ASIAN TEMPLE KINGDOMS: WHY DID ASIAN RULERS BUILD TEMPLES? WHO INFLUENCED THE TEMPLE KINGDOMS? Between AD 700 and 1300, powerful kingdoms, including the Khmer, Pagan, and Sukhothai, emerged in different parts of southeast Asia. They grew rich from growing rice, selling valuable spices, and controlling merchants’ sea routes. Their rulers built great temples. WHY DID ASIAN RULERS BUILD TEMPLES? Rulers organized thousands of workers to build Hindu and Buddhist temples for worship. The Buddhist religion became much more popular, so many more Buddhist temples were built. The temples brought religious merit to rulers, prestige to their kingdoms, and displayed each ruler’s wealth and power. WHO INFLUENCED THE TEMPLE KINGDOMS? Buddhist monks and Hindu holy men traveled from India to southeast Asia. They offered advice to kings and led religious rituals. Prayers, offerings, and festivals became an important part of people’s lives.

POLYNESIA- WHERE WERE POLYNESIANS FROM? WHY DID PEOPLE SET SAIL FOR POLYNESIA? HOW DID THE SETTLERS NAVIGATE? MAORIS Polynesia is a group of scattered islands in the vast Pacific Ocean. Around 2000 BC, families made long, dangerous journeys to settle there. The settlers arrived with pigs, dogs, and hens. They built thatched wooden houses, gathered bananas, coconuts, and breadfruit, and fished. WHERE WERE POLYNESIANS FROM? The settlers’ ancestors came from southeast Asia, and had lived there for at least 30,000 years. Slowly, they moved to islands in the Pacific. By 1200 BC, they reached Tonga and Samoa, on the western edge of Polynesia. Around 300 BC, they began to sail farther across the ocean. Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui) was the farthest east that the settlers reached. They arrived in AD 500. Using simple tools of stone and wood, they built many moai (stone statues). Some were 33 ft (10 m) high. WHY DID PEOPLE SET SAIL FOR POLYNESIA? The islands in southeast Asia, where settlers traveled from, were probably overpopulated. This would have meant the farmland was exhausted, forests had been cut down, and the soil had eroded away. There may also have been wars between rival islanders, competing for food and land. But some sailors may have been adventurous, eager to explore new lands. HOW DID THE SETTLERS NAVIGATE? Settlers traveled in double-hulled canoes, which had sails made of matting. They observed stars, clouds, ocean swells, migrating birds, and te lapa (rays of light reflected underwater from land), and made maps from sticks, pebbles, and shells. Using these techniques, they reached distant islands like Hawaii, and also New Zealand, where settlers called themselves MAORIS. THE POLYNESIAN TRIANGLE The islands of Polynesia cover an area of over 800,000 sq miles (2 million sq km). Roughly triangular in shape, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island are at its points. It took many days to sail between groups of islands. Settlers carried farm tools and food plants, to help them survive when they landed. MAORIS Settlers first reached New Zealand around AD 800. At first they lived in small, peaceful groups, but, as the population grew, they became more warlike. Around 1500, they began to build fortified hilltop settlements, called pa. They decorated buildings with woodcarvings, and tattooed their skins with swirling designs. WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE FOR MAORIS? The climate of New Zealand was colder and wetter than the settlers’ home islands, so they had to adapt to their new environment. They hunted giant flightless birds, called moa, in the forests. They killed seals and gathered shellfish around the coast.

