Artists and Kings: Yoruba and Benin

flourished between 500 B.C.E. and 200 C.E. Its members developed a realistic art style; they

practiced agriculture and used iron tools. After the Nok disappeared, there was a long hiatus

before the reappearance of regional artistic traditions after 1000 C.E. Non-Bantu-speaking

peoples, the Yoruba, were highly urbanized agriculturists organized into small city-states, each

controlling a radius of about 50 miles. The city-states were under the authority of regional

divine kings presiding over elaborate courts. The kings’ power was limited by other societal

forces. At Oyo, for example, local lineages controlled provinces while paying tribute to the

ruler. In the capital, a council of state and a secret society advised the ruler. Ile-Ife was the

holiest Yoruba city; its subjects after 1200 created terra-cotta and bronze portrait heads that rank

among the greatest achievements of African art. Similar organizational patterns are found

among the Edo peoples to the east. They formed the city-state of Benin in the 14th century

under the ruler Ewuare. They ruled from the Niger River to the coast near Lagos. Benin’s artists

are renowned for their work in ivory and cast bronze.

southern tip of Africa. By around 1000, they were forming states where kinship patterns were

replaced by political authority based on kingship. The Luba peoples, in Katanga, created a form

of divine kingship in which the ruler had powers ensuring the fertility of people and crops. A

hereditary bureaucracy formed to administer the state, thus allowing the integrating of many

people into one political unit.

along the lower Congo River by the late 15th century. It was an agricultural society whose

people were skilled in weaving, potterymaking, blacksmithing, and carving. There was a sharp

gender division of labor: Women dominated crop cultivation and domestic tasks; men cleared the

forest, hunted, and traded. The population resided in small, family-based villages; the area

around the capital, Mbanza Kongo, by the 16th century included up to 100,000 people. A

hereditary central kingship ruled over local nonhereditary chiefs. The Kongo was a federation of

states grouped into eight major provinces. To the east, in central Africa, Shona-speaking peoples

in the region between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers by the 9th century began building royal

stone courts (zimbabwe). The largest, Great Zimbabwe, was the center of a state flourishing by

the 11th century. Massive stone buildings and walls were constructed. Its ruler, the Mwene

Mutapa, controlled a large territory reaching to the Indian Ocean. Zimbabwe dominated gold

sources and trade with coastal ports of the Indian Ocean network. Internal divisions split

Zimbabwe during the 16th century.

brought large areas of Africa into the global community. The most pronounced contacts south of

the Sahara were in the Sudanic states and east Africa, where a fusion of Islamic and African

cultures created an important synthesis. Most of Africa evolved in regions free of Islamic

contact. In Benin, the Yoruba states, Great Zimbabwe, and the Kongo, Africans developed their

own concepts of kingship and the state. Many other Africans organized their lives in stateless

societies.

Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe

CHAPTER SUMMARY

In addition to the great civilizations of Asia and north Africa forming during the postclassical

period, two related major civilizations formed in Europe. The Byzantine Empire, in western

Asia and southeastern Europe, expanded into eastern Europe. The other was defined by the

influence of Catholicism in western and central Europe. The Byzantine Empire, with territory in

the Balkans, the Middle East, and the eastern Mediterranean, maintained very high levels of

political, economic, and cultural life between 500 and 1450 C.E. The empire continued many

Roman patterns and spread its Orthodox Christian civilization through most of eastern Europe,

Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Catholic Christianity, without an imperial center, spread in

western Europe. Two separate civilizations emerged from the differing Christian influences.

continued flourishing from an eastern Mediterranean base after Roman decline. Although it

inherited and continued some of Rome’s patterns, the eastern Mediterranean state developed its

own form of civilization.

at Constantinople. Separate emperors ruled from it even before Rome fell. Although Latin

served for a time as the court language, Greek became the official tongue after the 6th century.

