writingto other lands such as Greece, where Greeks

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changed the form of some letters. The alphabetthat we use today, however, had its beginnings inPhoenician writing.

The Origins of JudaismKEY IDEA The Hebrews became the only ancient peoplein their region to believe in one god.

Another people entered the world scene. Theymade a claim to an important piece of land, the

area now called Palestine. This region sat on theeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and on theRed Sea, which led to the Indian Ocean. As a result,it opened to the trade of many lands. The peoplewho settled here were the Hebrews, and theybelieved that the land had been promised to themby God. Today the Jewish people are the descend-ants of the ancient Hebrews.

The Hebrews were among the world’s earliestpeoples to believe in one god. Their story beganin Mesopotamia, where a man named Abrahamlived. God told him to move his family to Canaan,where he would prosper. Abraham promised thathe and his people would always obey God. God,in turn, promised to always protect them fromtheir enemies.

Later the Hebrews suffered from the failure oftheir crops. They moved to Egypt, but over timethey were made into slaves. After many years, theyleft in a mass departure that Jews called the Exodus.According to the sacred book of the Jews, a mannamed Moses led them out of Egypt. They wan-dered 40 years in a wilderness. During that time,the story says, Moses received from God the TenCommandments. These were the laws that theHebrews were to follow. For the second time, Godpromised to protect these people in return for theirobedience to his laws.

After Moses died, the people finally reachedPalestine and settled down. They began to adoptnew ways of life. They often fought with other peo-ples living in the area, as each group tried to controlthe best land and other resources. The Hebrewswere organized into twelve groups, called tribes.Each tribe was separate from the others, but intimes of danger they would all get together underleaders called judges. One of those judges was awoman named Deborah. This was unusual forwomen in Hebrew society, who were expected tostay home and raise children.

The Hebrews had other leaders called prophets.They said that they were messengers sent by Godto tell the people how he wanted them to act. Theseprophets told the people that they had two duties:to worship God and to deal in just and fair ways witheach other. With this message, religion was changing.Instead of being a part of life run by priests whofollowed certain rituals, it was now a matter of eachperson living a moral life.

From about 1020 to 922 B.C., the Hebrews wereunited under three kings. The first, Saul, drove offenemy peoples; the second, David, made Jerusalemthe capital; and the third, Solomon, built amagnificent temple to be used to worship God.After his death, though, the kingdom split into twoparts. For the next two centuries, these kingdomshad their ups and downs. Finally, though, theywere conquered by outside forces. The Chaldeansdestroyed Solomon’s great temple and forced theHebrews to leave the land and settle in Babylon.They lived there for several decades, until theChaldeans themselves were conquered. The newruler allowed 40,000 of the Hebrews to returnhome. They rebuilt the temple and the walls of thecity of Jerusalem.

Review1. Clarifying What were the social groups of the

Aryan people who entered India?2. Summarizing Explain the beliefs of Hindus

about life and death.3. Developing Historical Perspective Where did

the ideas of the Buddha have appeal?4. Drawing Conclusions What kind of movement

is represented by the Minoans and Phoenicians?Why was it important?

5. Comparing and Contrasting What wasunusual about the religion of the Hebrews?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF First Age of Empires, 1570 B.C.–200 B.C.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Egypt becomes an empire by conquering other lands. Itlater falls to the Assyrians, who are highly skilled at war. When they fall, Persiansbecome the power in Southwest Asia. Their empire treats conquered peoplesless harshly. In China, thinkers develop different ideas to restore values after thewarring Zhou Dynasty falls. However, the new Qin Dynasty is just as cruel.

Summary

The Egyptian and Nubian Empires

KEY IDEA After Egypt conquered Nubia, these twoempires along the Nile began trading and cultural ties.

At the end of its second period of glory, Egyptwas weakened by internal power struggles.

New invaders, the Hyksos, soon swept into Egypt.They had the chariot, a new machine of war thatthe Egyptians had never seen before. The Hyksosruled Egypt for many years until the pharaohs tookback their land. Then they began some conquestsof their own. The time from 1570 to 1075 B.C. iscalled the New Kingdom. In this third period,Egypt was richer, more powerful than ever.

The pharaohs of this New Kingdom broughtEgyptian rule to Syria and Palestine in the east.They also moved south into Nubia, a part of Africathat lay near where the Nile began. Egypt hadtraded with and influenced Nubia for centuries.During the New Kingdom, the rulers of theNubian kingdom of Kush accepted many traditionsand ideas from Egypt. They began to build pyra-mids, to worship Egyptian gods, to wear Egyptianclothing, and to use a form of writing that was simi-lar to the writing used in Egypt.

The pharaohs of the New Kingdom also wantedto create great tombs for themselves. They did notbuild pyramids, like those who had come before,however, because these tombs were often lootedfor their precious goods. Instead, they built theirtombs in a secret place called the Valley of theKings. Some pharaohs also built huge palaces forthemselves or temples to the Egyptian gods.

Eventually, though, the pharaohs becameweaker. Starting around 1200 B.C., a new group ofpeople reached the eastern Mediterranean, andthey brought trouble with them. As the power ofEgypt fell, the land broke into many small king-doms. Soon people from Libya took control of theland. The rulers in Kush felt that they were the pro-

tectors of Egyptian civilization. They moved intoEgypt to force the Libyans out.

The Kushites ruled Egypt for a few decadesuntil another people—the Assyrians—invaded andforced them back to their home. There the Kushitekings settled in the city of Meroë, south of Egypt.Their kingdom entered a golden age. The city wasfar enough from Egypt to protect it from attack.Yet, it was close enough to trade routes to play animportant role in trade. Meroë also became animportant center for making iron—and weapons of iron.

Traders in the city brought their iron to the portsof the Red Sea. They were taken on ships to Arabiaand India. The traders from Meroë, in the mean-time, brought back jewelry, cloth, silver lamps, andglass bottles. The city thrived from about 250 B.C.to about A.D. 150. By A.D. 350 Meroë had fallen torival Aksum, a seaport farther south.

The Assyrian EmpireKEY IDEA Assyria created a powerful army and con-quered its neighbors. Rulers built an empire and formeda government to run it.

The Assyrians who took Egypt had started theircareer of conquest hundreds of years earlier

and farther to the east. They came from the north-ern part of Mesopotamia. Their homes were opento attack, however. The Assyrians decided to form astrong fighting force to defend their homes. Soon,though, they turned to conquest.

The Assyrians used many different methods towin their battles. Their soldiers wore leather or metalarmor and carried strong iron-tipped spears and ironswords. They used troops for rapid attacks and largenumbers of men with bows to shower an enemy witharrows. Some opponents hoped city walls would stopthe Assyrian army, but they could not. The Assyrianssimply dug tunnels under the walls to weaken them.They used heavy battering rams to knock down the

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wooden gates of the city. The Assyrians conqueredalmost everything in their path. They usually killed orenslaved those they defeated.

Between 850 and 650 B.C., the Assyrians con-quered all of Mesopotamia along with Syria andPalestine. Then they took modern Turkey andEgypt. They ruled by putting kings in power whowould support them. They also collected taxes andtribute—yearly payments a people make to astronger power. If a city did not hand over theyear’s tribute, the Assyrian army moved in anddestroyed it.

The Assyrian kings were builders, too. One builtthe city of Nineveh on the north branch of the TigrisRiver. It was the largest city of its day. Anothergathered thousands and thousands of writing tabletsfrom the lands that had been taken. When thesewere found in modern times, they gave historiansmuch information about the ancient world.

The Assyrians’ cruelty had made many enemiesover the years, however. Eventually those enemiesbanded together and struck back. In 612 B.C., anarmy captured Nineveh. To pay the Assyrians backfor their past actions, it destroyed the city.

The Chaldeans, who had ruled the area earlier,took control of Mesopotamia again. They rebuiltthe city of Babylon, and once more they made itone of the greatest cities of the world. The cityincluded famous gardens that brought many differ-ent plants from the cool mountain regions to thedry desert where the city was. To keep the plantsalive, slaves worked hidden pumps that broughtwater to the garden.

They also built a huge building called a ziggurat.This was a step-shaped pyramid that soared 300feet into the air. At night, scientists would study thestars and the planets. What they saw and recordedbecame the beginnings of the science of astronomy.

The Persian EmpireKEY IDEA The Persian Empire accepted the differencesof many different peoples as rulers tried to govern wisely.

East of Mesopotamia, in modern Iran, arose anew power in the ancient world, Persia. The

area had good farmland and was rich in such min-erals as copper, lead, gold, and silver. About 550B.C., the Persians began conquering neighboringkingdoms and founded a huge empire.

Their leader was King Cyrus, an excellent gen-eral. Cyrus led his army to conquer a huge empire

that stretched from the Indus Valley in India all theway through Mesopotamia to Turkey. It coveredabout 2,000 miles, and he took all this land in justover 10 years.

Helping Cyrus win this vast land was the wiseway he treated the people who lived in these lands.Unlike the Assyrians, who destroyed towns and cities,Cyrus made sure that his army did nothing to harmthe people he conquered. He allowed the people topractice their old religions, too. It was Cyrus wholet the Hebrews return to Jerusalem and rebuildtheir temple there.

Cyrus died in 530 B.C., and the kings who fol-lowed him had to decide how to run the vast newempire. His son was a failure, but the next king—Darius—proved as able as Cyrus had been. He putdown several revolts, won more land for the empire,and created a government for the empire. OnlyGreece escaped Persian control.

Darius divided the land into 20 provinces, eachholding a certain group of people. He allowed eachgroup to practice its own religion, speak its ownlanguage, and obey many of its own laws. He alsoput royal governors in place to make sure that thepeople obeyed his laws. To bring his large empiretogether, Darius built a road that ran 1,677 milesand made it easy to move goods—and troops—from place to place. Also, Darius made metal coinsthat could be used for business anywhere in theempire. This was the first time that an empire solarge shared a system of money.

During the Persian Empire, a new religionarose in Southwest Asia. A prophet namedZoroaster tried to explain why the world worked asit did. The earth is a battleground, he said, wherethe spirit of good and the spirit of evil fight. Eachperson is supposed to take part in the struggle.How a person would be judged depended on howwell he or she fought for good. These ideas hadinfluence on later religions.

The Unification of ChinaKEY IDEA War and turmoil in China helped produce newphilosophies and a drive to bring together the Chinesepeople.

In Chapter 2, you learned that China’s ZhouDynasty collapsed into the “warring states

period.” China became a land of troubles. Long-held Chinese values—social order, harmony amongpeople, and respect for leaders—were forgotten.

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Some thinkers, however, tried to find ways torestore these values.

One of the most important of these thinkerswas Confucius. Born in 551 B.C., he became a well-educated man who thought deeply about the troublesof China. He believed that a time of peace couldreturn if the people would work at five basic rela-tionships: ruler and subject, father and son, husbandand wife, older and younger brothers, and friendand friend. The family relationships, he thought,were the most important.

He also tried to change government for the bet-ter. Using his ideas, the Chinese built a system inwhich people could work in the government only ifthey had a good education. Over time, the ideas ofConfucius spread to other countries of East Asia.

Another thinker of this period was Laozi, whowas more interested in putting people in touchwith the powerful forces of nature. Nature followsa universal force called the Dao, or “the Way,” saidLaozi. People do not follow this force, but they canlearn to do so.

A third set of ideas came from a group of peoplecalled the Legalists. They said that the way to restoreorder in China was to have a strong government. A ruler should reward those who do what they aresupposed to do, the Legalists said, and punishharshly those who do wrong.

These three ways to restore values were justphilosophical debates. So, for practical advice insolving problems, people in China could consult abook called I Ching. Other people turned to theidea of Yin and Yang, two powers that balancedtogether to make harmony in the universe. Yangrepresented all that is warm, bright, hard, andclear. Yin stood for all that is cold, dark, soft, andmysterious. By having these two forces in balance,a person could reach harmony.

While these ideas moved through China, a newruler arose to put an end to the troubles of the war-ring states period. At 13, he became king of a partof China called Qin (chihn), and he used the ideasof the Legalists to bring the different parts ofChina together. In 221 B.C., he took a new name—Shi Huangdi, which means “First Emperor.”

Shi Huangdi defeated many leaders of differentstates and doubled the size of China. He also actedto extend his power within this land. He forcedwealthy nobles to give up their land in the countryand move to his capital city. There he kept a watch-ful eye on them, while he gave their land to members

of his government. The emperor wanted to controlideas, too. He ordered his government to burn manybooks—those that held ideas that he disagreed with.

Shi Huangdi also took steps to bring all parts ofhis empire together. He ordered the peasants tobuild a network of roads that linked one corner toanother. The roads made trade grow, but the peas-ants hated the emperor for the forced work. He setstandards for writing, law, money, and weights andmeasures that were to be followed throughout theempire.

Finally, he moved to protect his empire fromforeign invaders. In the past, some Chinese rulershad built sections of wall to try to block attacksfrom northern nomads. Emperor Shi Huangdi hadhundreds of thousands of poor people work to con-nect these sections of wall and make a huge barrier.When finished, the Great Wall of China stretchedfrom the Yellow Sea to the Gobi Desert.

These steps won the emperor little support.When he died, his son took the throne. Just threeyears into his reign, peasants revolted and managedto overthrow the emperor. By 202 B.C., the QinDynasty had given way to the Han Dynasty.

Review1. Clarifying Why did the Kushites move into

Egypt, and where did they go after they weredefeated?

2. Drawing Conclusions What made theAssyrians such a powerful army?

3. Comparing and Contrasting What was differ-ent about how Cyrus ruled his empire?

4. Summarizing Describe the three ways torestore values that were lost in China during thetime of the warring states.

5. Clarifying What did Shi Huangdi do to unitehis empire?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Classical Greece, 2000 B.C.–300 B.C.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW A rugged Greek landscape causes creation of independentcity-states. They fight one another but unite to defeat invaders from Persia.Athens becomes the home of culture, but its empire collapses after years of warwith Sparta. Alexander conquers Greece, the Persian Empire, and Egypt. After hisdeath, a new culture blends influences from territory he conquered.

Summary

Cultures of the Mountainsand the Sea

KEY IDEA The shape of the land caused separategroups of Greek-speaking peoples to develop societiesin isolation from one another.

The lives of the ancient Greeks were shaped bythe geography of their land. Greece is a rocky

land with high mountains and deep valleys. It wasdifficult to move over this land. So, Greeks living indifferent areas could not easily be united. Goodfarmland covered only a small part of Greece andcould not support many people. The Greeks hadeasy access to the sea, however. They becameexcellent sailors, and trade became important. Theclimate is mild, which allowed Greek men to spendmuch time outdoors. They attended public eventsand were active in civic life.

The first culture to arise in Greece was that ofthe Mycenaeans. They were among the Indo-Europeans who invaded many areas around 2000B.C. The Mycenaeans were ruled by powerful warrior-kings in their main city, Mycenae. Otherrulers lived in palace-forts in other cities.

The Mycenaeans came in contact with theMinoan culture of Crete. They adopted many partsof this culture, including the form of writing andsome religious beliefs. Because of this contact, theMycenaeans also became interested in trade.According to ancient legend, Mycenaeans also hada long war with the people of Troy, a city inAnatolia. The famous Trojan Horse—a gigantic,hollow wooden horse hiding Greek soldiers—ispart of that legend.

The culture of the Mycenaeans fell about 1200 B.C. Sea raiders destroyed their palaces. Forthe next 400 years, Greece went into decline—adecline so deep that no written records exist fromthis period. However, through spoken word, Greeksof this time continued to relate epic stories of theearlier age of heroes. One long poem, the Iliad,

tells of the war with Troy. The Greeks also createda rich set of myths. Many of them tried to explainthe world in terms of the actions of the Greek gods.

Warring City-StatesKEY IDEA Greek culture produced many city-states.They had different forms of government, one of which isdemocracy.

By 750 B.C., the center of Greek life was thepolis, or city-state. This name was given to

Greek cities and the countryside villages surround-ing them. Each city-state was independent. Thepeople who lived in them were fiercely proud oftheir homes. These city-states had different kindsof government. A monarch or king might rule some.A family of nobles might rule a few. A few wealthymerchants might rule others. Also, the idea of agovernment made of representatives chosen by thepeople took hold in some city-states. The mostprominent of these city-states was Athens.

In Athens, as in other city-states, the wealthyand poor clashed in a contest for power. Athens,however, avoided major political upheaval by intro-ducing reforms. Solon, an Athenian leader whocame to power in 594 B.C., removed some of thelaws that the poor did not like, such as debt slavery.He also opened the assembly, where laws were dis-cussed and approved, to all Athenian citizens. Some90 years later, the Athenian leader Cleisthenesintroduced further reforms. The most important ofthese was the setting up of the Council of FiveHundred. This body proposed laws and advised theassembly. Council members were chosen by lot.

The reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes allowedAthenian citizens to take part in a limited democ-racy. But citizenship was limited to a small group ofAthenians. Only free adult male property ownerswere considered citizens. Women, foreigners, andslaves were denied citizenship and played no rolein Athenian political life.

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Sparta, a very strong city-state in the south ofGreece, developed in a very different way. Theleaders of Sparta made their city a military state.Boys joined the army at age seven and wentthrough a long period of training as soldiers.Spartan women ran the farms and other businesses,freeing their husbands to serve in the army. A smallCouncil of Elders suggested laws that had to beapproved by a vote of all Spartan citizens.

Over the years, the Greeks developed the abilityto make iron weapons. Because these cost less thanweapons made of bronze, more people could affordthem. Soon each city-state had its own army. Thesoldiers were from all walks of life—armed with ironweapons and ready to defend their homes. This newcitizen army proved itself in fending off an attackfrom the east. The powerful Persian Empire set itssights on conquering the Greeks. In 490 B.C., Persianships landed 25,000 soldiers on the coast of Greece.At the Battle of Marathon, the Greeks won atremendous victory that saved Athens.

The Persians returned ten years later. The Greekslost a battle on land, despite the heroic efforts of asmall band of Spartans. The Persians also burnedAthens. However, the ships of Athens won a greatsea battle. The Spartans followed it with anothervictory on land. The threat from Persia was over.

Democracy and Greece’sGolden Age

KEY IDEA During Greece’s Golden Age, democraticideas and Greek culture flourished.

Athens chose Pericles as its leader, and heserved in that role for more than three decades.

In that time, he took many steps to make Athensbetter. He had three main goals:

1. He wanted to make Athens more democratic. Sohe created more positions in government thatpaid a salary. Poor people could hold these jobs.

2. He wanted to make Athens stronger. The city wasthe head of a group of more than 200 Greek city-states called the Delian League. Pericles used theleague’s money to make sure that Athens had thestrongest navy in the Mediterranean.

3. He wanted to make Athens beautiful. So heagain used Delian League money to fund a greatbuilding program in his city.

Athens also became home to a group of veryskilled playwrights. Some wrote tragedies, plays

about the pain and suffering of human life. Otherswrote comedies, which often included importantideas. Some plays were critical of Athenians, proofthat Athens was a free and open society.

After being rivals for many years, Sparta andAthens finally went to war beginning in 431 B.C. Theconflict ended badly for Athens. In 430 B.C. a horri-ble plague killed a large portion of Athens’ people.After several battles, the war dragged on until Athensfinally gave up in 404 B.C. Athens had lost its empire.

In the time of uncertainty after Athens’ defeat,several great philosophers appeared. They tried tounderstand human life. One, Socrates, believeddeeply in truth and justice, but many people didnot trust him. He was convicted of treason andforced to drink poison. His pupil, Plato, recordedmany of his ideas and became an important thinkerin his own right. A third was Aristotle. He wrotebooks that summarized all things known to theGreeks at the time. He also invented a way ofthinking logically. His work was very influential formany centuries.

Alexander’s EmpireKEY IDEA Alexander the Great conquered Persia andEgypt. Then he moved as far east as the Indus River innorthwest India.

North of Greece was the kingdom of Macedonia.The Greeks looked down on the people there

because they lacked the great culture of Greece.The Macedonians were tough fighters, though, andhad a strong leader in King Philip II. He decidedto use his army to invade Greece. The Greek city-states united too late to save themselves. TheMacedonians won, and Greek independence wasnow over. Philip did not enjoy his victory for long,though. He died just two years later, and his sonAlexander became king at age 20.

Alexander was a brilliant general, just like hisfather. He had been taught well, and he preparedto carry out his father’s dream of conquering thePersian Empire. In 334 B.C., Alexander invadedPersia. He won two stunning victories and thenmoved south to enter Egypt. He was crownedpharaoh and founded a city that he named for him-self—Alexandria. He then turned back to Persiaand won another great battle, which ended allPersian resistance. The empire was now his.

The young king pushed east, taking his army asfar as India. He won another battle and moved

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deeper into India. However, after many years ofmarching and fighting, the soldiers wanted to returnhome. Alexander agreed, and turned back. On theway back, he began to make plans for how to gov-ern his new empire. Then he suddenly fell ill anddied. He was just 32 years old.

Three of Alexander’s generals divided his empire.One ruled Macedonia and Greece. Another tookcontrol of Egypt. The third became ruler of the landsthat used to be in the Persian Empire. Alexander’sempire was not long-lasting, but it had importanteffects. After Alexander, the people of Greece andPersia and all the lands between mixed togetherand shared ideas and culture.

The Spread of HellenisticCulture

KEY IDEA Hellenistic culture was formed of ideas fromGreece and other lands. It flourished throughout Greece,Egypt, and Asia.

Anew culture arose—the Hellenistic culture. Itblended Greek with Egyptian, Persian, and

Indian influences. The center of this culture wasAlexandria, Egypt. Located in the delta of the NileRiver on the Mediterranean Sea, it had a ship har-bor. Trade was lively and Alexandria had a largepopulation from many different countries.

Alexandria was also a beautiful city. Its hugelighthouse towered over the harbor to show a lightto incoming ships. Its famous museum had roomswith works of art, a zoo, and a garden. Itsmagnificent library held half a million scrolls ofpapyrus that contained everything known in theHellenistic world. It was the first true researchlibrary, and scholars read through the scrolls.

These scholars kept alive what was known aboutscience. Some used an observatory to look at thestars and the planets. One of these astronomersdeveloped two important ideas. He argued that thesun was actually larger than the earth, which noone had thought to be the case before. He also sug-gested that the earth and other planets revolvedaround the sun. Other astronomers rejected theseideas, though, and their views remained commonfor many centuries. Another scientist tried to esti-mate the size of the earth. He came extremelyclose, figuring the earth to be about 16 percentlarger than its actual size.

The thinkers in Alexandria also made advancesin mathematics. Euclid wrote a book with the basicideas of geometry; his approach is still used today.Archimedes was another important scientist andmathematician. He invented many clever machines,including the Archimedes screw, which could beused to bring water from a low level to a higherone. It was used to bring water to fields beingfarmed.

Two new schools of philosophy arose in thesetimes. The Stoics argued that people should live amoral life to keep them in harmony with naturallaws. Desire, power, and wealth, they thought, couldhurt a person’s moral well-being. The Epicureanssaid that people could rely only on what theylearned from their five senses. They urged everyoneto live moral lives. People should try to do things inmoderate ways, rather than taking anything to anextreme.

The arts flourished in the Hellenistic age as well.Sculpture, in particular, had several notable achieve-ments. The sculpture of this time differed from thatof the earlier Greek style. In the past, figures hadbeen idealized, as sculptors tried to show a perfectform. In the Hellenistic age, figures were morerealistic and emotional.

Review1. Recognizing Effects What effect did geography

have on the way Greece developed?2. Summarizing What were the different forms of

government of the Greek city-states?3. Comparing and Contrasting Compare and

contrast Athens and Sparta.4. Drawing Conclusions What happened to

Alexander’s empire, and why?5. Synthesizing What was the long-lasting effect

of Alexander’s empire?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Ancient Rome and EarlyChristianity, 500 B.C.–A.D. 500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW The Romans make a republic in Italy and rise to power, butthe internal struggle for control of their growing strength changes the govern-ment to an empire. The empire enjoys a long period of peace, during which anew religion, Christianity, arises. The empire finally collapses in the western part,but Rome leaves a legacy of many important ideas and achievements.

Summary

The Roman RepublicKEY IDEA The early Romans made a republic. It grew inpower and spread its influence.

The city of Rome was founded by the Latin peo-ple on a river in the center of Italy. It was a

good location, which gave them the chance to con-trol all of Italy. It put them in the middle of theMediterranean Sea. Two other groups lived in whatis now Italy: the Greeks in the south, and theEtruscans in the north. The Romans borrowedsome ideas from both peoples.

About 600 B.C., an Etruscan king ruled over hispeople and Rome. By this time, Rome had grown tobe a wealthy and large city. The Romans resentedthe Etruscan rule. In 509 B.C., they finally over-threw the king. They declared that Rome would bea republic. The people would have the power tovote to choose the leaders of the government. Theysaid that Rome would never again have a king.

Two groups struggled for power in the newrepublic—the nobles and the common people. Atfirst, the nobles dominated the government. Overtime, the common people won more rights. Thebasis for Roman law was a set of rules called theTwelve Tables. They said that all free citizens wereprotected by law. They were posted in a publicplace for all to see.

The government had three parts. Two consulswere elected each year to lead the government andthe army. A person could not become consul a sec-ond time until after ten years had passed. In thisway, the Romans hoped to prevent one personfrom having too much power. The second impor-tant part of the government was the Senate. Itbegan by choosing 100 members from the upperclasses. Later its size was expanded and somemembers were common people. The Senate passedlaws. There were also assemblies that all peoplebelonged to. They made laws that applied to alltheir members. All free-born males were citizens

and had the right to vote. Any citizen who ownedproperty had to serve in the army.

In the fourth century B.C., Rome began toexpand. Within 150 years, it had captured almostall of Italy. Rome allowed some of the conqueredpeoples to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. With itsgood location, Rome saw a growth in trade. Thisbrought it into conflict with Carthage, a trading cityin North Africa.

From 264 to 146 B.C., Rome and Carthagefought three bitter wars. In the first, Rome woncontrol of the island of Sicily. In the second, anarmy from Carthage caused great destruction inItaly, although Rome itself was spared. In the third,Rome defeated Carthage once again and com-pletely destroyed the city. In another few decades,Rome also conquered Greece, Macedonia, Spain,and parts of modern Turkey. It controlled theMediterranean Sea.

The Roman Empire KEY IDEA Rome became an empire. Its government,society, economy, and culture changed.

Rome’s victory brought conflict between richand poor. When two brothers tried to pass laws

that would help the poor, they were killed. ThenRome erupted in a civil war as leading generalsfought for power.

Julius Caesar tried to take control. First hejoined with two others—Crassius, a wealthy man,and Pompey, a successful general. For the next tenyears, these three led Rome. Caesar gained famewith several victories in battle. Pompey now fearedCaesar, and the two fought another civil war thatlasted several years. After he won, Caesar tookcharge of the government. He made many changesthat added to his popularity. However, he raised themistrust of some members of the Senate whofeared he wanted to become king. A group of themkilled him.

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Once again Rome suffered civil war. The winnerwas the nephew of Caesar, who took over the gov-ernment of Rome. He had the title Augustus,meaning “exalted one.” The Roman Empire wasnow ruled by one man.

