Download 1 World History Semester Exam Study Guide Possible True/False

World History Semester Exam Study Guide
Possible True/False Questions. All of the following statements are true in that they contain NO false
information. Some of the statements will be changed on the semester exam so that they will require
false answers. If the statement on the exam has false information in it, answer false. If all of the
information in the statement on the exam is true, answer true.
1. Most archaeologists and historians believe that Sumerian civilization is the oldest civilization to
have the six characteristics of civilization discussed in class. The Sumerians developed civilization
by approximately 3500 B.C.E.
2. The most widely used calendar in the world today is the Gregorian Calendar announced in a
papal bull by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 C.E. It is also called the Christian calendar.
3. Muslims believe Muhammad, the most important prophet and founder of Islam, ascended to
heaven from the site of the Dome of the Rock In Jerusalem, Israel.
4. The English alphabet evolved from the alphabet of the Phoenicians.
5. Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism all began in India. While Hinduism and Jainism are still mainly
practiced in India today, Buddhism became less popular in India. Buddhism is most practiced in
East (China, Korea, Japan, etc.) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.)
today.
6. Mahayana Buddhists believe that anyone is capable of reaching nirvana and is, as a result, the
more popular form of Buddhism.
7. Though outlawed by the Indian Constitution in 1947, discrimination based on caste still occurs in
India.
8. India is a very heterogeneous society (a society that has many major ethnic groups). This is
demonstrated by the fact that India has 22 recognized languages spoken by at least a million
people or more.
9. About ten million Muslims live in the west of China in Xinjiang Province. This should be easy to
remember because a lot of Muslim countries (ending in –stan) lie to the West of Xinjiang
Province.
10. One major characteristic of East Asian civilization is its focus on the needs of the community
over the needs of the individual.
11. The yin-yang symbol represents the Daoist belief in the importance of the balance of
complementary opposites to harmony in society and the universe.
12. Daoists believe that one should be inactive in government and avoid a life of extremes.
13. A direct democracy is a form of government where all citizens can debate and vote on all issues.
14. The Classical Greeks were the first to develop dramas (plays).
15. During the ancient Greek Classical Age, the Greeks sculpted statues in the ideal human form.
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16. What separated ancient Greek philosophers from the thinkers who came before them was that
they moved away from using the gods to explain history.
17. After Alexander the Great died, his empire was divided by his top generals into a series of
independent kingdoms. This is when the Hellenistic Age started (323 – 31 B.C.E.). Since these
generals were essentially Greek, like Alexander, they promoted the spread of Greek culture
throughout their empire.
18. While Aristotle argued that one should mainly use one's senses to find the truths of the
universe, Plato argued that one should mainly rely on reason to discover these truths.
Multiple Choice Questions:
19. Mesopotamia refers to the land between and surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mainly
n Iraq.
20. The Fertile Crescent is an arc of good farmland that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean Sea. It includes Mesopotamia, the Levant (the lands on the eastern edge of the
Mediterranean Sea) and Egypt. This region was the perfect place for civilization to begin.
21. The beginning of farming and the domestication of animals is called the Neolithic Revolution. It
began around 8,000 B.C.E. (10,000 years ago).
22. One of the most important achievements of the Sumerians that still influences us today in many
ways is the use of a number system based on sixty.
23. The most impressive structures in Sumerian cities were tiered temples with pyramids on top
called ziggurats. This demonstrates that priests were very important in Sumerian society.
24. Sumerians were divided into city-states. A city-state is defined as a city and its surrounding
territory that acts like an independent country.
25. By conquering the Sumerians, Sargon of Akkad built the world’s first known empire. An empire
is created when a group conquers one or more previously independent peoples and keeps them
under its control.
26. The brutal and warlike people who created a vast Mesopotamian empire and executed almost
everyone in rebellious cities to scare others into submission were the Assyrians.
27. One of Mesopotamia's earliest great leaders was the Amorite (Old Babylonian) king Hammurabi.
Hammurabi is most famous for ordering the creation of a great legal code.It incorporated the
idea of "an eye for an eye" (punishment in kind). Many violations of this code resulted in death
as a punishment. People were treated differently based on social class. In spite of these
seemingly negative characteristics, many of the laws sought to protect the welfare of the
people.
28. During the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the Egyptian pharaohs became god-kings and built great
pyramids as their tombs.
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29. During the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, temple priesthoods became more powerful, and the
pharaohs began to be buried in hidden tombs.
