In what ways did the geography and environmental conditions of Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Americas in the late tenth century contribute to the rise of isolated Khmer, Andean, and Japanese civilizations? Compare these cultures and discuss common

Question

points, as well as how they differed from each other.

Answer 1

Answers will vary but correct responses should include: Environmental conditions and geography contributed to the rise of isolated civilizations.It was hard to get around Japan's home islands. Overseas contacts were difficult and the surrounding seas daunting. Although geography impeded access to Japan, Japanese rulers tried to make a virtue of it. They were fearful of losing migrants to richer regions and apprehensive of Chinese power and self-sufficiency. Permission to trade abroad was hard to obtain. Japan was a narrow, closed court society in a narrow, closed country. Their isolated development, however, even at its most restrictive, never shut out Chinese cultural influence. In Southeast Asia, the Khmer civilization, while an isolated inland agrarian kingdom, relied on the Indian Ocean for its fabulous wealth and power. The productivity from the fertile soil provided from its location in the flood plain of the Mekong River was the foundation of the kingdom's greatness. The rhythms of its rise, however, matched the growth of Indian Ocean trade, which opened outlets for the Khmer farmers' surpluses. Like Japan, despite its isolation, it also benefitted from outside influences. The plan of the city of Angkor reflects influences from India across the Bay of Bengal. The Andean civilization in the Yucatan also dealt with geographic and environmental conditions that kept it isolated. Roads north from Mesoamerica led across dangerous territory. Nomadic peoples patrolled the northern edges of the Mesoamerican culture area, practicing raids and conquests. Its development continued the Maya city life and state-building in a new environment. Along with the influence of the Maya, the Andean culture differed from the other civilizations in that, despite its isolation, it also spread its influence and culture to neighboring regions. Its ways of life and thought traveled across the Gulf of Mexico, by seaborne trade, to reach the North American Southeast. Cultural contacts between Mesoamerica and parts of North America helped, for a while, to produce spectacular experiments in building states and modifying environments.