For about 200 years, through bad emperors andgood, the Roman Empire was a great power. Itspopulation of between 60 and 80 million enjoyedpeace and prosperity. The empire stretched aroundthe Mediterranean, from modern Syria and Turkeywest and north to England and Germany. Itdepended on farming, which employed 90 percentof all workers. Trade was also important, bringingsilk from China. Goods traveled by ship and alongthe Roman roads.

Defending all these people were the soldiers ofthe army. These included some troops recruitedfrom the conquered peoples. Once they finishedtheir time in the army, they became Roman citi-zens. This way, the empire extended its benefits tomore and more people. Running the empire weregovernment officials who reported to the emperor.

The quality of life in the empire depended onsocial position. The wealthy had rich lives full ofluxury and huge meals. The poor—including manypeople in Rome itself—had no jobs and receivedhandouts of food from the government. The gov-ernment also entertained them, paying for spectacu-lar—and bloody—shows of combat in public arenas.

About a third of the people in the empire wereslaves. They were usually people from a land thathad been conquered by the army. Many timesslaves tried to organize a revolt to win their free-dom, but they never could succeed.

The Rise of ChristianityKEY IDEA Christianity arose in the eastern part of theempire and spread throughout Roman lands.

One of the groups whose land was taken intothe empire was the Jews. Many Jews wanted

to rid their land of the Romans. Others hoped forthe coming of the Messiah—the savior. Accordingto tradition, God promised that the Messiah wouldrestore the kingdom of the Jews. In this time, Jesuswas born.

At age 30, Jesus began to travel the countrysidepreaching his message of the love of God. Accordingto close followers, he performed many miracles. Hetaught that those who regretted their sins wouldenter an eternal kingdom after death. His fame grew,

and many people thought him the long-awaitedMessiah.

Jewish church leaders did not believe that histeachings were those of God. Roman leaders fearedhis hold on the people. Jesus was arrested and sen-tenced to death. After his death, his followers saidthat he had appeared to them again and then goneto heaven. They said this proved he was the Messiah.They called him “Christ,” which is Greek for “sav-ior,” and his followers came to be called Christians.

At first his followers were all Jewish. Later, underone follower, Paul, the Christians began to look toall people, even non-Jews, to join the church. Theleaders of the early church traveled throughout theempire spreading the teachings of Jesus.

From time to time, Roman leaders tried to punish the Christians. They were angered whenChristians refused to worship the Roman gods.Romans had them put to death or killed by wildanimals in the arena. However, the religion spreaduntil, after almost 200 years, millions of peopleacross the empire believed. It spread because itaccepted all believers, whether rich or poor, man orwoman. It gave hope to those without power. Itappealed to people who were bothered by the lackof morality in Roman life. It won followers becauseit offered a personal relationship with God and thepromise of life after death.

As the early church grew, it developed anofficial structure. Priests led small groups of wor-shipers in individual churches. Bishops, based inmost major cities, controlled all the churches intheir area. The bishop of Rome headed the church.

In A.D. 313, Christianity entered a new era. TheRoman emperor Constantine said that Christianswould no longer be persecuted. He gave his officialapproval to Christianity. A few decades later, itbecame the empire’s official religion. WhileChristianity grew in power, it also felt some growingpains. Church leaders sometimes disagreed overbasic beliefs and argued about them. From time totime they met in councils to settle these matters.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

KEY IDEA The empire became weakened by internalproblems and bothered by the arrival of warlike nomads.The empire was divided and later fell apart.

Beginning about A.D. 180, Rome entered a periodof decline. It suffered economic problems.

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Trade slowed as raiders threatened the ships andcaravans that carried goods over sea and land. Thesupply of gold and silver went down, and the priceof goods increased. Food supplies dropped as tiredsoil, warfare, and high taxes cut the amount of grainand other foods produced on farms. On top of that,the empire had military problems. German tribescaused trouble on the frontiers while Roman gener-als fought one another for control of the empire.

After a century of these problems, a newemperor, Diocletian, took the throne. He passedmany new laws trying to fix the economy. He triedto restore the status of the emperor by naminghimself a son of the chief Roman god. He evendivided the empire into eastern and western halvesto make it easier to govern. Many of these changeswere continued by Constantine, who in 324became emperor of both halves of the empire. Afew years later, Constantine moved the capital ofthe empire to Byzantium, a city in northwesternTurkey where Europe met Asia. The city was even-tually renamed Constantinople after Constantine.

These reforms delayed the end of the RomanEmpire but could not prevent its fall. The easternpart of the empire remained strong and unified,but in the west trouble continued. German tribesmoved into the empire, all of them trying to escapefierce warriors—Mongol nomads from CentralAsia—that were moving into their land. These werethe Huns, and their arrival helped bring about theend of Rome. The Roman armies in the west col-lapsed, and German armies twice entered Romeitself, looting and burning the once-great city. Afterthe death in 453 of their leader, Attila, the Hunswent back to central Asia. However, the Germanshad arrived for good. By 476 there were Germanpeople living in many areas of Europe. That year aGerman general removed the last western Romanemperor from the throne.

Rome and the Roots of Western Civilization

KEY IDEA The Romans developed many ideas and insti-tutions that have become part of Western civilization.

Rome took features of Greek culture and addedideas of its own. This combination of influences

helped shape Europe and the Western world.Roman sculpture, for instance, borrowed Greek

practices but with a difference. Roman statues

were more realistic. Romans perfected a kind ofsculpture in which images stood out three-dimensionally from a flat background. Romansmade pictures from tiny tiles, a process calledmosaic, and enjoyed wall painting. Roman writingwas based on Greek models, too.

Romans became famous for their skill at engi-neering. They used arches and domes to build large,impressive buildings. Many of these forms are stillused today. They also built an excellent system ofroads and built several aqueducts to carry waterfrom distant lakes or rivers to large cities.

Rome left another mark on the world. Manylanguages, from Spanish to Romanian, are based onLatin. Even languages such as English have manywords taken from Latin.

Rome’s most lasting influence, though, was insetting certain standards of law that still influencepeople today. These include the ideas that

• all persons should be treated equally by the law;• a person should be thought innocent of a crime

until proven guilty;• someone who accuses another person of a crime

has to prove it; and• a person should be punished only for actions, not

for thoughts or opinions.

ReviewDetermining Main Ideas1. Describe the government of the republic.2. Describe the empire during the long time of

peace.3. Analyzing Issues What important change did

Paul make to Christianity?4. Summarizing How did Diocletian try to fix the

empire?5. Clarifying Give two examples of principles of

Roman law that still influence people today.

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF India and China EstablishEmpires, 300 B.C.–A.D. 550

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Skillful generals and rulers establish empires in northernIndia. They join together many different peoples and bring peace and prosperityto the land. During this time, the religions of India undergo changes in order tobe more appealing to the common people. In China a great empire sets the pat-terns of Chinese government and culture that would be followed centuries later.

Summary

India’s First EmpiresKEY IDEA The Mauryas and the Guptas made empires inIndia. Neither family, though, united India for very long.

In 321 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya used his armyto defeat the king of eastern India. He took the

throne and started a dynasty named after him.Chandragupta, not stopping with eastern India,

moved west. In 305 B.C., he began to challengeSeleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals.The two armies clashed for several years, and even-tually Chandragupta won. For the first time, north-ern India, from west to east, was joined under therule of one person.

Chandragupta was a harsh ruler. He charged aheavy tax on all the farmers who raised food—one-half of the crop they grew each year. He used thewealth he gained to build a huge army. He createda government that he controlled by carefully choos-ing officials and keeping a watchful eye on them.He split his empire into four provinces, each ruledby a prince. These areas, in turn, were divided intosmaller pieces that were run by members of thegovernment.

We know a great deal about life in Chandragupta’scourt because Seleucus sent a Greek there as anambassador. He described the richness of the palaceand the beauty of the capital city.

Chandragupta’s grandson Asoka took the thronein 269 B.C. and brought the Mauryan Empire to itsgreatest height. At first he was a warlike king andfought many fierce battles with an enemy to thesouth. Then he decided to accept the teachings ofthe Buddha.

Asoka promised to rule in a fair and just way.He issued laws that urged his subjects to avoid vio-lence. He made great roads so that people couldtravel easily—and then placed wells and rest stopsall along these roads for travelers to refresh them-selves. Soon after Asoka died, however, his empirecollapsed.

For the next 500 years, India was a land oftroubles. In the center of India, a new kingdomarose to dominate the scene. In the northwest,many Greeks, Persians, and Central Asians enteredthe land, fleeing the invasions of others. Theyadded new ideas and languages to India’s rich mixof culture. In the south, three different kingdomsfought each other off and on.

Around A.D. 320, a new power arose in thenorth. It was Chandra Gupta (not related to thefirst emperor), and he came to power by marryingthe daughter of an important royal family. With thisalliance, he took the title of king and began to con-quer other areas.

His son, Samudra Gupta, followed the same pol-icy and for 40 years fought to win new lands for theGupta Empire. His son, Chandra Gupta II,brought the empire to its largest size. He managedto take parts of western India, including importantports on the Indian Ocean. With these, the Guptaswere able to engage in the rich trade that con-nected India, Southwest Asia, and the world of theMediterranean Sea. The Gupta Empire, like theMauryan Empire before it, now stretched all acrossnorthern India.

Farmers worked their land, following the cycle ofthe seasons. Each family was led by the father, and allmembers of the family worked on the farm. Part ofeach crop had to be paid to the king each year.Farmers also had to set aside part of each month towork on community resources such as wells or dams.Craft workers and those who worked in trade lived inspecial sections of each village, town, or city.

The Gupta kings were patrons of the arts, andartists flourished during their rule. The peoplewere happy, too, according to a Chinese travelerwho spent many years in India. However, thisperiod of calm ended soon after the death ofChandra Gupta II. Another wave of invaders,related to the Huns sacking Rome at this time,

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moved into India. Soon the great Gupta Empirehad broken up into several smaller kingdoms.

Trade Spreads IndianReligions and Culture

KEY IDEA Indian religions, culture, and science developedand changed. Through trade, they reached other lands.

Over time, the religions of Hinduism andBuddhism became more and more distant from

the common people. The special class of priestscontrolled Hinduism. Followers of the Buddhafound it difficult to find the promised goal of releasefrom this world. As new peoples moved into India,they brought new ideas. These ideas had an impacton these religions.

The Buddha had taught that a tough course ofspiritual life was the way to escape from the suffer-ing of the world. Self-denial was difficult for manypeople to follow, however. Many people came toworship the Buddha himself as a god, even thoughhe had forbidden it. Then they came to believe thatother people could become Buddhas themselvesthrough good works and sacrifice.

These ideas created a new kind of Buddhism,and the religion broke into two ways of belief. Sometook the new doctrine, and others held on to thestricter beliefs. However, with this new approach,Buddhism became a popular religion. All believershad the chance to be saved. This change caused anincrease in art. Buddhists with money built templesand shrines and then paid artists to decorate themwith sculptures and paintings.

Hinduism changed too. By the time of theMauryan Empire, only priests were involved inmany rituals of the faith. For centuries, Hinduismhad been a religion of many gods. Now other reli-gions based on only one god were becoming moreimportant. Many Hindus began to emphasize threegods in particular. By devoting themselves to thesegods, people began to feel the religion moredirectly in their lives.

Indian art enjoyed a period of great vigor duringthese centuries. Poets and playwrights wrote beau-tiful works of literature, while other artists laid thefoundations for the classical form of dance in India.

The scientists of India had many achievements.They proved that the earth was indeed round manyhundred years before Europeans realized it. Theymade great advances in mathematics, too. Theyinvented the idea of zero and of decimal numbers.

The doctors of India became highly skilled. Theyknew more than 1,000 diseases and used hundredsof medicines from plants to help their patients.

India was also a center of trade. It traded cottoncloth and animals to China for silk. Traders broughtspices from Southeast Asia to India along caravanroutes called the Silk Roads. Then they sold themto Rome and to other western peoples. This tradewas so busy that large numbers of Roman coinshave been found in India. The Indians also tradedtheir own cotton cloth in Africa for ivory and gold.They sent rice and wheat to Arabia for dates andhorses. They carried out this trade by land and sea.

Along with goods, Indians spread their culture.The art and architecture of many lands in SoutheastAsia shows the influence of Indian art. Some adoptedHinduism, and many began to follow Buddhism.

Han Emperors in ChinaKEY IDEA The Han Dynasty made China larger. It alsostarted a system of government that lasted for centuries.

An empire also arose in China, one that wouldhave long-lasting effects on Asia. The Chinese

had been united briefly under the Qin Empire, butit fell apart in a period of civil war. Two leadersworked together to win control of China. Then oneof them, Liu Bang, turned on the other anddefeated him in battle. In 202 B.C., he named him-self the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. The Hanwould rule parts of China for the next 400 yearsand set many patterns for Chinese culture for cen-turies to come.

Liu Bang made his government strong so thatno one else could rival him for power. Local officialsled the government throughout the land. Theyreported to the emperor in the capital. The rule ofthe previous emperor had been very harsh. Liu Bangtook a different approach. He lowered taxes andhad lighter penalties for crimes. Life became easierfor the Chinese people.

After the death of Liu Bang, one of his wives,the Empress Lü took over. In this time, as in otherparts of Han rule, court politics was a major part oflife around the ruler. Each group tried to find a wayof making sure that it could get and hold power.This game of political chess would take the ruler’sattention from the people he was supposed to rule.

From 141 to 87 B.C., the emperor Wudi ruledHan China. He made the area of his empire muchlarger, pushing it almost to the size of modern

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China. He began by defeating some nomads wholived in the north and bothered the people withconstant attacks. He moved troops and settlers tothe west. He sent soldiers to the north into modernKorea and to the south to modern Vietnam.

Wudi also changed the government in importantways. To run his government, he had a large num-ber of officials who reached down to the smallestvillage. To find people to fill these posts, he intro-duced a new system. Those who wanted to work forthe government had to earn the right by passing anexam. The exam tested them on their knowledge ofthe writings of Confucius, the Chinese philosopherwho had lived 400 years earlier. He also builtschools around the country that taught this knowl-edge. This system continued to work into the 20thcentury.

To support this large government, Wudi col-lected taxes. Farmers paid part of the crops theygathered each year. Merchants paid taxes on thegoods they traded. Peasants also gave one month’sworth of labor each year to the government to workon large public building projects such as dams androads.

Under Han rule, the Chinese had many newinventions. One of the most important was paper.Before that invention, books were printed on silk.Because paper was much cheaper, using it meantthat there were more books—and more learning inthe country. The Chinese also improved farming byinventing a new two-bladed plow.

This change was important because the numberof Chinese people had grown greatly. The Hanemperors told their people that farming was themost important work to do—because they neededto grow much more food to feed so many people.

At the same time, several industries becameimportant. The government took control of miningsalt and making iron, coins, and alcohol. For awhile the government went to work making silk.This expensive cloth was in great demand in India,Rome, and other lands. Only the Chinese knewhow to make silk from the cocoons of the silkworm,and they kept their secret closely guarded. Theywanted to be sure to control the trade.

China now included many different peoples,and the Han rulers tried to make sure that theylearned Chinese ways. They urged their people tomarry with people from these other groups. Newbooks told the story of the history of China.

One group that did not do well in Han Chinawas women. According to the teachings of Confucius,women were supposed to meet the needs of theirhusband and children and not become involved inother areas of life. Although some women in theemperor’s family might wield power, this was rare.

The empire began to have problems as the richpeople who owned large amounts of land grew moreand more rich. The poor, at the same time, werebeing forced to pay heavy taxes. For about 40 years,China suffered in two ways. The members of thecourt were caught up in plots to try to gain power.Meanwhile, the peasants rebelled against their hightaxes and poor lives. A government official namedWang Mang took the throne and tried to help thepoor by taking land from the large landholders. Inthe middle of these changes, though, a terrible floodstruck China and destroyed millions of homes. Thepeasants rebelled again, and Wang Mang was killed.At that time, a member of the old imperial Hanfamily was put back on the throne. A new Hanrule—called the Later Han Dynasty—was created.

For the next few decades, China enjoyed peaceand wealth. Later, though, the same problemsarose again—the gap between rich and poor wastoo great. By A.D. 220, the Han Dynasty had fallenfor good.

Review1. Comparing and Contrasting Compare and

contrast the rule of Chandragupta Maurya andAsoka.

2. Drawing Conclusions How did Buddhism andHinduism become more popular religions in thisperiod?

3. Summarizing Describe two advances in the sci-ences in India of the Guptas.

4. Forming and Supporting Opinions WhichHan emperor do you think was most important?Why?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhat basic problem was there in Han China,which led to its fall?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF African Civilizations, 1500 B.C.–A.D. 700

CHAPTER OVERVIEW African peoples develop different ways of adapting to thecontinent’s many environments. Yet, African cultures share many characteristics.Africa’s earliest known culture develops in West Africa. Bantu-speaking peoplebegin south of the Sahara Desert. Over the centuries they move until they fill thesouthern half of Africa. In East Africa, the kingdom of Aksum rises and flourishes.

Summary

Diverse Societies in AfricaKEY IDEA African peoples developed many different waysof life as they adapted to many different environments.

Africa is the second largest continent in theworld. It reaches 4,600 miles from east to west

and 5,000 miles from north to south. It has aboutone-fifth of the earth’s land. Much of the land is ahigh plateau, with lower land near the coasts. Therivers that flow along this high land often formwaterfalls or rapids. As a result, boats cannot usethese rivers to travel either to or from the coast. Also,the coast is not good for boats. It has relatively fewharbors for so large a landmass.

Africa has many different environments. TheEquator crosses Africa and much of the continentlies in the tropics, where the weather is hot all yearround. Even in this area, though, the environmentsare widely different. There are hot, dry deserts;steamy, wet rain forests; and high, cool mountains.

About a third of Africa’s land is desert. This harshland holds few people. It also forms a barrier topeople who want to move from one area to another.The Sahara Desert in the north of Africa is aboutone-third the size of the United States. Dense rain-forests cover much of the central part of Africa.This area receives heavy rainfall. Trees grow totowering heights and block sunlight from the forestfloor. As a result, few small plants grow underneaththe tall trees.

The northern and southern regions of Africahave large numbers of people. They have good soilfor farming and plenty of grass for animals to eat.They have pleasant climates. Most Africans live onthe grasslands that cover almost half of the conti-nent. They grow grains, including rice and wheat,and tend to cattle. Each year, though, the SaharaDesert expands and takes away a bit more of thisgrassland.

The first humans in Africa got food by huntinganimals and gathering plants. Even today, some

African peoples still use this method for obtainingfood. Men hunt animals with spears or bows andarrows. Women and children gather roots andberries.

Over time, these people learned to tame animalsand raise them for food. These ancient herderskept cattle, goats, or sheep. Like the hunters andgatherers, these herders were nomadic people. Asthey moved, they looked for plentiful grass and forwater for their animals. When food or water wasused up in one area, they moved to another.

About 10,000 B.C., some people in Africa beganto farm—growing their own food instead of gather-ing wild food. Later the climate changed, bringingmore rainfall to the Sahara. People farmed thereuntil the climate changed once again around 4000B.C. and the desert returned. The people then leftthe desert and headed for many different areas.They went to farm in the Nile Valley and WestAfrica or on the grasslands. Some moved to therain forest.

The grasslands had good soil, and the peoplecould grow extra food. As in other areas, farmingled to changes in African society. With more food,people lived longer and the population grew. Somepeople were able to specialize in tasks beyond rais-ing food, such as making jewelry or pottery. Othersbecame leaders. They organized the group’s effortsto grow food, defend against invaders, or plan forthe future.

African peoples had many differences becauseof the different environments in which they lived.The people who lived south of the Sahara, though,had these features in common:

• The family was the most important unit of soci-ety. In some groups, family was considered allpeople who come from common ancestors. Thisis called a clan.

• They believed that one god created the world.Also, they felt that plants, animals, and other

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natural forces all have spirits that play an impor-tant role in life.

• They relied on oral storytelling, rather than writ-ing, to pass on the traditions of their people.

The Nok culture, of West Africa, existed fromabout 500 B.C. to A.D. 200. The Nok people areknown for their interesting pottery figures and forbeing the first people in Africa who knew how tomake iron. Some styles of Nok pottery are stillfound in Africa today.

By looking for signs of the past, archaeologistsfound an ancient city in West Africa. Djenné-Djenois the oldest known African city south of the Sahara.The city rested on the banks of the Niger River.Researchers have found thousands of objects suchas pottery, toys, jewelry, and knives. The oldestpieces are from 250 B.C.

The city held about 50,000 people at its largest.At first, they lived in round huts made of reeds andcovered with mud. Later they lived in houses ofmud bricks. They grew rice, raised cattle, and madeiron. They traded these goods for gold and copper.

Migration Case Study:Bantu-Speaking Peoples

KEY IDEA Throughout history, various peoples havedesired to leave their homes and move to a new land.

Throughout human history, many peoples havefelt the urge to move from their homes to a

new land. While there are many reasons that peo-ple make such a move, they can be grouped intothree main causes:

1. Environmental. The climate of an area maychange or its soil may become too poor for farm-ing or all the water may be used up. Then, peo-ple move to a new area.

2. Economic. There are too many people in an areaor too little food or too few jobs. Then, somepeople will move to another place to find theland, food, or jobs they need.

3. Political. Sometimes one group of people treats adifferent group harshly. They may capture theirland and turn them into slaves. The people madeto suffer in this way may end up moving to a newland. They may go by force—as when they aremade slaves—or by choice—as they hope toescape their suffering.

Any of these factors can push people out of anarea. Or they may pull people into an area. These

are called push-pull factors. For example, availablejobs will pull people into an area. But too few jobswilll push them out.

These reasons have pushed or pulled people tomove from the beginning of human life on Earth,and they continue to do so today. The large-scalemovement of people in modern times can betraced in written records. In studying times beforewritten history, though, researchers need to lookfor other clues to these migrations. One clue theyuse is language.

People bring their language with them whenthey move to a new place. Languages do changeover time. Suppose that historians find two lan-guages from two distant areas that have words thatare somewhat similar. They can conclude that thosetwo languages may have both come from the sameoriginal language. They say that the original speak-ers of the language simply moved to the two differ-ent areas long before. Then, the two languageschanged independently of one another. This kind ofclue has given historians a way of understandingthe early history of Africa. Many languages spokenin Africa today developed from the same parentlanguage called Proto-Bantu. The people whospoke Bantu first lived in a part of modern Nigeria.In the first few centuries A.D., they began to movesouth and east. Over time, they spread throughoutAfrica south of the Sahara Desert, reaching thesouthern tip around 500 years ago. They broughttheir language and their culture with them.

One reason that these people moved had to dowith how they farmed. Their method was to clearforest land by burning down trees. This left a plotof rich soil that was suitable for growing food—fora few years. After that, however, the soil no longercould produce good crops. The people then neededto move to a new area to clear a new patch ofground.

Another reason they moved was that their farm-ing was so successful. Farming helped them producemore food than they could by hunting and gather-ing. With more to eat, groups became larger—andthe land more crowded. They could not move north,where the Sahara Desert made a barrier. So theyhad to move farther and farther south.

As they reached new areas, the Bantu peoplesmet other peoples. Sometimes these meetings wereviolent. The Bantus, who knew how to make iron,had better weapons than those they met, who onlyhad stone tools. Some of the peoples that they met

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are still found in Africa, but they live in small areaswith very harsh environments. The Bantus took thebetter land.

The Kingdom of Aksum KEY IDEA The kingdom of Aksum in East Africa becamean important part of trade between different nations. Italso adopted Christianity as its religion.

The peoples in East Africa had far more contactwith people from other areas. The Kushite

kingdom of Nubia had close relations with Egypt,and its kings even ruled Egypt for a while. Thatkingdom continued for many centuries as a tradingpower. It was then replaced by the kingdom ofAksum in modern Ethiopia.

Aksum may have begun when Arabian tradersmixed with the people of Kush about 1000 B.C. Itsfirst mention in written records is in a Greek bookfrom A.D. 100 that talks about the king of Aksum.About that time, the kingdom of Aksum began togrow, taking other lands. Some were in Africa, andsome were on the Arabian peninsula.

With this growth, Aksum became an importantpart of world trade. Salt, emeralds, brass, copper,gold, cloth, olive oil, and wine all moved throughAksum. Its trade routes helped link Rome to India.In the early 300s, Aksum had a strong new kingnamed Ezana. He captured more land on theArabian peninsula. Then he conquered Kush anddestroyed the ancient city of Meroë in 350. Theaction removed an old rival in trade.

Because it was a trading center, Aksum was hometo peoples from many different cultures. At the timeof King Ezana, these different peoples all spoke toone another in Greek in order to be understood. Themixing of these different peoples did more thanbring a new language to Aksum. It also brought anew religion. During his rule, King Ezana decidedto become a Christian. Slowly, the religion spreadthroughout the land. Even today, about 22 millionpeople in modern Ethiopia are Christian.

The people of Aksum developed a special wayof building. They made structures out of stone, notmud baked into bricks by the hot sun. Their kingsbuilt tall pillars of stone that reached as high as 60feet. They were among the tallest structures in theancient world.

Aksum had other advances as well. Outside ofEgypt and Meroë, it was the only culture of ancientAfrica to have a written language. The language of

Aksum had been brought to the land by Arab tradersmany hundreds of years before.

The people of Aksum also developed a new wayof farming. They cut wide steps called terraces intothe steep mountainsides in their country. The ter-races helped the land hold water instead of lettingit run down the mountain in a heavy rain. They alsoused dams and stone tanks to store water and usedditches to channel it to their fields.

Aksum remained an important power in EastAfrica for 800 years. It was first challenged in the600s, though, after the new religion of Islam cameto Arabia. The followers of Islam captured the landsthat Aksum held in the Arabian peninsula. Within afew decades, they had taken much of North Africa,and Aksum remained an island of Christianity in asea of Islam.

At first, these conquerors left Aksum alone. By710, however, they had destroyed its chief port onthe Red Sea. The Aksum kings moved their capitalover the mountains to a hard-to-reach area. Cut offfrom other Christian lands and from the sea trade,though, Aksum went into decline.

Review1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

What impact did geography have on the wayhuman societies developed in Africa?

2. Determining Main Ideas What features of cul-ture are common to people south of the Sahara?

3. Clarifying Give an example of one of the threereasons that people move from their home to anew land.

4. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhy did the Bantu peoples move their homes?

5. Drawing Conclusions Why was Aksum important?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Americas: A Separate World,40,000 B.C.–A.D. 700

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Long ago, huge ice sheets cover the land. The level of theoceans goes down, and a once-underwater bridge of land connects Asia and theAmericas. Asian hunters cross this bridge and become the first Americans. Theyspread down the two continents. They develop more complex societies and newcivilizations. The earliest of these new cultures are found in central Mexico andin the high Andes Mountains.

Summary

The Earliest AmericansKEY IDEA The first Americans were separated fromother parts of the world. Nevertheless, they developed insimilar ways.

