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WHH Study Guide – Unit Two: Harrapan, Ancient China and Africa
People and Places
A well protected India (how / by
what?)
Indus-Ganges fertile plain and the
challenges faced by settlers
Climate of India, 6000 years ago:
how do we know what it was?
Vedic India a fusion of ???
Chinese Isolation (how?)
Vocabulary and Concepts
Things
Monsoons
Size of the Harappan civilization
City construction and design
Written language of Harappan
-
Untranslated; why?
Sun Tsu & the “Art of War”
Technology of Harappan
Shang Dynasty
- 1st historical dynasty
Seals of Harappan
- What were they probably
used for?
Harappan religion (why don’t we
know about it?)
-
-
Government (city-states,
king controlled countryside,
nobles controlled cities)
Relationship of king, nobles
Society (herders to farmers)
-
Religion, including ancestor
worship
- Technology (metallurgy,
writing)
Zhou Dynasty
-
Nomadic conquerors
-
Government style
- Technology (coins, iron)
- Fall of Zhou
“Time of Warring States”
-
13+ warlords fight for
power, control
Decline in culture, values
3 philosophies emerge
Vedic literature, written language
Vedic culture the beginning of
Indian caste system (varnas)
Nubia’s location and conquest of
Egypt (considered selves Egyptian)
People in West Africa (settlement
in Sahara)
- What happened to make the
Sahara a desert?
Urban development in West Africa,
especially in the Sahel
- Traded gold for salt, iron
tools: Cultural Diffusion!
- Bantu migrations
Hindu beliefs
- Caste system (know the
parts!)
- Beliefs (moksha; atman;
karma; dharma)
- Reincarnation and nirvana
- Aspects of Brahman
Concepts
Fall of Civilizations (Diamond
concept)
Fall of Harappan as illustration of
concept (Kostman article)
The impact of geography, on
civilization
The absence of civilization arising
in Sub Saharan Africa – why?
- Persistence of H-G bands (+
game, no reason to change)
- Subsistence farming (no hi
yield crops, irrigable water
ways, no herding)
- Geographic considerations
Diffusion of iron from N. Africa to
sub-Saharan Africa: as example of
cultural diffusion and migration
Mandate of Heaven idea as
justification for rule
Varnas and caste system as a means
of social control in India
Critical thinking (inference) and the
Harappan society
Key Questions
 What are the two theories of the fall of the Harappan civilization? Why is one of the
theories so controversial to sub-continent Indian nationalists?
 Review the varnas system of Vedic India.
 You should be able to explain how the Chinese Dynastic Cycle and the “Mandate of
Heaven” concept works. You should also be able to identify the Dynasty that came up with
the idea, why they came up with the idea, and its use by conquerors throughout Chinese
history.
 What is the significance of geography on the settlement patterns of the Harappan? The
Chinese? Sub Saharan Africa?
 Why did no civilization emerge in sub-Saharan Africa (there are three reasons, each with
two supporting factors)?
Mapping
There is a lot of mapping in this unit, of India, China and Africa. You will need to be able to
identify or otherwise label the following on maps in a test setting. Refer to the maps in the
packet and in the Powerpoints!
India: Himalayas, Indus River, Ganges River
Ancient China: Huang He River, Yangtze River
Africa: Nile River, Mediterranean, Sahara Desert, Atlantic Ocean