Midterm study guide review (try your best)

Question 1

foundations to 600 BCEprehistoric era

Answer 1

stone age (2million-10000 years ago);ice age affected development of early humans. Migration shaped this period, to warmer climates, with origins in east Africa, followed food. Land bridges allowed movement between continents and islands, to Eurasia, Australia, and Americas. Developed ways to keep warm and survive in small numbers. Prehistoric humans developed the first types of culture, mainly tools. Neolithic Age- 8000 bce to 5000bce stone age comes from early tools. Advancement in tool making, hunting allowed them to establish semi permanent settlements.

Question 2

2 societies determined by environment, nomadic; foraging, hunting, and gathering, very small number. Pastoral; migrate following groups of animals, mainly eat meat and live in environments with little vegetation. Gender role of women: highly valued for their gathering. status differences generally not wide. 3 major civilizations: Rome HAN CHINA GUPTA INDIA.

Answer 2

periodization results in variety of historical events across history.
This results in certain countries, having certain characteristics they do today.

Question 3

IMPOrTANCE OF RIVER VALLEyS
yearly floods, provided crops, ease of irrigation, water of transportation and trade.
get agriculture without diffusion: PERU MEXICO NEW GUINEA
FIRST CITIES:
Jericho- fertile crescent, walled, 5000-10000bce.
Catal huyuk- south/central turkey,5-6000 people.
Harrapa- indus river valley, 4500bce, 8-10000 people.
ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION::
advances in art and literature. written language. large cities. complex political organization. architecture and public building projects. long distance trade- culture diffusion. expanding material and non-material culture.

Answer 3

MESOPATAMIA (firtle crescent) developed in 3500 ce
culture- polytheist, cuneiform, epic literature “Gilgamesh”, trade with English and indus valley, bronze tools and weaponry, inventions: wagon and potters wheel, arches, and columns, ramps and pyramid designs.
Advanced astronomy and mathematics, 60 second minute,12 month calendar.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
job specialization, gender differences-marriage contracts, veils for women, less opportunity and voice for women.
SOCIAL CLASS DIVISIONS
free land owner
farmers/artisans
powerful and important merchants
domestic slaves.

Question 4

POLITICAl ORGANIZATION
-independent city-states
-warrior priestly kings(theocracy)
-hammurabis code and "lex talionis"
-competition and invasions led to political instability.
CITY STATES-sumer/ur
(Hammurabi) Babylonian
Mesopotamian civilizations:
HYksos and HIHITE(pastoral nomads) 
Hebrew-monotheism
Phoenician- created the modern day alphabet 
Assyrian

Answer 4

EGYPYT SOCIAL CLASS
literate priests
small nobility
small merchant class
farmers/artisans
women: I pharaoh- hat shepsut and influential wife of pharaoh- Nefertiti
Social nobility through bureaucracy.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
centralized and authoritarian (theocracy)
Drive Kingship-the pharaoh
Bureaucracy: from pharaoh to regional governors generally stable government even throughout the 3 kingdoms.

Question 5

INDUS VALLEY 2500bce

• complicated writing system
• polytheistic
• ART: soapstone, pottery figurines, metals not widely used.
• major cities: Harappa and mohenjo darro
• advanced agricultural and textile industry.
• disappears around 1500bce

Answer 5

ARYANS STORY TELLERS
-the vedas four collections of poems/sacred hymns
-veda means knowledge
-this time period is called the Vedic period or the Vedic age because of these vedas.
-the rig veda is the central story and it undergoes change overtime from the diffusion of the two cultures in india, Aryan and dravadic.
EPIC STORIES IN INDIAN HISTORY
Ramayana- tells the story of how a good Aryan king Rama destroys an evil pre Aryan king ravana.
Mahabharata- talks of a great war between two Aryan clans. (both talk about daily life and customs)
CASTE or varnas:
priests (Brahmins)
Warriors (Kshatriyas)
artisans (farmers) (merchants) (vaishyas)
peasants (shudras)
INDUS VALLEY (Aryans)
no real evidence of king
probably complex and centralized
control and organization probably came through agriculture.

