Chapter 2: New Civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, 2200-250 BCE

Question 1

Where did the first Chinese civilization arise?

Answer 1

The Shang Dynasty, which rose along the Huang He River around 1750 BCE.

Question 2

What form of government did the Shang Dynasty have?

Answer 2

A warrior aristocracy- a king ruled the core area,and the royal family governed distant outer regions.

Question 3

What was the Shang military like?

Answer 3

The Shang were exceptionally warlike and engaged in near constant battles with the nomads to the north and west, taking PoW for slaves.

Question 4

Cities in Early China were laid out according to?

Answer 4

Feng shui. Cities were laid out in a grid aligned with the North star.

Question 5

What was the Early Chinese writing system called?

Answer 5

Pictographs, with pictures representing objects and syllables. Only the elites knew it.

Question 6

What was the king’s relationship between the living and the dead/ Gods in the Shang Dynasty?

Answer 6

The king acted as an intermediary between the people, their ancestors, and the Gods.

Question 7

What was divination?

Answer 7

The seeking of the future/ will of the Gods by interpreting natural phenomena using oracle bones.

Question 8

What were the two primary facets of ancient Chinese religion?

Answer 8

Ancestor worship and divination.

Question 9

What material signified nobility and authority during the Shang Dynasty?

Answer 9

Bronze.

Question 10

What were the primary trade goods of the early Chinese?

Answer 10

Silk and jade. The Shang Dynasty also excelled in producing bronze objects.

Question 11

Why did China consider itself the “Middle Kingdom?”

Answer 11

China viewed itself as the center of the universe and thus superior to other nations.

Question 12

What dynasty followed the Shang as rulers of China?

Answer 12

The Zhou dynasty followed the Shang, arising out of nomads from the west (Wei River Valley) and conquering much of China by 1045 BCE.

Question 13

What did the Zhou Dynasty preserve from the Shang?

Answer 13

They preserved Shang culture, like the Semites in Mesopotamia adopted the Sumerian legacy.

Question 14

The Shang used what to justify seizing power?

Answer 14

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 15

The Zhou continued some Shang rituals, which led to a decline in what?

Answer 15

Divination and priests. There was a separation of religion and government.

Question 16

What happened during the Western Zhou Era?

Answer 16

All government officials were seen as models of morality, and the government was decentralized- members and allies of the royal family ruled.

Question 17

What happened during the Eastern Zhou Era?

Answer 17

The Warring States period and the replacement of bronze with iron/ steel.

Question 18

What was China’s Warring States Period?

Answer 18

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 rise of the Qin Dynasty.

Question 19

The expansion of bureaucracy during the Zhou Dynasty was justified by what?

Answer 19

Legalism- every aspect of society should be controlled with personal freedom sacrificed for the good of the state.

Question 20

Legalism is?

Answer 20

a political philosophy that maintains that humans are naturally evil and will only behave properly if compelled by strict laws and harsh punishments.

Question 21

Confucianism drew parallels between what?

Answer 21

Family and state- both are hierarchies.

Question 22

Confucianism is?

Answer 22

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 23

Daoism is?

Answer 23

an alternative school of thought to Confucian emphasis on hierarchy and duty. It said that the world should be accepted as it was found, avoiding useless struggle and violence- passive: the world is always changing and lacks any absolute morality or meaning.

Question 24

What did the emergence of private property in Chinese society lead to?

Answer 24

More patriarchy- arranged by Confucian thought.

Question 25

Yin and Yang

Answer 25

Complementary nature of male and female roles in natural order. Male= sun: active, bright, shining
Female= moon: passive, shaded, reflective
They were seen as equally dominant at first, but the male principal came to be seen as superior to female.

Question 26

Where was Nubia?

Answer 26

Nubia was a kingdom to the south of Egypt, originally conquered by them around 1500 BCE.

Question 27

What was Nubia’s relationship with Egypt?

Answer 27

They traded with Egypt during the Old Kingdom.
Egypt became more aggressive during the Middle Kingdom, and sought control of gold mines.
During the New Kingdom Egyptians destroyed Kush and the capital, extending their control to the fourth cataract. Egypt ruled for 500 years and imposed their culture on the natives.

Question 28

Egyptian authority collapsed and the Kingdom of what rose?

Answer 28

The Kingdom of Meroë rose, and their culture gradually replaced Egyptian.

Question 29

What did the Meroitic people worship?

Answer 29

They worshipped Egyptian Gods and Nubian deities.

Question 30

What system of rule did the Nubians have?

Answer 30

A matrilineal system- the king was succeeded by the son of his sister. Nubian queens sometimes ruled alone or with their husband.

Question 31

How did humans reach the Western hemisphere?

Answer 31

Through migrations through Asia.

Question 32

The civilizations of the Americas were what?

Answer 32

They were isolated for at least 15,000 years. Technology passed between civilizations in Asia, Africa, and Europe, but people in the Americas were alone.

Question 33

What was Olmec?

Answer 33

Olmec was first and most influential Mesoamerican civilization. The Olmecs are believed to have influenced later cultures such as the Maya and Aztecs.

Question 34

The Olmecs are primarily remembered for what massive carvings?

Answer 34

Monumental stone heads.

Question 35

The Olmecs laid out their cities in alignment with what?

Answer 35

Star paths. They had a strong belief in the significance of astronomical events.

Question 36

What did the organization of collective labor lead to?

Answer 36

It led to an increased reliable food production and a more diverse diet.

Question 37

The Olmec elite used elaborate religious rituals to do what?

Answer 37

To control. Rulers and their kin were associated with Gods through blood. They also performed bloodletting and human sacrifice.

Question 38

The Olmec Gods were what?

Answer 38

The Olmecs were polytheistic. They had deities with dual male and female natures, and human and animal blended characteristics.

Question 39

What is Caral?

Answer 39

The first city in the Americas. It arose in central Peru along the Supe River near the Andes around 2600 BCE. They were skilled in metallurgy, weaving, and pottery.

Question 40

Who were the Chavìn?

Answer 40

The Chavìn were an early Andean/ South American culture that rose around 1000 BCE. They had an extensive road network and raised crops by carving terraces into hills and mountains. They used the llama as a domesticated animal, were known for their elaborate weaving, and were polytheistic. Their main deity was a jaguar.

Question 41

What were llamas?

Answer 41

Llamas were the only domesticated beasts of burden in the Americas. They promoted specialization and provided meat, wool, and decreased labor needed to transport goods.

Question 42

The Olmec participated in what type of sacrifice?

Answer 42

Human sacrifice.

Question 43

What burial rituals did the Shang participate in?

Answer 43

They sacrificed animals and people, and put bronze objects in tombs. They worshipped ancestors, and the king was an intermediary between people and ancestors.

Question 44

The diverse environment in the Americas led to what?

Answer 44

It was challenging, and encouraged specialized production, complex social institutions, cultural values, etc.