Periods 1 and 2

Question 1

What were the causes and effects of long-distance trade during the Classical Period? (600 BCE- 600 CE)

Answer 1

Cause: the Chinese wanted western products, and new technologies such as the saddle and stirrups for camels and horses allowed for faster movement across long distances.
Effects: Spread of religions such as Christianity and Buddhism, as well as ideas and disease.

Question 2

Compare and contrast the food aspects of Neolithic and Paleolithic communities.

Answer 2

Neolithic communities had a more reliable food supply BUT
Their diet had less variety and nutrition. Historians know this because they had shorter skeletons.
They had to work harder and longer than the 3-5 hour work Paleo work day.
Their death rate was higher due to contagious diseases and contamination that spread due to human waste in settlements.

Question 3

What is the Paleolithic Era distinguished by?

Answer 3

The development of stone tools

Question 4

What did the dependable food supply allow farmers to do over several millennia?

Answer 4

Farmers gradually outnumbered foragers over several millennia.

Question 5

What were some of the hallmarks of a civilization?

Answer 5

1. Advanced cities partially dependent on trade.
2. Specialization
3. Recordkeeping
4. Complex institutions, like religion and government
5. Advanced technology and arts

Question 6

The Law Code of Hammurabi classified the following social divisions:

Answer 6

1. free landowners
2. work force
3. slaves
   Penalties were dependant on class.

Question 7

Over time, women____.

Answer 7

Lost social standing and freedom due to the heavy labor needed for agriculture

Question 8

What technology did Paleolithic humans use and what did they use it for?

Answer 8

Fire: to aid hunting and foraging, to protect against predators and adapt to cold environments

Question 9

The Indus River overflows ___

Answer 9

Twice a year.

Question 10

The two main cities in the Indus River Valley were

Answer 10

Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro. They had the same styles and artifacts as smaller cities.

Question 11

What is the Holocene?

Answer 11

Climate change that ended the Ice Age in 9000 BCE

Question 12

Early human religion was?

Answer 12

Animistic. They worshiped nature spirits and inanimate things.

Question 13

What structure did humans live in in the Paleolithic Era?

Answer 13

Kinship groups of 15-50 people

Question 14

What is pastoralism?

Answer 14

A way of life dependant on herds of stock. People migrated with herds and stock to new pastures and watering places.

Question 15

What were the two primary facets of ancient Chinese religion?

Answer 15

Ancestor worship and divination.

Question 16

The Shang used what to justify seizing power?

Answer 16

They used propaganda, such as the Mandate of Heaven. They claimed that a ruler was chosen by a deity and supported by the Gods if he served his people well. Corruption, violence, etc like the last Shang ruler signaled divine displeasure and validated replacement.

Question 17

What was China’s Warring States Period?

Answer 17

A series of civil wars. It arose after a series of weak Zhou emperors failed to prevent collapse, and lead to the fall of the Zhou Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty.

Question 18

Confucianism drew parallels between what?

Answer 18

Family and state- both are hierarchies.

Question 19

Confucianism is?

Answer 19

a philosophy with a more optimistic view of goodness of human nature than Legalism. It sought to keep political and social order by improving.

Question 20

What happened to the Late Bronze Age civilizations?

Answer 20

They collapsed. Invaders destroyed Hattusha, and the Hittite kingdom in Anatolia crashed down. Egypt surrendered territory in Syria-Palestine and Nubia. The Myceneans collapsed before they could finish their fortifications. This ended palaces and the dominating ruling class, as well as writing knowledge since only the ruling class knew it.

Ultimately, the civilizations collapsed in the face of external violence and internal weakness. They entered the “Dark Age” of poverty, isolation, and lack of knowledge.

Question 21

What empire was the force of change in the Mediterranean?

Answer 21

The Neo-Assyrian Empire. They used force and terror and exploited wealth and labor of subjects. War campaigns followed the most important long-distance trade routes. They secured access to iron and silver, gaining control of international commerce. They defeated all great kingdoms, including Elam, Urartu, Babylon, and Egypt.

