Review for Test on Foundations c.8000 BCE to 600 CE

Review for Test on Foundations c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE

Review for Test on Foundations c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE

(For more information look at Acorn Book handout)

FOR ALL PERIOD TESTS – HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS WILL BE TESTED INCLUDING:

1. Historical Argumentation – students should also be able to evaluate and synthesize conflicting historical evidence to construct persuasive historical arguments
2. Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence - students should be able to consistently analyze such features of historical evidence as audience, purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and context germane to the historical evidence considered. Based on their analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, students should also be able to make supportable inferences and draw appropriate conclusions, placing the evidence in its context.
3. Historical Causation - students should be able to assess historical contingency, for example, by distinguishing among coincidence, causation, and correlation, as well as critiquing standard interpretations of cause and effect.
4. Patterns of Continuity and Change Over Time - students should be able to analyze and evaluate historical patterns of continuity and change over time, making connections to course themes and global processes.
5. Periodization - students should be able to analyze and assess competing models of periodization, possibly constructing plausible alternate examples of periodization.
6. Comparison - students should be able to compare related historical developments and processes across place, time, and/or different societies (or within one society), explaining and evaluating multiple and differing perspectives on a given historical phenomenon.
7. Contextualization - students should be able to evaluate ways in which historical phenomena or processes relate to broader regional, national, or global processes.
8. Interpretation - students should be able to critique diverse historical interpretations, recognizing the constructed nature of historical interpretation, how the historians’ points of view influence their interpretations, and how models of historical interpretation change over time.

Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations, to c. 600 B.C.E.

Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth

I. Hunting- foraging bands of humans migrated, adapting their technology & cultures to new climates.

A. Humans used fire in new ways.

B. Humans developed a wider range of tools.

C. Religion was most likely animistic.

D. Economic structures focused on small kinship groups of hunting-foraging bands. Some exchanged people, ideas and goods.

Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies

I. The Neolithic Revolution led to new economic and social systems; some remained hunter-foragers.

A. Permanent agricultural villages emerged. Later urban life developed.

B. Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia.

C. Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core regions.

D. Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land & create the water control systems.

E. These agricultural practices and pastoralists drastically impacted environmental diversity.

II. Agriculture and pastoralism began to transform human societies.

A. Pastoralism and agriculture increased the population.

B. Surpluses of food and other goods led to specialization of labor, including new classes of artisans and warriors, and the development of elites.

C. Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural production, trade and transportation.

D. Elite groups accumulated wealth, creating more hierarchical social structures and promoting patriarchal forms of social organization and forced labor systems.

Key Concept 1.3. The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies

I. Core and foundational civilizations developed and had to balance their need for more resources with environmental constraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility.

A. Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys

B. Egypt in the Nile River Valley

C. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley

D. Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley

E. Olmecs in Mesoamerica

F. Chavín or Norte Chico in Andean South America

II. The first states emerged within core civilizations.

A. States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas supported by complex institutions such as political bureaucracies, the religious hierarchy and professional warriors. These states were often at war with each other or with pastoralists, driving the development of new technologies of war and urban defense.

B. The more favorably situated states had greater access to resources, produced more surplus food and experienced growing populations and were able to conquer surrounding states.

C. Early regions of state expansion or empire building were Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Egypt and Nubia along the Nile Valley.

D. Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new weapons and modes of transportation that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.

III. Culture played a significant role in unifying states.

A. Early civilizations developed monumental architecture and urban planning.

B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanship.

C. Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations.

D. Literature was also a reflection of culture.

E. New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong influences in later periods, including the Vedic religion, Hebrew monotheism and Zoroastrianism, which also created hierarchies.

F. Trade expanded and intensified throughout this period, with civilizations exchanging goods, cultural ideas and technology within and among themselves.

G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.

Period 2: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies, c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.

Key Concept 2.1. The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions

I. Codifications of existing religious traditions provided a bond and an ethical code to live by.

A. The association of monotheism with Judaism was further developed with the codification of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Assyrian and Roman empires created Jewish diasporic communities.

B. The core beliefs outlined in the Sanskrit scriptures formed the basis of the Vedic religions which show some influence of Indo-European traditions.

II. New belief systems and cultural traditions emerged and spread, often asserting universal truths.

A. The core beliefs preached by the historic Buddha and recorded by his followers were, in part, a reaction to the Vedic beliefs and rituals dominant in South Asia. Buddhism changed over time as it spread throughout Asia.

B. Confucianism’s originated in the writings and lessons of Confucius who sought to promote social harmony by outlining proper rituals and social relationships for all people in China, including the rulers.

C. In the major Daoist writings, the core belief of balance between humans & nature assumed that the Chinese political system would be altered indirectly. Daoism also influenced the development of Chinese culture.

D. The core beliefs preached by Jesus of Nazareth drew on the basic monotheism of Judaism, and initially rejected Roman and Hellenistic influences. Despite initial Roman imperial hostility, Christianity spread through many parts of Afro-Eurasia, and eventually gained Roman imperial support.

E. The core ideas in Greco-Roman philosophy and science emphasized logic, empirical observation, and the nature of political power and hierarchy.

