Vocab CSET: History

Mesopotamia

Land between the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)

• Home to Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria

• Key contributions: cuneiform writing (first writing system), the wheel, the Code of Hammurabi (first written legal code), city-states, and irrigation agriculture.

Code of Hammurabi

Babylonian law code (~1754 BCE) under King Hammurabi

• established that laws would apply to everyone

• also famous for the idea of “an eye for an eye”

• though punishments varied by social class

Ancient Egypt

NILE RIVER civilization unified under pharaohs (3100 BCE).

Key attributions: hieroglyphics, monumental architecture (pyramids were tombs and power symbols), centralized theocratic government, papyrus, and mummification.

Niles predictable flood = surplus of agriculture (specialization of labor)

Indus Valley Civilization

Located in modern Pakistan/India (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro)

Notable for sophisticated urban planning: grid street layouts, standardized weights, and advanced drainage systems.

Declined in the 1900 BCE

Ancient China

Shang Dynasty (1600 BCE) through the Han Dynasty

Key contributions: oracle bone writing, bronze casting, mandate of Heaven (rulers govern by divine approval), Confucianism (social harmony/filial piety), Daoism, silk production, Great Wall of China, and the first civil service system under Han.

Ancient Greece

City states (poleis), under Athens and Sparta

Athens - direct democracy under Pericles. Only men can vote (no, foreigners, women, or slaves)

Sparta: militaristic oligarchy

Philosophy: Socrates (question everything), Plato (idea reforms), Aristotle (empiricism)

Drama, Olympics, concept of citizenship

The Persian War and Peloponnesian War

Persian Wars: Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon, Thermopylae

Peloponnesian War: Athens vs Sparta (weakened both so that they would eventually lose to Macedonia)

Alexander the Great & Hellenism

Macedonian King (356-323 BCE)

• conquered Persian Empire, Egypt, and reached India.

• Spread Greek culture (Hellenism) and a blend of Persian, Egyptian, and Indian cultures.

• Founded Alexandria in Egypt - great library, center of learning

• cultural diffusion through conquest

Roman Republic & Empire

Republic (509-27 BCE)

• two elected consuls + senate, checks on powers, Twelve tables (written law).

• Expansion through conquest

• Caesar’s assassination —> civil war and Augustus Caesar becomes first emperor

Second Empire

• Pax Romana (~200 years of Stability)

• Spread of Christianity

• Aqueducts/roads.

Legacy: basis of western Law, Romance languages, and republican government

Tang and Song Dynasty China

Tang (618-907): Golden age of poetry and arts, establishment of Chang’an (largest city in the world), spread of Buddhism, civil service exams expanded.

Song (960-1279): movable type printing, magnetic compass, gunpowder weapons, paper money

Conquered by the Mongols in 1279.

Mongol Empire

Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206.

• Largest contiguous land empire in history

• Ruthless conquest but Pax Mongolica - stable trade from China to Europe.

• Silk Road

• Mongols transmitted the Black Death (bubonic plague) westward to Europe

• Kublai Khan conquered China, but the Empire fell apart after the death of Genghis.

Feudal Japan

• Emperor became ceremonial, but the real power was held by the Shogun (military ruler).

• Daimyo (feudal lords) controlled land.

• Samurai served them

• Bushido: warrior code of loyalty , honor, and disciplne.

• Buddhism and Shinto coexisted.

• Japan remained largely isolated and kamikaze storms helped block invasions.

Byzantine Empire

Eastern Roman Empire survived Western Rome’s fall, capital: Constantinople

• Preserved Roman law and Greek learning

• Justinian’s Code: synthesized Roman law and was basis of modern legal systems.

• Great Schism 1054: Orthodox church split from Christianity.

• Fell to the Ottoman turks - closing of trade route leads to the Age of Exploration/

Rise of Islam & the caliphates

Muhammad (570-632 CE) founded Islam in Arabia

• After his death, caliph led the Islamic world.

• Caliphate helped spread Islam from Spain to Central Asian (largest empire in the world at the time)

• Contributions: algebra, medicine, astronomy, philosophy

• Mongols sacked Baghdad and ended Islam’s golden age.

Islam was a connecter of world trade and knowledge.

