Geography – Religions – Economies – Revolutions – Nationalism

Geography – Religions – Economies – Revolutions – Nationalism

Geography and its Effects

•       Monsoons: “feast or famine” of South Asia, Green Revolution

•       Irregular coastline: Italy has many natural ports, inviting trade & Renaissance

•       Land Bridge:  Korea serves as a cultural bridge for cultural diffusion between Japan and China

•       Great Eurasian Plain: allowed easy invasions of Poland and Soviet Union (WWII)

•       Natural resources:  iron ore and coal in Great Britain - Industrial Revolution

•       Rivers: early civilizations emerge; Nile River, Indus River, Huang He

•       Island status:  Japan’s limited natural resources - imperialism & industrialization, Great Britain- strength of navy, trade

•       Harsh winter:  Russia’s “General Winter” helped defeat Napoleon and Hitler

•       Desertification:  arable land turning to desert

•       Sahel region of Sahara Desert in Africa

•       Causes: overgrazing, cutting down forests

•       Effects: Sahara Desert grows 50 miles/yr, famine

•       Solutions: education, planting trees to reduce soil erosion, crop rotation, international aid

•       Deforestation: destruction of forests

•       Brazil, India, Indonesia

•       Cause:  developing nations looking to sell lumber or clear land to grow crops, graze cattle or build homes

•       Effects: Losing 50 million acres of tropic forest each year, greenhouse effect, soil erosion, extinction of certain plants and animals

•       Solutions: education, planting trees, population control, economic development

•       Overpopulation (too many people for the available resources)

•       Causes: traditional values, laborers, lack of birth control

•       China, India, Bangladesh

•       Effects: World population of 6.2 billion and growing, drain on resources (including energy, education, food, farmland and water)

•       Solutions: education, family planning, China’s “one-child” policy

Religions

•       Judaism

–      Israel, created in 1948

–      Holy Book: Torah

–      Three beliefs: monotheistic, God gave Hebrews the land of Canaan (Israel), 10 Commandments

–      Spread throughout world as a result of Diaspora

–      Impact: Zionism (Jewish nationalism), conflict in the Middle East, anti-Semitism during Middle Ages, Holocaust, Russian pogroms, creation of Israel as a Jewish homeland

•       Christianity

–      Western Europe, Latin America (Catholic)

–      Holy Book: Bible

–      Three beliefs: monotheistic, Jesus Christ as savior, 10 Commandments

–      Spread through Age of Imperialism (White Man’s Burden)

–      Impact: Crusades, dominant institution during the Middle Ages, Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther)

•       Islam -- Middle East (except Israel), Africa, Indonesia (largest Muslim country in the world)

–      Holy Book: Quran (Koran)

–      Three beliefs: monotheistic, Five Pillars (faith, prayer, charity, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca), Sharia (Islamic laws)

–      Spread through trade and conquest

–      Impact: unites most of Middle East, Islamic fundamentalism in Iran (1979), Crusades (Jihad), creation of Pakistan after the partitioning of India in 1947

•       Hinduism - India

–      Sacred text: Vedas &Upanishads

–      Basic beliefs:  several gods, caste system, reincarnation, karma, dharma, sacred cow, Ganges River is sacred

–      Impact: caste system remains strong in rural areas but is weakening in cities, many Hindus are vegetarians (Sepoy Mutiny), partitioning of India in 1947

Religions continued:

•       Buddhism

–      Southeast Asia, China (spread from India - an example of cultural diffusion)

–      Basic beliefs: reincarnation, nirvana, Four Nobel Truths

•       life is full of suffering

•       suffering is caused by a desire for things

•       suffering can be eliminated by eliminating desire

•       following the Eightfold Path will help overcome desire (right thinking and action)

•       Confucianism  - China

–      Basic beliefs: Five Basic Human Relationships, education should be the road to advancement, filial piety (respect for family), Mandate of Heaven (rule must benefit people or may be lost - unlike divine right)

–      Impact: provides social order and encourages education

Economies

•       Traditional:  based on subsistence farming

•       Manorialism: based on feudal  manor (little trade)