30. During the Egyptian New Kingdom, the Egyptians conquered an empire.
31. The only woman to openly rule as pharaoh in Egypt's 3000-year history was Hatshepsut.
32. Despite the fact that King Tutankhamun was a minor pharaoh, the discovery of his tomb was
extremely important to the history of Egyptian archaeology. This is because the tomb was
undisturbed until it was opened in the early 1900s and, thus, gives us great insight into the lives
and burials of Egyptian pharaohs.
33. Ramses II is the most famous ancient Egyptian New Kingdom pharaoh. He is famous for many
reasons. For example, he fought the Hittites, a powerful empire based in Turkey, to a standstill
at the Battle of Qadesh in 1274 B.C.E. Ramses built many great structures including the cliff
temples at Abu Simbel and the Great Hypostyle Hall in the temple complex at Karnak. He lived
into his 90s, outliving many of his children. Many historians believe he was the pharaoh at the
time of the Hebrews' Exodus from Egypt.
34. The Egyptians fought the Hittites to a standstill at the Battle of Qadesh in 1274 B.C.E. This is the
first well-documented great battle in world history. Evidence of this battle indicates that the
stalemate may have resulted in the world’s first peace treaty.
35. The military campaigns between the Egyptians and Hittites, including the Battle of Qadesh (1274
B.C.E.), impacted the history of the ancient Near East by making both powers weaker to the
point that they allowed smaller kingdoms to develop and thrive for a time. These included
Phoenicia and Israel.
36. The Phoenicians were centered in what’s now Lebanon.
37. The Phoenicians were known for manufacturing and selling a purple dye. It was so expensive to
make that purple became the color of royalty throughout history.
38. Phoenicia’s most important colony was Carthage which took control of the Phoenician Empire
when Phoenicia was conquered by the Persians in 539 B.C.E. From that point on, we call this
empire the Carthaginian Empire.
39. The patriarch, or first prophet, of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was Abraham.
40. Jews and Christians believe that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac to God at a
location now covered by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
41. The site Christians believe is the location where Jesus was crucified and entombed is the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher.
42. The most important prophet in Judaism is Moses. He led the Hebrews during the Exodus
(Hebrews flight from Egypt) and received the mitzvot (“commandments”) from god on Mt. Sinai.
43. The Jewish holiday that commemorates the Exodus is Passover.
44. Ancient Israel's King David defeated the Philistines and conquered Jerusalem.
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45. Ancient Israel’s King Solomon built the First Temple of Jerusalem.
46. The remaining part of a retaining wall that surrounded the Temple Mount is the holiest site for
Jews and is called the Western, or Wailing, Wall.
47. The Assyrians conquered the second ancient Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. and exiled many
Jews (the Ten Lost Tribes) to other parts of their empire.
48. The Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians) conquered the southern part of the former ancient Kingdom
of Israel in 586 B.C.E. and deported thousands of Jews to Babylon in what became known as the
Babylonian Captivity.
49. King Cyrus the Great of Persia is highly revered in the Hebrew Bible because after conquering
Babylon he allowed the descendants of Jews exiled to Babylon to return to Jerusalem to rebuild
their temple.
50. The holiest part of the Hebrew Bible is called the Torah and includes the Five Books of Moses.
51. Two of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar are Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
52. By defeating Carthage during the Punic Wars, the Romans gained control of the Western
Mediterranean region (from Italy westward).
53. In general, the Hebrew holy text called the Tanakh makes up the Old Testament.
54. Christianity is the most practiced religion in the world, while Islam is the fastest growing religion
in the world.
55. The name Israel means "one who wrestles with God."
56. Seasonal winds that cause lots of rainfall in South Asia from May to October are called monsoon
winds.
57. Major countries in South Asia include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
58. The subcontinent of India’s first great civilization, which arose in Pakistan, was Harappan
Civilization.
59. Harappan civilization arose along the Indus River in what’s now Pakistan.
60. The famous mountain pass used by invaders to enter India throughout the course of its history is
the Khyber Pass.
61. The Aryans were Indo-Europeans meaning that they spoke a language that developed from an
ancient parent language located north of the Black Sea.
62. The Aryans brought the caste system to India.
63. The group located at the top of ancient India’s caste system was the Brahmins, or priests.
64. The group located at the bottom of ancient Indian society below the other castes was the
Untouchables.
