College Board 2002 Narayanan, Sruthi



College Board 2002 Narayanan, Sruthi

DBQ 3 Period 3 World History AP

December 26 ,2008

Mr. Marshall

DBQ 3 Prompt: Attitudes of Christianity and Islam

Using the documents compare and contrast the attitudes of Christianity and Islam toward merchants and trade from the religions’ origins until about 1500. Are there indications of change over time in either case, or both? What kinds of additional documents would you need to assess the consequences of these attitudes on merchant activities?

Check–off list

Thesis

Historical Context

Analysis

Rule of Three

5 Groupings

3 Additional Documents

7 Point of View

7 Reliability of Documents

All 7 Documents were used

Different Sprite categories for each grouping

Additional Information

Body Paragraphs begin with a Topic Sentence

Segue/Closure

Long-Term Effects

Short-Term Effects

Transitions

Minimum 5 body paragraphs (total of 7)

Compare and Contrast of Documents

Profound Thesis Statement

DBQ answers all part of the question

Shows change over time

Time is mentioned throughout the DBQ

Compare and Contrast of groupings

2 or more vs. 2 or more documents per grouping

-Cover page with heading

-Bibliography included MLA style

-Minimum 5 sources

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Christianity, originating in 1st century Rome, and Islam, originating in 7th century Middle East and Africa, are two religions that have been most popular before the 1500s and these two religions have spread across the world into various countries as a result of things like trade, and migration. (Bulliet, 134) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Because they were very developed societies at the time, they had similar trade and merchant systems that brought income to their economy and involved the society, the politicians, and most of all, the support of the religions. ( du/src/christianity/life.html) ANALYSIS: In general, the religions set an example for the people because the people in a society would adopt a religion and they would read the holy books, such as the Holy Bible and the Qur’an, that had words of wisdom for the people to follow about the attitude towards merchants and trade. CONNECTION: The religions, from their origins until 1500, always spoke about the economy and how to deal with the merchants and trade through the economical aspects of the religion and society and often these ways and performances made an impact on the people as to how they acted towards the merchants and trade which in turn resulted in the attitude of a society as a whole. THESIS: Between the origin of Christianity and the origin of Islam, until 1500, their attitudes towards merchants and trade have always differed in the way they dealt with economical and political issues that resulted from the social status of individuals and ended up causing significant technological changes as they learned to adapt as individual societies. SEGUE: The differences between the ways these religious attitudes have changed over the course of time have depended mainly on the religious concepts that were followed.

TOPIC SENTENCE: Islam and Christianity have their own religious concepts that they followed and because they were individually based, their attitudes towards merchants and trade were different. GROUPING 1 (RELIGION): Their holy books, The Bible in Christianity and the Qua’ran in Islam, had a significant effect on the attitudes toward the merchants and trade in the society because people followed them. (Docs. 1&2) GROUP 1 CONTRAST: The Christian Bible’s New Testament, around the start of Christianity, states that rich merchants had a hard time entering heaven making the impression that rich merchants were not loyal or humble enough to go to heaven and be received, but the Muslim Qur’an around the origination of Islam, states that “cheaters” who take money from people but gain advantages will not be accepted and the faithful merchant will rank with the martyrs. (Docs 1&3 vs. 2&5) ANALYSIS: From that it is inferred that though Christianity and Islam were similar in the way their holy books spoke about the merchants, the two religions were different in the way they designated who the worthy ones were and who were not noble. POINT OF VIEW( DOC. 1): The founder of the New Testament specifies, the feelings Christians had were that the rich merchants were not worthy and could never gain entrance to heaven. (Doc. 1) FACT 1: Rich merchants were seen as cheaters in Islam as well and in Islamic faith the trade was encouraged so they were distinct in who was considered loyal and worthy and who was not, similar to how the New Testament stated. (Spodek, 383)RELIABILITY (DOC. 2): Because the Qur’an is a holy book its reliability cannot be questioned so, it can be concluded that this document is very accurate in what it says, being excerpted directly from the book. (Doc. 2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: In Islam trade was encouraged for the simple reason that it was the main way that Islam spread over the world in later centuries, and because from the earliest years when Islam was trying to make sure trade was fair they were able to successfully spread in later years. (Insoll, 148) TRANSITION: In the beginning towards the origin of these religions was when the religions made the people think like this and the religions’ influence on the people changed slowly over time when philosophers came into the picture. FACT 2: Philosophers like St. Augustine of Hippo and Ludwig Wittgenstein were in the field of Christian Philosophy and Theology that included thinking about their attitudes towards merchants and trade also influencing people in society. () ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT: Not only would the philosophies of some early philosophic thinkers be useful to analyze the effect on merchants and trade but also parts of the Gospel Of Saint Matthew which talk about the advantages of middle and lower class people and what will eventually happen to them, because this included a lot of the merchants. (Andrea, 198) CONNECTION: As stated before, Christian New Testament in 70-80 C.E. said that the richer merchants were not loyal and the Gospel Of Saint Matthew follows that chord. POINT OF VIEW ( DOC. 2): On the other hand, Islamic religion’s Qur’an says that cheaters are the unfaithful merchants and not only that but, directs it towards people who do unlawful acts so the Islamic religion was more specific. (Doc. 2) FACT 3: Later on in other readings towards the 12 century, it is stated that the unlawfulness and disloyalty of both the Christian and Islamic merchants became more economically related because from the beginning they were beginning to expand into new individual societies and they developed new products for the merchants that caused them to do these unlawful things. SEGUE: From the origin of these religions they changed a lot and slowly towards the 11th and 12th centuries, the problems in the attitudes towards merchants and trade became more economical bringing on a rise in both expansion and technology.