Five Pillars of Islam

Faith, Charity, Pilgrimage, Fasting, Prayer

Mali & Songhai Empires

West African empire built on gold-salt trans-Saharan trade

• Mansa Musa pilgrimage to the Mecca with enormous bags of gold (crashed the Mediterranean gold markets, and placed Mali on European maps)

• Songhai Empire and Timbuktu: major center of Islamic scholarship, hundred of thousands of manuscipts produced at their University.

Swahili Coast & Africa

East African city states (Kilwa & Mombasa) traded gold, ivory, and enslaved people for Persian and Indian goods.

• Islam spread through trade, not conquest.

• Great Zimbabwe = massive stone city that was evidence of the emerging African kingdom.

• Shows complex African civilization independent outside of influence.

European feudalism

Hierarchy: church —> king—> lords/nobles—>knights —> serfs

• manorial system = self-sufficient estates

• the church held the most power and could excommunicate the king.

• Crusades (1095-1291): church-sponsored military campaigns to retake the Holy Land.

• Brought Europeans contact with Islamic world —> reintroduced classical learning to Europe

The Black Death

Bubonic plague arrived in Europe 1347 through Mongol trade routes.

• killed 30-60% of Europe’s population

• Consequences: labor shortages —> peasants demanded higher wages (dismantles feudalism)

• Church’s failure to explain or stop it —> loss of religious authority

• Accelerated social change that led to Renaissance and Reformation.

Magna Carta & parliamentary development

Magna Carta (1215): English barons forced King John to sign this to establish that the King was not above the law.

• Due process, no arbitrary imprisonment.

• The foundation of a Constitutional government, influenced the Bill of Rights

• Parliament was developed as a representative body limiting royal power.

Maya Civilization

Yucatan Peninsula where there were city states, not a unified empire.

• thrive din mathematics (concept of 0), 365 day calendar, hieroglyphics, pyramids.

• Declined in 900 because of drought, warfare, overfarming.

Incas

Andes Mountain and the largest Empire in the pre-Columbian Americas.

• No writing system used but Quipu (knotted strings) for record keeping

• Extensive road network through the mountains

• Labor tax system

• Conquered by the Spanish (Pizarro 1532) which led to disease spread

Aztecs

Central Mexico which was built on a lake island

• 200,000 by 1500

• Tributary empire: conquered people paid tribute

• Human sacrifice tied to religious calendar.

• Conquered by Cortez, aided by indigenous allies and smallpox spread.

The Renaissance

Italian city-states (Florence, Venice) - wealthy merchant class funded the arts.

• Humanism: focus on human potential and reason rather than purely religious ideals.

• Rediscovery of classical Greek/Roman texts through scholars and Byzantine refugees after 1453.

• Key figures: Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Machiavelli (The Prince - political realism).

• Gutenberg’s printing press (~1440) spread ideas rapidly across Europe.

Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (1517) challenged Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences and papal authority.

• Printing press spread his ideas.

• Protestant denominations split from Rome.

• Religious wars across Europe.

• John Calvin - Predestination

• Henry VIII: broke with Rome for political reasons (divorce), created the Church of England.

• Counter Reformation: Catholic church reformed internally.

Scientific Revolution

Shifted basis of knowledge from religious authority and classical texts to observation, experimentation, and reason.

• Copernicus: heliocentric model (Earth orbits the Sun).

• Galileo: confirmed heliocentrism with telescope; persecuted by the Church.

• Kepler: planetary motion laws

• Newton: gravity and laws of motion

• Francis Bacon: scientific method (inductive reasoning)

• Descartes: deductive reasoning

• Foundation of Enlightenment

Age of Exploration

Triggered by the Fall of Constantinople 1453 (closed land routes to Asia).

• Portugal led the movement and sailed around Africa.

• Spain funded Columbus 1492, seeking western route to Asia, landed in Caribbean.

• Columbian Exchange: transfer of plants, animals, people, and disease between hemisphere.

• Smallpox devastated indigenous populations (~90% death rate in some communities)

Colonial Era

Three colonial regions w/ distinct characters.

• New England: Puritan religious communities, town meetings, subsistence farming, harsh climate forced cooperation.

• Middle Colonies: diverse (Dutch, German, and Quaker), breadbasket colonies, religious tolerance, thriving trade,

• Southern colonies: cash crop economy (tobacco, rice, indigo), plantation system, enslaved labor, Anglican Church.

