APWH Cram Packet Notes

Period 1 – Technological & Environmental Transformations (to 600 B.C.E.)

-Covers chapters 1-3, 5% of the APWH Exam.

Period 2 – Organization & Reorganization (600 B.C.E. – 600 C.E.)

-Covers chapters 4-9, 15% of the APWH Exam.

Climate and Settlement

-Climate influenced settlement; people settled in areas suitable for agriculture.

Time Periods

-Paleolithic Age: Before 12,000 BC - Nomadic.

-Neolithic Age: 12,000 BC to 8000 BC - Settled, civilization emerged.

-River Valley Civilizations: 3500 to 1500 BC - Major river valleys.

-Classical Civilizations: 1000 BC to 600 CE - Zhou/Han China, Greece/Rome, Gupta Empire.

The River-Valley Civilizations: Common Characteristics

-Shared traits: irrigation, legal codes, money, art, science, inequality.

Comparisons of Early River Valley Civilizations

Mesopotamia (3500 BCE)

-Culture: Cuneiform, trade, Gilgamesh, bronze, math, pessimistic, polytheism.

-Politics: City-states, kings, Hammurabi’s Code, unstable.

-Social: Job specialization, classes, varying women’s equality.

Egypt (3000 BCE)

-Culture: Arts, shipbuilding, polytheism (pharaoh-god), afterlife, hieroglyphics.

-Politics: Divine kingship, centralized, bureaucracy.

-Social: Mobility, priests high status, influential women.

Indus Valley (2500 BCE)

-Culture: Undecipherable writing, trade, polytheism, Harappa/Mohenjo-Daro.

-Politics: Centralized control (granaries, plumbing).

-Social: Priests high status, class distinctions, female reverence.

Shang China (1700 BCE)

-Culture: Oracle bones, writing, bronze, geographic separation.

-Politics: Centralized, flood control.

-Social: Bureaucrats, farmers, patriarchal.

Meso/South America (1200 BCE)

Olmecs:

-Culture: Astronomy, polytheism, ball games, irrigation, stone heads.

-Politics: Not united.

-Social: Craft specialization, priests high status.

Chavin:

-Culture: Polytheism, stone architecture, maize.

-Politics: Unification, capital city.

-Social: Priests high status, farmers.

Common Features of Classical Civilizations

-Patriarchal, agricultural, complex governments, expanding trade.

Comparisons of Classical Civilizations

Greece (800-300 BCE)

-Culture: Athens valued education, philosophy, science. Polytheism, seafaring.

-Politics: No central government, polis (city-states).

-Social: Slavery, varying freedoms for women, status based on land/culture.

Rome (500 BCE-476 CE)

-Culture: Military, Greek art/literature, engineering, polytheism.

-Politics: Republic/Empire, colonization, Roman law.

-Social: Patricians/plebeians, paterfamilias, slavery.

China (500 BCE – 600 CE)

-Culture: Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Buddhism, Great Wall, Silk Road.

-Politics: Zhou (Mandate of Heaven), centralized, civil service exams.

-Social: Family-centric, scholar gentry, merchants, patriarchal.

India (1000 BCE – 550 CE)

-Culture: Hinduism, Buddhism, epics, trade, Arabic numerals.

-Politics: Lack of unity, Mauryan/Gupta Empires.

-Social: Caste system, decline in women’s status.

Trade Routes

-Silk Road: China to Mediterranean, silk.

-Indian Ocean Trade: Africa, Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, China.

-Saharan Trade: Sub-Saharan Africa to Mediterranean via Berbers.

-Sub-Saharan Trade: Bantu migration, connected to Indian Ocean.

Fall of Civilizations (200 and 600 CE)

-Han China (220 CE), W. Roman Empire (476 CE), Gupta (550 CE).

Similarities in Fall

-Huns, political decline, large borders, diseases.

Differences in Fall

-Gupta: Fragmentation. Rome: Split. Varying impacts.

Common Consequences

-Trade survived, religion increased, Mideast disunity led to Islam.

Major Migrations

-Phoenicians: Seafaring, alphabet.

-Israelites: Monotheistic.

-Aryans: Invaded India, caste system.

-Huns: Gobi to Hungary.

-Germanic Peoples: Visigoth leader in Rome.

Basic Belief Systems

-Polytheism: Multiple deities.

-Confucianism: Five Relationships.

-Daoism: Yin-Yang.

-Hellenism: Greek philosophy.

-Hinduism: Caste, deities, prayer.

-Buddhism: Four Noble Truths.

-Judaism: Monotheistic, Torah.

-Christianity: Monotheistic, Jesus.

-Islam: Monotheistic, Mohammad, Qu'ran.

Class/Social Systems:

-Caste, slavery, stratification.