Global Connections: Eastern Europe and the World.

The Byzantine Empire was active in interregional trade; Constantinople was one of the world’s great trading cities, and the empire served as a link between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. When Byzantium declined and

the Mongols conquered Russia, a period of isolation began. By the 15th century, Russia began to regain independence and faced decisions about how to re-engage with the West.

• Global Connections: In the Orbit of China: The East Asian Corner of the Global System.

During the first millennium C.E., Chinese civilization influenced the formation of three distinct satellite civilizations in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Unlike China’s nomadic neighbors, each contained areas suitable for sedentary agriculture—wet rice cultivation—and the development of civilization. Common elements of Chinese culture—writing, bureaucratic organization, religion, art—passed to each new civilization. All the imports, except Buddhism, were monopolized by

courts and elites. The civilizations differed because of variations in the process of mixing Chinese and indigenous patterns. China’s nearness to Korea forced symbolic political submission and long-term cultural dependence. In Vietnam, Chinese conquest and control stretched over a thousand years. Although the Viets eventually obtained independence, Chineseculture helped form their civilization and allowed the Viets to counterbalance Indian influences among their southeast Asian rivals. The Japanese escaped direct Chinese rule; Chinese culture was first cultivated by the elite of the imperial court, but rival provincial, militaristic clans

opposed Chinese influences. Japanese political patterns became very different from the centralized system of China. The preoccupation with interaction within the east Asian sphere left the region’s inhabitants with limited awareness of larger world currents when compared with global awareness in other major civilizations.

Global Connections: Medieval Europe and the World.

Western Europe in the Middle Ages had a love-hate relationship with the world around it. Early on, Europe seemed threatened by Vikings, Asian nomads, and Islam. At the same time, Europeans actively copied many features

from Islam and traded with Asians. Through selective acceptance of benefits from the world

around them, this civilization developed a global awareness.

Global Connections: Early Islam and the World.

The rise of Islamic civilization was without precedent in history. By the 9th century, Abbasid power had waned before the rise of regional states and the incursions of non-Muslim peoples. The Turks converted to Islam and became a major component of the Muslim world. The Arabs had created a basis for the first global civilization, incorporating many linguistic and ethnic groups into one culture. They created Islam, one of the great universal religions. Religion and politics initially had been joined, but the Umayyads and Abbasids used religious legitimacy to govern their vast empires. In both religion and politics, they absorbed precedents from earlier civilizations. Muslims did the same in the arts and sciences, later fashioning their own innovative thinking that influenced other societies in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Global Connections: Islam—A Bridge Between Worlds

Despite the political instability of the Abbasids, Islam’s central position in global history was solidified. The expanding Muslim world linked ancient civilizations through conquest and commercial networks. Islam was the civilizer of nomadic peoples in Asia and Africa. Its cultural contributions diffused widely from great cities and universities. There were, however, tendencies that placed Muslims at a disadvantage in relation to rival civilizations, particularly their European rivals. Political

divisions caused exploitable weaknesses in many regions. Most importantly, the increasingintellectual rigidity of the ulama caused Muslims to become less receptive to outside influencesat a time when the European world was transforming.

Global Connections: Internal Development and External Contacts.

The spread of Islam had brought large areas of Africa into the global community. The most pronounced contacts south of the Sahara were in the Sudanic states and east Africa, where a fusion of Islamic and African cultures created an important synthesis. Most of Africa evolved in regions free of Islamic contact. In Benin, the Yoruba states, Great Zimbabwe, and the Kongo, Africans developed their own concepts of kingship and the state. Many other Africans organized their lives in stateless societies

Global Connections: The Mongol Linkages.

The legacy of the Mongol period was bothcomplex and durable. The Mongols brought the Muslim and

European worlds new military knowledge, especially the use of gunpowder. Trade and cultural contact between different civilizations throughout Eurasia became much easier. The trading empires established in their dominions by Venetians and Genoese provided experience useful for later European expansion.

An unintended consequence was the transmitting of the fleas carrying the bubonic plague—the Black Death—from China and central Asia to the Middle East and Europe.