What is World History? 

Urban Dictionary Def 

1. An impossible class that results in sleepless nights, ruined GPAs, failing grades. Death. But it will teach you more about history, economics, culture, social hierarchy, politics and you guessed it ... history than any other class - if u make it out alive. Usually taken by sophomores who don't know how hard AP classes are, but honestly the first AP is always hell so it's usually better just to get it over with.

World History is NOT . . .

§The study of great powers, states and empires throughout history =>  -- “We don’t study the history of each separate state to understand American history . . . Rather we study national experiences & developments to understand the history of the United States.” (Heidi Roupp)

World History IS . . .

§The study of change and continuity over time

§The study of factors, events and processes that lead to increased interaction between states and regions

§The comparison of peoples and patterns of development across cultural and geographic boundaries

Unit I in Maps

AP World Regions

The World by 600 BCE

Unit I Key Concepts

The Neolithic Revolution => Technological & Environmental Transformation 8000 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E.

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

I. Archeological evidence indicates that during the Paleolithic era, hunting-foraging bands of humans gradually migrated from their origin in East Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures to new climate regions. 

A. One of the first major advances of early man was the ability to harness fire. Fire sterilized food, brought people together in small groups and protected against predators. It helped people adapt to colder climates and became the focal point for the telling of stories through which values and knowledge were transmitted. Moreover, food cooked with fire eased the digestive process. Consequently, more of the body’s energy became available for the development of the brain. This may have helped Homo sapiens develop the capacity for language, giving them a tremendous advantage over other mammals.

B. As you can see from the map above, over the course of thousands of years humans migrated from their place of origin across the face of the earth. They moved into areas with vastly different environments, each with their own terms of survival. The peopling of the earth required human beings to adapt to a variety of climates. Tools made this possible. 

C. Foraging, or hunting and gathering, does not produce a large quantity of food. This limitation of the food supply kept foraging people in small groups of only a few people. It also meant that they were nomadic, moving on to a new location once they stripped an area of its edible plants. The study of hunter/gatherers today gives us insight into their social relations. These small groups preferred not to marry in their own societies and would send girls to other foraging groups for marriage. Related by kinship bonds, hunter/gatherer groups would meet to exchange tools and gifts, and to participate in rituals. It was likely there was movement of individuals among groups. There was also relative social and gender equality. Men may have taken leadership roles in some groups, but generally everyone was equally involved in the acquisition of food. It was impractical for nomadic people to accumulate more than a few things, so material possessions did were not an indicator of economic or social class. Such categories probably did not even exist for hunter-gatherers. Some modern researchers have argued that paleolithic people had more leisure time, more varied and nutritious diets, and were healthier than those who settled and became farmers. 

Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies

In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture appeared in several different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified, food supply. Agriculturalists also had a massive impact on the environment through intensive cultivation of selected plants to the exclusion of others, through the construction of irrigation systems, and through the use of domesticated animals for food and for labor. Populations increased; family groups gave way to village life and, later, to urban life with all its complexity. Patriarchy and forced labor systems developed, giving elite men concentrated power over most of the other people in their societies. Pastoralism emerged in arts of Africa and Eurasia. Pastoral peoples domesticated animals and led their herds around grazing ranges. Like agriculturalists, pastoralists tended to be more socially stratified than hunter-foragers. Because pastoralists were mobile, they rarely accumulated large amounts of material possessions, which would have been a hindrance when they changed grazing areas. The pastoralists’ mobility allowed them to become an important conduit for technological change as they interacted with settled populations.

1. Beginning about 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution led to the development of new and more complex economic and social systems.

• Possibly as a response to climatic change, permanent agricultural villages emerged first in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Agriculture emerged at different times in Mesopotamia, the Nile River Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indus River Valley, the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Papua New Guinea, Mesoamerica, and the Ande.
• Pastoralism developed at various sites in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia
• Different crops or animals were domesticated in the various core regions, depending on available local flora and fauna
• Agricultural communities had to work cooperatively to clear land and create water control systems needed to crop production.
• These agricultural practices drastically impacted environmental diversity. Pastoralists also affected the environment by grazing large numbers of animals on fragile grasslands, leading to erosion when overgrazed. 

2. Agriculture and Pastoralism began to transform human societies.

• Pastoralism and agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food supplies, which increased the population.

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

• Technological innovation led to improvements in agricultural production, trade, and transportation.

  • Examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade and transportation (Pottery, plows, woven textiles, metallurgy, wheels/wheeled vehicles)

• In both pastoralist and agrarian societies, elite groups accumulated wealth, creating more hierarchical social structures and promoting patriarchal forms of social organization. 

Key Concept 1.3: The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban societies

From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying the foundations for the first civilizations. The term civilization is normally used to designate large societies with cities and powerful states. While there were many differences between civilizations, they also shared important features. They all produced agricultural surpluses that permitted significant specialization of labor. All civilizations contained cities and generated complex institutions, such as political bureaucracies, armies, and religious hierarchies. They also featured clearly stratified social hierarchies and organized long-distance trading relationships. Economic exchanges intensified within and between civilizations, as well as with nomadic pastoralists. As populations grew, competition for surplus resources, especially food, led to greater social stratification, specialization of labor, increased trade, more complex systems of government and religion, and the development of record keeping. As civilizations expanded, they had to balance their need for more resources with environmental constraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility. Finally, the accumulation of wealth in settled communities spurred warfare between communities and/or with pastoralists; this violence drove the development of new technologies of war and urban defense.
1.  Core and foundational civilizations developed in a variety of geographical and environmental settings where agriculture flourished.

Students should be able to identify the location of all of the following required examples of core and foundational civilizations (Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys, Egypt in the Nile River Valley, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley, Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley, Olmecs in Mesoamerica, Chavín in Andean South America)

2. The first states emerged within core civilizations.

• States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas. Early states were often led by a ruler whose source of power was believed to be divine or had divine support and/or who was supported by the military.
• As states grew and competed for land and resources, the more favorably situated — including the Hittites who had access to IRON— had greater access to resources, produced more surplus food, and experienced growing populations. These states were able to undertake territorial expansion and conquer surrounding states.

• Early regions of state expansion or empire building were Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the Nile Valley.
• Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new weapons(Compound Bows, Iron Weapons) and modes of transportation (Chariots,Horseback riding) that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.

3. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language, literature, religion, myths, and monumental art.

• Early civilizations developed monumental architecture and urban planning (Ziggurats, Pyramids, Temples, Defensive walls, Streets and Roads, Sewage and Water systems)

• Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanship (Sculpture, Painting, Wall Decorations, Elaborate Weaving)

• Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations and subsequently were diffused. (Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs, Pictographs, Alphabets, Quipu)

• States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi, that reflected existing hierarchies and facilitated the rule of governments over people.

• New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong influences in later periods. (Vedic Religion, Hebrew Monotheism, Zoroastrianism)
• Trade expanded throughout this period from local to regional and transregional, with civilizations exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology. (Between Egypt and Nubia, Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley)
• Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.
• Literature was also a reflection of culture. (Epic of Gilgamesh, Rig Veda, Book of the Dead)

Videos and Links

Downloads

Unit I Question Packet

Unit I Readings

Unit I Assignments

Unit I Vocabulary Words

Unit I Slideshow: Neolithic Revolution and Early Civilizations

Freemanpedia => Unit I Review materials

Download these review materials HERE at Freemanpedia's site