Worthington Global History

Neolithic Rev. > River Valley Civs. > Classical Civs. > Post Classical > Early Modern

Foundation & Rise of Civilization (10,000 BCE - 500 BCE)

Civilizations

Definition

  • conglomerations of humans

  • nomadic cultures like the mongols aren’t civilizations

  • by calling some groups civilizations, it is implied that all other social orders are uncivilized (savages, barbarians = not part of the “great civilizations” Greek, Roman, Christian)

  • which is stupid

Characteristics of Civilizations

  • surplus production which leads to

  • being able to build cities which leads to

  • specialization of labor which leads to

  • trade

Things Associated with Civilizations

  • social stratification

  • centralized government

  • shared values (religion)

  • writing

  • (ancient days) rivers

    • Tigris and Euphrates, Yellow River, Nile, Amazon Basin, Coatzacoalcos

River Valley Significance

  • flat, well watered

  • flood often (cyclically)

    • deposit nutrient rich silt

Neolithic Age (10,000 BCE - 2,200 BCE)

Neolithic Revolution

Hunter Gatherers

  • lived in small, nomadic groups

  • relied on hunting animals and gathering wild plants for food

  • had deep knowledge of their environment

  • egalitarian social structures

  • limited material possessions due to mobile lifestyle

Neolithic Farmers

  • settled in one place

  • practiced agriculture and domesticating animals

  • farming led to food surpluses, population growth, and the development of complex societies with specialized roles and social hierarchies

Neolithic Revolution (Agricultural Revolution)

  • transition from nomadic hunter gatherers to agricultural settlements and civilizations

  • started around 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent (the Middle East)

  • term coined by V. Gordon Childe in 1935

Geography

  • geography significantly influenced the development of civilizations

  • access to water sources → agriculture and trade

  • natural barriers → protection

  • fertile land → stable food supplies and population growth

Writing

  • development of writing was crucial for record-keeping, administration, and communication

  • allowed for the documentation of laws, trade transactions, historical events, and cultural practices

  • facilitated the growth of complex societies and preservation of knowledge

  • allowed for words to be set in stone (john leee?????:??:?:/) and solidified (john le??????) a ruler’s reach on their land and people

Changes

  • provided the basis for centralized administration/government and political structures

    • rise of bureaucracy → sign of a complex government

  • new labor systems developed due to a surplus of food, therefore job specialization started happening

  • due to specialization, hierarchies started emerging → structure of humanity throughout the ages

Mesopotamia

  • “the land between rivers” refers specifically to the fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

  • modern day Iraq

  • agriculture reached Mesopotamia c. 5,000 BCE

    • not enough annual rainfall

    • dependent on irrigation and canals

    • 4,000 BCE → use of ox drawn plows appear

Empires of Mesopotamia

Creator of the empire in Mesopotamia was Sargon of Akkad.

  1. Sumerians

  2. Akkadians

  3. Babylonians

  4. Hittites

  5. Assyrians

  6. Babylonians (again)

General Mesopotamian Stuffs

  • irrigation

    • dug out large storage basins to hold water supplies

    • supported agriculture and urban society

    • created thousands of labor positions

    • problems with equitable distribution

    • caused disputes between parts of the citystate

  • external problems

    • wealth stored in Sumerian cities attracted people outside cities

    • flat land with few natural geographic barriers

  • politics

    • city-state organization (urban center and surrounding rural areas, most worked fields and some in specialized labor)

  • society

    • 3 classes - free/land owners, those dependent on farmers/artisans, slaves

    • women had child bearing care, could own property, could engage in trade, decline in status after 2nd millennium BCE

Sumerian City States

  • built the world’s first cities and cultural centers

  • economy was based on the barter system

  • laid framework for Mesopotamian culture and civilization

  • spoke Semitic language

    • Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician, Arabic

  • responsible for earliest form of written language (cuneiform), used for detailed clerical records

Babylon

  • Persians conquered Sumer and moved capital to Babylon

  • adopted many Sumerian traditions

    • patriarchal society

    • women did have more rights

    • arranged marriages

  • Hammurabi

Code of Hammurabi

  • one of the earliest written legal codes, established by the Babylonian king Hammurabi (wowzers)

  • standardized laws and punishments

  • emphasized justice and social order

  • significant for detailed and structured approach to governance and legal practice

  • can be considered just due to the following

    • put regulations on trade

    • the more poor your are you can do more physical punishment (social inequality)

    • karma for what you did

Egypt

Agricultural Society in Africa

  • after 5000 BCE, the northern half became much hotter and drier

  • desertification, drove everyone to the Nile River (principal source of water flowing)

Nile River Valley

  • natural isolation from other parts of the world, self sufficient (unlike Mesopotamia who depended on imports)

  • worlds longest river, flows from south to north

  • Egypt was called the Gift of the Nile by Herodotus (Greek traveler)

  • majority lived there, agriculture was dependent on predictable floods

Religion

  • natural world is a place of cycles

  • Re (sun god) made his way across the sky

  • Osiris (king of underworld)

  • Horus (associated with the pharaoh)

  • cults of gods would form in cities/villages

Politics (and Religion)

  • pharaoh: Egyptian king, god sent to maintain ma’at (order of the universe)

  • death was a journey that returned the pharaoh to the gods

  • pyramids

    • tomb of pharaohs

    • simple tools and massive amounts of human labor

    • Saqqara (steep pyramids of Djoser, near Memphis)

    • Giza (Menkaure, Khafre, Khufu)

  • upper and lower Egypt united by Menes

  • dynasties - period of rule by pharaohs of a certain family line, history divided into Old, Middle, New Kingdoms

  • Memphis: capital of Old Kingdom

  • Thebes: capital of Middle/New Kingdoms

  • extensive bureaucrats, taxes, monopoly of economy/trade, literate admin class

Technology

  • hieroglyphics, papyrus scrolls (scribes!!!!! alhaitham!!!!!!!)

