Global History - Study Guide

Sumerians:

  • Cuneiform - Development of writing helps aid governance, commerce, and spread of knowledge
  • Wheel - carts improve overland connections
  • Trade - Connected to neighboring cultures

Akkadians:

  • Sargon- 1st true empire in world history!
  • Language - aided in commerce and diplomacy
  • Postal service - supported a network of communication across the empire.

Chaldeans:

  • King Nebuchadnezzar - ruled “New Babylonia”
  • Hanging Gardens - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
  • Defeat of Egypt - Led to the building of a powerful walled city

Babylonians:

  • King Hammurabi - Code of Hammurabi
  • Architecture - Building of fortifications and temples
  • Centralized government- Administration and taxation

Phoenicians:

  • Commercial cities, seaports - established colonies like Carthage
  • Technology - Ship-building (multi-decked wooden ships)
  • Alphabet - 22 symbols and basis for phonetic
  • Purple dye - extracted from sea snails

Assyrians:

  • The City of Nineveh - beautified by gardens, zoos and artwork
  • Library - contained thousands of Mesopotamian writings
  • Trade - developed colonies that served as centers for trade/banking

Hebrews:

  • David and Soloman - built first temples and ruled over Hebrew kingdoms
  • Monotheism - belief in one god (Yahweh) and development of the Hebrew bible
  • Hebrew bible - collection of Jewish texts

Hittites:

  • Cultural blending - writing, religion, law, and agriculture
  • Metal work - bronze and eventually “the magic of iron” (tried to keep it secret) weapons
  • Law Code/Literature - Independent of Babylonian law and introduced historical narratives

Mesopotamia:

  • “Land between the rivers”
  • The Fertile Crescent
  • Irregular and unpredictable flooding
  • Theocracies - Governments ruled by divine rulers
  • Center of urban areas
  • Mud-brick temples used for religious purposes
  • Dedicated to special god

Egypt:

  • The "Gift of the Nile"
  • Regular and predictable flooding
  • Early civilizations developed monumental architecture
  • Pharaohs - ex. Menes
  • Theocracy

Indus Valley Civilization:

  • City of Mohenjo-Daro
  • Around 2500 BCE
  • Indus River Valley
  • Modern day Pakistan
  • Monsoon rains
  • Hindu-Kush and Himalaya Mountains

Shang/Zhou China

  • Developed along the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers
  • Irregular flooding - Loess (Soft fertile soil)
  • Built dikes, canals, and basins to store water and rainfall.

Chinese Dynasties

  • Dynasty - family based kingdom
  • Xia - First Dynasty according to legend
  • Followed by the Shang Dynasty
  • Bronze making
  • Writing system - Pictograms and evolved into characters
  • Tax rolls, imports/exports
  • Oracle bones - inscribed questions to communicate with ancestors

Zhou Dynasty

  • Zhou Dynasty - 12 century B.C.E.
  • Political development - Professional bureaucrats or shi (men of service)
  • Merchants and traders did exist
  • Long distance trade despite geographic barriers
  • Shift from matrilineal to patrilineal in determining family power
  • Women lost social status

Olmecs

  • Known as the “rubber people”
  • Mesoamerica - Gulf of Mexico
  • Based on agriculture
  • Kingship/ruling families
  • Carved and traded jade or conquered others to get it
  • 30 and 365 day calendar
  • Legend of Quetzalcoatl - Polytheistic
  • Spoken language is still unknown

Chavin

  • Andes Mountains
  • Amazon River Basin
  • Capital, Chavin de Huantar built at 10,000 feet
  • Metallurgy - Worked with gold and silver
  • Produced pottery, textiles, and ceremonial items
  • Domesticated Llama - “beasts of burden”
  • Transported goods throughout mountains