AP World History Period 1 Review
(8000 to 600 B.C.E.)
THE BIG PICTURE
ššš
State Building, Expansion, and Conflict
Culture, Science, and Technology
Economic Systems
Social Structures
The first states grew out of civilizations in:
The Middle East ā Mesopotamia and Egypt
The Indus River Valley ā Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
China ā The Shang Dynasty
Mesoamerica ā The Olmecs
Andes of South America ā The Chavin
The development of agriculture and fixed settlements lead to complex forms of political organization ā formation of bureaucracies.
Cities emerged as centers of political leadership.
Most governments were monarchies (rule by 1 leader) or oligarchies (rule by a small elite group). Representative forms of government were nonexistant.
Law codes (ex: Sumeria's code of Ur-Nammu and Babylon's Code of Hammurabi) were typically very harsh and gave privileges to the elite.
Religion was used to legitimize political systems. Typically, the ruler was seen as divine and was justified by the will of the gods (Mandate of Heaven)
Organized warfare became more common as states formed. Some built conquest states or empires by dominating their neighbors
Attacks by nomads or pastoralists caused societies to react by building stronger city walls, adopting weapons and learning the arts of cavalry warfare and charioteering
Hunting and foraging became the way to survive for most Stone Age people.
They lived at subsistence levels and owned very few items.
At this time, trade and Specialization of labor was limited
Artistic expression began as early as the Stone Age with painting, music and oral traditions such as storytelling.
Examples of early artistic expression could be:
Works of literature ā the Iliad and Odyssey, Rig Veda, and Egyptian book of the dead
Sculptures
Textiles
Paintings
Monumental Architecture ā served religious purposes such as palaces, temples, pyramids, and ziggurats
Writing and other forms of record-keeping emerged in most civilizations starting around 3000 B.C.E. with cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and pictograms.
Later came the alphabet (of Phoenician origin adopted by Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and more) and quipu (knot-tying in South America)
Prehistoric societies buried their dead and observed religious rituals. Examples of early religious rituals would be:
Ancestor veneration and shammanism
Organized religions started to emerge in this era such as polytheistic pantheons, Vedism, Hebrew monotheism, and Zoroastrianism.
Hunter-forager societies tended to be family and clan based, and were the most important part not hierarchical or stratified
Key technological innovations of this time period would include:
Pottery
Hoes and plows
The weaving of textiles
Wheels and wheeled vehicles
Calendars
Metallurgy (copper ā bronze ā iron)
Horse riding
Chariots
Bows and arrows
Ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and technologies were exchanged between societies through cultural diffusion.
Domestication of animals resulted in pastoralism
Domestication of plants resulted in agriculture
Agriculture ensured a constant supply of food and, more importantly, food surpluses that resulted in major social changes
(including the accumulation of wealth and the concept of private property)
Pastoralism made it easier to maintain a constant supply of food. Most pastoral herders were nomadic
Trade became more common (starting locally) at a regional then transregional levels. Cities served as important points of economic exchange
Trade networks extended overland but tended to follow rivers and coastlines where whey could, because large-scale transport was easier by water versus land.
Important trransregional trade includes:
Mesopotamian-Egyptian trade
Egyptian-Nubian trade
trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus River valley
Phoenician trade throughout the Mediterranean
Slavery emerged as a labor system during this period.
Often debtors or prisoners of war, slaves might be used for hard labor (in fields or mines, for example)
Basic physical differences between the sexes are thought to have led to a gender division of labor among Stone Age hunter-foragers
Pastoral societies incorporated social hierarchies, social stratification, and gender division of labor
Agriculture resulted in societies starting to abandon nomadism for settled lifestyles
Specialization of labor was a result of food surplus therefore emergence of elite and non-elite classes
Social stratification became more pronounced, leading to strict caste systems (in some societies).
Specialized classes included artisans, warriors, clergy, and merchants/traders.
Patriarchalism and sharp gender division of labor became a characteristic of most agricultural societies
Most women had more secondary roles inferior to men but it depends on the society being talked about.
Slavery and other forms of coerced labor became increasingly common
Humans and the Environment
Migrations took Homeo sapiens out of Africa to the Middle East and warmer parts of Asia first, then moved into Europe and northern Asia, and into the Americas via Bering land bridge
Examples of migration would be the movement of Indo-Europeans across Eurasia and the Bantu migrations throughout Africa
Human communities in the Americas developed in isolation from those in Afro-Eurasia
Until 10,000 B.C.E., ice ages prevailed, restricting where Stone Age humans could live therefore delaying the discovery of agriculture.
During the Stone Age:
Hunter-foragers learned to use fire
Created tools and clothing from a variety of materials ā The Neolithic revolution heightened the effectiveness and environmental impact of these tools
The ending of the Ice Ages began the transition from the Paleolithic Era to the Neolithic
Human damage to the environment included:
Overgrazing and erosion, Irrigation, Swamp draining, Forest clearing, Terracing of hills and mountainsides
Sometimes, environmental changes destroyed societies or forced them to migrate.
Examples of these changes:
Major temperature shifts
Drought and desertification
Deforestation
Drying-up or altered flow of rivers (human-caused or natural)
Metallurgy, mining, and city building placed even greater burdens on the environment