HIST 2B Lecture 1: History 2B 1
12 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Transportation by horse is exclusive to the elites. Pastoralists (semi)-nomadic; move around with flocks of animals raise cattle. Seen as primitive, violent savages fraught relationship with farmers. Cultural other ; eurasia"s middlemen: goods are transferred from nomads. Land: sustenance, basis of wealth and power: control of land is key for social mobility. Documentation: state wants to take as much surplus. Peasants: 4/5ths of europe"s population c. 1000. Free, unfree tenant cultivators: unfree peasants or serfs have no rights. Landlord-tenant relationships: vary by region: control what they grow. Bureaucratic elites- in charge of documentation, taxes: serve warrior elite. Marriage, inheritance: control of female bodies (sexual activity: applies to hunter gatherers, pastoralists, and agrarian societies. Kaifeng, china; baghdad, iraq; cordoba, al-andalus (spain) Political, economic hub: expand through water. Women worked in libraries and as copyists. Islam confined in northern africa and middle east. Exposed to potential threats from all sides. Islamic lands are bordered by oceans, mountains, and deserts.
