WORLD
CIVILIZATIONS
ANSWER KEY FOR STUDY GUIDE
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UNIT 1: STONE AGE & EARLY CULTURE
1. WHO WERE HUNTERS AND GATHERERS?
Early humans who hunted animals and gathered wild plants to
survive.
2. IN WHAT WAYS HAS GEOGRAPHY SHAPED HUMAN HISTORY?
Early civilizations have settled in areas near fresh water and
land suitable for farming.
3. HUNTER/GATHERER SOCIETIES USUALLY LIVED IN ___GROUPS.
B. Small groups
4. WHAT WAS THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION?
The shift from food gathering to food producing.
5. FROM WHICH CONTINENT DID EARLY HUMANS MIGRATE?
Africa
6. WHAT WAS ONE EFFECT OF THE SWITCH TO FARMING?
People stopped moving around to find food, populations grew
and towns developed.
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UNIT 2: MESOPOTAMIA
7. WHAT ARE TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TECHNICAL
DEVELOPMENTS OF SUMER?
Bronze and the wheel
8. BETWEEN WHICH RIVERS DID MESOPOTAMIA DEVELOP?
Tigris and Euphrates
9. “IF A MAN PUT OUT THE EYE OF ANOTHER MAN, HIS EYE
SHALL BE PUT OUT” AND “IF HE BREAK ANOTHER MAN’S BONE
HIS BONE SHALL BE BROKEN” ARE EXAMPLES OF WHICH SET OF
LAWS?
Hammurabi’s Code
10. WHAT PART OF SUMER’S SOCIAL HEIRARCHY CLAIMED TO BE
CHOSEN BY THE GODS?
The Kings
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UNIT 3: EGYPT & KUSH
11. HOW WERE THE SOCIETIES OF EGYPT AND KUSH
STRUCTURED?
Pharaohs, then nobles, scribes, craftspeople, then
farmers, servants, slaves
12. WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE GODS IN EGYPTIAN RELIGION?
Egptians believed the gods were part of the earth’s
natural forces (sky, sun etc)
13. WHAT ECONOMIC ACTIVITY FACILITATED EGYPTIAN
CONTACT WITH DISTANT LANDS?
Egyptians established trade routes.
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UNIT 4: INDIA
14. WHAT WAS THE LANGUAGE IN WHCH THE ARYAN POEMS AND
HYMNS WERE WRITTEN?
Sanskrit
15. WHY IS THE GANGES RIVER SIGNIFICANT AS BOTH A PHYSICAL
AND CULTURAL FEATURE OF INDIA?
Fertile river valleys allowed for agriculture and the
development of civilization; the Ganges still holds
religious
significance today.
16. HOW DID A PERSON BECOME A MEMBER OF A CASTE?
Membership based on birth, wealth, or occupation
17. WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO THE EIGHTFOLD PATH THAT BUDDHA
BELIEVED PEOPLE SHOULD FOLLOW TO ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMENT?
Eightfold path and four noble truths
18. HOW WERE IDEAS LIKE INDIA’S DECIMAL SYSTEM AND THE ARAB’S
CONCEPT OF ZERO SHARED?
Through contact ideas were shared and spread. This is known
as cultural diffusion.
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UNIT 5: CHINA
19. WHAT MADE CHINA’S RIVER VALLEYS IDEAL FOR FARMING?
The fertile soil along the river banks.
20. WHAT DID ZHOU KINGS CLAIM TO RECEIVE THEIR
AUTHORITY TO RULE FROM?
From the Mandate of Heaven
21. WHERE DID THE SILK ROAD BEGIN AND END?
Began in central China, ended at Mediterranean Sea
22. WHO WAS THE BUDDHA? WHAT DOES THE TERM “BUDDHA”
MEAN?
A prince who found enlightenment; Enlightened One.
23. WHAT GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES LIMITED TRAVEL IN
CHINA?
Mountains and deserts
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UNIT 6: HEBREW & JUDAISM
24. WHAT ARE THE 5 BOOKS AND MOST SACRED TEXT OF
JUDAISM CALLED?
Torah
25. WHAT DO SCHOLARS CALL THE DISPERSAL OF THE JEWS
OUTSIDE OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH?
Diaspora
26. WHAT RELIGION GREATLY INFLUENCED OTHER CULTURES IN
EUROPE AND THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE?
