Uncovering the
Past
Chapter 1
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Chapter 1 Timeline
End of Ice Age
People Invented
Writing
The First Map
Aztec City Teotihuacan
10,000 Years Ago
5,000 Years Ago
2500 BC
500 BC
Waves and currents
reshaped Florida’s
landforms
People began
writing laws,
speeches, battle
plans, and other
things.
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The oldest
know Map is a
Babylonian
clay tablet
Teotihuacan reached its
height, during its time it
was the 6th largest city
in the world; it had a
population of 125,000
and covered about 8
square miles
Chapter 1 Timeline
4-5 Million
Years Ago
2.6 Million
Years Ago
500,000
Years Ago
200,000
Years Ago
11,000
Years Ago
10,000
Years Ago
Early
humanlike
creatures
called
Australopith
ecus
developed
in Africa
Hominids
make the
first stone
tools
By this
time
hominids
live all
across
Europe
The first
modern
humans
appear in
Africa
Humans
occupy all
of the
continents
except
Antarctica
Ice Ages
end and
people
begin to
develop
agriculture
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Period of Time Terms
•
•
•
•
Decade – a period of 10 years
Century – a period of 100 years
Millennium – a period of 1000 years
Epoch – a long period of time marked
by a distinctive development
• Era – a long period of time marked by
great events, developments, or figures
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Terms Used With Dates
• Circa or c. – unsure date; about
• BC – before the birth of Christ
• AD – after the birth of Christ
• BCE – BC dates or before the
common era
• CE – AD dates or common era
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Section 1: Studying History
The Big Idea
• Physical geography and human geography contribute
to the study of history.
Main Ideas
• Geography is the study of places and people.
• Studying location is important to both physical and
human geography.
• Geography and history are closely connected.
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Main Idea 1:
History is the study of the past.
• Historians are people who study the
past to understand people’s culture.
– Culture is the knowledge, beliefs,
customs, and values of a group of
people.
• Archaeology is the study of the past
based on what people left behind.
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Understanding Peoples Culture
• Historians study the past
to understand people’s
culture. They want to gain
knowledge of beliefs,
customs, and values of a
group of people.
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Egypt page 7
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Archaeology
• Archaeologists, or people who study
archaeology, explore places where
people once lived, worked, or fought.
• The things that people leave in these
places can range from stone tools to
computers.
• Objects can be examined to learn
about the past and are clues to how
people once lived.
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Main Idea 2:
We can improve our understanding of
people’s actions and beliefs through
the study of history.
History can…
• teach you about yourself
• teach you about other peoples and different
cultures
• provide you with a better understanding of
where you live
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Benefits of Studying History
•History helps you to
understand how
today’s events are
shaped by the events
of the past.
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San Francisco page 8
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Knowing Yourself
• Without your personal history, you
would not have an identity.
• History is just as important for
groups as it is for individuals.
• History teaches us about the
experiences we have been through
and the values we share.
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Knowing Others
• History shows how cultures are
similar and different.
• You can understand why people think
the way they do by studying history.
• This knowledge promotes tolerance
and can help build social harmony.
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Knowing Your World
• History explains how today’s
events are shaped by past
events.
• It also helps you develop mental
skills, such as asking questions.
• History promotes good decisionmaking skills.
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Main Idea 3:
Historians use clues from various
sources to learn about the past.
• Fossils and artifacts give information about
early humans.
– A fossil is a part or an imprint of
something that was once alive.
– Artifacts are objects created and used by
humans.
• Writing is another important source of
information.
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Fossils and Artifacts Teach Us About The Past
•Fossil remains teach us
about the first humans.
•Artifacts teach us about
the tools and objects
used by humans in the
past.
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Sources of Information
• A primary source is an account of an
event that is created by someone who
took part in or witnessed the event.
• A secondary source is information
gathered by someone who did not take
part in or witness an event.
• As historians review and reanalyze
information, their interpretations can
change.
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Examples of Sources
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Primary Source
Treaties, Laws
Letters
Diary
Original Picture
Court documents
Royal Commands
Video Recording
Audio Recording
Autobiography
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•
•
•
•
•
Secondary Source
Textbooks
Journals Articles
Encyclopedias
Wikipedia
Biography
Difference Between Sources
Primary Source
• First Hand Account
• Information from
someone who
witnessed the event
or was part of the
event
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Secondary Source
• Second Hand
Account
• Information
gathered by
someone who did
not witness the
event
Section 2: Studying Geography
The Big Idea
Physical geography and human geography
contribute to the study of history
Main Ideas
• Geography is the study of places and people.
• Studying location is important to both
physical and human geography.
• Geography and history are closely connected.
Holt McDougal,
Main Idea 1:
Geography is the study of
places and people.
• Geography includes the study of both
physical and cultural features.
• Physical geography is the study of
the earth’s land and features.
• Human geography is the study of
people and the places where they
live.
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Difference Between Climate and Weather
Weather
• Weather is the
conditions at a
specific time and
place
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Climate
• Climate is the
weather conditions
in a certain area
over a period of
time
Physical Geography
• Landforms are the natural
features of the land’s surface.
• Climate is the pattern of
weather conditions in a certain
area over a long period of time.
• Landforms and climate are part
of a place’s environment.
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Examples
Landforms
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rain Forest
Lake
Ocean
Mountains
River
Swamp
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Climate
• Desert: Dry Climate
• Tropical Rain
Forest: warm air,
heavy rain
• Coastal Mountains:
cool moist air,
windy
• Ocala, FL: warm and
wet summers, dry
winters
Human Geography
• Geographers study people
and the places where they
live.
• They also study how the
environment affects people.
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How Geography Shaped Human History
• People thrived in areas rich in
resources, and access to rivers
made trade possible. Events
associated with physical
geography, like people using
land bridges, changed history.
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Main Idea 2:
Studying location is important to both
physical and human geography.
• Location is the exact description of
where something is.
• To study various locations,
geographers use maps.
• Learning about regions is another
key part of studying geography.
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Location
• Every place on the Earth has a
specific location.
• No two places in the world are
exactly alike.
• By comparing locations, geographers
learn more about the factors that
affect each of them.
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Studying Maps page 14-15
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Maps
• A drawing of an area
• Maps focus on different things,
such as features, cities, or
boundaries.
• Most maps have symbols to
represent different things.
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Regions
• An area with one or more features
that make it different from
surrounding areas
• The features of a region can be
physical, such as forests or
grassland.
• Human features, such as language or
religion, also define regions.
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Main Idea 3:
Geography and history
are closely connected.
• Resources in an area were critical to
early settlement.
• Early people developed vastly
different cultures because of their
environments.
• Geography has helped shape history
and has affected the growth of
societies.
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Resources
• Materials found in the earth
that people need and value
• Essential early resources
included water, animals,
fertile land, and stones for
tools.
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Essential Resources People Needed
Early Time Resources
• Water
• Animals
• Fertile Land
• Stones for Tools
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Resources Developed
Over a Period of Time
• Copper
• Gold
• Iron
Geography Shapes Cultures
• People developed different cultures based
on their environment.
• Some people developed religious beliefs
based on the geography of their area.
• Geography affected the growth of
civilizations. The first societies formed
along rivers.
• Some geographic features protected areas
from invasion.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil page 16
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Geography Influences History
• People in areas with many natural
resources could use them to get rich
and to build powerful cities.
• Geography causes weather-related
problems such as floods and food
shortages.
• People can affect geography by
planting trees, building lakes, or
creating wastelands.
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Teotihuacan c. AD 500 page 18
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Chapter 1 Review page 21
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