NCERT Textbook - The Three Orders | Old & New NCERTs for IAS Preparation (Must Read) - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


  77
iii
The Three Orders
Changing Cultural Traditions
      CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
Page 2


  77
iii
The Three Orders
Changing Cultural Traditions
      CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
78  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Changing Traditions
W
E have seen how, by the ninth century, large parts
of Asia witnessed the growth and expansion of great
empires – some nomadic, some based on well-developed
cities and trading networks that centred on them. The difference
between the Macedonian, Roman and Arab empires and the ones
that preceded them (the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, Mauryan)
was that they covered greater areas of territory, and were
continental or transcontinental in nature. The Mongol empire was
similar.
Different cultural encounters were crucial to what took place.
The arrival of empires was almost always sudden, but they were
almost always the result of changes that had been taking place over
a long time in the core of what would become an empire.
Traditions in world history could change in different ways. In
western Europe during the period from the ninth to the seventeenth
centuries, much that we connect with modern times evolved slowly
– the development of scientific knowledge based on experiment rather
than religious belief, serious thought about the organisation of
government, with attention to the creation of civil services,
parliaments and different codes of law, improvements in technology
that was used in industry and agriculture. The consequences of
these changes could be felt with great force outside Europe.
As we have seen, by the fifth century CE, the Roman Empire in
the west had disintegrated. In western and central Europe, the
remains of the Roman Empire were slowly adapted to the
administrative requirements and needs of tribes that had established
kingdoms there. However, urban centres were smaller in western
Europe than further east.
By the ninth century, the commercial and urban centres – Aix,
London, Rome, Sienna – though small, could not be dismissed.  From
the ninth to the eleventh centuries, there were major developments in
the countryside in western Europe. The Church and royal government
developed a combination of Roman institutions with the customary
2024-25
Page 3


  77
iii
The Three Orders
Changing Cultural Traditions
      CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
78  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Changing Traditions
W
E have seen how, by the ninth century, large parts
of Asia witnessed the growth and expansion of great
empires – some nomadic, some based on well-developed
cities and trading networks that centred on them. The difference
between the Macedonian, Roman and Arab empires and the ones
that preceded them (the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, Mauryan)
was that they covered greater areas of territory, and were
continental or transcontinental in nature. The Mongol empire was
similar.
Different cultural encounters were crucial to what took place.
The arrival of empires was almost always sudden, but they were
almost always the result of changes that had been taking place over
a long time in the core of what would become an empire.
Traditions in world history could change in different ways. In
western Europe during the period from the ninth to the seventeenth
centuries, much that we connect with modern times evolved slowly
– the development of scientific knowledge based on experiment rather
than religious belief, serious thought about the organisation of
government, with attention to the creation of civil services,
parliaments and different codes of law, improvements in technology
that was used in industry and agriculture. The consequences of
these changes could be felt with great force outside Europe.
As we have seen, by the fifth century CE, the Roman Empire in
the west had disintegrated. In western and central Europe, the
remains of the Roman Empire were slowly adapted to the
administrative requirements and needs of tribes that had established
kingdoms there. However, urban centres were smaller in western
Europe than further east.
By the ninth century, the commercial and urban centres – Aix,
London, Rome, Sienna – though small, could not be dismissed.  From
the ninth to the eleventh centuries, there were major developments in
the countryside in western Europe. The Church and royal government
developed a combination of Roman institutions with the customary
2024-25
  79
rules of tribes. The finest example was the empire of Charlemagne
in western and central Europe at the beginning of the ninth century.
Even after its rapid collapse, urban centres and trading networks
persisted, albeit under heavy attack from Hungarians, Vikings and
others.
What happened was called ‘feudalism’. Feudalism was marked
by agricultural production around castles and ‘manor houses’, where
lords of the manor possessed land that was cultivated by peasants
(serfs) who pledged them loyalty, goods and services. These lords in
turn pledged their loyalty to greater lords who were ‘vassals’ of kings.
