Ch 1 Notes
World History
BC = Before Christ (last year is 1 BC)
- AKA BCE (before the common era)
AD = Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord) first year is 1 AD
- begins with the birth of Christ
- AKA CE (the common era)
THERE IS NO YEAR ZERO
Groups of years
- decades- 10 year periods
- centuries- 100 year periods
- 1st Century AD = 1-100, 2nd = 101-200, etc
- today, 21st Century
- 1-100 BC = 1st Century BC
- millennium- 1000 years
- eon- 1 million years
1-1
Homo sapiens- modern humans, dominate the earth by 30,000 BC according to scientists
Old Stone Age- or Paleolithic Age (ends about 10,000 BC)
- people used simple stone tools
- small communities, hunted and gathered for food
- nomadic- moved to the food
- developed culture- cave paintings, burial of the dead
- learned to harness fire
New Stone Age- Neolithic Age (8000-4000 BC)
- rise of agriculture- domestication-adapt for human use
§ use animals for food, work
§ most important innovation, invention ever?
o Causes-
§ people don’t need to find food, can stay in one place
§ leads to citiesà food storageà trade à wealth à leisure timeà education, art, literature, new ideas
o where?- river valleys
§
Tigris-Euphrates (
§
§
Yellow (
Civilization- complex culture where people share common elements
- 6 major components
o cities
o art
o gov’t
o religion
o social structure
o writing
Successful towns-
- had surplus food, needed to build walls to protect it
- social structure- people do different jobs
o some jobs are viewed to be more important than others (priests, medicine men, warriors, leaders)
o not everyone is needed to farm
1-2
-
also known as the
- people learned how to control the rivers (irrigation, drainage ditches)
- produced more food = larger cities
City-States- 1st examples of states/ gov’ts
- cities with political/economic control over the surrounding area
-
started by the Sumerians- places like
- headed by kings
- conflict- city states fought each other for control over land/water
Empire-
- large state, headed by one single ruler that controls many different peoples, regions
- first one was by the Akkadians, headed by Sargon
Hammurabi-
-
headed
- created a law code (a collection of laws)- Code of Hammurabi
o penalties for criminal offenses
o laws for marriage, keeping kids in line
o used the principle of retaliation (“an eye for an eye”)
o male dominated society
Sumerian accomplishments-
- invented the oldest writing system
o cuneiform- means wedge-shaped
§ basically used a stick to carve into wet clay tablets
§ tablets were baked hard to preserve them
o enabled them to keep records and pass on knowledge from generation to generation
o first known written story/literature- The Epic of Gilgamesh
- new technology
o wagon wheel
o sundial
o made bronze for use in tools/weapons/art
§ bronze comes from combining copper and tin
o geometry
-
on the
- major cities located on the Nile Delta- where it empties into the sea
- different periods in history
o Old, Middle and New Kingdoms
§ Time periods of peace and prosperity
§ Wars and chaos in between
- Dynasty- a family of rulers who passes on right to rule
o first one started by Menes around 3100 BC
- rulers gained the title “Pharaoh”- viewed a a god on earth
- started building the pyramids- part of a complex for remembering the dead
o head of the family got a large structure, other family members/servants buried as well
§ sometimes the best servants, pets killed to be buried with the Pharaoh
o body would be mummified- preserved to prevent rotting
§ the organs would be removed (including the brain through the nose) and rubbed with a salt to dry the body (moisture helps speed decomposition)
§ wrapped in linen and covered with a mask
§ in later years, tombs were robbed
§ in the 1700s and 1800s, Europeans ground up old mummies to use in medicines
o largest
pyramid- Great Pyramid at
-
MK ends when invaded by people from western
o taught them how to use bronze
-
eventually becomes most powerful/wealthiest empire in
Society in
- most people were rural farmers
- writing was done by hieroglyphics- glyphic writings- pictures for words, ideas
- had to use math, geometry to build these massive buildings (think about keeping a consistent angle the whole way up)
o used moon/stars to create 365 day calendar
- made inroads into medicine (learned a lot about anatomy through mummification)
Israelites-
-
new small states were able to grow, thrive with the
decline of
- practiced Judaism- a monotheistic religion
o eventually influences Christianity and Islam
o Solomon
built the temple in
o Torah- holy book
Assyrians-
-
- Warriors that used iron weapons
-
Empire extended E into
Persians-
-
present day
- fair treatment of conquered people
-
allowed the Jews to return to
- Darius- extended the empire to largest point, biggest in world history to the point
- Built roads to help communication in this large empire