Commonalities and Variations (500 B.C.E -> 1200 C.E.)

Question 1

What is Meroe?

Answer 1

A Nubian Nile Valley civilization in Africa.

Question 2

Who was Piye?

Answer 2

A Kushite ruler who went on to conquer Egyptian lands.

Question 3

What is Axum?

Answer 3

A city in Africa (where Northern Ethiopia is) that famously adopted Christianity.

Question 4

What is interesting about Axum religion-wise?

Answer 4

It shifted from an entirely unique religion and belief system to Christianity within a couple of years.

Question 5

What caused the downfall of Axum Civilization?

Answer 5

Soil exhaustion and eventually the death of a lot of citizens and collapse.

Question 6

How does Axum kind of “live on” today?

Answer 6

It is strongly remembered and many traits of the civilization can still be seen in Ethiopia.

Question 7

What was strange about Niger River Civilization government?

Answer 7

There were a ton of cities and it was very urban, but there was no large system that kept them all organized.

Question 8

How did the Niger River Civilization function?

Answer 8

People produced enough food for everyone and refrained from fighting. They also made a kind of a weak caste system to organize jobs and they taught their kids the job that they had.

Question 9

What was very different about interactions in America compared to many other places in the world at the time?

Answer 9

American peoples were completely separate from all Afro-Eurasian people, so they developed their own unique culture and lifestyle.

Question 10

What Mesoamerican Civilization has attracted the most attention?

Answer 10

The Maya of Mexico.

Question 11

What is the Popul Vuh (Mayan)?

Answer 11

The Mayan creation story that was carved into a stone frieze.

Question 12

What were some of the advancements that the Mayans made?

Answer 12

They made advancements in math and even made their own phonetic language.

Question 13

What was strange about the collapse of the Mayans?

Answer 13

It happened very suddenly, and we don’t know exactly why it happened.

Question 14

What is Teotihuacan?

Answer 14

A huge city in Mexico that was at its peak at about 550 C.E.

Question 15

How do we think that Teotihuacan was governed?

Answer 15

We think that there might have been multiple governors rather than a single ruler.

Question 16

What is it like to live in the Andean highlands?

Answer 16

Living in the mountains makes it so that there are a lot of rivers and that it is very high up, making it extremely dangerous.

Question 17

Who were the Chavin?

Answer 17

A peoples that lived in the Andean highlands starting at around the time of 900 B.C.E. They maintained control there for several centuries.

Question 18

What was Chavin technology and government like?

Answer 18

They were definitely advanced for their time, they had a strong government system as well as many good technologies such as drainage canals and ventilation systems.

Question 19

What kind of influences did the Chavin make?

Answer 19

They spread their technologies and their religious ideas to neighboring peoples, and they kept these ideas.

Question 20

What is Moche?

Answer 20

A South-American civilization that sat on the Pacific Coast.

Question 21

What were the rulers of Moche civilization like?

Answer 21

They had several warrior-priests that performed many rituals and sacrifices.

Question 22

What are Wari and Tiwanku?

Answer 22

Two Andean empires that give us the biggest insight to what the culture of the area was like.

Question 23

What is interesting about Wari and Tiwanku?

Answer 23

Neither owned specified areas of territory and both also produced a lot and traded a lot with neighbors.

Question 24

How did the Bantu spread ideas?

Answer 24

Through trade, they spread their language and cultural ideas and technologies and such.

Question 25

What was gender equality in Bantu areas like?

Answer 25

Men and women were very equal.

Question 26

What is Luba Art (Bantu)?

Answer 26

Special Bantu art that depicted special and powerful women.

Question 27

What is the Indian Ocean Maritime Network?

Answer 27

A network of sea paths that connected many countries and areas for trade.

Question 28

What were some new advancements made in transport?

Answer 28

Better boats (such as Dhows) and the wheel was invented.

Question 29

Who are the Chaco?

Answer 29

A peoples that lived in northwestern New Mexico.

Question 30

How did Chaco lifestyle change over time?

Answer 30

They started living in permanent settlements once their crops finally adapted to the desert environment.

Question 31

Who are the Mound Builders or Hopewells?

Answer 31

Peoples who lived in the Eastern United States who lived in mound houses. They were hunter-gatherer.

Question 32

What is the Hopewell Interaction Sphere?

Answer 32

A large area of America where historians believe that the Hopewells interacted with each other.

Question 33

What is Cahokia?

Answer 33

A large Mound Builder living area in Eastern America.

Question 34

What pack animals were commonly used for transport?

Answer 34

Llamas and camels and horses.

Question 35

What inventions made travelling with pack animals easier?

Answer 35

The inventions of the saddle and stirrup.