Trade and Cultural Exchanges (Prehistoric Era to 600 CE)

migration

Around 100,000 years ago, when people began to spread throughout Europe and Asia, the first ____ took place from Africa to the Near East.

ice ages

Parts of Oceania (60,000 BCE) and North America (14,000 BCE) were accessible via land bridges built during the _____.

cradles of civilization

The "______" were not as remote as archaeology has revealed. Even the most advanced empires interacted with nations and populations that they regarded as inferior and foreign.

Indo-European

The expansion of _______ peoples from their homeland between the Black and Caspian Seas around 1600 BCE was one of the most significant migrations for later language and cultural development.

Aryans

By 500 BCE, these ____'s descendants, led by Cyrus the Great, had taken control of the biggest empire the world had ever known.

Sanskrit

The natives' religion was replaced by one based on the Vedic scriptures in the new society, which spoke ______, an Indo-European language.

Hittite Empire

Around 1600 BCE, they marched into Mesopotamia and established the _____, but they were unable to maintain control over the region's shifting network of native city-states.

Mycenaean culture

By supplanting the dominant Minoan culture of Crete with their _____, they had a significant impact in the West on the Mediterranean region.

Dorians and Ionians

The merging of the Mycenaeans and later immigrants known as _____ resulted in the Greek language, writings, and ethnic identity.

Indo-European Greek

The foundation of contemporary Western civilization is the ______ culture.

Latin-Greek-Indo-European

Modern Romance languages such as French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese descended _________ family language.

Phoenicians

A seafaring and fearless people from modern-day Lebanon who colonized as far as Britain and even managed to circumnavigate the Horn of Africa.

Phoenician Script

It contains an alphabet of 24 letters; it was adopted by the Greeks who added vowels to it.

Christianity

The highlands of Galilee and Judaea are where _______ first emerged.

330 BCE

Around _______, Alexander the Great led a campaign against the Persians.

Xiongnu

Since the third century BCE, with the sedentary Chinese, ______ had engaged in raiding and combat.

Attila the Hun

In 441 CE, _______ launched a catastrophic invasion and made it to Rome — this led to the Dark Ages.

Mauryan Empire

At the end of the fourth century BCE, the _______ ruled over the Indian subcontinent, but its cultural influence extended far beyond that.

Yellow River valley

The _________ served as the cradle of Chinese civilization.

Silk Road

The resulting trade and cultural exchanges along the ______, which included Southeast Asia, Persia, and the Middle East and connected Chang'an and Rome by land and sea, would endure the fall of the Roman, Han, and Gupta Empires.

Teotihuacán

(450 CE) in central Mexico became a hub for travel and trade.