Question 6

CHINA
dynasties
SHang(3500-1100)
-oracle bones, ancestors tied to religious beliefs.
-formed written language
-original river valley civilization.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
-centralization of government, emperor
-government preoccupied with flood control
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
-patriarchal/women as wives and concubines, sometimes shaman.
ZHOU 1100-400 bce
-mandate of heaven: heaven and earth are related; right or mandate to rule thus linking heaven and earth overthrew the shang had become corrupt and lost the way, or lost the mandate of heaven, decentralized the state.

Answer 6

• agricultural production went up.
• tax revenue increase
• and landed aristocratic classes were taught
• to solve the Zhou problem of disunity, the gin established a bureaucracy.
• bureaucrat vs. aristocrat
• centralized rule by thru bureaucracy
• mobilized hundreds of thousands of workers to build projects.
• constructed bridges, roads, and dams
• constructed a protective wall
• standardize Chinese script
• most famous archaeological legacy
• harsh legalis of the qin was both its strength and weaknesses
• the reign lasted just 14 years
• when the qin emperor died revolt spread and qin bureaucrats were slaughtered in a reactionary blood path.

Question 7

DAOISM
-ideology, belief system, not a religion
-the way or path
-harmony and balance
-yin and yang
-live passively, avoiding all stress and violence
-leadership by: compassion, moderation, humility
-no afterlife, seek immortality on earth, return to the dao
-eithiest
LEGALISM
-political philosophy
-best way is to rule by written law
-obey the rule and government
-harsh punishments
-no symbols, no concept of religious, observation
QIN DYNASTY 221-206bce
used legalism to end warring states, unite china.
brought organization and order to china
reconstruct china
encouraged peasants to migrate to sparsely populated regions by granting them their own plots of land and allowing them to keep profits.

Answer 7

WARRING STATES PERIOD
-chaos and disruption
-100 schools of though (Chinese ideologies)
-appearance of legalism and Confucianism and Daoism
CONFUCIANISM
-ideology, belief system- not a religion
-kung fu tze ( latinized to confucious)
-embraces the traditional customs and rites of the past
-teaches the lesson that the heaven god gives prosperity -only to the virtuous rule who has welfare of the people at -heart Morac behavior code.
-Book called the antalects ( patriarchal- respect of the father figure, wisdom)
-followed a kind of nature worship

Question 8

-an empire is a unified civilization, with a mini government and ruler, and a military.
EMPIRE
-group of people or stats under a single supreme authority
-common to have many ethnicities or cultures.
-large territorial size
KINGDOM
-single country, state or territory ruled by a king or queen
- one single culture or group
typically not as extensive, a territory or size.
empire-political cultural state, expands beyond their initial cultural boundaries.
characteeristics: powerful military machines.administrative institutions. organized activities over long distances. created new groups of military and political elites to manage their affairs. developed cities and procedures to govern their relations to or with ethnically and culturally diverse populations.

Answer 8

PERSIAN EMPIRE
cyrus the great- 580-529 bce
tolerant ruler-allowed different cultures within his empire to keep their own institutions.
-greeks call him a law giver
-jews call him the anointed of the lord. in 537, he let over 40000 return to Palestine.
DARIUS the great
-built Persepolis
- he extended the Persian empire to the indus river in north india.
-Built a canal to Egypt
-established tax collecting system
-divided the empire into districts called satrapies
-built the royal road
-established a complex postal system
- created a system of spies called the kings eyes and ears.
PERSIAN EMPIRE CONTROLS
-project military power over large areas
-use of diplomacy
-developing supply lines, built fortifications, defensive walls, and roads
-drawing new groups of military officers and soldiers from the local populations or conquered people.

Question 9

XERSES
-built qanat system
-faced some rebellion in the far east and in mainland Greece.
-tried to impose more Persian rule on local populations; less tolerance.
-moved to conquer independent minded greek civilization in 483 bce
-300 Spartans: battle of Thermopylae
-greek city states united to face him; destroyed much of Persian navy at battle of salamis.
internal revolt forced xerses to return home with his army.
-will never return to Greece
-later assassinated by his own bodyguard with help of a euhuch.
DECLINE OF PERSiAN EMPIRE
-retreated from policy of toleration for cultural differences.
-sought to impose Persian culture on all people of the empire.
-created rebellions, serious cost issues
-greeks in particular were independent minded.
-long lines of communication and supply made controlling the large empire difficult.
-loss of technological edge over time.

Answer 9

a