World History Class Notes
I. Chapter One: The First Humans
A. An “Indiana Jones Thing”
1. Prehistory- period before writing was developed
2. Archaeology and Anthropology
a. Archaeology- the study of past societies through an analysis of what people left behind
b. Artifacts-“stuff” left behind
c. Fossils- remains of living things
d. Anthropology- study of human life and culture
3. People in History
a. Donald Johanson
Paleoanthropologist Donald C. Johanson is the man who found the woman that shook up our family tree. In 1974, Johanson discovered a 3.2 million-year-old fossil of a female skeleton in Ethiopia that would forever change our understanding of human origins. Dubbed Australopithecus afarensis, she became known to the world as Lucy. In the years since, Johanson and his colleagues have unearthed a total of 363 specimens of Australopithecus afarensis that span 400,000 years.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882969,00.html#ixzz21v6cxmgq
b. Mary and Louis B. Leakey
In 1959 Louis and Mary Leakey discovered a new form of hominid in Africa (Olduvai Gorge) entitled: Homo habilis (brain 50% larger than Australopithecines. Determined it was Homo habilis were the first to use tools.
4. Dating Artifacts and Fossils
a.Radiocarbon Dating (determines an object’s age by measuring the amount of C-14)
c. Thermo luminescence dating (determines an object’s age by measuring the light given off by electrons trapped in the surrounding soil)
d. DNA analysis
B. Key Stages of Human Development
1. Australopithecines
a. 3-4 million years ago
b. East/southern Africa
c. First believed to leave the trees
d. “southern apes”
e. First hominids(humans and other creatures that walk upright)to make simple tools
f. Ardipithecus???
2. Homo erectus
a. 1.5 million years ago
b. “upright human being”
c. Larger brains/more advanced tools
d. First believed to use fire
1.) Fire gave warmth
2.) Fostered a sense of community for the groups gathered around it
3.) Enable them to scare away animals
4.) Flush animals out of wooded areas
5.) Cook food= make it taste better, easier to chew and digest
6.) As Ice Age conditions developed, allowed humans to further adapt to their environment
e. First to leave Africa and spread to Europe and Asia
3. Homo sapiens
a. 250,000 years ago
b. “wise human being”
c. Homo sapiens sapiens (“wise wise human beings”) 200,000 years age
d. Neanderthals
4. The Spread of Humans
a. 2 to 3 miles per generation
b. Populated the world within 10,000 years
c. Traditional theory: started in Africa and slowly spread to the rest of the world
d. Multiregional Theory: advanced human creatures may have emerged independently in different regions of the world
(out of Africa, traditional, theory)
Multiregional theory
C. Paleolithic Age
1. Nomadic lifestyle: humans had no permanent settlement…they followed their food sources
2. Both men and women had to find food, however, women had to stay close to camp because they raised children
3. Men hunted/ women gathered
4.
Tool / Effectspear, bow and arrow / made hunting easier
bone harpoon and fishhook / increased the catch of fish
bone needles / made it possible to make nets and baskets and to sew hides together for clothing
sharp-edged tools / made it easier to cut and dig
scraping tools / made it easier to clean animal hides
D. Neolithic Age/Revolution
1. People settled in one area/ causing people to see the need to build houses for protection
2. Systematic agriculture= farming
3. Domestication of animals (human control over animals)
4. No more nomadic lifestyle/ they could stay in one place/ everyone no longer had to farm…other “artisans” come about
5. Led to the formation of farming
6. Began to create armies/walled cities
7. Built temples and started forming religions
8. Bronze age (bronze= copper +tin)/ better weapons and tools
9. Large numbers of people were concentrated in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China…led to “CIVILIZATIONS”
E. Civilization
1. Factors needed for a civilization
a. Acquire food on a regular basis
b. Rise of permanent villages
c. Trading goods/ division of labor
d. Emergence of a civilization
2. Important Characteristics of a Civilization
a. Cities
b. Government (monarchs)
c. Religion
d. Social structure (based on economic status. Rulers, priests, officials and warriors were the upper classes. Below them was a class of free farmers, traders, artisans and craftspeople. Below them were slaves and servants
e. Writing
f. Art
II. Western Asia and Egypt
A. Geography and Origins
1. Mesopotamia
a. Mesopotamia= land between rivers/ located at the east end of the Fertile Crescent (an arc of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf
b. 600miles long
Hot, dry, doesn't rain
Alluvial valley = broad, flat, no internal barriers
Highest points are the buildings in the cities
Benefits = annual yet unpredictable flooding renews soil's fertility
Unpredictable because based on snow melt, not rain (little vs. lots of snow, fast melt vs. slow melt)
Challenges = flooding a constant threat, disastrous to cities & farms, leads to starvation
Few internal barriers lead to constant warfare for good farmland and water
Drought prone, relied on irrigation, little rain, water from distant mountains
Salinization = irrigated land leaches salt to surface, makes soil useless
1.) How did the Mesopotamian people respond to their geography?