The Catholic Church (centred on the papacy) supported this state
of affairs and itself possessed land. In a world where uncertainties
of life, poor sense of medicine and low life expectancy were common,
the Church showed people how to behave so that life after death at
least would be tolerable. Monasteries were created where God-fearing
people could devote themselves to the service of God in the way
Catholic churchmen thought fit. Equally, churches were part of a
network of scholarship that ran from the Muslim states of Spain to
Byzantium, and they provided the petty kings of Europe with a sense
of the opulence of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
The influence of commerce and towns in the feudal order came to
evolve and change encouraged by Mediterranean entrepreneurs in
Venice and Genoa (from the twelfth century). Their ships carried on
a growing trade with Muslim states and the remains of the Roman
Empire in the east. Attracted by the lure of wealth in these areas,
and inspired by the idea of freeing ‘holy places’ associated with Christ
from Muslims, European kings reinforced links across the
Mediterranean during the ‘crusades’.  Trade within Europe improved
(centred on fairs and the port cities of the Baltic Sea and the North
Sea and stimulated by a growing population).
The Palace of the
Popes, in Avignon, a
fourteenth-century
town in south France.
CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
Page 4


  77
iii
The Three Orders
Changing Cultural Traditions
      CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
78  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Changing Traditions
W
E have seen how, by the ninth century, large parts
of Asia witnessed the growth and expansion of great
empires – some nomadic, some based on well-developed
cities and trading networks that centred on them. The difference
between the Macedonian, Roman and Arab empires and the ones
that preceded them (the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, Mauryan)
was that they covered greater areas of territory, and were
continental or transcontinental in nature. The Mongol empire was
similar.
Different cultural encounters were crucial to what took place.
The arrival of empires was almost always sudden, but they were
almost always the result of changes that had been taking place over
a long time in the core of what would become an empire.
Traditions in world history could change in different ways. In
western Europe during the period from the ninth to the seventeenth
centuries, much that we connect with modern times evolved slowly
– the development of scientific knowledge based on experiment rather
than religious belief, serious thought about the organisation of
government, with attention to the creation of civil services,
parliaments and different codes of law, improvements in technology
that was used in industry and agriculture. The consequences of
these changes could be felt with great force outside Europe.
As we have seen, by the fifth century CE, the Roman Empire in
the west had disintegrated. In western and central Europe, the
remains of the Roman Empire were slowly adapted to the
administrative requirements and needs of tribes that had established
kingdoms there. However, urban centres were smaller in western
Europe than further east.
By the ninth century, the commercial and urban centres – Aix,
London, Rome, Sienna – though small, could not be dismissed.  From
the ninth to the eleventh centuries, there were major developments in
the countryside in western Europe. The Church and royal government
developed a combination of Roman institutions with the customary
2024-25
  79
rules of tribes. The finest example was the empire of Charlemagne
in western and central Europe at the beginning of the ninth century.
Even after its rapid collapse, urban centres and trading networks
persisted, albeit under heavy attack from Hungarians, Vikings and
others.
What happened was called ‘feudalism’. Feudalism was marked
by agricultural production around castles and ‘manor houses’, where
lords of the manor possessed land that was cultivated by peasants
(serfs) who pledged them loyalty, goods and services. These lords in
turn pledged their loyalty to greater lords who were ‘vassals’ of kings.
The Catholic Church (centred on the papacy) supported this state
of affairs and itself possessed land. In a world where uncertainties
of life, poor sense of medicine and low life expectancy were common,
the Church showed people how to behave so that life after death at
least would be tolerable. Monasteries were created where God-fearing
people could devote themselves to the service of God in the way
Catholic churchmen thought fit. Equally, churches were part of a
network of scholarship that ran from the Muslim states of Spain to
Byzantium, and they provided the petty kings of Europe with a sense
of the opulence of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
The influence of commerce and towns in the feudal order came to
evolve and change encouraged by Mediterranean entrepreneurs in
Venice and Genoa (from the twelfth century). Their ships carried on
a growing trade with Muslim states and the remains of the Roman
Empire in the east. Attracted by the lure of wealth in these areas,
and inspired by the idea of freeing ‘holy places’ associated with Christ
from Muslims, European kings reinforced links across the
Mediterranean during the ‘crusades’.  Trade within Europe improved
(centred on fairs and the port cities of the Baltic Sea and the North
Sea and stimulated by a growing population).
