Midterm Exam Review

Midterm Review Guide (Questions and Answers)

Unit I

1. Chapter 1 (Hunter-Gatherers to River Valley Civilizations
   1. Questions:
      1. What is the difference between something being prehistoric or historical?
      • The difference is prehistoric is before written records and historical can be documented with written records.
      1. What were the big changes between the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages?
      • The Paleolithic age is the time frame where most humans were nomads, and the earliest known use of stone tools.  Transitioning into the Neolithic ("New" age),  was the beginning of sedentary living, technology advancements, and inequality as men had to fill their superiority needs over women.  
   2. Important regions/places:
      1. Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys/Mesopotamia
      • The fertile crescent was a supreme area for agriculture.  Over the years, silt made the land a great place to farm.  It had rich soil to support crops to sustain life in the early valley civilizations.  The people of Mesopotamia were known for pottery, woolen textiles, and metalwork.  Sumerian city- states had 3 classes- nobles, commoners, and slaves.  The most well known buildings were ziggurats, which were temples dedicated to the gods and goddesses. 
      1. Nile River Valley
      • The river flooded, which would provide new, rich soil.  The surrounding seas prevented and protected from war and disease.  The inhabitants depended heavily on farming.  The close distance from the river allowed easy access to water for crops.The classes were kings, ruling class, craftsman, farmers, marginalized groups, and slaves.  Buildings consisted of pyramids.  Large boats for transport were very important, and there were rigid structures that held pharaoh at the top, followed by priests, artisans, farmers, and finally slaves.

        Indus River Valley The present day area streches across present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan.  Natural borders consisted of mountains and the Arabian Sea, sheltering the civilization from attack and disease. Water from the river fertalized and irrigated crops. Proximity to the river allowed boats to become a viable transportation option.  Widespread irrigation helped people supply food for themselves.  Trade was important which led to carts and boats.  The caste system: Brahmins (priests and king),  kshatriyas ( warriors and aristocrats),  Vaishyas (artisans and merchants), and shudras (peasants).  There were no large monuments, but there were early sanitation systems.

      1. Huanghe (Yellow) River Valley
   3. Terms/People:
      1. Hunter-Gatherers: A hunter-gatherer  society is a nomadic society in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals.
      2. Nomad:  is a member of a community of people who move from one place to another, either with their livestock or subsisting on hunting and gathering.
      3. Patriarchy:  is a social system in which males are the primary authority figures central to social organization, occupying roles of political leadership, moral authority, and control of property, and where fathers hold authority over women and children.
      4. Agriculture:  is the cultivation of animals and plants used to sustain and enhance human life.Civilization:  generally refers to a place which combine these basic institutions, having one or more of each: a formal gathering place for social and cultural activities), a system of writing, and a city.
      5. Hammurabi:  He became the first king of the Babylonian  Empire following the abdication of his father, Sin-Muballit, extending Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a series of wars against neighboring kingdoms. Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia at the time of his death, his successors were unable to maintain his empire.  He is known for his set of laws known as Hammurabi's Code.  

