PC+Theme+3

State Building, Expansion, and Conflict, During the Postclassical Period (500-1450) The end of the classical period marked the decline of many civilizations, but the postclassical period brought in an era of innovation and empire. The beginning of the postclassical period issued in many new civilizations spurring lots of state building, expansion, and conflict. Starting with the 6th century China, the era of division ended and China began to reunite and rebuild their empire. Other areas experiencing change include Europe, and the Islamic heartland. The nomads living on the inhabitable area of the Arabian Peninsula began to build a vast empire. The now Muslim people spread quickly and fought hard building a huge empire for themselves spreading from Africa to the edges of modern day India. The people of Islam instilled fear into many civilizations using force to make their own state stronger and bigger. With the fall of Rome Europe split into two regions, the East, and the West. The East was more stable and never really entered into a dark period; they worked through the decline and fall of Rome and built the strong Byzantine Empire. While east Europe was stable, the West was in a period called the Dark Ages. Before the postclassical period came to an end the Dark Ages ended, and Western Europe also began to build several strong dominant states during a period called the Renaissance.

Throughout the region each empire was busy with protecting their empire and expanding to new areas. The first empire, the Muslim empire, was started when a man named Muhammad united the nomadic clans of the Arabian Peninsula and started the religion of Islam, in which he was the prophet. His followers started the Islamic empire. This empire became extremely vast conquering from North Western Africa all the way to the edges of India, however their influence stretched as far as Spain and the islands of South East Asia. Some of these regions had people of different faiths, called people of the book. A treaty was made called the [|Pact of Umar], preventing the Muslims from building mosques, or any other influencing of their religion. The Muslims had rulers called caliphs, who were not only political leaders but religious leaders as well. This concept was much like the mandate of heaven, and son of heaven in China, stating that the Chinese emperors were divine beings. Among the areas of the Islamic Empire was Africa, where the Muslim people influenced along North and West Africa. Their dominance was not complete but they did have a lot of cultural influence.

At the end of the era of division and the start of the post-classical period the Tang and Song dynasties ruled China until the Mongols took over. Before the Tang and Song Dynasty the Sui dynasty reunited the empire only to let it collapse into another era of chaos. The Tang Dynasty started the first stable dynasty since the collapse of the Jin dynasty, due to northern barbarians. Tang China was very innovative and very culturally focused. Tang Song China sinified Korea Japan and Vietnam, making them culturally similar to China however not truly under their control. The most sinified of these areas was Korea, and they were the only people to willfully accept the influence. Song dynasty China was very innovative and artistic. They were famous for their [|paintings] and other art. The Song dynasty lasted until conquered by the Mongols. The Mongols took over China after the Song dynasty and lasted until the Ming dynasty. Mongols originated as nomadic clans living north of China but the young Temujin, also known as Chinggis Khan, or Genghis Khan, was appointed to the great Khan, unification spread. The Mongols were extremely talented in the art of war. Their experience as hunters most likely aided their warring abilities as archers and horsemen. They spread and conquered anyone that they pleased. They were looking for booty and territory. Chinggis Khan died after several years of campaigning and the Mongol territory was divided into four territories or Khanates divided amongst his sons and grandsons. The North Western state was called the Golden Horde and went about conquering Russia and starting on Eastern Europe, however they decide their territory was enough and stopped the conquest. The South Western state conquered Baghdad in 1252 successfully ending the caliphate and the Islamic empire. This was the last major conquest by the Mongols. On the other side of the Mongol empire the Mongols were trying to finish taking control of China. They managed to create their Yuan dynasty, started by Kublai Khan and had a great influence on the Chinese before their demise. The Mongols were very open to outside ideas having no real defined religion or any other systems. They encouraged outside ideas and had people such as Marco Polo from Italy be officials in their government.

After the fall of Rome the Europe went into decline reaching the Dark Ages, a time of little innovation or expansion. With the arrival of the Dark Ages Europe split into two regions, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe remained alive with the Byzantine Empire, which fell after the demise of Constantinople in 1453. The rise of Western Europe, the start of western expansion, and the decline of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of the postclassical period in Europe. West Europe made a lot of progress after the Dark Ages. They divided into feudal kingdoms during this period called the Middle Ages. There was almost no expansion during this period, however it was followed by a time that can be considered the most expansion in history. West Europe was confined to this area and the biggest conflict was the 100 years' war between the feudal kingdoms of France and England. West Europe brought in many new styles, including art. The West was very innovative and resourceful. Western Europe saw out the gothic style of architecture. Their state building was mostly centered on economy and intellectuality as shown by the development of banking and the development of universities. Their state building also included social stratification with their own social patriarchy like most other kingdoms. In the post-classical period the theme of state building, expansion, and conflict are extremely prevalent. Empires grew all over the known world during this time. In China the Tang and Song dynasties ended and brought forth Mongol rule. In Arabia and Africa the Islamic empire spread rapidly until their destruction by the Mongols in 1252. In Eastern Europe the fall of Rome was much less intense than in Western Europe. Eastern Europe had the Byzantine empire which was like a continuation of the Roman empire. Western Europe fell into a period called the Dark Ages, when they had almost no innovation. The world issued in a new era of even greater exploration, expansion and innovation, during which the "new world" was found and some of the greatest and most important expansion was done.