TOPIC SENTENCE: As time went on the attitudes to trade and merchants in Christianity and Islam became more directed to the economy and steered away from religion, though it still contained some philosophical meaning. GROUPING 2 (ECONOMICAL): When the way of individual thinking veered away from religion Christianity and Islam found a way to promote the intellectual and technological breakthroughs, but first it had to be made known that the economy was of importance. (Docs. 2&7 vs. 3&6) ANALYSIS: It was the transition from religious influence to philosophical and economical influence that caused the technological changes over the time when merchants were being treated differently according to religion, from their origins to the 1500s. FACT 1/LONG TERM EFFECT: The main reason as to why the merchants and trade were treated differently in both Islam and Christianity can be concluded from what they ended up being useful for later on in time, which was for the spread of Islam and mainly for income in Christianity. (Armstrong, 136) RELIABILITY (DOC. 1): The New Testament, written by Christianity’s founder, Matthew, has no question of reliability for it is taken directly from the works of a strict Christian and the beliefs that are followed from it are not questionable. (Doc. 1) FACT 2/CONNECTION: Both Islam and Christianity for that matter, used the way of missionaries to spread but Islam also used trade which was why the merchants were even more important for Islam. (Laden, 120)SHORT TERM EFFECT: In order for these religions to spread they had an economy that flourished with trade and merchant’s income. FACT 3/TRANSITION: The attitudes towards merchants and trade changed and went towards the economy because the way that the philosophies and books divided the worthy and the non-worthy merchants was by how honest they were with money and it was considered unlawful when they did something bad. POINT OF VIEW (DOC 4): The leading scholastic theologian in 1273, Thomas Aquinas, was of course only interpreting Matthew in his own way but, that lead to people following his individual ways of thinking, (Doc. 4) CHANGE OVER TIME/CONNECTION: Thus, because of people like Thomas Aquinas who wrote Summa Theologica and Reginald who wrote The Life of St. Godric, Christian philosophical and Theological ways of thinking were spread and they dealt with the economy when talking about merchants and trade and their attitudes towards them. (Docs. 3 &4) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: In Christianity the theologians spoke about merchants who do not sell for the correct prices and that the merchants who cheat are the ones who suffer the loss, and similarly in Islam around the 11th and 12th centuries they followed what the Qur’an said about the cheaters and how the cheaters were the rich merchants, making Christianity and Islam quite similar in the way they thought around that time. () RELIABILITY (DOC. 4): The reliability of excerpts from the philosophical teachings of Thomas Aquinas can be questioned because although it is the direct passage, the passage is Aquinas’ interpretation of the New Testament which may have been a cause for why people in that society thought that way, under Aquinas’ influence. (Doc. 4) SEGUE: The economical issues that caused different attitudes towards merchants and trade during the 11th and 12th centuries slowly became more of a social issue because the way merchants were treated depended on social status that slowly evolved over time in these societies.

