September 3, 2014
2014 APW Summer Assignment
1.) Through the everlasting changes brought by Southernization in Afro-Eurasia (300-1200 C.E), some aspects of life/civilization went unchanged such as religion, a prolonged interest in education, and trade. In the Islamic Caliphates the major religion adopted was Islam in 700 C.E, as indicated by the name of the caliphate. In China the dominant/most significant religion emerged as Buddhism. When it came to education, India had taken the pie in mathematics by laying the foundation with the creation of the number 0 which supplemented a base ten system. This use of 0 was first found in a book of astronomy. The Indians also had a very wide array of poetry and magnificent scriptures to their credit. The Chinese also worked towards reforming their mathematics and created advanced mathematics. The Caliphates also produced a more cutting edge brand of trigonometry and algebra. The prolonged interest in trade was always contemporary.
The trade just at first used to be internal and then it came to a wide scale. Religion remained a constant because as more people were encountered in alien premises they worked strictly towards the business of trade. No one tried to impose their religion on others. Buddhism remained in China because as the Chinese were first ruled by a myriad of regional kingdoms. Through the face of adversity, Buddhism blessed the people with an assurance of peace. The number 0 was created by the Indians to provide ease with much more complicated calculations also providing the ability to do these calculations at a significantly rapid pace. The number 0 was also used in astronomy. This astronomical interest formed because of trade and the necessity of knowledge to follow the stars when traders were out at sea. The scriptures were most probably formed to write Hindu texts...