• Triangular Trade: manufactured goods —> Africa —> enslaved people —> Americas —> raw materials —> Europe

Causes of the Revolution

Enlightenment Ideas: Locke (natural rights, consent of governed), Montesquieu (separation of powers).

French and Indian War (1754-63): left Britain in debt —> new taxes imposed on the colonies.

Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act “No taxation without representation” - colonists had no seats in Parliament.

Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts.

First Continental Congress —> Second Continental Congress —> Declaration of Independence.

The American Revolution & Declaration

Declaration of Independence

Natural rights, government derives power from the consent of the governed, right to revolution.

Valley forge hardship, French alliance crucial (after Saratoga 1777=turning point)

British would surrender at Yorktown in 1781 & The Treaty of Paris was signed so that Britain would recognize US independence.

The Constitution & Political System

Articles of Confederation (1781) failed because it was too weak, no power to tax and enforce laws.

• Constitutional Conventional 1787: Great Compromise (bicameral Congress - Senate equal by state (two reps), House by population)

• 3/5 Compromise - enslaved people counted as 3/5 for representation.

• Federalism - power divided between national and state governments.

• Separation of powers: executive, legislative, and judicial (checks and balances)

• Bill of Rights = first 10 amendments (free speech, religion, press, right to bear arms, due process)

The Growing New Country

• Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson doubled US territory by buying from Napoleon.

• Lewis and Clark expedition mapped the West

• War of 1812: Second War of Independence against Britain, ended in stalemate, boosted US nationalism.

• Monroe Doctrine: US warned European powers against colonizing the Americas.

• Indian Removal Act (1830): forced relocation of Native people - Trail of Tears (led to thousands of people dying).

• Manifest Destiny: belief that the US was destined to stretch from coast to coast.

• Texas annexed 1845; Mexican-American War 1846-48 —> US gained CA, New Mexico, and Arizona

Sectionalism & slavery

Missouri Compromise (1820): Missouri slave, Maine free

Compromise of 1850: California free, popular sovereignty for other territories, stronger Fugitive Slave Act (mandated the return of runaway slaves to their owners, even if caught in free states).

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Popular sovereignty replaced Missouri Compromise line —> bleeding Kansas violence.

Dred Scott decision (1857): enslaved people not citizens, Congress cannot ban slavery in territories.

Abolitionist movement: Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad),Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Uncle Tom’s Cabin shifted Northern opinion.

Civil War

Causes: Slavery (main cause), state’s rights, sectionalism, Lincoln’s election 1860.

• Confederate states seceded

• Union advantages: larger population, industrial base, railroads, navy

• Confederate advantages: defensive war, strong military leadership (Lee), home territory.

• Turning points: Antietam (1862) - bloodiest day, allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

• Gettysburg - confederate invasion of North repelled.

• Vicksburg - Union controlled Mississippi

• Appomattox 1865 - Lee surrendered to Grant.

Reconstruction & its failure

13th Amendment (1865): abolishment of slavery.

14th Amendment: citizenship and equal protection

15th Amendment: Black men’s right to vote

Radical Reconstruction: federal troops in South, Freedman’s Bureau, Black political participation.

Compromise of 1877: ended Reconstruction - federal troops withdrew

Jim Crow laws: segregation, literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses disenfranchised Black voters.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): separate but equal made segregation constitutional + KKK terrorism.

Industrial Revolution in the US

Railroads unified the national market, and the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 through Chinese and Irish labor.

• Steel (Carnegie), oil (Rockefeller), and banking (Morgan) - Robber barons or captains of industry?

• Monopolies and trusts controlled entire industries.

• Labor movement response: unions (Knights of Labor, AFL), strikes (Pullman Strike), and child labor reforms.

• Social Darwinism used to justify inequality (survival of the fittest)

• Sherman Antitrust Act: first federal attempt to break up monopolies.

Urbanization & Immigration

Massive immigration wave after 1880: “Old” immigrants from North and West Europe gave way to New Immigrants (South/East Europe, Asia)

• Push factors: poverty, persecution, famine

• Pull factors: jobs, land, freedom

• Nativist backlash: Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), immigration quotas.

• Cities grew rapidly - tenements, political machines (Tammany Hall), settlement houses (Jane Addams, Jull House).

• Progressive Era reforms: muckrakers (Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle), child labor laws, women’s suffrage (19th Amendment 1920) as a response to industrialization