AP World History

From Human Pre-history to the Early CivilizationChapter 1

What is prehistory?

• The things that happened to humans before their was written records.

• It is a lot like a vast black space penetrated by only an occasional pinpoint of light, representing our current knowledge.

Definitions of civilization

Elements: • Urban, monumental building, writing, specialized,

occupations• Human Life in the Era of Hunters and Gatherers. • Homo sapiens by 10,000 B.C.E.

– larger brain

– tools, weaponsDevelopments by 12,000 B.C.E.:• Hunting-gathering• Art• Spread to Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas.

The development of human creatures.

• A human like creature, or hominid, was walking about in East Africa more than 5.5 million years ago, by latest reckoning.

What is the difference between a human and an ape?

• Deviations in bone structures of the foot and hand, the size of the brain, and the use of language.

The Paleolithic Age

• The appearance of the first tool making hominids about 10,000 B.C.E.

• Also known as the Old Stone Age.• (paleo = old; lithos = stone)• Seventeen varieties of hominid evolved.• All of them became extinct between 50,000 and

10,000 years ago.

Human Life before Agriculture

Paleolithic Culture : • Old Stone Age to 14,000 Y.A.• Homo sapiens sapiens c. 240,000, Y.A.Late Paleolithic Developments:• Variety• Bands of hunter-gatherers • Agricultural settlementsGender division of labor:• Men: hunting, fishing, defense• Women: gathering, making medicine• Spread from Africa c. 750,000 Y.A.

Neanderthal Man

• Flourished in Western Germany about 30,000 years ago and then disappeared about the same time that Homo Sapiens appeared in Europe. EXTINCT

What is civilization?

• “Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.”(Arnold J. Toynbee)

• A complex, developed culture usually associated with specific achievements.

How did civilization begin?

• People began to grow food instead of chasing or gathering food.

• This began to happen about (8000-5000 B.C.E) • *The Agricultural Revolution.

What does stationary agriculture do for a society?

CREATES• Urban living.• Law.• Government officials.• Writing.• Military forces.• Socioeconomic classes.

What are the four river societies where civilizations began?

• Mesopotamia. (Fertile Crescent)• Nile River Valley.• Indus River valley.• Yellow River valley.

Results of the Agricultural Revolution.

• A steadily expanding population that lived in permanent settlements.

• It created the concept of “mine versus thine.” Privately owned property.

• Specialization of jobs and labor.

The Neolithic Revolution – 8000 to 3500 B.C.E.

The Spread of the Neolithic Revolution:• Hunting-and-gathering persists• Pastoralism Sub-Saharan Africa:• root and tree cropsNorthern China:• Millet• Rice• Southeast Asia, to China, India, islandsMesoamerica, Peru:• Maize, manioc, sweet potatoes• Bronze AgeSpread of Agriculture:

Çatal Hüyük

• c. 7000 B.C.E., southern Turkey.

• Large fortress like complex.

• Agriculture and commerce

• Shrines.• Specialization of labor.

Metal and Its Uses:

• First metal used by humans seems to have been copper.

• Bronze came next for weapons, art, and tools. (Called the Bronze Age 7000 to 1500 B.C.E)

• Iron is the key metal of history. The Hittites learned to smelt iron in 1200 B.C.E. Iron is more common, stronger, durable, and sharper then bronze.

Aspects of civilizations?

Cities:• writing• political organizationWriting:• cuneiformNomads: (Picture)• Herding society• Sustenance existence• War like

Mesopotamian CivilizationsTigris-Euphrates Civilization:• MesopotamiaSumerians:• from 3500 B.C.E.• Alphabet, Cuneiform writing• City-states,

– Ziggurats, Human Sacrafice.

• Religion, Polytheistic.• Priesthood, gods were cruel and unpredictable.

– No Trace of Ethics.

Akkadians:• Babylonians• Hammurabi code• Spread Sumerian Culture

• Sumerian Government– City States

Why are the Sumerians important?

• Built the first large cities up to 100,000 people.• First sophisticated system of writing.• Invented the wheel as a load bearing device.• First to use sun baked clay bricks.• First to use the plow, and gravity flow irrigation system.

Sumerians and Math:

Set time • 60 minutes.• 60 seconds.• The 360 degree circle stems from the Sumerians.• Much of what we know of Geometry and Trigonometry was

expanded by the Sumerians.

Epic of Gilgamesh

• First Epic Poem.• Story of Garden of Eden.• Story of the Flood.• Gilgamesh searches for the

secret of immortal life.• The Gods jealous of his power

defeat him.

Hammurabi

• Babylonian King who took steps to control the Mesopotamian region.

• Compiled the first known code of law.

• The laws had been around for years.

• The laws attempted to bring equality to the weak and cause justice to prevail in the land.

