AP World History - Stearns
Chapter 1 – From Human Prehistory to the Early Civilizations
Archeological studies and other scientific methods have provided us with a view of human development that begins
millions of years ago. Most of the 2 million-plus years of our existence as a species has been described as the Paleolithic,
or Old Stone, Age. This lengthy phase, during which both Homo erectus and then Homo sapien sapien made their
appearances, ran until about 14,000 years ago. Homo erectus appeared as early as 500,000-750,000 years ago. They stood
upright and learned simple tool use, mainly through employing suitably shaped rocks and sticks for hunting and gathering.
Several species of Homo erectus developed and spread in Africa and to Asia and Europe, reaching a population of perhaps
1.5 million 100,000 years ago. Homo erectus disappeared about 40,000 years ago. Our immediate ancestors were Homo
sapiens sapiens. All current races are descended from this subspecies. Early varieties of Homo sapiens sapiens lived as
small bands of hunter-gatherers. These groups developed language, rituals, and more sophisticated tools.
The Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Revolution is the term given to the development of agricultural societies. This
revolution in economic, political, and social organization began in the Middle East as early as 10,000 B.C.E. and gradually
spread to other centers, including parts of India, North Africa, and Europe. With the rise of agricultural forms of economic
production, humans were able to remain settled more permanently in one spot and increase their levels of specialization
regarding particular economic, political, and religious functions. Additionally, the emergence of agriculturally based
societies caused a massive increase in the sheer number of people in the world. However, most evidence suggests that
gathering and hunting peoples resisted agriculture as long as they could. By about 3000 B.C.E., metalworking had become
common in the Middle East. Like agriculture, knowledge of metals gradually fanned out to other parts of Asia and to
Africa and Europe. Metalworking was extremely useful to agricultural and herding societies. Agricultural peoples had the
resources to free up a small number of metal tool makers who specialized in this activity and exchanged their product with
farmers for food.
Civilization. The word “civilization” comes from the Latin term for “city.” Formal states, writing, cities, and monuments
all characterize civilizations. Civilizations also exhibit elaborate trading patterns and extensive political territories. While
many of the ingredients of civilization had existed by 6000 B.C.E., the origins of civilization, strictly speaking, date to only
about 3500 B.C.E. The first civilizations were the river-valley civilizations, so-called because they all developed alongside
major rivers to secure an adequate water supply for agricultural production. The earliest river-valley civilizations began in
the Middle East and flourished for many centuries. They created a basic set of tools, intellectual concepts such as writing
and mathematics, and political forms that would persist and spread to other parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Most of the
river-valley civilizations were in decline by 1000 B.C.E.
Tigris-Euphrates Civilization. This civilization originated in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a part of the
Middle East called Mesopotamia. It was one of the few cases of a civilization that started from scratch—with no examples
from any place available for imitation. This civilization progressed mostly due to the accomplishments of the Sumerians,
the most influential people in the Tigris-Euphrates region. By about 3500 B.C.E, the Sumerians had developed the first
known human writing, cuneiform. They also were characterized by the development of astronomical sciences, intense
religious beliefs, and tightly organized city-states. The Sumerians improved the region’s agricultural prosperity by learning
about fertilizers and using silver to conduct commercial exchange. Their ideas about divine forces in natural objects were
common among early agricultural peoples; a religion of this sort, which sees many gods in aspects of nature, is known as
polytheism. Sumerian political structures stressed tightly organized city-states, ruled by a king who claimed divine
authority. Here was a key early example how a civilization and political structures combined. The government helped
regulate religion and enforce its duties; it also provided a system of courts for justice. Kings were originally war leaders,
and the function of defense and war, including leadership of a trained army, remained vital. The Sumerians eventually
succumbed to the Akkadians, who continued much of the Sumerian culture in the Tigris-Euphrates region, and the
Babylonians, who developed Hammurabi’s code. It laid down the procedure for law courts and regulated property rights
and duties of family members, setting harsh punishments for crimes. This focus on standardizing a legal system was one of
the features of early river valley civilizations.
Egyptian Civilization. Egyptian civilization emerged in northern Africa along the Nile River by about 3000 B.C.E. It
benefited from trade and influences from Mesopotamia, but it also produced its own distinct social structures and cultural
expressions. Unlike Mesopotamian civilization, Egyptian civilization featured very durable and centralized institutions.
