World History IMini Review

Prehistory

• The life of early hunter-gatherer societies was shaped by their physical environment

• Homo sapiens emerged in Africa between 100,000 and 400,000 years ago.

• Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas.

Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age)– Nomadic, invented the first tools/weapons, learned how to

make fire, lived in clans, developed oral language, created “cave art”

Neolithic Era (New Stone Age)– Developed agriculture, domesticated animals/plants, used

advanced tools, made pottery, developed weaving skills• Archaeologists study past cultures by locating and analyzing

human remains, fossils, and artifacts. (carbon dating test)• Stonehenge is an example of an archaeological site in England

that was begun during the Neolithic and completed during the Bronze Age.

River Valley Civilizations

River Valley Civilizations

• Egypt: pharaohs, pyramids, polytheism, Nile River, Hieroglyphics

• Mesopotamia: Tigris & Euphrates Rivers, Sumer (1st civ, cuneiform, ziggurats), Babylonian Empire (Hammurabi’s Code), Phoenicians (Med. Coast, Phonetic Alphabet, great sailors), birthplace of Judaism (1st monotheistic religion)

• India: Indus &Ganges Rivers; separated from the rest of Asia by the Himalayas and Hindu Kush Mtns., Aryans migrated through the Khyber Pass, Caste system, development of Hinduism and Buddhism, Golden Age during the Gupta Empire (algebra, number system, textiles, literature, navigation)

• China: Huang He (Yellow River), Great Wall built by Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi for protection, ruled by dynasties, Mandate of Heaven, Silk Roads stretched from Asia as far away as Rome, Contributions = Confucianism, Civil Service System, Paper, Porcelain, Silk, Taoism

Persia

Built on earlier Central Asian and Mesopotamian civilizations, Persia developed the largest empire in the world.

• Tolerance of conquered peoples• Development of imperial bureaucracy• Zoroastrianism as a religion• Road system

Greece

• Aegean Sea• Athens = Democracy• Sparta= Oligarchy• Persian Wars (499-449) Athens and Sparta work together to defeat

the Persians; Marathon and Salamis are key battles• Golden Age of Athens occurs in between these two series of wars;

Pericles is a great military/political leader during this time; Parthenon built

• Peloponnesian War (431-404) Athens and the Delian League fight Sparta and the Peloponnesian League; Sparta wins; Greece declines

• Who’s Who: Draco & Solon; Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; Aeschylus &Sophocles; Homer; Herodotus & Thucydides; Phidias; Archimedes & Hippocrates; Euclid & Pythagoras

• Mythology: Zeus, Hera, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, and Aphrodite

Latin Rome VirgilColosseum Ptolemy Aqueducts

Arches Forum Pantheon Roads

• Italian Peninsula, Mediterranean Sea, Alps to the North• Mythology: Jupiter, Juno, Apollo, Minerva, Diana, and Venus• 509BC Roman Republic forms; Representative Democracy; Govt

consists of two consuls, a Senate, and an Assembly; Twelve Tables created; Punic Wars

• Patricians and Plebeians make up Roman society• Civil War over the power of Julius Caesar ends the Roman Republic;

First Triumvirate; Caesar become dictator; Caesar is assassinated in 44BC

• Augustus Caesar becomes Rome’s First Emperor; Begins Pax Romana (200 years of Peace and Prosperity in Roman Empire)

• Empire weakens overtime as it becomes too large to govern/protect; the military and economy decline

• Constantine moves capital from Rome to Byzantium (he also adopts/legalizes Christianity)

• Eastern portion of Roman Empire becomes the BYZANTINE EMPIRE• Western Roman Empire falls to invaders in 476 AD

Byzantine Empire(Eastern Roman Empire)

• Capital = Byzantium which is renamed Constantinople (ideal site for trade)

• Language = Greek• Religion = Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Christianity• Emperor Justinian codified Roman law = Justinian Code• Hagia Sophia = Byzantine Domed Church• Mosaics found in public and religious structures; religion

influenced art• Byzantine libraries preserved Greco-Roman knowledge• St. Cyril took Orthodox Christianity to Russia and Eastern Europe;

created the Cyrillic Alphabet for Slavic speaking peoples

Middle (Medieval) Ages

• Built on classical heritage of ROME; Christian beliefs; Customs of GERMANIC tribes

• Feudalism = land owning kings granted land (fiefs) to vassals (landlords) who swore their allegiance to him; vassals took care of serfs (peasants) who worked the land in return for protection; vassals estates were called manors; manor houses were often castles

• The Roman Catholic Church grew in importance after Roman authority declined. It became the unifying force in western Europe.

• The Pope anointed the Holy Roman Emperors; Charlemagne was the first Holy Roman Emperor (anointed by Pope Leo in 800AD)

• Missionaries carried Christianity to Germanic tribes.• The Church served the social, political, & religious needs of the

people.• Frankish kings used military power to expand their territory.• The alliance between Frankish kings and the church

reestablished Roman culture in Western Europe.

Middle (Medieval) Ages

Invasions by Angles, Saxons, Magyars, and Vikingsdisrupted the social, economic, and political order of Europe.

Areas of Settlement

• Angles and Saxons from continental Europe to England• Magyars from Central Asia to Hungary• Vikings from Scandinavia to Russia

European Nation-States

• England: William the Conqueror (united most of England; Battle of Hastings in 1066); Common law began under Henry II; King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215

• France: Hugh Capet established the French throne in Paris; Hundred Years’ War b/t France and England helped define each as a nation (1338-1445, French win); Joan of Arc (peasant girl who led French forces in the Hundred Years’ War)

• Spain: Ferdinand and Isabella unified Spain; expelled Muslim Moors (Inquisition); also Spanish Empire is built in the Western Hemisphere under Philip II

• Russia: Ivan the Great threw off Mongol rule; centralized power in Moscow; Orthodox Church influenced unification

Crusades (1071-1291)

• Pope Urban calls for the First Crusade in a speech to French peasants

• Christians win the First Crusade; divide Holy Land into 4 Crusader States

• Jerusalem is recaptured by Saladin (Muslim leader)

• Constantinople sacked by Crusaders; church eventually splits (Great Schism)

• Effects

– weakened the power and influence of the Pope and nobles (kings gain more power);

– stimulated trade; increased demand for Middle Eastern products; encouraged the use of credit and banking; Arabic numerals used

– left a legacy of bitterness among Christians, Jews, and Muslims;

– weakened the Byzantine Empire (Constantinople fall to Ottoman Turks in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire)

• Black Death (Bubonic Plague) carried along trade routes; kills 1/3 of the population of Europe

Renaissance“Rebirth” 1300-1600

• Rise of wealthy Italian city-states (Florence, Venice, Genoa)• Renaissance art focused on individuals and worldly matters along

with Christianity• Michelangelo: Statue of David and Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel• Leonardo da Vinci: Last Supper and Mona Lisa• Humanism: celebrated the individual; stimulated the study of

ancient Greek and Roman literature and culture• Erasmus: Praise of Folly (critique against the Church)• Sir Thomas More: Utopia• Machiavelli: The Prince (supported absolute rule of monarchs;

“the end justifies the means”)• Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing

press (Gutenberg Bible)