North and South America form a single stretchof land that reaches from the freezing cold

of the Arctic Circle in the north to the icy watersaround Antarctica in the south. Two oceans oneither side of these land masses separate themfrom Africa, Asia, and Europe.

That was not always the case, though. Fromaround 1.6 million to about 10,000 years ago, theearth went through an Ice Age. During this time ofsevere cold, much water froze into huge sheets ofice called glaciers. With water trapped in ice, thelevel of the world’s oceans went down. The loweredoceans exposed land that is today again covered bywater.

One strip of this land, called Beringa, con-nected Asia and North America. Wild animalscrossed this rocky land bridge and entered NorthAmerica for the first time. Some of the Asians whohunted these animals followed them. Withoutknowing it, they became the first Americans.

No one knows for sure when these first peoplereached the Americas. Some historians say it tookplace as long ago as 40,000 B.C. Others say it hap-pened as late as 10,000 B.C. A recent discovery inChile suggests that people were well settled in thatpart of the Americas by 10,500 B.C. Since Chile liesfar south of the land bridge, some experts say thatpeople needed many thousands of years to travelthat far. For this reason, they think that the firstpeople over the land bridge must have arrivedabout 20,000 years ago.

Whenever it was that they arrived, these firstAmericans clearly lived as hunters. One of theirfavorite targets for the hunt was the huge mam-moth. This creature was like an elephant covered

with thick, long hair to protect it from the bittercold of the Ice Age. It was so large that one animalalone gave enough meat, hide, and bones to feed,clothe, and house many people.

Over time, all the mammoths died, and the peo-ple were forced to look for other food. They beganto hunt smaller animals such as rabbits and deerand to fish. They also began to gather plants andfruits to eat. Because they no longer had to roamover large areas to search for the mastodon, theysettled for part of the year in one spot.

Between 12,000 and 10,000 B.C., the climatechanged. The Ice Age ended, and the worldwarmed up again. The huge sheets of ice melted,and the oceans rose again to cover the land bridgethat connected Asia to the Americas. By this time,though, people lived from north to south in theAmericas. They lived in many different environ-ments and found special ways of life suited to theplace where they lived.

About 7000 B.C., the people living in centralMexico started a quiet revolution—farming. It wasthe same kind of radical change that had happenedin several spots in Asia and Africa. By 3400 B.C.,they had several foods that they grew, includingsquashes, beans, chilies, and the most importantone—corn. Corn grew so well that a family of threecould, in four months, grow enough corn to feed itfor two years.

Over many centuries, the practice of farmingspread throughout the Americas. In what is nowthe eastern United States and in the region of theAndes Mountains, early Americans may have dis-covered the idea of farming on their own. In cen-tral Mexico, farmers became so skilled at growingcorn that they could enjoy three harvests each year.

Farming had the same results in the Americasthat it did in Asia and Africa. Growing food gavepeople a more reliable food supply—and morefood, too. As a result, more people could be fed,

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they were healthier, and they lived longer. Thepopulation grew. Because farmers produced somuch food, some people could concentrate onother ways of making a living. They began to workin different arts and crafts or to learn how to buildbuildings. Some people grew to be rich—to ownmore than others and to enjoy a higher position insociety. Some people became rulers, and othersbecame their subjects.

Early MesoamericanCivilizations

KEY IDEA The Olmecs created the first civilization in theAmericas. It influenced later civilizations in the area.

These changes marked the beginnings of morecomplex societies. The first of the early

American civilizations arose in southern Mexico, anarea of hot rain forests. These people are called theOlmecs, and they flourished from about 1200 to400 B.C. They were an important culture becausethey had influence on their neighbors and on peo-ples who lived long after them.

The Olmecs lived along the Gulf Coast ofMexico in a land of dense forests and heavy rains.The land gave them many benefits, though. It hadgood clay that could be used for pottery, wood andrubber that could be taken from the forest, andstone for building in the mountains to the north.The rivers could be used to move people andgoods, and the soil was excellent for growing food.

Archaeologists have found earthen mounds,courtyards, and pyramids built of stones. Standingon top of the mounds were many monuments madeof stone. Some are columns, others seem to bealtars used in religious ceremonies, and still othersare heads. Some of these stone structures are verylarge and weigh as much as 44 tons.

Researchers are not sure whether the Olmecsites were monuments to rulers or areas importantfor religious reasons. They do think that the Olmecshad many gods who stood for important forces ofnature. The most important god, it seemed, was thejaguar spirit. Many stone monuments show figuresthat are half human and half jaguar.

The Olmec peoples busily traded with otherpeople to the north and south. In return for theproducts they made, they received iron ore and dif-ferent kinds of stone. Along with their trade goods,they spread their culture to other people. For somereason, the Olmecs disappeared around 400 B.C.

Historians still do not understand why. However,their influence lived on.

Another important early culture of Mexico wasthe Zapotec people. Their home was to the south-west of the Olmecs in a valley that had excellentsoil for farming and plenty of rainfall. They beganto rise about 1000 B.C. at a site that included stoneplatforms and temples. A few hundred years later,they developed a kind of writing and a calendar.

About 500 B.C., the Zapotecs began building thefirst city in the Americas. Called Monte Albán, itgrew to hold as many as 25,000 people and lastedas late as A.D. 700. The city was an impressive sightwith high pyramids, temples, and palaces made outof stone. It had an observatory that could be usedto look at the stars. However, the Zapotec culturealso collapsed, and, as with the Olmecs, historiansdo not know why.

Both of these cultures left their mark on laterpeoples, though. The jaguar figure of the Olmecscontinued to appear in the sculpture and pottery of people who came later. Also, the look of Olmectowns—with pyramids, open space, and huge stonesculptures—was repeated in later times. The Olmecsdeveloped a ritual game played with a ball that alsocontinued to be used in the area.

The Zapotecs also shaped the lives of later peo-ples. Their way of writing and their calendar—based on the movements of the sun—were takenby other groups. The dramatic and beautiful city ofMonte Albán also influenced later peoples, whobuilt their own cities in similar ways. These citiescombined religious purposes with the needs of thecommon people who lived in them.

Early Civilizations of the Andes

KEY IDEA In the rugged landscape of the AndesMountains, various peoples created their own civilizations.

Other interesting civilizations arose in theAmericas far to the south of the Olmec and

Zapotec peoples. This took place in an environmentthat was very harsh—the high Andes Mountainsthat snake down the western edge of South America.This range of mountains has many peaks that aremore than 20,000 feet high.

Toward the northern part of South America,along these mountains, lies the modern country ofPeru. In this area, the mountains are steep andvery rocky. The area is also very cold, with many

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mountains covered by ice and snow during theentire year. It is very hard to travel this area, andthe climate changes quickly from being hot duringthe day to bitter cold at night. The soil is poor aswell, making it hard to grow food.

It was in this difficult land that a new civiliza-tion arose in the mountains. That culture is calledChavín. It takes its name from a major ruin, Chavínde Huántar, in the Andes Mountains. At this site,researchers have found pyramids, open spaces, andlarge mounds made of earth. The Chavín culturewas at its height from 900 B.C. to 200 B.C. It is con-sidered the first influential civilization in SouthAmerica.

Scientists have found objects that suggest thatthe Chavín culture helped shape other people livingto the north and south of this site. In these othersites, they see the art styles and symbols of religionthat they had found at Chavín. They think that themain site was not the center of a political empirebut was the chief site of a spiritual or religiousmovement. People from other areas may have madetrips to the main site to pay their respects. TheChavín culture, like the Olmecs in Mexico, mayhave been a “mother culture,” one that gave thefirst form to the ideas and styles of the area.

Two other important cultures arose in Peru.The Nazca culture developed along the coast of thePacific Ocean in the south of Peru. It lasted from200 B.C. to A.D. 600. The Nazca people built largeand complex systems to bring water to their farm-lands. They made beautiful cloth and pottery.

The Nazca are most famous for another of theirfeatures, though. Called the Nazca Lines, they arehuge pictures scraped on the surface of a rockyplain. The drawings include a monkey, a spider,some birds, and other creatures. What is mostremarkable is that the pictures are so large thatthey can be seen and appreciated only from high inthe air. Some experts think that the Nazca drewthese pictures to please their gods.

The other culture of early Peru arose along thePacific Coast but far to the north. This was theMoche culture, and it lasted from A.D. 100 to A.D.700. The Moche tapped into rivers that floweddown from the mountains. They built ditches tobring water to their fields, where they grew manydifferent crops. They raised corn, beans, potatoes,squash, and peanuts. They also fished, caught wildducks and pigs, and hunted deer.

Archaeologists have found some tombs of theMoche people, and they show that the culture hadgreat wealth. They have found jewelry made ofgold, silver, and jewels. The Moche people madebeautiful pottery that showed scenes of everydaylife. So, even though they never had a written lan-guage, it is possible to learn much about how theylived.

Eventually, though, the Moche culture also fell.As with the other peoples of the Americas, the rea-son for this fall is not known. For the next hundredyears, other cultures would rise and fall in theAmericas. Most of them remained separate fromone another, however.

ReviewAnalyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects1. What did the first Americans hunt, and what

happened when that supply of food disappeared?2. What happened when the early peoples of

America began to farm?3. Drawing Conclusions Why were the Olmecs

and Zapotecs important?Determining Main Ideas4. How was the environment of the Andes

Mountains difficult?5. Write one important thing each about the

Chavín, Nazca, and Moche peoples.

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Muslim World, 600–1250CHAPTER OVERVIEW In the harsh environment of the Arabian Peninsula, a newreligion arose. Muhammad united the Arab peoples in the belief that there wasonly one God. Strengthened by their faith, the Arabs began a conquest of partsof three continents. In ruling this vast empire, the Arabs preserved the achieve-ments of many cultures and promoted learning in many fields of study.

Summary

The Rise of IslamKEY IDEA Muhammad unified the Arabic people bothpolitically and through the religion he founded, Islam.

The harsh environment of the Arabian Peninsulaleft its mark on the society of the Arab peoples.

Located at about where Africa, Asia, and Europemeet, the region felt the influence of cultures fromall three continents. With the land almost completelycovered by desert, making a living was difficult.The people who lived on the desert followed anomadic way of life. They herded animals, whichthey led from one fertile spot—oasis—to another insearch of precious water. Over time, many of thesepeople, called Bedouins, began to live in towns andcities. People who lived in the towns engaged inlocal and long-distance trade.

The Bedouins developed a society based onfamily groups called clans. Courage and loyalty tothe family, as well as warrior skills, were importantvalues.

By the early 600s, trade had become an impor-tant activity in the Arabian Peninsula. Merchantsfrom the Byzantine and Sassanid empires to thenorth brought goods to Arabia. They traded in thecities for spices and other goods. They also broughtnew ideas.

At this time, the Arab people believed in manygods. Religious pilgrims came to Mecca to worshipat an ancient shrine called the Ka’aba. Over theyears, Arabs had introduced the worship of manygods and spirits to the Ka’aba. It contained morethan 360 idols brought there by several tribes.

Around the year A.D. 570, Muhammad was borninto this Arab society. Though a member of a pow-erful family of Mecca, his early life was difficult. Hewas orphaned at age six and received little school-ing. However, he became a successful merchant.Muhammad was always interested in religion. Ataround age 40, he took religion as his life’s mission.One night, the angel Gabriel visited him and toldhim to proclaim the word of God to his people.

Muhammad began to teach that there was only

one God—Allah. His religion was called Islam, andits followers took the name of Muslims. He con-verted a few friends and family members and thenbegan to preach in public. At first, many people inMecca violently opposed Muhammad’s views. Theyfeared Meccans would neglect traditional Arabgods. Muhammad and his followers were forced toleave Mecca for Yathrib (later called Medina) in622. Muhammad became a leader of that city.

The forces of Mecca and Medina fought severaltimes over the next few years. Finally, in 630, theleaders of Mecca surrendered to Muhammad. Hewent to the building that held the Ka’aba anddestroyed the idols to other gods. Many of the peo-ple of Mecca adopted Islam. They began to wor-ship Allah as the only God. Though Muhammaddied shortly thereafter, in 632, much of the ArabianPeninsula was already united under Islam.

Muslims have five duties to perform. The dutiesshow a person’s accepting of the will of God:

• A person must state a belief that there is no Godbut Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet.

• A person must pray to Allah, facing Mecca, fivetimes every day.

• A person must give aid to poor people through a tax.

• A person must eat only one meal a day, after sunset, every day during the holy month ofRamadan.

• A person should perform the hajj—a trip to theholy city of Mecca—at least once in his or her life.

Even today, for Muslims, their private and reli-gious lives are the same. So, many religious lawstell Muslims how they must live. Some rules forbidthem from eating pork or drinking alcohol. EveryFriday afternoon they meet as a community forprayer. The central ideas of the Muslim religion arefound in the Qur’an, which Muslims believe to bethe will of Allah as revealed to Muhammad. TheQur’an is written in Arabic, and that language spreadas the faith of Islam spread. Muslims are also

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guided by the example of Muhammad’s life, calledthe Sunna, and by a set of laws and rules.

Muslims believe that Allah is the same God thatJews and Christians worship. To Muslims, the Qur’anperfects the earlier teachings of God found in theJewish Torah and the Christian Bible. Because theirholy books were related to the Qur’an, Jews andChristians enjoyed special status in Muslim societies.

Islam ExpandsKEY IDEA In spite of internal conflicts, the Muslims created an empire of land on three continents.

When Muhammad died, his followers elected anew leader, Abu-Bakr. He had been loyal to

Muhammad. He was given the title caliph, whichmeans “successor” or “deputy.”

Abu-Bakr reacted quickly when a group ofArabs abandoned Islam. He defeated them in bat-tle over a two-year period. Abu-Bakr died soonthereafter. However, his army became an effectivefighting force that began to conquer new lands.The Arabs took Syria and lower Egypt from theByzantine Empire. By 750, the Muslim Empirestretched from the Indus River in India west to theAtlantic Ocean.

The Muslims’ faith helped them achieve thisrapid expansion. They saw each victory as a sign ofAllah’s support of Islam. Other factors were thefighting skill of the armies and the strong leader-ship of their generals. The Byzantine and Sassanidempires to the north were also weak at this time,and the Arabs took advantage of that. Finally, manypeople who lived in those empires did not supportthe official religions. They often supported theArabs, who they thought would liberate them fromthe harsh rule of these empires.

Many of these people accepted Islam. Somefound the message of Islam appealing. Some likedthe fact that by becoming Muslims they avoidedpaying a tax put only on non-Muslims. The Qur’anprevented Muslims from forcing others to acceptthe religion, however. Muslim rulers allowed peo-ple to follow whatever beliefs they chose.

After the murder of a ruling caliph in 656, dif-ferent Muslim groups began to struggle for controlof the empire. Ali, a cousin and son-in-law ofMuhammad, was chosen caliph. After a few years,he, too, was killed. The system of electing caliphsdied with him.

A family known as the Umayyads took power

over the vast empire. They did not follow the sim-ple life of earlier caliphs and surrounded them-selves with wealth. This created a division withinthe Muslim community.

Most Muslims accepted Umayyad rule. However,some did resist, and a different view of the office ofcaliph developed. The Shi’a group—the “party” ofthe deceased Ali—felt that caliphs needed to berelatives of Muhammad. Those who did not out-wardly resist Umayyad rule became known as theSunni. Another group, the Sufi, reacted to theUmayyads’ life of luxury. The Sufis emphasized amore spiritual way of life.

After 750, Muslim caliphates existed on threecontinents. The Abbasids (750–1258) conqueredthe Umayyads and took over the east. They heldthe lands of modern Iraq, Iran, and central Asia.They built the city of Baghdad in central Iraq astheir capital. They were powerful, using their loca-tion to control the rich trade between China andEurope. They formed a complex government torun their empire.

One Umayyad prince had escaped to Spain in750. There Muslims known as Berbers alreadyexisted. The prince set up a Muslim state called al-Andalus. The Umayyads of al-Andalus (756–976)controlled parts of Spain and North Africa.

Another Muslim state—the Fatimid caliphate(909–1171)—sprang up in North Africa. It eventu-ally spread to western Arabia and Syria.

The Muslims were divided politically. However,the Abbasids, Umayyads of al-Andalus, and Fatimidswere linked by religion, language, culture, andtrade. Muslim traders brought goods from China toSpain. They formed banks along the route. Theyalso accepted a form of substitute money laterknown as checks.

Muslim CultureKEY IDEA Muslims combined and preserved the tradi-tions of many peoples and also advanced learning in avariety of areas.

The vast Muslim Empire included people of manydifferent lands and cultures. Muslims blended

Arabic culture with these other traditions to createa new culture of great achievement. This new cul-ture arose in the major cities of the Muslim world.

Damascus, in modern Syria, was the leading cityand cultural center of Islamic learning. The citiesof Córdoba and Cairo were centers of Muslim rule

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in Spain and North Africa. The Abbasid capital,Baghdad, was especially impressive. Its inner areawas circular and had three sets of protective walls,each inside the other. In the center of the circlewas the palace of the caliph, made of marble andstone. Nearly a million people lived in Baghdad.

Muslim society was divided into four groups. Atthe top were people who were Muslims from birth.Next came those who converted to Islam. The thirdgroup included Jews, Christians, andZoroastrians—protected because Muslims sharedsome of their beliefs. The fourth group was slaves,none of whom were Muslims.

According to Muslim law, women should obeymen. However, Muslim women still enjoyed morerights than did those living in European society ofthe time. They had some economic and propertyrights. In the early Muslim society, women couldalso have an education and take part in public life.Later they lost those rights.

Muslims placed a high value on learning. Muslimscholars added much to humans’ store of knowledge.Europe was in chaos, and much that had beenknown in ancient Greece and Rome was lost.During this time, Muslim scholars kept much ofthis knowledge alive. They collected ancient Greek,Indian, and Persian works of science and philosophyand translated them into Arabic. One center of thisstudy was the House of Wisdom built in Baghdad.Later, this ancient learning returned to Europewhen the works of Muslim scholars were translated.

One area in which Muslim scholars made greatadvances was medicine. The physician al-Raziwrote an encyclopedia that collected all that wasknown about medicine from Greece to India.

Another area of advance was mathematics. Abrilliant mathematician named al-Khwarizmi wrotea textbook that introduced a new branch of math.By developing algebra, he was able to use knownquantities to find unknown quantities.

In science, Muslims studied the work of ancientGreek scientists but took a new approach. TheGreeks had tried to learn about nature by using logicto reach conclusions. In contrast, Muslims usedexperiments to test ideas. Another field of advancewas astronomy. One Muslim scientist made newdiscoveries about how people see. His findingshelped lead later to the invention of the telescopeand microscope.

In philosophy, the Muslim scholar Ibn Rushdtried to join together the thinking of ancient Greekswith Muslim ideas.

Muslim literature developed a strong tradition.The Qur’an is the standard for all Arabic literatureand poetry. The collection The Thousand and OneNights included many entertaining stories, fairytales, and legends. It was read and narrated through-out the Muslim world.

Muslims put to use the traditions in art that theyfound among the other peoples they met. Muslimshad their own special practices in art, however. Forinstance, artists could not draw pictures of people.Only Allah, the religion said, could create life.Unable to draw these images, Muslims developed anew art form. They practiced calligraphy, or the artof beautiful handwriting. Some of this writing wasused to decorate the beautiful buildings thatMuslims built. These buildings often showed theblending of cultures that was a major part of theMuslim world.

Review1. Drawing Conclusions What caused

Muhammad to leave Mecca for Yathrib? Whatwas the result?

2. Summarizing What are the five duties that afollower of Islam must perform?

3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhat factors contributed to the Muslims’ successin capturing so much land?

4. Determining Main Ideas What was the mostimportant factor in the division of Muslim soci-ety into four parts? What does that reveal aboutthe place of Islam in this society?

5. Clarifying Describe two achievements ofMuslim culture in art or learning. What con-tributed to them?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Byzantines, Russians, and TurksInteract, 500–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW The eastern part of the old Roman Empire maintained abrilliant civilization centered in Constantinople. With a separate Christian Church,it developed a culture different from that of western Europe. Slavs and Vikingsjoined to create a new culture in Russia, which was influenced by the EasternChurch. Turks entered the area, converted to Islam, and made their own empire.

Summary

The Byzantine EmpireKEY IDEA Constantinople ruled an eastern empire thatsurvived for over a thousand years.

In the A.D. 300s, the Roman emperor Constantinewas worried about the growing power of German

tribes. He moved the Roman Empire’s capital tothe east, where he could better meet that threat.The location also put him closer to the easternprovinces of the empire, which were richer thanthose in the west. He built a great new capital city,Constantinople, on the site of the old port city ofByzantium. Constantinople became the center ofan empire in the eastern area of the MediterraneanSea that lasted for hundreds of years. It was calledthe Byzantine Empire.

The Roman Empire was officially divided in395. The western area was overrun by Germantribes. It ceased to exist after 476. However, theByzantine eastern part remained strong. In 527,Justinian became the Byzantine emperor. He sentan army to try to regain control of Italy and restorethe Roman Empire once again. His army managedto win almost all of Italy and much of Spain fromthe Germans. By around 550, Justinian ruled overalmost all of the old Roman Empire’s territory.

Under the direction of Justinian, legal expertscreated a complete code of laws based on the lawsof ancient Rome. This body of civil law—theJustinian Code—served the empire for 900 years.

Justinian also worked at making Constantinoplea strong and beautiful capital. He built high, strongwalls to protect the city from attack by either landor sea. He built a huge palace, public baths, courts,schools, hospitals, and many churches. The mainstreet of the city was lined with shops and open-airmarkets, where people bought and sold goods fromAsia, Africa, and Europe. Another huge buildingwas used to stage chariot races and circus acts.

In 532, the city erupted in riots against theemperor. Justinian thought about leaving the city,

but his wife, the empress Theodora, convinced himto use the army to fight back. The troops regainedcontrol of the city, killing thousands of rioters. Achurch called Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom” inGreek) had been destroyed by the mobs. Justinianrebuilt it to become the most beautiful church inthe Christian world.

The empire faced further dangers. A terribleplague broke out in 542. It killed thousands of peo-ple and returned every 8 to 12 years until about700. The many deaths that this illness caused weak-ened the Byzantine Empire.

Many enemies attacked the empire time andtime again over the centuries. German tribes, theSassanid Persians, and later Muslim armies all triedto gain control of Byzantine land. Constantinopleremained safe at this time despite many attacks.Eventually, though, the empire itself shrank. By1350, the empire included only the capital city andlands in the Balkans—a part of southeastern Europe.

Although it was based on the Roman Empire,the Byzantine Empire had developed a culture allits own. Few people in the Byzantine Empirespoke the Latin of the old Roman Empire. Theyspoke Greek and belonged to the EasternOrthodox Church, not the Catholic Church thatwas centered in Rome. The Eastern Church wasled by an official named the patriarch, the leadingbishop. However, even he had to obey the emperor.Slowly the Eastern and Roman churches grew fur-ther apart. In 1054, the split became permanent.Services in the Eastern Church were conducted inGreek, not in Latin as in the Roman Church. TheEastern Church also allowed priests to marry andlet its members have divorces.

Some missionaries traveled from the ByzantineEmpire to the north. They met a people known asthe Slavs and converted them to the eastern formof Christianity. In this way, the influence of theByzantine Empire entered Russia as that nationbegan to form.

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The Russian EmpireKEY IDEA Russia grew out of a blending of Slavic andByzantine cultures with Eastern Orthodox traditions.

The Slavs lived in what is today eastern Russia.The area stretched from the Ural Mountains to

the Black Sea on the south and the Baltic Sea in thenorth. The southern regions are hilly grasslands.The northern area is flat and covered with trees orswamps. Slow-moving rivers in the region havemoved people and goods for centuries.

The Slavs lived in the forest areas, working asfarmers and traders. In the 800s, some Vikings calledthe Rus came from the north. They built forts alongthe rivers and blended with the Slavs. They foundedthe cities of Novgorod and Kiev and became therulers of the land. They began to trade in Constan-tinople, bringing furs, timber, and the Slavs whowere their subjects. They sold these people asslaves—in fact, the word slave comes from Slav.

Over time, the Vikings adopted the Slavs’ culture.While divisions between Vikings and Slavs disap-peared, the society was sharply split between thegreat mass of peasants and the few nobles.

In the 980s, the ruler of Russia—Vladimir—converted to Byzantine Christianity. He alsoordered all of his subjects to adopt this religion.Now more than trade linked Russia to the ByzantineEmpire. Russia also looked to Constantinople forreligious leadership. Teachers from the empire gavethe Russian people instructions in the new religion.The king liked the idea that the ruler of the empirewas also the head of the church.

Under the influence of Byzantine culture, Kievgrew to be a large, wealthy, and cultured city. Thestate grew, as Vladimir took land to the west and tothe north. His son, Yaroslav the Wise, proved an ableruler as well. Under him, Kiev grew even morewealthy through trade and alliances made withwestern nations.

Then the state centered in Kiev began to haveproblems. The sons of Yaroslav fought one anotherfor control of the land after his death in 1054. Tradedeclined, cutting the wealth of Kiev. Then deepertroubles appeared. Nomadic fighters from centralAsia, the Mongols, began to conquer many differ-ent areas. In the middle 1200s, they reached Kiev.They quickly overran the Russian state, killing manypeople. The Mongols held control of the area formore than 200 years.

As long as the Russian people did not rebel, theMongols allowed them to keep their customs. The

Mongols allowed the Russians to continue follow-ing their Eastern Christian religion. The Churchhelped settle any differences between the Mongolrulers and the Russian people. The Mongols madethe Russians pay tribute, a sum of money that wasowed every year. They used Russian nobles to col-lect the tribute. One of those nobles, AlexanderNevsky, grew to power. His heirs became princes ofthe city of Moscow.

Control by the Mongols had important effectson Russia. First, it isolated the Russians from west-ern Europe. As a result, Russian society developedin its own way. Second, rule by the Mongols unitedmany different areas of Russia under one centralauthority. Before then, what is now Russia hadbeen ruled by a number of different princes. Third,Mongol rule led to the rise of Moscow.

That city had a good location near three majorrivers: the Dnieper, Don, and Volga. By the 1320s,under Prince Ivan I of Moscow, this position couldbe used to expand the power of Moscow. Ivanserved the Mongols by crushing a local rebellion.In return, the Mongol ruler gave him the right tocollect the tribute in all of European Russia. Nowthe most powerful Russian prince, Ivan I becameknown as “Ivan Moneybags.”

He increased the influence of Moscow by per-suading the leader of the Russian church in Kiev tomove to Moscow. Over time, Ivan and his succes-sors added to the land that Moscow controlled. Inthe late 1400s, under Ivan III, Russia grew to be amighty empire. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire hadfallen, defeated by the Turks. In 1472, Ivan marriedthe niece of the last Byzantine emperor, linkinghimself to that historic throne. From then on, hecalled himself czar, which was the Russian versionof Caesar. In 1480, Ivan finally broke with theMongols. He refused to pay that year’s tribute.Because the Mongols did not respond militarily,Russia had in effect won its independence fromMongol rule.