Mathematical achievements and impressive architectural structures also characterized Egyptian civilization. From 2700
B.C.E. onward, the Egyptian pharaohs directed the building of the pyramids, which were to function as their tombs.
However, the building of these massive architectural monuments could only be accomplished with the use of an abundance
of slave labor.
Indian and Chinese River Valley Civilizations. A prosperous urban civilization emerged along the Indus River by 2500
B.C.E., supporting several large cities, such as Harappa. Indus River peoples had trading contacts with Mesopotamia, but
they developed a distinctive alphabet and artistic forms. Invasions by Indo-Europeans resulted in such complete destruction
of this culture that little is known today about its subsequent influence on India. Civilization along the Huang (Yellow)
River in China developed in considerable isolation, though some overland trading contact developed with India and the
Middle East. In addition to the existence of an organized state that carefully regulated irrigation in the flood-prone river
valley, the Chinese had produced advanced technology and elaborate intellectual life by about 2000 B.C.E. There was also
less of a break between Chinese river-valley society and the later civilizations in China than in any other region. The Shang
ruled over the Huang River valley by about 1500 B.C.E. These rulers are noted for managing the construction of
impressive tombs and palaces.
In Depth: The Idea of Civilization in World Historical Perspective. The belief that there are fundamental differences
between the “civilized” and the “barbarians” is an old and widespread one, used by the Chinese, American Indians, ancient
Greeks, and modern western Europeans, to name just a few. The latter attempted to define a series of stages in human
development that ranged from utterly primitive to “advanced,” with the advanced culture belonging to the western
Europeans. By the nineteenth century, racial qualities were quantified as qualifiers for position along the hierarchy of
“civilization.” In the twentieth century much of that intellectual baggage was eventually discarded. At present, the most
accepted way to approach a definition of civilization is to see it as one of several ways humans identify social organization.
The Heritage of the River Valley Civilizations. Basic achievements like the wheel, alphabets, mathematics, and divisions
of time are vital legacies of the early civilizations. Mesopotamian art and Egyptian architecture influenced the Greeks, and
subsequently the Romans, who both passed on much of their heritage to Muslim and European civilization. The
Phoenicians devised a simplified alphabet that greatly influenced the Greek and Latin writing systems. The most influential
of the smaller Middle Eastern groups were the Jews, who gave the world the first clearly developed monotheistic religion.
In Depth: The Legacy of Asia’s First Civilizations. The first civilizations that developed in south Asia and China
matched the Mesopotamian civilizations in size, complexity, and longevity. Although much of the Harappan civilization
was destroyed and unknown for thousands of years, some legacies (e.g., yoga positions) carried on. In contrast, much from
the early Chinese civilizations survived and profoundly influenced the history of that region; of particular note is the
Mandate of Heaven and its writing system.
The First Civilizations. The first civilizations established a pattern of division among the world’s peoples. After Homo
sapiens spread to almost every corner of the world and then had relatively little contact with each other, separate languages
and cultures developed. But by 1000 B.C.E. the Phoenicians traded with Britain and Chinese silk was sold in Egypt.
Overall, four distinct centers of civilizations developed: the Middle East, India, China, and Egypt (five if the nascent
Olmec civilization is included). Each had important commonalities including trade, writing, and cities, yet was in many
ways different from the others. Thus, the duality of common experience and diversity has been part of the human
experience for a very long time.
I. Introduction
A. Human origin – 2.5 million years ago
1. 1/4000 of earth’s existence – 24 hour day – last 5 minutes
B. Human negatives and positives
1. Aggressiveness, long baby time, back problems, death fears
2. Grip, high/regular sex drive, omnivores, facial expressions, speech
C. Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age – 2.5 million to 12000 BCE
