AP World History AMSCO Guided Notes
2.5: Cultural Consequences of Connectivity
AP World History Guided Notes
AMSCO 2.5 - Cultural Consequences of Connectivity
Essential Questions
- What were the intellectual and cultural effects of the trade networks from c. 1200 to c. 1450?
I. Religious, Cultural, and Technological Effects of Interaction
1. How did the diffusion of religions between 1200 and 1450 affect political authority and cultural expression?
A. Influence of Buddhism on East Asian Culture
1. How did Buddhist teachings blend with existing Chinese religions, and what was the result?
2. What role did printing technology play in spreading Buddhism among Chinese scholars and elites?
3. How did Neo-Confucianism combine elements from different philosophical traditions, and where did it spread?
B. Spread of Hinduism and Buddhism
1. How did Hinduism and Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia, and what evidence shows their influence?
2. What does the architecture and artwork at Angkor Thom reveal about religious change in the Khmer Empire?
C. Spread of Islam
1. What methods did Islam use to spread across Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia?
1. Cultural Influences of Islam in Afro-Eurasia
1. How did Islam influence language development in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia?
2. Why did Buddhists convert to Islam more readily than Hindus in South Asia?
3. How did Islamic and local cultural traditions blend in architecture, art, and literature across different regions?
D. Scientific and Technological Innovations
1. What scientific and mathematical knowledge did Islamic scholars preserve and advance through translation?
2. How did agricultural innovations like Champa rice affect population growth and urban development?
3. What seafaring and military technologies spread along trade routes, and what impact did they have?
II. Urban Growth and Trade
1. How did trade networks support the growth of major cities like Hangzhou, Samarkand, and Timbuktu?
A. Factors Contributing to Growth of Cities
1. What political, economic, and agricultural conditions allowed cities on trade routes to flourish?
B. Declining Cities
1. What factors led to the decline of cities like Kashgar and Constantinople?
2. How did the bubonic plague and military conquest affect Constantinople's population and power?
1. Factors Contributing to Decline of Cities
III. Effects of the Crusades
1. How did Crusader encounters with Byzantine and Islamic cultures change Western European knowledge and trade?
2. What were the demographic and economic consequences of the Black Death for Europe?
3. How did exposure to ideas from Byzantium and the Muslim world contribute to intellectual change in Europe?
IV. Travelers' Tales
1. Why were travelers' accounts important sources of information about distant lands during this period?
A. Marco Polo
1. What did Marco Polo observe about Chinese cities and culture, and why were Europeans skeptical of his accounts?
2. How did Marco Polo's perspective as a merchant shape what he chose to write about?
B. Ibn Battuta
1. What motivated Ibn Battuta's travels, and how did his religious perspective differ from Marco Polo's?
2. What types of information did Ibn Battuta document about the places and people he encountered?
C. Margery Kempe
1. Why is Margery Kempe's autobiography significant beyond its descriptions of pilgrimage experiences?
2. What does Kempe's account reveal about the life of a medieval middle-class woman?
Key Terms
Black Death
Marco Polo
Ibn Battuta
Margery Kempe
Swahili
Urdu
lateen sails
stern rudder
astrolabe
magnetic compass
Hangzhou
Samarkand
Kashgar
Constantinople