History before 1200 CE

The first Migrations

• Humans first appeared in East Africa 200,000-100,000 BCE

  • survived by hunting animals and foraging for seeds and edible plants

  • lived in small groups of no more than 12 people, did not have permanent homes

  • adapted to new environments, developing genetic and cultural differences

    • learned how to control fire and make stone tools, and created drawings and paintings

  • developed a system of religious beliefs called animism

    • animism: a reverence for deities associated with features of nature, animals, mountains, rivers, etc. Societies of animism were fairly egalitarian but showed signs of patriarchy

    • patriarchy: domination of males

  • movement in search of food was all over the globe (except Antarctica) due to the ice age

The agricultural revolution

• 8000 BCE: the climate was warming from an ice age

  • humans began to plant crops + raise animals for food

  • = agricultural revolution: cultural transformation that allowed humans to change from hunting and gathering to agriculture and animal domestication

    • began in the middle east

    • surplus in food

    • enough food for the population → specialization in nonfood-producing activities

      • the population grew, and larger settlements grew into cities

      • people became highly skilled at one job

        • artisans made tools and weapons, merchants engaged in trade, priests conducted rituals

      • new technology

        • irrigation system

        • wheel in transportation

        • replace the stone with metal such as bronze and iron for making tools and art

      • extensive government and taxation

      • competition for resources and the accumulation of wealth increased group conflicts

      • divided into social classes by wealth and occupation

        • women status declined

The first civilizations

• agricultural revolution → large societies with cities and a powerful state

  • most were in river valleys, places with water and fertile land

• Mesopotamia: world’s first civilization, the region around Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Iraq)

  • cultures emerged based on city-states

  • City-states: independent states made up of a city and its surrounding territory

    • highly patriarchal

    • built monumental architecture such as religious temples called ziggurats

    • long-distance trade

    • the people there were polytheistic: believed in many gods

  • Sumer: a city-state along the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia

    • created the first written language (cuneiform) in history as tax and trade became more complex

    • used cuneiform to record the first written laws

• All civilizations were built along river valleys:

  • Nile river valley

  • yellow river valley

  • Indus river valley

  • Mesoamerica

  • Andes mountains

• Egypt:

  • Nile River Valley

  • Egypt prospered

  • shared traits with Mesopotamia, but was highly centralized under one ruler: pharaoh

  • developed hieroglyphics

  • built pyramids to demonstrate the pharaoh's power

  • highly patriarchal, but women were allowed to own property and were legally equal to men in court giving women a higher social standing than their counterpart civilizations

• Indus:

  • Indus river in south Asia

  • cities such as Harappa and mohenjo daro engaged in long-distance trade with Mesopotamia,

  • practiced polytheism

  • developed tech: indoor plumbing

  • planned layout of urban areas

  • was unable to decipher the language

• China:

  • Huang He river

  • highly patriarchal

  • centralized system

  • a special honor to ancestors

• NON-RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS

  • Olmec in Mesoamerica

  • chavin in the Andes

    • complex societies

    • participated in extensive trade

Hinduism and Judaism

• cities grow = new ideas about religion

• animism: deities were identified with specific places

  • people wanted to take deities with them as they traveled

• belief in many gods was replaced with a belief in one deity, monotheism

  • Hinduism

    • sometimes categorized as polytheistic and monotheistic

    • started from Aryans, north of the Himalayan mountains (spoke an Indo-European language), migrated south to Pakistan and India

    • brought Vedas, and a belief that many deities existed

      • Vedas: taught that soul of a person is reborn / reincarnated many times

        • eventually, a soul would spiritually advance enough to become liberated from this cycle of death and rebirth

        • people should organize society into sharply defined classes: castes

          • caste system prohibited social mobility

          • society became unified

  • Zoroastrianism

    • an early form of monotheism

    • developed in Persia

    • focus on human free will and the internal battle between the forces of good and evil

  • Judaism

    • most influential monotheism

    • Jews

    • Developed in Israel

    • teachings of Abraham

    • believe that they have entered into a covenant, or mutual promise with their god: Yahweh

      • Yahweh will consider them their people if Jews were devoted

    • was further developed with the codification of Hebrew scriptures / old testament

    • was like Christianity and Islam because they both looked back at Abraham

Beginning of Buddhism

• founder: Siddhartha Gautama

  • sharply aware of all the suffering people endured

  • left his family and pursued a life of poverty and meditation to understand why people suffered

  • called himself Buddha (enlightened one) and sought to teach others what he came to understand why people suffered

  • Buddhist doctrines

    • sought to eliminate desire and suffering by following the eightfold path

    • requires to meditate, reflect, and refrain from excessive earthly pleasures

    • goal: achieve enlightenment and peaceful bliss: nirvana: end the cycle of reincarnation

• The spread of Buddhism

  • alternative to Hinduism

  • rejected caste systems

  • popular with members of lower caste

  • spread throughout India and across Asia

    • missionaries, and merchants along the silk roads and around the Indian Ocean helped the spread

  • universalizing religion (unlike Hinduism and Judaism)

  • monastic faith

    • developed monastery communities for men and women

• The Mauryan Empire

  • the first period of unity

  • Reached its high point during the rule of Ashoka

    • promoted prosperity by creating an efficient tax system and building roads that connected commercial centers

    • spread knowledge of the law by inscribing his edicts on pillars throughout the empire

    • converted from one faith to another

      • helped spread Buddhism throughout India

    • after Ashoka, the empire declined in power → political decentralization

• The Gupta empire

  • second period of unity was under the gupta empire

    • golden age of india

  • centralized government, intellectual life and cultural life flourished

  • advancement in medicine

  • prevention of diseases

  • mathematicians developed a numbering system that combined a small number of symbols

  • patriarchal