7th grade review
• 7.1.1: Study the early strengths and
lasting contributions of Rome (e.g.,
significance of Roman citizenship; rights
under Roman law, Roman art,
architecture, engineering, and philosophy;
preservation and transmission of
Christianity) and its ultimate weakness
(e.g., rise of autonomous military powers
within the empire, undermining of
citizenship by the growth of corruptions
and slavery, lack of education, and
distribution of news.)
7th grade review
• Roman citizenship: 212 A.D. An effort
was made to increase loyalty to Rome so
they granted citizenship to all free people.
Before: Citizens lived only in Rome.
• Roman Law: based on the Twelve Tables
- we borrowed many of these beliefs in
our government.
• 1. good government was based on the
rule of law.
• 2. Citizens had equal rights under the law.
7th grade review
• Roman Art: statues of
emperors and Gods. Paintings
and mosaics decorated roman
Homes.
• Architecture: Built by the
government – public baths,
temples, bridges, forums, and
marketplaces.
• Engineering: They invented
concrete, stronger than stone.
They designed arches, domes,
and roads – 50,000 miles of
roads were built (soldiers).
Aqueducts were built to provide
fresh waters for the citizens of
Rome.
7th grade review
• Preservation and
transmission of
Christianity:
• Early on: Christians were
persecuted. The Romans
even had Jesus executed.
• 300’s: Emperor
Constantine allowed
Christians to worship freely.
With this protection the
Christian church grew
rapidly.
7th grade review
• Internal Weaknesses:
• Weaker Army: Began to recruit foreign soldiers
in the army. They were not as loyal to Rome.
They did not follow orders and it became a less
effective fighting force.
• Corruption: Defending the country was
expensive – charge taxes. Corrupt tax collectors
kept money for themselves and charged more
than they should.
• Slavery: Most jobs were done by slaves –
made the empire very lazy.
7th grade review
• Great Schism: Breakup between
the Roman Catholic Church and the
Eastern Orthodox Church (Byzantine
Empire).
• Catholics believed in the Pope, he
was the head of the Church. Pope
had ultimate power. The main
language was Latin.
• Eastern Orthodox believed the
emperor was the head of the empire.
The highest Church official is the
Patriarch. The Emperor had the
power to remove a Patriarch from
power. The main language was
Greek.
7th Grade review
• 7.2.2: trace the origins of Islam and the
life and teachings of Muhammad,
including Islamic teachings on the
connection with Judaism and
Christianity.
• Rise of Islam: Muhammad – 610 A.D.
He had a vision of the angel Gabriel
who told him to spread god’s word.
• Connections: Allah was the same God
who spoke to Abraham, Jesus, and
other prophets of Judaism and
Christianity. Muhammad claimed to be
the final prophet of God.
7th grade review
• 7.2.3: Explain the significance of
the Qu’ran and the Sunnah as the
primary sources of Islamic beliefs,
practice, and law, and their
influence in Muslim’s daily life.
• Qu’ran: For Muslims, this is the
word of God. The verses discuss
the nature of God, creation, and
the human soul. It also addresses
moral, legal, and family issues. It
must be read in its original
language because the Qu’ran is
the word of God.
7th grade review
• The Sunnah: This is
referred to as the words
and actions of Muhammad
himself. It provides
guidelines to a proper life.
• Hadith (the written
records of the Sunnah):
a collection of writings that
recorded the thoughts and
actions of Muhammad.
7th grade review
• Core beliefs:
• There is only one God in Islam. There is
no human figure that represents God.
Muhammad was a prophet, but he had no
divine power.
• The Five Pillars of Islam:
• 1. Declaration of faith: “There is no God
(Allah) but God (Allah); Muhammad is the
messenger of God,”
• 2. Prayer: Pray five times a
day. You must pray towards
Mecca.
• 3. Almsgiving (Zakat):
Muslims believe that everything
belongs to God and that we must
set aside a part of our
possessions for those in need.
Each Muslim gives as much as
he or she can, preferably in
secret.
• 4. Fasting: Every year in the
month of Ramadan , all Muslims
fast from dawn until sundown.
• 5. Pilgrimage (Hajj): All Muslims who
are able are required to make a pilgrimage
to the holy city of Mecca at least once in
their lifetime.
7th grade review
• 7.3.1: Describe the
reunification of China under the
Tang Dynasty and reasons for
the spread of Buddhism in
Tang China, Korea, and
Japan.