Criminal Law• Vengeance was no

longer a personal thing but a thing controlled by the state.

• Established punishments for offenses against others such as robbery, assault, and murder.

Civil Law

• This branch of law deals with private rights and matters, such as business contracts, taxes, marriage, and divorce.

African Civilizations

Egyptian Civilization: (MAP)• Pharaoh• Pyramids• from 2700 B.C.E.• Kush (Picture)

Cracking the Hieroglyphic Code • Napoleon’s military found

the Rosetta Stone when they invaded Egypt in 1799 during the Napoleonic Wars.

• He ordered ink impressions from the stone sent to European scholars.

• The Stone contained three languages.

• Made it possible to translate Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

The Hittites

• Developed the ability to work iron.• Iron was more common then copper or

bronze.• Iron was sharper and harder then bronze.• The Hittites were able to arm more men

because of the cheap Iron.• They soon invaded Mesopotamia.• The empire collapsed and iron use spread.

The AssyriansThe Terror Kings

• By 1100 B.C.E Learned to forge iron weapons and invaded their neighbors.

• They gained the reputation as the most ruthless people in all of Mesopotamia.

• “The city and its houses, from top to bottom, I destroyed and burned with fire.”– Babylon destroyed by the

Assyrians

A Nomadic People• Abraham migrated from

Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan.

• The land of Canaan was controlled by the Egyptians.

• The Hebrews fled to Egypt during a great famine.

• Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and back to Canaan.

The Kingdom of Israel• By 1000 B.C.E the Israelites

had set up a kingdom with Saul as the first king.

• King David further expanded the Kingdom and was successful in conquering Jerusalem, which then became the Hebrew capital.

• Solomon David’s son built the famous Temple of Jerusalem. Solomon was the most famous Jewish King but also was not liked for his high taxes.

One True God

• The beliefs of the Israelites differed in that they were Monotheistic.

• With this belief came a belief that they were gods chosen people.

Sea People Invasions

• Phoenicians• Alphabet from 1300 B.C.E.

http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/sea.htm

Indian River Valley Civilizations

Indus River:• Harappa, Mohenjo Daro• Indo-Europeans

Earliest Indian Civilization• Mohenjo-Daro was first

Indian civilization.• We know little of this first

culture.• We do know that their cities

had massive populations even as large as those of Sumer.

• This civilization lasted 1000 years then just faded away.

City Planning• The cities of Mohenjo-Daro

and Harappa were both planned cities.

• Very large Three miles in circumference.

• Wide roads, city walls.• Strong government.• Strong leaders.

Religious Beliefs

• Ancient India was Polytheistic.

• Ancient worship of the Bull.

• Modern worship of cattle.

Decline and Disappearance

• By 1750 B.C.E the quality of life in the Indus Valley Cities was declining.

• Crude pottery replaced the finer works of earlier days.• Mud slides, Volcanoes, and earthquakes possibly contributed

to the destruction.

• Shang

Chinese River Valley Civilizations

Shang Government

• Built large palaces, rich tombs, and had armies led by women.

• Government was set up around a clan system.• The government was loosely structured between

many families or clans.

Shang Bronze Work• Unique in their Bronze work.• Almost a perfect bronze

Shang Social Classes

• Shang soldiers used bronze weapons, leather armor, and horse drawn chariots.

• They had artisans and merchants.• Most people were peasants.– Lived in thatch pit homes.– Farmed with stone tools.– Forced to repair dikes.– Forced to fight alongside local lords in war.

Shang Religious Beliefs• Prayed to many gods. • (Polytheistic)• Chief God was Shang Di.

– Mother goddess who brought plants and animals to earth.

• Gods did not speak to mere mortals, but to kings and nobles.

• Lower classes of people had to appeal to their ancestors, through sacrifice and prayer.

• Slaves = No soul so they could be safely killed.

Shang ReligionYin and Yang

• Chinese religion believed in a delicate balance between two great forces.

• Yin = linked to earth, darkness, and female forces.

• Yang = linked to heaven, light, and male forces.

Shang System of Writing

• Pictographs = Pictures represent things.

• Ideographs = Signs that expressed thought.

• Oracle Bones = Shang priests wrote on animal bones and turtle shells. – The priest would heat the bones or

shells till they cracked then they would interpret the cracks.

• Calligraphy = Art for those who learned to write.

The First Civilizations, Conclusion

Isolation of Civilizations:• Division among peoples• Contacts increase with time

Big Questions

• What advantages does an agriculturally based society have over a hunter gatherer based society?

• Compared to non-civilized societies, what are the major drawbacks of civilization?

• Why is the development of writing important in the history of the river valley civilizations?

• Compare the main features of Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. What did the two civilizations have in common as early civilizations? What were their main differences in values and organization?

• Why was Jewish monotheism a significant development in the religious history of early civilization?