Geography & Its Effects
• Monsoons: “feast or famine” of South
Asia, Green Revolution
• Irregular coastline: Italy has many natural
ports, inviting trade & Renaissance
• Land Bridge: Korea serves as a cultural
bridge for cultural diffusion between
Japan and China
• Great Eurasian Plain: allowed easy
invasions of Poland and Soviet Union
(WWII)
• Natural resources: iron ore and coal in
Great Britain - Industrial Revolution
• Rivers: early civilizations emerge; Nile
River, Indus River, Huang He
• Island status: Japan’s limited natural
resources - imperialism &
industrialization, Great Britain- strength
of navy, trade
• Harsh winter: Russia’s “General
Winter” helped defeat Napoleon and
Hitler
• Desertification: arable land turning to
desert
–Sahel region of Sahara Desert in Africa
–Causes: overgrazing, cutting down
forests
–Effects: Sahara Desert grows 50
miles/yr, famine
–Solutions: education, planting trees to
reduce soil erosion, crop rotation,
international aid
• Deforestation: destruction of forests
–Brazil, India, Indonesia
–Cause: developing nations looking to
sell lumber or clear land to grow crops,
graze cattle or build homes
–Effects: Losing 50 million acres of
tropic forest each year, greenhouse
effect, soil erosion, extinction of certain
plants and animals
–Solutions: education, planting trees,
population control, economic
development
• Overpopulation (too many people for the
available resources)
–Causes: traditional values, laborers,
lack of birth control
–China, India, Bangladesh
–Effects: World population of 6.2 billion
and growing, drain on resources
(including energy, education, food,
farmland and water)
–Solutions: education, family planning,
China’s “one-child” policy
• Judaism
–Israel, created in 1948
–Holy Book: Torah
–Three beliefs: monotheistic, God gave
Hebrews the land of Canaan (Israel), 10
Commandments
–Spread throughout world as a result of
Diaspora
–Impact: Zionism (Jewish nationalism),
conflict in the Middle East, antiSemitism during Middle Ages,
Holocaust, Russian pogroms, creation
of Israel as a Jewish homeland
• Christianity
–Western Europe, Latin America
(Catholic)
–Holy Book: Bible
–Three beliefs: monotheistic, Jesus
Christ as savior, 10 Commandments
–Spread through Age of Imperialism
(White Man’s Burden)
–Impact: Crusades, dominant institution
during the Middle Ages, Protestant
Reformation (Martin Luther)
• Islam
–Middle East (except Israel), Indonesia
–Holy Book: Quran (Koran)
–Three beliefs: monotheistic, Five
Pillars (faith, prayer, charity, fasting,
pilgrimage to Mecca), Sharia (Islamic
laws)
–Spread through trade and conquest
–Impact: unites most of Middle East,
Islamic fundamentalism in Iran (1979),
Crusades (Jihad), creation of Pakistan
after the partitioning of India in 1947
• Hinduism
–India
–Sacred text: Vedas &Upanishads
–Basic beliefs: several gods, caste
system, reincarnation, karma, dharma,
sacred cow, Ganges River is sacred
–Impact: caste system remains strong in
rural areas but is weakening in cities,
many Hindus are vegetarians (Sepoy
Mutiny), partitioning of India in 1947
• Buddhism
–Southeast Asia, China (spread from
India - an example of cultural diffusion)
–Basic beliefs: reincarnation, nirvana,
Four Nobel Truths
• life is full of suffering
• suffering is caused by a desire for
things
• suffering can be eliminated by
eliminating desire
• following the Eightfold Path will help
overcome desire (right thinking and
action)
• Confucianism
–China
–Basic beliefs: Five Basic Human
Relationships, education should be the
road to advancement, filial piety
(respect for family), Mandate of Heaven
(rule must benefit people or may be lost
- unlike divine right)
–Impact: provides social order and
encourages education
• Traditional: based on subsistence
farming
• Manorialism: based on feudal manor
(little trade)
• Mercantilism: nations sought to export
more than import/ favorable balance of
