Civilization Fact Report: MUST BE HANDWRITTEN
Chronology. Rulers, Regimes, Wars,
Battles, Key Events, Legislation,
Constitutions, Inventions, Introduction
of new
ideas/religions/philosophies/technologi
es.
Map. Include location of capitals, important cities, trade routes, key geographic features, &
battles. Indicate expansion/condensing of borders. Use COLOR on the map. Make sure to label!
Geographic features:
Green = farmland or grasslands
Dark Green = forests
Light Brown = deserts, plains, plateaus
Dark Brown = mountain ranges
Blue = major bodies of water. Rivers, oceans, seas.
Human Geographic features:
 major city, but not a capital. Black.
capital city. Black.
*site of major battle (date of battle in parenthesis. Ex: March – October 1776). Black.
Red = trade routes & networks.
If a civilization is settled in a particular area, or areas, give it a color that is unused. If
there are multiple civilizations, give each a different color. Make sure to label!
PERSIAN Summary. Put together the Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Interactive, Artistic, & Natural characteristics. This should be FULL of
names, dates, key terms, & other historic evidence! Use bullet points to add items in each field. Try to avoid complete sentences, but make sure to
not be too brief in your description. YOU MUST USE ALL KEY TERMS LISTED. Key terms will not be the only information throughout these fields,
however. You will have to write other information! Also, if you list an item, such as ‘Confucianism,’ please explain what exactly it is!
HIGHLIGHT THESE TERMS AS YOU WRITE THEM DOWN IN THE FACT REPORT!
Political: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of government and politics in this civilization.
Names of political leaders (& their years of rule), emperors, kings, dictators, presidents, etc. Why were these men significant – how did they alter their
government, country, and/or society in any way?
What type of government was present? Monarchy, democracy, republic, kingship, dictatorship, oligarchy, autocracy, theocracy?
Was government power centralized (i.e. was it organized with a sizeable bureaucracy & government officials), or decentralized?
Was the head of government also a religious leader (religious and political power invested in one person)?
How did this civilization fall? Outside invasion? Internal economic problems? Internal political problems?
Economic: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of economics and trade in this civilization.
In what items did this civilization specialize?
What goods did they import from outside civilizations?
Where did they primarily trade? Who did they trade with? Did they place any tariffs on imports/exports?
Were they good at trade, or was it not that important?
Was trade primarily over land or by sea? Was it a mixture of both? Were they involved in any trade networks? Which ones?
Did they have a currency? What was it called? Did they use precious metals as currency?
Religious/Philosophical: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of religion and philosophy in this civilization.
What religions or philosophies were prevalent in this civilization? When did this prevalence begin? Where did it originate?
What are some common principles of this religion?
What are the holy books of these religions/philosophies? What key figures were a part of these religions/philosophies?
Was religion/philosophy valued in society? Did it have a place in government?
Was this religion/were these religions popular?
Social: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of society in this civilization.
Did this civilization have a stratified society (highly divided into classes)? Or was there relative equality?
How were women treated? Did they have political, economic, or social privileges?
What percentage of the population was poor? What percentage was wealthy? Was there a middle class at all?
Were there any social codes of behavior or honor? What were they?
Was the society matriarchal (women = prominent and powerful) or patriarchal (men = prominent and powerful)?
Interactions Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of economics and trade in this civilization.
Trade with outside people, trade routes. What was traded as well? Did this civilization import certain goods? Did they export others?
Wars – who fought? Over what? When? Who won? What was the significance of this war or of a major battle in the war?
Diplomacy – were they friendly to those around them? Isolationist? Expansionist?
Cultural diffusion – did any new ideas/technologies/philosophies/religions/sports/languages/systems of government spread into this civilization from
another?
Pandemics – are there any diseases that spread during this era that impact this civilization? How so?
Arts/Intellectual Achievements: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature of interactions between this civilization
and other peoples.
Names of important artists, inventors, explorers, scientists, mathematicians, intellectuals. How did these men/women change or alter their society with
their invention(s) or idea(s)?
