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Prologue Summary

Human Evolution and Early Migrations

  • Modern humans appeared in East Africa between 200{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.} and 100{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.}.
  • Hunters and foragers; small groups; no permanent homes; nomadic adaptation to environments.
  • Innovations: control of fire, stone tools, art; animism (deities linked to nature).
  • Societies fairly egalitarian with early signs of patriarchy.
  • Sometime between 100{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.} and 60{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.}, migrations out of East Africa; by 10{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.}, humans on every continent except Antarctica.

The Agricultural Revolution

  • Around 10{,}000\ \text{B.C.E.}; warmer climate enables cultivation and animal domestication; begins in the Middle East.
  • Surplus food allows specialization and growth of non-farm activities.
  • Consequences:
    • Population growth; larger settlements and cities.
    • Specialized roles: artisans, merchants, priests.
    • New technology: irrigation, wheel, metals (bronze/iron).
    • Writing develops for records and taxation; more complex governments.
    • Increased competition for resources; more organized conflict resolution.
    • Sharp social stratification; generally, women’s status declines.

The First Civilizations

  • Emerged in river valleys: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, and China.
  • Mesopotamia (Tigris & Euphrates, present-day Iraq): city-states; ziggurats; polytheism; cuneiform; first laws.
  • Sumer: early writing with cuneiform; record-keeping and taxation.
  • Egypt (Nile): centralized under a pharaoh; hieroglyphics; pyramids; advanced mathematics; women could own property; legal equality in court.
  • Indus Valley (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro): planned cities; indoor plumbing; long-distance trade; undeciphered language.
  • China (Huang He): centralized, patriarchal; ancestor worship.
  • Olmec (Mesoamerica) and Chavin (Andes): non-river-valley civilizations with extensive trade.

Religion and Philosophy in the Classical Era

  • Animism to more abstract, location-transcending deities; deities movable with people.
  • Hinduism: origins with Aryans; Vedas; many deities; later notion of a single supreme oneness; caste system; reincarnation.
  • Zoroastrianism: monotheism; emphasis on free will; struggle between good and evil; Persian origin.
  • Judaism: origins around Abraham; covenant with Yahweh; monotheism; Old Testament; later influence on Christianity and Islam.
  • Christianity and Islam: monotheistic Abrahamic faiths that develop later (to be discussed in depth later in the Prologue).
  • Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama (~530\ \text{B.C.E.}); Four Noble Truths; Eightfold Path; nirvana; universal appeal; monastic system.

Classical Empires and Governing Systems

  • Mauryan and Gupta (India): Mauryan centralized empire; Ashoka’s edicts; roads; taxation; Buddhist influence; Gupta Golden Age; advances in medicine and mathematics (place value system with 0–9).
  • Qin and Han (China): Qin Shi Huangdi standardized script; weights and measures; built canals/roads; Han dynasty: civil service exam; Confucianism; expansion of the Silk Roads; inventions like the compass, paper, and rudder.
  • Persian Empire (Achaemenid): centralized administration; roads; religious tolerance.
  • Greece: city-states (Athens—democracy; Sparta—military); cultural flowering; Alexander’s conquests spread Greek culture (Hellenistic world).
  • Rome: republic then empire; legal innovations (Twelve Tables); roads, aqueducts, public works; eventually Christianization; patriarchy.
  • Byzantine Empire: Constantinople as capital; Hagia Sophia; Justinian Code; continuation of Roman law and governance for centuries.
  • Maya and Teotihuacan (Mesoamerica): urban planning, monumental architecture, writing in Maya; calendar knowledge; early urban civilizations.

Trade, Technology, and Cultural Exchange

  • Long-distance networks: Silk Roads (Eurasia), Indian Ocean, trans-Saharan routes.
  • Goods and ideas moved widely: porcelain, spices, silk, metals, religious beliefs, technologies.
  • Key technologies and concepts spreading: stirrups, advanced ship design, monsoon knowledge, camel saddles, paper money, compass, and proto-banking/credit.
  • Religions and practices spread along trade routes (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam).
  • Rise and fall of empires tied to trade prosperity and defense needs.

The Spread of Islam and the Abbasid Golden Age

  • Muhammad and the Quran; Five Pillars; early unification of the Arabian Peninsula.
  • Expansion under the caliphs; Sunni–Shia split after Muhammad’s death.
  • Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258): Golden Age; Baghdad as a scholarly center; advances in medicine, algebra, astronomy; preservation of Greek and Roman texts; trade networks prospered.
  • Jizya tax on non-Muslims; religious tolerance within limits; reforms affecting women’s rights under Abbasids.
  • Interactions with Tang China and Indian Ocean trade; diffusion of ideas and technologies.

East Asia: China and Japan

  • Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907): Grand Canal linked north and south; territorial expansion; wood/porcelain, silk trade; gunpowder discoveries; expanded civil service.
  • Song (960–1279): merit-based bureaucracy; rapid urbanization; economic innovations (iron/steel, paper money, magnetic compass); continued Silk Road activity.
  • China’s tribute/centralized view of the world; Middle Kingdom concept.
  • Japan (800–1200): feudal hierarchy (shogun, daimyos, samurai, peasants, merchants); Shinto foundations; Buddhist influence imported from China/Korea; eventual decentralization and clan warfare.

Africa and the Americas

  • Africa: Bantu migrations spread language and ironworking; West Africa’s Ghana and trans-Saharan trade; Islam spreads; Great Zimbabwe in the southeast; East African city-states connected to Indian Ocean trade; wealth from gold and salt.
  • Americas: Teotihuacan (125k population by 6th c. C.E.) with grid streets and monumental temples; Mayans (calendars, writing, concept of zero); Cahokia (Mississippian) as a major urban center; Toltecs influence on later Aztecs.

The World in 1200

  • By 1200, Afro-Eurasia and the Americas show rising centralized states and trade networks; Byzantine and Islamic empires provide stability across wide regions; China remains a leading center of learning and innovation; Europe and Japan remain relatively decentralized with powerful landowning elites.
  • Predictable trajectories: China/Islamic states expand knowledge and wealth; Europe and other regions will undergo transformation; the Mongol era will dramatically reshape Eurasia in the 13th century; Columbus’s voyage in 1492 will reorient global connections.

Study Prompts (Reflect on the Prologue)

  • 1. In what ways are Judaism, Islam, and Christianity alike?
  • 2. Compare centralized vs. decentralized civilizations; give an example of each.
  • 3. Name at least three causes for the decline of Classical civilizations.
  • 4. How did trade networks contribute to the spread of Islam and Buddhism?
  • 5. Identify a continuity that kept southern India unified after the Gupta Empire.
  • 6. Name one major new development after 600 C.E.