Unit II: The Classical Civilizations

1. Chapter 2: Classical China
   1. Questions/Concepts:
      1. What political patterns emerged in China following the rise of the Qin?
      • unify China and establish a centralized empire, which endures and evolves down through 20th century. The imperial structure draws on elements of both Legalist and Confucian thought. 
      1. How did the Han dynasty differ from the Qin?
      • The Qin emperor thought that the state was more important than the people which was why the Qin dynasty fell apart so fast (Legalist). The Han government was Confucious.
      1. How did Confucianism promote political and social order?
      • Confucius believed in harmony and social order if the government was organized in 5 basic relationships: ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, older brother and younger brother, and friend and friend.
      1. Gender relations 
      •  Maintaining a physical separation between the worlds of men and the worlds of women was viewed as an important first step toward assuring that yin would not dominate yang. The Confucian classic the Book of Rites stressed the value of segregation even within the home; houses should be divided into an inner and an outer section, with the women staying in the inner part. Women’s roles were primarily kinship roles: daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and mother-in-law. In all these roles, it was incumbent on women to accord with the wishes and needs of closely-related men: their fathers when young, their husbands when married, their sons when widowed. 
   2. Important regions/places:
      1. Himalaya Mountains
      • These early people were protected from the rest of the world by many natural barriers. One of the most impressive barriers was the Himalayan Mountains. The Himilayas are not located in modern day China. They run along the border to the south. In ancient times, these mountains helped to protect the early Chinese people from invasion.  The Himalayan Mountains to the south are very rugged. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
      1. Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts
      • The Gobi is one of the driest deserts in the world.  Oasis are rare.
      • The Taklamakan is nicknames as the Sea of Death.  It is the second largest desert in the world.  
      1. Huanghe (Yellow) and Yangtze (long) Rivers
      • Both rivers flood annually.  People in the Yangtze have their homes protected because of the high banks.  However, in the classical civilizations, all homes around the Huangehe river were destroyed.  It was known as "the Great Sorrow".
   3. Terms/People:
      1. Dynasty and dynastic cycle
      • 
      • Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han
      1. Zhou, Qin, and Han
      • The Zhou clan whose existence stretches back into history. By the 11th Century BC, this clan had become increasingly powerful and had extended throughout the present Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces. The Clan's mightiness increasingly menaced the Shang Dynasty and the conflict between the two groups intensified.
      • In the year 221 BC, Qin defeated the other six states which existed during the Warring States Period and unified China. Thus, history moved forward to a new age called the Qin Dynasty.
      • Shih Huang Ti unified China, but with heavy taxes and mandatory labor, which made him very unpopular.  His death triggered many revolts and civil wars, which led to the rise of the Han. 
      • China regained control of territories, first conquered by Qin Shihuangdi, in southern China and the northern part of Vietnam. New commanderies were established in Korea, and contacts were made with the western regions of Central Asia. This dynasty was technological and scientifically sophisticated. 
      1. Daoism, Confucianism, and Legalism
      • Daoism focused on virtue and being in touch with nature and the world around you.
      • Confucianism stressed relationships between people.
      • Legalism presented a very strict and law driven.
      1. Shi Huangdi
      • The Emperor standardized Chinese writing, bureaucracy, scholarship, law, currency, weights and measures. He expanded the Chinese empire, built a capital in Xian, a system of roads, and massive fortifications and palaces.
        
        Shi Huangdi (259-210 B.C.) was a cruel ruler who readily killed or banished those who opposed him or his ideas. He is notorious for burning virtually all the books that remained from previous regimes. He even banned scholarly discussions of the past. 
      1. The Five Relationships
      • (1) ruler and subject; (2) father and son; (3) elder brother and younger brother; (4) husband and wife; and (5) friend and friend. All, except the last, involve the authority of one person over another. Power and the right to rule belong to superiors over subordinates; that is, to older peo ple over younger people, to men over women. Each person has to give obedience and respect to "superiors"
      1. Silk Road
      •  is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time.
      1. Isolation
      • China was very isolated from the outside civilizations because of the mountains that surrounded it.  

1. 1. 1. “Mean” people
      • People who performed unskilled labor

2. Chapter 3: Classical India
   1. Questions/Concepts:
      1. With the exception of the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, what political patterns were typical to India?
      • Patterns in Indian history were irregular and often consisted of invasions through the subcontinent’s northwestern mountain passes. As a result, classical India alternated between widespread empires and a network of smaller kingdoms.
      1. How did the Mauryan Empire differ from the Gupta Empire?
      • The Mauryan Empire acquired more land than the Gupta empire.
      1. How did Hinduism unite vast numbers of diverse peoples on the Indian Sub-Continent?
      • Hinduism united a vast number of diverse people because it appealed to people that there will be something better if they have good karma, and God understands and gives tolerance to people.
      1. How did Hinduism organize society and promote social harmony and “right” behavior?
      • The idea of reincarnation promoted social harmony.
      1. How did India’s geography influence its history, and how does that experience differ from China’s?
      • India's geography allowed other civilization advancements to be integrated into its own.  China was blocked off and did not get the same interaction.  
      1. How did Buddhism differ from Hinduism, and how were those differences threatening to the social and political hierarchy in India?
      • Buddhism believed in no soul, while Hinduism believed in your soul.  This caused tension and a different mind set.
      1. Like Confucianism in China, Hinduism in India established clear social and political hierarchies. Nevertheless, there are important differences between the two belief systems.
      • Without a particular charismatic leader as founder, Hinduism had greater influence at every level of society. In China, Confucianism was profoundly influential on the literate ruling class, but never managed to surplant Chinese folk religions of the vast majority of the population.
      1. Gender relations
      • Women’s economic contributions were important in ancient India. As India was an agricultural country, women were needed to assist the men folk in the various seasonal activities.  They were considered equal in many activities. 
   2. Important regions/places:
      1. Himalaya Mountains
      2. Hindu-Kush Mountains
      • These mountains had two passageways to allow the people of the Indus River Valley civilizations to travel through
      1. Indus and Ganges River Valleys
      • http://www.slideshare.net/DLopezM/indus-and-ganges-river-valleys#
   3. Terms/People:
      1. Aryan
      2. Sanskrit
      3. Mauryan Dynasty "More Land"
      4. Ashoka
      • Ashoka Maurya (304–232 BCE), commonly known as Ashoka and also as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Mauryan dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian Subcontinent from ca. 269 BCE to 232 BCE.   One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. His empire stretched from the parts of the ancient territories of Khorasan, Sistan and Balochistan (unpartitioned) in what is now Afghanistan and possibly eastern Iran, through the Hindu- Kush mountains in Afghanistan, to present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as northern Kerala and Andrah Pradesh.
      1. Dharma, Kharma, and Moksha (reincarnation)
      2. Dharma: Behaviors to signify the world is possible.  (duties)
      3. Kharma:  what goes around comes around
      4. Moksha: You will be reincarnated to a higher or lower power based on your actions.
      5. Buddhism:  Teachings by Siddhartha Guatama 