Question 22

What was Assyrian religion like?

Answer 22

They believed that gods chose kings. The king chose one of his sons to be his successor, which was confirmed by divine oracles or elite.

Question 23

Why was the Assyrian Empire considered the first true empire?

Answer 23

It was ruled from far distances and had diverse peoples.

Question 24

What allowed the Assyrians to conquer and control a large and diverse empire?

Answer 24

Superior military technology, such as bowmen and slingers with stone projectile, armored spearmen, calvary with bows and spears, and four-man chariots, and organization, as well as terror tactics such as skinning and throwing into fires.

Question 25

The Assyrians had the same 3 classes as?

Answer 25

Hammurabi’s Babylon.

Free landowning citizens
Farmers and artisans
Slaves

Question 26

Who was Alexander “the Great” and what did he do?

Answer 26

Alexander was the son and heir of Phillip. He defeated the Persian forces of King Darius III in revenge for Xerxes’ invasion. He maintained the framework of Persian administration.

Question 27

Alexander’s sudden death led to what?

Answer 27

A half-century of chaos. The Persian Empire was divided into 3 dynasties ruled by a Macedonian dynasty: the Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Antigonoid.

Question 28

Who was resistance to Assyria spearheaded by?

Answer 28

Babylonia. They launched attacks on the Assyrian homeland and destroyed their chief cities. Assyria rapidly fell, and Greek mercenaries had no clue it existed 2 centuries later.

Question 29

Most of the Assyrian Empire fell to who?

Answer 29

The Neo-Babylonian kingdom.

Question 30

Why was there tension in Judea between the Jews and Romans?

Answer 30

The Jews believed in one God and were waiting for the Messiah, which the Romans saw as a threat because they refused to worship the emperor, which was seen as disloyalty. They crucified Jesus.

Question 31

What was more attractive about Hinduism than Buddhism?

Answer 31

There was a direct connection with the gods. This led to Vedic tradition evolving into Hinduism.

Question 32

What caused the reform of Vedic religion? What did Vedic religion evolve into?

Answer 32

The new movements. It evolved into Hinduism, incorporating Vedic religion, Dravidian cultures, and Buddhism.

Question 33

As Buddhism spread, what happened?

Answer 33

The original values began to be undermined. There became a hierarchy of Buddhist monks and nuns, they made stupas, and started to worship Buddha as a god.

Question 34

What happened to the status of women during the Gupta period?

Answer 34

There was a decline in the status of women. They lost the right to own and inherit property, and couldn’t study sacred texts and do rituals. They were treated like the Shudra (lowest class). They were expected to obey their father, husband, and sons, and were married around the age of 6 or 7.

Question 35

What was sati and how could women escape it?

Answer 35

A woman was expected to cremate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. To escape, she could join a Jainist of Buddhist religious community.

Question 36

What was the basic unit of Qin China?

Answer 36

Family, composed of living members and ancestors.

Question 37

The Qins and Romans both worshipped what?

Answer 37

Nature.

Question 38

Who was Shi Huangdi?

Answer 38

He was the founder of the Qin dynasty in the Wei Valley, which rapidly conquered rival’s and made China’s first empire.

Question 39

Who was the power passed to after the Qin dynasty?

Answer 39

The Han dynasty.

Question 40

Who was Constantine and what did he do?

Answer 40

He reunited the entire empire under sole rule by 324. He claimed he’d seen a cross in battle and issued the Edict of Milan which ended the persecution of Christians. Christianity became the official rule and Christians had adbantages. He moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople)

Question 41

What was Rome’s 3rd Century Crisis?

Answer 41

The period from 235-284 CE when there was political, military, and economic problems. The loyalty of the army had to be bought, and the decreased amount of precious metal in coins devalued coinage. This led to a bartering economy. There was a frequent change of rulers (20+ who ruled for only a few months or years)

Question 42

Who was Liu Bang and what did he do?