The empire benefited from the high level of civilization in the former Hellenistic world and from

the region’s prosperous commerce. It held off barbarian invaders and developed a trained

civilian bureaucracy.

attempted to reconquer western territory but without lasting success. The military efforts

weakened the empire as Slavs and Persians attacked frontiers, and they also created serious

financial pressures. Justinian rebuilt Constantinople in classical style; among the architectural

achievements was the huge church of Hagia Sophia. His codification of Roman law reduced

legal confusion in the empire. The code later spread Roman legal concepts throughout Europe.

of their eastern territories. The empire henceforth centered in the Balkans and western and

central Turkey, a location blending a rich Hellenistic culture with Christianity. The revived

empire withstood the 7th-century advance of Arab Muslims, although important regions were

lost along the eastern Mediterranean and the northern Middle Eastern heartland. The wars and

the permanent Muslim threat had significant cultural and commercial influences. The free rural

population, the provider of military recruits and taxes, was weakened. Aristocratic estates grew

larger, and aristocratic generals became stronger. The empire’s fortunes fluctuated as it resisted

pressures from the Arabs and Slavic kingdoms. Bulgaria was a strong rival, but Basil II defeated

and conquered it in the 11th century. At the close of the 10th century, the Byzantine emperor

may have been the strongest contemporary ruler.

Byzantine Society and Politics. Byzantine political patterns resembled the earlier Chinese

system. An emperor, ordained by God and surrounded by elaborate court ritual, headed both

church and state. Women occasionally held the throne. An elaborate bureaucracy supported the

imperial authority. The officials, trained in Hellenistic knowledge in a secular school system,

could be recruited from all social classes, although, as in China, aristocrats predominated.

Provincial governors were appointed from the center, and a spy system helped to preserve

loyalty. A careful military organization defended the empire. Troops were recruited locally and

given land in return for service. Outsiders, especially Slavs and Armenians, accepted similar

terms. Over time, hereditary military leaders developed regional power and displaced aristocrats

who were better educated. The empire socially and economically depended on Constantinople’s

control of the countryside. The bureaucracy regulated trade and food prices. Peasants supplied

the food and provided most tax revenues. The large urban class was kept satisfied by low food

prices. A widespread commercial network extended into Asia, Russia, Scandinavia, western

Europe, and Africa. Silk production techniques brought from China added a valuable product to

the luxury items exported. Despite the busy trade, the large merchant class never developed

political power. Cultural life centered on Hellenistic secular traditions and Orthodox

Christianity. Little artistic creativity resulted, except in art and architecture. Domed buildings,

colored mosaics, and painted icons expressed an art linked to religion.

organization, and economic orientation help to explain the rift between the eastern and western

versions of Christianity. Different rituals grew from Greek and Latin versions of the Bible.

Emperors resisted papal attempts to interfere in religious issues. Hostility greeted the effort of

the Frankish king, Charlemagne, to be recognized as Roman emperor. The final break between

the two churches occurred in 1054 over arguments about the type of bread used in the mass and

the celibacy of priests. Even though the two churches remained separate, they continued to share

a common classical heritage.

invaders seized almost all of the empire’s Asian provinces, removing the most important sources

of taxes and food. The empire never recovered from the loss of its army at Manzikert in 1071.

Independent Slavic states appeared in the Balkans. An appeal for western European assistance

did not help the Byzantines. Crusaders, led by Venetian merchants, sacked Constantinople in

1204. Italian cities used their navies to secure special trading privileges. A smaller empire

struggled to survive for another two centuries against western Europeans, Muslims, and Slavic

kingdoms. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople.

among the people of the Balkans and southern Russia through conquest, commerce, and

Christianity. In the 9th century, missionaries Cyril and Methodius devised a written script,

Cyrillic, for the Slavic language, providing a base for literacy in eastern Europe. Unlike western

Christians, the Byzantines allowed the use of local languages in church services.
The East Central Borderlands. Both eastern and western Christian missionaries competed in

eastern Europe. Roman Catholics, and their Latin alphabet, prevailed in Czechoslovakia,

Hungary, and Poland. The region became a long-standing site of competition between the two

influences. A series of regional monarchies—Poland, Bohemia, Lithuania—with powerful

land-owning aristocracies developed. Eastern Europe also received an influx of Jews from the

Middle East and western Europe. They were often barred from agriculture but participated in

local commerce. They maintained their own traditions and emphasized education for males.

The Emergence of Kievan Rus’. Slavic peoples from Asia migrated into Russia and eastern

Europe during the period of the Roman Empire. They mixed with and incorporated earlier

populations. They possessed iron and extended agriculture in Ukraine and western Russia.

