Top Secret Assignment

By Agent YB SinghBetter known as:

Agent Yashie Boy Singh

(click here to go to the table of contents)

Table of Contents

Summary of Byzantine Empire

Summary of Islamic CivilizationSummary of African KingdomsFocus 1: Byzantine Empire: Justinian Focus 2: Byzantine Empire: IconsFocus 1: Islamic Civilization:CaliphsFocus 2: Islamic Civilization: KaabaFocus 1:African Kingdoms: Slave TradeFocus 2: African Kingdoms: Sundiata Keita

Summary 1: Byzantine Empire Rome fell in 476 AD. But did it really fall? Yes, the Western Roman Empire crumbled, but what

about the Eastern Roman Empire? That continued on until 1453. It was known as the Byzantine Empire.

The location of the Byzantine Empire helped the empire. This empire wasn’t even close to the size of other empires, so it was pretty small and easy to defend. It was close to Africa, so the empire traded their goods for gold and ivory in Africa. It was close to the Europe/Asia border.

This empire had good rulers. Emperor Justinian was the best ruler. He stopped a rebellion. He made a law code (which influences the format of today’s law codes) that cured the empire’s original code. He built a church (the Hagia Sophia). He gave women and the poor their rights.

The economy was based on trade. Once they found out the secret of silk from china. They made major silk industries. They traded for goods and money. They used the money for art, music and education.

The religion was Christianity. The empire used icons, two dimensional mosaics or paintings of a person or a scene to teach Christianity. People later argued over these and thought that these were used for idol worship. In the end, icons were used.

The culture was mostly Greek. The leaders and rulers spoke and wrote in Greek. The most favorite sport was chariot racing. The stadium for chariot racing was known as a hippodrome.

In conclusion, the Byzantine Empire was a well developed civilization that lasted almost 1000 years.

Summary 2:Islamic Civilization

During the peak of the Byzantine Empire, another civilization began to form in the Arabian Peninsula. This was the Islamic Civilization.

There was a man named Muhammad, who spread the religion of Islam. When his own city, Mecca, didn’t accept his message, Muhammad and his followers journeyed to a city named Yathrib. Muhammad was made the leader. He told the Islam religion and raised an army. He then conquered Mecca. He made Mecca the holy city of Islam, knocking down the statues of the false gods and putting up statues of Allah, the true god in the Kaaba.

After Muhammad died, Caliphs (successors to Muhammad) took over. They spread Islam to Spain. The last group of Caliphs didn’t expand the civilization because of other empires. This age of caliphs was known as the Golden Age of the Islamic Civilization. Islam expanded on education, architecture, art, and science. After that, the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks took over Islam.

Muhammad influenced today’s religion. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, was believed to be written by Muhammad’s followers and told by Muhammad himself. Muslims prayed in the holy places of worship: Mosques.

There are five pillars that all Muslims must do: pray five times daily, give charity to the poor, fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan, make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime, and believe that there is one god: Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.

The Islamic Civilization was a very successful empire, and it still exists today.

Summary 3: African Kingdoms There was a very great amount of Kingdoms in Africa in the Middle Ages. There was Great Zimbabwe, which was located in the Southern Savanna. There were hunters who hunted the animals in the savanna. They were a great kingdom but suddenly (and mysteriously) disappeared. Some historians believe the reason was overpopulation. The two Rainforest Kingdoms were Benin and Congo. They relied on the vegetation, animals, and trees (which provided shade, food and shelter). Benin was good at sculpting woods and metal, and Congo was good at weaving plant fibers. These Kingdoms became a center of slave trade. There were the West African Kingdoms: Ghana and Mali. Ghana had a famous ruler named Dinge Cisse who united most of West Africa. The economy was based on trade. Mali was a Kingdom who had two famous rulers: Mansa Musa and Sundiatia Keita. The economy was based on trade. They traded gold and salt, which they got from mines.

 

Emperor Justinian was known as one of the greatest Byzantine emperors of all.

One reason was because he readjusted the law code. With the help of the scholar Tribonian, he changed the awful old law cod to a new law code. His law code even influences laws today.

Another reason is that he gave women and the poor their rights. His wife, Empress Theodora, gave him wise advise because she herself was a woman and was poor before she had been chosen as a wife and empress by Justinian.

A third reason is that he stopped a rebellion that the citizens participated in because of the taxes. Justinian wanted to escape, but then he soon regained his courage and stopped the rebellion.

He also reconquered parts of Europe that Rome used to own, with the help of General Belisarius. For a moment in world history, the Byzantine Empire was one of the larger empires in the world.

