global history midterm practice

I. Five Themes of Geography

Location: Describes where a place is.

Example: Position on the Earth’s surface.

There are two ways to describe location:

1. Relative Location- the description of a place in relation to another.

Example: The Italian Peninsula is North of Africa.

2. Absolute Location- the exact location of a place using lines of Latitude and Longitude.

Example: The city of Rome is located at 42° 50’ N (latitude) & 12° 50’ E (longitude).

Place: Describes an area in terms of its physical and human characteristics such as:

Landforms (mountains, deserts, valleys, etc)

Waterways (rivers, bays, etc)

Climate

Language

Religion

Social activities (customs and traditions)

Movement: Describes the movement of people, goods, and ideas.This occurs through:

Migration- The movement of people from one area to another.

Trade- The exchange of goods or services between people.

Cultural Diffusion- The spreading of ideas through contact such as trade or war.

Region: Describes an area that has its own unifying characteristics.

Politically- ex: regions- Middle East

Physically- ex: Rainforests of Brazil

Culturally- ex: Muslim areas are influenced by the religion of Islam

Human/Environment Interaction: Describes how people change their environment or adapt to it.

Example: Creating irrigation systems in the desert for a water source or Terrace Farming (cutting into the sides of mountains to make flat land for farming).

II. Types of Sources

Primary Sources: artifacts (items) created at the time in the past

Examples: fossils, eyewitnesses, records written at time of the event, speeches, letters, photographs, paintings

Primary sources are more reliable then secondary sources because it is a first hand account of an event

Primary sources can be interpreted differently or wrong based on what info you get, how you interpret that info, your point of view, and/or whose point of view you get

Secondary Sources: summarize the events from people who were not there

Examples: textbooks, biographies, a book about someone, websites, etc.

III. Neolithic Revolution

Hunter gatherers - nomadic people who moved around hunting and gathering food before the Neolithic Revolution

Turning Point in history: a big change

Nomad—> permanent settlements (living in houses, not tents)

Hunter—> domesticated animals (keeping tame, safe animals in the yard)

Gatherer—> agriculture (farming, growing your own food near your home, so you have a surplus = extra food)

Permanent settlements, domestication of animals, and agriculture made life easier, safer, and allowed people to have more food

Growth of villages- now that people don’t have to search/hunt for food, people are staying in one place

Job specialization- now that people don’t have to search/hunt for food, they have more time on their hands and can specialize in a new trade

Surplus of food- Extra food leads to a growth in population and people can now sell it for extra wealth

IV. Elements of Civilization

Cities: The population of cities grew as more people moved there for the food grown there, majority of cities were located near rivers because of flat, fertile farmland

Centralized Government: government is needed in order to run cities and keep them organized, agencies support the government to complete their tasks

Job Specialization: people learn different skills and jobs

Social Classes: job specialization leads to people making different incomes, different education levels, and different levels of power

Organized Religion: Rituals and rules to please the gods/spirits so they don’t destroy the crops and cities

Public Works: Things built for everyone to use (ex: roads, bridges, parks, etc)

Art and Architecture: Style of building, drawing, painting, sculpture, music, etc.

Writing System: Created to keep records throughout a civilization, usually used pictures for words

V. Mesopotamia/Sumerian

Fertile Crescent: located along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers because they provide 3F’s (flat fertile farmland)

Rivers flood and drop good soil on the farmland, can also destroy crops and villages

Good farmland allows farmers to grow surplus (extra crops)

Surplus crops lead to larger populations (cities) and job specialization

Job specialization leads to civilization

Government: Code of Hammurabi- First organized set of laws written and posted for all to see. Punishments for crimes were based on:

Social status- the higher the social class, the lesser the punishment

Gender- women were seen as inferior as men, women were punished harshly compared to men

Organized Religion: Polytheistic- believed in many gods

Ziggurats = stepped pyramids to honor gods and a place to offer gods sacrifices of food, wine, and animals

Writing System: Cuneiform = symbols for words on clay tablets, led to recorded history

Technology:

Irrigation = modified environment by digging canals to bring water to dry areas to grow more food

Wheel = invented by Mesopotamians to help move heavy objects