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Samenvatting Wereldgeschiedenis
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Dit is de samenvatting van het vak wereldgeschiedenis op de HVA. Het is voor de toets van blok 3 in het tweede semester. Het gaat om de eerste 13 hoofdstukken.
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Hoofdstuk 3: HarappanLike societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the earliest urban society in south Asia was built by
indigenous Indian peoples in the valley of a river, the Indus, whose waters were available for irrigation
of crops. This society—called Harappan society after one of its two chief cities—thrived between about
3000 B.C.E. and 1900 B.C.E.
Another reason is the lack of deciphered written records, because scholars have so far been unable to
understand the complex pictographic Harappan script. As a result, our understanding of Harappan
society depends entirely on the study of accessible material remains.
The Indus River As the waters reach the lowlands, the Indus deposits huge quantities of silt on its
banks. Although the Indus periodically caused extensive destruction from flooding, it did make
agricultural society possible in northern India. Early cultivators sowed their crops along its banks in
September, after the flood receded, and harvested their crops the following spring.
As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, agricultural surpluses in India vastly increased the food supply,
stimulated population growth, and supported the establishment of cities and specialized labor.
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro No evidence survives concerning the Harappan political system,
although archaeological excavations do not suggest a royal or imperial authority. However, both
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had city walls, a fortified citadel, and a large granary, suggesting that they
served as centers of political. The two cities represented a considerable investment of human labor
and other resources: both featured marketplaces, temples, public buildings, extensive residential
districts, and broad streets laid out on a carefully planned grid.
The two cities clearly established the patterns that shaped the larger society: weights, measures,
architectural styles, and even brick sizes were consistent throughout the land.
Specialized Labor and Trade Like other complex societies in ancient times, Harappa engaged in
trade, both domestic and foreign.
Social Distinctions Like societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt, Harappan society generated
considerable wealth. It is clear from Harappan dwellings that rich and poor lived in very different styles.
In Mohenjo-daro, for example, many people lived in one-room tenements in barracks-like structures,
but there were also individual houses of two and three stories with a dozen rooms and an interior
courtyard, as well as a few even larger houses. Almost all houses had private rooms for bathing, as
well as toilets that drained into city sewage systems, which themselves were among the most
sophisticated of the ancient world.
Harappan Decline Sometime after 1900 B.C.E. Harappan society entered a period of decline. A
primary cause was ecological degradation: in clearing the land for cultivation and firewood, Harappans
deforested the Indus valley. by 1500 B.C.E. even the smaller Harappan cities had almost entirely
collapsed.
THE INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATIONS AND EARLY VEDIC INDIA
Some scholars believe that during the second millennium B.C.E., as Harappan society declined, bands
of nomadic herders filtered into the Indian subcontinent. Most prominent were nomadic and pastoral
peoples speaking Indo-European languages who called themselves Aryans (“noble ones
Although there is much scholars don't yet know about Indo-Aryan migrations, they appear to have
taken place over several centuries: there is no indication that they conquered or destroyed Harappan
society.
,The Early Aryans When they entered India, the Aryans depended heavily on a pastoral economy.
They especially prized their horses and herds of cattle. the Aryans harnessed horses to carts, and
they also hitched them to chariots for use in warfare. Meanwhile, cattle became the principal measure
of wealth in early Aryan society.
The Vedas The early Aryans did not use writing but instead preserved extensive collections of
religious and literary works by transmitting them orally from one generation to another in their sacred
language, Sanskrit. The earliest of these orally transmitted works were the Vedas, which were
collections of hymns, songs, prayers, and rituals honoring the various gods of the Aryans
Aryan Migrations in India Agricultural surpluses encouraged larger populations and more
complex social organization, and by about 750 B.C.E., Aryans had established the first small cities in
the Ganges River valley
As Vedic society became more complex and generated increasingly specialized occupations, the
caste system served as the umbrella for a complicated hierarchy of subcastes known as jati, which
were hereditary categories largely determined by occupation.