What concepts in math, science, biology, new technologies, art, architecture, or sculpture were explored by this civilization?
Are there any famous concepts or works of art/architecture/sculpture that we need to know about this civilization? Name them!
What new technologies, if any, originated in this civilization or were used heavily by this civilization?
Nature: Thesis sentence: give a sentence summarizing the nature…of well…nature and geography in this civilization.
Describe the environment and geography around this civilization.
How did that geography relate to the people of the civilization and their daily lives?
Thematic paragraph: Summarize the civilization in a paragraph. Talk about the major ideas of the information you listed above in
the PERSIAN chart. Answer this question in your last sentence: How does this civilization fit into the greater themes expressed in this
era? Give all reasons! There may be more than one! What is significant about this civilization – why should we even care?! This should
AT LEAST 8 sentences long!
Advice for Civilization Fact Reports. MOST IMPORTANTLY: WRITE SMALL!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Don’t skimp on the map. All tests given in this class will have a map identification section. Anything that
has to be identified MUST be identified. Labels will have to be small. Write neatly and legibly. Give correct
dates. When trying to define the borders of a civilization, empire, etc. just draw the borders at the
HEIGHT of the civilization or empire (when the borders were their biggest). You may need outside help
(other maps, available online or in other resources).
Don’t skimp on the chronology. Give the CORRECT dates. Missing major things like the birth of a religion, a
major battle in a war (a war for that matter), the use of a new technology & where it came from, or the
reign of an important ruler leaves a big gap in the context of the civilization. Follow the Wood book and
you’ll find everything you need.
When delving into the PERSIAN summary portion YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE IN COMPLETE
SENTENCES, EXCEPT FOR THE SUMMARY SENTENCE AT THE TOP OF THE BOX. This will minimize space –
space is precious! With that being said it is expected that each of the PERSIAN fields will be FULL of
information.
a. PERSIAN summary sentences: No one way is the best way to summarize a civilization’s political,
economic, religious, social, interactive, artistic, or natural characteristics, but MAKE AN EFFORT TO
DO SO. You may swing and miss, but don’t put down ‘Economic: The Aztecs traded with people’ and
expect to get away with it! That’s far too short! Use your vocabulary and be a bit creative with it.
Semicolons, hyphens, and other punctuation is recommended, but not required.
Doing a PERSIAN requires being picky. There is a difference between being too vague and being too
detailed.
a. Examples of BAD PERSIANing:
i. Summary Sentence: Religious: The Roman State religion was everywhere.
1. Jupiter – biggest god.
2. Emperors were gods.
3. People built temples to honor gods.
4. Christianity became popular.
b. Examples of GOOD PERSIANing:
i. Summary Sentence: Religious: Religious affairs in Rome were mixed by the end of the
empire, but originally the state religion dominated Roman society, with minor Eastern cults
and major religions like Christianity becoming more prominent than the state religion by
the end.
1. Romans borrowed gods from neighboring Etruscans, and also influenced by Greek
gods (ex: Venus = Aphrodite, Jupiter = Zeus, Mars = Ares)
2. Jupiter – the father of all gods. Roman equivalent to Greek Zeus.
3. Temples to major gods found in every city/town.
4. Priests = Pontifexes, men. High in Roman social hierarchy.
5. Former emperors revered as gods after death.
6. Christianity founded 0 BCE/CE, heavily persecuted until tolerated in Empire by
Constantine 312 CE.
7. Judaism = confined to Palestine, but Jewish pop. spread out after Rome conquered
Palestine 1st cent. CE.
The summary paragraph at the end should be a conglomeration of all of your SUMMARY SENTENCES for
each part of the PERSIAN! It’s basically a way of describing the civilization in eight sentences! This is a
GREAT writing skill to master, and will help you articulate big ideas on essays later in the year!
Remember, if you can’t find something in the book, or the book is unclear, use other
resources! Other resources are available on both Jensens’ websites. C. Jensen – ‘Week by Week’
section. D. Jensen – ‘This Week in Class’ sections.
Good luck!