Political organization centered in family tribes and villages. The Slavs followed an animist

religion and had rich traditions of music and oral legends. Scandinavian traders during the 6th

and 7th centuries moved into the region along its great rivers and established a rich trade

between their homeland and Constantinople. Some traders won political control. A monarchy

emerged at Kiev around 855 under the legendary Danish merchant, Rurik. The loosely

organized state flourished until the 12th century. Kiev became a prosperous commercial center.

Contacts with the Byzantines resulted in the conversion of Vladimir I (980-1015) to Orthodox

Christianity. The ruler, on the Byzantine pattern, controlled church appointments. Kiev’s rulers

issued a formal law code. They ruled the largest single European state.

unable to duplicate its bureaucracy or education system. Cultural, social, and economic patterns

developed differently from the western European experience. Rulers favored Byzantine

ceremonials and the concept of a strong central ruler. Orthodox Christian practices entered

Russian culture—devotion to God’s power and to saints, ornate churches, icons, and

monasticism. Polygamy yielded to Christian monogamy. Almsgiving emphasized the obligation

of the wealthy toward the poor. Literature focused on religious and royal events, while art was

dominated by icon painting and illuminated religious manuscripts. Church architecture adapted

Byzantine themes to local conditions. Peasants were free farmers, and aristocratic landlords

(boyars) had less political power than similar Westerners.

governments while the royal family quarreled over the succession. Asian invaders seized

territory as trade diminished because of Byzantine decay. The Mongol invasions of the 13th

century incorporated Russian lands into their territories. Mongol (Tatar) dominance further

separated Russia from western European developments. Commercial contacts lapsed. Russian

Orthodox Christianity survived because the tolerant Mongols did not interfere with Russian

religious beliefs or daily life as long as tribute was paid. Thus, when Mongol control ended in

the 15th century, a Russian cultural and political tradition incorporating the Byzantine

inheritance reemerged. The Russians claimed to be the successors to the Roman and Byzantine

states, the “third Rome.”

the collapse of Byzantium, eastern Europe entered into a difficult period. Border territories, such

as Poland, fell under Western influence, while the Balkans fell to the Islamic world of the Turks.

Western and eastern Europe evolved separately, with the former pushing ahead in power and

cross-cultural sophistication.

In Depth: Eastern and Western Europe: The Problem of Boundaries. Determining where

individual civilizations begin and end is a difficult exercise. The presence of many rival units

and internal cultural differences complicates the question. If mainstream culture is used for

definition, Orthodox and Roman Catholic religion, each with its own alphabet, offers a logical

answer. Political organization is more complicated because of loosely organized regional

kingdoms. Commercial patterns and Mongol and Russian expansion also influenced cultural

identities.

Global Connections: Eastern Europe and the World. The Byzantine Empire was active in

interregional trade; Constantinople was one of the world’s great trading cities, and the empire

served as a link between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. When Byzantium declined and

the Mongols conquered Russia, a period of isolation began. By the 15th century, Russia began

to regain independence and faced decisions about how to re-engage with the West.

A New Civilization Emerges in Western Europe

CHAPTER SUMMARY

The postclassical period in western Europe, known as the Middle Ages, stretches between the

fall of the Roman Empire and the 15th century. Typical postclassical themes prevailed.

Civilization spread gradually beyond the Mediterranean zone. Christian missionaries converted

Europeans from polytheistic faiths. Medieval Europe participated in the emerging international

community. New tools and crops expanded agricultural output; advanced technologies improved

manufacturing. Mathematics, science, and philosophy were stimulated by new concepts.
Two Images. Although western European society was not as commercially or culturally

developed as the great world civilizations, it had its own distinctive characteristics. Western

political structures had many similarities with those of the other more recent civilizations of

Japan, Russia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Europeans long lived under the threat of incursions from

the stronger Islamic world. There were many indications of a developing, vital society:

population growth, economic productivity, increased political complexity, technological

innovation, and artistic and intellectual complexity. Major contributions to the development of

Western civilization occurred in politics and social structure; in intellectual life, medieval

striving produced the university and Gothic architectural forms.