Turkish Empires Rise in Anatolia

KEY IDEA Turkish people converted to Islam and foundednew empires that would renew Muslim civilization.

The Turks were a nomadic people from the vastgrasslands of central Asia. They lived by herding

sheep and goats and engaging in raids and tradewith the settled peoples of the Abbasid Empire.

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Beginning in the 900s, they moved into the lands ofthat empire and began converting to Islam.

These fierce nomads were highly skilled fighters.The rulers of the empire began to buy them as chil-dren to train them for their armies. Turks becamean important political factor in the empire. Turkishsoldiers many times removed caliphs from thethrone in Baghdad and put new rulers in place.

While this Turkish influence was growing, theempire itself was shrinking. Local leaders in severalareas split off to establish their own states. In 945, aPersian army seized control of the empire. Membersof the Abbasid family continued to hold the positionof caliph and act as religious leaders. The new rulersof the government were from outside the dynasty.They were called sultans.

As these changes took place, larger and largernumbers of Turks settled in the empire. They werecalled Seljuk Turks after the name of the family thatled them. In 1055, the Seljuks captured Baghdadand took control of the government. In the next fewdecades, the Seljuks used their force to take landaway from another empire—the Byzantine Empire.They won almost all of Anatolia, the peninsulawhere modern Turkey now sits. In this position,they stood almost at the gates of Constantinople.

In ruling their empire, the Seljuks relied on thegovernment experience of Persians. They placedtheir capital in Persian lands and gave Persiansimportant positions in the government. In return,Persians became loyal supporters of Turkish rule.

The Turks also adopted Persian culture. Theylooked to Persian scholars to teach them the properway to follow Islam. They began to use the Persianlanguage for art and education. The Turkish rulerseven took the Persian word for “king”—shah—astheir title. One of the greatest Seljuk rulers, MalikShah, became a patron of the arts. He made thecapital city more beautiful by building manymosques, or Muslim houses of worship. Persianbecame so important that Arabic—the language ofthe Qur’an—almost died out in Seljuk lands.

The Seljuk Empire collapsed quickly, as a seriesof weak rulers were unable to maintain it. One reason was the growing pressure from westernEurope, whose rulers sent armies on the Crusadesin the effort to capture the lands of ancientPalestine, which were sacred to Christians. The FirstCrusade began in 1095, and the Christian armiescaptured Jerusalem. Not quite 100 years later, theTurks retook the city.

Just when the Crusades became less of a threatto the Muslim world, the Mongols moved in fromthe east. They overran vast stretches of territoryand captured Baghdad in 1258. They killed the lastcaliph and took control of the government from theSeljuk Turks.

Review1. Determining Main Ideas Describe two accom-

plishments of the emperor Justinian.2. Contrasting What cultural factors separated the

Byzantine Empire from western Europe?Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects3. What cultural influences combined to produce

Russian culture?4. What effects did Mongol rule have on Russian

history?5. Comparing How was the Turkish adoption of

culture similar to the adoption of culture by theRussians?

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Tang and Song ChinaKEY IDEA During the Tang and Song dynasties, Chinaexperienced an era of prosperity and technological innovations.

Starting in A.D. 220, China went through a longperiod of troubles during which no single ruler

was strong enough to unite the entire area. In 589,Wendi changed that. He brought the northern andsouthern regions under his power and named him-self emperor. His new dynasty—the Sui—lastedonly during his rule and that of his successor.However, these two rulers were important. Theybuilt the Grand Canal, a long waterway that con-nected the two major rivers of China. It linked thepeople of the cities in the north to the rice-growingregions in the fertile south.

The Tang Dynasty followed and lasted for 300years. Tang rulers retook northern and westernlands that had been lost under the Han Dynasty.Under the Empress Wu—the only woman ever torule China as emperor—the Tang captured parts ofKorea as well.

Early Tang rulers made the governmentstronger. To run their empire, they revived thepractice of using men educated in the writings ofthe philosopher Confucius. Schools were set up totrain people in these works. Candidates for govern-ment jobs had to pass tests in order to win work.

The Tang Dynasty began to weaken when therulers once again levied heavy taxes. While theChinese people became angry over these burdens,nomads attacked the empire’s western lands andbegan to capture some areas. In 907, the last Tangruler was killed, and a new dynasty—the Song—took its place. It, too, lasted about 300 years. TheSong Dynasty ruled a smaller area than did theTang. However, China under its rule was strong.

During the Tang and Song periods, China mademany advances in technology. The Chinese

invented the use of movable type, allowing them toprint books. They also invented gunpowder for usein fireworks and weapons. The Chinese grew morefood, based on advances in farming and an improvedvariety of fast-growing rice. Trade increased, firstthrough Central Asia on the land route called theSilk Road and later over the oceans. This allowedBuddhism to spread from China to Japan, Korea,and Vietnam. Tang and Song China became famousfor their artistic advances.

These developments brought about changes inChinese society. The old noble families lost power,while the scholar-government officials gainedpower. Below them was an urban middle class,laborers, and peasants. The status of womenbecame worse.

The Mongol ConquestsKEY IDEA The Mongols, a nomadic people from thesteppe, settled across much of Asia.

Much of Central Asia is covered by flat grass-land that cannot support farming. Nomadic

herders lived in this area. They traveled from placeto place seeking grass to feed herds of sheep andgoats. From time to time over the centuries, thesenomads struck out to attack the settled farmingpeoples to the east, south, and west. In the early1200s, the Mongols began such an attack. Underthe leadership of Genghis Khan, they met hugesuccess. In just over 20 years, he led his people toconquer Central Asia.

Three factors contributed to the Mongols’ mili-tary success. First, they organized their army in alogical, easy-to-control way with experiencedfighters in command. Second, Genghis Khan wasable to outthink and outwit his enemies. Finally, theMongols used cruelty as a weapon. This helpedconvince other cities to surrender without a fight.

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Empires in East Asia, 600–1350CHAPTER OVERVIEW Under Tang and Song rulers, China became the mostadvanced culture in the world. Then fierce warriors from Central Asia swept over China, creating a new empire that encouraged trade. In ruling China, theMongols reached great heights. Japan developed its own culture based on ideasand practices borrowed from China. Chinese influence extended to Korea andSoutheast Asia.

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After Genghis Khan died in 1227, the Mongolarmies continued to advance. Under Genghis’s sonsand grandsons, the armies conquered China, tookparts of Korea, captured Russia, and threatenedeastern Europe. By 1260, the remaining empirewas divided into four areas called khanates. Therulers in these areas gradually adopted the cultureof the people they ruled. Those in the west becameMuslims. Those in China took on Chinese culture.In this way, the four khanates grew apart.

The Mongols proved able rulers who broughtabout a long period of peace in Central Asia. Theypromoted trade and the exchange of ideas betweenAsia and Europe. Along with this trade, they mayhave brought a deadly disease—the plague—thatcaused widespread death in Europe in the 1300s.

The Mongol EmpireKEY IDEA Kublai Khan ruled China and encouraged for-eign contact and trade, but the Yuan Dynasty was besetby problems.

The Mongols needed several decades to completetheir conquest of China begun by Genghis

Khan in 1215. In 1260 Kublai Khan, grandson ofGenghis, took the title of Great Khan. Finally, in1279, Kublai Khan managed to defeat the lastChinese army in the south. He became the firstforeigner to gain complete control of China andrule the land.

Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty thatruled China for only about 100 years. The dynastywas important because it united China for the firsttime in several hundred years and opened China totrade with the west. The Mongols did not disruptChinese government or culture but, in fact, adoptedit for themselves. Kublai Khan adopted Chineseways and built a new capital in the city of Beijing.

However, the Mongols still wanted further con-quests. Kublai Khan launched two attacks on Japanin 1274 and 1281, but both failed.

To rule his empire, Kublai Khan continued tofollow Chinese practices. The Mongols kept the topgovernment jobs for themselves. They also hiredmany people from other lands for these jobs, trust-ing them more than they did the Chinese.

Kublai Khan rebuilt the Great Canal. He pro-moted foreign trade, which took such Chineseinventions as printing, gunpowder, paper money, thecompass, and playing cards to Europe. This activityled the European trader Marco Polo to journey to

China. He lived there for many years and traveledthroughout the Mongol Empire. When he returnedto Italy in 1292, he told Europeans fantastic storiesabout Chinese wealth.

In the last years of his rule, Kublai Khan raninto trouble. Attacks on Southeast Asia failed, cost-ing many lives and much treasure. After Kublai’sdeath in 1294, Mongol leaders struggled for controlof the empire. These fights helped weaken Mongolrule, which allowed parts of China to erupt inrebellion. In 1368, some rebels finally won controlof the Chinese government from the Mongols.They established a new dynasty called the Ming.

By this time, the whole Mongol Empire hadbegun to collapse. Mongols lost control of Persia inthe 1330s and Central Asia in the 1370s. They con-tinued to rule Russia until the late 1400s, however.

Feudal Powers in JapanKEY IDEA Japanese civilization was shaped by culturalborrowing from China and the rise of feudalism and mili-tary rulers.

Japan gained from its location. It was near enoughto China to benefit from the influence of Chinese

culture. It was also far enough to be able to protectitself from complete Chinese domination.

Japan is not one island but several thousandislands of varying sizes. Most people, though, liveon the four largest of them. The islands have fewnatural resources, such as coal and oil. Also, themany mountains leave little land that can be usedfor farming.

Early in its history, Japan was broken up intomany small areas, each led by a clan. These clansbelieved in their own gods. Later, all these beliefswere combined to form Japan’s religion, Shinto.The main ideas of Shinto were to respect the forcesof nature and the ancestors of a family.

In the A.D. 400s, the Yamato became the mostpowerful of these clans. They claimed that theywere descended from a sun goddess. Later, Yamatoleaders began to call themselves emperors. Theemperor remained an important figure in Japan.Even when other groups took control of the gov-ernment, they retained the position of the emperorand said they were ruling in his name.

During the 400s, Japan began to feel theinfluence of Chinese culture. Buddhism traveledfrom China to Japan and became an important reli-gion in the islands. The emperor sent people to

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China to learn Chinese ways and bring them backto Japan. The Japanese also adopted the Chinesesystem of writing, painting, and other parts ofChinese culture. Around the late 800s, though, theJapanese stopped sending people to China to learnChinese culture.

From 794 to 1185, Japan’s noble family ruledthe country from the capital at Heian. This era rep-resented the peak of Japanese culture, when thepeople of the court led lives of complex rituals,careful manners, and artistic good taste. Womenwriters of the time provide a detailed view of thisrefined court life.

Over time the power of the emperor declinedand nobles with large land holdings began to asserttheir power. They hired private armies, and thesesoldiers began to terrorize farmers. For protection,farmers gave up some of their land to the lords.Thus began a time of local power like Europe’sMiddle Ages. The local lords used a group oftrained soldiers called samurai to protect themfrom attacks by other lords. These samurai fol-lowed a strict code of honor.

After a period of war, one of these lords arose asthe most powerful. The emperor named him theshogun, or superior general of the emperor’s army.While the emperor remained in power in name,the new shogun ran the country. This pattern wasfollowed in Japan from 1192 to 1868. Shoguns led adefense of Japan against invasions of the Mongolsfrom China.

Kingdoms of Southeast Asia and Korea

KEY IDEA Several smaller kingdoms prospered in Eastand Southeast Asia, a region culturally influenced byChina and India.

Southeast Asia lies between the Indian andPacific oceans and stretches from China almost

to Australia. It includes such mainland areas asmodern Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, andVietnam and the islands of Sumatra, Java, andBorneo, among others. The region has never beenunited culturally or politically.

From about A.D. 800 to 1200, the Khmer empireof modern Cambodia was the main power on themainland of Southeast Asia. The main source ofwealth of this empire was the growing of rice. TheKhmer had large irrigation works to bring water totheir fields. Rulers built huge and beautiful temples

and palaces. At the same time, a trading empirecalled Srivijaya arose on Java and nearby islands. Itscapital became a center for the study of Buddhism.

These two cultures were influenced by India.Another culture—Vietnam—fell under the influenceof China. China controlled the area from about 100B.C. to A.D. 900. Vietnam became an independentkingdom, known as Dai Viet, in 939. While takingBuddhism and other influences from China, theVietnamese developed their own special culture.Women, for instance, enjoyed more rights inVietnam than they did in China.

Korea, like Japan and Vietnam, was influencedby China but maintained its own traditions as well.From China, the Koreans learned Buddhism, theteachings of Confucius, the benefits of central gov-ernment, and a system of writing. The KoryuDynasty ruled Korea from 935 to 1392. It had agovernment similar to China’s. However, Korea’smethod of using examinations to fill governmentjobs did not keep wealthy landowners from domi-nating society. The dynasty, though, produced manygreat artistic achievements in Korean culture.

Korea fell to the Mongols and was occupieduntil the 1350s. The heavy tax that they demandedmade the country poor and led the people to revolt.When the Mongols lost power, a new dynasty tookcontrol of Korea and ruled for 518 years.

Review1. Clarifying Identify two changes in technology

or society that took place in Tang and SongChina.

2. Analyzing Causes What factors helped createMongol success in war?

3. Determining Main Ideas What kind of rela-tions did the Mongols have with the Chinese?

4. Summarizing What pattern of governmentdeveloped in Japan?

5. Drawing Conclusions What two culturesinfluenced the people of Southeast Asia? Howdoes geography help explain why?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF European Middle Ages, 500–1200CHAPTER OVERVIEW German peoples invaded the Roman Empire, causing it tofall. Small Germanic kingdoms arose. The kingdom of Charlemagne finallyreunited western Europe but split apart after his death. As different groupsinvaded Europe, people sought protection and gave up some rights to powerfullords, producing a system called feudalism. The Church proved an important spir-itual and political force throughout the Middle Ages.

Summary

Charlemagne UnitesGermanic Kingdoms

KEY IDEA Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded theRoman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne’sempire.

By the end of the fourth century, invaders frommany different Germanic groups overran the

Roman Empire in the west. Their arrival and thecollapse of Roman rule had several effects. Theattacks put a halt to all trade, as it was not safe tomove goods from one place to another. The end ofRoman government and the decline in trade madecities less important. As cities faded, nobles movedto the countryside. Poorer people followed, hopingto be able to grow their own food. The general levelof education in society became lower. As Germanicpeople settled in different areas, they began toblend Latin with phrases of their own. Their lan-guage developed different dialects. Europe nolonger had a single language understood by all.

From about A.D. 400 to 600, Europe was thescene of turmoil and chaos as small Germanic king-doms fought each other for power. Long-held Romanideas about law were replaced by Germanic ideas ofsociety based on close personal ties. The CatholicChurch provided the only sense of order. In 496,Clovis, the king of the Franks, became a Christianwith all his warriors. From then on, the pope inRome supported the military efforts of Clovis.

Clovis was one of many leaders to becomeChristian. The Church made an effort to bringthese people to the religion. It also set up newcommunities called monasteries, where mencalled monks and women called nuns lived livesdevoted to God. These monasteries became impor-tant because their libraries preserved some of thewritings of the ancient world.

The Church also grew in importance whenGregory I became pope in 590. He made the pope

the guardian of the spiritual lives of all Christians.He also made the pope an important power in gov-erning part of Italy.

The kingdom of the Franks covered much ofmodern France. By the 700s, the most importantofficial was the mayor of the palace, even morepowerful than the king. He made laws and con-trolled the army. In 719 Charles Martel becamemayor and expanded the lands controlled by theFranks. He also won a battle in 732 against aMuslim force moving north from Spain. That endedthe Muslim threat to Europe and made Martel aChristian hero. His son, Pepin, was crowned king.

One of Pepin’s sons, Charlemagne, became kingof all the land of the Franks in 771. At six feet, fourinches tall, Charlemagne towered over most peopleof his time. With military skill, he expanded hiskingdom to make it larger than any known sinceancient Rome. By 800, he held most of modernItaly, all of modern France, and parts of modernSpain and Germany. Pope Leo III crowned himemperor. With that, the power of the Church andthe German kings joined the heritage of the oldRoman Empire.

Charlemagne cut the power of the nobles in hisempire and increased his own. He traveled through-out his lands, visiting the people and judging cases.He brought well-read men to his court and spon-sored a revival of learning. However, Charlemagne’sempire broke into pieces soon after his death.

Feudalism in EuropeKEY IDEA Feudalism, a political and military system ofprotective alliances and relationships, develops in Europe.

Between 800 and 1000, Europe was threatenedby new invasions. Muslims captured Sicily in

southern Italy. Magyars struck from the east. Fromthe north came the most feared fighters of all, theVikings, or Norsemen.

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The Vikings came from Scandinavia (nowSweden, Norway, and Denmark). In small, quickraiding parties, they attacked villages and monaster-ies. They took anything of value. The Vikings struckterror in the hearts of Western Europeans. Byaround the year 1000, though, the Vikings hadadopted Christianity and stopped raiding tobecome traders and farmers.

The Magyars, Turkish nomads, attacked fromthe east and reached as far as Italy and westernFrance. The Muslims invaded what are now Spainand Italy from the south. The worst years of theinvaders’ attacks were from 850 to 950. People inWestern Europe suffered and feared for theirfutures. With no strong central government, theywent to local leaders for protection. In this way,Europe’s feudal system began.

The feudal system was based on rights and obli-gations. For example, a local leader, or lord, gaveland to person of lower status, called a vassal. Inreturn, the vassal promised to supply soldiers whenthe lord needed them. The structure of feudal soci-ety was like a pyramid. At the top was the king.Next came the most powerful vassals, such asnobles and bishops. Beneath them were knights,mounted horsemen who pledged to defend theirlord’s land. At the bottom were landless peasantswho toiled in the fields.

Peasants were by far the largest group. Many ofthem were not free to move about as they wished.They were tied to the land of their lord.

The lord’s land was called the manor, and manorsbecame the centers of economic life. Lords gavepeasants land, a home, and protection from raiders.

The peasants worked the land to grow food, giv-ing part of each year’s crop to the lord. They also paidtaxes every year and had much of their lives con-trolled by the lord. Peasants lived in small villages of15 to 30 families. They found everything they neededin that small community and rarely traveled far fromtheir homes. Their cottages had only one or tworooms with only straw mats for sleeping. They hadpoor diets. They endured these lives, believing thatGod had set their place in society.

The Age of ChivalryKEY IDEA The code of chivalry for knights glorified com-bat and romantic love.

Nobles were constantly at war with one another.They employed knights, who were soldiers

who fought on horseback. Using the saddle andstirrup to stay firmly in place on the horse, theseknights became the most important military weaponof the time in Europe. By about the year 1000,nobles used their armies of mounted knights to fightone another for control of land. When they wonbattles, they gave some of the new land to theirknights. The knights could use the income fromthis land to support their need for costly weapons,armor, and horses. They devoted much of their timeto improving their skill at fighting.

By the 1100s, a new code of conduct for knightshad developed. This code of chivalry said that aknight had to fight fiercely for three masters: hislord, God, and his chosen lady. Knights were alsorequired to protect the weak and poor. While thecode set high standards, few knights met all ofthem. For example, most treated peasants harshly.

The sons of nobles and knights began trainingto become knights at an early age. They gainedexperience by fighting in staged combats calledtournaments. These fights were fierce, but real bat-tles were very bloody and harsh. To protect theirlands and homes, nobles built stone castles. Whena castle was attacked, defenders poured hot oil orboiling water on people trying to attack.

The literature about knights did not reflect thisbloody reality. Poems and stories stressed the codeof chivalry, life in the castle, and the knight’s loyaltyto the woman he loved. Some long poems, calledepics, told the story of regal or legendary heroessuch as King Arthur and Charlemagne. Songs toldthe joys and sorrows of romantic love. Many of thewriters of these songs traveled to the court ofEleanor of Aquitaine, the rich and powerful rulerof a land in southern France.

The knights’ ideals of love and devotion to anoble lady seemed to give women a high position inthe society of the Middle Ages. In fact, most womenin feudal society had little power. The Church taughtthat they were inferior. They were limited to work-ing in the home or living in convents. Noblewomencould sometimes rule the land when their husbandswere away from home, but they could not inheritland. It usually passed from father to son.

Peasant women had to work in the fields withtheir husbands and children simply to grow enoughfood to survive—just as they had always done.

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The Power of the Church KEY IDEA Church leaders and political leaders com-peted for power and authority.

With the central governments of Europe weak,the Church became the most important

force unifying European society. An early pope hadsaid that God had made two areas of influence inthe world—religious and political. The pope was incharge of spiritual matters, he said. The emperorand other rulers were in charge of political affairs.Over the years, though, the difference was not soclear. Popes often tried to influence the actions ofrulers, who clashed with them in a struggle forpower.

The Church was organized into a structure thatmirrored society. At the bottom were the priestswho led services at local churches. Above themwere bishops, who oversaw all the priests in a largearea. At the top was the pope, the head of theChurch.

The Middle Ages was an Age of Faith, whenpeople were bound together by their belief in Godand the teachings of the Church. Though life washard, the peasants hoped that by obeying God anddoing their work they would earn the reward ofbeing saved and being taken into heaven afterdeath. The local church served as both a religiousand a social center for the community. Holidayssuch as Easter and Christmas were especially fes-tive times of the year.

The Church developed a body of law calledcanon law. It set standards for the conduct of peo-ple and officials of the Church. These laws ruledover such matters as marriage and religious prac-tices. They applied to all Christians, from kings topeasants. The Church also set up courts that tookcharge when people broke these laws.

Two punishments were especially harsh. If theChurch excommunicated a person, he or she wasbanished from the Church. The person was deniedthe chance for eternal life in heaven. Popes oftenused this power as a threat to try to force rulers todo what they wanted. When a ruler refused to obeythe pope, the Church leader could place his landunder interdiction. That meant that no sacramentsand religious services of the Church could officiallytake place in those lands. The ruler’s subjectsdeeply feared this punishment, for without sacra-ments they were doomed to hell.

Otto I was the strongest ruler of medievalGermany. He set up an alliance with the Church.In 962, the pope crowned him emperor of whatbecame the powerful Holy Roman Empire. It wasmade up of what are now Germany and Italy.

Eventually, popes and emperors came into con-flict. Rulers had, for a long time, enjoyed the powerto name the bishops who led the Church in theirlands. In 1075, Pope Gregory VII banned this prac-tice. Emperor Henry IV was angry and persuadedhis bishops to say that this pope had no real author-ity. Gregory then excommunicated Henry. WhenHenry’s nobles rebelled against him, he went to thepope and asked for forgiveness. But the larger issueof lay investiture was left open until 1122. Then anagreement stated that only the pope could namebishops. However, the emperor had the right toturn down any appointment that he did not like.

In the late 1100s, a new German ruler—Frederick I—tried to rebuild the power of theHoly Roman Empire. He invaded Italy but wasdefeated at an important battle in 1176. When hedied in 1190, his empire fell to pieces. Later kingstried to revive the empire. However, real power inGermany was held by the German nobles.

Review1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

What were the effects of the arrival of theGermans and the fall of the Roman Empire?

2. Determining Main Ideas Why wasCharlemagne important? Did his achievementslast long?

3. Synthesizing How did invasions contribute tothe beginnings of the feudal system?

4. Determining Main Ideas What was the posi-tion of women during the Middle Ages?

5. Forming and Supporting Opinions Howimportant do you think the Church was in theMiddle Ages? Why?

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Church Reform and the Crusades

KEY IDEA The Catholic Church underwent reform andlaunched Crusades (religious wars) against Muslims andothers.

Beginning in the 1000s, a new sense of spiritualfeeling arose in Europe, which led to changes

in the Church. Popes began a reform movement.Launching the reform was the founding of themonastery at Cluny, France, in 910. During the900s, about 300 related monasteries were begun inEurope.

Popes Leo IX and Gregory VII made otherreforms. They enforced laws against the marriageof priests and the selling of Church offices. Laterpopes reorganized Church structure. To advise thepope, they created a group called the Curia, whichmade church law—canon law—and enforced it.The Church collected a tax from all believers,which it used to care for the sick and poor.

In the early 1200s, a new Church group arose.Called friars, they moved from place to placespreading the ideas of the Church. They ownednothing and begged for food. Some became scholarsbecause they studied the Bible and other writings.Women joined in this spiritual revival as well. Manyjoined convents to dedicate themselves to God.

This new Age of Faith was shown in anotherway, as many towns in Europe built magnificentcathedrals. In the early 1100s, these huge churchesused a new style of architecture called Gothic.These buildings were tall, reaching toward heaven.They had walls covered with windows of colorfulstained glass, which let in beautiful light.

The renewed faith also led to war. In 1093, theByzantine emperor asked for help against MuslimTurks who were threatening Constantinople, hiscapital. The pope urged the leaders of WesternEurope to begin a holy war. He wanted Christiansto gain control of Jerusalem and the entire Holy

Land. This was the first of several Crusades foughtover the next 200 years. Rulers and the Churchfavored the Crusades because they sent warlikeknights out of their lands. Common people joinedthe Crusades out of deep religious feeling.

The First Crusade, begun in 1096, was badlyorganized. Yet the Crusaders still captured some ofthe Holy Land, including Jerusalem. Muslims laterwon back some of this land, and other Crusadesbegan to try to seize it again. Finally, a FourthCrusade ended in disaster. The Western armyattacked not the Muslims but the Byzantine Empireitself. In 1204, the Crusaders looted Constantinople.This helped make a lasting split between westernand eastern Christian churches.

A later Crusade took place in Spain. Christianrulers tried to win back the land that Muslims hadconquered in the 700s. This fight lasted from the1100s until 1492, when the last Spanish Muslimland fell. Thousands of Jews had lived in SpanishMuslim lands. Many became Christians so that theycould remain after the reconquest was completed.

The Crusades had many effects on Europe. Thefailure of later ones cut the power of the popes,and the deaths of many knights reduced the powerof nobles. Contact with the East revived trade.However, the Christians’ harsh treatment ofMuslims in the Holy Land led to bitterness that haslasted to the present.

Changes in Medieval SocietyKEY IDEA European cities challenged the feudal systemas agriculture, trade, finance, and universities developed.

At the same time, Europe enjoyed an improvedfood supply. The climate warmed between the

years 800 and 1200, which helped farming. Asfarmers moved into areas that were once too cold,they also developed new ways of farming that pro-duced better crops. One technique was to pull

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Formation of WesternEurope, 800–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW A new spirit of religion led to reforms in the CatholicChurch and to wars against Muslims. Prosperity followed improved farming andthe growth of trade and cities. England and France developed as nations andincluded some government participation by the people. In the 1300s, however, aterrible plague, a long war, and religious conflict ended this Age of Faith.

Summary

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plows with horses that worked twice as fast as oxen.A new harness made the use of horses possible.Another new technique was a method of takingturns with the crops planted in an area. In the past,farmers had planted half their land and let theother half go unplanted each year. That preventedthe soil from becoming overworked, but the newsystem was better. Farmers now planted two-thirdsof their fields, leaving only one-third unplanted.This increased the amount of food they could grow.

Along with the growth in the food supply, tradeand finance increased. Craft workers began to makegoods that were sent all over Europe in trade. Fairswere held each year in towns, where merchantssold cloth, food, leather, and other goods.