1. Simple tools – increase in size, brain capacity – Homo erectus
II. Late Paleolithic Developments
A. Homo sapiens – 120,000 years ago – killed off others?
a. Population growth required change – 1 square mile to hunt/gather for 2 people
i. Long breast feeding – limit fertility
ii. Relative gender equality – women harder, but both contributed
b. Rituals for death, explain environment, rules for social behavior
c. Greatest achievement – spread over earth
i. Fire/animal skin
ii. 14,000 Great ice age ended
d. Tools – sharpen animal bones, rafts
e. Domesticated animals
f. Conflicts w/ others – bone breaks/skull fractures
B. Knowledge based on cave paintings, tool remains, burial sites
III. Neolithic (New Stone) Age Revolution
A. Agriculture changed everything – could support more people
1. Settle one spot – focus on economic, political, religious goals
2. 14,000-10,000 BCE – 6 million to 100 million people
B. Causes of Agriculture
1. Population increase – better climate
2. Big game animals decreasing – hunting yield declined
3. Gradual change – harvesting wild grains to planting seeds
C. New animals domesticated – pigs, sheep, goats, cattle
1. Meat, skins, dairy
2. Advantage to Europe?
D. Why Middle East?
1. Water source, fertile area, not forested, lacked animals
E. “Revolution” gradual – many combined changes w/ hunting gathering – 1000 years
F. Effects
1. Longer work week – labor intensive
2. Build houses, villages
3. Varied clothing
G. Resistance – too complicated, boring, difficult
1. Disease – those in villages developed immunity – nomads died off/joined
2. Some isolated societies still avoid
a. Harsh climate, no exchange of knowledge
b. Tough, nomadic invaders
3. Nomads – not that influential accept for interaction
H. Changes
1. Specialization
2. Technology – control of nature – storage facilities, pottery
3. Metal tools – Bronze Age 3000 – Iron Age 1500 BCE
IV. Civilization
A. Hunter/gatherer – no bigger than 60 – food runs out
a. Other options – slash and burn
b. Tribal bands – strong kinship – relatively small
B. Benefits of settling
1. Houses, wells, improvements used by future, irrigation
2. Irrigation/defense required work together – organization from above
C. Catal Huyuk – Turkey – 7000 BCE civilization studied
1. Rooftop activity – broken bones
2. Religious responsibilities/fertility gods – images
3. Trade w/others for peace
D. Definition – societies economic surplus > division of labor/social hierarchy
1. Formal political organizations – no relation to family unit
2. City benefits – wealth, exchange of ideas, artistic/intellectual expression,
manufacturing/trade specialization
E. Writing
1. First - Cuneiform – wedge shaped Middle East
2. Tax efficiently
3. Contracts/treaties
4. Build on past wisdom
5. People look at world as something to be understood rationally
6. Not all peoples literate, each civilization only a minority
F. Greek term - Barbarians – civilization vs. nomads – wanderers
G. Negatives of civilization
1. Class/caste distinctions - slavery
2. Separation between rulers/ruled
3. Warlike
4. Gender inequality – patriarchal – men get manufacturing, political, religious leaders
H. Benefits of nomadic living
1. More regulations – word of mouth
2. Respect of elders/children
3. Herding economies
4. Technological improvements – stirrup, weaponry
I. Impact on Environment
1. Deforestation
2. Erosion, flooding
In Depth: The Idea of Civilization in World History Perspective
A. Differences between civilized and barbaric/savages long held
1. Chinese – cultural, not biological or racial – could adapt
2. American Indians – feared Chichimecs – sons of the dog
B. Related to fear of invasion/outsiders common
C. Civilis – of the citizens – Latin
1. Rome – urban dwellers vs. forest/desert dwellers
2. Greece – bar, bar – barbarians
D. Historians initially – cultural differences, then 19th century racial differences
1. Some races more inventive, moral, courageous, artistic
a. Savage to civilized – white, yellow, red, brown, black
b. Social Darwinism – historiography
c. Justified European expansion – White Man’s Burden
d. Ethnocentrism
E. Other approach – civilization just one form of social organization
1. All societies produce cultures, though might lack food surplus/specialization
