The Human Web Questions
Use the excerpt of The Human Web by J.R. and McNeill to answer these questions.
https://books.google.com/books?id=RvR6I6VzpzMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
Why did the first civilizations emerge when and where they did? How did Islam become a unifying force in the world of
its birth? What enabled the West to project its goods and power around the world from the fifteenth century on? Why
was agriculture invented seven times and the steam engine just once? World-historical questions such as these, the
subjects of major works by Jared Diamond, David Landes, and others, are now of great moment as global frictions
increase. In a spirited and original contribution to this quickening discussion, two renowned historians, father and son,
explore the webs that have drawn humans together in patterns of interaction and exchange, cooperation and
competition, since earliest times. Whether small or large, loose or dense, these webs have provided the medium for the
movement of ideas, goods, power, and money within and across cultures, societies, and nations. From the thin, localized
webs that characterized agricultural communities twelve thousand years ago, through the denser, more interactive
metropolitan webs that surrounded ancient Sumer, Athens, and Timbuktu, to the electrified global web that today
envelops virtually the entire world in a maelstrom of cooperation and competition, J. R. McNeill and William H. McNeill
show human webs to be a key component of world history and a revealing framework of analysis. Avoiding any
determinism, environmental or cultural, the McNeills give us a synthesizing picture of the big patterns of world history in
a rich, open-ended, concise account.
Introduction
1. What is a “web?” What characteristics define them? Why are they important in world history?
2. Describe the 3 major stages of the human web from 6000 BCE to present day. Indicate important milestone years in
your description.
3. How do webs change over time?
4. How do webs remain the same over time?
Part I: The Human Apprenticeship
Rationale: By now you should have an idea of what a web is, and who the authors of the concept are.
When studying history in general, and for the AP exam in particular, it is essential that we develop a narrative. Racing
through a textbook learning about this or that culture, civilization, kingdom, leader, war or economic development can
make one feel like she is checking off points on a list of bullets—there is no story behind the facts. However, contextual
understanding—knowing the narrative of human history—is essential for a sophisticated understanding of the events
we study and the way they influence our lives and planet. Every history essay you will write next year will require you to
make note of the global context of your subject, and the AP World History exam has a specific essay—the Change and
Continuity over Time or CCOT essay—in which you must demonstrate your knowledge of what remains the same in
human history, what changes; how and why.
Also, a key method for analyzing this narrative is Comparison. Another of your required essays requires you to directly
make comparisons among peoples, nations and cultures. To make a comparison, you must be able to effectively
describe and analyze both similarities and differences among the units you are asked to compare. We will practice this
extensively this year. Narrative-building and social analysis go hand in hand in the AP World History course.
1. How have historians determined there was a widespread migration around 40,000 years ago?
2. What crucial characteristic separates humans from other species?
3. Why is the development of a concept of a spirit world considered such a great intellectual advancement? Also
describe the general beliefs held by early people about the spirit world.
4. How did early hunter-gatherer bands interact with the environment? Explain a few ways.
5. What are the 3 archetypal societies described by the McNeills? How are all 3 societies similar?
Key Concept 1.1: Big Geography & Peopling of the Earth
Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
AP World History
Part II: Shifting to Food Production - 11,000-3,000 Years Ago
1. Copy the chart from p. 26.
Date
Place
Main Crops
Main Animals
Southeast Asia
Southwest Asia
China
Central Mexico
South America
Sub-Saharan Africa
4,000 Years Ago
North America
Squash, Sunflower, Marsh Elder
2. Thinking Ahead: How will the differences in timing of agriculture set the stage for future conflict / superiority
complexes between groups?
3. What were the downsides to agriculture? Why did human groups still choose this lifestyle over nomadism?
4. Explain why human societies transitioned from egalitarian to hierarchical, with women subordinate, due to
agriculture.
5. What new information was injected into the web from farming?
6. How did domesticated animals benefit human societies?
7. How did webs affect the diffusion and development of agriculture?
8. How did agriculture and pastoralism, in turn, affect the development of webs?
9. Synthesis: How did human societies change with the advent of agriculture?
10. Synthesis: How did the environment change (land and animals) with the advent of agriculture?
Key Concept 1.1: Big Geography & Peopling of the Earth
Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
AP World History
Part III: Webs and Civilizations in the Old World, 3500 BCE-250CE
20.
How did the rise of civilizations alter the human web?
21.
What were the earliest civilizations in Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Asia? What did they all have in
common? How were they different?
22.
What two developments had the greatest impact during this time? How did they foster the growth of societies?
23.
In what ways did Eurasia have an advantage over sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Oceania during this
time?
24.
Extension - Are some human groups superior to another? If not, how can you prove this? What types of
historical factors explain why one group, race, ethnicity or nation may be dominant at any given time? How far back do
we need to look in order to analyze these relationships of power?
Part IV: The Growth of Webs in the Old World and America 200-1000CE
25.
Part V: Thickening Webs 1000-1500
26.
Part VI: Spinning the Worldwide Web 1450-1800
27.
Part VII: Breaking Old Chains, ithe New Web
28.
Part VIII: Strains on the Web: The World Since 1890
29.
Part IX: Big Pictures & Long Prospects
30.
31.
Key Concept 1.1: Big Geography & Peopling of the Earth
Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
AP World History