• Emperor Taizong reunited
China after the fall of the Han
dynasty. He also brought
stable government back to
China. He helped to revive the
bureaucracy – a government
with many departments and
bureaus, all headed and
appointed officials.
7th grade review
• Buddhism: is a religion based on
the teachings of the Indian spiritual
leader Siddhartha Guatama (Also
known as Buddha or the enlightened one).
• Guatama taught that life involves
suffering. The way to ease
suffering is to give up worldly
desires and seek perfect wisdom
known as enlightenment. Those
who achieved enlightenment
entered Nirvana – a state of
complete peace. Those who enter
Nirvana also escape an endless
cycle of suffering, death , and
rebirth.
7th grade review
• 7.3.5: trace the historic
influence of such
discoveries as tea, the
manufacture of paper,
wood-block printing, the
compass, and
gunpowder.
• Tea: sent to the west
(Europe) via the Silk
Road.
• Paper: invented 2,000
years ago.
• Wood-block printing:
These were blocks that were
carves on. When ink was
placed on the block you
could print a picture or
writing onto paper.
• Compass: invented the first
compass used for
navigation.
7th grade review
• Gunpowder: first used in fireworks.
However, by the Song dynasty they began
to make bombs, rockets, and other
weapons.
7th grade review
• 7.4.1: Study the Niger river and the relationship
of vegetative zones of forest, savannah, and
desert to trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves;
and the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires.
• African landscape:
• Vast desert: The Sahara dessert covers most
of Northern Africa.
• The Sahel: a fertile region with limited and
unpredictable rainfall along the southern edge of
the Sahara.
• Savannah: (part of the Sahel) south of the
Sahara is a dry grassland with scattered trees,
something like American prairies.
7th grade review
• Gold and Salt Trade: The Empires of Ghana,
Mali, and Songhai all got rich off this trade.
They would exchange an equal amount of salt
for gold. Salt came from mines in the desert and
the gold came form West Africa. They would
charge a tax in between this trade route – which
made the empires prosper.
7th grade review
• 7.5.3: Describe the values, social customs, and
traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system
consisting of shogun, daimyo, and samurai and
the lasting influence of the warrior code in the
twentieth century.
• Shogun: supreme military commander. The
Shogun ruled Japan in the name of the emperor.
7th grade review
• Daimyo: The job of protecting everyone
became the responsibility of the local landowning lords. (known as the Daimyo)
• Feudalism: a social system in which
lords grant people land or other rewards in
exchange for military service. Each
Daimyo relied on peasants to work his
(shogun’s) land. In exchange for their
labor, he (shogun) promised them
protection.
7th grade review
• Samurai: the Shogun protected the
peasants through a small army called
samurai’s, or highly trained warriors. In
exchange for their service, the Daimyo
granted his samurai land or money.
• Feudal system order:
• Emperor  Shogun  daimyo 
Samurai  Peasants, Merchants,
Artisans
• Warrior Code (Bushido): a strict code of
conduct that guided the behavior of
samurai.
7th grade review
• 7.5.6: Analyze the rise of a military society
in the late twelfth century and the role of
the samurai in that society.
• First Shogun: Warrior clans began to
fight the emperor of Japan. In 1185 A.D.
Minamoto Yoritomo overthrew the
emperor and became the first shogun and
most powerful man in Japan. He made
the title Shogun permanent.
7th grade review
• 7.6.3: understand the development
of feudalism, its role in the medieval
European economy, the way in
which it was influenced by physical
geography (the role of the manor
and the growth of towns), and how
feudal relationships provided the
foundation of political order.
• Viking raids began to attack Europe.
Viking attacks went unanswered by
governments struggling to maintain
order. Because the governments
could not protect people form the
Vikings, local nobles took over.
The result was a system of
feudalism much like that of Japan.
7th grade review
• Feudal system:
• King/Queen  Lords (nobles) 
Vassals  Knights  peasant farmers
• Lord (nobles): Gave a grant of land (fief),
to a vassal if they promised loyalty to the
Lord. The vassal agreed to supply knights,
or mounted warriors, to the Lord in times of
trouble.
• Chivalry: a warriors code of behavior that
each knight must follow.
• Castles: Built by the Lords and they ruled
the territories around them. They controlled
farms, markets, currency, and taxes on their
lands. When in danger, local farmers
flocked to castles for protection.
th
7
grade review
• Manor: the self-sufficient estate
of a medieval lord.
• The center was the castle or lord’s
stone house.