MEDIEVAL AFRICA: HOW DID TRADERS CROSS THE SAHARA DESERT? WHICH AFRICAN GOODS WERE HIGHLY PRIZED? TIMBUKTU SWAHILI OBAS From around AD 750 to 1500, lands to the south of Africa’s Sahara Desert were home to many thriving civilizations. Muslim kings ruled in cities like TIMBUKTU, and chiefs called OBASwere powerful in rainforest kingdoms. SWAHILIpeoples became rich through trade. HOW DID TRADERS CROSS THE SAHARA DESERT? Traders from North Africa crossed the Sahara together in a group called a caravan. They led as many as 10,000 camels, heavily laden with goods, in a long line known as a camel train. At the southern edge of the Sahara, the goods were transferred to donkeys or human porters, to be carried farther south. WHICH AFRICAN GOODS WERE HIGHLY PRIZED? Gold, ivory, ebony, and slaves from West African kingdoms such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were sold in North Africa and the Middle East. They were traded for salt and copper, mined in the Sahara. Later, European traders came for gold, ebony, and slaves. TIMBUKTU Timbuktu (in central Mali) was one of the most important cities on the edge of the Sahara. After Muslim scholars brought the religion of Islam to the region, around 900, it became a great center of Muslim learning, with schools, a university, and a special market where valuable, handwritten books were sold. HOW DID TIMBUKTU BECOME WEALTHY? Like a number of other cities on the edge of the Sahara, such as Gao and Jenne, Timbuktu was also on the banks of the Niger River. These cities were inland ports. Merchants from the south sent boatloads of gold, ivory, cotton, dried fish, and kola nuts upriver to them, to be sold to people living there, or to be carried to lands farther north. Timbuktu became a terminus (end point) for one of the main trading routes crossing the Sahara. WHY DID MUSLIM PILGRIMS GO TO TIMBUKTU? Many Muslim pilgrims traveled to Timbuktu to honor the city’s 333 resident saints. These were celebrated Muslim scholars and teachers who taught their faith to people in the surrounding lands. Many beautiful mosques were built in Timbuktu. SWAHILI Swahili became the main language used by different peoples on the coast and islands of East Africa. Many of its words were taken from Arabic—the language of traders who sailed across the Indian Ocean, linking India and Arabia with East African ports such as Mogadishu, Gedi, and Kilwa. WHO DID THE SWAHILI PEOPLES TRADE WITH? East Africans produced valuable goods, such as leather, frankincense, leopard skins, ivory, iron, copper, and gold. They sold these to Indian Ocean traders. From around 1071, they sent ambassadors to trade with China, and, from 1418, welcomed Chinese merchant ships to East Africa’s ports. ZANZIBAR The island of Zanzibar, off the coast of East Africa, is where Swahili was first spoken. It became a major trading center for slaves, ivory, and cloves. OBAS From around 1250 to 1800, a number of different kingdoms made up what is now southwest Nigeria, in West Africa. Each of these was ruled by an oba. The obas were both religious and political leaders. Their subjects, the Yoruba people, lived as farmers, and built city-states surrounded by massive walls of earth. WHERE WERE MANY STATUES OF OBAS MADE? People living in the rainforest kingdom of Benin, now in south Nigeria, were expert metalworkers and cast elaborate portrait heads of their obas, as well as decorative plaques and ceremonial objects. These were made from brass or bronze and were used for ancestor worship, or to decorate the rulers’ palaces. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KINGDOMS OF THE OBAS? The power of the obas and other African rulers was weakened by the arrival of Europeans. Portuguese, Dutch, and British traders took back news to their countries of the riches of Africa. Explorers were encouraged to travel there and, by 1900, almost all of Africa was ruled by European powers.

MONGOLS: WHAT WAS SPECIAL ABOUT MONGOL ARMIES? WHO WANTED TO RULE THE WORLD? BIOGRAPHY: GENGHIS KHAN r. 1206–1227 The Mongols were nomadic tribes from the steppes, or grasslands, of central Asia. In AD 1206 they declared Genghis Khan their supreme ruler. He led their conquest of an empire that, by 1279, included all of China and nearly all of Russia, as well as central Asia, Iran, and Iraq. WHAT WAS SPECIAL ABOUT MONGOL ARMIES? Mongol military might was based on the speed and ferocity of mounted archers. From galloping horses, Mongol archers let loose arrows that could pierce armor. The riders and the horses were tough, capable of covering more than 100 miles (160 km) a day. WHO WANTED TO RULE THE WORLD? Genghis Khan wanted to live up to his title, which means “prince of all that lies between the oceans.” He aimed to conquer the world and was proud of the fact that, eventually, it took almost a year to ride from one end of his realm to the other. BIOGRAPHY: GENGHIS KHAN r. 1206–1227 Genghis Khan began his career as Temujin, the brilliant, ambitious chieftain of one Mongol tribe. He was chosen as supreme ruler, and given the title Genghis Khan, by a gathering of all the Mongol tribes. After his death, in 1227, his empire was divided among his sons.

SAMURAI: WHAT WAS THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR? SHOGUNS Samurai were warriors from Japanese noble families, who served in private armies recruited by daimyo (local lords). They fought in civil wars that raged in Japan from around 1159. In 1603, the Tokugawa SHOGUNSrestored peace. Samurai then became local officials and administrators. WHAT WAS THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR? Samurai swore a solemn oath of loyalty to their comrades and their lord. They aimed to follow a code, called the bushido (the way of the warrior). This called for self-discipline, skill, bravery, honor, obedience, and self-sacrifice. Many samurai also followed the teachings of Zen Buddhism. SHOGUNS From 1192 to 1867, Japan was ruled by a series of powerful army commanders with the title of shogun. Japan’s emperors had great prestige but little real power. WHO WAS THE FIRST SHOGUN? In 1192, the warlord Yoritomo, who was the head of the mighty Minamoto clan, defeated rival nobles to become the most powerful man in Japan. The emperor gave him the title of shogun, which means “great general.” Yoritomo set up a new, military government, far away from the imperial court.