Supporting the fairs were new organizations—the guilds. Guilds were formed in each town by theworkers in the same craft, such as cloth makers,bakers, or glass makers. Members set standards fortheir products and set fair prices. They also maderules for how young people could enter the craft.

With more trade, merchants needed more cash.They had to borrow money to buy goods to sell.Christians didn’t lend money because the Churchhad rules against charging a fee for loaning money.So, because Jews were outside the ChristianChurch, they became the chief sources of loans.Later, the Church relaxed its rules, and Christiansbegan to form banks.

In the early 1100s, the population of westernEurope grew rapidly. Towns grew larger and moreimportant. Towns were dirty places, with narrowfilthy streets. Built entirely of wood, they were firehazards. Still, many peasants fled to the townsbecause, by living there a year and a day, theybecame free—no longer subject to the power ofwealthy lords. Wealthier people in the towns foughtfor—and won—the right not to pay taxes to lordsand to govern themselves.

Growing trade and wealth helped lead to agrowing interest in learning. Many towns developedschools linked to the cathedrals, which taught reli-gion and church law. These were called universities.Several writers also began to write in their nativelanguages—not Latin, but English or Italian—pro-ducing great works of literature that many peoplestill enjoy today.

Helping this new interest in learning was thecontact with Muslims brought about by theCrusades. Muslim scholars had preserved booksfrom ancient Rome and Greece, which came back

to Europe in this period. Christian thinkers becameinfluenced by the thinking of these ancients. Theytried to bring together the logic of old thinkers withthe teachings of the Church.

England and France DevelopKEY IDEA As the kingdoms of England and Francebegan to develop into nations, certain democratic tradi-tions evolved.

England was formed by the blending of cultures.Danish Vikings came to the island in the 800s,

uniting with the Anglo-Saxons who had come therefrom Germany hundreds of years earlier. Over time,these peoples became one kingdom. In 1066, theking died, and the duke of a land in northern Franceinvaded and won control of the island. William theConqueror, as he was called, declared England tobe all his.

Later English kings, descendants of William,tried to expand the amount of land they still held inFrance. They also wanted to increase their controlover the government. Henry II, who ruled from1154 to 1189, was one of the strongest of thesekings. He married Eleanor of Aquitaine, thus gain-ing control of more of France. At home, he beganthe practice of trial by jury.

One of Henry’s sons, King John, had seriousproblems. Lack of money and his own harsh ruleled nobles to rebel against him. They forced Johnto sign a paper called the Magna Carta that putlimits on the power of the king. The document pro-tected the power only of nobles, but later commonpeople said that the protections applied to them aswell. Another step toward limiting the king came inthe 1200s. Edward I hoped to raise taxes to pay fora war in France. He called a meeting of representa-tives to approve his tax plan. His Model Parliamentwas famous because for the first time it includednot only bishops and nobles but also common peoplefrom the towns.

In France, a new dynasty of kings, theCapetians, ruled from 987 to 1328. France was splitinto 30 separate small territories, each ruled by adifferent lord. The kings—who held only a smallarea centered in Paris—tried to gain control of allof the land.

One of the most successful kings was Philip II,who ruled from 1180 to 1223. He tripled the landsunder his control, in part by seizing the Frenchland held by the English King John. He also made

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a stronger central government, giving the kingmore control over his subjects. His grandson, LouisIX, ruled from 1226 to 1270, and carried on Philip’swork. Louis set up royal courts where people could appeal decisions made by their lords. Thisincreased the king’s power. In 1302, Philip IVcalled for a meeting of the kingdom’s most impor-tant groups. He, like Edward in England, invitedcommoners to this meeting of the Estates General,as the assembly was called.

The Hundred Years’ War and the Plague

KEY IDEA During the 1300s, Europe was torn apart byreligious strife, the bubonic plague, and the HundredYears’ War.

In 1300, the pope challenged Philip IV of France,claiming to have supreme authority over the king.

Philip held the pope as a prisoner for trial. He wasrescued but died shortly thereafter. The king forcedthe election of a French cardinal as pope, and in1305 the new pope moved to a city in France, tolead the Church from there. This action weakenedthe Church. In 1378 the French pope at that timedied. An Italian was elected the next pope, but theFrench elected their own pope. Confusionresulted. Church officials had two popes—one inFrance and one in Rome. The situation, called theGreat Schism, lasted 39 years.

At the same time, the pope’s authority was beingchallenged. The English scholar John Wycliffe andthe Bohemian John Huss argued that the Biblealone was the final authority for Christian teach-ing—not the pope.

People of the late 1300s experienced an evenmore severe shock. A fearful disease—the bubonicplague—swept across Europe starting in 1347 andlasting for decades. The disease killed millions ofpeople—about one-third of the population ofEurope.

The plague had a serious effect on Europe’seconomy. Trade declined, prices rose, and townsbecame smaller. Fewer people meant fewer work-ers. Peasants demanded wages or their freedom.When nobles resisted these demands, peasantsoften revolted. The Church lost prestige, as it wasunable to stop the plague. The plague helped bringabout the end of the Middle Ages.

A century-long war contributed as well. Whenthe last Capetian king of France died in 1328, he

left no heir. Edward III of England claimed thethrone—he was a grandson of Philip IV of France.In 1337, he began a war, known as the HundredYears’ War, to win France.

English forces won three important battles. Atone, their archers used longbows to launch arrowsthat destroyed the French troops—even armoredknights. By 1429, the French were in desperateshape. Their army held the town of Orléans, whichthe English were about to capture. A teenage girlnamed Joan of Arc arrived on the scene. Convincedby voices of the saints that she could save the day,she persuaded French leaders to allow her to leadthe army of France, which was victorious. Withthat, the French crowned a new king, Charles VII.Later, Joan of Arc was captured by English allies,turned over to the English, tried, and burned at the stake.

The Hundred Years’ War finally ended in 1453.It had been fought mostly in France and broughtmuch suffering to that nation. However, the warproduced a strong national feeling in both Englandand France, a sense that the king was not just afeudal lord but also the leader of a nation. TheEnglish king’s constant need for money led him toask Parliament many times for taxes. This increasedthe power of Parliament.

Review1. Determining Main Ideas How was the renewed

religious feeling of the Middle Ages shown?2. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

What were the effects of the Crusades?Clarifying3. What social, economic, and cultural changes took

place in the Middle Ages?4. What changes occurred in England and France

in the Middle Ages?5. Forming and Supporting Opinions Which of

the three problems that affected Europe—theGreat Schism, the bubonic plague, or theHundred Years’ War—do you think was worst,and why?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Societies and Empires of Africa, 800–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW In north and central Africa, people lived by hunting andgathering. Later followers of Islam built states that joined religious and politicalpower. In West Africa, empires built on wealth from trade rose and fell. In EastAfrica, a blend of African and Muslim cultures created several cities that enjoyedthriving trade. In Southern Africa, one trading empire gave way to another.

Summary

North and Central AfricanSocieties

KEY IDEA North and central Africa developed hunting-gathering societies, stateless societies, and Muslimstates.

People in early African societies began to getfood by hunting and gathering. Some societies

today use these methods as well. Scholars studythem to obtain clues about the lives of people inthe past. They recognize, though, that there is noexact relationship between how people lived thenand now.

The Efe, who live in the rain forest of centralAfrica, are one group of hunter-gatherers that arestudied. They live in groups of between 10 and 100people, all being related to one another. Each fam-ily lives in its own shelter, made of grass and brush.They keep few possessions so that they can moveoften in the search for food.

Women perform the work of gathering. Theytravel through the forest looking for roots, yams,mushrooms, and seeds. Men and older boys do thehunting, killing small antelopes or monkeys. Thegroup is led by an older male, but he does not giveorders or act like a chief. Each family makes itsown decisions, but they do ask the leader for hisadvice.

These African societies are organized alongfamily ties. Families, however, are understood inbroader terms than simply parents and children.Societies trace their families in terms of lineages,counting as related all people who share a commonancestor. The lineage includes not just living mem-bers but those born in the past and those yet to beborn. In some societies, lineages are traced throughmothers and in others they are traced throughfathers.

In many African societies, lineage groups tookthe place of rulers. These societies are called state-

less societies because they do not have central gov-ernments. Authority in these societies was spreadamong more than one lineage to prevent any onefamily from dominating. Within these societies,people use discussion to settle conflicts betweengroups.

Some African societies also have another set ofrelationships important to people. Children of similarages form into groups called age sets. All membersof the age set take part in ceremonies. These signalthe movement from one stage of life to the next.

An important influence on the history of Africawas Islam, which arrived in the continent in thelate 600s. By 670, Muslims ruled Egypt and mostof North Africa. In their new states, the rulerserved as both political and religious leader. TheIslamic tradition of obeying the law helped pro-mote order and support the government. The com-mon influence of Islamic law also forged bondsbetween the different North African states.

Among the North Africans who converted toIslam were a group called the Berbers. In the 11thcentury, a group of Berbers became strongly com-mitted to spreading Islam. They were called theAlmoravids. They conquered modern Moroccoaround 1060, the empire of Ghana by 1076, andparts of Spain.

They were displaced in the 1100s by anothergroup of Berbers, the Almohads. They arose in theAtlas Mountains of Morocco and opposed theAlmoravids. They said Almoravids no longer fol-lowed strict Muslim teaching. Almohads, too, cap-tured Morocco and then Spain. They extendedtheir power as far east as the cities of Tripoli andTunis. Within about 100 years, this empire brokeup into smaller states.

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West African CivilizationsKEY IDEA West Africa contained several powerfulempires and states, including Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Trade was conducted across the vast SaharaDesert of North Africa as early as A.D. 200, but

it was not regular. The pack animals of the time—oxen, donkeys, and horses—could not travel far inthe desert. Then Berbers began using camels.Since these animals were ideally suited to dry con-ditions, trade became regular and frequent.

By the 700s, the rulers of the kingdom of Ghanawere growing rich. They taxed the goods that traderscarried through their land. The two most importanttrade goods were gold and salt. Gold was taken fromdeep mines or from streams in the western andsouthern parts of West Africa. The people there wereeager to trade for salt from the Sahara region. Arabtraders brought cloth and manufactured goods fromthe cities on the Mediterranean Sea to the north.

The king of Ghana made sure that the price ofgold stayed high. Only the king could own goldnuggets. As religious and military leader, as well ashead of the government, the king was powerful. Bythe year 800, Ghana had become an empire, con-trolling the people of different regions nearby.

Over time, Muslim merchants and tradersbrought their religion to Ghana. By the 1000s, thekings converted to Islam and began to use Muslimsas advisers. Many common people in the empire,though, stayed with their traditional beliefs. Later,Ghana fell to the Almoravids of North Africa. Afterthat, Ghana never regained its former power.

By 1235, a new kingdom began—Mali. It arosesouth of Ghana, but its wealth and power was alsobased on the gold trade. Founder of the kingdomwas Sundiata, who became the first emperor. After winning a series of battles, he set up a well-organized government to run his kingdom.

Later Mali rulers adopted Islam. One of themwas Mansa Musa. He used his skill in leading anarmy to make Mali twice the size of the old empireof Ghana. To rule this large empire, he named gov-ernors to head several provinces. Mansa Musa wasa devoted Muslim. He had new mosques, or housesof worship, built in two cities. One of those cities,Timbuktu, became known as a leading center ofMuslim learning. A later traveler to the area namedIbn Battuta described how peaceful Mali was. Mali,though, declined in the 1400s and was replaced byanother empire that grew wealthy from gold.

The next trading empire was Songhai, and itwas farther to the east than Mali. It arose in the1400s when Sunni Ali used river canoes and horsesto strike quickly. He gained control of new areas—including the city of Timbuktu. He was followed byAskia Muhammad. He was a Muslim with a deepsense of religious feeling who was determined torun the empire in the way of Islam. The SonghaiEmpire fell, however, because other people hadstronger weapons. In 1591, a Moroccan army usedgunpowder and cannons to beat a Songhai armythat had only swords and spears. This defeat endedthe period when empires controlled West Africa.

In other parts of West Africa, people gatheredin city-states that remained independent of theseempires. In what is today northern Nigeria, theHausa people built city-states between the years1000 and 1200. They depended on the food raisedby farmers and on trade in salt, grain, and cottoncloth. One city-state also traded people as slaves.No one city was powerful enough to control itsneighbors for long.

In the southern part of Nigeria and modernBenin another people arose—the Yoruba. Theylived in smaller communities that survived by farm-ing. Some of these villages were joined together insmall kingdoms. The people believed that the kingswere gods. Kings surrounded themselves with alarge court of musicians, magicians, and soldiers. Atthe same time, a secret society of religious andpolitical leaders reviewed the king’s actions andlimited his power. Two powerful Yoruba kingdomswere called Ife and Oyo. Ife lasted from 1100 untilthe late 1600s, when Oyo arose. Both were centeredin cities with high walls, and both were supportedby highly productive farms. Ife had skilled artistswho produced work in ivory, wood, pottery, bronze,brass, and copper.

To the south and west was another kingdom,Benin. The kingdom arose in the 1300s and reachedits peak of power 100 years later. At that time, KingEwuare extended his control over an area from thedelta of the Niger River as far east as the moderncity of Lagos, Nigeria. He made Benin City, hiscapital, stronger by building high walls. He also builta huge palace full of works of art. In the 1480s,ships from Portugal arrived in the major port ofBenin to trade. Their arrival marked the beginningof a long period of European interference in thehistory of Africa.

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KEY IDEA From 1000 to 1500, East African city-statesand southern African empires gained wealth and powerthrough trade.

The east coast of Africa became an area markedby a blend of cultures. Africans speaking Bantu

languages moved to the area from central Africa.Arab and Persian Muslims came from the northand east to make trading contacts. These peoplescreated a new blended language called Swahili. Itbecame common in the port cities of the east coastof Africa.

The Persian and Arab traders brought porcelainbowls from China and jewels and cotton cloth fromIndia. They bought ivory, gold, tortoise shells, andother goods in Africa to take back to Asia. By 1300,this thriving trade took place in more than 35 citieson the coast. Some cities became centers for manu-factured goods, such as weaving and the making ofiron tools.

One of the richest of these trading ports wasKilwa. It was located to the south—as far south astraders could reach from India and return in thesame season. Thus all trade goods from farthersouth had to come through Kilwa. In 1488, though,the situation changed. Ships arrived on the eastcoast of Africa from Portugal. Portuguese sailorswere looking for a route to India to join in thetrade for spices and other goods desired in Europe.Soon the Portuguese used their cannon power toattack Kilwa and other trading centers in Africa.They burned parts of some cities and took control ofothers. For the next two centuries, the Portugueseremained a powerful force in the region.

On the east coast of Africa, as in West Africa,the growing contract with Muslim traders resultedin the adoption of Islam. A sultan, or governor,ruled each city. Most government officials andwealthy merchants were Muslims. As in WestAfrica, though, most common people kept their tra-ditional beliefs.

Along with trade goods, the Muslim traders alsoengaged in the trade of human slaves. Enslavedpersons did household tasks in such areas as Arabiaand Persia. Some were sent to India to be used assoldiers. This slave trade was not large, however.Only about 1,000 people a year were traded asslaves. The later European-run slave trade wasmuch broader.

In southern Africa, a great city-state arose in the1000s. The Shona people lived in rich land, wherethey grew crops and raised cattle. Their city, calledGreat Zimbabwe, had a good location. It linked thegold fields inland with the trading cities on thecoast. From the 1200s through the 1400s, the citycontrolled this trade and grew wealthy. Around1450, though, the people left the city, although noone knows why. One explanation is that overusehad destroyed the grasslands, soil, and timber. It isthought the area could no longer support a largepopulation. Acres of ruins remain as silentreminders of the past of Zimbabwe. They includestone buildings and a high wall carved with figuresof birds.

Heir to Great Zimbabwe was the MutapaEmpire. It began around 1420 when a man namedMutota left the area and moved farther north look-ing for salt. He and his successors took control of alarge area—almost all of the land of the moderncountry of Zimbabwe. This empire gained wealthfrom the gold in its land. The rulers forced peoplethey had conquered to mine their gold, which theythen sold on the coast. The southern region of theempire formed its own kingdom. In the 1500s, thePortuguese moved in. They tried to defeat theempire but could not. Later, through trickery, theygained control of the government.

Review1. Comparing and Contrasting How did social

groupings in north and central African societiesdiffer from that of American society today?

2. Drawing Conclusions What religion hadinfluence throughout Africa? Did that influenceextend to all levels of society?

3. Determining Main Ideas What common fea-ture linked the kingdoms and empires of WestAfrica?

4. Developing Historical Perspective How doesSwahili symbolize the blending of cultures inEast Africa?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsHow did location add to the power of Kilwa?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF People and Empires in theAmericas, 500–1500

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Native North Americans followed several ways of life. Yet,they shared trade links and religious and social practices. The Maya of CentralAmerica developed a complex civilization of independent city-states. The Aztecof Mexico had a huge empire, but their harsh rule over conquered people causedbitterness. The Inca of South America built a vast empire in the Andes Mountains.

Summary

North American Societies KEY IDEA Complex North American societies werelinked to each other through culture and economics.

Between about 40,000 and 12,000 years ago,hunter-gatherers moved from Asia to North

America. (At that time the two continents had aland connection.) These were the first Americans,and they spread down throughout North and SouthAmerica. They followed many different ways of life,each suited to the environment in which they lived.

The peoples of the Pacific Northwest, frommodern Oregon to Alaska, lived in an area withmany resources. They hunted whales in the sea andgathered food from the forests on the coast.

The peoples of the Southwest lived in a moredifficult region. Still, they began farming the land.The Anasazi built cliff dwellings. Later, they builtlarge apartment-style compounds. They used stoneand clay baked in the sun for these buildings. Theyused irrigation to bring water to their crops. Laterpeoples living in this area continued the traditionsof the Anasazi.

In the woods east of the Mississippi River,another culture arose. These people are called theMound Builders. They built large mounds of earththat were filled with copper and stone objects.Some mounds were made in the shape of animalswhen seen from above. The Mississippians were apeople who lived later in this area. They built asmall city that was the center for their culture. Ithad a flat-topped pyramid with a temple on top.

The peoples of the eastern woodlands had manydifferent cultures and spoke many different lan-guages. They often fought over control of land.Some groups formed alliances to put an end to this fighting. The most successful of these was theIroquois League, which linked together five differ-ent tribes in upper New York.

While these North American groups had manydifferences, they had some features in common,

too. Trade linked people of all regions of NorthAmerica. Religious ideas were similar across thecontinent as well. Nearly all native North Ameri-cans thought that the world was full of spirits andthat people had to follow certain rituals and cus-toms to live in peace. They also shared greatrespect for the land, which they did not believethat people could own. They also shared an empha-sis on the family as the most important social unit.Family included parents, children, grandparents,and other relatives. In some tribes, families werelinked together with others who shared a commonancestor. These larger groups, called clans, wereidentified with something in nature, such as an ani-mal, called totems.

Maya Kings and CitiesKEY IDEA The Maya developed a highly complex civilization based on city-states controlled by dynastiesof kings.

Agreat civilization arose in what is today south-ern Mexico and northern Central America.

This was the Maya civilization, and it appearedaround A.D. 250. In their Classic Period—from 250to 900—the Maya built large cities such as Tikal,Copán, and others. Each city was independent andruled by a god-king. Each city was both a religiouscenter and a trade center for the area around it.These cities were large, holding tens of thousandsof people, and were full of palaces, temples, andpyramids. Archaeologists have found at least 50Maya cities.

Trade linked these many cities. Among the tradegoods were salt, flint, feathers, shells, cotton cloth,and ornaments made of jade. Cacao beans—whichare used to make chocolate—were sometimes usedas money. Farming of maize, or corn, beans, andsquash provided the Maya’s main source of food.Maya society was divided into social classes. Thebest warriors and priests were at the top, followed

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by merchants and craft workers. Peasant farmers—the majority of the people—were at the bottom.

The Maya had a complex religion that was thecenter of their society. There were many gods,including one for each day. The actions of the day’sgod could be predicted, they thought, by followinga calendar. The Maya sometimes cut themselves tooffer their blood to the gods in sacrifice. Sometimesthey killed enemies and sacrificed them.

To understand their gods, the Maya developedknowledge of mathematics, calendars, and astron-omy. Maya math included the idea of zero, whichwas used to help make calendars. They had two calendars, a religious one that had thirteen 20-daymonths and one based on the sun that had eighteen20-day months. They linked the two together toidentify days that would bring good fortune. Mayaastronomy was very accurate. The Maya observedthe sun, moon, and stars to make their calendars asaccurate as possible. They calculated the length ofthe solar year—the time it takes the earth torevolve around the sun—almost perfectly.

In the late 800s, the Maya began to decline.Historians do not know why. One explanation maybe growing war between the different city-states,which drove many people out of the cities into thejungle. Another may be that the soil became lessproductive due to intensive farming over a longtime. Whatever the cause, the Maya became a lesspowerful people. They continued to live in thearea, but their cities were no longer the thrivingtrade and religious centers they had been.

The Aztecs Control Central Mexico

KEY IDEA Through alliances and conquest, the Aztecscreated a powerful empire in Mexico.

The Valley of Mexico is a mountain valley morethan a mile above sea level. Full of lakes and

fertile soil, it was a good place for people to settle.In this area, an early city-state called Teotihaucán(“City of the Gods”) arose in the first century A.D.At its peak in the sixth century, the city had as manyas 200,000 people, many of whom were involved inthe trade of obsidian. This hard green or black vol-canic glass was found nearby and could be used tomake very sharp weapons. In the city was the hugePyramid of the Sun, larger at its base than thelargest pyramid of Egypt. By 750, Teotihuacán wasabandoned for reasons that are not clear.

The next people to dominate the area were theToltecs, who rose to power around 900 and ruledover central Mexico for about 300 years. The Toltecsworshiped a fierce war god. They were very warlikeand based their empire on conquest. Around 1000,a ruler named Topiltzin encouraged the Toltec peo-ple to worship a peaceful god, Quetzalcoatl.Followers of the war god rebelled, however, anddrove Topiltzin away. In time, Topiltzin andQuetzalcoatl became one in the legends of the peo-ple of the Valley of Mexico. According to these leg-ends, he would return one day, bringing a newreign of light and peace. The legend ofQuetzalcoatl lived on in central Mexico for cen-turies.

Around 1200, as the Toltecs were losing controlof the region, another people arrived on the scene—the Aztecs. The Aztecs founded a city and grew inpower. By the early 1500s, they controlled a largeempire that included somewhere between 5 and 15million people. This empire was based on militaryconquest and collecting tribute from conqueredpeoples.

Military leaders, who owned huge amounts ofland, led the Aztec nation along with governmentofficials and priests. Below them were common-ers—merchants, craft workers, soldiers, and farm-ers who owned their land. At the bottom of societywere the slaves taken as captives in battle. At thetop was the emperor, who was treated as a god aswell as a ruler.

The capital city—Tenochtitlán—was built on anisland in a lake. The Aztecs made long causeways to connect the city to the land. The city was large,with between 200,000 and 400,000 people. It waswell-planned and had a huge government and reli-gious complex at its center.

Religion played a major role in Aztec society.Their cities held many temples built for the differ-ent gods they believed in. Priests led rituals, andthe most important was for the sun god. Priests hadto make the sacrifice of human blood to ensure thatthe sun god was happy and the sun would rise everyday. People taken captive in war were sacrificed. Sothe need for a steady supply of victims helped pushthe Aztecs to fight their neighbors.

When Montezuma II became emperor in 1502,the Aztec empire began to have problems. TheAztecs ordered the other peoples they had con-quered to hand over even more people forsacrifice. These other peoples finally rebelled

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against the Aztecs. In the midst of this conflict, theSpanish arrived and made first contact with theAztecs. Some Aztecs saw the Spaniards’ arrival asthe legendary return of Quetzalcoatl.

The Inca Create a Mountain Empire

KEY IDEA The Inca built a vast empire supported bytaxes, governed by a bureaucracy, and linked by exten-sive road systems.

Another great civilization—the Inca—arose inthe Andes Mountains of South America. It was

built on the foundations made by several earliercultures. This culture, though, united much of theAndes under one rule.

The Inca first settled in the Valley of Cuzco, inmodern Peru. It had a kingdom there by the 1200s.They believed that their ruler was related to the sungod, who would bring wealth and power to them.Only men from one of 11 noble families could serveas king.

In 1438, Pachacuti became the ruler of theInca, and he launched a campaign of conquest thatexpanded the empire’s size. By 1500, the Inca ruledan empire that stretched along the Andes Mountainsfrom modern Ecuador all the way south to Chileand Argentina. It held about 16 million people. Theempire did not grow only through military conquest.Often the Inca offered new peoples the chance tojoin the empire peacefully as long as they sworeloyalty to the emperor. Many peoples became partof the empire in this way. When force was needed,though, the Inca were fierce fighters.

The Inca had a very organized system for thegovernment of their empire. Families were placedin groups of 10, 100, 1,000, and so on. Each groupwas led by a chief. The Inca usually let local rulersstay in place when they conquered a people—aslong as the ruler and the people met key Incademands. The most important was the need for alladult workers to spend some days each year work-ing for the state. They might work on state farms orstate building programs.

The Inca built a complex network of roads tolink all parts of the empire. The Inca also built allgovernment buildings in the same style to create acommon identity for the government throughoutthe empire. They made all people speak a commonlanguage—the Inca tongue, called Quechua.

The Inca controlled the economy, telling peoplewhat to grow or make and how it would be distrib-uted. They used irrigation to ensure that farmlandsgot enough water. They also found a way to freeze-dry potatoes—a staple crop—for times when foodwas scarce. The government also took care of peo-ple who needed help, such as the very old or ill.

In spite of all these advances, the Inca neverdeveloped a system of writing. All records werekept in peoples’ memories. They did have a systemof counting. They also had day and night calendarsfor information about their gods.

The Inca religion played a central role in Incalife. They believed in fewer gods than the peoplesof Mexico. The most important of them were thecreator god and the sun god. Cuzco, the capital,was the most important religious center. It was dec-orated with gold and other precious objects.

Review1. Clarifying What divided and what linked native

North Americans?2. Determining Main Ideas What Maya cultural

advances were connected to their religiousbeliefs? Why?

3. Comparing and Contrasting Compare andcontrast the Maya and the Aztec in terms of gov-ernment.

4. Drawing Conclusions Were the Aztec peoplegood engineers? Explain your answer.

5. Summarizing What steps did the Inca take tounify the different peoples in their empire?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF European Renaissance andReformation, 1300–1600

CHAPTER OVERVIEW In the 1300s, a renewed interest in classical learning and thearts arose in Italy. Thinkers in northern Europe adopted these ideas as well butwith a spiritual focus. The desire for a more satisfying spiritual life led some torevolt against the Catholic Church, as new churches were founded. In response,the Catholic Church undertook some reforms of its own, strengthening the faith.

Summary

Italy: Birthplace of the Renaissance

KEY IDEA The European Renaissance, a rebirth of learn-ing and the arts, began in Italy in the 1300s.

