Reading Journal

The revolution of domestication began 11,500 years ago. This involved domesticating animals and plants  Pastoral peoples organized themselves in kinship-based groups or clans that claimed a common ancestor. Related clans may come together.  Pastoral people offered women a higher status, fewer restrictions, and a greater role in public life compared to those in the agriculture civilizations.  Women took care of smaller animals, and very rarely took care of livestock.  There was no negative connotation to remarrying widows.  Mongol served as political advisors, and were active in military affairs.  Environmental conditions dictated their patterns of movement.  Some pastoral societies had settlements and others had nomadic lifestyles

Christianity flourished in communities such as Anatolia, Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Ethiopia, Nubia, Syria, Armenia, Persia, India, and China. In Syria, Jerusalem, Armenia, Christians were to wear distinctive clothing because, at the time, the dominant religion was Islam.  Jesus Sutras The conquest of Mongols allowed for the renewal of Christianity.  Mongols appreciated that Christians could eat meat and drink alcohol including at the time of worship.  In Egypt, Christianity became the religion of the majority.  Many found the Arab government less oppressive than that of the Byzantine empire.  Rural Egyptians converted to Islam  Priests in the west shaved and were supposed to remain celibate while priests in the Byzantium were allowed to marry and grow beards.  Byzantine Empire was a central player in the long-distance trade of Eurasia, with commercial links to Western Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Islamic world, and China.  The B...

Nomadic Arabs were known as Bedouins. They herded their sheep and camels.  Mecca holds the Kaaba which is a religious shrine that represented 360 deities. The Quran was meant to be recited and not read.  People would convert to Islam because it would aid in social mobility.  Between 750 and 900 80 percent of Persia's inhabitants made the transition to Muslim identity.   There places that left their native languages and switched to Arabic   Descendants of Muhammad had more authority than Caliphs.