2. All peoples capable – but lack resources, historical circumstances, desire
V. Tigris-Euphrates Civilization
A. Precedents
1. Writing
2. Law codes
3. City planning/architecture
4. Trade institutions & money
B. Mesopotamia – land between two rivers
1. One of 3 civilizations from scratch – Central America, China, Mesopotamia
2. Farming required irrigation
3. Sumerians 3500 BCE
a. Cuneiform – scribes
b. Sumerian art – frescoes for temples
c. Science – astronomy – calendar/forecasts – aided agriculture
1. Charts of constellations
d. Ziggurats – first monumental architecture
e. Role of geography
1. Swift and unpredictable floods – religious
2. Polytheism – punishment of humans through floods – Noah
3. Gloomy – punishment in afterlife – hell
4. Easy to invade – constant war
f. City-states – king w/ divine authority
1. Regulate religion
2. Court system for justice
3. Land worked by slaves – warfare created labor surplus
g. Inventions – wheeled carts, fertilizer, silver money
4. Babylonians
a. Hammurabi – first codified law
1. Procedure for courts
2. Property rights
3. Harsh punishments
5. Indo-European invasions from North
a. Adopted culture
C. Egyptian Civilization
1. Benefited from trade/technology of Mesopotamia
2. Geographic factors
a. Difficult to invade
b. Regular flooding cycle
3. Economy – government directed vs. Mesopotamia – freedom
4. Pharoahs – godlike – tombs – pyramids
5. Interactions with Kush to the South
6. Egyptian art – lively, cheerful, colorful – positive afterlife – surrounded by beauty
7. Architecture influenced later Mediterranean
D. Indian and Chinese River Valley Civilizations
1. Indus River – Harappa/Mohenjo Daro
a. Unique alphabet/art
1. Harappan alphabet not deciphered
b. Invasion plus invasion by Indo-Europeans – difficult to understand culture
2. Huanghe (Yellow River)
a. Isolated, little overland trading
b. History part fact/fiction
c. State organized irrigation
d. Elaborate intellectual life
1. Writing – knotted ropes, scratches of lines, ideographic symbols
2. Delicate art, musical interest
3. Limited materials – basic housing
E. Heritage of the River Valley Civilizations
1. Accomplishments
a. Monuments
b. Wheel
c. Taming of horse
d. Square roots
e. Monarchies/bureaucracies
f. Calendars/time
g. Major alphabets
2. How much are these civilizations “origin” of today
a. Except for China, all have a break from past
b. Roman empire – god-like king
c. Slavery
d. Scientific achievements – Greeks studied Egyptians
3. East vs. West
a. Mesopotamians – gap between humankind and nature
b. China – basic harmony all live together
c. Temple building, art, architecture – Mesopotamia to Middle East/Greece
d. Mesopotamia – regional cultures created that could survive invasion
1. Phoenicians – 22 letter alphabet
a. Colonized – simplified number system
2. Jews – morally/ethically based monotheistic religion
a. Semitic people – small, relatively weak – only autonomous
when region was in chaos
b. Believed god- Jehovah – guided destinies of people
1. Orderly, just – not whimsical
c. Created moral code
d. Religion basis for Christianity/Islam
e. God’s compact with Jews
1. Little conversion
2. Minority position in Middle East
F. The First Civilizations
1. Clear division between river valley civilizations and classical civilizations
a. Invasion/natural calamities – India
b. Invasion/political decline – Egypt
c. Mesopotamia – break but bridges – smaller cultures
1. Values and institutions spread
2. Theme emerges – “Steadily proliferating contacts against a background of often
fierce local identity”
3. Integrating force
a. Local autonomy lessens – priests/kings increase power
4. Four centers of civilization started
5. Close neighbors – Egypt/Mesopotamia – different politics, art, beliefs on death
6. Diversity and civilization worked together
Questions: Multiple Choice
1. The human species was characterized in the Paleolithic Age by all of the following EXCEPT
a. Rituals to lessen the fear of death
b. The development of agricultural-based economies
c. Slow population growth
d. The ability to communicate with speech
e. The development of simple stones and wooden tools
2. The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone, Age spanned from
a. 12000-8000 B.C.E.
b. 8000-5000 B.C.E.
c. 80,000-40,000
d. 4000-1500 B.C.E.
e. 200,000-15,000 B.C.E.