Sedentary villages become cities
Collective action needed to build dams, irrigation canals, walled cities
Excess food let some people do jobs other than raising food = professionals
Craftspeople, military, priesthood, education
Elsewhere, people had to move often, this set civilization's development back or slowed it
c. Tigris and Euphrates= UNPREDICTABLE FLOODING= insecurity/ lack of consistency
d. Flooding=silt=fertile soil
e. Daily Life
1.) What did household look like?
Men had absolute power over households
Women had few rights
Women were protected by their dowry
Sickness caused by evil spirits, cured by magic
2.)What was school like for Mesopotamian children?
Only rich went to school
Usually only the boys
Learned to write cuneiform (wedge) alphabet on clay tablets with stylus
Memorized 600+ symbols
Learned writing, math, botany, linguistics,
f. Agriculture
1.) How did agriculture change how people lived?
Originally nomadic (wandering0) hunters and gatherers with low populations and no spare time
With farming: time outside growing season used for socializing, inventing, building
Food surplus led to division of labor - stoneworkers, potters, weavers, leather, metal, merchants
Staying in one area makes building worthwhile
Need organizational skills for collectively building irrigation systems
Desirable land and water makes them subject of attack by neighbors and nomads
Excess food traded for imported goods, trade routes set up, ideas traded also
Copper, tin, wood, salt, gems, weapons, armor
Marketplaces make trade easier
2.)Who controlled the Mesopotamian economy?
Temples and palaces had the organization
Donations to churches and taxes to king made them rulers
Control and building of city-states
3.)What technologies helped Mesopotamia to the area?
Wheel - wheeled carts - pulled by domesticated animals that could pull heavy loads of construction materials
Writing - about 3200 BCE
First to keep t of possessions, temple donations, taxes, buying & selling
Spread throughout region
Cuneiform (cuni = wedge)
Coins - easier to transport
Had a value other than the value of the metal
g. Mesopotamia covered three general areas: Assyria, Akkad and Sumer
h. Built with mud bricks
i. Social Classes:
1.) Nobles (royal family, royal officials, priests and their families)
2.) Commoners (worked for large estates as farmers, merchants, fishers and craftspeople/90%)
3.) Slaves( worked on large building projects, wove cloth, and worked the farms of nobles)
2. Egypt
a. Nile= longest river in the world (4,000 miles)
b. Northern part is called Lower Egypt and the southern part is called Upper Egypt.
c. The annual [PREDICTABLE=feeling of security] flooding of the Nile left a deposit of mud that created rich soil on both sides of the river(Black land)
d. The fertile land was used to grow crops and create surpluses of food that made Egypt prosperous
e. The Nile was the fastest way to travel: transportation and communication
f. 3100BC= Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt
g. With deserts, seas and cataracts surrounding it, Egypt had far greater natural defenses than did Mesopotamia that only had flat plains
B. Accomplishments/Contributions
1. Mesopotamia
a. Sumerians à Akkadians (under Sargon I—first empire) à Babylonians (Hammurabi), Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians….
b. City-state= basic unit of Sumerian civilization
c. Writing (cuneiform- “wedge-shaped writing”) allowed a society to keep records and pass knowledge from generation to generation/ also, communicate (The Epic of Gilgamesh: teaches the lesson that only gods are immortal.)
d. Wagon wheel= help transport people and goods from place to place
e. The use of arch in construction
f. Sumerian achievements in math and astronomy
g. Number system based on 60
h. Geometry was used to measure field and erect buildings
i. Charted heavenly constellations
2. Egypt
a. Organized into three kingdoms: Old, Middle and New
b. All of the pyramids were built in the Old Kingdom
c. Pharaohs=”great house”
d. Bureaucracy (vizier- held the most important position next to the pharaoh…in charge of 42 governors which controlled the 42 provinces…BUREAUCRACY)
e. Society:
1.) Pharaoh was at the top and was surround by a ruling class of nobles and priests
2.) Next class: merchants and artisans
3.) Then peasants, then slaves
4.) Hieroglyphics/ experts in the human anatomy
C. Religion
1. Mesopotamia
a. Polytheistic= believed in many gods
b. Ziggurat=large stepped structure which holds a temple
c. Believed that the world was controlled by destructive supernatural forces and deities due to the unpredictable floods , harsh physical environment and famines
2. Egypt
a. Polytheistic= believed in many gods
b. Ra= sun god
c. Had the land gods and the sun gods
D. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were…
1. Polytheistic
2. Patriarchal= dominated by men
3. Theocracies= government by divine authority
E. Hammurabi’s Code
1. 282 Laws
2. Calls for harsh punishments against crimes (“eye for an eye…tooth for a tooth”)
3. The American criminal justice system maintains that all citizens are equal under the law. Hammurabi’s Code called for different enforcements of the law for different classes of society.
