Unit 1 Notes: The Global Tapestry, c. 1200 to c. 1450

Each presentation below covers one topic from the course framework:

1.1 Developments in East Asia: Song China, Confucian bureaucracy, Champa rice, and the spread of Chinese culture and Buddhism

1.2 Developments in Dar al-Islam: the decline of the Abbasids, new Turkic states, and Islamic scholarship

1.3 South and Southeast Asia: Hindu and Buddhist states on land and at sea

1.4 The Americas: the Maya, Mexica, and Inca, plus North American societies

1.5 Africa: Great Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and the Hausa kingdoms

1.6 Europe: feudalism, manorialism, and the Church

1.7 Comparison: how these states held power, side by side

As you go, sort what you learn with SPICE-T: Social, Political, Interactions with the environment, Cultural, Economic, and Technology. The question running through the whole unit is: how did states establish and maintain power? For every state, be ready to name one method, such as bureaucracy, religion, tribute, trade, or the military, and explain how it worked. That's the kind of specific evidence that earns points on SAQs and the LEQ.