Judaism
27. WHICH GROUP OF PEOPLE WERE THE FIRST TO HAVE THE
BELIEF THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD?
Hebrews
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UNIT 7: ANCIENT GREECE
28. UNDER CLEISTHENES’ LEADERSHIP, ATHENS DEVELOPED THE
WORLD’S FIRST DEMOCRACY. ONLY MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY
WERE ALLOWED TO VOTE. WHICH CITIZENS WERE CONSIDERED
MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY?
Males
29. WHAT GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES CONTRIBUTED TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF CITY-STATES IN ANCIENT GREECE?
the mountainous terrain lead to the development of citystates
30. WHAT IS DIRECT DEMOCRACY?
each person had a direct vote
31. READ THE EXCERPT, THEN ANSWER. WHAT DOES PERICLES MEAN
WHEN HE SAYS THAT ATHENS SERVES AS AN EXAMPLE TO ITS
NEIGHBORS?
Athen’s government is a model for others and copied.
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UNIT 8: GREEK WORLD
32. WHAT DID ANCIENT GREEK WRITING, THE REPUBLIC, DESCRIBE?
Plato’s idea of an ideal society
33. HOW DID ALEXANDER HELP SPREAD GREEK CULTURE
THROUGHOUT HIS EMPIRE?
Hellenistic era: new cities built based on Greek cities, theatres
and temples
34. HOW DID THE CULTURES THAT ALEXANDER THE GREAT
CONQUERED CHANGE AFTER HIS DEATH?
they kept some of their own customs and combined others
with Greek ideas to create the Hellenistic culture
35. WHICH CITY-STATE WON THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR?
Sparta
36. WHY DID THE WOMEN OF SPARTA HAVE MORE RIGHTS THAN THE
WOMEN OF ATHENS?
Women took over for the men while they were at war.
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UNIT 9: ROMAN REPUBLIC
37. WHY DO YOU THINK THE FOUNDERS OF THE UNITED STATES
BORROWED IDEAS FROM ROMAN GOVERNMENT?
It was a government run by many; it worked well for the
Roman republic
38. WHICH CHARACTERISTICS DID NOT APPLY TO ROMAN
GOVERNMENT?
D –equality of all people
39. WHO WERE THE CONSULS?
Two leaders elected to run the city of Rome.
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UNIT 10: ROME & CHRISTIANITY
40. WHAT FORM OF GOVERNMENT TOOK CONTROL OF ROME WHEN
THE REPUBLIC NO LONGER EXISTED?
empire of dictatorship
41. WHAT FORM OF GOVERNMENT DID ROME HAVE BEFORE IT
BECAME A REPUBLIC?
monarchy
42. HOW DID THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE HELP SPREAD THE
RELIGION OF CHRISTIANITY THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE?
removed the ban on religion
43. ON WHAT RELIGION WERE THE TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY
BASED?
Judaism
44. WHAT FACTORS WEAKENED THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT AND LED
TO ITS DECLINE?
became to large communication was difficult, corruption of
government officials, government no longer efficient
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UNIT 11: THE EARLY AMERICAS
45. WHAT WERE THE PRIMARY FACTORS THAT HELPED THE SPANISH CONQUER THE AZTECS
AND INCAS?
Spanish invaders had superior weapons, European diseases, and problems existed
within the two empires
46. HOW DID THE MAYA CHANGE THEIR ENVIRONMENT TO IMPROVE CITY LIFE?
terraced the land for farming, paved areas for public gatherings, built canals
47. WHERE WAS THE INCA EMPIRE LOCATED? WHAT KINDS OF TERRAIN WERE INCLUDED?
along the west coast of South America; coastal deserts, snowy mountains, fertile
valleys, thick forests
48. HOW DID THE AZTECS ADAPT THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT TO CREATE ADDITIONAL LAND
FOR FARMING?
because the land was swampy, the Aztecs created floating gardens made of river silt
piled on large rafts.
49. WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES OF THE EARLY AMERICAN
CIVILIZATIONS?
observatories, calendars, architecture
50. READ THE EXERPTS. BASED ON CIERZO’S DESCRIPTION, WHAT CONCLUSION CAN YOU
DRAW ABOUT THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY THE INCAS?
he was impressed by the extensive roads and engineering.
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