• Around it was a clustered village,
a church, and the surrounding
fields and forests.
• The manor produced everything
the lord, his family, and villagers
needed.
• Led to the growth of towns.
7th grade review
• 7.6.4: Demonstrate the
understanding of the conflict and
cooperation between the Papacy
and European monarchs (e.g.,
Charlemagne, Gregory VII,
Emperor Henry IV).
• Charlemagne: (8th and 9th
century) tried to rule in a Christian
manner. Many of his advisers
were drawn from the clergy (a
group of people who give their
lives to serve the Church as
priests, monks, and higher church
officials).
• Charlemagne wanted to become emperor. Pope
Leo III visited Charlemagne when rivals
threatened to blind him and remove him form
office. A few months later the Pope returned to
Rome under the protection of Charlemagne.
• On Christmas day Pope Leo III crowned him
emperor.
• Strengthened the Church. It established
the principal that only the Pope could
crown an emperor. However, this
complicated the Byzantine church (eastern
orthodox) because they didn’t agree with
what the Pope did.
7th grade review
• Pope Gregory VII: In 1073, a monk
named Hildebrand became Pope Gregory
VII. He declared the Pope alone had the
power to choose bishops. He even
claimed the power to remove emperors
from the thrown.
• Henry IV (Holy Roman Emperor at the
time): Henry felt that Pope Gregory was
attacking his power so he tried to remove
the Pope from office.
• Pope Gregory then excommunicated
(kicked him out of the Church) Henry IV. In
addition, the Pope freed Henry’s subjects
from their feudal oaths of loyalty to the
emperor.
• Henry IV then marched to Italy and stood
outside the Popes residence for three
days in the snow begging for forgiveness.
The Pope eventually forgave him.
• Concordat of Worms: 1122 the problem
was solved. This agreement gave the
Church sole power to appoint bishops but
it also allowed emperors to give fiefs, in
order to win their loyalty.
7th grade review
• 7.6.6: Discuss the causes and course of the
religious Crusades and their effects on Christian,
Muslim, and Jewish populations in Europe, with
emphasis on increasing contact by Europeans
with cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean world.
• The Crusades: A series of Christian religious
wars to take back the holy land of Jerusalem.
7th grade review
• Effects of the Crusades:
• Christians in Europe: Peasants who had
never been farther from home than the next
village suddenly saw new lands, peoples, and
ways of life. Began to increase trade with the
East. New goods brought in to Europe which
resulted in more demand and increased trade.
• Peasants were given their freedom if they
ventured to the Holy land on a Crusade.
• Prompted Europeans to explore the world
around them.
7th grade review
• Effects of the Crusades –
cont’d.
• Persecution of Jews: they
were the main targets for attack
in Europe – viewed as enemies
of the Christian faith. Jews
were slaughtered if they failed
to convert to Christianity.
• Heresy: a belief that is rejected
by official Church doctrine.
• Inquisition: Other Christians
who held different beliefs than
that of the Catholic Church were
persecuted.
7th grade review
• 7.7.2: Study the roles of
people in each society
(Aztec, Incan and
Mayans), including class
structures, family life, warfare, religious beliefs and
practices, and slavery.
• Mayas:
• Class structure: ruled by
a god-king, whose office
passed down from father
to son.
7th grade review
• Mayas – class structure:
• Two social groups – Nobles and
commoners
• Nobles: were aristocrats born into
powerful families. They included the king,
top officials, and priests.
• Commoners: mostly farmers.
7th grade review
• Mayas – Daily life:
• Men: worked the fields, hunted, and
maintained the village buildings.
• Women: raised children, tending
gardens, livestock, and preparing food.
• Extended families: a group of families
that lived together in a central location.
7th grade review
• Maya Religion: worshipped many gods. Most
of the Gods represented natural phenomena –
such as rain, lightning, and the planets.
• Kings were descended from the Gods. They
communicated to the Gods through sacred ritual.
• Human Sacrifice: people killed were usually
prisoners of war. Usually the heart was removed
using a knife.
7th grade review
• Incan class structure: There are two different
classes -Nobles and Commoners.
• Nobles: three ranks of Nobles.
• Nobles by birth: they were at the top. They
were close relatives of the ruling party.
• Appointed Nobles: these were nobles who
earned noble status as reward for service to the
empire.
• Non – Inca Nobles: (curacas) These were local
non-Inca chiefs whose lands had become part of
the Inca Empire through conquest.