The years 1300 to 1600 saw a rebirth of learningand culture in Europe. Called the Renaissance,

it spread north from Italy. It began there for threereasons. First, Italy had several important cities,whereas most of northern Europe was still rural.Second, these cities included a class of merchantsand bankers who were becoming wealthy and pow-erful. Third, Italian artists and scholars were inspiredby the ruined buildings and other reminders ofclassical Rome.

That new interest in the classical past led to animportant value in Renaissance culture—human-ism. This was a deep interest in what people havealready achieved as well as what they could achievein the future. Scholars did not try to connect classicalwritings to Christian teaching but tried to under-stand them on their own terms. Renaissance thinkersstressed the things of the world. In the MiddleAges, the emphasis had been mostly on spiritualvalues. One way that powerful or wealthy peopleshowed this interest in worldly things was by payingartists, writers, and musicians to create beautifulworks of art.

Men tried to show that they could master manyfields of study or work. Someone who succeeded in many fields was admired greatly. The artistLeonardo da Vinci was an example of this ideal. Hewas a painter, a scientist, and an inventor. Menwere expected to be charming, witty, well-educated,well-mannered, athletic, and self-controlled. Womenwere expected not to create art but to inspire artists.

Renaissance artists sometimes used new meth-ods. Sculptors made figures more realistic thanthose from the Middle Ages. Painters used per-spective to create the illusion that their paintings

were three-dimensional. The subject of artworkchanged also. Art in the Middle Ages was mostlyreligious, but Renaissance artists reproduced otherviews of life. Michelangelo showed great skill as anarchitect, a sculptor, and a painter.

Renaissance writers reached high achievementsas well. Several wrote in their native languages,whereas most writing in the Middle Ages had beenin Latin. Writers also changed their subject matter.They wrote to express their own thoughts and feel-ings or to portray in detail an individual. Dante andothers wrote poetry, letters, and stories that wereself-expressive and more realistic. NiccolòMachiavelli took a new approach to understandinggovernment. He focused on telling rulers how toexpand their power, even if that meant taking stepsthat the Church might view as evil.

The Northern RenaissanceKEY IDEA In the 1400s, northern Europeans began toadopt the ideas of the Renaissance.

By 1450, the bubonic plague had ended innorthern Europe and the population was

recovering. Also, the Hundred Years’ War betweenFrance and England was ending. The sufferingcaused by these two events was fading, and the new ideas from Italy spread to northern Europe,where they were quickly adopted. The northernRenaissance had a difference, however. While theeducated people there became interested in classi-cal learning, they were more likely to combine thatwith interest in religious ideas.

Major artists appeared in parts of Germany,France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The use ofoil-based paints became popular. Dürer paintedreligious subjects and realistic landscapes. Holbein,van Eyck, and Bruegel painted lifelike portraits andscenes of peasant life. They revealed much aboutthe times.

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The new ideas of Italian art moved to the north,where artists began to use them. Painters inFlanders were deeply interested in showing life inrealistic ways. They painted members of the risingmerchant class and peasants, revealing much aboutlife of the period. One pioneered in the use of oil-based paints.

Writers of the northern Renaissance combinedhumanism with deep Christian faith. They urgedreforms in the Church and society to try to makepeople more devoted to God and more just. ThomasMore wrote a book about an imaginary ideal societywhere greed, war, and conflict did not exist.

William Shakespeare is widely viewed as thegreatest playwright of all time. His plays showed abrilliant command of the English language and adeep understanding of people and how they inter-act with one another.

One reason that learning spread so rapidly duringthe Renaissance was the invention of movable type.The Chinese had invented the process of carvingcharacters onto wooden blocks. They then arrangedthem in words, inked the blocks, and pressed themagainst paper to print pages. In 1440, a German,Johann Gutenberg, adopted this practice. He pro-duced his first book—a Bible—in 1455. The tech-nology then spread rapidly. By 1500, presses inEurope had printed nearly 10 million books.

Printing made it easier to make many copies ofa book. As a result, written works became availablefar and wide. Fewer books were printed in Latin,and more books were printed in languages such asEnglish, French, Spanish, Italian, or German. As aresult, more people began to read the Bible on theirown. Some formed ideas about Christianity thatdiffered from those of the Church.

Luther Leads theReformation

KEY IDEA Martin Luther’s protest over abuses in theCatholic Church led to the founding of Protestantchurches.

By 1500, Renaissance values emphasizing theindividual and worldly life weakened the

influence of the Church. At the same time, manypeople sharply criticized the Church for some of itspractices. Popes seemed more concerned with lux-ury and political power than with spiritual matters.Critics resented the fact that they paid taxes to sup-port the Church in Rome. The lower clergy had

faults. Many local priests lacked education andcouldn’t teach people. Others took actions thatbroke their vows as priests.

In the past, reformers had urged that theChurch change its ways to become more spiritualand humble. Christian humanists such as Erasmusand More added their voices to calls for change. Inthe early 1500s, the calls grew louder.

In 1517, a German monk and professor namedMartin Luther protested some actions of a Churchofficial. That person was selling what were calledindulgences. By paying money to the Church, peoplethought they could win salvation. Luther challengedthis practice and others. He posted a written proteston the door of a castle church. His words werequickly printed and began to spread throughoutGermany. Thus began the Reformation, the move-ment for reform that led to the founding of newChristian churches.

Soon Luther pushed for broader changes. Hesaid that people could win salvation only throughfaith, not good works. He said that religious beliefsshould be based on the Bible alone and that thepope had no real authority. He said that each per-son was equal before God. He or she did not needa priest to explain the Bible to them.

The pope punished Luther for his views, but he refused to take them back. The Holy RomanEmperor, a strong Catholic, called Luther an out-law. His books were to be burned. No one was toshelter him. Meanwhile, many of his ideas werebeing put into practice. The Lutheran Church wasborn around 1522.

In 1524, peasants in Germany hoped to useLuther’s ideas to change society. They demanded anend to serfdom—a condition like slavery. When itwas not granted, they revolted. Luther disagreedwith this revolt, and the German princes killed thou-sands in putting the revolt down. Some nobles sup-ported Luther because they saw a chance to weakenthe emperor’s power. German princes joined forcesagainst Luther. Some princes protested this. Warbroke out between Catholics and these Protestantforces in Germany. It finally ended in 1555 with thePeace of Augsburg. That treaty granted each princethe right to decide whether his subjects would beCatholic or Protestant.

The Catholic Church faced another challenge toits power in England. Henry VIII, the king, wasmarried to a princess of Spain. She had borne hima daughter, but he wanted a son. This could

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prevent a civil war erupting when he died. His wifewas too old to have another child, but the poperefused to grant him a divorce. In 1534, Henry hadthe English Parliament pass a number of laws thattook England out of the Catholic Church. The lawsmade the king or queen, not the pope, head of theChurch of England. Henry remarried four times,gaining his only son from his third wife.

One of Henry’s daughters, Elizabeth, becamequeen in 1558 and completed the task of creating a separate English church. New laws gave the newreligion some traits that would appeal to bothProtestants and Catholics. In this way, Elizabethhoped to end religious conflict in England.

The Reformation ContinuesKEY IDEA John Calvin and other Reformation leadersbegan new Protestant churches. The Catholic Churchalso made reforms.

Protestantism arose elsewhere in the 1530s underthe leadership of John Calvin. Calvin wrote an

important book that gave structure to Protestantbeliefs. He taught that people are sinful by natureand only those God chooses—“the elect”—will besaved. He said that God knew from the beginningwhich people would be saved and which would not.

Calvin created a government run by religiousleaders in a city in Switzerland. The city had strictrules of behavior that urged people to live deeplyreligious lives. Anyone who preached different reli-gious ideas might be burned at the stake.

A preacher named John Knox was impressed byCalvin’s high moral ideals. Knox put these ideas intopractice in Scotland. This was the beginning of the Presbyterian Church. Others in Switzerland,Holland, and France adopted Calvin’s ideas as well.In France, his followers were called Huguenots.Conflict between them and Catholics often turnedto violence. In 1572, mobs killed about 12,000Huguenots. Another Protestant church that arosewas the Anabaptists. They preached that peopleshould be baptized into the faith as adults. Theyinfluenced some later groups.

Protestant churches grew, but millions remainedtrue to the Catholic faith. Still, the Catholic Churchtook steps to reform itself. A Spanish noble namedIgnatius founded a new group in the Church basedon deep devotion to Jesus. Members started schoolsacross Europe. They tried to convert people to

Catholicism who were not Christians. In addition,they tried to stop the spread of Protestant faiths inEurope.

Two popes of the 1500s helped bring aboutchanges in the Church. Paul III took several steps,including calling a great council of church leadersat Trent, in northern Italy. The council, which metin 1545, passed these doctrines:

• the Church’s interpretation of the Bible was final;• Christians needed good works as well as faith to

win salvation;• the Bible and the Church had equal authority in

setting out Christian beliefs; and• indulgences could be sold.

Paul also put in action a kind of court called theInquisition. It was charged with finding, trying, andpunishing people who broke the rules of the Church.His successor, Paul IV, put these policies into prac-tice. These actions helped revive the Church andallowed it to survive the challenge of the Protestants.

Review1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

Why did the Renaissance arise in Italy?2. Making Inferences Why do you think that a

person who is accomplished in many fields iscalled a “Renaissance” man or woman?

3. Contrasting How did the northern Renaissancediffer from the Italian Renaissance?

4. Drawing Conclusions What role did politicalconcerns play in the Reformation?

5. Forming and Supporting Opinions Whichleader—Calvin or Luther—do you think had agreater impact? Explain why.

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Muslim World Expands,1300–1700

CHAPTER OVERVIEW A group of Turks called Ottomans set up a new empire inwhat is now modern Turkey. Farther to the east, the Safavid Empire arose inmodern Iran, where rulers embraced a special type of Islam that made them dif-ferent from their neighbors. Meanwhile, India saw the rise of yet another empireas Muslims created a powerful state there.

Summary

The Ottomans Build a Vast Empire

KEY IDEA The Ottomans established a Muslim Empirethat combined many cultures and lasted for more than600 years.

In 1300, the world of the eastern Mediterraneanwas seeing changes. The Byzantine Empire was

fading. The Seljuk Turk state had been destroyedby the Mongols. Anatolia, the area of modernTurkey, was now inhabited by groups of nomadicTurks. They saw themselves as ghazis, or warriorsfor Islam. They formed military groups and raidedthe lands where non-Muslims lived.

The most successful ghazi was Osman. WesternEuropeans took his name to be Othman and calledhis followers Ottomans. Between 1300 and 1326,Osman built a strong but small kingdom in Anatolia.Leaders who came after Osman called themselvessultans, or “ones with power.” They extended thekingdom by buying land, forming alliances withother chieftains, and conquering everyone theycould. The military success of the Ottomans wasaided by gunpowder—especially as used in cannons.

The Ottomans ruled kindly through local offi-cials appointed by the sultan. Muslims had to servein the army but paid no taxes. Non-Muslims paidthe tax but did not have to serve in the army. Manyjoined Islam simply to avoid the tax. Most people intheir empire adjusted quickly to their easy rule.

One warrior did not. Timur the Lame, calledTamerlane in the west, arose in central Asia. Heclaimed to be descended from Genghis Khan. Theclaim probably is not true—but he was as fierce asthe Mongol conqueror. He conquered Russia andPersia, where he burned the city of Baghdad to theground. In 1402, he defeated the Ottomans in bat-tle and captured the sultan. Timur died three yearslater on his way to conquer China.

Back in Anatolia, the four sons of the last sultanfought for control of the empire. Mehmed I won

control, and his son and the four following sultansbrought the Ottoman Empire to its greatest power.One of them—Mehmed II—took power in 1451and captured Constantinople. At first, his shipswere unable to sail near the city because barriersblocked the way. So he had his soldiers drag theships over hills so they could be launched onanother side of Constantinople. After several weeksof fighting, the Ottoman force was simply too strongfor the tiny army left in the city. In 1453, Constan-tinople finally fell to the Ottomans. Mehmed madethe city his capital, which was renamed Istanbul.The famous and beautiful church of the HagiaSophia became a mosque. The rebuilt city becamehome to people from all over the Ottoman Empire.

Other emperors used conquest to make theempire grow. After 1514, Selim the Grim took Persia,Syria, and Palestine. He then captured Arabia, tookthe Muslim holy cities of Medina and Mecca, andgained control of Egypt.

His son, Suleyman I, brought the OttomanEmpire to its greatest size and most impressiveachievements. He conquered parts of southeasternEurope by 1525. He won control of the entire easternMediterranean Sea and took North Africa as far westas Tripoli. Although he was defeated in a battle forVienna in 1529, his Ottoman Empire remained huge.

Suleyman ruled his empire with a highly struc-tured government. Serving the royal family and thegovernment were thousands of slaves. Among themwas an elite group of soldiers called janissaries.They were Christians taken as children and madeslaves with personal loyalty to the sultan. They weretrained as soldiers and fought fiercely for the sultan.Other slaves held important government jobs. Theempire allowed people to follow their own religion.Jews and Christians were not mistreated by theOttomans. Suleyman revised the laws of theempire, which won him the name Suleyman theLawgiver. Suleyman also oversaw an empire that

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was full of accomplished works of art. Using anexcellent architect, he built many fine buildings inhis capital.

The empire lasted long after Suleyman butspent the next few hundred years in decline. Noneof the sultans were as accomplished as he hadbeen, and the Ottoman Empire’s power slipped.

Cultural BlendingCase Study: The SafavidEmpire

KEY IDEA Many world cultures incorporate influencesfrom various peoples and traditions.

Throughout history, different peoples have livedtogether, and their cultures have influenced one

another. Often these people have blended one culture with another. This can be due to trade, conquest, movement of people from one area toanother, or conversion to a new religion.

Changes often happen in places where culturalblending takes place. Changes in language, arts andarchitecture or religion are examples. For example inthe Safavid empire the spoken language was Persian.But after Muslims came to live in the empire, Arabicwords appeared in the Persian language.

Cultural blending took place in the SafavidEmpire of Persia. The Safavids began as membersof an Islamic group that claimed to be related to theprophet Muhammad. In the 1400s, they becameallied with the Shi’a, a branch of Islam. The majorgroup of Muslims, the Sunnis, persecuted the Shi’afor their views. The Safavids, fearing their strongneighbors who were Sunni Muslims, decided tobuild a strong army to protect themselves.

In 1499, a 14-year-old leader named Isma’il ledthis army to conquer Iran. He took the traditionalPersian title of shah, or king, and made the newempire a state of Shi’a. He destroyed Baghdad’sSunni population. Ottoman Turk rulers—who wereSunni Muslims—in turn killed all the Shi’a thatthey met. This conflict between the two groups ofMuslims continues today.

The Safavids reached their height in the late1500s under Shah Abbas. He reformed the military,making two armies that were loyal to him and himalone. He also gave new weapons to the army tomake them better fighters. He reformed the gov-ernment, getting rid of corrupt officials. He alsobrought gifted artists to his empire, who helpedmake his capital and other cities very beautiful. In

taking these steps, Shah Abbas drew on good ideasfrom other cultures. He used Chinese artists andenjoyed good relations with nations of Europe.Through this contact, the demand for Persian rugsincreased greatly in Europe. In this period, rug-making, which had simply been a local craft inPersia, was changed into a major industry for thecountry.

As with the Ottoman Empire, the SafavidEmpire began to decline soon after it had reachedits greatest height. Shah Abbas had killed orinjured his most talented sons—just as Suleimanhad done—fearing that they would seize powerfrom him. As a result, a weak and ineffective grand-son became shah after him. Under his poor leader-ship, the empire lost power.

While the empire fell, the blended culture thatthe Safavid Empire had created continued. Themain elements of that culture were the joiningtogether of the Persian tradition of learning andsophistication and the devout faith of the Shi’a.These elements are found in Iran even today.

The Mughal Empire in IndiaKEY IDEA The Mughal Empire brought Turks, Persians,and Indians together in a vast empire.

Starting in the 600s, India went through a longperiod of unsettled life and trouble. After the

Gupta Empire fell, nomads from central Asiainvaded the area and created many small kingdoms.In the 700s, Muslims arrived on the scene. Theirarrival launched a long history of fighting betweenthem and the Hindus who had lived in India forcenturies.

The Hindus were able to prevent the Muslimsfrom taking their land for about 300 years. Then agroup of Muslim Turks conquered a region aroundthe city of Delhi and set up a new empire there.They treated the Hindus in their area harshly. Theirrule ended in 1398, when Timur the Lame totallydestroyed Delhi.

A little over a hundred years later, a new powerarose. Babur had a small kingdom north of India.He raised an army and began to win large parts ofIndia. Babur had many talents. He was a lover ofpoetry and gardens and a sensitive man who usedhis feelings for others to become a superb leader. Hewas also an excellent general. He once led a forceof only 12,000 soldiers to victory over an enemyarmy of 100,000. His empire was called the Mughal

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Empire because he and his families were related tothe Mongols.

Babur’s grandson, Akbar, was equally talented.His name means “Greatest One,” and the nameseems suitable to the man. He ruled with great wis-dom and fairness for almost 40 years.

Akbar was a Muslim, but he believed stronglythat people should be allowed to follow the religionthey chose. He set an example by letting his wivespractice whatever religion they chose. In his gov-ernment, too, Akbar hired people based on theirability and not their religion. Both Hindus andMuslims gained jobs as government workers.

Akbar ruled fairly. He ended the tax that Hindupilgrims had to pay. He also ended the tax that allnon-Muslims had to pay. To raise money, he imposeda tax based on a percentage of the food grown. Thismade it easier for peasants to pay the tax. His landpolicy was less wise. He generously gave land togovernment officials. However, when they died hetook it back and handed it to someone else. As aresult, workers did not see any point in caring forthe land because they were not preserving it fortheir children.

He had a strong, well-equipped army that helpedhim win and maintain control of more lands. Hisempire held about 100 million people—more thanlived in all of Europe at the time.

During Akbar’s reign, many changes in culturetook place. His policy of blending different culturesproduced two new languages. Hindi blended Persianand local languages. It is still widely spoken in Indiatoday. Urdu grew out of a mixture of Arabic, Persian,and Hindi and was spoken by the soldiers in Akbar’scamp. Today it is the official language of Pakistan.The empire became famous for its book illustra-tions, which were adapted from the art of Persia.Akbar—who could not read—had a huge library ofbooks and served as a patron to many writers. Healso sponsored the building of a new capital cityand many buildings.

After Akbar’s death in 1605, the empire beganto decline. During the reign of Jahangir, the realpower was his wife, Nur Jahan. She was an ableruler but had a bitter political battle with one ofJahangir’s sons. Since that son found help from theSikhs—members of a separate religion—that groupbecame the target of attacks by the government.

Jahangir’s successor was Shah Jahan, and he toochose not to follow Akbar’s policy of religious toler-ation. Shah Jahan was a great patron of the arts

and built many beautiful buildings, including thefamous Taj Mahal. It was a tomb for his belovedwife. However, his ambitious building plans requiredhigh taxes, and the people suffered under his rule.

His son Aurangzeb ruled for almost 50 years and made the empire grow once again with newconquests. However, his rule brought about newproblems. A serious Muslim, the new ruler putharsh new laws in place. He punished Hindus anddestroyed their temples, which produced a rebellionthat managed to take control of part of his empire.At the same time, the Sikhs had become skilledfighters, and they won control of another part ofthe empire. To fight these battles, Aurangzeb hadto increase taxes. Since he only taxed Hindus, notMuslims, this move only made large numbers ofpeople more and more angry.

After his death, the empire fell apart, and localleaders took control of small areas. There continuedto be a Mughal emperor, but he was only a figure-head, not a ruler with any real power.

Review1. Clarifying How did the Ottomans treat non-

Muslims?2. Summary What were Suleyman’s major

accomplishments?3. Determining Main Ideas Despite their bril-

liant rule, what critical mistake did Suleiman andShah Abbas make?

4. Drawing Conclusions What evidence of cul-tural blending can you find in Akbar’s rule?

5. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsHow did Akbar’s successors contribute to theend of the Mughal Empire?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF An Age of Exploration andIsolation, 1400–1800

CHAPTER OVERVIEW “God, glory, and gold” drove Europeans’ early exploration ofAsia. They took control of Asian trade, with Portugal leading the way. Eventually,nations of northern Europe displaced the Portuguese. Two dynasties in Chinaresisted the growing power of Europeans in Asia, limiting Chinese contact withforeigners. In Japan, a new system of government brought peace and isolation.

Summary

Europeans Explore the EastKEY IDEA Driven by the desire for wealth and to spreadChristianity, Europeans began an age of exploration.

For many centuries, Europeans had been largely,though not completely, isolated from contact

with people from other lands. That changed in the 1400s. One reason for this change was thatEuropeans hoped to gain new sources of wealth. Byexploring the seas far from Europe, traders hopedto find new, faster routes to Asia—the source ofspices and luxury goods. Their goal was to win accessto these lands and bypass the Muslims and Italianswho currently controlled this trade. Another reasonwas the desire to spread Christianity to new lands.The Crusades had ended, but bad feelings betweenChristians and Muslims remained. The Christiansof Europe wanted to convert the people of Asia.

Advances in technology made these voyagespossible. A new kind of ship, the caravel, wasstronger built than earlier ships. It had triangle-shaped sails that allowed it to sail against the wind.Ships could now travel far out into the ocean. Themagnetic compass allowed sea captains to betterstay on course.

The first nation to develop and use these newtechnologies was Portugal. Prince Henry ofPortugal was deeply committed to the idea ofexploring beyond the seas. In 1419, he started aschool of navigation where sea captains, mapmak-ers, and navigators could meet, learn, and exchangeideas. Over the next few decades, Portuguese cap-tains sailed farther and farther down the west coastof Africa. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias led the first voy-age to reach the southern tip of Africa. Ten yearslater, Vasco da Gama led a ship 27,000 milesaround Africa, to India, and back. The Portuguesehad found a sea route to Asia.

The Spanish, meanwhile, had plans of their own.Italian sailor Christopher Columbus convinced theking and queen that he could reach Asia by sailing

west. In 1492, instead of landing in Asia, Columbustouched land in the islands of the Americas, landunknown to Europeans. At first, though, peoplestill thought that he had landed in Asia. Spain andPortugal argued over which nation had the rights tothe land that Columbus had claimed. In 1494, theysigned the Treaty of Tordesillas. It divided the worldinto two areas. Portugal won the right to controlthe eastern parts and Spain the western parts—including most of the Americas.

Portugal moved quickly to make the new IndianOcean route pay off. In 1509, it defeated a Muslimfleet off the coast of India and thus became the mas-ter of Indian trade. Soon, it captured cities in Indiaand on the Malay peninsula. Portugal now hadpower over islands that were so rich in desirablespices that they were called the Spice Islands. Spicesnow cost Europeans one-fifth of what they had costbefore, while still making Portugal very wealthy.

Other European nations joined in this trade. Inthe 1600s, the English and Dutch entered the EastIndies to challenge Portugal. The Dutch fleet—about 20,000 ships—was the largest in the world.These two nations quickly broke Portuguese powerin the area. Then both nations set up an East IndiaCompany to control Asian trade. These companieswere more than businesses. They were like govern-ments, with the power to make money, signtreaties, and raise their own armies. The Dutchmanaged to drive out the English and grab theAsian trade for themselves.

The Dutch made their trading headquarters onthe island of Java in the East Indies. By 1700, theDutch ruled much of Indonesia. They had tradingposts in many other Asian countries and com-manded the southern tip of Africa. At the sametime, both England and France finally gainedfootholds in India.

While the Europeans controlled the tradebetween Asia and Europe, they had little impact

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on most people living in these areas. From 1500 to1800, the people of Asia were largely untouched bythe European traders.

China Limits EuropeanContacts

KEY IDEA Advances under the Ming and Qing dynastiesleft China self-contained and uninterested in Europeancontact.

Mongol rule in China ended in 1368 whenHongwu led a rebel army that took control of

the country. He declared himself the first emperorof the Ming Dynasty, which was to last for almost300 years. Hongwu began his rule by increasing the amount of food produced, improving irrigation,and raising cotton and sugar cane. He also madechanges that improved the government of China.Later he grew suspicious and untrusting. He causedthe deaths of many people whom he suspected ofplotting against him.

His son Yonglo continued his better policies andalso launched a major effort at making contact withother Asian peoples. Beginning in 1405, an admiralnamed Zheng He led several voyages to SoutheastAsia, India, Arabia, and Africa. The goal was toimpress other people with the power and wealth ofChina. He also wanted to convince them to paytribute to China each year. By sending gifts eachyear, these peoples would recognize that China wassuperior to them. Gifts did flow to China, butscholar-officials said that the voyages wasted valu-able resources. Zheng He’s journeys were stoppedafter seven years.

China allowed Europeans to trade officially atonly three ports. China became isolated. However,illegal trade took place all along the coast. BecauseEuropeans wanted Chinese silk and ceramics, thepeople began making large amounts of these goods.Europeans paid silver for them. Manufacturingnever grew very large in China, however. TheConfucian ideas that shaped Chinese thinking saidthat farming was a better way of life, so manufac-turing was heavily taxed. European missionariesentered China at this time, bringing bothChristianity and new technology.

The power of the Ming Dynasty declinedbecause the government could not solve several

problems. Rebels from Manchuria—a land to thenorth of China—took control of the country in1644 and started a new dynasty called the Qing. Atfirst, the Chinese people did not accept the newrulers, who were not Chinese. However, the Qingemperors won their support by taking steps toimprove conditions in the country and by preserv-ing Chinese traditions.

Two emperors were the most effective. Kangxiruled from 1661 to 1721 and his grandson Qian-longserved from 1736 to 1795. They brought China toits largest size, increased its wealth, and sponsoredan increase in artistic production.

Qian-long had problems to face, however. Onewas the matter of trade. The Chinese insisted thatEuropeans had to follow certain rules in order tocontinue trading with them. The Dutch were will-ing to do so, and they carried on the largest share oftrade with China. The British, though, did notagree to following these rules. This disagreementlater led to conflict that broke up China’s empire.

In China, the production of rice and the longperiod of peace gave the people better lives. In the1600s and 1700s, the number of people in Chinaalmost doubled, rising to more than 300 million by 1800. The huge majority of these people werefarmers. Because of the use of fertilizer and betterirrigation, they could grow more food. They alsobegan to grow new crops brought over from theAmericas, such as corn and sweet potatoes. As aresult, the level of nutrition improved, which led tothe growth in population.

Women suffered in this period, however. Sonswere valued over daughters. It was felt only sonscould carry out family religious duties and tend tothe family farm. For that reason, many infant girlswere killed, and adult women were given fewrights.

The invasions by the foreigners from Manchuriaand the pressure from European traders botheredthe Chinese. Artists created books and paintingsthat showed traditional Chinese values and ideas.Plays about Chinese history and heroes were popu-lar. They helped to unify the Chinese people. Atthe same time, a feeling of national pride also wasrising in neighboring Korea, a land that had longbeen dominated by China.

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Japan Returns to IsolationKEY IDEA The Tokugawa regime unified Japan and begana 200-year period of isolation, autocracy, and economicgrowth.