F. Religions and belief systems could also generate conflict, partly because beliefs and practices varied greatly within and among societies.

III. Belief systems affected gender roles.

A. These shared beliefs also influenced & reinforced political, economic & occupational stratification.

IV. Other religious and cultural traditions continued.

A. Shamanism and animism continued to shape the lives of people because of their reliance on the natural world.

B. Ancestor veneration persisted in many regions.

V. Artistic expressions show distinctive cultural developments. (Includes art from PowerPoints)

A. Literature and drama acquired distinctive forms that influenced artistic developments in neighboring regions and in later time periods.

B. Distinctive architectural styles can be seen in Indian, Greek, Mesoamerican and Roman buildings.

C. The convergence of Greco-Roman culture and Buddhist beliefs affected the development of unique sculptural developments.

Key Concept 2.2. The Development of States and Empires

I. The number and size of imperial societies grew dramatically by imposing political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states, and they came into conflict with one another.

A. Southwest Asia: Persian Empires (such as Achaemenid, Parthian or Sassanid)

B. East Asia: Qin and Han dynasties (China)

C. South Asia: Maurya and Gupta Empires (India)

D. Mediterranean region: Phoenician and Greek colonization, Hellenistic and Roman Empires

E. Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan, Maya city-states

F. Andean South America: Moche

II. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration capable of organizing human activities over long distances based, in part, on the success of earlier political forms.

A. In order to organize their subjects, the rulers created administrative institutions and new political elites to manage their affairs. Religious and political authority often merged as rulers used religion, along with military and legal structures, to justify their rule and ensure its continuation.

B. Imperial governments projected military power over larger areas using a variety of techniques.

C. Much of the success of the empires rested on their promotion of trade and economic integration.

D. As these empires expanded their boundaries, they also faced the need to develop policies and procedures to govern their relationships with ethnically and culturally diverse populations.

III. Imperial societies displayed unique social and economic dimensions.

A. Cities served as centers of trade, public performance of religious rituals, and as political administration for states and empires.

B. The social structures of all empires displayed hierarchies.

C. Imperial societies relied on a range of labor systems.

D. Patriarchy continued to shape gender and family relations in all imperial societies of this period.

IV. By expanding their boundaries too far, the Roman (at least the Western portion), Han, Maurya and Gupta empires created political, cultural and administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline, collapse and transformation into successor empires or states.

A. Through excessive mobilization of resources, imperial governments caused environmental damage and generated social tensions and economic difficulties by concentrating too much wealth in the hands of elites and overexploiting their lands and subjects.

B. External problems resulted from security issues along their frontiers, including the threat of invasions.

Key Concept 2.3. Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange

I. Land and water routes created transregional trade, communication and exchange networks in the Eastern Hemisphere, while separate networks connected the peoples and societies of the Americas somewhat later.

A. Eurasian Silk Roads

B. Trans-Saharan caravan routes

C. Indian Ocean sea lanes

D. Mediterranean sea lanes

E. American trade routes

F. North-south Eurasian trade routes linking the Baltic region, Constantinople and Central Asia

II. New technologies facilitated long-distance communication and exchange, as did large-scale empires, which dramatically increased the volume of long-distance trade.

A. New technologies permitted the use of domesticated pack animals to transport goods across longer routes.

B. Innovations in maritime technologies, as well as advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds, stimulated exchanges along maritime routes from East Africa to East Asia.

III. Alongside the trade in goods, the exchange of people, technology, religious and cultural beliefs, food crops, domesticated animals, and disease pathogens developed across far-flung networks of communication and exchange.

A. The spread of crops, including sugar, rice and cotton from South Asia to the Middle East, encouraged changes in farming and irrigation techniques.

B. The spread of disease pathogens diminished urban populations and contributed to the decline of some empires.

C. Religious and cultural traditions, including Chinese culture, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, were transformed as they spread.

Kinds of questions:

· Identifying and understanding why things happened when they happened [Historical Causation and Contextualization] e.g.:

• Understanding the debates (both sides) over diverse interpretations in history [Historical Argumentation and Interpretation skills] e.g.:

· Identifying and interpreting what is being show in an image or quote [Appropriate Use of Historical Evidence and Interpretation skill] e.g.

· statistics (graphs or charts)

· maps (movements of people or belief systems);

· the culture, society or belief system being represented in the art;

· purposes in the kinds of monumental architecture in the various societies.

· Making comparisons across societies or belief systems [Comparison] e.g.:

· Comparisons of the major belief systems including some underlying similarities in cementing a social hierarchy (e.g., Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism, Christianity compared with Buddhism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, etc.);

· Compare the role of women in different belief systems;

· Analyzing the similarities or differences in how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in western Europe than it was in the eastern Mediterranean or in China;

· Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and classical civilizations, including slavery;

· Compare societies and cultures that include cities with pastoral and nomadic societies; Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g. Indian, Chinese and Greek;

· Compare interregional trading systems, e.g. the Silk Road, Indian Ocean trade;

· Compare the political and social structure of two early civilizations, using any two of the following: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang Dynasty, Mesoamerica and Andean South America;

· Analyze the similarities and differences in the role of technologies in the growth of large state structures

Periods 1 & 2 Test Practice Questions