. Members of a jati ate with one another and intermarried, and they cared for those who became ill or
fell on hard times. Elaborate rules dictated forms of address and specific behavior appropriate for
communication between members of different castes and subcastes. Violation of jati rules could result
in expulsion from the larger group
Caste and Social Mobility The caste system never functioned in an absolutely rigid or inflexible
manner but, rather, operated so as to accommodate social change. Individuals sometimes prospered
on the basis of their own initiative, or else they could fall on hard times and move down in the social
hierarchy. More often, however, social mobility came about as members of a jati improved their
condition collectively. Achieving upward mobility was not an easy matter—it often entailed moving to a
new area, or at least taking on a new line of work—
A text from about the first century B.C.E., called the Lawbook of Manu, illustrates the patriarchal
ideologies that helped structure Indian society. The author advised men to treat women with honor and
respect, but he insisted that women remain subject to the guidance of the principal men in their lives.
The Lawbook also specified that the most important duties of women were to bear children and
maintain wholesome homes for their families.
Another was the doctrine of karma, which accounted for the specific incarnations that souls
experienced. According to this doctrine, individuals who lived virtuous lives and fulfilled all their duties
could expect rebirth into a purer and more honorable existence—for example, into a higher and more
distinguished caste. Those who accumulated a heavy burden of karma, however, would suffer in a
future incarnation by being reborn into a difficult existence, or perhaps even into the body of an animal
or an insect.
Yet even under the best of circumstances, the cycle of rebirth involved a certain amount of pain and
suffering. The authors of the Upanishads sought to escape the cycle altogether and attain the state
of moksha,
THE FORTUNES OF EMPIRE IN CLASSICAL INDIA
. Alexander remained in India for only two years, and he did not make a deep impression on the
Punjabi people. Yet his campaign had an important effect on Indian history, since he created a political
vacuum in northwestern India by destroying the existing states and then withdrawing his forces.
Chandragupta Maurya During the late 320s B.C.E., an ambitious adventurer named Chandragupta
Maurya exploited that opportunity and laid the foundation for the Mauryan empire, the first state to
, bring a centralized, unified government to most of the Indian subcontinent. By the end of the fourth
century B.C.E., Chandragupta's empire embraced all of northern India from the Indus to the Ganges.
the ancient Indian political handbook, the Arthashastra.
Ashoka encouraged the expansion of agriculture by building irrigation systems. He encouraged trade
by building roads. Ashoka also provided comforts for administrators, merchants, and other travelers.
Decline of the Mauryan Empire
During its later years the Mauryan empire suffered from acute financial and economic difficulties. By
about 185 B.C.E., almost fifty years after Ashoka's death, the Mauryan empire had disappeared.
The Emergence of Regional Kingdoms and the Revival of Empire
Bactrian Rule in Northwestern India
northwestern India fell under the rule of Greek-speaking conquerors from Bactria. Bactria was a
thriving commercial center. Bactrian rule had the effect of promoting cross-cultural interaction and
exchange in northern India.
The Kushan Empire
several groups of nomadic conquerors from central Asia attacked Bactria and eventually put an end to
the Greco-Bactrian kingdom there. The most successful of those conquerors were the Kushans. the
Kushan empire played a crucial role in the silk roads network by pacifying much of the large region.
Long-Distance Trade
Cotton, aromatics, black pepper, pearls, and gems were the principal Indian exports, in exchange for
which Indian merchants imported horses and bullion from western lands and silk from China.
Trade in the Indian Ocean Basin During the Mauryan era merchants continued to use land
routes, but they increasingly turned to the sea to transport their goods.
Family Life and the Caste System
Gender Relations
The two great Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, commonly portrayed women as
weak-willed and emotional creatures and exalted wives who devoted themselves to their husbands.
Wives often came to dominate domestic affairs in their households, but older men and encouraged
them to devote themselves to family matters rather than to public affairs in the larger society.
Social Order After their arrival in India, the Aryans recognized four main castes, or classes of
people: brahmins (priests), kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats), vaishyas (peasants and merchants),
and shudras(serfs). Brahmins in particular endorsed this social order.
the guilds functioned as subcastes based on occupation, known as jati. These jati, in turn, assumed
much of the responsibility for maintaining social order in India.
Traditional social theory accorded special honor to the brahmins and the kshatriyas because of the
worthy lives they had led during previous incarnations. trade and industry brought prosperity to many
vaishyas and even shudras. Economic development and social change in classical India had profound
implications for the established cultural as well as the social order.
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