7th grade review
• Inca Class Structure:
• Commoners: divided into categories
depending on their age and sex.
• Ex: boys age 9 to 16 – herding llamas and
alpacas. Girls age 9 to 12 gathered wild
plants for dyes and medicines. Men age
25 to 50 raised crops and served as
soldiers.
• Lived in communities called ayllu – a
group of related families that lived in the
same location.
7th grade review
• Incan Religion:
• Worshipped many gods. The most
important god was the sun god, Inti.
Incans believed they were descended
from the Init. They believed in nature
spirits - spirits occupied special places in
the natural world, such as rocks, caves,
and waterfalls.
7th grade review
• Aztec Class structure:
• Two main classes – Nobles and
commoners
• Nobles: a small portion of the society. 5
to 10 percent of the population. Nobles
trace their ancestry to the first Aztec King.
They served as government officials.
• Commoners: live humble lives by
farming. Soma made fine craft goods for
Nobles. Other traded…
7th grade review
• Slavery: they worked fro the nobles. Some
were commoners who had sold themselves into
slavery to escape poverty or to avoid
punishment for theft or other crimes. Others
were captured during war.
• Religion: Huitzilopochtli – the most important
god. He brought success in battle and kept the
sun in the sky. He needed blood to remain
strong. They sacrificed thousands every year,
cutting out their hearts and offering them to the
Gods.
7th grade review
• 7.7.3: explain how and where each
empire arose and how the Aztec and
Incan empires were defeated by the
Spanish.
• Defeat of the Incan Empire:
• Francisco Pizzaro: He led a small
group of Conquistadores to the Inca
empire in 1531. There, a small smallpox
epidemic killed many Incas. After a Civil
War it left the empire very weak. Pizarro
took advantage of this and captured the
Incan King. He then ransomed him for
twenty tons of gold. They gave him the
gold yet still Killed the Inca King. The
empire died off.
7th grade review
• Decline of the Aztec:
• In 1519, Hernan Cortez
attacked the Aztec empire at
Tenochtitlan. He allied with
Aztec enemies. As a result
his 600 men added about
10,000 natives to his army.
He took the King
Moctezuma captive and
later killed him. He was
later kicked out. In 1521 he
returned and laid siege to
the town. The town then fell
to the Spanish and they
renamed it Mexico City.
7th grade review
• 7.8.1: Describe the way in which the
revival of classical learning and the arts
fostered a new interest in humanism (i.e.,
a balance between intellect and religious
faith).
• During the renaissance interest in classical
learning grew enormously. This new focus
was called humanism.
• Humanism – a cultural movement of the
Renaissance based on the teachings of
classical works.
7th grade review
• Humanists valued learning not as a
preparation for a religious life but as a
means of self improvement. They
believed in the human potential to achieve
excellence in all things.
• Humanism led the way to secularism:
This was the view that religion need not be
the center of human affairs. People began
to view life as an opportunity for enjoyment
and pleasure. They did not think that life
was just a painful pilgrimage to heaven.
7th grade review
• 7.8.5: Detail advances made in literature,
the arts, science, mathematics,
cartography, engineering, and the
understanding of human anatomy and
astronomy (e.g., by Dante Alighieri,
Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo di
Bounarroti Simoni, Johann Gutenberg,
William Shakespeare).
7th grade review
• Art: most art before the renaissance
focused on religious themes. During
the renaissance they still focused on
religious themes but also wove
secular themes into the paintings. As
time went on paintings were not
religious at all. Individuals,
landscapes, and self-portraits
became popular.
• Medieval art was stiff and unrealistic.
Renaissance art was more realistic
and focused on the living world.
• Ex: Leonardo Da Vinci’s – “Last
Supper” and “Mona Lisa” – uses
three dimensional views.
7th grade review
• Literature: Writing began to
flourish during the renaissance.
Writers began to write not only
about religious themes but
about every day life.
• Ex: Dante Alighieri: wrote
The divine comedy .This long
poem describes an imaginary
journey through heaven and
hell.
• Ex: William Shakespeare:
Born three hundred years after
Dante. He wrote 37 plays that
include comedies, tragedies,
and histories.
7th grade review
• Science: they began to
challenge accepted beliefs
about religion. They bean to
question the world around
them.
• Ex: Leonardo Da Vinci –
began to examine the human
anatomy. Before the
renaissance this was
considered a heretic.
• Astronomy: Scientists began
to question how the world
worked. Copernicus – he
believed the earth was the
center of the universe – not the
earth.
