overview of
GREAT TRANSFORMATIONS,
before 1800, in the Age of Sail.
THE AGE OF MIGRATIONS, 500-900 (this ppt file)
looking ahead: THE AGE OF CALIPHS, 600 -1200, SOUTHERNIZATION, 900-1200
THE MONGOL WATERSHED (1200-1500): NETWORKS, ISLAM, BUSINESS, EMPIRES
NOMAD HORSE WARRIOR STEPPE MIGRATIONS DISMANTLE OLD EMPIRES IN EAST, SOUTH, AND WEST ASIA, AND SET UP NEW WARRIOR REGIMES AROUND THE SILK ROAD, STIMULATING ABBASID-TANG TRADE AND ECONOMIC EXPANSION ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN.
LANDMARKS: BATTLE OF TALAS, BELITUNG SHIPWRECK MAP VIDEO, GOK TURKS, TIBETAN EMPIRE, BAGHDAD.
Fundamental to the teaching of the Buddha is the recognition that although it should be the goal of his followers to seek ultimate transcendence of the world, following the path to Nirvana (Pali, Nibbana) has to take place within the world. This has meant that Buddhists from the very beginning of the religion have had to engage rather than shun politics, and these politics are shaped by the societies Buddhists live in.
From Charles Keyes reading on Theravada Buddhism
Until 600CE, Buddhists lived in a loosely connected circulatory system. The world and societies they lived in changed dramatically in the following centuries.
EASTERN CIRCUITS
�documented by the
TRAVELS OF BUDDHIST PILGRIMS
WESTERN CIRCUITS
documented by Roman Merchants
THE MID-MILLENNIUM TRANSFORMATION
OF IMPERIAL NETWORKS���
Turkic migrations, climate crisis, plague, the end of the (western) roman empire,
�and ��east-west expansion of the caliphates
AGE OF MIGRATIONS CIRCA 500-700
The Wikipedia entry is good on “Turkic peoples.” Click the map.
an excellent reference site
McCormick, Michael et al. “Climate Change during and after the Roman Empire: Reconstructing the Past from Scientific and Historical Evidence.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 43, no. 2, 2012, pp. 169–220. (online PDF).
�
the climate connection
climate and migration
climate, migration, and pandemic
endemic plague pandemic in the Mediterranean, 541-750CE
The End of Antiquity: the Pandemic of 541-750, ed. LK Little, CUP, 2006
Saint Sebastian pleads with Jesus for the life of a gravedigger afflicted by plague during the Plague of Justinian. (Josse Lieferinxe, c. 1497–1499)
ARAB MIGRATIONS FORM IMPERIAL NETWORKS
TRAVELING WITH TRADE
On climate: from McCormick et al
Samanids (819–1005)
The Samanids were the first native Persian dynasty to rule Iran after the collapse of the Sasanian empire and the Arab Muslim conquests. Their rule marked the beginning of a revival of Persian art and culture. The cities of Nishapur, Samarqand, and Bukhara thrived under the Samanids.
In 750, Muslim rebels with steppe nomad allies based in the rich hilly agrarian region of Khorasan, with its capital at Merv, conquered Ummayad forces, formed a new Abbasid caliphate, built a new capital, Baghdad, and expanded the empire farther in the east. And there, another spatial transformation began, with the increasingly influential arrival of Turkic steppe warriors, who would conquer Abbasid imperial territory while sustaining the Caliph’s spiritual authority, until Mongols sacked Baghdad and ended the Caliphate, in 1258.
Malise Ruthven, Historical Atlas of Islam, Boston: Harvard University Press, 2004.
PERSIAN DYNASTIES IN THE EASTERN ABBASID FRONTIER
MID-MILLENNIUM SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION
The massive Sui military unification of China
and
Tang expansion across the Turkic militant migrant warrior steppe (silk road)
Longmen Caves:
started under the Wei Dynasty, continued under the Sui, finished in early Tang, before Tang Dynasty turns against Buddhism, which it attacked as foreign.
SOUTHERNIZATION
AND
THE MILITARIZATION OF TERRITORIALISM
Militant southern imperial expansion ��across South and Southeast Asia
connecting the steppe and Indian ocean
requires more taxation
and focuses monopoly patronage on the most supportive religions
ABBASID – TANG CONNECTIONS:
THE BATTLE OF TALAS,
BELITUNG, CERAMICS AND SEA TRADE, ��AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ��AROUND THE INDIAN OCEAN
REMEMBER:
ALEXANDER’S EASTERNMOST OUTPOST WAS IN THE FERGANA VALLEY
VIDEO OF THE BATTLE OF TALAS
SHIP WRECKS DOCUMENT TRADE ROUTES
Summary
The Chinese trade ceramics found in Siraf belonged to five major groups, namely grayish celadon wares, white stonewares, iron and/or copper painted stonewares, green‐splashed whitewares, and miscellaneous low‐fired lead‐glazed earthen‐wares. It is likely that the Persian and Arab communities in Yangzhou served as middlemen, and were instrumental in the selection and purchase of ceramics for export to the Middle East. The discovery of glass on board both of the tenth‐century ships not only shows an increasing reliance on the maritime routes for the trading of Middle Eastern glass and the growing scope of glass trade around the Indian Ocean but also reaffirms the intermediary role of Southeast Asia in the China‐Abbasid trade.
The China–Abbasid Ceramics Trade during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
Chinese Ceramics Circulating in the Middle East
Book Editor(s): Finbarr Barry Flood
First published: 20 June 2017
Territorial Transformations of Buddhism, circa 900-1500:
Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana
Theravada … is… the tradition of Buddhism whose scriptures are written in Pali rather than Sanskrit and whose primary exemplars are members of the sangha—the bhikkhu or Buddhist monks who have subjected themselves to the ancient “discipline” (vinaya) first laid down by the Buddha and who are led by senior monks (thera).
from Keyes reading on Theravada Buddhism,
Theravada Buddhism has its origins in Sri Lanka well before the 13th century, but it was not until the period from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries that it became the fundamental basis for political orders in both Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It was during this period that Buddhist monks led a “revolution” that transformed the religion of a small elite into a popular religion. This was accomplished in two fundamental ways: first, the sangha, the order of monks, was established in villages as well as existing in centers of power; second, the dhamma was represented in vernacular literatures and embodied in rituals practiced in villages as well as in monasteries.
post-Mongol
from Houtart reading on Theravada Buddhism
From Ludden reading on Decline of Buddhism
Mahabalipuram 8th century port for first major Hindu patron-kings -- Pallavas
rock carving at Pallava Port in Mahabalipuram:
launching the history of South Indian temple architecture
Many famous Hindu and similar Jain, as well as Buddhist temples, have been built as symbolic representations of this mountain.
Vision of Buddha’s Paradise, Kushan Period, Gandhara
Buddha and Mara
enlightenment, escaping temptations, conquering demon-distractions, and creating order in the universe
Tibetan Mandala
Thailand
stupa rebuilt at Anuradhapuram and festival of the sacred tooth at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy