AP WORLD HISTORY UNIT GUIDE

3500BCE -500CE Ch. 1-11

1st 6 weeks

Info to know-

prehistory versus history, features of civilization, stages of hominid development: australopithecines, Homo habilis. Homo erectus. Homo sapiens (Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon). Homo sapiens sapiens (modem humans), the "Out of Africa" thesis versus the multiregional thesis, the Stone Age: the Paleolithic era, the Mesolithic era, Neolithic era; family units: clans, and tribes, hunting and gathering (foraging) societies and their gender division of labor, the domestication of animals and plants: pastoralism and agriculture, herding societies; the city-specialization of labor, metallurgy, and metalworking, the Bronze Age (ca. 3500-4200 B.G.E.)

writing Mesopotamia: Sumeria and Babylon, the Fertile Crescent (the Tigris and Euphrates rivers) cuneiform, the Gilgamesh epic, Hammurabi's law code Egypt (the Nile River), the Egyptian Book of the Dead, pyramids, hieroglyphics, Indus valley civilization (the Indus River), early China (the Yellow River) the Celts, the Hittites and iron weapons, the Assyrians and cavalry warfare, the Persian Empire, the Hebrews and monotheism, the Phoenicians and the alphabet, the Lydians and coinage, the Aryan invasion of India: the Dravidians, the Indian caste system, the Bantu and their migrations: Nubia, Ghana, the Olmec, the Maya, Andean societies, the Mississippian culture, the Anasazi

cultural diffusion versus independent innovation, class distinctions, hierarchy, and social stratification, social mobility, caste systems, patriarchies, and matriarchies, aristocracy (nobility or noble class), parliamentary bodies, oligarchy, republics, and democracies, theocracy, slavery versus serfdom, war, trade, and trade routes, religious interaction and missionary activity, migration of religions across regions, the Bantu migrations, the Polynesian migrations, and Eurasia's great age of migrations

polytheism and monotheism, Zoroastrianism (the Avestas), Judaism (the Ten Commandments, the Torah, the Talmud), YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah) and Abraham

Moses and the Exodus from Egypt (Passover) David and Solomon the Jewish Diaspora

Vedism (the Rig-Veda), Hinduism (the Upanishads, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad-Gita) samsara, karma, and dharma, Brahrna, Vishnu, and Shiva the caste system (the Laws of Manu), the Mandate of Heaven

Greek city-states (Sparta and Athens), democracy, the Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, Alexander the Great, Hellenism, Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the foundations of Western scientific thought, Solon, Pericles, Sappho, women’s roles, Pax Romana

the Roman Republic, plebeians versus patricians, the Punic Wars, Julius Caesar, the Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ), the Bible (Old and New testaments), the Crucifixion and Resurrection (Easter), Peter and Paul, Constantine and the Edict of Milan, Saint Augustine, the barbarian invasions: Attila the Hun, Ostrogoths, Visigoths; Diocletian

China's Qin (Ch'in), Han, and Tang dynasties, Shi Huangdi, the Chinese tributary system, the Silk Road, Constantinople, , Laozi (Lao-tzu), Daoism, Laozi (Lao-tzu), Confucianism (the Analects) K'ung Fu-tzu (Confucius) the Mandate of Heaven, Wang Mang, invention of paper, epidemic disease, Yellow Turban Rebellion, Shang Yang, Liu Bang, Sima Qian

Buddhism (the Four Noble Trut~s and the Eightfold Path) Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) nirvana, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, Ashoka, Chandragupta, Chandra Gupta I, Chandra Gupta II, White Huns, Achaemenid dynasty, Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Seleucid dynasty, Battle of Gaugamela, Sasanids

Empires to know: Abbasidian Empire, Ghana Empire, Mali Empire, Byzantine Empire, Kiev, the first Russian state

Respond to the following-

1. Why was the average life expectance in agricultural society’s greater after reaching 20 years old?

2. What was the most significant legacy of the Phoenicians?

3. List the characteristics of most early civilizations.

4. What were the major arguments of Confucius?

5. List the ways that the spread of Christianity and Buddhism were similar.

6. What are the historical benefits of myths?

7. List the changes to society brought about by the Neolithic Revolution.

8. What contributions were made by women to the agricultural revolution?

9. Why would the concept of civilization be a controversial organizing principle in world history?

10. List all of the early civilizations there were centered around rivers.

11. What were the early governmental structures of Mesopotamia and Egypt?

12. What was the basis of ruler’s authority in Zhou China?

13. Know the general dates for the rise & fall of the major early civilizations (Hittite, Zhou, etc.)

14. How was the written language used in early China that differed from other early civilizations?

15. What was the practice of shifting cultivation and why was it used?

16. When was the lateen sail first used on the Indian Ocean and what were it’s advantages?

17. Why did the majority of the Chinese population during the Han dynasty live in eastern China?

18. What factors contributed to political disunity in ancient India?

19. What are the major tenets of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Daoism, and Confucianism?

20. Describe Greek and Roman agriculture.

21. In what capacity were slaves used in Rome?

22. In what ways did Greek politics resemble Indian politics?

23. Compare Greek and Roman architecture with that of classical China and India.

24. What is cultural diffusion? Give several examples from the chapters under consideration here.

25. How did the end of the Gupta Empire differ from that of the decline of Rome?

26. Briefly explain the division of the Roman Empire into two parts. How was the decline of each of these regions similar and different?

27. What are the similarities and differences between Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism?

28. Why is Christianity more likely than Hinduism to see humans as superior to the rest of nature?

29. What does Islam mean?

30. What was the connection between the Bedouin people and the development of Islam?

31. What was the status of women in Bedouin society prior to Islam?

32. List the 5 Pillars of Islam.

33. Why was Islam successful in spreading outside of Arabia?

34. What portion of the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Muslims? What portion was NOT?

35. Describe the political and theological differences between Shi’is and Sunnis.

36. List the contributions of the Abbasid Empire. What was the most significant transformation brought about by their rise to power?

37. What factors helped the eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) survive, while the Western Roman Empire collapsed?

38. What does the term Hellenization mean?

39. What does the term polis mean? What classical civilization is most closely associated with this term?

40. In what ways were Athens and Sparta similar? In what ways were they different?

41. Why was the collapse of political institutions more devastating in Roman civilization that for Han China or Gupta India?

42. What are the similarities and differences between early Judaism and early Christianity?

43. What was the hijra?

44. Why is it a central event in Muslim beliefs?

45. Compare and contrast the social, political, economic features of two of the early civilizations.