1. THIRD-WAVE CIVILIZATIONS UNIT 3: REGIONAL & TRANSREGIONAL INTERACTIONS

2. THE QUESTION OF PERIODIZATION How should we understand the millennium that stretches from the end of the classical era to the beginning of modern world history? – 200 and 850 CE classical states and civilizations disrupted, declined, or collapsed. – Columbus’ transatlantic voyages around 1500 mark a new departure in world history.

3. PERIODIZATION Difficult to define a distinct identity for this period: – Postclassical? – Medieval or Middle Ages? Third-Wave Civilizations – First Civilizations: Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Indus River – Second Wave: Rome, Greece, Persia, Han

4. DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES CHANGES! New but smaller civilizations where none had existed. –East African Swahili civilization –Kievan Rus –Japan, Korea, Vietnam –Srivijaya (Indonesia) –Angkor (Cambodia) CHANGE/CONTINUITY Pattern of increasing globalization of civilization. –New civilization were distinctive, but similar to earlier civilizations. –Borrowed heavily from earlier or more established centers.

5. DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES RADICAL CHANGE Most expansive and influential 3 rd wave civilization was Islam –Defines the beginning of this period. –Political and economic system a tool of religion. –Usually the other way around. CONTINUITIES Older civilizations persisted or reconstructed. New civilizations were similar to earlier civilizations. –Byzantine Empire –China –India –Niger River Valley

6. DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES CONTINUITIES Western Europe –Decentralized societies emerged Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, Huns, Saxons, Angles, Goths… Hybrid civilizations of classical and germanic elements emerges –Development of highly competitive states after 1000 CHANGES Collapse of classical Maya civilization and Teotihuacán –Reshaped ancient civilization –Aztecs emerge Inca form an empire out of various centers of Andean civilization

7. THE THEME IS THE GREAT INCREASE IN INTERACTION BETWEEN WORLD’S REGIONS, CULTURES, AND PEOPLES Increasingly, change caused by contact with strangers and/or their ideas, armies, goods, or disease. Cosmopolitan regions emerged in a variety of places – “mini-globalizations”

8. ACCELERATING PACE OF INTERACTION Trade Empire Interactions between the two

9. KEY THEMATIC ELEMENTS TRADE Growth of long-distance commerce Led to the establishment of many new states or empires Religious ideas, technologies, and germs moved along trade routes EMPIRE Large empires, incorporating many distinct cultures under a single political system –Provided security for trade –3 rd wave civilizations were larger (Arab, Mongol, and Inca) –Largest empires created by nomadic or pastoral peoples (Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Aztecs)

10. TRADE AND EMPIRE TOGETHER Spread of ideas, technologies, crops, and germs Wide diffusion of religions Wide diffusion of technologies, many from China and India Devastating epidemic disease (e.g., Black Death) linked distant communities Focus on accelerating connections puts a spotlight on travelers rather than on those who stayed at home A focus on interaction raises questions: –How much choice did individuals or societies have in accepting new ideas or practices?