Answer 42

He established the Han dynasty and promised to reject the mistakes of the Qin. He combined Legalism and Confucianism.

Question 43

The Qin and Han emperors allied with the gentry to do what?

Answer 43

To weaken rural aristocrats. The gentry eventually became the new aristocracy.

Question 44

Who was Cyrus and what did he do?

Answer 44

Cyrus was the son of a Persian chieftain and a Median princess, who united the Persian tribes and overthrew the Median monarch around 550 BCE. He kept the framework of Median rule. He redrew the map of west Asia.

Question 45

How were the early inhabitants of western Iran organized?

Answer 45

They had a patriarchal family organization. They were divided into 3 social classes: warriors, priests, and peasants. It was a landowning aristocracy.

Question 46

Unlike the Assyrians, Cyrus and his son Cambyses were?

Answer 46

They were practical and respectful when conquering territories. They allowed conquered peoples to keep their traditions and ways of life.

Question 47

What was the religion of the Persian Empire?

Answer 47

Zoroastrianism. Their god was called Ahuramazda. They believed that the world was created by him, and was threatened by Angra Mainyu. Ideas of the struggle between good and evil were prevalent, and they believed people were judged after death for their actions.

Question 48

What did the Persians worship besides Ahuramazda?

Answer 48

The good elements, water and fire. They were concerned with the purity of the body.

Question 49

After the destruction of the Myceneans, the Greeks lapsed into what?

Answer 49

The “Dark Age.” They were isolated. In 800 BCE, their isolation ended when they reestablished contact with the Aegean and the Middle East, beginning the Archaic Period.

Question 50

What is the Varna?

Answer 50

A class system based on color. The Aryans were on top, and the Non- Aryans were the Shudras and Untouchables.

Question 51

How was the varna and jati system rationalized? What social needs did they serve? What overarching principle made sense of this system?

Answer 51

You are who you deserve to be because of your past actions. There were people for every position, and everyone knew their place.

Question 52

Describe commerce and culture in an era of political fragmentation in India.

Answer 52

Greek influence is evident in art and coin design.
There were some foreign powers, such as the Greco- Bactrian kingdom, the Shakas, and the Kushans, who fostered trade and connected the silk road and Arabian seaports.
There was economic, cultural, and intellectual development. Epics, such as the Ramayana and Mahabarata were written.
There were significant advances in science and technology, such as herbal remedies and linguistics, which led to the standardization of Sanskrit.
There was a rise of states in central India: the Andhra dynasty and 3 Tamil kingdoms. It was a “classical” period of literature and art.

Question 53

How did the Malay peoples navigate the Pacific and Indian Oceans?

Answer 53

They rode monsoon winds, and interpreted patterns of swells, winds, clouds, and bird and sea life.

Question 54

What were the varna classes?

Answer 54

Brahmin- priests and scholars
Kshatriya- warriors and officials
Vaishya- merchants, artisans, and landowners
Shudra- peasants and laborers, originally for the Dasas
Untouchables- excluded from class system and avoided because of demeaning and poluting work

Question 55

LATEEEEEEEN SAIL and advanced knowledge of monsoons

Answer 55

triangle sail- India

Question 56

Why didn’t Sub-Saharan Africa have “great traditions?”

Answer 56

They were not shaped by imperial conquest or shared elite culture, but instead had “small traditions” developed during a long period of isolation. There was no unifying power or language, so they developed their own.

Question 57

Why did some goods and ideas travel easier/ faster than others?

Answer 57

Some religions, such as Buddhism and Christianity didn’t depend on one ethnic group.

Question 58

Why did the Han dynasty fall?

Answer 58

Mongol invasions and political fragmentation

Question 59

Who were the Bantu people?

Answer 59

The main peoples of Africa, did IRON SMELTING, farmed, and used hoes and digging sticks.