3. The emergence of agriculture, or the Neolithic Revolution, caused all of the following
EXCEPT
a. The disappearance of hunter-gatherer communities
b. The ability of humans to settle more permanently in one spot
c. The gradual removal of hunters from the agricultural community
d. A population explosion
e. An increase in the specialization of political, economic, and religious functions
4. The Neolithic Revolution first occurred in
a. The Bering Strait
b. North Africa
c. Europe
d. Middle East
e. China
5. Metal tools were preferred over wood and stone tools for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
a. They made woodworking easier
b. They were sharper and more precise
c. They were easier for ordinary people to produce in mass at home
d. Metal hoes and other tools allowed farmers to work the ground more efficiently
e. They made superior weapons
6. Which of the following does not define a civilization?
a. Writing systems
b. The development of cities
c. Adaptation of new technology, such as metal tools
d. Political units capable of ruling large regions
e. More equality between social classes
7. The Tigris-Euphrates civilization, Sumeria, produced the first
a. Monotheistic religion
b. Irrigation system
c. Village structure
d. Wheel
e. Writing system
8. Egyptian civilization differed from Mesopotamian civilization by stressing
a. An independent business class
b. Intense religious practice
c. More centralized and durable empires
d. Trade and science
e. The utilization of slave labor
9. Which river-valley civilization was characterized by isolation?
a. Indus
b. Hwanghe
c. Nile
d. Missouri
e. Sumeria
10. As the most influential of the smaller Middle Eastern regional cultures, the Jews were
characterized most by
a. A strong military tradition
b. A large, centralized state
c. Agriculture
d. An expanding population throughout the Middle East
e. Monotheism
Questions: True/False
1. In the Paleolithic Age, hunter-gatherers could support large populations and elaborate societies.
a. True
b. False
2. One sign of the revolutionary quality of agreculture as a system of production was the very
slowness of its spread.
a. True
b. False
3. The first civilization developed along the bank of the Nile River.
a. True
b. False
4. Most early civilizations were characterized by the existence of agriculture, significant cities,
writing systems, and more formal states.
a. True
b. False
5. Having started in 3500 B.C.E., civilization developed initially in four centers-the Middle East,
Egypt, North America, and northwestern Japan.
a. True
b. False
6. Sumerian political structure stressed a loosely organized empire, ruled by a queen who claimed
divine authority.
a. True
b. False
7. Many of the accomplishments of the river-valley civilizations had lasting impacts, which are
fundamental to world history even today.
a. True
b. False
8. There was no difference in the impact that Indus and Hwanghe river-valley civilizations,
respectively, had on later civilizations in India and China.
a. True
b. False
9. The Phoenicians, Lydians, and Jews were examples of smaller Middle Eastern cultures that
were capable of surviving and flourishing when the great empires were weak.
a. True
b. False
10. Monotheism is the belief in a single divinity that was introduced by the Jewish people.
a. True
b. False
c.
Questions: Short Answer
1. Most of the 2 million-plus years during which our species has existed are described by the term
________ .
2. The ending of the ___________ was a major factor in the formation of the first farming
communities, or the emergence of the Neolithic Revolution.
3. The Neolithic village, ___________, has been elaborately studied by archaeologists.
4. Most civilizations developed writing, starting with the emergence of________ in the Middle
East around 3500 B.C.E.
5. It was under the Babylonian rule that King ____________ introduced the most famous early
code of law.
6. Egyptian civilization sprang up in northern Africa, along the __________ River.
7. By about 1500 B.C.E., a line of kings called the _______ ruled over the Hwanghe river-valley
civilization.
8. A smaller regional culture called the ________ devised a greatly simplified alphabet with 22
letters around 1300 B.C.E.; this in turn was the ancestor of the Greek and Latin alphabets.
9. The largest city to develop along the Indus River was ________.
10. Beginning in 2700 B.C.E., the Egyptian pharaohs used slave labor build the ___________.
Terms:
1. prehistory vs. history
2. stages of hominid development
3. Paleolithic Era
4. Neolithic Era
5. foraging societies
6. nomadic hunters/gatherers
7. Ice Age
8. civilization
9. Domestication of plants and animals
10. nomadic pastoralism
11. migratory farmers
12. partrilineal/patrilocal
13. irrigation systems
14. metalworking
15. ethnocentrism
16. sedentary agriculture
17. shifting cultivation
18. slash-and-burn agriculture
19. matrilineal
20. cultural diffusion
21. independent invention
22. specialization of labor
23. metallurgy and metalworking
24. Fertile Crescent
25. Gilgamesh
26. Hammurabi’s Law Code
27. hieroglyphics
28. Indus valley civilization