The Palace of the
Popes, in Avignon, a
fourteenth-century
town in south France.
CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
80  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Opportunities for commercial expansion coincided with
changing attitudes concerning the value of life. Respect for human
beings and living things that marked much of Islamic art and
literature, and the example of Greek art and ideas that came to
Europe from Byzantine trade encouraged Europeans to take a
new look at the world. And from the fourteenth century (in what
is called the ‘Renaissance’), especially in north Italian towns,
the wealthy became less concerned with life after death and more
with the wonders of life itself. Sculptors, painters and writers
became interested in humanity and the discovery of the world.
By the end of the fifteenth century, this state of affairs encouraged
travel and discovery as never before. Voyages of discovery took place.
Spaniards and Portuguese, who had traded with northern Africa,
pushed further down the coast of western Africa, finally leading to
journeys around the Cape of Good Hope to India – which had a
great reputation in Europe as a source of spices that were in great
demand. Columbus attempted to find a western route to India and
in 1492 reached the islands which the Europeans called the West
Indies. Other explorers tried to find a northern route to India and
China via the Arctic.
European travellers encountered a range of different peoples in the
course of their journeys. In part, they were interested in learning from
them. The papacy encouraged the work of the North African geographer
and traveller Hasan al-Wazzan (later known in Europe as Leo Africanus),
who wrote the first geography of Africa in the early sixteenth century for
Pope Leo X. Jesuit churchmen observed and wrote on Japan in the
sixteenth century. An Englishman, Will Adams, became a friend and
The Palace of the
Doge, in Venice,
fifteenth century.
2024-25
Page 5


  77
iii
The Three Orders
Changing Cultural Traditions
      CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
78  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Changing Traditions
W
E have seen how, by the ninth century, large parts
of Asia witnessed the growth and expansion of great
empires – some nomadic, some based on well-developed
cities and trading networks that centred on them. The difference
between the Macedonian, Roman and Arab empires and the ones
that preceded them (the Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, Mauryan)
was that they covered greater areas of territory, and were
continental or transcontinental in nature. The Mongol empire was
similar.
Different cultural encounters were crucial to what took place.
The arrival of empires was almost always sudden, but they were
almost always the result of changes that had been taking place over
a long time in the core of what would become an empire.
Traditions in world history could change in different ways. In
western Europe during the period from the ninth to the seventeenth
centuries, much that we connect with modern times evolved slowly
– the development of scientific knowledge based on experiment rather
than religious belief, serious thought about the organisation of
government, with attention to the creation of civil services,
parliaments and different codes of law, improvements in technology
that was used in industry and agriculture. The consequences of
these changes could be felt with great force outside Europe.
As we have seen, by the fifth century CE, the Roman Empire in
the west had disintegrated. In western and central Europe, the
remains of the Roman Empire were slowly adapted to the
administrative requirements and needs of tribes that had established
kingdoms there. However, urban centres were smaller in western
Europe than further east.
By the ninth century, the commercial and urban centres – Aix,
London, Rome, Sienna – though small, could not be dismissed.  From
the ninth to the eleventh centuries, there were major developments in
the countryside in western Europe. The Church and royal government
developed a combination of Roman institutions with the customary
2024-25
  79
rules of tribes. The finest example was the empire of Charlemagne
in western and central Europe at the beginning of the ninth century.
Even after its rapid collapse, urban centres and trading networks
persisted, albeit under heavy attack from Hungarians, Vikings and
others.
What happened was called ‘feudalism’. Feudalism was marked
by agricultural production around castles and ‘manor houses’, where
lords of the manor possessed land that was cultivated by peasants
(serfs) who pledged them loyalty, goods and services. These lords in
turn pledged their loyalty to greater lords who were ‘vassals’ of kings.