3. Chapter 4: Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean—Greece and Rome
   1. Questions/Concepts:
      1. How did geography influence Greek civilization prior to Alexander’s conquest?
      2. Athenian culture compared to Spartan culture.
      • 
      1. The Roman Republic compared to the Roman Empire.
      • Roman Republic
      • Two consuls
      • • annually elected
      • • held equal power
      • Dictator
      • • appointed in times
      •  of emergency
      • • held office for 6 months only 
      • Senate
      • • issued advisory decrees to
      •  magistrates and people
      • • in practice, held
      •  enormous power
      • • had about 300 members
      • Popular Assemblies
      • • two assemblies: centuriate
      •  (military), tribal (nonmilitary) 
      • • elected magistrates, held
      •  legislative power, made
      •  key decisions
      • Roman Empire
      • Emperor
      • • inherited power
      • • served for life
      • • if served well, was
      •  worshipped as a god
      •  after death
      • Senate
      • • issued binding decrees,
      •  acted as a high court,
      •  elected magistrates
      • • in practice, held little power
      •  as compared to the emperor
      • • had about 600 membe
      1. Important steps in establishing the Roman Empire.
      2. What was distinctive about Greek philosophy?
      3. Greek and Roman contributions to architecture.
      4. Gender relations
   2. Important regions/places
      1. Greece and Rome
      2. Mediterranean Sea
   3. Terms/People:
      1. Greeks:
         1. Pericles
         2. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
         3. Alexander (Macedonian)
      2. Romans:
         1. Julius and Augustus Caesar
         2. Dioletian
         • As emperor, Diocletian was faced with many problems. His most immediate concerns were to bring the mutinous and increasingly barbarized Roman armies back under control and to make the frontiers once again secure from invasion. His long-term goals were to restore effective government and economic prosperity to the empire. Diocletian concluded that stern measures were necessary if these problems were to be solved. He felt that it was the responsibility of the imperial government to take whatever steps were necessary, no matter how harsh or innovative, to bring the empire back under control.
           Diocletian was able to bring the army back under control by making several changes. He subdivided the roughly fifty existing provinces into approximately one hundred. The provinces also were apportioned among twelve "dioceses," each under a "vicar," and later also among four "prefectures," each under a "praetorian prefect." As a result, the imperial bureaucracy became increasingly bloated. He institutionalized the policy of separating civil and military careers. He divided the army itself into so-called "border troops," actually an ineffective citizen militia, and "palace troops," the real field army, which often was led by the emperor in person.
         1. Constantine
      3. Polis
      • typical structure in ancien Greece world
      1. Direct Democracy
      2. Hellenistic period "Greek- like"

4. Chapter 5: The Classical Period—Directions, Diversities, and Declines by 500 C.E.
   1. Questions/Concepts:
      1. What role did Nomadic peoples have in linking and disrupting classical civilizations?
      2. What common elements contributed to the declines in all three classical civilizations?
      3. How did the Byzantine Empire survive the collapse of Rome?
      4. Early Christianity, its cultural and political implications.
      5. What do the declines of classical civilizations have to do with the spread of new religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam)
      6. Why was the decline of Rome more traumatic than the decline of the Gupta?
   2. Important regions/places
      1. Ethiopia
      2. Sahara Desert
      3. Polynesia
      4. Mesoamerica
   3. Terms/People
      1. Shintoism
      2. Rajput
      3. Justinian