Exam Preparation: Summarize The Motivations, Key Events (Term Paper Sample)

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Summarize the motivations, key events, and important legacies of the Crusades.
Popes and other leading clergy of the Catholic Church viewed Islam as an affront towards Christianity. They encouraged campaigns against Muslims as they also sought to convert local populations into Christianity. Their interest was to recapture Palestine and Jerusalem from the control of Muslims. The result was an advanced displacement of Islam in Spain after Roman Catholic Officials conquered the region (303).
Accordingly these were considered as holy wars. The war was officially launched in the year 1095 by pope Urban II and it received immediate response from a preacher named Peter, the Hermit, who consolidated support from Germany and France. He went beyond these two and marshaled a mediocre army to confront Muslims in Palestine (303). Many of his people perished in the campaign. As a result, Nobles from France organized a military expedition in late 1096. In 1097 and 1098, they managed to capture Antioch and Edessa among other strategic regions of interest. In 1099, the crusader army captured Jerusalem and together with other conquered territories, it was converted into Christian states (crusader state). The success of the campaign was a result of rifts that existed among their Muslim rivals in the target zones and later, due to the loss, the foes united for their common interest.
Turks recovered Edessa in 1144 and Salah al-din (Saladin) also managed to recapture Jerusalem from the crusaders. Palestine remained in the control of Muslims and several attempts at capturing it were all flops (304).
As it later emerged, the wars had since transformed into wars for political and military expansion despite being fronted as Christianity campaigns. Social, economic and political interest of the Europeans had become more important to the crusaders. A lot of cultural interactions ensued, whereby, scholars and theologians interacted while merchants from both divides carried on with their trades. Consequently, there was an exchange of ideas and technology to the advantage of the societies (304).
Trace the development of civilizations in Sub-Saharan Africa from the time of Ancient Nubia through the Bantu migrations down to the rise of larger empires in the area around the Niger River.
Nubian societies distinctively started taking shape during the late fourth millennium BCE. The Nubian community organized itself around agrarian systems that saw the society form into formal states with specialized laborers and a distinctive cultural tradition. They also had regular dealings with people from other societies and fostered stronger bonds to ensure their survival. Through intermarriage and participation in Egyptian armies, the Nubians became assimilated to the Egyptian society (29).
Nubia and Egypt remained closely intertwined through generations because of political and economic reasons. The Nubians wanted to control trade at the south of the Nile under the protection of Egypt, whereas the Egyptian rule wanted gold, ivory, ebony and other special stones that were specific to the Nubian south(35).
By 2500 BCE, they had established a powerful kingdom, Kush whose capital was Kerma. The early Kush kingdom was characterized by tensions with Egypt and it became formidable and worthy in its own right before succumbing to mightier Egypt. By 1100 BCE, the Kushite kingdom re-emerged with a new capital Napata. By the eighth century, they invaded Egypt under king Kashta who conquered Thebes at around 760 BCE, thus asserting the transformation into a mighty force. (31)
Bantu people migrated from their original homeland in West Africa. They were among the most influential people in the ancient days and they settled along river banks. They also looked for open areas in forests to cultivate yams and sorghum as they reared goats and guinea fowls. (41) Socially, they lived in clan settings headed by chiefs who also played the roles of religious heads. By 4000BCE, the ancient Bantus inhabited the Eastern part of the current Nigeria, And southern part of the modern Cameroon. By 3000BCE, they had spread farther south towards the Congo basin. They assimilated local communities along their migration path. They moved to more areas and spread out. Moreover, by 1000 BCE they had occupied most of south of Equatorial Africa. Their motive for migration was set presumptively on the high rate of their population growth at the time. They spread the culture of cultivation to east and South Africa by 500BCE and those speaking the Niger Congo languages spread the cultivation to the East and Central Africa (43).
Describe the Silk Roads and the Indian Ocean Trade Network. Where have they appeared in the topics discussed in class?
