Unit 1: The Global Tapestry (1200-1450)

Unit 1 surveys how states and belief systems developed across the world from 1200 to 1450. In East Asia, the Song dynasty used Confucian bureaucracy, the civil service exam, and innovations like Champa rice to build a huge commercial economy that influenced Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In Dar al-Islam, the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented and Turkic groups like the Seljuks rose, while Muslim scholars preserved and expanded learning. Compare state building in South and Southeast Asia (Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara, Majapahit), the Americas (Aztecs, Inca, Cahokia), Africa (Mali, Great Zimbabwe, Ethiopia), and feudal Europe. Focus on how rulers used religion and bureaucracy to legitimize power.