Throughout unit two we looked at many different societies, not in Europe. While there were many influential civilizations in Europe during this time, there was also many civilizations making major advancements as well. There were three things that really caught my eye and these were the Ming Dynasty, Incan Society, and Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. While all of these may seem different, they have influenced how we live our life today somehow.
I. The Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty ruled China from 1368 to 1644 (Morris). The Ming Dynasty was established by King Zhu Yuanshang, who named the dynasty not after Nohis family but the word ming which can mean “bright” or “luminous” (“The Chinese Ming”). It had a population around eighty-five million making it the largest civilization on Earth. As Professor Clunas points out in the exhibition’s exemplary catalog, everything about it was on a grand scale: “It had a greater land area, bigger cities (and more big cities), bigger armies, bigger ships, bigger palaces, bigger bells, more literate people, more religious professionals.” (Morris). Not only was the Ming Dynasty bigger, it brought many major advances in art, technology, and philosophy during its time. Probably one of the most popular art forms, is the amazing work they could do with blue and white porcelain. They were very skilled in this new art form, and were the only civilization that could make these beautiful pieces. Still to this day, it is hard for anyone
Throughout the humanities course, I have been intrigued by a vast amount of information on different cultures. However, there was a particular section that truly caught my attention, and has piqued an interest in me that has caused me to do my own research aside from this paper. The culture of the Mayas, and the Aztecs has been extremely fundamental in understanding my ancestry, being that I am Mexican American. I took an interest in their beautiful architecture, their ritualistic and sacrificial religious practices, as well as their history and how they began. Throughout this paper I will outline the similarities and differences of these two cultures, as well as articulate an understanding of the humanity disciplines outlined above.
Although, these cultures had no influence from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, they had many accomplishments in agriculture, architecture, and writing. Such as the Mayans and there temples, the Aztecs with their trading city of Tenochtitlan, and the Incas with their road and bridges connecting the major cities in the empire. Although, the information provided was useful, it would have been at great use to have an extra document on the Aztec civilization. All in all, the three civilizations were very advanced and had many
A very long time ago, there were many ancient civilizations, three of them were called the Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayans. These were ancient civilizations that, throughout history, had many accomplishments. Focusing in on some of these achievements, a lot of the advancements made by these civilizations were in religion, economy, and technology.
The Mongols for example founded big advances in medicine and astronomy; they also built roads that connected Europe and Asia. Another big thing they did and probably their biggest possible accomplishment was they created and built up the largest empire in history. The Ming dynasty had many great achievements as well, some of which are things like the first to print with woodblock printing and using paper for more things, another thing they did which we still use today is they invented ship rudders to steer large ships this was important for them because until they got rid of it, they had the most powerful navy ever at the time when Zheng He ran their treasure fleet with the biggest boats ever made up until that time. And one of their biggest if not biggest accomplishment is they repaired the great wall of china completely after it had been destroyed in the fall of the Mongol
Paleolithic, Neolithic, Greek and Roman art movements have seen many changes through the course of their time. These periods, have produced many tremendous famous works of art. Paleolithic art was one of the earliest and most natural form of art which they shown by painting in the caves. The paintings in the cave were very interesting to look at and caught my eye every time I looked at the paintings. Each of the paintings in the caves were somewhat different. I personally think they were painting inside the caves because they were trying to chase food, which caused them to not stay in one place at a time. As the time went on, the Neolithic age saw construction of monument structures. They noticed the structures since the people of Neolithic age became settled unlike the Paleolithic ages people who were out chasing for food. I strongly believe the Greek and Roman ages are very well known, unlike the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages. “Humanity, reason, and nature were central preoccupations of the Greek mind, together formulating their attitude toward life” (Rathus 296). When you are looking at their art you can see all the unique crazy designs and very skillful drawings which
In history we the people have found to realize that the Maya, Aztec, and Inca culture was one of the most incredible findings of their accomplishments. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations were really smart in topics of engineering, writing, agriculture and astronomy. Also all three had their beliefs, and good with agriculture. All three cultures used great technologies in their agriculture like slash and burn, terrace farming. They all hunted for religion, they had a huge belief with the people spread throughout each region. They all had a lot of interest in the use of chocolate in the region, and cultivation. They all were pretty much the same just different beliefs.
The Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations each originated from Latin America. The Mayans lived in southern and central Mexico, other Mayans lived in Central America in the present day countries of Belize, Guatemala, and ancient Honduras. The Incas lived along the long coastal strip, and in the high peaks and deep fertile valleys of the Andes Mountains, and along the edges of the tropical forest to the east; this would be the country of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina in present days. The Aztecs were from Aztlan located in both north and northwest Mexico.
The following are the Chinese dynasties in order from oldest to most recent: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The legendary dynasty is the Xia, which is believed to be around 2000 BC. The Shang (1700-1000BC) developed the first written Chinese language. The Zhou (1028-221BC) built the first roads, expanded trade contacts and trade routes, and also developed plows and irrigation systems. Trade at this time was expanding in China. The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) built the famous Great Wall of China as a defense mechanism and also united all of China under one central government. Next is the Han Dynasty (207BC-AD220), which did a lot for China in terms of trading. They developed the Great Silk Road, a trading route that stretched from China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sui Dynasty (589-618) united almost all of China. Followed in suit by the Tang Dynasty (618-917) discovered one of Chinas' leading exports, porcelain. During the Tang Dynasty, the first block-style printing press was invented. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) came next, which took over all of China and later took the southern rule after being conquered by the Jin. The Song Dynasty is responsible for developing Chinese cuisine as we know it today. During this time period the compass and gunpowder were also discovered. The Jin Dynasty (1127-1234) took rule over Northern China from the Song. The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) brought a long period of peace to
Classical Chinese Empires and the Roman Empire were massive Empires that both became some of the most well known Empires in the world. The Romans were set out to conquer the lands of Europe and take anyone out in their path. The Chinese Dynasties lasted for a 4,000 year span of many Emperors like the Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty. They both had a reason on why they lasted so long, Rome were very serious for their army because when you got to the age of 7 you were sent to an extensive army camp which you would stay until you are 18. China had their Innovation and trade. For example the Han Dynasty were lucky enough to use the silk roads which got them tons of silk to trade to other empires. The Qin Dynasty had some of the first modern roads so they can travel with ease.
a. The population of China approximately doubled between the start of the Ming dynasty in 1368 and its collapse and replacement by the Manchus in 1415 in North China . This population increase, along with a reduction in government regulation, led to China’s Commercial Revolution, which lasted from 1500 and 1800. Economic advances during this
There were a variety of different cultures of people who were part of the Aztec empire.
McNeil is also critical of Landes’ preoccupation in the happenings of Europe alone, while remaining dismissive of all economic and technological accomplishments of China after 1 000 A.D. While Landes dismisses the economic demise of China as a “weird pattern of isolated initiatives and Sisyphean discontinuities,” McNeil instead portrays the rapid innovations of the Sung era, and how they were damaged and disrupted by Mongol conquests and contained within the Ming dynasty, thereby showing that Europe did not surpass Europe in achievement due to their own pre-eminence.
2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New
Chinese Dynasties: 1. Shang: Also called Yin, dynasty that was China's earliest historically verifiable state 1766 B.C. to 1122 B.C. A. Reason's for Rise: Unlike the early accounts of history by the Chinese, there is archaeological evidence of the Shang, who built their cities in northern China around the eastern parts of the Yellow River. For this reason they are called the Yellow River civilization. They were a bronze age people; bronze-working seems to have entered China around 2000 BC (about one thousand years after its invention in Mesopotamia). B. Territorial Location & size at height of power (map): The Shang ruled the area from the North China Plain northward into present-day Shantung Province and westward to the tip of Honan
The Inca Empire was the largest civilization in the pre- Columbian America. Its great extention covered a large portion of the western South American countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Colombia. Their official language was Quechua. Their empire lived short lasting 100 years. Social Structure.