4. The free man that belonged to the upper class was given much more protection than the commoner.
5. Mostly covered marriage and family
6. Expressed the patriarchal nature of Mesopotamian society
7. What did H. do?
Pulled together traditions and laws that were shared by many Mesopotamian people
When was H's Code written?
About 1750 BC
1,000 years before Ten Commandments by Moses
Why did he write them down?
Needed because of complexity of urban setting dependent on rural farmers
H's code not the only one, best known since it survived almost complete
Why is it important?
Considered first written laws
Influence much of ancient world by spreading along trade routes
What were the distinctive features of H's Code?
1. Administration of justice is unequal
Social class determines punishment
Recognized three classes: rulers, free, slaves
2. Law of retaliation
Reciprocal punishment
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
3. Administration of justice was semi-private
Individuals and families responsible for enforcing the code
Now in USA, government enforces the criminal codes, State vs. Jones
F. Mummification
1. 70 day process
2. Body was dried and preserved along with material possessions to go to the afterlife
3. Heart had the ka (soul)…not the brain
III. India and China
A. Geography
1. India
a. Where is India located?
Southern edge of Asian continent
To east = East Asia and South East Asia (China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.)
To west = Central Asia ({Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Arabia, etc.)
To north = China, Nepal
To south = Indian Ocean
b. What is India's land like?
Separate subcontinent riding on a tectonic plate
Riding northeast
Colliding with Asian continent
Collision zone wrinkling up into Himalayan mountains, still growing
Northern border = high mountains, even the passes are high
North = wide river plains
Rivers fed by snow melt
South = hilly
Rivers fed by unpredictable rainfall
Two major rivers = Indus (1800 miles long), so important it is source of name of country
Ganges (1560 miles long), holy
c. What is India's climate like?
Summer = monsoon season
Almost all rain falls in summer
4 months of rain
Winter = dry winds from central Asia
Monsoons sometimes late or fail
d. What was the impact of India's geography on its development?
Mountains kept invaders out
cut off from other Asian cultures
Northern rivers' predictable flooding allowed boat travel
Southern river's irregular flow prevents boat travel
North more united because of easier travel
Large, ancient empires were in the north
Flooding still a problem in north
Deforestation making it worse
d. Monsoons= a seasonal wind pattern in southern Asia/ farmers depend on these to grow crops
e. Indian subcontinent
f. To the north, the highest mountains in the world…the Himalaya
g. Just to the south…Ganges River
2. China
a. Where is China located?
Eastern edge of Asia
West coast of North Pacific Ocean
b. What is the land of China like?
A little larger than mainland USA
Isolated by deserts, mountains, and oceans from rest of world
To north = Gobi desert = grazing, too dry for farming
To northwest = Taklamakan = "go in and you will not come out"
Locally known and "moving sands" just like an ocean flood, not stopping it if it overruns oasis
Waterless, no food, searing heat
To south = mountains
Few routes through, altitude sickness, blizzards, snowbound passes, not fodder for animals
Southwest = high plateau (Tibet)
13,000'-26, 000' elevation
Rimmed by mountains
Many long and wide rivers
Yangtze = 3rd longest (after Nile and Amazon)
Rivers run west to east, not to other countries
Canals dug for north to south transportation (1,000 mile grand canal hand dug)
(dug between 500 BCE to 1300 AD)
Geography made China governing difficult
also made movement of ideas and goods difficult
lots of coal beds, coal their main energy source, lots of air pollution
[half of all their mammal types are rodents (rabbits, mice, rats, squirrels, hares)]
c. What is the climate of China like?
Warmer than USA
Summers = hot and humid in south
Winter = cold but little snow because of dry winters
North = hard to grow food - too cold and dry
Central = Yangtze valley = low plains, milder climate
South = produces 3/4 of country's food
Rice, wheat, corn, beans, vegetables
In the settlement of the western hemisphere, what were geographic barriers?
With today's technology, how significant are geographic barriers?
What are today are barriers preventing the free flow of goods, people, and ideas?