Download Six Weeks Goals: This is the material we will be

Six Weeks Goals: This is the material we will be covering during the next six weeks.
There will be a major exam over the following concepts at the end of the six weeks.
Please buy a Princeton Review for the AP World Test and utilize it to supplement
the knowledge you will gain in class. Self-motivated study on your own is a key
component in your success on the AP exam. I recommend thirty minutes a day
reading the Princeton Review from the beginning of the year in order to be
successful.
Foundations: 8000 B.C.E. – 600 A.C.E.
Major Developments
1. Locating world history in the environment and time
Environment
a. Geography and climate: interaction of geography and climate with the
development of human society (Four Great River Valley Civilizations –
Olmec – Chavin Culture)
b. Demography: Major Population changes resulting from human and
environmental factors
Time
a. Periodization in early human history (AP Periodization Chart –
Memorize Time Periods and the know why we use Periods to block out
AP World History)
b. Nature and causes of changes associated with the time span (Huntinggathering to Agricultural Societies, Four Great River Valley
Civilizations and their declines, Classical Period Civilizations; China,
India, Mediterranean, Mesoamerica, South America)
c. Continuities and breaks within the time span; e.g. the transition from
river valley civilizations to classical civilizations.
Diverse Interpretations
a. What are the issues involved in using “civilization” as an organizing
principle in world history?
b. What is the most common source of change: connection or diffusion
versus independent invention?
2. Developing agriculture and technology
a. Agricultural, pastoral, and foraging societies and their demographic
characteristics (Include Africa and the Americas, as well as Europe and
Asia).
b. Emergence of agriculture and technological change
c. Nature of village settlements
d. Impact of agriculture on the environment
e. Introduction of key stages of metal use
1
3.
Basic features of early civilizations in different environments: culture, state,
and social structure. (“Guns, Germs, and Steel”). In addition, students
should know enough about two early civilizations to compare them.
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus Valley civilization or Harrapan civilization
Shang dynasty or yellow River (Huang He) Valley civilization
Mesoamerica and Andean South America
4.
Classical civilizations
a. Major political developments in China, India, and the Mediterranean
b. Social and gender structures
c. Major trading patterns within and among Classical civilizations; contacts
with adjacent regions
d. Arts, sciences, and technology
5.
Major belief systems
Basic features and locations of major world belief systems prior to 600
A.C.E.
Polytheism (animism) (Hellenism)
Hinduism
Judaism
Confucianism
Buddhism
Christianity
6.
Late Classical Period (200 A.C.E. to 600 A.C.E.)
a. Collapse of empires (Han China, loss of western portion of the Roman
Empire, Gupta)
b. Movements of peoples (Bantus, Huns, Germans, Polynesians)
c. Interregional networks by 600 A.C.E.: Trade and the spread of religions
The goal of this six weeks is to master the above content and then apply that
knowledge in comparisons and analysis. Your goal is to be able to speak on the
following topics.
1. Compare major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying
similarities in cementing a social hierarchy.
Example: Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism.
2. Compare the role of women in different belief systems – Buddhism,
Confucianism, Christianity, and Hinduism.
3. Understand how and why the collapse of Empire was more severe in Western
Europe than it was in the Eastern Mediterranean or in China.
*This was an AP exam essay question*
4. Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early
and Classical civilizations, including slavery.
2
5. Compare societies and cultures that include cities with pastoral and nomadic
societies.
6. Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations.
Example: Indian, Chinese, and Greek
7. Describe interregional trading systems.
Example: The Indian Ocean trade.
*This was an AP exam essay question*
8. Compare the political and social structures of two early civilizations, using any
two of the following: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang dynasty, and
Mesoamerica and Andean South America.
3