•       Mercantilism: nations sought to export more than import/ favorable balance of trade (led to imperialism)

•       Free market/ Laissez-faire capitalism: based on profit, private ownership, little gov’t interference

•       Command/ communism/ Marxist socialism: gov’t makes all economic decisions, no private ownership, proletariat (workers) control means of production

Revolutions

•       Revolution=overthrow of a pre-existing way

•       Neolithic Revolution: FROM nomadic tribes TO domestication of animals and farming gave rise to early civilizations (food surplus)

•       Commercial Revolution: FROM limited trade TO urban centers, new middle class and  changes in business practices(mercantilism & capitalism)

•       Scientific Revolution: FROM medieval thinking based on Church’s teachings TO use of observation and reason

•       Glorious Revolution: FROM absolutist policies of James II TO signing of Bill of Rights limiting power of the monarchy in Great Britain

•       French Revolution: FROM absolute monarchy of Louis XVI TO democratic ideals of Enlightenment, end of estate system

•       Industrial Revolution: FROM cottage industry (goods made at home by hand) TO factory system, women working, higher standard of living, reform movement

•       Russian Revolution: FROM Czarist autocratic rule of Nicholas II TO communist rule under Lenin (Russia was the first communist nation)

•       Chinese Revolution: FROM warlord control and civil war with Nationalists TO communist rule under Mao Zedong (supported by peasants)

•       Iranian Revolution: FROM western rule of Shah Reza Pahlevi TO Islamic Fundamentalist rule of Ayatollah Khomeini

•       Green Revolution: FROM limited crop yield TO double crop yield in South/Southeast Asia

Nationalism

•       All nationalists want independence from foreign rule

•       Latin America: Simon Bolivar, Toussaint L’Overture, Jose de San Martin

•       Italy: Cavour, Mazzini, Garabaldi

•       India: Mohandas Gandhi

•       Africa: Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana)

•       China: Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek

•       Palestine: Yasir Arafat

•       Karl Marx (Marxist/ Marxist Socialism/ communism)

•       V.I. Lenin (Russia/U.S.S.R.)

•       Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)

•       Mikhail Gorbachev (last communist leader of the Soviet Union)

•       Fidel Castro (Cuba)

•       Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping (China)

•       Ho Chi Mihn (Vietnam)

•       Kim Jong-Il (North Korea)

Nationalism continued:

Supporters of Westernization

•       All supported modernization

•       Russia: Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Stalin

•       Iran:  Shah Reza Pahlevi

•       Turkey:  Kemel Ataturk

•       Japan:  Emperor Meiji

Ruthless Leaders

•       Adolf Hitler leader of Nazis(Germany)

•       Pol Pot leader of Khmer Rouge (Cambodia)

•       Slobadon Milosevic leader of Serbs (Serbia)

•       Mao Zedong leader of Red Guard (China)

•       Joseph Stalin leader of network of terror (Soviet Union)

Religious Leaders

•       Martin Luther:

–      Goal:  to reform Roman Catholic Church

–      Posted 95 Thesis

–      Ideas: church corruption must end - including the sale of indulgences, believed that faith alone  - not the Pope and clergy - were needed for salvation

–      Impact:  Protestant Reformation shatters religious unity in Western Europe

•       Ayatollah Khomeini

–      Goal: remove Shah Reza Pahlavi and create an Islamic Fundamentalist state in Iran

–      Impact: 1979 Islamic (Iranian) Revolution, government required strict adherence to Muslim traditions and enacted anti-western policies, held Americans hostage for over one year, women lost rights

Types of Governments

•       Democracy: gov’t by the consent of the people, gov’t to protect individual rights

–      Direct:  Athens

–      Indirect: Rome

–      Parliamentary: Britain & India

–      Expands to Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, also the trend in Latin America and Africa

–      Word association: Pericles, John Locke, Enlightenment

•       Communism/Marxist socialism: government control of economy, “classless” society, strict gov’t controls. COLD WAR: policy of containment: stop the spread of communism

–      Russia/Soviet Union, V.I. Lenin, Stalin:  1917 (Russia is NO longer communist!)