Therefore, Emperor Justinian was one of the greatest rulers in Byzantine history.

Emperor Justinian

Focus 1: Byzantine Empire: Jusitinian

Back to Byzantine

Empire Summary

Focus 2:Byzantine Empire: Icons Icons were popular to use back in the Middle Ages to teach Christianity, and they are still used today. Icons are two-dimensional, paintings or mosaics of a person or a scene. One example of an Icon would be a painting of Jesus. There was lots of conflict over these at one time. People who opposed these were called “iconoclasts.” The word “iconoclasts” meant “icon breaker.” These iconoclasts believed that icons were used for idol worship. There was more conflict in the empire, (there were actually multiple conflicts in religion at the time) and this conflict had to be resolved. In the end, icons were used, but they were used more in the Eastern Orthodox Church than the Roman Catholic Church (those two were the centers of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire)

(Icon of Jesus on the cross)Back to

Byzantine Empire

Summary

Focus 1:Islamic Civilization: Caliphs Caliphs were known as successors to Muhammad. They carried on the civilization after Muhammad.

The first group of Caliphs were known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs. They were the first four Caliphs after to rule after Muhammad’s death. They expanded Islam into Persia and Egypt. They ruled for about 30 years.

The next group of Caliphs were known as the Umayyad Caliphs. They ruled for the next 100 years. They made Islam so big that it stretched from Spain to Northern India!

The final group of Caliphs were known as the Abbasid Caliphs. They ruled for 250 years! Unfortunately, they didn’t expand Islam. This happened because of other empires (the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of the Franks). Another reason is that these caliphs emphasized art, scholarship, and science instead of conquest.

After that, the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks took over Islam. But there is one conclusion to be made about Caliphs: they made Islam last for a long time!

(Rightly Guided Caliphs)

Back to Islamic

Civilization Summary

Focus 2: Islamic Civilization: Kaaba The Kaaba was a place that is believed

that it existed in the time period of Abraham. The Islamic religion believes in Abraham

(the Abraham in Judaism). It is believed that Abraham and his son, Ishmael built the Kaaba.

The Kaaba still exists today. It is a small building in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Every person who practices the Islamic religion has to make a pilgrimage to the Kaaba at least once in a lifetime.

It is believed that many ancient items are in the Kaaba. There are icons, statues of Allah, ancient copies of the Quran, and much more religious items. Some people even believe that the body of Muhammad rests there to this day.

The Kaaba still stands in the Grand Mosque of Mecca, as an ancient, religious, and great structure.

(The Kaaba)

Back to Islamic

Civilizations

Summary

Focus 1:African Kingdoms: Slave Trade The Rainforest Kingdoms (Benin and Congo) were a common place

for Europeans to trade for slaves. The question is, did Europeans start African slavery?

The answer is no. How is this? The people of Benin and Congo needed labor. Villages got raided of citizens that would soon become slaves.

But there were differences between African slavery and slave trade. In African slavery, you were not taken far away from your home plus there was a chance of escape and freedom. For European slave trade, you were taken far from your home and there was almost no chance of freedom! There was also pay in African slavery and no pay in the European slave trade.

Another detail is the difference of trading for items and trading for slaves. It’s okay to trade an item for an item, but when you are trading a slave for an item, there is a big difference! When you trade a slave, you are saying that a particular human being is worth another item!

Therefore, like lots of other African Kingdoms, Benin and Congo

have been used for slave trade.

(Routes of European Slave Trade)Back to African

Kingdoms Summary

Focus 2: African Kingdoms: Sundiata Kiata There was one ruler of Mali named Sundiata Keita. His name meant “lion king.” He united the kingdom of Mali. His father was a ruler of a kingdom named

Kangaba, a small empire settled on the Niger River. A Kingdom in the north called the Susu invaded Kangaba. Sundiata and his mother were sent to exile to avoid the risk of being assassinated by his jealous half-brother, Kankaran Tuman. His people later called on him to stop his evil brother’s tyranny. In about 1230, Sundiata put together an army in the north, and reconquered Susu provinces. He defeated the main army, which marked the beginning of the Mali empire.

His story actually inspires the movie Lion King. In this story, Simba, after his father, the lion king, dies, he is exiled by his jealous uncle Scar. Scar takes over the lion pride and becomes king. Simba is later called on by the pride to stop Scar’s tyranny, and Simba does.

Therefore, Sundiata Keita was a great ruler of Mali who inspired one of Disney’s greatest hits.

(Area of Medieval Mali)