AP World History Study Guide

Mid Year Exam 2010

Chapter 1

What are the characteristics of civilization?

1- Urban society: Living together in community

2- Religion: Belief that provides answer to unanswerable questions
3- Literacy: The ability to read and write
4- Government: Having a set of rules that organizes the society
5- Specialization: Using unique skills to benefit all
6- Social classes: Group of people with common characteristics
7- Tool-Making: The ability of making tools to make life easier, and to make work less
8- Concept of Time: Understanding environmental conditions such as seasons, sunrise and sunset,
tides and river flooding that can be used for their benefit
9- Leisure: Recognize the value of Art and Entertainment
10- Education: The will if improving the culture

Describe each of the river valley civilizations and where they developed.

A) Nile River Valley

a. The Nile River was the axis of two early African civilizations, Egypt and Nubia
b. The Nile shaped the development of both civilizations, providing a reliable source
of water for farming and linking them to sub-Saharan Africa and the
Mediterranean Sea
c. Connected the kingdom by the Nile which was the best way of transportation,
and played an economical role in trade
B) Mesopotamia
a. Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means “land between the rivers”, referring to
the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers
b. These two rivers were the axes of one of the most influential ancient civilizations
in history
c. With the development of irrigation around 6000 B.C.E. farming villages appeared
and grew into larger communities and then cities along these rivers.
Terms

Neolithic Revolution

is the first agricultural revolution—the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and
settlement. Archaeological data indicate that various forms of domestication of plants and animals arose
independently in six separate locales worldwide ca. 10,000–7000 years BP (8,000–5000 BC), with the
earliest known evidence found throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of southwestern and
southern Asia, northern and central Africa and Central America.

Hunter-gather

A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of
edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the
domestication of either. Up to 80% of the food is obtained by gathering.

Bronze Age

A technological stage between the Stone and Iron Ages, beginning in the Middle East about 4500 bc  and
lasting in Britain from about 2000 to 500 bc , during which weapons and tools were made of bronze and
there was intensive trading

Hieroglyphics

A formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and
alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood.

Cuneiform

One of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC,
with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium (the Uruk IV period), cuneiform writing began
as a system of pictographs. In the three millennium the script spanned, the pictorial representations
became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use also grew gradually smaller,
from about 1,000 unique characters in the Early Bronze Age to about 400 unique characters in Late
Bronze Age (Hittite cuneiform). Cuneiform writing was gradually replaced by alphabetic writing in the
Iron Age Neo-Assyrian Empire and was practically extinct by the beginning of the Common Era. It was
deciphered from scratch in 19th century scholarship.

Huang He

the second longest river in China, rising in SE Qinghai and flowing east, south, and east again to the Gulf
of Bohai south of Tianjin; it has changed its course several times in recorded history. Length: about 4350
km (2700 miles)
Shang

I. Second Chinese synasty

II. Ruled yellow river valley area

Mesopotamia

a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraqas
well as some parts of northeastern Syria,southeastern Turkeyand southwestern IranWidely considered
to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian
and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires.
The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians & Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia
from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was
conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC and after his death it
became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire.

Harrapa

an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about 35 km (22 mi) west of Sahiwal. The
site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The
current village of Harappa is 6 km from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train
station left from the British times, it is just a small (pop. 15,000), nothing-special Pakistani
crossroads town.

The site of the ancient city contains the ruins of a Bronze Age fortified city, which was part of
the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization, centered in Sindh and the Punjab.[1]
The city is believed to have had as many as 23,500 residents—considered large for its time.

Egypt

an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in
what is now the modern country of Egypt. It was part of a larger complex of civilizations, the Nile Valley
Civilizations, of which regions south of Egypt (in today's Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia) are a part.
Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150  BCwith the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
under the first pharaoh, and it developed over the next three millennia.

Chapter 2

Describe the teachings and institutions of Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism.

Describe the development of the Chinese state and political institutions.

How did the dynasties create a unified Chinese society and culture?

Describe the class structure and gender relations in classical China.

The gender relations & class structure in classical China was that women worshipped their men
and/or husbands and the class-more.

What intellectual and technological advancements did imperial China make?

