AP World History I

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Chapter 1The Early Civilizations

• AP World History I

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The Basics

• Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) Until about 14,000
  years ago (12,000 BCE)
• Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) 12,000 BCE 8000
  BCE
• Neolithic (New Stone Age) 8000 BCE ca. 3500
  BCE
• Followed by Bronze Age and Iron Age

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Characteristics

• Paleolithic
• Simple tool creation
• Fire tamed around 750,000 years ago
• 1.5 million people around 100,000 years ago
• Homo Erectus emerges between 500,000 and 750,000
  years ago

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Characteristics

• Mesolithic
• Improved tool making skills
• Better weapons and cutting edges
• Use of bone for needles.
• Improved fishing

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Characteristics

• Neolithic
• Invention of Agriculture
• Creation of cities
• Domestication of Animals
• Concept of civilization

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Human evolution
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The Development of Agriculture

• Human beings are able to settle in one spot
• Allows humans the ability to focus on economic,
  political, and religious goals
• Spawns a great increase in the number of people
  in the world
• 6 to 8 million people during early Neolithic to
  about 100 million some 3000 years later!

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The end of the Ice Age

• Population increases
• Big game animals retreatcauses a decline in the
  effectiveness of hunting
• Increased dependence on wild grains, berries, and
  nuts sets the stage for the deliberate planting
  of seeds, and the ultimate improvement of crops
  through natural selection.

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The Neolithic "revolution"

• Combined old systems of hunting and gathering
  with new concepts of Agriculture.
• Early agriculture could support many peoplefar
  more than hunting and gathering ever could.
• Agriculture requires more regular work than
  Hunting and Gathering.
• Larger populations freed some people for other
  specializations.
• Basket-making
• Pottery
• Knowledge of science (weatherflooding, etc)

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The Neolithic "revolution"

• The Development of agriculture is driven by the
  following process
• End of Ice Age
• Ice melts, flooding the earths oceans, seas,
  rivers
• Under ice, for thousands of years has been soil
  enriched by thousands of years of
  fertilizationuntouched!
• Floods cause this highly fertilized soil (silt)
  to overflow the river banks
• This silt becomes the highly charged and
  energized soil necessary for agricultural
  experimentation!

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The Bronze Age

• Development of agriculture causes faster
  development
• By 4000 BCE we see the development of metal
  tools.
• Copper at first
• Bronze (more resilient) later
• Improved Farming
• Caused greater specialization
• We still live in metal ages today
• Bronze Age
• Iron Age

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Civilization

• Tribes contained anywhere from 40-60 people
• Slash and Burn Agriculture existed in parts of
  the American South and other parts of the world
• Farm soil until its depleted
• Advantages to staying in one place
• Houses can be built
• Wells can be built for water
• Irrigation systems

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Civilization

• Economic surplus to form divisions of labor
• Formal states
• Cities
• Development of Writing

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The 8 features of Civilization

1. Cities
2. Well-Organized Central Government
3. Complex Religions
4. Job Specialization
5. Social Classes
6. Arts and Architecture
7. Public Works
8. Writings

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Mesopotamia

• The Worlds first civilization
• Founded in the valley of Tigris and Euphrates
  Rivers
• An example of completely independent social
  creation
• Only occurs in China and Mesoamerica
• Wheel had been invented for transportation, well
  established pottery industry, interesting
  artistic forms, farming needed irrigation, gave
  basis for complex political structures.
• By 3500 BCE, the SUMERIANS developed a system of
  writing known as CUNEIFORM

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Mesopotamia
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Cuneiform
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Cuneiform
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Mesopotamia

• Arts statues and frescoes adorned the temples of
  gods
• Science founding of astronomy, and improved
  mathematical knowledge
• Developed a number system based on units of 10,
  60 and 360.
• What do those numbers represent for us?
• Complex Religious rituals
• Ziggurats monumental architecture
• Polytheistic
• Divine force was present in many natural objects
• Belief in an afterlife of punishment

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Mesopotamia
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Mesopotamia

• Organized City-States ruled by a king who claimed
  divine authority.
• The King, noble class, and the priesthood
  controlled land which was worked by slaves.
• Farmers learned about fertilizers, and adopted
  silver as a means of exchange.
• Constant warfare in the region.
• Sumerians
• Akkadians
• Babylonians

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Mesopotamia

• Babylonians
• King Hammurabi introduces the Code of Hammurabi,
  an early codified law.
• Established rules of procedure for courts of law
• Regulated property rights
• Set harsh punishments for crimes
• Continual warfare by Semitic peoples, then
  Assyrians, and later the Persians

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Egypt

• Second civilization to spring uparound the NILE
  River forming by 3000 BCE
• Less susceptible to invasion
• Benefited from trade with Mesopotamia, but
  produced a unique culture due to some degree of
  isolation
• The king, or pharaoh possessed immense power.
• Influential in controlling the economy
• Built tombs for themselvesthe pyramids
• Control of Egypt spread up and down the Nile
• The kingdom of Kush (southern Nile) invaded and
  ruled

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Egypt
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Egypt
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Indus River and Chinese Civilization

• Chinese Civilization (Huang He River)
• Developed in considerable isolation
• Extensive government that regulated the
  irrigation projects
• By 2000 BCE, evidence of advanced technology and
  elaborate intellectual life.
• Writing system of ideographic symbols
• By 1500 BCE a line of Kings called the SHANG
  ruled

• Indus River Valley Civilization
• Civilization emerges by 2500 BCE
• Many large cities, including Harappa and
  Mohenjo-Daro
• Houses had running water
• Writing has yet to be deciphered
• Infiltration by Indo-Europeans and natural
  calamities result in destruction of civilization

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Indus MapsIndia and China Resources
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Mohenjo-Daro
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Chinese RVC MapsChinese dynasty Art with maps
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Heritage of RVC's

• Monuments
• Wheel
• Taming of the horse
• Usable alphabets
• Writing implements
• Key mathematical concepts
• Well-organized monarchies
• Bureaucracies
• Calendars

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Heritage of RVC's

• Most RVCs were in decline by 1000 BCE
• Phoenicians Around 1300 BCE produced a
  simplified alphabet with 22 letters, which was
  the predecessor of Greek and Roman alphabets
• The Lydians introduce coined money
• A Semitic group of people, the Jews, influenced
  by Babylonian Civilization settled near the
  Mediterranean around 1200 BCE and introduced
  monotheism.
• Single god Jehovah guided the destiny of the
  Jewish people.
• Forms the basis of the Hebrew Bible
• Domination by foreign rulers from 772 BCE .
  Romans seize the state in 63 BCE