AP World History Summer Assignment

Dear Students,

Welcome to AP World History! In preparation for our busy year, you are expected to complete the following assignments over the summer. They will be due the first day of class, September 5. We will begin our course of study in the year 8,000 B.C.E. and finish the school year looking at modern day issues. The majority of the summer assignment will pertain to our first time period of study, 8,000 B.C.E. to 5,000 B.C.E. as well as some basic vocabulary and a geography assignment. All four parts of the assignment must be handwritten. Typed work will not be accepted.

Please feel free to email me over the summer if you have questions. I will check my email weekly, but probably not daily.

Sincerely,

Mr. Morse

Assignment One- Using the internet, define the terms “B.C.E.” and “C.E.” We will reference these periods throughout the course and you must be familiar with them.

Assessment- Will be included in day one quiz.

Assignment Two- Create flashcards for the following vocabulary terms. Identify the person, term, or concept on spiral bound note cards or whole punched and placed on a ring notecards. One side should have the term; the other the definition.

Assessment- Basic definition of terms will be included on day one quiz. Vocabulary definitions will be collected as part of your summer homework packet on day one of class.

AP World History General Terms

Absolutism
Agriculture
Aristocracy
Bias
Bureaucracy
Chiefdom
City-state / Civilization
Commercial
Demography
Divination
Dynasty
Empire
Epidemic / Forage
Globalization
Indentured Servant
Interregional
Kingdom
Medieval
Merchant / Monotheism
Nation
Neolithic
Nobility
Nomad
Ocean
Pandemic
Papacy / Pastoral
Patriarchal
Periodization
Polytheism
Prehistoric
Primary Source
Revolution
Scribe / Sea
Secondary source
Serf
Shaman
Slave
State
Steppes
urban

Assignment Three- Reading questions- Students will have a basic understanding of what the Neolithic Revolution was, why it occurred, and what impact it will have on human society. Please use the following websites to find the text to answer the corresponding questions.

http://www.bbc.couk/dna/h2g2/A2054675

http://history-world.org/neolithic.htm

http://angelfire.com/ca2/kushana/Neolithic.html

Assessment- Students will be quizzed on knowledge gained from readings. Your completed Neolithic Revolution answers will be collected as part of your summer assignment homework packet on day one of class.

Neolithic Revolution- 8,000 B.C.E. to 5,000 B.C.E. Directions: Use the websites listed above to answer the following questions. Answers must be handwritten and no credit will be given for typed answers.

1. What does the term “Neolithic Revolution” refer to? What happened during this event?

2. Did this revolution occur overnight? Explain.

3. What event led to the Neolithic Revolution?

4. What does the term “Neolithic” actually mean?

5. What does it mean to “domesticate” something?

6. What plants were the first to be domesticated?

7. What animal was the first to be domesticated?

8. What area of the world would not have large domesticated animals to use as beasts of burden?

9. In what area of the world did the Neolithic Revolution first occur?

10. Describe the spread of the Neolithic Revolution.

11. What economic activity did farming replace?

12. How did this economic activity differ from farming?

13. How did hunters and gathers live? What would a community be like for them?

14. Why would farming be a more beneficial way of life?

15. Name six ways farming changed the lives of early man.

16. Why did farming, for the most part, replace hunters and gathers?

17. Are there still hunters and gathers in the world today?

Speculate on gender roles…

18. Who would have hunted?

19. Who would have gathered?

20. Therefore, which gender probably made the transition to farming? Why?

21. Why would women lose power in an agrarian society?

Assignment Four- Geography and locations are a very important part of the class. You will be expected to know locations of land features and civilization. Neatly label map(s) with the land and water features listed below in the color indicated in the parentheses. Use the maps provided or print one for internet.

Assessment- You will be asked to identify and label a blank map on your day one quiz. Your complete map will be collected as part of your summer assignment homework packet due the first day of class.

(Locations on next page)

Continents (red)
1. North America
2. South America
3. Australia
4. Europe
5. Antarctica
6. Asia
7. Africa / Oceans, Seas, Bays,
Lakes (Blue)
1. Atlantic Ocean
2. Pacific Ocean
3. Indian Ocean
4. Arctic Ocean
5. North Sea
6. Baltic Sea
7. English Channel
8. Norwegian Sea
9. Barents Sea
10. Mediterranean Sea
11. Adriatic Sea
12. Aegean Sea
13. Black Sea
14. Caspian Sea / 15. Great Lakes
16. Red Sea
17. Persian Gulf
18. Arabian Sea
19. Bay of Bengal
20. South China Sea
21. East China Sea
22. Yellow Sea
23. Sea of Japan
24. Caribbean Sea
25. Hudson Bay
26. Cape of Good Hope
27. Cape Horn
28. Gulf of Guinea / Rivers (Blue)
1. Nile
2. Tigris
3.Euphrates
4. Amazon
5. Mississippi
6. Rio Grande
7. Indus
8. Yellow
(Hwang He)
9. Yangtze
10. Ganges
11. Irrawaddy
12. Mekong
13. Congo / Deserts
(indicate with striped green lines)
1. Gobi
2. Kalahari
3. Sahara
4. Thar
5. Sierra Madre
6. Mojave

Optional Reading Suggestions

During the school year, AP World History students will be reading at least two (2) of the books listed below. The first two are non-fiction and the second two are historical fiction. If you would like to get ahead of the game, you would be wise to read one or more of these over the summer. These books will be read outside of class during the year, so doing this would save you precious time during the school year.

Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang (Cultural Revolution)

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

(a fascinating look at world history through 6 popular beverages)

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

(Life in a Soviet Labor Camp)

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (South Africa/apartheid)