The Mariner's Compass, Seismograph, Water Clock, Missiles, Gun Powder, Fireworks, Astronomy,
Calligraphy.

Terms

Ancestor Worship

the belief that the deceased, often family members, have a continued existence and/or possess the
ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their ancestors; some faith
communities, in particular the Catholic Church, venerate saints as intercessors with God.

Dynasty

a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many
sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the
Persian Empire
Scholar-gentry

the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance from the Sui Dynasty to the end of the Qing
Dynasty in 1912, China's last imperial dynasty. These officials mostly came from the well-educated men
known as the scholar-gentry (绅士 shēn-shì). These men had earned academic degrees (such as xiucai,
juren, or jinshi) by passing the rigorous Imperial examinations. The scholar-bureaucrats were schooled in
calligraphy and Confucian texts. They dominated the politics of China at the time

Huangdi

one of the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is regarded as the founder of Chinese
civilization

Dynastic cycle

an important political theory in the Chinese history. According to this theory, every dynasty goes
through a culture cycle.

Chapter 3

How did geography and environment influence Indian civilization?

Geography and climate both played significant roles in the settlement and development of anchient
Indian civilization. The first notable geographical feature is the Himilayan Mountains located in the
northern portion of the Indian subcontinent that severs India from the rest of Asia; preventing hostile
invading forces and immigration into the subcontinent. The second feature, the two rivers of Ganges
and Indus are the foundations of early Indian civilization that make their land livable. The Ganges river
flows southeast through a fertile valley, providing the necisssary water for a sucessful harvest. The Indus
River flows southwest across a drier plain, in turn affecting how farming was achieved. Because of the
drier land area, Anchient Indians were forced to irrigate to obtain the needed stock of food to distribute
among their peoples, much less a emergency surplus. The last major geographical feature was the
Khyber Pass -- the only easily traversed path connecting Asia and India near Kabul.

Climate was an ingredient in early Indian civilizations for several reasons. Monsoons, winds that mark the
seasons, are one of the most immediate. The first monsoon of the season blows from North to Northeast
periodically during November through March. Little rain is present during this monsoon, however what
precipitation does fall, it falls on the Northern slope of the Himilayas. During mid-June through October a
second monsoon indicates the 'Wet Season' - a.k.a. - the southwest monsoon. Following the southwest
moonsoon, heavy rains fall in it's wake (however sparse rainfall falls on the Western Ghats, the heaviest
rainfull occours over the Ganges Valley and the Eastern Himilayan Mountains). The timing of these
winds are critical; too little or too late rainfall results in an unsucessful harvest, yet too much or an
extended period of rainfall causes flooding along the country side. Temperatures also play a significant
role in how Indian's settled the land in anchient times. The ideal area - the Deccan plateau - had mild
temperatures in the summer opposed to the blistering heat of the western Ghats and valleys which could
climb up to one-hundred twenty degrees farenheit.
Also, another reason the geographical importance of India is held so highly is because if the
dissapearences of the first Harrapan civilizations in Mohenjo Daro. Historians and researches have many
theories, yet they all relate to climate, geographical, and regional issues however there is no solid
evidence to prove or reject any of their hypothesies. Some of the more common are; Harsh monsoons
causing a type of violent weather pattern, evidence of an earthquake has been speculated, intense flooding
of the Indus and Ganges Rivers, hostile invading forces, and other reasons have been thrown around.

With all of this information taken into consideration, geography and climate played a major role in the
development of Anchient Indian civilization.

Explain the beliefs of Hinduism and its evolution from the Aryans to the Guptas.

What did Buddha teach and how did Buddhism challenge Hinduism?

The caste system that had been in place since the coming of the Aryans to India left people in lower
castes feeling hopeless and downtrodden. Buddhism didn't really challenge the Hindu system, but rather
showed new ideas. People were drawn to Buddhism because it allowed all peoples to be equal in
religious terms.

How and where did Hinduism and Buddhism spread?

Hinduism was brought into the area of what we now know as India by the Aryan (Euro-Indo peoples).
The Aryans were supposed to be a "noble" race, but they relied upon military conquest as a means of
gaining territory. That is, they invaded India and brought their religion with them.

