Key Concept 3.3: Increased Economic Productive Capacity & Its Consequences Period 3: 600 - 1450
Innovations stimulated agricultural and industrial production in many regions
Ex: Champa Rice Location: China Significance: New strain from Vietnam in 1012 (Song) that cut cultivation time from 180 to 90 days
Ex: Chinampas Location: America Significance: Unique Meso-American “floating” gardens that were built in shallow lake beds. Provided 2/3 of all food to Tenochtitlan
Ex: Waru Waru Location: America Significance: Alternating rows of crops and irrigation channels, limiting erosion and increasing rain water collection
Ex: Terracing Location: Earth (Found from Philippines to Peru) Significance: Used to create arable land on mountainsides, avoiding erosion
Expansion of Industries Increasing demand in Afro-Eurasia for foreign luxury goods- crops transported to equivalent climates Chinese, Persian, and Indian artisans and merchants expanded production of textiles and porcelains for export Industrial production of iron and steel expanded in China
The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline, and with periods of increased urbanization buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks
Decline of Post-Classical Cities Invasions Arabs, Mongols, Vikings, Huns, Turks, etc. Disease More Trade = More Disease (Bubonic, Small-Pox) Decline in Agriculture 1 & 2 led to inability to maintain food base “Little Ice Age” Cooling period led to decline in population and food production
Which Cities Declined? Rome Athens Alexandria Chang’an Pataliputra
Rise of Post-Classical Cities End of Invasions Classical invasions ended (others yet to come) Safe Transportation Re-emergence of large empires facilitated Rise in Temperature Warming period predated “Little Ice Age” More Farms = More People Food + Peace = Population Growth More People = More Labor More People = More Labor = More Production
Which Cities Rose? Novgorod Timbuktu Baghdad Huangzhou Venice Calicut
Despite significant continuities in social structures and in methods of production, there were also some important changes in labor management and in the effect of religious conversion on gender relations and family life.
Forms of Labor Organization Free peasant agriculture Nomadic pastoralism Craft production and guild organization Various forms of coerced and unfree labor Government-imposed labor taxes Military obligations
Post-classical diffusion of religion led to significant changes in gender relations and family structure
Buddhism Confucian ideals of patriarchy clashed with Buddhist spiritual equality with little lasting gender change Foot binding did begin in this period in China
Christianity Christian convents (like in Buddhism) provided women a way out of the cycle of marriage child/rearing and provided a path to literacy and learning
Islam Islamic teachings of gender equality were overshadowed by Persian traditions of veiling, seclusion, and the harem
Neoconfucianism Women were subordinate to men “Disorder is produced by women” A woman ruler is a hen crowing” Woman’s greatest duty is to produce a son” Women are to be led and to follow others”