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65. The ancient holy books of the Aryans that became the earliest Hindu holy texts were the Vedas.
66. The holiest story for Hindus is contained in the Bhagavaad Gita. Its title means “Song of the
Lord.” Gandhi read it every day when he led India’s independence movement.
67. The blue-skinned avatar of Vishnu who in the Bhagavad Gita tells Prince Arjuna that it is his
dharma to fight, and even kill, his cousins in battle is Krishna.
68. Important Hindu holy texts included 1) the Vedas (originally brought by the Aryans; contain
prayers, hymns and instructions for the performance of rituals), 2) the Upanishads (deep
thought books of Hinduism that teach ideas like atman and Brahman), 3) Mahabharata (the
world's longest epic that contains the Bhagavaad Gita) and 4) the Bhagavaad Gita (see above).
69. The three most worshiped gods by the early Gupta period (by the early centuries C.E.) were
Brhma, Vishnu and Shiva.
70. The Hindu term dharma means the duty of one's caste.
71. The Hindu term karma means one's actions in this life that affects one's next life.
72. The Hindu term reincarnation means the rebirth of a soul into a new body.
73. Siddharta Gautama, an Indian prince, founded Buddhism.
74. The Buddhist term for enlightenment is nirvana.
75. The Four Noble Truths are the basic principles of Buddhism.
76. Today, Buddhism is most practiced in East Asia (Japan, Korea, China, etc) and Southeast Asia
(Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.).
77. A stupa is a bell-shaped monument that holds relics (remains) of the Buddha.
78. The Indian religion known as Jainism heavily stresses nonviolence.
79. Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire. Ashoka Maurya expanded the Mauryan
empire to its greatest size but is most famous for incorporating Buddhist principles in his
government. Between the Mauryan and Gupta empires, there were several hundred years of
disunity in India. Then Chandra Gupta founded the Gupta Empire. Chandra Gupta II ruled the
Gupta empire during its "golden age."
80. Achievements of the Gupta Empire (India's "golden age") include: 1) developing Arabic numerals
and the concept of zero; 2). accurately measuring the length of the solar year; 3) Determining
that Mars and Venus travel around the son; 4) chess and playing cards.
81. The famous advisor to Chandragupta Maurya who wrote the Arthasastra, a guidebook for
rulers, is Kautilya who is known as the Indian Machiavelli.
82. The mental and physical discipline Hindus use to help them achieve moksha is called yoga.
83. The tree where the Buddha reached enlightenment is located in the city of Bodh Gaya.
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84. The United States needs to travel through or over Pakistan to reach Afghanistan from the
Arabian Sea.
85. The form of Mahayana Buddhism popular in Japan that focuses on meditation as the major
means of achieving nirvana is Zen Buddhism.
86. The major goal of the Four Noble Truths is to end suffering by ending sorrow.
87. The period between the Mauryan and Gupta empires was characterized by disunity.
88. Important facts about China's physical geography include: 1) China is the 4th largest country in
the world after Russia, Canada and the U.S.; 2) China’s population is almost 1.4 billion; 3) China’s
population is mainly located in the eastern part of the country; 4) The eastern part of China is
also the most economically developed part of China; 5) China has huge mountains in many
places, such as the Himalaya Mountains to the south; and 6) The great Gobi Desert lies in
southern Mongolia and north-central China.
89. Sima Qian wrote Records of the Grand Historian which gives us information about China’s
earliest dynasties and famous philosophers.
90. The Shang Dynasty is most known for the Chinese writing found on its oracle bones.
91. Important ideas of Confucius include: 1) Education is important to good government; 2) If
people properly fulfill their roles in society, society will be harmonious; 3) People should pay
great respect to their parents and listen to their elders; 4) Properly performing rituals is
important to harmony in society.
92. The main idea of Daoism is that if one lives in harmony with nature, society will be harmonious.
93. The largest ethnic group in China is the Han people.
94. The huge mountain chain to the south of China is the Himalaya Mountains.
95. The river along which China’s first civilization developed is the Huang He River.
96. The official language used by the Chinese government and the one spoken by most Chinese is
Mandarin.
97. Pinyin refers to the widely used method of writing Chinese using the English alphabet.
98. The term dynasty refers to a family of rulers.
99. China’s earliest dynasty was the Xia Dynasty. It was the first to use ceremonial bronze vessels in
court rituals.
100.
The use of ceremonial dings (bronze vessels) in ancient China marks the first appearance
of ancestor worship in court rituals.
