Download Section 9.2

EARLIEST PEOPLES…
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Hunter-Gatherers
Farmers
Neolithic Revolution – beginning of agriculture
SWAsia is one of first places we see agriculture
Rise of Mesopotamia:
• Architecture = ziggurats
• Writing = cuneiform
• Religion = polytheism
• Art = literature (Epic of Gilgamesh)
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WORLD RELIGIONS
Ancient times - polytheism is common
2nd century, BC –Judaism emerges among Israelites
1st monotheistic religion
33 AD – Christianity emerges from teachings of Jesus
610 AD – Islam emerges from teachings of Muhammad
All three religions are MONOTHEISTIC
All three view ABRAHAM as an important figure
Called the “Abrahamic Religions”
RISE OF ISLAM IN SOUTH WEST ASIA
• By 632 AD (Muhammad’s death), most people in
Arabian peninsula are Muslim (follow Islam)
• Caliphs – leaders of the Muslim faith
• Islam is spread through trade & military conquest
• By 800 AD, Islam has spread through all SWAsia, into
North Africa & into Europe (Spain)
(And the white, Christian Europeans start freaking out…)
FLOWERING OF CULTURE IN ISLAMIC EMPIRE
• 650-1250 AD, lots of cultural diffusion in empire
• Advances in math, science, astronomy, architecture in
this empire
• “Golden Age”
AND IT ALL COMES TO AN END….
• Christians launch crusades, 100-1200s AD
• Crusades - series of attacks on cities in Muslim
empire
• Goal= take back Jerusalem
• Mongols arrive, mid 1200s,
conquer much of region