Paraphrase

chapter_16.docx

Ch 16

No centralized imperial authority emerged to govern the Indian subcontinent as had been the case in China; however the area remained united because of powerful social and cultural traditions, including the caste system and the Hindu religion. In the seventh century C.E., Islam came to India and became influential in Indian society. Indian traditions soon became influential in other parts of Southeast Asia, including the spread of Islam. Turkish speaking people from central Asia often took advantage of the unsettled state of Indian affairs and came in through the Khyber Pass. They ultimately worked themselves into the Caste system and became completely absorbed in Indian affairs. Other nomadic peoples invaded, however, and contributed to the disruption of Northern India. The founder of the Chola Empire was Vijayalaya, who was first feudatory of the Pallavas of Kanchi. He captured Tanjore in 850 A.D. He established a temple of goddess Nishumbhasudini (Durga) there. Aditya I succeeded Vijayalaya. Aditya helped his overlord the Pallava king Aparajita against the Pandyas but soon defeated him and annexed the whole of the Pallava kingdom. By the end of the ninth century, the Cholas had defeated the Pallavas completely and weakened the Pandyas capturing the Tamil country and including it under their domination He then became a sovereign ruler. The Rashtrakuta king, Krishna II gave his daughter in marriage to Aditya.

the kingdom of Axum was pursuing trade and empire. Despite the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the 400s and the decline in world trade, Axum's trade increased during that century. Its exports of ivory, glass crystal, brass and copper items, and perhaps slaves, among other things, had brought prosperity to the kingdom. Some people had become wealthy and cosmopolitan. Axum's port city on the Red Sea, Adulis , bustled with activity. Its agriculture and cattle breeding flourished. Axum extended its rule to Nubia . It expanded across the Red Sea to Yemen. It extended its rule to the northern Ethiopian Highlands and east along the coast of the Gulf of Aden to Africa's eastern most point at Cape Guardafui . From Axum's beginnings in the third century, Christianity there had spread. But at the peak of Christianity's success, Axum began its decline. In the late 600s, Axum's trade was diminished by the clash between Constantinople and the Sassanid Empire over trade on the Red Sea. Axum was driven out of Yemen. Then Islam united Arabia and began expanding. In the 700s, Muslim Arabs occupied the Dahlak Islands just off the coast of Adulis, which had been ruled by Axum. The Arabs moved into the port city of Adulis, and Axum's trade by sea ended.