Postclassical Period Overview500 – 1450 C.E.

• The Postclassical Period was a time of great dynamism.

• There was a lot going on.–Medieval Europe was only a small part

of this larger experience.– It has been seen as sandwiched

between the grandeur of Greece & Rome and the Renaissance

• What makes this a new period in World History? (periodization)

• We have to answer several questions:1. What themes of the previous period are

no longer dominate in this one?2. What things happen to identify this as a

new period?3. What new themes define this as a new

period?

1. Obsolete Themes

• With the fall of the classical empires, we no longer see the processes of unification and expansion– China– India–Mediterranean

Basically established by end of Classical Period.

– split & western part fragmented

2. New Identity

• Beginning of Postclassical Period is marked by the fall of Han China, Gupta India and the Roman Empire.

• Also marked by the emergence of the Arabs and Islam as a new force.– The Arab-Islamic civilization becomes

the first world-class civilization that we have dealt with so far.

2. New Identity

• There was a larger number of civilization centers and a larger geographical range than before.–Mediterranean world split into three

distinct civilizations:1. Islam & Arabs in Middle East & North Africa

2. New Identity

• There was a larger number of civilization centers and a larger geographical range than before.–Mediterranean world split into three

distinct civilizations:1. Islam & Arabs in Middle East & North Africa2. Byzantine Empire

2. New Identity

• There was a larger number of civilization centers and a larger geographical range than before.–Mediterranean world split into three

distinct civilizations:1. Islam & Arabs in Middle East & North Africa2. Byzantine Empire3. Western European society

2. New Identity

• New territories of civilization emerge– Japan– Russia– Northwestern Europe– Northern Germany– British Isles– Scandinavia– sub-Saharan Africa– the Swahili City States

3. New Themes

• Two primary themes help define the Postclassical Period:1. The spread of world religions that cross

and unify political boundaries without erasing those boundaries.• Christianity, Islam & Buddhism• Surge of missionary activity• Churches, centers of Islamic law and

scholarship, and Buddhist temples become the focus of activity in this period, eclipsing the role of formal states.

3. New Themes

• Two primary themes help define the Postclassical Period:2. The emergence of a “world network.”• Commercial arteries emerge, running from

Middle East, across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia and China

3. New Themes

• Two primary themes help define the Postclassical Period:2. The emergence of a “world network.”• Commercial arteries emerge, running from

Middle East, across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia and China

• This east-west artery was embellished by feeder routes that ran north-south

3. New Themes

• Two primary themes help define the Postclassical Period:2. The emergence of a “world network.”• Commercial arteries emerge, running from

Middle East, across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia and China

• This east-west artery was embellished by feeder routes that ran north-south

• These trading connections were sustained by new technologies, navigational devices, improved map-making

Two zones of the World Network• First zone:

Arab world, Byzantine Empire, India, China

3. New Themes

Zone One of World Economic Network:Arab world, Byzantine Empire, China

Two zones of the World Network• First zone:

Arab world, Byzantine Empire, India, China– This was the developed world of the day–Most sophisticated manufacturing

systems, largest cities, elaborate political structures, most upper-class people than elsewhere

– These areas actively traded with each other and influenced each other

3. New Themes

Two zones of the World Network• Second zone:

New group of societies/civilizations that surrounded first zone: – Japan– parts of Southeast Asia– sub-Saharan Africa– Russia– Northwestern Europe

3. New Themes

Zone Two of World Economic Network:Japan, SE Asia, sub-Saharan Africa,

Russia, NW Europe

Two zones of the World Network• Second zone:

- These societies forged trading connections with more developed regions- They imitated the more developed societies and developed economic and cultural apparatuses more quickly than they would have

3. New Themes

3. New Themes

• These two themes mark a significant shift in world history.– Local and regional factors no longer

define and shape societies – Cultural issues, rather than political

issues begin to unify people of the world– The economic trade network links

people of the world together as it never had before.