These were a network of trade routes that came about during the Han dynasty of China. These routes linked the regions in the ancient world, and they emerged as a result of trade both on land and sea (159).
The term was coined by German traveler and geographer Ferdinand Ritchofen in 1877 CE. They were in official use between 130 BCE till 453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west, thus leading to their shut down. They helped the long distance trade system in which Chinese silk and other valuables were traded (161).
In the process, they learnt the fact that the silk route depended on the tribute system and appropriate action was necessary. Along the route, they visited countries and failed to impress them. After conforming to the proper tribute system and the Ming Dynasty traded with them for access to their supply of silver, and even granted them a colony in China which was named Macau.
The silk routes as have been depicted during the regimes where China ruled the seas and commercialized its voyages. The silk routes are also discussed in long distance trades between different countries that sought to spread their influence and harness economic gain through socio-political interactions. They were majorly around Asia, the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, Arabia, Australia, Europe and the East Coast of Africa.
In discussions, the silk routes emerge often when revisiting the Portuguese exploration and Christopher Colombus. His goal was to reach Indian Ocean trade Network and participate in its trade. In explaining the spread of religions where Buddhism gained popularity in china and Christianity, the use of the silk routes is primal (162). The route are used to explain how epidemics spread across the eastern and western hemispheres during the period of trade and the biological exchanges that took place and brought forth a cosmopolitan society (163).
Summarize the major features of the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties in China and describe how the Mongol (Yuan) Dynasty was a challenge the dynastic cycle that the earlier 3 represented.
China’s reunion came during the rule of the Han dynasty. The western Han reign was between 206 BC to 9AD and Eastern or later Han reigned between 25AD to 220AD. The geographical boundaries developed back then have since remained to define the modern China. Confucianism became the basis for correct official and individual conduct. During the era of china under Emperor Wudi, she regained control of her previously conquered territories and controlled trade routes both at the North and South of Taklamakan desert. There was immense expansion of diplomacy as a preferred tool for interactions (106)
Tang dynasty after collapse of Han dynasty in 220 AD. This dynasty upheld great diplomatic relations and necessitated economic expansion through the adoption of a cosmopolitan society and culture. It emerged as a model Empire in the medieval world. They provided stability for the developments earlier started by the Han dynasty for another century and a half. Servants of the public were recruited using standards examinations and it was under the leadership of the Sui Emperors (217).
The song dynasty was the first in the world to issue bank notes and also the first government to form a standing naval army. Despite their great economic standing at the time, the Chinese were under attack from the Mongols who managed to conquer the Song dynasty in 1279 AD whereby they became unified under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty, after succeeding a period of revolutions that threw her into divisions. These were five dynasties. The Song dynasty also had two phases, the North and the South. The initial one controlled most of inner China between 960 AD and II27 AD. The second one started in 1127 AD and lasted until 1279AD when it had lost the control of the Northern part of China to the Jin Dynasty (219).
During this time, china had developed the tribute system to a functional concept and Emperor received gifts and presents in honor of China’s superiority as the central land. However, China was conquered by Mongols, under the rule of Ghengas Khan’s grandson, Kabalai. His became the Yuan rule characterized by his adventurous policy. He did not pay attention to whole of Mongol Empire and as a result, Parts of the regions that his father had ruled had to split off. While in control of China, he rejected the tribute system and wanted China open its relations with other countries (259).
He further diversified the society when he Gave Marco Polo, a foreigner, a high position as a Confucian scholar official in the empire. Upon his death, the Yuan rule fell apart, and its tensions heightened into more recurrent rebel activities and wars. As an eventuality, these attacks on china under its reorganized Confucian rule under Zhu Qizen, caused a lot of emigration by Chinese citizens for solace into friendlier territories (263).
What were the major civilizations of both the Peruvian/Andean region of South America and Mesoamerica in the centuries from ca. 200 to ca. 1500 c.e.? W...