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UNIT ONE – FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS: c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE
PRIMARY FOCUS QUESTIONS
1. Why was the Neolithic Revolution critical to the rise of civilizations?
2. What are the main characteristics of early civilizations?
3. What were the key factors promoted cultural diffusion & blending and helped unify & expand the world’s
earliest empires?
4. What physical elements encouraged or limited contact between the world’s earliest civilizations?
5. What are the central beliefs and teachings shared by the world’s major religions?
CHAPTER 1 Focus Questions (Human Pre-History to Early Civilizations)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What advantages did early sedentary based societies have over nomadic hunter-gatherers?
What are the major drawbacks of early civilizations when compared to early nomadic societies?
Why was the development of writing important to the developments of early river-valley civilizations?
How were the main features of early Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations similar and different?
Why was Jewish monotheism a significant development in the religious history of early civilizations?
CHAPTER 2 Focus Questions (Classical Civilizations – CHINA)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What political problems was the development of bureaucracy meant to solve in Han China?
What key developments in early China promoted their unity and adoption of isolationism?
How did Confucian philosophy support the political structure within China’s early empires?
How were Confucianism and Daoism able to coexist within Chinese society?
What internal and external influences created tension within early Chinese societies?
CHAPTER 3 Focus Questions (Classical Civilizations – INDIA)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How and why did the caste system develop within early India?
What were the primary differences between Hinduism and the development of Buddhism?
How did India’s caste system differ from the organization of Chinese society?
How did geographic differences impact the social and cultural developments in early China & India?
What were the key similarities and differences between India’s & China’s social and family structures?
CHAPTER 4 Focus Questions (Classical Civilizations – GREECE & ROME)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What were the key similarities and differences between Greek and Roman political systems?
What was the significance of the Hellenistic period on the development of India, Persia, and Egypt?
What were the main similarities and differences between the Roman, Han, and Gupta societies?
What were the similarities and differences in the status of merchants in classical Rome, India & China?
What were the similarities and differences in scientific and philosophical developments within classical India,
China, and the Mediterranean?
CHAPTER 5 Focus Questions (Classical Period – DIRECTIONS, DIVERSITIES, AND DECLINES BY 500 CE)
1. What were the major factors in the decline of the Roman Empire?
2. What key foundations of the Roman Empire were preserved or modified in the eastern empire after the Fall of
Rome?
3. How were nomadic people key agents of contact between early sedentary peoples and town dwellers?
4. What were the main features of early civilizations in Africa prior to the first century CE?
5. What key advantages and disadvantages were experiences by isolated civilizations of the Americas and Pacific?
UNIT ONE – FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS: c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE
TIMELINE ACTIVITY: Insert the letter for each event from each chapter on the line adjacent to the
appropriate date on the timeline provided.
CHAPTER ONE: Human Pre-History to Early Civilizations
A. Agricultural development in West Africa
B. Neolithic Revolution
C. Rise of Catal Huyuk
D. First potter’s wheel
E. Transition to the use of Bronze
F. End of the Last Ice Age
14,000 BCE
10,000-5,000 BCE
6,000 BCE
7,000 BCE
4,000 BCE
2,000 BCE
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CHAPTER TWO: Classical China
A. Development of accurate calendar
B. Beginning of the Qin Dynasty
C. Rise of the Han Dynasty
D. Birth of Confucius
E. Beginning of the Warring States Period
F. Editing of the Five Classics
551 BCE
c.500 BCE
450 BCE
402 BCE
221 BCE
202 BCE
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CHAPTER THREE: Classical India
A. Fall of the Gupta Empire
B. Birth of Buddha
C. Reign of Ashoka
D. Beginning of the Maurya Empire
E. Beginning of the Gupta Empire
F. Alexander the Great’s Invasion of India
c.563 BCE
327-325 BCE
322 BCE
269-232 BCE
319 CE
535 CE
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CHAPTER FOUR: Classical Greece & Rome
A. End of the Punic Wars
B. Peloponnesian Wars
C. Persian Wars
D. Alexander the Great Dies
E. Rise of the Greek City-States
F. Founding of Persia by Cyrus the Great
800-600 BCE
c.550 BCE
490-480 BCE
431-404 BCE
323 BCE
146 BCE
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CHAPTER FIVE: Classical Directions, Diversities, & Declines
A. Polynesians reach Pacific island of Fiji
B. Rise of Axum in Africa
C. Beginning of the Sassanid Empire
D. Rome begins to decline
E. Beginning of the Tang Dynasty
F. Beginning of Islam
1000 BCE
c.300 BCE
180 BCE
227 CE
c.600 CE
618 CE
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UNIT ONE – FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATIONS: c. 8000 BCE to 600 CE
MAPPING ACTIVITY: Select an appropriate map for each chapter from the blank maps available on
the course web-pages or from the instructor. ALL MAPS MUST HAVE A LEGEND/KEY and must be
properly LABELED and/or COLOR CODED according to the assignment directions below.
CHAPTER ONE: Human Pre-History to Early Civilizations (World Map)
1. Draw the boundaries of the core areas of sedentary agriculture in Asia, India, Africa, Middle East & Americas.
2. Label the earliest known River Valley and Sedentary Civilizations in each of the core areas above.
CHAPTER TWO: Classical China (East Asia Map)
1. Draw the boundaries the Qin and Han Empires; Gobi Desert; and Tarim Basin. Mark location of Xian.
2. Label each of the above areas, along with the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers, as well as the city of Xian .
CHAPTER THREE: Classical India (Map of India or South Asia)
1. Draw the boundaries of the Maurya and Gupta Empires. Mark locations of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro.
2. Label each of the above areas, along with the Himalayan Mountains, Ganges & Indus Rivers, & Each City above.
CHAPTER FOUR: Classical Greece & Rome (Map of the Mediterranean World)
1. Mark the locations of Sparta, Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, and Carthage.
2. Label each of the above cities. Label the Mediterranean & Aegean Seas, Iberian & Italian Peninsulas, plus the
Islands of Crete & Sardinia.
CHAPTER FIVE: Classical Directions, Diversities, & Declines (Map of Europe & the Mediterranean)
1. Mark the locations of Rome and Byzantium. Draw the boundaries of the Western Roman Empire and Eastern
Byzantine Empires. Draw arrows indicating the routes taken by each of the conquering Germanic tribes & Huns.
2. Label each of the above cities. Label each of the Empires and label the route of the Saxons, Franks, Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Burgundians, Lombards, and Huns.
MAP FOCUS QUESTIONS: Answer each of the following questions based on your reading and the map
you created.
CHAPTER 1: How did the physical environment and climate influence the development of early civilizations?
CHAPTER 2: What geographic and man-made obstacles limited the natural expansion of classical China?
CHAPTER 3: To what extent was classical India’s economy defined by its geographic features?
CHAPTER 4: How did the geography of Greece & Rome contribute to their trade with Egypt and Phoenicia?
CHAPTER 5: What geographic and climatic features influenced the changes within the late Roman Empire?