Tuesday, September 29, 2009

What inference can you make from study the map about Mauryan dynasty? and what were the result of these interactions?

From studying the map, I can see that there are many cities in the Mauryan dynasty. Some cities are close to another and some are further apart to another. People trade to another places from city to city. They have to take overland routes from one city to another city.
This tells me that the traders faced many dangers along the road when they traveled because it is obvious that overland travels were both difficult and dangerous as they had to follow rough paths through jungles that were inhabited by wild animals and fierce tribes.
This map also tells me that people of the Indus Valley Civilisation and Mesopotamia interacted with each other.

As a result of the interactions between the Indus people and the Mesopotamians, some archaeologists think that the Indus people might have borrowed the idea of using seals to mark their goods from the Mesopotamians, an older civilisation. This is because the seals were found to be similar.

Impacts of Religion and How did Hinduism and Buddhism spread to SouthEast Asia?

In Southeast Asia, religions had great impacts on the way that the people lived. The religions guided many Southeast Asian rulers in the way the governed.

For example, Khmer kings became devarajas and had their people construct capital cities in which their palaces represented the home of the gods.
Meanwhile, many rulers of island Southeast Asia adopted Islam and called themselves sultans. Hence, their kingdoms were called sultanates.

People of Southeast Asia did not entirely follow the teachings of their new religions and abandon their old beliefs. They combined their older beliefs with the teachings of their new religions.

For example, upon their conversion to Islam, rulers of maritime Southeast Asian kingdoms no longer saw themselves as gods but they continued to use emblems of his kingship, which were usually used by divine Hindu kings.

Up till to day, the 3 religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam) are still used and taught in Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei are countries where the majority of the people are Muslims. While in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, people are mostly Buddhists. In Southeast Asia, Hinduism only survived in the Indonesian island of Bali.

Indus Valley Civilisation, 4 Ques -

1. Write down why, how and what had happened to have caused a rapid end to the Indus Valley Civilisation.

Indus Valley Civilisation started to decline around 1500 BCE. Mohenjo-daro Harappa started to get abandoned around 1200 BCE.
This might have been caused by floods. the evidence is the signs of constant rebuilding of walls and foundations of houses in the remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
These floods might have destroyed the irrigation systems that the people depended on for their farming, and might have also caused mosquitos to breed which led to outbreaks of malaria.
The rapid decline of Indus Valley Civilisation speeded up when it was invaded by the Aryans.

2. Has there been evidence of artifacts found which would indicate that the people of Indus Valley Civilisation had a system of communication? Support your answer with the images or data collected and compiled by historians.

Seals or ceramic pots has insriptions that are no more than 4 or 5 characters in length; the longest is 26 characters. But comparative studies have shown that Indus writing evolved into the much later Brahmi script.

The inscriptions are so short, some scholars wonder whether the Indus script fell short of a true writing system. Still, it is possible that longer texts were written in perishable media. Morever, there is one, small piece of evidence suggesting that the script embodies a well-known,
widespread, and complex communication system. Evidence has been found that appears to be the remnants of a large sign that was mounted above the gate to the city. It was probably designed to inform travelers of the city's name, analogous to the welcome signs seen today along highways leading to major cities.






3.Find at least 3 more possible occupation and support your findings with images and explanation.

1. craftsmen
there should be craftsmen in Indus Valley Civilization who built features like great bath, citadel, and bathing platforms.

2. traders
there should be traders in Indus Valley Civilization who is more wealthy and have private wells. traders usually go to other places/civilization to trade their goods.

3. priests
the great bath is believed to be used for religious bathing and automatically, there should be priests who conduct and lead these activities/ceremonies.

4. You are to gather at least 3 more images taken by historians/archaelogists of buildings/structures/artifacts found in the Indus Valley Civilisation. Name them and explain it's possible usuage by the people in that civilisation.


The picture above shows a blocked drain. this is because drains have became useless and and were blocked with debris and bricked wall due to the rising of street levels.


The picture above shows the ancient private well in the city of Mohenjo-Daro. Private wells are rebuilt over many generations to serve the needs of a large household or neighborhood.

The picture above shows a public well in the southern Harappa. these public bathing area may also have been used for washing clothes as is common in many traditional cities in Pakistan and India today.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

What had happened c.1150 BCE?

The last Shang was killed in c. 1150 BCE. The dynasty that ruled next was the Western Zhou dynasty (1027- 771 BCE). The Zhou kings had a similar culture to the Shang kings. Thus, the change in dynasty did not result in the end of the Shang Civilisation.Around 771 BCE, a group of people killed the Zhou king. This forced his own son to move his capital eastward. His dynasty was known as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771-221 BCE).

However, fighting between the people continued and the last 232 years of the Eastern Zhou dynasty was known as the Period of the Warring States. During this period, the northern part of China was broken up into several competing kingdoms. Finally in 221 BCE, a prince managed to unite these kingdoms to form the first Chinese empire under the the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Recap Question, Chapter 2, Page 23

1. primary sources are the sources that is directly involved in the historical event.
secondary sources are the sources that did not directly involved/take place when the historical event occurred. secondary sources are usually the result of researches of primary sources.

2. they use the 3Cs test--- credibility, consistency, corroboration.
credibility is the test to ensure that the source is credible. consistency is the test to ensure the source is consistent by looking its statements. corroboration is corroborating the source with other sources and compare them.

3. it is necessary because they cannot just believe an unreliable source as an evidence. so they have to revise their interpretations of past events everytime they are interpreting their skills or testing a source.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Recap Question, Chapter 1, Page 9

1. we learn about what happened in the past, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened, to whom it happened and what its consequences were.

2. understanding change and how our society came to be, learning from past successes and failures, understanding and respecting one another and developing our critical thinking skills