The Catholic Church (centred on the papacy) supported this state
of affairs and itself possessed land. In a world where uncertainties
of life, poor sense of medicine and low life expectancy were common,
the Church showed people how to behave so that life after death at
least would be tolerable. Monasteries were created where God-fearing
people could devote themselves to the service of God in the way
Catholic churchmen thought fit. Equally, churches were part of a
network of scholarship that ran from the Muslim states of Spain to
Byzantium, and they provided the petty kings of Europe with a sense
of the opulence of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
The influence of commerce and towns in the feudal order came to
evolve and change encouraged by Mediterranean entrepreneurs in
Venice and Genoa (from the twelfth century). Their ships carried on
a growing trade with Muslim states and the remains of the Roman
Empire in the east. Attracted by the lure of wealth in these areas,
and inspired by the idea of freeing ‘holy places’ associated with Christ
from Muslims, European kings reinforced links across the
Mediterranean during the ‘crusades’.  Trade within Europe improved
(centred on fairs and the port cities of the Baltic Sea and the North
Sea and stimulated by a growing population).
The Palace of the
Popes, in Avignon, a
fourteenth-century
town in south France.
CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25
80  THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
Opportunities for commercial expansion coincided with
changing attitudes concerning the value of life. Respect for human
beings and living things that marked much of Islamic art and
literature, and the example of Greek art and ideas that came to
Europe from Byzantine trade encouraged Europeans to take a
new look at the world. And from the fourteenth century (in what
is called the ‘Renaissance’), especially in north Italian towns,
the wealthy became less concerned with life after death and more
with the wonders of life itself. Sculptors, painters and writers
became interested in humanity and the discovery of the world.
By the end of the fifteenth century, this state of affairs encouraged
travel and discovery as never before. Voyages of discovery took place.
Spaniards and Portuguese, who had traded with northern Africa,
pushed further down the coast of western Africa, finally leading to
journeys around the Cape of Good Hope to India – which had a
great reputation in Europe as a source of spices that were in great
demand. Columbus attempted to find a western route to India and
in 1492 reached the islands which the Europeans called the West
Indies. Other explorers tried to find a northern route to India and
China via the Arctic.
European travellers encountered a range of different peoples in the
course of their journeys. In part, they were interested in learning from
them. The papacy encouraged the work of the North African geographer
and traveller Hasan al-Wazzan (later known in Europe as Leo Africanus),
who wrote the first geography of Africa in the early sixteenth century for
Pope Leo X. Jesuit churchmen observed and wrote on Japan in the
sixteenth century. An Englishman, Will Adams, became a friend and
The Palace of the
Doge, in Venice,
fifteenth century.
2024-25
  81
counsellor of the Japanese Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, in the early
seventeenth century. As in the case of Hasan al-Wazzan, peoples
that the Europeans encountered in the Americas often took a great
interest in them and sometimes worked for them. For example an
Aztec woman – later known as Dona Marina –  befriended the
Spanish conqueror of Mexico, Cortes, and interpreted and negotiated
for him.
In their encounters, Europeans were sometimes cautious, self-
effacing and observant, even as they frequently attempted to establish
trade monopolies and enforce their authority by force of arms as
the Portuguese attempted to do in the Indian Ocean after Vasco da
Gama’s arrival in Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) in 1498. In other
cases, they were overbearing, aggressive and cruel and adopted an
attitude of superiority to those they met, considering such people
ignorant. The Catholic Church encouraged both attitudes. The
Church was the centre for the study of other cultures and languages,
but encouraged attacks on people it saw as ‘un-Christian’.
From the point of view of non-Europeans, the encounter with
Europe varied. For much of the Islamic lands and India and China,
though, Europeans remained a curiosity until the end of the
seventeenth century. They were perceived as hardy traders and
seamen who had little to contribute to their sense of the larger world.
The Japanese learnt some of the advantages of European technology
quickly – for instance, they had begun large-scale production of
muskets by the late sixteenth century. In the Americas, enemies of
the Aztec empire sometimes used Europeans to challenge the power
of the Aztecs. At the same time the diseases the Europeans brought
devastated the populations, leading to the death of over 90 per cent
of the people in some areas by the end of the sixteenth century.
CHANGING TRADITIONS
2024-25