trade (led to imperialism)
• Free market/ Laissez-faire capitalism:
based on profit, private ownership, little
gov’t interference
•Command/ communism/ Marxist
socialism: gov’t makes all economic
decisions, no private ownership, proletariat
(workers) control means of production
• Revolution=overthrow of a pre-existing
way
• Neolithic Revolution: FROM nomadic
tribes TO domestication of animals and
farming gave rise to early civilizations
(food surplus)
• Commercial Revolution: FROM limited
trade TO urban centers, new middle class
and changes in business
practices(mercantilism & capitalism)
• Scientific Revolution: FROM medieval
thinking based on Church’s teachings TO
use of observation and reason
• Glorious Revolution: FROM absolutist
policies of James II TO signing of Bill of
Rights limiting power of the monarchy in
Great Britain
• French Revolution: FROM absolute
monarchy of Louis XVI TO democratic
ideals of Enlightenment, end of estate
system
• Industrial Revolution: FROM cottage
industry (goods made at home by hand)
TO factory system, women working,
higher standard of living, reform
movement
• Russian Revolution: FROM Czarist
autocratic rule of Nicholas II TO
communist rule under Lenin (Russia was
the first communist nation)
• Chinese Revolution: FROM warlord
control and civil war with Nationalists TO
communist rule under Mao Zedong
(supported by peasants)
•Iranian Revolution: FROM western rule
of Shah Reza Pahlevi TO Islamic
Fundamentalist rule of Ayatollah Khomeini
•Green Revolution: FROM limited crop
yield TO double crop yield in
South/Southeast Asia
• All nationalists want independence from
foreign rule
• Latin America: Simon Bolivar, Toussaint
L’Overture, Jose de San Martin
• Italy: Cavour, Mazzini, Garabaldi
• India: Mohandas Gandhi
• Africa: Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) Kwame
Nkrumah (Ghana)
• China: Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek
• Palestine: Yasir Arafat
Karl Marx (Marxist/ Marxist Socialism/
communism)
V.I. Lenin (Russia/U.S.S.R.)
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
Mikhail Gorbachev (last communist
leader of the Soviet Union)
Fidel Castro (Cuba)
Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping (China)
Ho Chi Mihn (Vietnam)
Kim Jong-Il (North Korea)
Supporters of Westernization
• All supported modernization
• Russia: Catherine the Great, Peter the
Great, Stalin
• Iran: Shah Reza Pahlevi
• Turkey: Kemel Ataturk
• Japan: Emperor Meiji
Ruthless Leaders
• Adolf Hitler leader of Nazis(Germany)
• Pol Pot leader of Khmer Rouge
(Cambodia)
• Slobadon Milosevic leader of Serbs
(Serbia)
• Mao Zedong leader of Red Guard
(China)
• Joseph Stalin leader of network of terror
(Soviet Union)
Religious Leaders
• Martin Luther:
–Goal: to reform Roman Catholic
Church
–Posted 95 Thesis
–Ideas: church corruption must end including the sale of indulgences,
believed that faith alone - not the Pope
and clergy - were needed for salvation
–Impact: Protestant Reformation
shatters religious unity in Western
Europe
Religious Leaders
• Ayatollah Khomeini
–Goal: remove Shah Reza Pahlavi and
create an Islamic Fundamentalist state
in Iran
–Impact: 1979 Islamic (Iranian)
Revolution, government required strict
adherence to Muslim traditions and
enacted anti-western policies, held
Americans hostage for over one year,
women lost rights
Types of Governments
• Democracy: gov’t by the consent of the
people, gov’t to protect individual rights
–Direct: Athens
–Indirect: Rome
–Parliamentary: Britain & India
–Expands to Eastern Europe after the fall
of communism, also the trend in Latin
America and Africa
–Word association: Pericles, John
Locke, Enlightenment
• Communism/Marxist socialism:
government control of economy,
“classless” society, strict gov’t controls.
COLD WAR: policy of containment: stop
the spread of communism
–Russia/Soviet Union, V.I. Lenin, Stalin:
1917 (Russia is NO longer communist!)