From 1467 to 1568, Japan entered a long, darkperiod of civil war. Powerful warriors took con-

trol of large areas of land. They were called daimyo.They became the most important powers in thecountry in a feudal system similar to that ofEurope’s Middle Ages. The daimyo built strongcastles. They also had small armies of samurai war-riors on horses and soldiers on foot with guns. Theyfought each other constantly to gain more land forthemselves.

In 1568, one of the daimyo took control of Kyoto,the site of the emperor’s capital. He was unable towin complete control of Japan, however. Anothergeneral, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, continued the workof bringing all of Japan under one rule. Using mili-tary conquest and clever diplomacy, he won thatgoal in 1590. He failed in his effort to captureKorea, however, and died in 1598.

The work of unifying Japan was completed byTokugawa Ieyasu, who became the shogun, or soleruler. He moved the capital of Japan to a smallfishing village named Edo. Later, it grew to becomethe city of Tokyo. While all of Japan was ruled byTokugawa, the daimyo still held much power in theirlands. Tokugawa solved that problem by forcing themto follow his orders. He required them to live everyother year in his capital—and leave their families inthe capital with him during the other years. As aresult, no daimyo was able to rebel against his power.Tokugawa died in 1616. All of the shoguns to followhim were from his family. They maintained a strongcentral government in Japan. This system of rule,called the Tokugawa Shogunate, lasted until 1867.

The new government brought about a longperiod of peace and prosperity for most people.Peasant farmers suffered greatly during this time,however. They worked long and hard on the farmsand paid heavy taxes. Many left the countryside tomove to the cities. By the mid-1700s, Edo hadmore than a million people and was perhaps thelargest city in the world. Women found moreopportunities for work in this and other cities thanthey had in the country.

A traditional culture thrived. It preferred cere-monial Noh dramas, stories of ancient warriors, andpaintings of classical scenes. However, in cities, newstyles emerged. Townspeople attended kabuki the-ater dramas of urban life. They hung woodblockprints of city scenes in their homes.

Europeans began to arrive in Japan. In 1543,the Portuguese were first. They brought such goodsas clocks, eyeglasses, and guns. Japanese merchantsand the daimyo welcomed them at first. They evenwelcomed the Christian missionaries who came after1549, hoping to convert the Japanese to Christianity.

Some missionaries scorned traditional Japanesebeliefs, though. Tokugawa became worried. In 1612,he banned Christianity from the country. Over thenext 20 years or so, Japan managed to rid the coun-try of all Christians. This effort became part of alarger plan to protect the country from Europeaninfluence. In 1639, leaders sealed Japan’s bordersexcept for one port city. It was open to only theChinese and the Dutch. The Tokugawa shogunscontrolled that port city, so they had tight controlover all foreign contact. For the next 200 years,Japan remained closed to virtually all Europeancontact.

ReviewAnalyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects1. Why did the Europeans begin to explore over-

seas, and what technological changes made itpossible?

2. Why did the Chinese stop the voyages of ZhengHe?

3. What factors led to the growth in the Chinesepopulation?

4. Determining Main Ideas What social changestook place in Tokugawa Japan?

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Spain Builds an American Empire

KEY IDEA The voyages of Columbus prompted theSpanish to carve out the first European colonies in theAmericas.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor,led a voyage on behalf of Spain. He sailed west

from Europe intending to reach Asia but insteadlanded in the Americas. This was land that Europeanshad not known existed before. Columbus thoughtat first that he had reached Asia, or the Indies. Hemisnamed the natives he met Indians and claimedthe land for Spain. The king and queen agreed tolet him lead another voyage. This one was an expe-dition to form colonies, or controlled lands, thatSpain would rule.

In 1500, a Portuguese explorer landed in Braziland claimed that land for his country. In 1501,another Italian sailor on behalf of Spain, AmerigoVespucci, explored the eastern coast of SouthAmerica. He said that these lands were not Asiabut a new world. Soon after, a mapmaker showedthe lands as a separate continent. He named themAmerica after Vespucci.

Other voyages gave Europeans more knowledgeabout the world. One explorer reached the westcoast of Central America and first saw the PacificOcean. Another, Ferdinand Magellan, led a boldexpedition from Spain that sailed completelyaround the world. Magellan himself died abouthalfway around. However, a few members of hiscrew survived. They returned to Spain after sailingfor almost three years.

Spanish conquistadors, or conquerors, alsobegan to explore the lands of the Americas. Therethey found great riches. In 1519, Hernando Cortéscame to Mexico and defeated the powerful AztecEmpire. The Spanish had the advantage of riflesand cannons. They also had the aid of severalnative groups who were angry over harsh Aztec

rule. In addition, the Aztec were seriously weak-ened by new diseases brought to the Americas withthe Spanish. Native peoples had no resistance tomeasles, mumps, and smallpox, which killed themby the hundreds of thousands.

About 15 years later, another Spanish force, ledby Francisco Pizarro, conquered the mighty IncaEmpire of South America. Once again, the Spanishgained access to huge amounts of gold and silver.By the mid-1500s, Spain had formed an Americanempire that stretched from modern-day Mexico to Peru. After 1540, the Spanish looked north ofMexico and explored the future United States.However, one large area of the Americas—Brazil—remained outside the control of Spain. Brazil wasthe possession of Portugal. Colonists there builthuge farms called plantations to grow sugar, whichwas in demand in Europe.

The Spanish had a pattern of living among thepeople they conquered. Because few Spanish set-tlers in the Americas were women, Spanish men hadchildren with native women. These children andtheir descendants formed a large mestizo popula-tion, people with mixed Spanish and NativeAmerican blood. The Spanish also formed largefarms and mines that used natives as slave labor.Many landowners treated the native workers harshly.Some Spanish priests criticized this treatment. In1542, the Spanish stopped making slaves of nativepeoples. They soon, however, would bring enslavedAfricans to the Americas to meet labor demands.

European Nations Settle North America

KEY IDEA Several European nations fought for controlof North America, and England eventually emerged victorious.

In the early 1500s, the French began to exploreNorth America. Jacques Cartier came across and

named the St. Lawrence River. He then followed it

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The Atlantic World, 1492–1800CHAPTER OVERVIEW Starting in 1492, the Spanish built a large empire in theAmericas, but the native peoples suffered. In North America, the Dutch, French,and English fought for control. England finally won. The labor of enslaved per-sons brought from Africa supported the American colonies. The contact betweenthe Old World and the New produced an exchange of new ideas.

Summary

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inward to reach the site of modern Montreal. In1608, Samuel de Champlain sailed as far as modernQuebec. In the next 100 years, the French exploredand claimed the area around the Great Lakes andthe Mississippi River all the way to its mouth at theGulf of Mexico. The area became known as NewFrance. The main activity in this colony was tradein beaver fur.

The English also began to colonize NorthAmerica. The first permanent settlement came atJamestown, in modern Virginia, in 1607. The colonystruggled at first. Many settlers died from disease,hunger, or war with the native peoples. Soon farmersbegan to grow tobacco to meet the high demandfor it in Europe.

In the 1620s and 1630s, other groups fromEngland began to settle in modern Massachusetts.These settlers were deeply religious people whodid not agree with the practices of the Church ofEngland. They wanted to purify the church andwere called Puritans. They hoped to build a modelcommunity dedicated to God. They succeeded overtime in part because many families settled there.

Meanwhile, the Dutch also started a new colony.They settled in the location of modern New YorkCity and called it New Netherland. Like the French,they engaged in the fur trade and set up trading postsalong the Hudson River. The colony did not growvery large, but it did attract people from otherEuropean countries. New Netherland becameknown as a home to people of many different cul-tures. Europeans also took possession of many islandsof the Caribbean. There they built tobacco and sugarplantations that used enslaved Africans as workers.

The European powers began to fight for controlof North America. First, the English forced theDutch to give up their colony. New Amsterdam was renamed New York. The English also plantedother colonies along the Atlantic coast, from Maineto Georgia. These colonists came in conflict withthe French settlers in Canada on many occasions.The final fight started in 1754 and was called theFrench and Indian War. When it ended in 1763,France was forced to give up all its land in NorthAmerica to Britain.

The native peoples responded to these events inmany different ways. Many worked closely with theFrench and Dutch, joining in the fur trade andbenefiting from it. Those who lived near the English,though, had stormier relations with colonists. Morethan just trade, the English were interested in

acquiring land for settlers’ living and farming. Thiswas land that Native Americans would not be ableto use for hunting or growing their own food. Thisconflict erupted into war several times. Natives,though, could not overcome the settlers’ guns andcannons. As in Spanish lands, the native peoplessuffered even more from disease. Thousands uponthousands of natives died from European illnesses,making it impossible for them to resist the growthof the colonies.

The Atlantic Slave TradeKEY IDEA To meet their growing labor needs, Europeansenslaved millions of Africans in forced labor in theAmericas.

Slavery has a long history in Africa and in theworld. For most of that history in Africa, though,

no large numbers of people were enslaved. Thatchanged in the 600s, when Muslim traders startedto take large numbers of slaves. Between 650 and1600, Muslims took about 17 million Africans toNorth Africa and Southwest Asia. Most did havecertain rights. The European slave trade that beganin the 1500s was larger. Also, the enslaved Africanswere treated far more harshly.

In the Americas, when the natives began dyingfrom disease, the Europeans brought in Africans,for three reasons. Africans had resistance toEuropean diseases, so they would not get sick anddie. Also, many Africans knew about farming sothey would be accustomed to the work involved.Third, Africans were strangers to the Americas andwould know no places to hide from slavery. From1500 to 1870, when the slave trade in the Americasfinally ended, about 9.5 million Africans had beenimported as slaves.

The Spanish first began the practice of bringing Africans to the Americas. However, thePortuguese—looking for workers for sugar planta-tions in Brazil—increased the demand for slaves.During the 1600s, Brazil received more than 40 per-cent of all the Africans sent to the Americas. OtherEuropean colonies also brought slaves to work ontobacco, sugar, and coffee plantations. About400,000 slaves were brought to the English coloniesin North America. Their population increased overtime, though, to number about 2 million in 1830.

Many African rulers joined in the slave trade.They moved inland to capture people and broughtthem to the coast to sell to European traders.

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This trade was part of a triangular trade thatlinked Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Europeanships brought manufactured goods to Africa, trad-ing them for people. They carried Africans acrossthe Atlantic to the Americas, where they were soldinto slavery. The traders then bought sugar, coffee,and tobacco, which they carried back to Europe.Another triangle involved ships sailing from thenorthern English colonies in North America. Theycarried rum to Africa, people to the West Indies,and sugar and molasses back to the colonies tomake more rum.

The part of the voyage that brought people tothe Americas was called the middle passage. It washarsh and cruel. People were crammed into ships,beaten, and given little food. Many died, and manyothers simply jumped overboard trying to escape.About 20 percent of the people on these ships died.

Life on the plantations was harsh as well.People were sold to the highest bidder and thenworked from dawn to dusk in the fields of the plan-tations. They were given little food and lived insmall huts. Africans kept alive their traditionalmusic and beliefs to try to maintain their spirits.Sometimes they arose in rebellion. From NorthAmerica to Brazil, from 1522 to the 1800s, therewere small-scale slave revolts.

The Columbian Exchangeand Global Trade

KEY IDEA The colonization of the Americas introducednew and different items into the Eastern and Westernhemispheres.

There was constant movement of people fromEurope and Africa to the Americas. This large-

scale mixing of people and culture was called theColumbian Exchange. Important foods such ascorn and potatoes were taken from the Americas,where they originated, to Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Some foods moved from the Old World to theNew. Bananas, black-eyed peas, and yams weretaken from Africa to the Americas. Cattle, pigs, andhorses had never been seen in the Americas untilthe Europeans brought them. Of course, deadly ill-nesses also moved to the Americas. They killed alarge portion of the Native American population.

The settling of the Americas and the growth oftrade led to a new set of business practices still fol-lowed today. One was the rise of an economic sys-tem called capitalism. It is based on private owner-

ship of property and the right of a business to earna profit. Another new business idea was the joint-stock company. With this, many investors pooledtheir money to start a business and share in theprofits. European governments began to follow anidea called mercantilism. In this theory, a country’spower depended on its wealth. Getting more goldand silver increased its wealth, as would sellingmore goods than it bought. Colonies played animportant role because they provided goods thatcould be sold in trade.

With the American colonies, European societysaw changes. Merchants grew wealthy and power-ful, and towns and cities grew larger. Still, mostpeople lived in the countryside, farmed for a living,and were poor.

Review1. Drawing Conclusions What single factor was

most devastating for the native peoples of theAmericas and what effect did it have?

Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects2. How did settlement patterns in the Spanish

colonies lead to a mixing of Spanish and nativecultures?

3. Why did the French and Dutch have better rela-tions with the native peoples than the English?

4. Comparing and Contrasting Compare andcontrast the Muslim slave trade in Africa withthe European slave trade that began in the1500s.

5. Summarizing What was exchanged in theColumbian Exchange?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Absolute Monarchs in Europe,1500–1800

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Spain lost territory and money. The Netherlands split fromSpain and grew rich from trade. For a time, France was Europe’s most powerfulcountry, where King Louis XIV ruled with total control. Austria’s queen resisted a Prussian land grab. Peter the Great modernized Russia. England’s Parliamentstruggled with different kings and became the greatest power in the country.

Summary

Spain’s Empire andEuropean Absolutism

KEY IDEA During a time of religious and economic insta-bility, Philip II ruled Spain with a strong hand.

Charles V ruled the Holy Roman Empire andvarious other European countries. In 1556, he

retired from the throne and split his holdings. Hisbrother Ferdinand received Austria and the HolyRoman Empire. His son, Philip II, got Spain and itscolonies.

Philip expanded his holdings by taking Portugaland gaining its global territories. When he tried toinvade England in 1588, though, he failed. Thedefeat made Spain weaker. However, Spain stillseemed strong because of its wealth—gold and sil-ver—that flowed in from the colonies in theAmericas.

This wealth led to some serious problems, how-ever. The prices of goods constantly rose. Also,unfair taxes hit the poor, keeping them from build-ing up any wealth of their own. As prices rose,Spaniards bought more goods from other lands.The silver from the colonies, then, began to flow toSpain’s enemies.

In the middle of these troubles, Spain lost land.Seven provinces of the Spanish Netherlands rose inprotest against high taxes. Also, they were Protestantand Spain was strongly Catholic. In 1579, theseseven provinces declared their independence fromSpain.

In the new Dutch republic, each province had aleader elected by the people. The Dutch also prac-ticed religious tolerance, letting people worship asthey wished. Dutch merchants established a tradingempire. They had the largest fleet of merchantships in the world and were the most importantbankers in Europe.

Though he lost possessions, Philip held tightcontrol over Spain. He and others who ruled in the

same way were called absolute monarchs. Theybelieved in holding all power. The Church’s powerhad weakened, which helped make this possible.Some absolute rulers ended conflict within theircountries by increasing their power. That is whathappened in France.

The Reign of Louis XIVKEY IDEA After a century of wars and riots, Louis XIV,the most powerful monarch of his time, ruled France.

France was torn by eight religious wars betweenCatholics and Protestants from 1562 to 1598.

In 1589, a Protestant prince, Henry of Navarre,became King Henry IV. He changed religions in1593, becoming a Catholic to please the majority ofhis people. In 1598, he issued an order called theEdict of Nantes. It gave Huguenots—FrenchProtestants—the right to live in peace and havetheir own churches in some cities.

Henry rebuilt the French economy and broughtpeace to the land. He was followed by his son, aweak king. However, that son had a very capablechief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. He ruled theland for him and increased the power of the crown.

The cardinal ordered that Huguenots could notbuild walls for their cities. He also said nobles hadto destroy their castles. As a result, Protestants andnobles could not hide within walls to defy the king’spower. Richelieu used people from the middleclass—not nobles—to work in his government.That also cut nobles’ power.

French thinkers had reacted to the religiouswars with horror. They developed a new attitude—skepticism. Nothing could be known for certain,they argued. Doubting old ideas was the first stepto learning the truth, they said.

In 1643, Louis XIV, age four, became king.Cardinal Mazarin ruled for him until Louis was 22.Louis became a powerful ruler, with total control.

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Louis determined never to let nobles challenge him.He froze the nobles out of his government. He

gave more power to government officials and madesure that they answered only to him. He alsoworked hard to increase the wealth of France. Hischief minister of finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert,tried to build French industry. Colbert aimed toconvince French people to buy French-made goodsand not those from other countries. He urged peo-ple to settle in the new French colony in Canada.The fur trade there brought wealth to France.

Louis enjoyed a life of luxury at his court. Hebuilt a huge and beautiful palace at Versailles nearParis. He also made sure that nobles had to dependon his favor in order to advance in society.

Louis made France the most powerful nation inEurope. France had more people and a larger armythan any other country. However, Louis made somemistakes that later proved costly. After winning somewars against neighboring countries, he becamebolder and tried to seize more land. Other nationsjoined together to stop France by the late 1680s.The high cost of these wars combined with poorharvests to produce problems at home in France.

The final war fought in Louis’s time lasted from1700 to 1714. In this War of the Spanish Succession,France and Spain attempted to set up unitedthrones. The rest of Europe felt threatened andjoined in war against them. Both France and Spainwere forced to give up some of their American andEuropean colonies to England, the new risingpower.

Central European Monarchs Clash

KEY IDEA After a period of turmoil, absolute monarchsruled Austria and the German state of Prussia.

Germany had suffered from religious wars thatended in 1555. Rulers of each state agreed

that they would decide whether their lands wouldbe Catholic or Protestant. Over the next decades,though, the two sides had tense relations. In 1618, anew war broke out and lasted for 30 terrible years.

In the first half of the war, Catholic forces ledby Ferdinand, the Holy Roman Emperor, won.However, Germany suffered, because he allowedhis large army to loot towns. Then the Protestantking of Sweden won several battles against him. In the last years of the war, France helped theProtestants. Although France was a Catholic nation,

Richelieu feared growing Hapsburg family power.The Thirty Years’ War ended in 1648 with the

Peace of Westphalia. It had been a disaster forGermany. About 4 million people had died, and theeconomy was in ruins. It took Germany two centuriesto recover. The peace weakened the power of Austriaand Spain and made France stronger. Because of thiswar, each nation of Europe was seen as having anequal right to negotiate with all the others.

While strong states arose in western Europe,none emerged in central Europe. The economiesthere were less developed than in the West. Mostpeople were still peasants. This region had not builtan economy based in towns. Nobles enjoyed greatpower, which kept the power of rulers in check.Still, two important powers arose.

The Hapsburg family ruled Austria, Hungary,and Bohemia in an empire that linked many differ-ent peoples. Maria Theresa, Queen of Austria,managed to increase her power and cut that of thenobles. She was opposed by the kings of Prussia, anew state in northern Germany. Those kings built a strong state with much power given to the large,well-trained army. In 1740, Frederick the Great ofPrussia invaded one of Maria Theresa’s lands. Thequeen fought hard to keep the territory, but lost.Still, in fighting this War of the Austrian Succession,she managed to keep the rest of her empire intact.The two sides fought again beginning in 1756. Inthis Seven Years’ War, Austria abandoned Britain,its old ally, for France and Russia. Prussia joinedwith Britain. The Prussians and British won. In thatvictory, Britain gained complete control overFrance’s colonies in North America and India.

Absolute Rulers of RussiaKEY IDEA Peter the Great made many changes inRussia to try to make it more like western Europe.

Ivan III had made Moscow the center of a newRussian state with a central government. His son

continued that work. His grandson, Ivan IV—calledIvan the Terrible—began as a successful ruler. Headded lands to Russia and gave the country a codeof laws. After his wife died, however, he ruledharshly. He used secret police to hunt down oppo-nents and kill them. Ivan even killed his own oldestson. A few years after he died, Russian nobles metto name a new ruler. They chose Michael Romanov,the grandnephew of Ivan IV’s wife. He began adynasty that ruled Russia for about 300 years.

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The Romanovs restored order to Russia. In thelate 1600s, Peter I—called Peter the Great—beganan intense program of trying to modernize Russia.Peter admired the nations of western Europe. Hetraveled in Europe to learn about new technologyand ways of working. He returned to Russia deter-mined to make his country more advanced. His firststeps were to increase the powers of the czar, orruler, so he could force people to make the changeshe wanted. He put the Russian Orthodox Churchunder his own control. He cut the power of nobles.He built up the army and made it better trained.

He took several steps to make Russia morewestern. He brought potatoes as a new food, beganRussia’s first newspaper, gave more social status towomen, and told the nobles to adopt Westernclothes. He promoted education and built a grandnew capital city, St. Petersburg, on the shores ofthe Baltic Sea.

Parliament Limits theEnglish Monarchy

KEY IDEA Absolute monarchs in England were over-thrown, and Parliament gained power.

When Queen Elizabeth I died, her cousin James,king of Scotland, became king of England.

James fought with Parliament over money. His reli-gious policies also angered the Puritans in Parliament.They wanted to reform the English church to rid it ofCatholic practices. James was unwilling to make thesechanges.

His son, Charles I, continued the tensionbetween king and Parliament. Parliament forcedhim to sign a Petition of Right in 1628. By signing,Charles allowed that the king was answerable toParliament. Then he dissolved the Parliament andtried to raise money without it—going directlyagainst the Petition of Right.

Other actions of Charles had caused Scotland tothreaten to invade England. To meet the danger,Charles needed some money, and to raise taxes heneeded Parliament. When Charles called a newParliament, it quickly passed laws to limit hispower. Charles responded by trying to arrest itsleaders. Soon England was plunged into a civil war:Charles and his Royalists against the supporters ofParliament, many of whom were Puritans.

The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1649.Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the forces

of the Puritans won. They tried and executed Charlesfor treason—the first time a king had ever been exe-cuted in public. Cromwell became a military dictator,ruling until 1658. He crushed a rebellion in Irelandand tried to reform society at home. Soon after hisdeath, though, the government collapsed. The newParliament asked Charles’s older son to restore themonarchy. Charles II began to rule in 1660.

Charles II’s reign was a period of calm after tur-moil. After his death in 1685, James II becameking. His pro-Catholic policies angered and worriedthe English, who feared that he would restoreCatholicism. Finally, in 1688, seven members ofParliament contacted James’s older daughter, Mary,and her husband, William of Orange, prince of theNetherlands—both Protestants. They wanted themto replace James II on the throne. The event wascalled the Glorious Revolution, a bloodless revolu-tion that forced James to flee to France. Williamand Mary agreed, swearing to rule according to thelaws made by Parliament. They agreed to acceptthe Bill of Rights, which guaranteed English peoplecertain rights. From then on, no king or queencould rule England without the consent ofParliament.

Review1. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

Why did Spain weaken in power?2. Summarizing How did Richelieu and Louis

XIV increase the power of the French king?3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects

How did the Thirty Years’ War affect Germany?4. Clarifying What did Peter the Great do to

modernize Russia?5. Drawing Conclusions How did England

develop away from an absolute monarchy?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Enlightenment and Revolution,1550–1789

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Starting in the 1500s, European thinkers overturned old ideas about the physical world with a new approach to science. Thinkers of theEnlightenment hoped to use reason to make a better society in which people werefree. Enlightenment ideas spread throughout Europe. They had a profound effectin North America, forming the basis of the new government of the United States.

Summary

The Scientific RevolutionKEY IDEA In the mid-1500s, scientists began to questionaccepted beliefs and make new theories based onexperimentation.

During the Middle Ages, few scholars ques-tioned ideas that had always been accepted.

Europeans based ideas about the physical world onwhat ancient Greeks and Romans believed or whatwas said in the Bible. Therefore, people stillthought that the earth was the center of the uni-verse. To them, the sun, moon, other planets, andstars moved around it.

In the mid-1500s, however, attitudes changed.Scholars now started a scientific revolution drawnfrom a spirit of curiosity. One factor was the newfocus on careful observation. Another was the will-ingness to question old beliefs. European explo-rations were a third factor. When they reached newlands, Europeans saw new plants and animals neverseen by ancient writers. These discoveries led tothe opening of new courses of study in universities.

The first challenge came in astronomy. In theearly 1500s, Nicolaus Copernicus studied the starsand planets for many years. He concluded that theearth, like the other planets, revolved around thesun, and the moon revolved around the earth.Fearing attack, he did not publish his findings untiljust before his death. In the early 1600s, JohannesKepler used mathematics to confirm Copernicus’sbasic idea.

An Italian scientist—Galileo Galilei—made sev-eral discoveries that undercut ancient ideas. Hemade one of the first telescopes and used it to studythe planets. He found that Jupiter had moons, thesun had spots, and Earth’s moon was rough. Thesestatements went against church teaching, and Galileowas forced to deny their truth. Still, his ideas spread.

Interest in science led to a new approach, thescientific method. With this method, scientists ask a question based on something they have seen in

the physical world. They form a hypothesis, or anattempt to answer the question. Then they test thehypothesis by making experiments or checkingother facts. Finally, they change the hypothesis ifneeded. The English writer Francis Bacon helpedfoster this new approach to knowledge by tellingscientists they should base their ideas on what theycan see and test in the world. The French mathe-matician René Descartes also had great influence.His thinking was based on logic and mathematics.

In the mid-1600s, the English scientist IsaacNewton described the law of gravity. Using mathe-matics, Newton showed that the same force ruledthe motion of planets and the action of bodies onthe earth.

Scientists made new tools to study the worldaround them. One invented a microscope to studycreatures too small for the naked eye to see. Othersinvented tools for understanding weather.

Doctors also made advances. One made draw-ings that showed the different parts of the humanbody. Another learned how the heart pumped bloodthrough the body. In the late 1700s, Edward Jennerfirst used the process called vaccination to preventdisease. By giving a person the germs from a cattledisease called cowpox, he helped that person avoidgetting the more serious human disease of smallpox.Scientists made advances in chemistry as well. Onechallenged the old idea that things were made ofonly four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. Heand other scientists were able to separate oxygenfrom air.

The Enlightenment in Europe

KEY IDEA A revolution in intellectual activity changedEuropeans’ view of government and society.

New ways of thinking arose in other areas. In the intellectual movement called the

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Enlightenment, thinkers tried to apply reason andscientific method to laws that shaped human actions.They hoped to build a society founded on ideas ofthe Scientific Revolution.

Two English writers were important to thismovement. Thomas Hobbes wrote that without agovernment, there would be a war of “every managainst every man.” As a result, Hobbes said, peo-ple formed a social contract—an agreement—inwhich they gave up their rights so they couldsecure order and safety. The best government, hesaid, is that of a strong king who can force peopleto obey. John Locke believed that all people havethe rights to life, liberty, and property. The purposeof government is to protect those rights. When itfails to do so, he said, people have a right to over-throw the government.

A group of French thinkers had wide influence.They had five main beliefs: (1) thinkers can find thetruth by using reason; (2) what is natural is goodand reasonable, and human actions are shaped bynatural laws; (3) acting according to nature canbring happiness; (4) by taking a scientific view, people and society can make progress and advanceto a better life; and (5) by using reason, people cangain freedom.

