📅Weekly Schedule and Objectives: Asia, The Americas, and Persia

Topic: Ancient China: 1,500 BCE-220 CE

Weekly Schedule
Due Date	Activity
June 30	Read & examine this week's module Read textbook: Chapters 4-6 Read all documents Watch all videos
June 30	Discussion
June 30	Homework
June 30	Quizzes

Image: Horse Statue from the Han Period

Summary:

Chinese Civilization emerged along the banks of the Huang He and Yangzi River Valleys. The collection of villages and towns existed in a precarious balance with the unpredictable nature of the rivers and the vast wilderness of the ancient forests. Agriculture and animal domestication led to a rise in population and the emergence of cities. The fertile loess soil of the Huang He became an important ingredient for production of building materials, molds for metal, and agriculture. By the time of the Shang, China had developed or borrowed a myriad of technological advances that supported a well organized-society. The subsequent dynasty, the Zhou, developed more complex ideas of government and economics that guided China until the time of division and conflict in the middle of the first millennium BCE.

Warfare and turmoil gave rise to enduring belief systems that favored harmony and stability, most notably Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism was an ethical philosophy that focused on human behavior. Its virtues were meant to help create a hierarchical society in which key relationships were the foundation of a stable and harmonious way of life. Daoism urged harmony with nature and the avoidance of ambition. Legalism favored strong rulers who could impose law and order and, therefore, stability.

Under the influence of the Legalist Li Si, the Qin emperor Shihuangdi conquered much of China and created a new dynasty. The First Emperor’s policies were meant to consolidate power in his hands and glorify the state. While the Qin succeeded in bringing the Chinese empire into existence, their brutality led to the dynasty’s overthrow and the advent of the long-lived Han dynasty.

On the basis of Qin achievements, the Han formed the first strong, effective service bureaucracy in China’s history. Wudi, the Han Martial Emperor, built the Chinese army into an expansive force. Wudi’s many wars, however, led to unrest. A pattern of decline and reform marked much of the Later Han period. Revolts and civil war eventually brought the dynasty’s rule to an end.

While the Han dynasty lasted, China enjoyed one of the world’s most stable and productive societies. Han society was based mainly on village farming and herding. Peasant life was centered on the family. Urban life was far more diverse and sophisticated than rural life. Han cities were the sites of considerable technological and commercial invention. As it extended its reach into Central Asia, China also increased commerce with other cultures along a network of trade routes that came to be called the Silk Road.

The Americas

North and South America were the last continents to be populated by humans. In most of the Western Hemisphere, human communities remained small and relatively isolated from one another. The first humans to arrive in North America traveled from Asia to Alaska. There is some debate about the nature and timing of the migrations that resulted in the settlement of the Americas. Evidence for the peopling of the Americas makes it difficult to establish a firm chronology. Scholars have categorized the societies of North American Amerinds into four principal types: hunter-gather bands, limited-scale tribal societies, full-scale tribal societies, and complex mound-building and trading societies. The hunter-gather bands of the Arctic and Great Basin lacked any genuine political organization. Limited-scale tribal societies emerged where conditions allowed large associations of villages or bands to form around common cultural attributes and often a common leader. In contrast to limited-scale tribal societies where the tribe operated as the center of political life only intermittently, the tribe functioned continuously in full-scale tribal societies. Finally, three North American Indian groups (Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian) developed urban economies and complex governance structures similar in some respects to early river civilizations of Asia and Northeast Africa.

The Olmec created Mesoamerica’s earliest complex society, with large cities and long-distance trading networks. The Olmec calendar suggests both the sophistication of Olmec ritual and the Olmec’s mathematical skills. The Maya emerged after the collapse of the Olmec, and with substantial borrowing from their predecessors. The Maya had a hierarchical society with a sacred king at the top of each Maya city-state. Bloodletting was an important part of Maya religion. The Maya developed a complex and intellectually sophisticated culture. Teotihuacán, located in central Mexico, grew into the most important Mesoamerican city-state of the Classic period. Teotihuacán maintained trade networks with its neighbors. The collapse of Teotihuacán paved the way for the rise of the Toltec. The Toltec built a militaristic empire stretching across Mexico, with its great capital at Tula.

Amerinds also built civilizations in the challenging environment of South America. In the Early Horizon period Chavín society emerged, centered on the ceremonial city of Chavín de Huantar. Two post-Chavín societies emerged in the Early Intermediate Period (200 B.C.E.–500 C.E.): Nazca and Moche. Little is know about Nazca society, but its artistic accomplishments are impressive. The Moche dominated northern Peru without creating a formal imperial structure. The Moche thrived for the first six centuries of the Common Era, finally collapsing under the pressure of natural disasters. The Moche were succeeded by three societies during the Middle Horizon Period (500–1000 C.E.): Tiahuanaco, Huari, and Chimor. Tiahuanaco society was centered on its impressive capital city. Like Tiahuanaco, the Huari engaged in regional trade. On the Pacific coast, the Moche were succeeded by Chimor, a major imperial power that dominated coastal Peru until the emergence of the Inca in the fifteenth century.

Persia

Persian society developed on the arid Iranian plateau in southwestern Asia. The plateau is inhospitable, but also easy to defend. Central Asian nomads arrived in the region around 2000 BCE, among them were the Medes and Persians, speaking two dialects of Farsi. The Medes and the Persians took advantage of war between Babylonia and Assyria to free themselves from the Assyrians. The Persian king Cyrus the Great took control of the kingdom of the Medes and expanded the territory of the Persian Empire

After the death of Cyrus, Darius renewed Persian efforts at conquest and expansion, and imposed strong central rule on the empire. Mesopotamian influences shaped Persian law, administration, and commerce. Like Mesopotamia, Persia had a class-based society. The Medes and Persians exerted a strong influence on the empire’s culture, especially through their language, religion, and methods of administration.

Zoroastrianism developed from Persian polytheism. The prophet Zoroaster promoted a form of dualism, where one true god represented all that was good, and a corrupted spirit represented evil. Once the Persian emperors adopted Zoroastrianism, they gave control of it to scholar-priests called Magi. Zoroastrianism influenced the development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Zoroastrianism had a strong social and political message, providing a rationale for the rule of Persian kings.

Persia’s attempts to subdue the Greeks and their subsequent failure to perceive the danger posed by the Macedonians proved fatal. Alexander the Great conquered Persia, sacking its capital Persepolis in 330 BCE. Alexander’s empire collapsed after his death and a number of successor states emerged in Persia to take its place, including the Seleucid kingdom, the Parthian Empire, and the Sasanian Empire.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this week's module, students will be able to:

Analyze the rise of civilization and the establishment of traditions in Ancient China
Compare and contrast the Chinese systems of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism
Analyze the differences between ancient North American, Mesoamerican, and South American societies
Examine the rise of the Persian Empire and their culture and institutions