Foundations: 8000 B.C.E.600 C.E.*
*AP World History New Periods
•8000 BCE- 600 BCE
•600 BCE- 600 CE
Foundations Themes
Interaction and Exchange
Urbanization
Nomadic Peoples
Axial Age
Empires
Spread of Religion
Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography
and the Peopling of the Earth
Migration of hunting
and foraging humans
Adaptations of
technology and
culture (fire, new
tools, animistic, small
kinship groups,
limited interactions)
Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and
Early Agricultural Societies
Key Concept 1.3. The Development and Interactions
of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
What is a Civilization?
Origins of termStandard criteria:
Use of term?
Civilizations?
Population
DemographyWhat factors influence population growth
and decline?
Role of Climate and Geography
in Early Societies
Imagine how were early societies may have
been affected.
How do you think early peoples responded?
What difference would geography make in
the long term development of a society?
Comparison of Egypt and
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Predictable flood
Mesopotamia
Irregular flooding
Finding Early Historical Evidence
Types of Sources
David Keyes, Catastrophe
Changing interpretations and new evidence
Nomadic Peoples
Hunting-gathering lifestyle (!Kung people)
Labor/ leisure
Population growth
Gender relations
Rise of Agriculture
Spontaneous separate development – why,
where and when?
Diffusion of specific plants and techniques
Birth of New Technologies
Fire
Bronze
Iron
Early Societies
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus
Shang
Mesoamerica and Andean South America
(Olmec and Chavin)
Urbanization
Comparisons between urban, pastoral and
nomadic life
Period 2: Organization and Reorganization of
Human Societies, c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.
Key Concept 2.1. The Development and
Codification of Religious and Cultural
Traditions
Key Concept 2.2. The Development of
States and Empires
Key Concept 2.3. Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and
Exchange
Classical Societies
Axial ageWhy then?
Results:
Religion
Politics
Social Structure
Gender relations
Axial Age Thinkers
Empire Building
What does an empire require?
What do its subjects expect?
Symbols of legitimacy
Symbols of Legitimacy
Achievements
Greek science and philosophy
Roman law and architecture
Political organization in Han China
Spiritual and artistic developments in Gupta
India
Urbanization and Gender
How might gender roles be affected as
peoples settled?
Origins of World Belief Systems
Polytheism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Hinduism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Judaism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Confucianism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Daoism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Buddhism
Origins of World Belief Systems
Christianity
Origins of World Belief Systems
Islam
Diffusion of Belief Systems
Collapse of Empires
Why do Empires fall?
Conrad-Demarest Model
Early Migrations
Interregional Networks of People
by 600 C.E.
Silk Roads
Mediterranean trade
Indian Ocean trade
Meso and Andean American trading
Silk Routes
Mediterranean Trade Routes
Indian Ocean Trade
Conclusions
How do we know what we know?
How does change happen?
What results stem from interaction through
migration, trade or pilgrimage?
Do case studies detract from the bigger
story or enrich it?
Why do world historians need to pose
questions differently than regional
specialists?