Bellringer• SOL Challenge!

• Have out your homework.

• Grab a book, and start filling out the maps on Africa and Americas if you have time!

• BJOTD: What do you call a snake that makes a lot of noise when he eats?

The Eastern Hemisphere

Japan• Geography– Archipelago (4

islands) east of China in the Pacific• Mountainous islands

with little farmland– Separated from the

mainland by the Sea of Japan

– Close to China and Korea

Government• Feudalistic

Society– Landowners hire

samurais—warriors• Followed Bushido

—code of conduct for warriors

– Also hired to protect the shogun (Japanese military leader)

• Unique religion known as Shinto– Based on the idea

of respecting the forces of nature

– Also focuses on ancestor worship

– Believe in kami—divine spirits living in nature

Achievements• Influenced by

Chinese culture– Buddhism would

mix with Shinto beliefs

– Adopted Chinese culture (art, government, writing, architecture)

African Kingdoms• Axum

– Time Period: 300-700 CE– Location: In Ethiopia, along the Nile River

• Government: Monarchy• Economy: Agriculture and trade

– Location important for trade• Traded necessities (salt) and luxuries such as rhino horns,

tortoise shells, ivory, emeralds, gold, glass, olive oil• Axum’s Culture

– Religion—originally• Animism—worshipped the spirits of nature and worshipped

dead ancestors• Under the rule of Ezana, the people converted to Christianity

• Zimbabwe– Time Period: 1200s-

1400s CE– Location: Between

the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, and near the Indian Ocean

– Built Great Zimbabwe—a city that served as the economic, political, and religious center of the empire• All trade routes went

through the city

West African Empires• Location: along the Niger River/ in

the Sahara Desert in West Africa • Trade: Specialized in the gold/salt

trade via the trans-Saharan trade routes

• Religion: first animism, then conversion to Islam over time as a result of trade

Ghana• Time Period: ~1000 CE• Trade bought Islam to Ghana–Most citizens did not convert—only the

Upper class• Why?

• Decline: due the rise of Mali

Mali• Time Period: ~1235 CE• Discovered gold further east (trade routes

shifted eastward from Ghana)• Islamic rulers

– Mansa Musa: expanded his empire to twice the size of Ghana, and went on a hajj to Mecca in 1325

• Timbuktu: Muslim city (Muslim judges, doctors, religious leaders, and scholars + mosques and universities)

• Decline: Songhai emerged as an empire, forcing the gold trade further east

Mansa Musa

Songhai• Time Period: ~1464 CE• Empire included most of the Mali

empire• Decline: Moroccan warriors using

superior weapons (gunpowder and cannons) arrived and took over the empire

Major Trading Patterns in the Eastern Hemisphere

• Silk Roads across Asia to the Mediterranean Sea

• Maritime routes across the Indian Ocean• Trans-Saharan routes across North Africa• Northern European links with the Black Sea• Western European sea and river trade• South China Sea and lands of Southeast

Asia

Common Trade Goods• Gold from West Africa• Spices from lands around the Indian

Ocean• Textiles from India, China, the Middle

East, and later Europe• Porcelain from China and Persia• Amber from the Baltic region

Technology• Paper from China, through the

Muslim world to Byzantium and Western Europe

• New crops (for example, sugar) from India

• Waterwheels and windmills from the Middle East

• Navigation: compass from China, lateen sails from the Indian Ocean region

Ideas• Spread of religions across the

hemisphere– Buddhism from China to Korea and

Japan– Hinduism and Buddhism from from India

to Southeast Asia– Islam into West Africa, Central and

Southeast Asia• Printing and paper money from China