TOPIC SENTENCE: The economy was a big thing for merchants but not only were they judged and dealt with because of the way they treated the economy but also by their social status which actually was the basis for their treatment in Islam and Christianity, GROUPING 3 (SOCIAL): As in every other society of that time Islam and Christian societies had strict social ladders and that affected the way the people felt about merchants and trade because of a merchant’s social status. (Docs. 3&6 vs. 4&7) ANALYSIS: A merchant was not necessarily an unknown person and there were many religiously important people who also were of high social status, who were merchants. (Meri, 498) FACT 1/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: In fact, the famous prophet Muhammad was a merchant in the earlier part of his life and he went on to be someone who was worshipped religiously in the Islamic faith. (Meri, 498) ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT: In order to fully understand what the effects of being a merchant in society were, The Life Of Prophet Muhammad, would be an excellent source to see how he went from being an early merchant to a religious figure in Islamic society. (Fareed, 20-1) POINT OF VIEW (DOC. 5): The leading Muslim scholar in the fourteenth century, Ibn Khaldun, talked about commerce in his book, Universal History, and of course, since he was Islamic, he would naturally be against faulty prices set by merchants. (Doc. 5) FACT 2/CONNECTION: If a merchant was loyal in Islamic society then he was considered one of the faithful people and he was actually put on a pedestal and similarly in Christian religion if a merchant was faithful he was said to be more worthy of going to heaven than the rest, so Christianity and Islam were similar in their basic ideas but they were not exactly the same. (Doc. 5 vs. Doc. 1) RELIABILITY (DOC. 5): Even so, the reliability of the work of Ibn Khaldun can be questioned because, similar to Thomas Aquinas, it is his own writing and his own interpretations that people followed in society. (Doc. 5) FACT 3: Not only were there famous merchants in Islamic religion but also in Christianity, Reginald of Durham wrote about St.Godric who devoted his life to being a merchant and helping charity and he is known as a Saint. (Grandsden, 484) POINT OF VIEW (DOC. 3): Reginald, being a monk, valued the acts of St. Godric as he was similar to a monk in that he chose not to follow a life of a husbandman and instead he devoted his life to being a merchant and he lived the life similar to that of a hermit but gave his commission to charity and for the good of fellow individuals in society. (Doc.3) CONNECTION: Thus he is a well known individual and he followed the Christian principles of being a good merchant and he was considered one of the people who was faithful enough to go to heaven and so the people declared him a Saint. RELIABILITY (DOC. 3): The reliability of Reginald’s book cannot be questioned for he is only outlining the life of Saint Godric, who was a merchant, and none of his own thoughts are put into it. TRANSITION/SHORT TERM EFFECT: As a result of these people who made an impression as merchants, the attitudes towards them changed in favor of their social classes and the lower class merchants ended up being worshipped more than the upper class merchants. (Meri, 499) SEGUE: The person’s social class and their goodness to the economy was mainly judged by the politicians of society and they chose the way of dealing with them when it came towards the 15th and 16th centuries in Christianity and Islam.

TOPIC SENTENCE: The social classes divided the merchants and developed the attitudes towards them more but, the politicians were the ones that set the actual standards for what was lawful and what was unlawful. GROUPING 4 (POLITICAL): In both Christianity and Islam there were politicians and they decided which of the merchants were lawful and unlawful instead of how in earlier times, the religious documents and holy books decided who was worthy and unworthy of going to the heavens. (Docs. 6&7 vs. 1&2) POINT OF VIEW (DOC. 7): The Islamic court decision of Turkish guild practices in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries clearly followed the aforementioned rules and excerpts from other Islamic documents. (Doc. 7) ANALYSIS: The politicians and the government in both societies were involved in making the decisions as to how merchants were treated because of what they did and this influenced the people because they got to know about what happened and then they were influenced so they acted that way towards the merchants which then in turn had an effect on the merchants and trade itself. () RELIABILITY (DOC. 7): The reliability of the Islamic court decision cannot be questioned because it is the court decision itself and what exactly it said and it can clearly be shown that not only were the government officials upset at the fact that merchants were being disloyal but other merchants were as well and they showed it by taking it to court, like they did in this Ankara court case in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. (Doc. 7) FACT 1/CONNECTION: The Islamic government did not like unfairness in money or economic related issues and that was where the Ankara case came in because a person said a merchant was buying goods for a special price for himself and making everybody else pay more and the person thought everyone should get an equal share. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT: In order to gain a more insightful understanding of the way the court and government in Islam dealt with the merchants and them not being law-abiding, it would be useful to check out other court cases such as the one in Languedoc in 1399 that concerned merchant disloyalty. (Constable, 283) FACT 2/LONG TERM EFFECT: Most of the court cases that took place had to do with the merchants and somebody not doing something because the Islamic government was concerned that merchants were not being fair and giving themselves extra advantages. TRANSITION: The Christians also were strict about how they paid things and the letters to and from Italian merchants show that merchants were made to be noble and loyal to god and their people not only by the government and society but also by their families. (Doc. 6) FACT 3: In both Christianity and Islam over time the ways of the government changed because of the societies evolving and the attitudes and treatment of merchants have changed as the technologies changed and what they were dealing with transporting and selling suddenly became different. SEGUE: The political systems played a part in the merchants’ discipline in the 100s to the 1500s but it all came together and what changed as a result of all of this was the technological and intellectual discoveries that made the products different.