Buddhism was developed by Gautama ( Siddhartha) Buddha in the area known now as India about 500
yrs BC. Much of what he wrote or had written about him has been altered by succeeding generations. As
a prince, he was supposedly disturbed by aging and death. According to writings, he tried to conquer
death by self-disciplines and meditation.

Terms

Untouchables

The former name given to a member of a lower caste in India whose touch was believed to defile a high-
caste Hindu

Gurus

one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses it
to guide others (teacher). Other forms of manifestation of this principle also include parents, school
teachers, non-human objects (books) and even one's own intellectual discipline.
Dharma

a multivalent term of great importance in Indian philosophy and religions. In the context of Hinduism, it
means one's righteous dutynd a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, class, occupation, and
gender. In modern Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to religion, depending on context. The
word dharma translates as that which upholds or supports, and is generally translated into English as
law.

Vedas

A large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the
oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism

Kharma

the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect
(i.e., the cycle called saṃsāra) originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh
philosophies

Ashoka

An Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 269 BC
to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a
number of military conquests. His empire stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan in the west,
to the present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as northern
Kerala and Andhra. He conquered the kingdom named Kalinga, which no one in his dynasty had
conquered starting from Chandragupta Maurya.

Four Noble Truths

An important principle in Buddhism, classically taught by the Buddha in the Dharmacakra Pravartana
Sūtra.

Chapter 4

How did geography influence the Greek and Roman civilizations?

Geographic location impacted Roman civilization because where they were located made it easy for
travel and trade. Rome was located on the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the Tiber River. This made it easy to
get all around the European area. They were also located on a place with fertile soil, which made it easy
for farming. Also, Rome was surrounded by mountains, which provided them with places to hide, and
gave them protection.
Explain the religious and philosophical ideas of classical Greece and Rome.

Philosophy:
They differed from philosopher to philosopher...
Read Bertrand Russell's 'A History of Western Philosophy' for a really great analysis of individual ancient
Western philosophers and there ideas.

To the retard below me:

Actually, most ancient Greek and Roman philosophers did not take religion seriously ( Socrates, for
example, was charged for impiety (not respecting the gods)). Their ideas focused on other areas of life.

Describe social divisions, gender relationships and inequalities in the Greco-Roman world.

In what ways was Rome the heir to the classical Greek civilization?

In many ways, Rome- though more militarily powerful by the time they began to expand, post Alexander
the Great's death, among other things- respected Greek culture, and considered it superior to their own.
Note the incredible amount of Greek influence in classical Roman art, architecture, religion, etc. It's
much like the Assyrians felt about the Babylonians- they were rivals, to be sure, but there was a lot of,....
grudging respect, if you will, on the side of the Assyrians, who could have destroyed Babylon many times
over the way they did others for lesser 'crimes' by the time they finally did. Athens, specifically, was very
much respected by Rome, who generally looked on it a bit like a very dangerous child, or, in typical
Roman arrogance, they figured they could control Greece. Clearly didn't work until they took it over
utterly, but much of Greek culture remained.

How did Rome unify its vast empire and diverse peoples?

several ways. First to keep conquered peoples docile (which wasn't hard considering most hadn't any
concept beyond tribal/family allegiance) they offered these people citizenship or would place former
soldiers in colonies around the empire so if something were to happen they would have trained
reservists who could hold out until the main roman army arrived. Secondly they never put many people
under direct control, instead the emporer or governor would approve a local leader who would install
smaller local leaders. Secondly, greed is a valuable asset, they provided rich trade across the empire and
money is a hard thing to turn down.

Terms

Alexander the Great

An undefeated general that took over the Roman & Persian Empires
Direct democracy

a form of democracy and a theory of civics in which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens
who choose to participate. Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive
motions, make laws, elect or dismiss officials, and conduct trials. Direct democracy stands in contrast to
representative democracy, where sovereignty is exercised by a subset of the people, usually on the basis
of election. Deliberative democracy incorporates elements of both direct democracy and representative
democracy.

Julius Caesar

a Roman general and statesman. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman
Republic into the Roman Empire.

Aristocracy

a form of government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term was derived from
the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best"

City-state

an independent entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as part of another
local government.

Aristotle

a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many
subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics,
government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is
one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to
create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and
science, politics and metaphysics.