–China, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping:
1949
–Cuba, Fidel Castro: 1959
–Vietnam: Ho Chi Mihn: 1975
–North Korea: Kim Jong Ill
• Totalitarian/Authoritarian: Total
control (Stalin)
• Fascist: Dictator, extreme nationalism
(Hitler, Mussolini)
• Theocracy: Religious rule (Ayatollah
Khomeini in Iran, Taliban in Afghanistan)
• Autocratic: Rule by one (Czars of
Russia)
• Absolute rule: Divine right (King Louis
XIV and Louis XVI)
• Feudalism: Local control (NOT king),
strict social system (Western Europe and
Japan)
Human Rights Violations
• Examples of Genocide (mass murder of
a group of people)
–Armenians during WWI
–Holocaust (Jews and others) during
WWII
–educated persons under the Khmer
Rouge
–Hutus and Tutsies in Rwanda
Cultural Contributions
• Early Civilizations
–Mesopotamia: legal system (Code of
Hammurabi), wheel, irrigation,
Cuneiform (writing system of
Sumerians)
–Ancient Egypt: hieroglyphics,
medicine, architecture
–Phoenicians: alphabet
–Ancient China: silk-making,
gunpowder
–Ancient Hebrews: monotheism, Ten
Commandments
• EMPIRES: all expanded their territory
and control through conquest.
• African Kingdoms: Ghana, Mali &
Songhai (thrived on trade of gold and salt,
Mansa Musa adopted Islam - example of
cultural diffusion)
• Middle East: Byzantine Empire
(Justinian Code, Eastern Orthodox,
Constantinople, trade, influences Russia)
Ottoman Empire(Suleiman the
Magnificent tolerated Jews and
Christians, falls after WWI)
• Europe: Roman Empire (Pax Romana,
rise of Christianity, decline into Dark
Ages)
• Latin America: Maya, Aztec, Inca
Empires (rigid social structure,
polytheistic, advances in architecture,
calendar)
•India: Mughal Empire (Akbar the Great
practiced religious toleration between
Muslims and Hindus
Organizations and Groups
–European Union: a growing group
made up of both Western and Eastern
nations. Its goal is to expand free trade
by ending tariffs. Uses common
currency called the euro.
–PLO : (Palestine Liberation
Organization, led by Yasir Arafat) Its
goal it to create an independent state of
Palestine. (in conflict with Israeli Jews)
–OPEC: (Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries) Its goal is to control
the oil industry by setting production
levels and prices.
–United Nations (UN): Its goals are to
promote global peace and encourage
economic and social well-being.
• NATO: North Atlantic Treaty
Organization; a military alliance between
democratic nations after WWII
• WARSAW PACT: a counter military
alliance made up of the Soviet Union and
its satellite nations (communist)
• NAFTA: North American Free Trade
Agreement: its goal is to promote trade
free of tariffs (has pros and cons)
• Nationalism: devotion to one’s
country, especially to be independent and
free from foreign control(hook up with
self-determination / independence
movements)
• Groups seeking independence
–Chechyns in Russia
–Tibetans in China
–Palestinians in Palestine
–Kurds in Iraq
–Albanians in Kosovo
• IMPERIALISM: taking over territory
for raw materials, markets, power and
prestige
• NEGATIVE: treated natives as inferior,
exploited natural resources, forced labor
• POSITIVE: brought technology,
medicine and infrastructure
• AFRICA: 1880s, disregarded boundaries
and traditions, White Man’s Burden,
Scramble for colonies (MauMau
Uprising)
•CHINA: spheres of influence (Boxer
Rebellion)
•INDIA: British rule (Gandhi’s civil
disobedience)
Conflicts
• Cold War: Berlin Blockade, Berlin Wall,
Bay of Pigs (Cuba), Cuban Missile Crisis,
Korean War, Vietnam War
• Israelis and Palestinians: conflict over
Holy Land. Israelis believe God gave the
land to them and Palestinians say they
were living there. Palestinians fled to
neighboring nations after the creation of
Israel. Four wars - Israel wins all.
Palestinians have limited self-rule in Gaza
Strip and West Bank and want statehood.