Stages of Postclassical Development. From the middle of the 6th century C.E. until about 900,

disorder prevailed in western Europe. Rome’s fall left Italy in economic, political, and

intellectual decline. The Catholic church remained strong. Muslim-controlled Spain maintained

a vibrant intellectual and economic life but only later influenced European development. The

center of the postclassical West was in France, the Low Countries, and southern and western

Germany. England later joined the core. Continual raids by Scandinavian Vikings hindered

political and economic development. Intellectual activity sharply diminished; most literate

individuals were Catholic monks and priests.

organization was local. Manorialism was a system of reciprocal economic and political

obligations between landlords and peasants. Most individuals were serfs living on self-sufficient

agricultural estates (manors). In return for protection, they gave lords part of their crops and

provided labor services. Inferior technology limited agricultural output until the 9th-century

introduction of the moldboard plow and the three-field cultivation system increased yields. Serfs

bore many burdens, but they were not slaves. They had heritable ownership of houses and land

as long as they met obligations. Peasant villages provided community life and limited selfgovernment.

500 was the single example of firm organization. The popes headed a hierarchy based on the

Roman imperial model; they appointed some bishops, regulated doctrine, and sponsored

missionary activity. The conversion of Germanic kings, such as Clovis of the Franks, around

496, demonstrated the spiritual and political power of the church. It also developed the monastic

movement. In Italy, Benedict of Nursia created the most important set of monastic rules in the

6th century. Monasteries had both spiritual and secular functions. They promoted Christian

unity, served as examples of holy life, improved cultivation techniques, stressed productive

work, and preserved the heritage of Greco-Roman culture.

Charlemagne and His Successors. The Carolingian dynasty of the Franks ruling in France,

Belgium, and Germany grew stronger during the 8th century. Charles Martel defeated Muslim

invaders at Tours in 732. Charlemagne built a substantial empire by 800. He helped to restore

church-based education and revived traditions of Roman imperial government. The empire did

not survive Charlemagne’s death in 814. His sons divided the territory and later rulers lacked

talent. Subsequent political history was marked by regional monarchies existing within a

civilization with strong cultural unity initially centered on Catholic Christianity. French,

German, English, and other separate languages emerged, providing a beginning for national

identity. The rulers reigning in Germany and northern Italy initially were the strongest; they

called themselves Holy Roman emperors, but they failed to create a solid monarchy. Local lords

and city-states went their own way.

New Economic and Urban Vigor. During the 9th and 10th centuries, new agricultural

techniques—the moldboard plow, the three-field system—significantly increased production.

Horse collars, also useful for agriculture, and stirrups confirmed lordly dominance. Viking

incursions diminished as the raiders seized territorial control or regional governments became

stronger. Both factors allowed population growth and encouraged economic innovation.

Expanding towns emerged as regional trade centers with a merchant class and craft production.

The need for more food led to colonization to develop new agricultural land. The demand for

labor resulted in less harsh conditions for serfs. The growing urban centers increased the spread

of literacy, revitalized popular culture, and stimulated religious life. By the 11th century,

cathedral schools evolved into universities. Students studied medicine and law; later theology

and philosophy became important disciplines. Art and architecture reached new peaks.

Feudal Monarchies and Political Advances. From the 6th century, feudalism, a system of

political and military relationships, evolved in western Europe. Military elites of the landlord

class could afford horses and iron weapons. The greater lords provided protection to lesser lords

(vassals) who in return supplied military and other service. Feudal relationships first served

local needs, but they later were extended to cover larger regions. Charlemagne acted in that

fashion. Later rulers, notably the Capetian kings of France from the 10th century, used

feudalism to evolve from regional lords to rulers controlling a larger territory. In their feudal

monarchy, they began bureaucratic administration and specialization of official functions.

William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and merged feudal techniques with a more

centralized government. Royal officials, sheriffs, supervised local justice. The growth of feudal

monarchies independently duplicated measures followed in other centralizing societies.
Limited Government. Western Europe remained politically divided. The Holy Roman

Empire’s territories in Germany and Italy were controlled by local lords and city-states. The

pope ruled in central Italy. Regional units prevailed in the Low Countries. In strong feudal

monarchies, power was limited by the church, aristocratic military strength, and developing

urban centers. King John of England in 1215 was forced to recognize feudal rights in the Magna

Carta. Parliaments, bodies representing privileged groups, emerged in Catalonia in 1000. In

England a parliament, operating from 1265, gained the right to rule on taxation and related

policy matters. Most members of societies were not represented, but the creation of

representative bodies was the beginning of a distinctive political process not present in other

civilizations. Despite the checks, European rulers made limited progress in advancing centralauthority. Their weakness was demonstrated by local wars turning into larger conflicts, such as

the Hundred Years War of the 14th century between the French and English.