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Cultural Diversity

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Michelle Lin Global History Throughout history, various cultures have blended together to create vast empires. These cultures relied upon each other in mutually beneficial interactions and exchanges. Sometimes, the refusal to accept diversity leads to conflict. Diversity of culture has impacted many of the past’s greatest empires. Among the empires, the Byzantine and the Mongol are perfect examples of diverse culture due to their capabilities of spreading ideas and trade internationally and in exchange for resulting achievements much more beneficial towards them. The Byzantine Empire, although, was deeply influenced by the Roman administration after being the eastern region of the Roman Empire before the split, it also contained Greek elements due to the majority of Greek speaking citizens. The Byzantine Empire served to preserve Roman and Greek culture, allowed the spread of new religion and achievements through cultural diffusion. When the western region of the Roman Empire collapsed in 475, libraries and places of literature were destroyed under the chaos and much of the records kept by the civilization were lost. The eastern half managed to become an independent empire of its own, known today as; The Byzantine Empire. As a result, the Byzantine alone served to preserve the Roman and Greek culture in place of the diminishing western region. Among the preservation saved by Emperor Justinian, the ones that became most significant were the Roman Laws. Justinian then expanded on the law code based on the original Roman Laws to create the Justinian’s Code. The Justinian’s Code served as the governing system for numerous western countries. The occurrence of cultural diffusion also significantly impacts the Byzantine society. Not only were the capable of preserving culture, they were also able to spread ideas with other parts of the world and in exchange, many new and influential achievements were brought back. For example the Byzantine spread Christianity through teachings, literature and architecture. They attracted foreign visitors due to the magnificence and the beauty of their architecture. As a result, the empire began to excel in math, science, language, art, governing and etc. because of international influences brought in by foreigners. The Mongol Empire, during the 13th and 14th century was considered to be one of the world’s biggest land empires in history. Much of Mongolian culture was due to their nomadic lifestyle. They conquer regions after regions, acquiring not only land but also influences. Their biggest achievement was considered to be their extensive trading route that was established by Kublai Khan during the Mongol Peace. The safe caravan routes across Central Asia and post routes which linked China to India and Persia added to the increasing encouragement of foreign trade. From the Silk Road, porcelain, gunpowder, compass currency and paper was traded. The period of peace and prosperity also attracted foreign visitors such as Marco Polo. Marco Polo played a significant role of spreading words about China’s wealth and cities which was later published into a book. The book informed foreigners, just like Marco Polo on aspects of the Chinese life. It is well concluded that the Mongol Empire is more culturally diverse thanks to their vast trade route. Among the many great empires, what distinguish the Byzantine and the Mongols from others were their cultural achievements and the lasting effects of these cultures on global history. The Byzantine and in Mongols, each in their own way of preserving and spreading their cultures left a notable mark in history. Both empires accepted cultural diversity and were able to expand and benefit from it.

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