World History Semester 1 Exam Study Guide
How do scientists learn about prehistory? - Using artifacts, fossils/remains, stories, etc.
What do archaeologists and anthropologists study specifically? - Anthropologists study culture and archaeologists study artifacts.
What adaptations did Stone Age people make to adjust to their environment? - They changed their clothing, hunting practices, diets, weapons, and shelters.
Why did cities emerge? - Food surplus due to agriculture
What geographical feature was present in all early civilizations? - A body of water/river
Where was the first civilization and what was nearby? (mountains? Rivers? Deserts?) - In Mesopotamia/The Fertile Crescent in Sumar. 2 rivers were nearby, the Tigris and Euphrates.
What brought us from prehistory into the historical era? - The use of written language.
What was the central aspect of Persia’s communication system? - The Royal Roads.
What were the pyramids used for early in their creation? - The pyramids were used as tombs for Pharaohs.
Why was training for war so vital to the Spartans? What was reason? - Training for war was vital to the Spartans because their culture was centered on war. Spartan culture was like this because they had a large amount of helots (slaves) that outnumbered the Spartans (7:1), and they feared a helot rebellion.
World’s first democracy - Athens
Who were the three main philosophers studied for Greece? - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Why is a 26.2 mile run called a marathon? - A messenger ran 26.2 miles from Marathon to tell everyone that the Greeks won that battle.
What were Greek and Roman economies based on? - Greek and Roman economies were based on trade from the Mediterranean Sea.
How have we learned about early Greeks? - Myths, stories, and artifacts helped us learn about early Greeks.
After the Persian Wars, what Greek city became the center of society? (Aftermath of the Persian Wars) - Athens became the center of Greek society after the Persian Wars.
Hellenistic - Greek like
After Alexander fell from power, how was the government set up in Greece? - The government was set up into four kingdoms
Geographical advantages of Rome - It was isolated, but not entirely. It was right on the Mediterranean Sea, and it had a mountain range north of the city
How many branches did the Republican government have? - three
Why did the republic work so well? - The republic worked well because of checks and balances of power.
Why did the Roman REPUBLIC fall? - The republic fell because there were internal conflicts and civil wars. The government redistributed land from patricians to plebeians, and that did not please the patricians.
How and where were Romans entertained? Why? - The Romans were entertained in arenas such as the Colosseum by Gladiator Games. They were entertained by these because they had free admission and free bread was given to those that attended.
Two main social classes - Plebeians and Patricians
Fall of the Roman Empire - Odacer and his army took over the capital of Rome, but many other Germanic tribes attacked Rome and sacked a variety of cities before he did.
What civilizations were located in Meso and South America? (online textbook) - Civilizations located in Meso and South America were the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs.
Arabic word for God - Allah
Main beliefs of Islam - Five pillars: declaration of faith, hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), prayer, charity, and fasting
Last prophet of God according to Muslims - Muhammad
What effect would Mansa Musa’s hajj have on Africa? What did we learn from it? - Mansa Musa gave out large amounts of gold during his hajj, which caused major amounts of inflation and wrecked the local economies. We learned that Mansa Musa was Muslim and that West Africa had significant amounts of gold.
Three main civilizations of Meso-and South America (as discussed in class) - The Inca, the Aztecs, and the Maya
What were the causes of the decline of the early American civilizations? - European colonization, warfare, diseases, civil war/internal problems, etc. The Mayans reason for decline is unknown, but it is speculated that it could have been a drought or a volcanic eruption.