–      China, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping:  1949

–      Cuba, Fidel Castro: 1959

–      Vietnam: Ho Chi Mihn:  1975

–      North Korea: Kim Jong Ill

•       Totalitarian/Authoritarian: Total control (Stalin)

•       Fascist: Dictator, extreme nationalism (Hitler, Mussolini)

•       Theocracy: Religious rule (Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Taliban in Afghanistan)

•       Autocratic: Rule by one (Czars of Russia)

•       Absolute rule: Divine right (King Louis XIV and Louis XVI)

•       Feudalism: Local control (NOT king), strict social system (Western Europe and Japan)

Human Rights Violations

•       Examples of Genocide (mass murder of a group of people)

–      Armenians during WWI

–      Holocaust (Jews and others) during WWII

–      educated persons under the Khmer Rouge

–      Hutus and Tutsies in Rwanda

–      Muslims in Bosnia by Serbs

Nationalism continued:

Cultural Contributions

•       Early Civilizations

–      Mesopotamia: legal system (Code of Hammurabi), wheel, irrigation, Cuneiform (writing system of Sumerians)

–      Ancient Egypt: hieroglyphics, medicine, architecture

–      Phoenicians:  alphabet

–      Ancient China: silk-making, gunpowder

–      Ancient Hebrews: monotheism, Ten Commandments

EMPIRES:  all expanded their territory and control through conquest.

–      African Kingdoms: Ghana, Mali & Songhai (thrived on trade of gold and salt, Mansa Musa adopted Islam - example of cultural diffusion)

–      Middle East:  Byzantine Empire (Justinian Code, Eastern Orthodox, Constantinople, trade, influences Russia) Ottoman Empire(Suleiman the Magnificent tolerated Jews and Christians, falls after WWI)

–      Europe: Roman Empire (Pax Romana, rise of Christianity, decline into Dark Ages)

–      Latin America: Maya, Aztec, Inca Empires (rigid social structure, polytheistic, advances in architecture, calendar)

–      India: Mughal Empire (Akbar the Great practiced religious toleration between Muslims and Hindus

Organizations and Groups:

–      European Union: a growing group made up of both Western and Eastern nations. Its goal is to expand free trade by ending tariffs. Uses common currency called the euro.

–      PLO : (Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Yasir Arafat) Its goal it to create an independent state of Palestine. (in conflict with Israeli Jews)

–      OPEC: (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) Its goal is to control the oil industry by setting production levels and prices.

–      United Nations (UN): Its goals are to promote global peace and encourage economic and social well-being.

–      NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization; a military alliance between democratic nations after WWII

–      WARSAW PACT: a counter military alliance made up of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations (communist)

–      NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement: its goal is to promote trade free of tariffs  (has pros and cons)

Nationalism:  devotion to one’s country, especially to be independent and free from foreign control(hook up with self-determination / independence movements)

–      Groups seeking independence

–      Chechyns in Russia

–      Tibetans in China

–      Palestinians in Palestine

–      Kurds in Iraq

–      Albanians in Kosovo

IMPERIALISM:  taking over territory for raw materials, markets, power and prestige

–      NEGATIVE: treated natives as inferior, exploited natural resources, forced labor

–      POSITIVE: brought technology, medicine and infrastructure

–      AFRICA:  1880s, disregarded boundaries and traditions, White Man’s Burden, Scramble for colonies (MauMau Uprising)

–      CHINA: spheres of influence (Boxer Rebellion)

–      INDIA: British rule (Gandhi’s civil disobedience)

Conflicts

•       Cold War:  Berlin Blockade, Berlin Wall, Bay of Pigs (Cuba), Cuban Missile Crisis, Korean War, Vietnam War

•       Israelis and Palestinians: conflict over Holy Land.  Israelis believe God gave the land to them and Palestinians say they were living there.  Palestinians fled to neighboring nations after the creation of Israel. Four wars - Israel wins all.  Palestinians have limited self-rule in Gaza Strip and West Bank and want statehood