Three French thinkers had great influence.Voltaire wrote against intolerance and criticized the laws and customs of France. The Baron deMontesquieu made a long study of laws and gov-ernments. He thought government power shouldbe separated into different branches. Each shouldbe able to check the other branches to preventthem from abusing their power. Jean JacquesRousseau wrote strongly in favor of human free-dom. He wanted a society in which all people wereequal. The Italian Cesare Beccaria wrote aboutcrime and justice. Trials should be fair, he said, andpunishments should be made to fit the crime.

Many Enlightenment thinkers held traditionalviews about women’s place in society. They urgedequal rights for all men but ignored the fact thatwomen did not enjoy such rights. Some womenprotested this unfairness. “If all men are born free,”wrote one, “how is it that all women are bornslaves?”

Enlightenment ideas had strong influence on theAmerican and French Revolutions, which came atthe end of the 1700s. They had three other effects.They helped spread the idea of progress. By usingreason, people thought, it is possible to make soci-

ety better. These ideas also helped make Westernsociety more secular—that is, more worldly and lessspiritual. Finally, Enlightenment ideas promotedthe notion that the individual person was important.

The Enlightenment Spreads KEY IDEA Enlightenment ideas spread through theWestern world, and influenced the arts and government.

In the 1700s, Paris was the cultural center ofEurope. People came there from other countries

in Europe and from the Americas to hear the newideas of the Enlightenment. Writers and artistsgathered in the homes of wealthy people to talkabout ideas. A woman named Marie-ThérèseGeoffrin became famous for hosting these discus-sions. She also supplied the money for one of themajor projects of the Enlightenment. With herfunds, Denis Diderot and other thinkers wrote and published a huge set of books called theEncyclopedia. Their aim was to gather together allthat was known about the world. The French gov-ernment and officials in the Catholic Church didnot like many of the ideas that were published inthe Encyclopedia. They banned the books at first,but later they revoked the ban.

Through the meetings in homes and works likethe Encyclopedia, the ideas of the Enlightenmentspread throughout Europe. The ideas also spreadto the growing middle class. This group of peoplewas becoming wealthy but had less social statusthan nobles and had very little political power.Ideas about equality sounded good to them.

Art moved in new directions, inspired by theEnlightenment ideas of order and reason. Artistsand architects worked to show balance and ele-gance. Composers wrote music of great appeal fortheir creative richness. In this period, the novelbecame a popular form of literature. This new formtold lengthy stories with many twists of plot thatexplored the thoughts and feelings of characters.

Some Enlightenment thinkers believed that thebest form of government was a monarchy. In it, aruler respected the rights of people. They tried toinfluence rulers to rule fairly. Rulers followed theseideas in part but were unwilling to give up muchpower. Frederick the Great made changes inPrussia. He gave his people religious freedom,improved schooling, and reformed the justice sys-tem. However, he did nothing to end serfdom,which made peasants slaves to the wealthy

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landowners. Joseph II of Austria did end serfdom.Once he died, though, the nobles who owned theland were able to undo his reform.

Catherine the Great of Russia was another ofthe rulers influenced by Enlightenment ideas. Shetried to reform Russia’s laws but met resistance.She hoped to end serfdom, but a bloody peasants’revolt convinced her to change her mind. Instead,she gave the nobles even more power over serfs.Catherine did manage to gain new land for Russia.Russia, Prussia, and Austria agreed to dividePoland among themselves. As a result, Poland dis-appeared as a separate nation for almost 150 years.

The American RevolutionKEY IDEA Enlightenment ideas help spur the Americancolonies to create a new nation.

The British colonies in North America grew inpopulation and wealth during the 1700s. The

13 colonies also enjoyed a kind of self-government.People in the colonies began to see themselves lessand less as British subjects. Still, Parliament passedlaws that governed the colonies. One set of lawsbanned trade with any nation other than Britain.

The high cost of the French and Indian War,which ended in 1763, led Parliament to pass lawsthat put taxes on the colonists. The colonistsbecame very angry. They had never paid taxesdirectly to the British government before. Theysaid that the taxes violated their rights. SinceParliament had no members from the colonies,they said, Parliament had no right to pass tax lawsthat affected the colonies. They met the first tax,passed in 1765, with a boycott of British goods.Their refusal to buy British products was veryeffective and forced Parliament to repeal the law.

Over the next decade, colonists and Britaingrew further apart. Some colonists wanted to pushthe colonies to independence. They took actionsthat caused Britain to act harshly. These harshresponses, in turn, angered some moderatecolonists. Eventually, the conflict led to shooting.Representatives of the colonists met in a congressand formed an army. In July of 1776, theyannounced that they were independent of Britain.They issued a Declaration of Independence thatwas based on the ideas of the Enlightenment.

From 1775 to 1781, the colonists and Britainfought a war in North America. The colonists had a poorly equipped army and the British were pow-

erful. However, in the end, they won their in-dependence. The British people grew tired of thecost of the war and pushed Parliament to agree to apeace. The Americans were also helped greatly byaid from France. In 1783, the two sides signed atreaty in which Britain recognized the independentUnited States.

The 13 states formed a new government thatwas very weak. It struggled for a few years, butstates held all the power and the central govern-ment had little. In 1787, many leaders met againand wrote a new framework of government.

The Constitution of the United States drew onmany Enlightenment ideas. From Montesquieu, itput in effect the separation of powers into threebranches of government. Each branch was able toprevent other branches from abusing their power.From Locke, it put power in the hands of the peo-ple. From Voltaire, it protected the rights of peopleto free speech and freedom of religion. FromBeccaria, it set up a fair system of justice. Many ofthese rights were ensured in a set of additions tothe Constitution called the Bill of Rights. Approvalof these additions helped win approval of theConstitution as a whole.

Review1. Contrasting Contrast how people in the Middle

Ages and people in the scientific revolutionlooked at the physical world.

2. Determining Main Ideas How is the scientificrevolution connected to the Enlightenment?

3. Drawing Conclusions What were three majorideas of the Enlightenment?

4. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing EffectsWhat factors led to the spread of theEnlightenment?

5. Analyzing Issues How did the government ofthe United States reflect Enlightenment ideas?

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The French RevolutionBegins

KEY IDEA Economic and social inequalities in the OldRegime helped cause the French Revolution.

In the 1700s, France was the leading country ofEurope. It was the center of the new ideas of

the Enlightenment. However, beneath the surfacethere were major problems causing unrest. Soonthe nation would be torn by a violent revolution.

One problem was that people were not treatedequally in French society. The French were dividedinto three classes, or estates. The First Estate con-sisted of the Roman Catholic clergy. The SecondEstate was made up of rich nobles. Only about twopercent of the people belonged to these twoestates. Yet they owned 20 percent of the land andpaid little or no taxes. They had easy lives.

Everybody else belonged to the Third Estate.This huge group included three types of people:• the bourgeoisie—mostly well-off merchants and

skilled workers who lacked the status of nobles• city workers—cooks, servants, and others who

were poorly paid and often out of work• peasants—farm workers, making up more than 80

percent of the French peopleMembers of the Third Estate were angry. They

had few rights. They paid up to half of their incomein taxes, while the rich paid almost none.

Three factors led to revolution. First, theEnlightenment spread the idea that everyoneshould be equal. The powerless people in the ThirdEstate liked that. Second, the French economy wasfailing. High taxes kept profits low, and food sup-plies were short. The government owed money.Third, King Louis XVI was a weak, unconcernedleader. His wife, Marie Antoinette, was a bigspender and was disliked.

In the 1780s, deeply in debt, France neededmoney. Louis tried to tax the nobles. Instead, theyforced the king to call a meeting of delegates of thethree estates to decide tax issues. The meeting began

in May 1789 with arguments over how to countvotes. In the past, each estate had cast one vote.The top two estates always voted together and gottheir way. Now the Third Estate delegates wantedto change the system. The Third Estate had asmany delegates as the other two estates combined.They wanted each delegate to have a vote. Theking and the other estates did not agree to the plan.

The Third Estate then broke with the others andmet separately. In June 1789, its delegates voted torename themselves the National Assembly. Theyclaimed to represent all the people. This was thebeginning of representative government for France.

Louis tried to make peace. He ordered the clergyand nobles to join the National Assembly. However,trouble erupted. Rumors flew that Swiss soldierspaid by Louis were going to attack French citizens.On July 14, an angry crowd captured the Bastille, aParis prison. The mob wanted to get gunpowderfor their weapons in order to defend the city.

A wave of violence called the Great Fear sweptthe country. Peasants broke into and burned nobles’houses. They tore up documents that had forcedthem to pay fees to the nobles. Late in 1789, a mobof women marched from Paris to the king’s palaceat Versailles. They were angry about high breadprices and demanded that the king move to Paris.They hoped he would end hunger in the city. Theking and queen left Versailles, never to return.

Revolution Brings Reformand Terror

KEY IDEA The revolutionary government of France madereforms but also used terror and violence to retain power.

In August 1789, the National Assembly took stepsto change France. One new law ended all the

special privileges that members of the First andSecond Estates had enjoyed. Another law gave allFrench men equal rights. Though women did notget these rights, it was a bold step. Other laws cutthe power of the Catholic Church. The government

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF The French Revolution andNapoleon, 1789–1815

CHAPTER OVERVIEW France’s lower classes revolted against the king. Thousandsdied. Napoleon took control of France and created an empire. After his defeat,European leaders restored the rule of monarchs to the continent.

Summary

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took over church lands, hoping to sell them andraise money.

The new laws about the church divided peoplewho had backed the Revolution. Catholic peasantsremained loyal to the church. They were angry thatthe church would be part of the state. Thereafter,many of them opposed the Revolution’s reforms.

For months the assembly worked on plans for anew government. During this time, Louis was fear-ful for his safety in France. One night he and hisfamily tried to escape the country. They were caught,brought back to Paris, and lived under guard. Afterthis, the king and queen were even less popular.

In the fall of 1791, the assembly drew up a newconstitution that gave the king very little power.The assembly then handed over its power to a newassembly, the Legislative Assembly. After the newassembly began to meet, however, it divided intoopposing groups. Some wanted an end to revolu-tionary changes. Others wanted even more radicalchanges.

At the same time, France faced serious troubleon its borders. Kings in other countries feared thatthe French Revolution would spread to their lands.They wanted to use force to restore control ofFrance to Louis XVI. Soon France found itself atwar—a war it quickly began to lose. Foreign sol-diers were coming near to Paris. Many peoplethought that the king and queen were ready to helpthe enemy. Angry French citizens imprisoned them.Many nobles were killed in other mob action.

The government took strong steps to meet thedanger from foreign troops. It took away the king’spowers. In 1792, the National Convention—anothernew government—was formed. It declared Louis acommon citizen and then put him to death. It alsoordered thousands of French people into the army.

Soon one man, Maximilien Robespierre, beganto lead France. He made many changes. Heordered the death of many people who did notagree with him. His rule, which began in 1793, wascalled the Reign of Terror. It ended in July 1794,when Robespierre himself was put to death.

France got a new, but less revolutionary, plan ofgovernment. Tired of the killing and unrest, theFrench people wanted a return to order.

Napoleon Forges an EmpireKEY IDEA Napoleon Bonaparte, a military genius, seizedpower in France and made himself emperor.

Napoleon Bonaparte became the master ofFrance. In 1795, he led soldiers against

French royalists who were attacking the NationalConvention. For this, he was hailed as the savior ofthe French republic. Later he invaded Italy to endthe threat from Austrian troops located there.

By 1799, the unsettled French government hadlost the people’s support. In a bold move, Napoleonused troops to seize control of the government. Hethen wielded complete power over the country.Other nations feared his power and attacked Franceagain. Napoleon led his armies into battle. In 1802,the three nations fighting him agreed to a peace.Napoleon went back to solve problems at home.

He made several changes that were meant tobuild on the Revolution’s good ideas:1. He made tax collection more fair and orderly. As

a result, the government could count on a steadysupply of money.

2. He removed dishonest government workers.3. He started new public schools for ordinary

citizens.4. He gave the church back some of its power.5. He wrote a new set of laws that gave all French

citizens the same rights. However, the new lawstook away many individual rights won during theRevolution. For example, they limited freespeech and restored slavery in French colonies.Napoleon had hoped to make his empire larger

in both Europe and the New World. In 1801, hehad sent soldiers to retake the island of present-dayHaiti. During a civil war, slaves on the island hadseized power. But Napoleon had to give up on hisplan. Too many of his soldiers died in battle orfrom disease. Napoleon eventually abandoned hisNew World plans. In 1803, he sold the largest partof France’s North American land—the hugeLouisiana Territory—to the United States.

Stopped in the Americas, Napoleon moved toadd to his power in Europe. In 1804, he made him-self emperor of France. He quickly captured coun-try after country. Other nations joined against him.However, after Napoleon won a major battle inAustria in 1805, almost all of his European enemiesagreed to a peace treaty. Napoleon’s only loss dur-ing this time was to the British navy off the south-west coast of Spain. This loss prevented him from

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invading and conquering Britain. That failurewould be costly.

Napoleon’s Empire CollapsesKEY IDEA Napoleon’s conquests aroused nationalisticfeelings across Europe and contributed to his downfall.

Napoleon loved power. He took steps to makehis empire larger. However, these steps led to

mistakes that brought about his downfall.Napoleon’s first mistake was caused by his desire

to crush Britain. He wanted to hurt the British econ-omy. So in 1806 he tried stopping all trade betweenBritain and the lands he controlled. The effort failed,for some Europeans secretly brought in Britishgoods. At the same time, the British put their ownblockade around Europe. Because their navy was sostrong, it worked very well. Soon the French econ-omy, along with others, began to grow weak.

Napoleon’s second mistake was to make hisbrother king of Spain in 1808. The Spanish peoplewere loyal to their own king. With help fromBritain, they fought back against Napoleon for fiveyears. Napoleon lost 300,000 troops.

Napoleon’s third mistake was perhaps his worst.In 1812, he tried to conquer Russia, far to the east.He entered Russia with more than 400,000 sol-diers. He got as far as Moscow, which was desertedand on fire. His soldiers found no food or suppliesthere. Winter was coming, and Napoleon orderedthem to head back to France. As the soldiersmarched west, bitter cold, hunger, and attacks byRussian troops killed thousands. Thousands moredeserted. By the time the army exited Russian ter-ritory, only 10,000 of its men were able to fight.

Other leaders saw that Napoleon was weakernow, and they moved to attack. He was defeated inGermany in 1813. In 1814, Napoleon gave up histhrone and was sent away. Nevertheless, in March1815, he boldly returned to France. He took powerand raised another army. By June, though,Napoleon had lost his final battle near a Belgiantown called Waterloo. This time he was sent to afar-off island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Hedied there in 1821.

The Congress of Vienna KEY IDEA After exiling Napoleon, European leaders atthe Congress of Vienna tried to restore order andreestablish peace.

After Napoleon’s first defeat, in 1814, leaders ofmany nations met for months. They tried to

draw up a peace plan for Europe that would lastmany years. They called the meeting the Congressof Vienna. The key person there was the foreignminister of Austria, Klemens von Metternich. Heshaped the peace conditions that were accepted.

Metternich insisted on three goals. First, hewanted to make sure that the French would notattack another country again. Second, he wanted abalance of power in which no one nation was toostrong. Third, he wanted to put kings back incharge of the countries from which they had beenremoved. The leaders agreed with Metternich’sideas. An age of European peace began.

Across Europe, kings and princes reclaimedtheir thrones. Most of them were conservatives anddid not encourage individual liberties. They did not want any calls for equal rights. However, manypeople still believed in the ideals of the FrenchRevolution. They thought that all people should beequal and share in power. Later they would fightfor these rights again.

People in the Americas also felt the desire forfreedom. Spanish colonies in the Americas revoltedagainst the restored Spanish king. Many nationswon independence from Spain. National feelinggrew in many places in Europe, too. Soon people inareas such as Italy, Germany, and Greece would rebeland form new countries. The French Revolution hadchanged the politics of Europe and beyond.

Review1. Analyzing Causes What factors led to the

French Revolution?2. Following Chronological Order Trace the

fate of Louis XVI during the Revolution.3. Summarizing What did Napoleon do to restore

order in France?4. Making Inferences Why did Napoleon’s empire

collapse?5. Determining Main Ideas What were the goals

of the Congress of Vienna?

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CHAPTERS IN BRIEF Nationalist Revolutions Sweep the West, 1789–1900

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Spurred by the French Revolution, Latin American colonieswon independence. In Europe, liberals and radicals pushed for change but con-servatives resisted. Nationalism spread throughout Europe, and Germany andItaly formed as nations. Artistic and intellectual movements emphasized natureand feelings, true life, and “impressions” of a subject or moment.

Summary

Latin American Peoples Win Independence

KEY IDEA Spurred by discontent and Enlightenmentideas, peoples in Latin America fought colonial rule.

In the early 1800s, colonial peoples throughoutLatin America followed the example of the

French Revolution. In the name of freedom andequality, they fought for their independence.

In Latin America, society was divided into sixclasses of people. Peninsulares—those born inSpain—were at the top. Next came creoles, orSpaniards who had been born in Latin America.Below them were mestizos, with mixed Europeanand Indian ancestry. Next were mulattos, withmixed European and African ancestry, and Afri-cans. At the bottom were Indians.

The first movement for independence was theFrench colony of Saint Domingue, on the island ofHispaniola. Almost all of the people who lived inthe colony were slaves of African origin. In 1791,about 100,000 of them rose in revolt. ToussaintL’Ouverture became the leader. By 1801, he hadmoved to the eastern part of the island and freedthe slaves there. In 1804, the former colonydeclared its independence as Haiti.

Meanwhile in other parts of Latin America, cre-oles felt that they were unfairly treated by the gov-ernment and the peninsulares. This bad feelingboiled over when Napoleon overthrew the king ofSpain and named his own brother as king. Creoles inLatin America had no loyalty to the new king andrevolted. However, even after the old king wasrestored, they did not give up their fight for freedom.

Two leaders pushed much of South America toindependence. Simón Bolívar was a writer, fighter,and political thinker. He survived defeats and exileto win independence for Venezuela in 1821. Joséde San Martín helped win independence forArgentina in 1816 and Chile in 1818. Bolívar ledtheir combined armies to a great victory in 1824

that gave independence to all the former Spanishcolonies.

Turmoil continued in the region. Local leadersdisagreed and split the new countries up into smallerunits. In 1830, the territory of Gran Colombiadivided into Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

In Mexico, mestizos and Indians led the fightfor independence. The struggle began in 1810when Miguel Hidalgo, a village priest, called for arevolt against Spanish rule. Creoles united withthe Spanish government to put down this revolt bythe lower classes, whom they feared. Fightingcontinued until 1815, when the creoles won. In1820, a new government took charge in Spain.Fearing that they would lose their rights this time,the creoles now united with the rebels and foughtfor independence. In 1821, Spain acceptedMexico’s independence. In 1823, the region ofCentral America separated itself from Mexico. In1841, the United Provinces of Central Americasplit into five republics.

In Brazil, independence took a different turn.When Napoleon’s armies entered Portugal in 1807,the royal family escaped to Brazil, its largest colony.For the next 14 years, it was the center of thePortuguese empire. By the time Napoleon wasdefeated, the people of Brazil wanted their inde-pendence. In 1822, 8,000 creoles signed a paperasking the son of Portugal’s king to rule an inde-pendent Brazil. He agreed, and Brazil became freethat year through a bloodless revolt.

Europe Faces RevolutionsKEY IDEA Liberal and nationalist uprisings challengedthe old conservative order of Europe.

In the first half of the 1800s, three forces strug-gled for power within the countries of Europe.

Conservatives supported the kings who had ruledthese lands for many centuries. These were noblesand other people who owned large amounts of

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property. Liberals wanted to give more power toelected legislatures. They were typically middle-class merchants and business people. They wantedto limit voting rights to people who were educatedand owned property. Radicals wanted the end ofrule by kings and full voting rights for all people,even the poor.

At the same time, another movement arose inEurope—nationalism. This was the belief that aperson’s loyalty should go not to the country’s rulerbut to the nation itself. Nationalists thought thatmany factors linked people to one another. Firstwas nationality, or a common ethnic ancestry.Shared language, culture, history, and religion werealso seen as ties that connected people. Peoplesharing these traits were thought to have a right toa land they could call their own. Groups with theirown government were called nation-states. Leadersbegan to see that this feeling could be a powerfulforce for uniting a people. The French Revolutionwas a prime example of this.

The first people to win self-rule during thisperiod were the Greeks. For centuries, Greece hadbeen part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1821, Greeksrevolted against this Turkish rule. Rulers in Europedid not like the idea of revolts, but the Greek causewas popular. Other nations gave aid to the Greeks,helping to defeat the Ottomans’ forces in 1827. TheGreeks won their independence by 1830.

Other revolts broke out. In 1830, the Belgiansdeclared their independence from rule by theDutch. Nationalists began a long struggle to unifyall of Italy, which had been broken into many dif-ferent states. Poles revolted against Russian rule.Conservatives managed to put down these rebel-lions. However, new ones broke out again in 1848among Hungarians and Czechs. Once again, theywere put down forcefully.

Events differed in France. Riots in 1830 forcedthe king to flee and put a new king in his place. Anew revolt broke out in 1848 that overthrew theking and established a republic. However, the radi-cals who had won this victory began arguing overhow much France should be changed. Somewanted only political changes. Others wanted socialand economic changes that would help the poor.When these forces fought in the streets, the Frenchgave up on the radical program. They introduced anew government, with a legislature and a strongpresident. The new president was Louis-Napoleon,Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew. He later named

himself emperor of France. He built railroads andpromoted the growth of France’s industry. Theeconomy revived and more people had jobs.

Russia in the early 1800s had yet to build anindustrial economy. The biggest problem was thatserfdom still existed there. Peasants were bound tothe nobles whose land they worked. Russia’s rulersdid not wish to free the serfs, though. They fearedthey would lose the support of the nobles. In the1850s, the Russian army lost a war to take over partof the Ottoman Empire. The new ruler of Russia,Alexander II, decided that Russia’s lack of a mod-ern economy caused the defeat. He decided tobegin many reforms.

The first, in 1861, was to free the serfs. Thoughit seemed bold, Alexander’s move went only partway. Nobles kept half their land and were paid forthe half that went to the peasants. The former serfswere not given the land. They had to pay for it, andthis debt kept them still tied to the land. The czar’sefforts to make changes ended short when he wasassassinated in 1881. Alexander III, his successor,brought back tight control over the country andmoved to make the economy more industrial.

Nationalism Case Study:Italy and Germany

KEY IDEA The force of nationalism contributed to theformation of two new nations and a new political orderin Europe.

Nationalism can be a force uniting people whoare divided from others like themselves. The

case studies on Germany and Italy will show this.However, nationalism can also cause the break-upof a state. This may occur when a group resistsbeing part of a state. The Greeks in the Ottomanempire are an example. Finally, nationalism canpull different groups together to build a nation-state. The United States is a good example of this.

In the late 1800s, feelings of nationalism threat-ened to break apart three aging empires. TheAustrian Empire was forced to split in two parts,Austria and Hungary. However, nationalist feelingcontinued to plague these rulers for 40 years andthe kingdoms later broke up into several smallerstates. In Russia, harsh rule and a policy of forcingother peoples to adopt Russian ways helped pro-duce a revolution in 1917 that overthrew the czar.The Ottoman Empire, like the other two, brokeapart around the time of World War I.

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Italians used national feeling to build a nation,not destroy an empire. Large parts of Italy wereruled by the kings of Austria and Spain. Nationaliststried to unite the nation in 1848, but the revolt wasbeaten down. Hopes rested with the Italian king ofthe state of Piedmont-Sardinia. His chief minister,Count Cavour, worked to expand the king’s controlover other areas of the north. Meanwhile, GiuseppiGaribaldi led an army of patriots that won controlof southern areas. He put those areas under controlof the king. In 1866, the area around Venice wasadded to the king’s control. Four years later, theking completed the uniting of Italy.

Germany had also been divided into many differ-ent states for many centuries. Since 1815, 39 stateshad joined in a league called the German Con-federation. Prussia and Austria-Hungary controlledthis group. Over time, Prussia rose to become morepowerful. Leading this move was prime ministerOtto von Bismarck. He joined with Austria to gaincontrol of new lands. He then quickly turned againstAustria, defeating it in war to gain even more terri-tory. Other German states formed a new confedera-tion that Prussia alone controlled. Bismarck’s nextstep was to win the loyalty of the remaining Germanareas in the south. He purposefully angered a weakFrance so that it would declare war on Prussia.When the Prussian army won, Bismarck reached hisgoal. The war with France had given the southernGerman states a nationalistic feeling. They joinedthe other states in naming the king of Prussia ashead of united Germany.

As a result of these events, the balance of powerin Europe had changed. Germany and Britain werethe strongest powers, followed by France. Austria,Russia, and Italy were all even weaker.

Revolutions in the ArtsKEY IDEA Artistic and intellectual movements bothreflected and fueled changes in Europe in the 1800s.

In the early 1800s, the Enlightenment wasreplaced by another movement, called romanti-

cism. This movement in art and ideas showed greatinterest in nature and in the thoughts and feelingsof the individual person. Gone was the idea thatreason and order were good things. Romanticthinkers valued feeling, not reason, and nature, notsociety. Romantic thinkers held idealized views ofthe past as simpler, better times. They valued thecommon people. As a result, they enjoyed folk sto-

ries, songs, and traditions. They also supported callsfor democracy. However, not all romantic artistsand thinkers supported these ideas.

Romantic writers had different themes. Frenchwriter Victor Hugo—who wrote The Hunchback ofNotre Dame—told stories of the poor individualwho fights against an unfair society. English poetWilliam Wordsworth celebrated the beauty ofnature. Novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankensteinwere horror tales about good and evil.

Romanticism was important in music as well.Composers wrote music that tried to appeal to thehearts and souls of listeners. The German Ludwigvan Beethoven was the foremost of these composers.

In the middle 1800s, however, the grim realitiesof industrial life made the dreams of romanticismseem silly. A new movement arose—realism. Artistsand writers tried to show life as it really was. Theyused their art to protest social conditions that theythought were unfair. French writer Emile Zola’sbooks revealed harsh working conditions for thepoor, which led to new laws aimed at helping thosepeople. In England, Charles Dickens wrote manynovels that showed how poor people suffered in thenew industrial economy.

A new device, the camera, was developed inthis period. Photographers could use it to capture areal moment on film. In the 1860s, Parisian paintersreacted against the realistic style. This new art style—impressionism—used light and shimmering colors toproduce an “impression” of a subject or moment.Composers created moods with their music. Theyused combinations of musical instruments and tonepatterns to create mental pictures. Things like thesight of the sea or a warm day were favorites of thecomposers.

Review1. Making Inferences How did the divisions

of Mexican society affect the movement to independence?

Drawing Conclusions2. Explain how the freeing of Russia’s serfs in 1861

was an example of both liberal and conservativethought.

3. Give one example each of how nationalism was aunifying and a destructive force.

4. Determining Main Ideas How did artisticideas change in the 1800s?

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