World Geography



The Spread of Buddhism across Asia

|Cultural diffusion vs. Culture regions |Notes/Tasks: |

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|Cultural diffusion concerns the spread of culture and the factors that account|1. What are the factors that contribute to the spread of ideas and culture. |

|for it, such as migration, communications, trade, and commerce. Because | |

|culture moves over space, the geography of culture is constantly changing. | |

|Generally, culture traits originate in a particular area and spread outward, | |

|ultimately to characterize a larger expanse of territory. Culture region | |

|describes the location of culture traits or cultural communities; cultural | |

|diffusion helps explain how they got there. |2. How is cultural diffusion different from a cultural region? |

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|Does the map above best represent cultural diffusion or culture regions? How do you know? |

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|What religion best characterizes India according to the map? Is this the only religion practiced in India? |

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|How did Indonesia (an island chain) and the Middle East (located on the opposite end of the Indian Ocean) come to both be characterized by large Sunni Muslim |

|populations? |

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|Religion in Asia | |

| |3. Jot down 3 words that best describe the religious character of Asia. |

|One of the defining cultural elements of a region is the religious affiliation| |

|of its people. Asia not only has significant populations of the world's major | |

|belief systems, but is the continent on which many of those religions were | |

|founded. Today, Asia continues to reflect the religious diversity of the | |

|planet. | |

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|Buddhism - | |

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|The Silk Road | |

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|For over two thousand years the Silk Road was a network of roads for the | |

|travel and dissemination of religious beliefs across Eurasia. Religious | |

|beliefs of the peoples of the Silk Road changed radically over time and were | |

|largely due to the effects of travel and trade on the Silk Road itself. | |

|Source: | |

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|The close relationship between Buddhism and trade is largely due to the | |

|reliance of the Buddhist monastic community on donations from lay supporters. | |

|Ideally, Buddhist monks and nuns were required to reject all worldly |[pic] |

|possessions and thus to depend on the lay community to supply all of their | |

|necessities, including food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. In practice, |Buddhism came to China from India as a result of Silk Road trade. Image courtesy the|

|donations to Buddhist monasteries extended to a wide range of materials that |National Library of China. |

|were necessary to maintain resident communities of monks and nuns. Significant| |

|economic surpluses were needed to sustain large-scale Buddhist institutions, | |

|where, in return for donations, monks and nuns were available to give |4. Summarize how the Silk Road influenced the spread of Buddhism. |

|religious instruction. | |

|Buddhist demand for the "seven jewels" (saptaratna) stimulated long-distance | |

|trade between northwestern South Asia, Central Asia and China. The seven | |

|jewels consisted of luxury commodities that were high in value but low in | |

|volume, such as gold, silver, crystal, lapis lazuli, carnelian, coral, and | |

|pearls. | |

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Religious character of Asia

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