7th grade review
• Mathematics: Johannes
Kepler used mathematics to
prove that the sun was the
center of the universe.
• Printing: Johann
Gutenberg – invented
moveable type to print.
Letters could be re-arranged
and used over and over.
This allowed the spread of
printed material allover
Europe. It also allowed
different translations of the
bible which sparked the
Reformation.
• Michelangelo: a painter, sculptor, and
architect as well as a great poet. He was
a master at anatomy and drawing. Most
well known for his statue of David.
7th grade review
• 7.9.1: List the causes for the
internal turmoil in and weakening
of the Catholic Church (e.g., tax
policies, selling of indulgences).
• Indulgences – certificates that
were sold to by the church to earn
a spot in heaven. Seen as
corrupt!
• Taxes: were charged by the
church to build lavish churches
and a rich lifestyle for the Pope.
• These abuses led to a revolt in
the catholic Church.
7th grade review
• 7.9.2: Describe the theological, political, and
economic ideas of the major figures during the
reformation (e.g., Desiderius Erasmus, martin
Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale).
• Desiderius Erasmus: A Dutch scholar who
embraced the teachings of Jesus. He believed
that life lessons of Christ should be the model for
Church Doctrine. He wrote a book called The
Praise of Folly – which used satire to criticize the
behavior of the church.
7th grade review
• Martin Luther: A German monk born
in 1483. He constantly criticized the
church for being to abusive. He did not
like the rituals involved in the Catholic
Church. For example the sale of
certificates of indulgences. These were
certificates that allowed you to reach
heaven – for a price$$.
• In 1510 he nailed the 95 Theses on a
church door in Worms, Germany. It
attacked the Catholic Church and its
rituals. Luther was put into hiding. He
is one of the people responsible for
reforming the Catholic Church
(reformation). Lutheranism began from
his teachings.
7th grade review
• John Calvin: In the early 1530’s he
converted from Catholicism to
Protestantism. He believed in
predestination – the idea that God had
long ago determined who would gain
salvation in heaven. Salvation was not a
choice but decided from the beginning.
• William Tyndale: he printed an English
version of The New Testament. His
translation helped bring reformation ideas
to England.
7th grade
• 7.10.2.: understand the significance of the
new scientific theories (e.g., those of
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and the
significance of new inventions( e.g., the
telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer)
• Copernicus: the first scientist to challenge the
theory that the earth was the center of the
universe. He believed that the sun was the
center of the universe. He published his account
in 1543.
7th grade review
• Galileo: An Italian
mathematician who
supported Copernicus’s
views. He was one of the
first scientists to use
experiments to discover the
laws of nature. He found
out that objects that weigh
the same fall at the same
rate of speed. He also built
his own telescope to
observe the heavens.
7th grade review
• Kepler: He used math to find out that
Copernicus’s theory was right. Earth did
revolve around the sun.
• Newton: He came up with the theory of
gravity. He was sitting under an apple
tree when the apple fell to the ground. It
was pulled to the earth’s center by force
he called gravity. This is the force that
pulls one object towards another.
Apples fall to the ground because they
are pulled to earth. The planets revolve
around the sun because they are pulled
toward the sun.
• Telescope: it increased people’s ability to see
distant objects. They were able to see planets
and craters on the moon.
• Microscope: a device that uses a lens to
magnify objects. Using this tool, scientists could
see details of small objects such as insects or
even blood cells.
• Thermometer: scientists could measure the
temperature of gases and liquids. They could
study how things change as they get hotter or
colder.
• Barometer: an instrument that measures
changes in the air pressure. Scientists
learned that changes in air pressure over
time were related to changes in the
weather.
7th grade review
• 7.11.5: Describe how democratic
though and institutions were
influenced by Enlightenment
thinkers (e.g., John Locke,
Charles-Louis Montesquieu,
American Founders).
• John Locke: He reasoned that
by nature people are basically
rational. They are born with the
ability to control their own affairs.
They are also born with natural
rights, or rights that no
government can take from them.
These natural rights include life,
liberty, and personal property.
7th grade review
• Charles Montesquieu: A French
philosopher who took Locke’s
views one step further. He focused
on ways to promote liberty and to
prevent rulers from becoming
despots. He believed that a
balanced government was the only
way to prevent rulers from
becoming despots. His ideal
government was composed of
three branches of government.
Legislative made the laws,
Executive carries out the laws, and
judicial interprets the laws.