In the 14th and 15th, most of the people of Europe and Asia lived in one of four distinct cultural regions. With the exception of China, these regions were not governed by one geopolitical entity. Rather, several political entities existed within each cultural zone. Worlds Together Worlds Apart from W. W. Norton & Company identifies these cultural zones as The House of Islam, Christendom, the Mosaic of India, and The Middle Kingdom (China). This article gives an overview of the distinctive characteristics of each region.
The House of Islam
A vast region stretching from North Africa to Central Asia to Turkey to the Indian subcontinent encompassing all of the lands that had been conquered by the Islamic religion. The House of Islam contained a great many political entities and cultures, all of which were united by devotion to Islam. Wherever one traveled in this vast territory, one would have seen people practicing the five pillars of the Islamic faith and seen signs of Islamic influence in things like architecture, legal practices, and dietary habits. It was more culturally unified than Christendom because virtually all Muslims could speak Arabic and most of them tried to travel to Mecca during their lifetime.
Christendom
All of the area (most of the continent of Europe) where the Christian religion dominated. Europe at this time was a collection of many different kingdoms in various states of centralization and with vast differences in culture and language. They were, however, united in their common devotion to the Christian religion. At this time, this area was in the midst of a kind of "dark age" after the fall of the last remnants of the Roman Empire and it would be some time before it "caught up" with the rest of the Eurasian continent. Also, despite its multiculturalism, this region was not at all open to new ideas, especially new religions and it was until the early 16th century that there was any serious challenge to the Roman Catholic church in Western Europe. Here, feudalism dominated the political landscape and would for several hundred years to come. Since feudalism was based upon the ownership of land, most people lived in small agricultural communities under the leadership of a landowning lord. While common people were not slaves, they had little rights and were usually uneducated.
The Middle Kingdom
Modern day China is the oldest civilization in the world and was a powerful kingdom under the leadership of dynastic emperors in the 14th and 15th centuries. Another important aspect of Chinese government at this time was that it had a complicated bureaucracy with complicated entrance exams for civil service. While the territory was a little less than what China controls today, it exerted considerable influence on the surrounding regions. Korea and Japan, for example, were heavily influenced by the Chinese. Buddhism and the teachings of Confucius were two dominate belief systems in China, although the Chinese did not feel the need to proselytize anyone else. They did, however, extract tribute from many of their neighbors and wished others to acknowledge the superiority of their way of life.
The Mosaic of India
India is also an old civilization, although it has changed more in its history than China has. Of course the dominant belief system in India, even today, is Hinduism, but in the 14th century, large portions of India were under the control of Islamic rulers. Obviously, this meant that India at that time was greatly influenced by Islam. Hinduism was much more elastic than Islam and Christianity. It does not have one single sacred text and has a myriad of deities and beliefs. One of the key aspects of Hinduism, however, was the belief in the caste system. This was a complicated series of hierarchies into which one was born. Because of its proximity to China and Southeast Asia, India also did a lot of trade with others. The result was that India at this time was a very multi-cultural place.
