APWTHT2 Name______________________________ ESSAY. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1) Compare and contrast the status of women in Islam during the pre-Islamic period and the Abbasid Empire.
2) Why was Islam able to appeal to people of so many different cultures?
3) What was the difference between the Abbasid Empire and the Umayyad Empire?
4) What was the essential dispute within Islam over the succession to the Prophet?
5) In what sense did the Muslim incursions into the Indian subcontinent result in Islamic influences on Hindus? To what extent were Muslims affected by Indian culture?
6) Discuss the religious trends of the Abbasid era and their impact on the expansion of Islam.
7) By what means did Islam spread to Southeast Asia?
8) Describe the general economy of the later Abbasid Empire. Include a comparative evaluation of urban and rural economies.
9) By what means was conversion of sub-Saharan Africa carried out? What were the primary avenues of Islamic entry into sub-Saharan Africa?
10) Islamic influence was strongest in the Sudanic states and the Swahili coast. Compare and contrast the political forms of these regions? What does this suggest about the nature of Islamic influence in Africa?
11) What were the common elements of African society prior to the incursion of Islam?
12) What were the factors in the decline of the Byzantine Empire?
13) What was the political organization of the Byzantine Empire?
14) What were the developments that led to increases in monarchic power at the end of the Middle Ages? How was royal authority limited?
15) What were the positive signs of vitality associated with the Middle Ages?
16) Describe the social organization of the Arabs prior to the introduction of Islam.
17) Explain the reasons for the political disruption of the Abbasid Empire prior to the rise of the Buyids.
18) Compare and contrast the political forms of the African states not affected by Islam (Yoruba, Benin, Kongo, Zimbabwe) with those that were (the Sudanic states and the Swahili coast).
19) In what ways was the culture of Kievan Russia an extension of the Byzantine Empire?
20) How did the theological outlook of western Europe change between 1000 and 1400?
21) Given the geographical location of those African states most affected by Islam, what were the most important points of contact between African and Islamic societies? What does this suggest about the nature of Islamic conversion?
22) Compare and contrast the spread of European civilization in eastern and western Europe.
23) Define manorialism and feudalism. How do they provide the building blocks for medieval political structure and society?
24) What were the characteristics of feudal monarchy as demonstrated in France and England between 1000 and 1300?