Period "0" – Technological & Environmental Transformations to 600 B.C.E., Organization & Reorganization, 600 B.C.E. – 600 C.E.

Flashcards about Technological & Environmental Transformations to 600 B.C.E., Organization & Reorganization, 600 B.C.E. – 600 C.E.

Paleolithic Age

Refers to about 12,000 BC. During this time people were nomadic.

Neolithic Age

Refers to the age from about 12,000 BC to about 8000 BC. It is during this time that people settled in communities and civilization began to emerge.

River Valley Civilizations

Refers to about 3500 to 1500 BC. The major River Valleys are described below.

Classical Civilizations

Refers to about 1000 BC to 600 CE. The major civilizations to emerge were Zhou and Han China, Greece and Rome, and the Gupta Empire.

Common characteristics of early civilizations

Complex irrigation systems, legal codes, money, art and written literature, More formal scientific knowledge, numbering systems, and calendars, Intensification of social inequality

Cuneiform

Writing system of Mesopotamia

Political organization in Mesopotamia

Kings were powerful, but not divine, City-states & warrior kings, Hammurabi’s Code

Job specialization in Mesopotamia

Farmers, metallurgists, merchants, craftsmen, political administrators, priests

Social structure in Mesopotamia

Social classes, Marriage contracts; veils for women; women of upper classes less equal than lower- class counterparts

Political organization in Egypt

Divine kingship – the pharaoh; highly centralized, authoritarian government

Social structure in Egypt

Smaller nobility than Mesopotamians; fewer merchants, Some social mobility through the bureaucracy, Priests have high status

Hatshepsut

One female pharaoh in Egypt

Indus Valley

Cities: Harappa & Mohenjo- Daro

Political organization in the Indus Valley

limited information, but large granaries, plumbing, and cities designed on grid pattern indicate centralized control

Social structure in Indus Valley

Priests have highest status based on position as intermediaries between gods and people, Differences in house sizes indicate class distinctions

Oracle bones

Used to communicate with ancestors

Political organization in Shang China

Centralized government; power in the hands of the emperor

Job specialization in Shang China

Bureaucrats, farmers, slaves

Social Classes in Shang China

Social classes – warrior aristocrats, bureaucrats, farmers, slaves

Olmec Social Structure

craft specializations; priests have highest status; most people were farmers

Chavin Social Structure

priests have highest status; capital city dominated hinterlands; most people were farmers

Technology in Agricultural Societies

Domestication of plants and animals, Iron tools, Writing systems, Constant development

Technology in Pastoral Societies

Domestication of horses and camels

Technology in Foraging Societies

Baskets for gathering and storing, Hunting tools

Common Features of Classical Civilizations

Patriarchal family structures, Agricultural-based economies, Complex governments, Expanding trade base

Political organization in Greece

No centralized government; concept of polis, or a fortified site that formed the centers of many city-states

Governing styles of Greek city states

Governing styles varied (Sparta a military state, Athens eventually democracy for adult males)

Social structure in Greece

Slavery widely practiced

Two eras of Rome

Republic & Empire

Roman Law

Development of an overarching set of laws, restrictions that all had to obey; Roman law sets in place principle of rule of law, not rule by whim of the political leader

Social structure in Rome

Basic division between patricians (aristocrats) and plebeians (free farmers)

Han China

The educated shi (scholar bureaucrats who obtained positions through civil service exams)

Social structure in China

Family basic unit of society, with loyalty and obedience stressed

India

Mauryans (Buddhist), Guptas (Hindu)

Social Structure in India

Complex social hierarchy based on caste membership (birth groups called jati); occupations strictly dictated by caste

Silk Road

Chinese silk was the most desired commodity, but the Chinese were willing to trade it for other goods, particularly for horses from Central Asia.

Indian Ocean Trade

One connected eastern Africa and the Middle East with India; another connected India to Southeast Asia; and the final one linked Southeast Asia to the Chinese port of Canton.

Saharan Trade

Connected people that lived south of the Sahara to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Berbers, nomads who traversed the desert, were the most important agents of trade

Common factors that caused empires to fall

Attacks from the Huns, Deterioration of political institutions, Protection/maintenance of borders, Diseases that followed the trade routes

Huns

A nomadic people of Asia that began to migrate south and west during this period

The Silk Road

This overland route extended from western China, across Central Asia, and finally to the Mediterranean area

Saharan Trade

This route connected people that lived south of the Sahara to the Mediterranean and the Middle East

Phoenicians

By about 2000 BCE this small group of seafaring people from a coastal area of the eastern Mediterranean Sea had set up colonies in North Africa and southern Europe

Israelites

According to Judaism, the Israelites actually originated about 2000 BCE in the Mesopotamian city of Ur with the founder of the religion, Abraham

Migration of the Israelites

They later migrated to Egypt to escape a spreading drought. there they became slaves, and under their leader Moses, they returned to Canaan where they eventually formed the kingdom of Israel.

Aryans

These herding peoples originated in the Caucasus area, but they began migrating in many directions about the mid 2nd millennium BCE

Huns

Originated in the Gobi Desert (China) and moved to what we now call Hungary

Confucianism

Five Relationships, Mandate of Heaven, Civil service exam

Hinduism

Caste system, Multiple expressions of deities, Emphasis on ritual prayer, Sacred texts

Social Structure in Pastoral Societies

Head of clan/tribe, Based on lineage