UGC 112 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture I Themes of the Course II India s Cultural Mosaic III Religions How Many Adherents IV Rajas and Sultans V The Black Death World History is Global History Themes of the Course Interconnection and divergence regions developed different and different populations of people stood apart from other areas of the world until traders explorers or missionaries influenced them The recurring efforts of people to cross religious political and cultural borders brought the world together Transformations and conflicts came about from the trans regional crossing of ideas goods and peoples Power shifts within and between regions explain which parts of the world and regional groups were positively influenced and which opposed it 1000 1300 Afro Eurasia experienced a rise in population and overall prosperity The world also divided into regional zones and trade quickly grew II India s cultural mosaic India was called a cultural mosaic at this time because the Islamic faith joined others and made the region very diverse India portrayed how cross cultural integration can preserve diversity as well as supporting unity Hinduism 80 percent 900 million people were Hindus in India Doesn t even count Nepal Fiji Guyana etc Buddhism Purified movement in Hinduism Maintains the concept that the soul is eternal They had a different approach than Hindus regarding life and suffering though Sikhism Movement for purification in Hinduism Golden temple is where a Sikh must go during their lifetime These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute India continued India became the most diverse and somewhat most tolerant regions in Afro Eurasia during the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth centuries Cultural linguistic diversity more than 30 languages with one million plus speakers and it had 22 official languages Hindus assimilated the Turkish intruders and the Turks went along with it The Turks saw themselves as Indians practically with the exception that they kept their Islamic beliefs and steppe ways Persian became the administrative language Rulers collected their jizya tax and permitted communities to worship as they saw fit and administer their own law Islam showed that they did not have to conquer over people to prosper Buddhism had been on the decline in India for centuries but it nonetheless became part of this conglomeration of cultures Hindus began to see Buddha as one of their deities an incarnation of the great god Vishnu Buddhists in India we re more easily assimilated into the Hindu population or they converted to Islam III Religions How Many Adherents Muslim 1 6 billion Catholics 1 2 billion Protestants 600 800 million Reformation is a shaping factor in American civilization Buddhists 350 million Thailand or Japan Tibet Orthodox Catholics 225 300 million Russians Sikhs 24 million Jews 13 9 million Half in Israel half in United States IV Rajas and Sultans Who what were rajas Turks brought their newfound Islamic beliefs as they came to India India had the world s second largest population at 80 million people with China being number one at 120 million Before the Turks there were chiefs called rajas that considered themselves kings They implored support from Brahmans by giving them land The Brahmans wanted to make the land arable so they constructed temples converted the indigenous hunter gatherer people to the Hindu faith and taught these converts how to cultivate the land This helped spread the tax base for themselves and the rajas all while spreading their faith Sultans political leaders who combined a warrior ethos with a devotion to Islam Delhi Sultanate the most powerful and enduring of the Turkish Muslim regimes of northern India 1206 1526 whose rulers strengthened the cultural diversity and tolerance that were already a hallmark of the Indian social order The sultans did not force their subjects to convert so South Asia did not become an Islamicdominant country The Delhi Sultanate did not strictly enforce cultural equality but they created a powerful regime Caste The Turks introduced their own custom but accepted local social structures such as the caste system Jati more than 4000 remain basis of Hindu society The European High Middle Ages Lecture came from a verb meaning to read Islamic learning imported Trade expanded but suddenly contracted V The Black Death The first major outbreak occurred in the 1320s in southwestern China Spread from China along major trade routes Infected victims died quickly It periodically swept through much of the world and caused immense casualties Chinese population plunged from 120 million to 80 million and Europe s population downsized by one third Possible explanation climate changes as Central Asian steppe borderlands dried up rats may have been forced out of their living spaces and made the pastoral people who carried the strains to move closer to settled agricultural communities The shortage of necessities led to rising prices unrest and work stoppages