  • knowledge of anatomy due to mummification

  • most accurate calendar in the world through celestial observations

  • pyramids and other feats (symbolized that they were complex and stuff)

Social Classes

  • pharaohs, government officials, priests, craftsmen, merchants, laborers and slaves

  • wealthy tombs were elaborate for rich rich

  • commoner graves were much more simpler but still contained personal ornaments

Indus Valley Civilization (3,300 BCE - 1,300 BCE)

  • located in the flood plain of the Indus and Sarawati rivers

  • best place to have an ancient civilization

    • rivers flooded reliably twice a year

    • most available nutrients

  • flourished ~3000 BCE

  • traded with Mesopotamians as early as 3500 BCE

  • largest of all ancient civilizations, more than 1500 sites

  • very peaceful, almost no weapons and warfare

Cities

  • Harappa and Mohenjo Daro are best known

  • dense multi-story bricks with perpendicular streets

  • cities were oriented to catch the wind and provide natural AC

  • homes were connected to centralized drainage systems that used gravity to carry waste/water out of the city in sewer ditches that ran under the main avenues

Trade

  • seals used for identification markers on goods and clay tablets

  • proof of trade = seals found in Mesopotamia, bronze found in Indus Valley

  • traded cotton cloth

Decline of the Civilization

  • didn’t morph into current residents of that area (Hindu Indians or Muslim Pakistanis)

  • declined until faded into obscurity

  • three theories

    • conquest, terrible strategy to have no weapons, completely overrun by Caucasus (above people came from them)

    • environmental disaster, destroyed their own environmental

    • earthquake, massive earthquake changed course of rivers that tributaries dried up, without water people packed their bags

Classical Period (500 BCE - 500 CE)

Classical India

The people of the Indus River Valley developed 2 major religions still practiced today: Hinduism and Buddhism.

Characteristics

Hinduism

Buddhism

# of Gods

many gods, all faces of Brahman

originally no gods

Holy Books

Vedas; Upanishads, Mahabharata, and others

Books on the teachings and life of the Buddha

Moral Law

Karma

Eightfold Path

Leaders

Brahmins

Monks

Final Goal

Moksha

Enlightenment, Nirvana

Hinduism

Basic Beliefs

  • based upon the searching for “perfect understanding” and liberation from the human world

  • this is known as moksha

  • only the top of the caste system can achieve moksha

  • believed in reincarnation

  • moving up the caste is based on fulfilling dharma (duty) and gaining karma (good deeds)

Gods and Texts

  • believed in thousands, but there are 3 supreme

    • Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the destroyer

  • no single Hindu text, but the Upanishads and Vedas are important

Impact on Society

  • Hinduism and caste system dominated all aspects of life

  • caste system = social hierarchy passed down through families

  • caste system was brought to them by Aryans from central Asia

Similarities/Differences With Buddhism

  • both share belief in karma/dharma/rebirth

  • both believe in spiritual liberation (moksha and nirvana)

  • Buddhism rejects caste system rituals and priests of Hinduism, seek enlightenment through meditation

Buddhism

Origins

  • created by Siddhartha Gautama who abandoned a noble life in search of enlightenment

  • after meditation Siddhartha gained enlightenment and became Buddha

Basic Beliefs

  • believe in Nirvana and reincarnation

  • reject the caste system and the idea that only Brahmins can achieve Nirvana

  • major teachings are the Four Noble Truths

  • Buddhists believe they can achieve Nirvana by following the Eight-Fold Path

Impact on Society

  • women and Hindus in the lowest castes were attracted to Buddhism

  • Missionaries spread Buddhism into Asia

Major Empires (India)

  • Empire of Alexander the Great

  • Mauryan & Gupta Empires in India

  • Han Dynasty in China

Mauryan Empire: 1st Empire, 321 BCE - 185 BCE

  • Asoka - 268 BCE to 232 BCE

    • following a bitter battle with heavy casualties he converts to Buddhism

    • religious toleration

    • encouraged spread of Buddhism (monks)

    • built extensive road network, planted trees

  • declined when imperial kingdoms regained independence following Asoka’s death

  • Edicts of Asoka to spread his word and control

  • founded by Chandragupta Maurya (defeats Alexander the Great, united India under one ruler through conquest, huge army over 600,000)

Gupta Empire: 320 CE - 550 CE

  • founder was Chandragupta Maurya I (no relation)

  • society was ordered in accordance with Hindu beliefs (popularization)

  • peace and prosperity enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endearvors

  • Chandragupta II (375 - 415 CE)

  • decline

    • death of CG II

    • series of invasions

    • weak leaders

    • many cultural and intellectual achievements were saved and transmitted to other cultures and live on today

  • very advanced in math, medicine (vaccine against smallpox), science, architecture, arts/literature

Classical China

  • qin dynasty (I did a project on it) was replaced by han dynasty

  • han set pattern for most of China’s history

  • yuan were mongols (RAHHHHHGHHH) and sparked rebellions that led to the Ming dynasty (built Great Wall)

General Stuff