TOPIC SENTENCE: Even though the political and economical, the religious and social, all had influences on the attitudes towards merchants and trade there must have been some effect, and that was the technology and intellect that resulted from these evolving changes over time. GROUPING 5 (TECHNOLOGICAL & INTELLECTUAL) Over time from the first century all the way to the 16th century there were influences on merchants and trade that resulted in different products being traded and these products were results of innovations in the continuing centuries. (Docs. 3,4&6 vs. 5 &7) ANALYSIS: From the origins of these religions the trading items have changed and gone through gold, and cotton and many other things that have most like been produced because of a need for them in the developing societies. (Bulliet, 210-11) FACT 1: The merchants would send letters in the fourteenth century about the Christian goods and they would say things like they were selling a product or even writing to their mother about something. CONNECTION: These letters actually present valuable information about what products were being sold and how much they sold them for and what types of problems occurred because of merchant disloyalty. () POINT OF VIEW (DOC. 6): The Italian merchants and people who wrote the letters to and from each other clearly were in the merchant business or connected to it somehow so they are writing these letters through a societal individual’s point of view. (Doc. 6) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/CONNECTION: From the earlier years merchants had products but they changed because they slowly discovered what the demand actually was and what they were able to make more money off of. (Spodek, 327) RELIABILITY (DOC. 6): The letters to and from Italian merchants in the fourteenth century have unquestionable reliability for they are the exact words of the people who wrote them and they are perfect because they show what the people thought of then at that time and in what sort of a situation they were in at the time. (Doc. 6) FACT 2/CONNECTION: In the beginning, closer to the origins of the religions, the exact merchandise that was traded is not specified but later on in Islamic religion, Ibn Khaldun, definitely speaks about something sold that makes a lot of profit so the level at which things are now sold became more professional and that was where it connects to the economy. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Slowly they became more interested in the economy and then they started to specify what kinds of goods the merchants were trading, and not only did their way of thinking become more professional but their way of dealing with the merchants and trade became less spiritual and more related to business. () FACT 3/CAUSE AND EFFECT: Before 1170 in Britain there was the trade of gold and that was very important because it brought in lots of profit and there was also much demand for it in other places, there was also cheating involved with merchants who had gold which was where the government came into play and tried to introduce discipline. SHORT TERM EFFECT: Then after the gold came paintings and English wool in Christian places and there was cotton yarn in Islamic societies and there things stayed on for awhile until they became other goods that were in demand years later. (Docs. 3&6) SEGUE: These were intellectual and technological developments that connected all the attitudes to trade and merchants together in these 15 centuries, and still lasted after that.

TOPIC SENTENCE: Through the course of time from the first to 16th centuries, the attitudes toward merchants and trade have changed along with some intertwined technological and intellectual changes, all due to the evolution of Christian and Islamic societies. CHANGE OVER TIME: The changes that took place over the 15 centuries led these two religions to become stronger and to become more powerful in the world as a whole. (Andrea, 196-7,232-3) LONG TERM EFFECT: After the 1500s both Islam and Christianity spread using their form of missionaries and Islam using their merchants as well, to promote religion and community formation in places other than their origin. (Laden 120) CONNECTION: These two religions also ended up meeting other religions that had followed the same path as theirs, such as Hinduism and Judaism. CLOSURE: This system of merchants and trade that developed during the rise of Christianity and Islam evolved and later became the biggest, world- wide trade system in all of history.

Bibliography

• Andrea, Alfred J., and James H. Overfield. The Human Record Volume I: To 1700 : Sources of Global History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2004.

• Armstrong, Monty, David Daniel, and Abby Kanarek. Cracking the AP World History Exam 2008. Princeton: Princeton Review, 2007.

• Bulliet, Richard W, Pamela Kyle Crossley, Daniel R. Headrick, Steven W. Hirsch, Lyman L. Johnson, and David Northrup. The Earth and Its People: A Global History. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2005.

• "The Christian Life." Geneva.rutgers.edu. 01 Jan. 2009 .

• Constable, Olivia Remie. Housing the Stranger in the Mediterranean World : Lodging, Trade, and Travel in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. New York: Cambridge UP, 2004.

• "Europe in the Terrible 1300s." MacroHistory : World History. 03 Jan. 2009 .

• Fareed, Muneer Goolam. The Life of the Prophet Muhammad Vol. IV : Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya. Trans. Ibn Kathir and Trevor Le Gassick. New York: Ithaca P, 2000.

• A, GRANSDEN. Hist Writing in England C550. New York: Routledge, 1974.

• Insoll, Timothy. The Archaeology of Islam. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1999.

• Laden, Jennifer, and Patrick Whelan. AP World History. Grand Rapids: Kaplan, 2008.

• "Medieval and Renaissance Italy." ACMRS HomePage. 03 Jan. 2009 .

• Meri, Josef W., ed. Medieval Islamic Civilization : An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge, 2005.

• "Philosophy and Christian Theology ()." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 02 Jan. 2009 .

• Spodek, Howard. The World's History. 2nd ed. Vol. Combined. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download