Download AP World History: Summer Assignment NOTE: This assignment must

AP World History: Summer Assignment
NOTE: This assignment must be completely hand‐written, except for the bibliography
which can be typed. No typed copies of the answers will be accepted.
Part I: Geography
On the second day of school, you will have a geography test over these items. For the
test you will be given maps linked on the summer assignment website. If you wish to
print and label those as practice maps, you may do so, or you can learn the items from
another source. The practice maps are optional and will NOT be graded. No, they
are not extra credit.
On the “World Map,” you will label the following:
 Alps
 Andes Mountains
 Caucasus Mountains
 Himalayas
 Pyrenees Mountains
 Atlantic Ocean
 Indian Ocean
 Pacific Ocean
 Baltic Sea
 Black Sea
 Mediterranean Sea
 Anatolia/Asia Minor
 Balkan Peninsula
 Iberian Peninsula
On the “Africa & Asia Political” map, label the following countries:
 Egypt
 Ethiopia
 Ghana
 Kenya
 Morocco
 South Africa
 Sudan
On the “Middle East” map, label the following countries:
 Iran
 Iraq
 Israel
 Saudi Arabia
 Turkey
On the “Asia & South Pacific” map, label the following countries:
 China,
 India
 Japan
 Korea
 Mongolia
 Russia
On the “South America” map, label the following countries:
 Argentina
 Brazil
 Chile
 Peru
 Venezuela
On the “Europe” map, label the following countries:
 Belgium
 England
 Germany
 Greece
 Italy
 Spain
Part II: Ancient Civilizations Research Assignment
Using books or the internet, research each of the following Ancient Civilizations:
 Mesopotamia (you can also search Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians as
these are city-states within Mesopotamia)
 Ancient Egypt (to 300 BC)
 Ancient China (to 300 BC which is Shang and Zhou/Chou Dynasties ONLY)
 Indus Valley Civilization (also known as Harappan)
 Olmec (Central America)
 Chavin (South America)
 Ancient Greece (to Alexander the Great)
 Ancient Rome (to 476 AD)
Be careful to stay within the time period for each culture. Some websites will not give
the dates, so you will have to research further. For example, gunpowder IS invented
in China but NOT during this time period, so you would NOT include it in your
answer about technology.
Answer the following questions on EACH of the civilizations. We are looking for the
BASIC information here, as well as anything that makes them unique from the other
ancient civilizations. 3‐5 sentences should be enough for each of the five questions,
even if some topics have more than one question. Indus Valley/Harappa, Olmec and
Chavin did NOT have writing, so not as much information is known about them as the
others. Do the best you can to answer those, considering the fact that little information
has been discovered about them. “Nothing is known” is NOT the correct answer. At
least find out what theories archaeologists and historians have. You WILL be able to
find some information on all of these. ALL answers should be in your OWN words,
NOT just copied from the internet. If you don’t understand a word, DO NOT WRITE
IT DOWN! Find out what it means and put it in your own words, or incorporate that
word into your vocabulary in such a way that if you are asked a follow-up question
then you will know how to answer that.
Do NOT use Wikipedia. You CAN use http://www.ancient.eu.com/, which does
contain some info from Wikipedia, but has been double-checked by historians. No
matter what website you use, the point is for you to synthesize the MAIN ideas for
yourself, no just write down the first thing you come across.
Lastly, you WILL need to do some sort of bibliography that lists your sources. You
can use any style that you are familiar with, but MLA is the most common, or for more
information go to: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ You CAN type your
bibliography but remember the rest of the assignment must be HAND-WRITTEN.
Research Questions:
1. What type of government did this civilization have and how was it structured
(e.g. city‐states, empire)? What positions of power existed (not limited to the
king) and role did each play?
2. Describe their religious beliefs. What gods did they have? Did they have holy
texts, sacred stories or epic poems? If so, list and describe them.
3. What technology did they use? (3‐5 most important inventions)
4. What agricultural crops and trade goods did they produce? Who did they trade
them with?
5. What sorts of jobs did women typically do in this society? If there were any
women in leadership roles, who were they?
Some helpful sites can be found at:
http://college.cengage.com/history/world/bulliet/earth_peoples/3e/students/index.html
http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/
http://www.stanford.edu/~johnrick/chavin_wrap/chavin/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/330
http://www.ancient.eu.com/
http://anthropology.si.edu/olmec/english/
A note about credibility:
There are MANY different theories and websites will sometimes have different or even
conflicting information. It is up to you to determine who wrote the site and whether
they have supported their ideas with evidence. Many times, the internet will give you
TOO MUCH information. You might try museum sites like the British Museum or
Smithsonian or even the public library instead, or using some of the online textbooks
for AP World History. It’s better to have an expert in the field narrow the information
and put it through the editing process than to try to filter through all of that on your
own! So USE BOOKS and make your life WAY easier! Even elementary and middle
school books can be REALLY helpful!
If you have questions about any part of the assignment, email Mrs. Williams at
[email protected] (school) or [email protected] (home).
Even if Mrs. Williams is not your teacher, the assignment is the same for every AP
World History class at Dunbar, so you can still email her if you want.