101.
The Chinese dynasty that first used the concept of mandate of heaven to justify its
takeover of China was the Zhou Dynasty.
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102.
Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism developed during the Spring and Autumn Period of
the Zhou Dynasty (722 to 479 B.C.E.). This period was characterized by numerous assassinations,
wars, and civil wars within the Zhou Empire.
103.
The text that includes the sayings of Confucius is the Analects.
104.
Filial piety generally refers to the respect one should show to one’s parents and elders.
105.
Later in Chinese history, Neo-Confucians developed the concept of qi. Qi refers to the
spiritual energy flowing through one’s body.
106.
The first great Daoist text, written by Laozi, is the Dao de Jing.
107.
The main argument of Sunzi’s Art of War is that generals should use deceptive tactics
during battles.
108.
The scholar whose ideas laid the basis for legalism was Han Feizi. His most famous text is
called the Han Feizi.
109.
The Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi united China under his strong rule, created a single
writing system for all of China and built the Great Wall.
110.
Important developments of China's Han Dynasty include: 1) It was founded by a
peasant leader named Liu Bang; 2) It lasted for about 400 years from 202 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.; 3)
Its leaders adopted Confucianism as their state ideology and blended it with Qin Dynasty legalist
administrative laws and practices
111.
The land route through which goods traveled to and from China is called the Silk Road.
112.
Daoist paintings often depicts humans as small figures in majestic landscapes.
113.
Important aspects of Greek geography include: 1) Greece is covered with rugged
mountains; 2) Crete is Greece’s largest island; 3) Greece has a jagged coastline with lots of
natural harbors, bays and inlets; and 4) Greece is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes.
114.
There is historical truth buried within the ancient Greek Myth of the Minotaur. For
example: 1) There may have been a King Minos on Crete; 2) The Minoans may have worshiped
the bull; 3) The Minoan’s Palace contained as many as 1500 rooms; 4) The Minoans may have
sacrificed humans.
115.
The term citadel refers to a hilltop fortress that was the center of life in a Mycenaean
settlement.
116.
The Mask of Agamemnon refers to the Mycenaeans’ most famous artifact.
117.
The Mycenaeans 1) were the people described in The Iliad and The Odyssey; 2) Their
most famous site had a citadel (hilltop fortress) famous for its “lion gate.”; 3) Their burial sites
indicate that they were probably a warlike people.
118.
Homer’s The Iliad traces the moral development of ancient Greece’s greatest warrior
Achilles.
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119.
The Dark Age of Greek history was characterized by all of the following: 1) The Dorians,
the first true Greeks, moved into Greece; 2) Most Mycenaeans abandoned their settlements; 3)
The Greeks lost writing; 4) The Dark Age ended when the Greeks began using Classical Greek
writing.
120.
Things that unified the Greeks included: 1) They spoke Greek; 2) They believed in the
Greek gods; 3) Their belief that Delphi was a place where representatives of any city-state could
go to get predictions about the future; 4) Their participation in the various Pan-Hellenic (allGreek) festivals such as the Olympic Festival.
121.
The most important development of the ancient Greek Archaic Age was that the polis
became the center of Greek political life.
122.
A Greek city-state is called a polis (origin of words like politics and political). Each citystate had its own acropolis (high fortified area with temples on top) and agora (open air
marketplace where politics occur).
123.
The Greeks held the Olympic Festival and its accompanying athletic games every four
years in honor of the god Zeus.
124.
The largest of ancient Greece's city-state with a population of about 300,000 people
that is most known for its direct democracy was Athens.
125.
The main reason why Sparta developed its militaristic society was to defend against
slave revolts.
126.
In ancient Greece, the First Persian War began because Athens helped Ionian Greeks on
the west coast of Turkey rebel against their Persian rulers. The Persians wanted revenge,
especially against Athens. During the famous Battle of Marathon, the Greeks pushed the
Persians back to the sea. The legendary story of a runner who ran all the way back to Athens to
relay a message of victory inspired the modern marathon race. The Persians lost the war and
didn't attack Greece for about ten years.
127.
The first major battle of the Second Persian War between the Greeks and the Persians,
was the legendary Battle of Thermopylae. During this battle 300 Greeks bravely led the defense
of a mountain pass in northern Greece giving Greeks further south time to mobilize for war.