Chapter 5

What roles did pastoral nomads play in world history and commerce?

Pastoral nomads are nomads moving between pastures. Nomadic pastoralism is thought to have
developed in three stages that accompanied population growth and an increase in the complexity
of social organization.
Describe the reasons for the decline and fall of classical civilizations.

- Civil war
- Collapse of agriculture and trade
- External threats e.g. barbarians etc.

How were the collapses of classical empires similar and different?

A lot of empires collapsed because the Emperor ended up as nothing more than a figurehead. No longer
concerned with the people they ruled. They began to deprive people of (for instance) education, and in
some cases land that the people could farm for self use. Often in these cases the Emperor would at the
same time be living in unimaginable luxury. This leads to violent uprisings, and over time the fall of said
empire. The Han of China, and the Romans are good examples of this. The differences were usually in
the way the day to day business of government was addressed. The Romans had the Senate. Where the
Han only had the Imperial Court.

What classical traditions and institutions survived despite the fall of states?

Terms

Silk routes

an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South,
and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe.

Monotheism

the belief in the existence of one god,as distinguished from polytheism, the belief in more than one god,
and atheism, the lack of belief in any god or gods. Monotheism is characteristic of the Abrahamic
religions, (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha'i Faith), but is also present in Neoplatonism and in
Sikhism and it is difficult to delineate from notions such as pantheism and monism.

Shinto

Is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out
diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past.
Huns

a group of nomadic people who, appearing from East of the Volga, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and
built up an enormous empire in Europe. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu who had been
northern neighbours of China 300 years earlier to the emergence of Hunsconsiderable scholarly effort
has been devoted in investigating such a connection.

Chapter 6

What conditions influenced the rise of Islam in Arabia?

Islam rose in Arabia partly due to: Meccan Trade, Arab conquest of the middle east, the appearance of a
prophet in Arabia and the spread of his message there. Arabs converted to Islam because Allah was a
greater power than any other spirit there.

What factors contributed to the rise and success of the Arabic Empire?

Islam had surely played a prime rule:

- It gave Arabs a sense of purpose to their life. That is to live according to rules of God & to contribute to
the world God put them in.

- It unified Arabs & provided a new social structure. This very social structure had incorporated other
people of different ethnicities.

- It provided a reasonable way of coexistence with non Muslims. This is a major factor that contributed
to the golden age of the Jewish culture, which was in Muslim Spain.

Early Muslim Caliphs incorporated the civilizations that Muslim Arabs had conquered:

- They adopted many things from Persia & Byzantium. & they came up with different innovations that
developed the economy.

- Muslim Arabs at that time took good care of education. According to Guinness book of world records,
the world oldest university was founded by Muslim Arabs. That is the university of Al-Karauine in
Morocco, which was found by an Arab Muslim woman.

- Muslim Arabs founded the largest library at that time. That is the house of wisdom, which was
destroyed during the Mongol invasion.
How did Islam unite and effectively rule diverse peoples and cultures?

How did Islam and the Arabic empire change during the Abbasid rule?

Describe Islamic society including social classes, gender, and inequalities.

Terms

Umma

Mawali

Caliph

Dhimmi

Wazir

Chapter 7

What factors led to the decline and collapse of the Abbasid caliphate?

How did women’s social status deteriorate during this era?

Describe the intellectual contributions and achievements of Islamic civilization.

How did contacts between Hindu society and Islam affect each civilization?

What motivated the crusades and how did they affect the combatants?

What Muslim achievements and technologies influenced other civilizations?

Terms

Sultan

Sufis

Dhow

Ulama

Sati
Chapter 8

What African political and social institutions predate the arrival of Islam?

How did the arrival of Islam and Christianity affect African societies?

How did religion and trade connect Africa to a larger world; with what results?

What internal developments and external contacts spread civilization in Africa?

Terms

Mansa Musa

Stateless society

Ibn Battuta

Animism

Great Zimbabwe

Griots

Practice questions are available on the following link:

http://wps.ablongman.com/long_stearns_wcap_4/

On the left of the page you can choose each chapter for review. Once you enter the link for the chapter
you will find practice multiple choice, true/false, short answer and flash card terms for practice.