128.
the most important impact of the Persian Wars was that Athens used its leadership of
the Delian League to build a powerful empire for itself. It used money taken from this defensive
alliance's treasury to pay for many of the great building and artistic projects in Athens that we
admire today.
129.
Eventually, Sparta and its own alliance went to war against Athens and its alliance in the
Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 B.C.E.). The Spartans defeated the Athenians. No city-state would
ever be as powerful as Athens had been during the war. Soon, a pattern of shifting alliances of
city-states fighting each other for power developed. As a result, Greece became an easy target
for Philip II of Macedon, a king from the north of Greece.
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130.
Athens' most important statesman Pericles was the most powerful figure in Athens
during its "golden age" (the 400s B.C.E.). He was an influential political leader but never held a
political office (he wasn't a king either). His leadership led Athens to become its most
democratic. He used Delian League funds for major building and artistic projects in Athens. He
died from plague early in the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 B.C.E. between Athens and Sparta).
131.
The most admired ancient Greek temple that is possibly the most copied building in the
world is the Parthenon.
132.
The word classical refers to a period in history that sets standards that people in later
periods strive to achieve.
133.
Philosophy began in ancient Greece when the Greeks began to explain the truths of the
universe without referring o the gods. Three extremely influential ancient Greek philosophers
from Athens were Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
134.
The father of Western history who wrote a history of the Persian Wars was Herodotus.
True History started when people began doing systematic studies of historical events without
referring to the gods.
135.
Philip II of Macedon dominated Greece by 336 B.C.E. as a result of conquest, alliances
and marriage. The Macedonian leader who ultimately conquered the Persian Empire, thus
beginning the Hellenistic Age was Alexander the Great, Philip II's son.
136.
When Alexander the Great died, his top generals divided his empire into four main
kingdoms. Because these men were Greeks, Greek culture spread throughout the region that
Alexander had conquered. We call the period during which Greek culture spread throughout
Alexander the Great's former empire the Hellenistic Age. It lasted from 323 B.C.E. to 31 B.C.E.
137.
The most famous and intellectually advanced Hellenistic city was Alexandria, Egypt. It
was known for its great lighthouse, library, museum and zoo.
138.
Archimedes, possibly the greatest Hellenistic scientist, discovered the law of buoyancy
and a formula for figuring out the length of the missing side of a triangle (and many other
things).
139.
Some Hellenistic sculptures differed from sculptures of the Classical Age of Greece in
that subjects were often depicted in very dramatic poses. They also often sculpted normal
people and showed careful attention to details such as wrinkles and clothing.
140.
The British government controlled India from 1858 to 1947.
141.
The government of India uses Hindi, India's most spoken language, and English, a
language learned by many Indians during British rule, when conducting government business.
142.
The figure who successfully led India’s independence movement was Mohandas Gandhi.
143.
When the British granted India independence, strong tensions arose between India and
Pakistan, the two major countries created out of the British colony of India. Mass migrations of
Muslims moving to Pakistan and Hindus moving to India caused 500,000 deaths following
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independence. Since India and Pakistan gained their independence, they have often fought over
control of a province in the north of India called Kashmir. India also helped East Pakistan gain its
independence from the rest of Pakistan in 1971 (East Pakistan is now Bangladesh). What makes
tensions worse is that both countries have substantial stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
144.
The last Chinese emperor was forced to give up his throne in 1912 and Mao Zedong
declared the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
145.
The Chinese Communist leader who used tactics discussed in the Art of War to defeat
the Japanese during World War II and the Chinese Nationalists in the years just after World War
II and who founded the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 was Mao Zedong.
146.
Many of the terrorist group known as ISIS' members are former members of Saddham
Hussein's regime in Iraq. They are a Sunni Muslim group that has fought against the government
of Bashar al-Assad in Syria since the civil war began there in March 2011. They were likely
responsible for an explosion on a passenger jet that caused the deaths of all 224 mostly Russian
passengers above Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015. They claimed responsibility for
the terror attacks in Paris in November 2015.
147.
One of the biggest issues in East Asia in the news this year is the regional dispute over
the control of islands in the East China Sea.
148.
year.
The current president of China is Xi Jinping. He made an important visit to the U.S. this
149.
China, like Russia, has fourteen neighbors. This significantly complicates its foreign
policy decision-making.
150.
Before the terror attacks on Paris in November 2015, the most pressing issue facing
Europe was the massive influx of refugees mostly from Syria, but also from Iraq and Afghanistan
and other countries like Iran.
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