Early World History
Indo-Europeans to the Middle Ages
Indo-European Invasions
Triggered by Flooding of Black Sea 5600 B.C.
Indo-European Invasions
Indo-Europeans
• Indo-Europeans (Aryan
language)
– Nomadic tribes
– From Steppes of Asia
– Herders and Grazers
– Warfare using horses
– Swept into Old Europe,
Middle East, India
starting about 5,000 BC
Hittites
Indo-Europeans
• Religion of war and male
domination
– Male gods of sky, thunder, war
and mountains
• Warrior Priests
• Imposed ideology
– Male dominance
– Hierarchy
Thor
Indo-European Conquerers
• Aryans in India
• Hittites and Mittani in the
Fertile Crescent
• Luians in Anatolia (Turkey)
• Kurgans in eastern Europe
– Battle-Axe People
• Achaeans, Dorians in Greece
Diffusion of Indo-European
Languages
Language Family Tree
thebrain.mcgill.ca/.../i_10_s_lan_1b.jpg
Before Indo -Europeans
• Sedentary agrarian society
• Fertility and nature worshiped
• Goddess gave birth to
– World
– Agriculture
• Priests male and female
• Women’s status similar to men’s
– Graves equal
Fertility Figurine
After Indo-Europeans
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Herding introduced
Warfare, war culture dominates
Fortifications built
Male War Gods worshiped
– Male dominated society, religion
• Goddess loses status
– Killed or raped by male god
– Becomes consort of male god
– Becomes goddess of war
• Women lose status in society
– Owned by fathers then husbands
– Graves unequal
Early Civilizations
Early Civilizations
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City states
Elites
Religion
Crop domestication
Animal agriculture
Trade
Metallurgy
Population explosion
Bronze Age weapons
Mesopotamia
• Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates
fertilized soil
• Irrigation, drainage produced early
abundance
• Competition and warfare between city
states:
Fertile Crescent
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Ur
Uruk
Nippur
Babylon
Kish
Nineveh
Assur, etc.
Mesopotamia
• Over-salinization reduced
wheat productivity in south
by 2,000 B.C.:
– political power shifted
north
• Eventual large scale
ecological destruction
– Fields and pastures
worked until barren
– Forests destroyed for
• Fuel
• ship building
Egypt
• Relative geographical isolation:
strong central government,
religion
• Unification of North and South
Nile by 3,500 B.C.
• 2,000 year dynasty ended in
Persian conquest 500 B.C.
Egypt
• Yearly flooding of
Nile fertilized soil.
• Irrigation, drainage
controlled by Pharaoh
• Abundant crops:
wheat.
– Later would be
conquered for its
productivity
Indus Valley Civilization
• Arose 3000 BC
• Contemporary of
Egypt, Mesopotamia
• Lasted longer
– 1500 years
• Conquered by Aryans
from north
Aryan Invasion of India
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Aryans invaded 1750 BC
Indus, then Ganges valleys
Horse and herding culture
Vedas and Caste system
– Foundation of
Hinduism
• Feudal Kingdoms spread
through India
– ruled by Brahmins
(Priests)
Assyrian Empire: 600 B.C.
Assyrian War Bulletin (1000 B.C.)
• “Asshur my Lord commanded
me to go forth…I covered the
regions of Saraush and of
Ammaush with ruins…I proved
myself against their armies at
the mountain of Aruma, I
chastised them, I strawed the
earth with their bodies as they
had been beasts of the field; I
took their cities in possession, I
carried away their gods, I led
them away captive, them and
their goods and their treasures;
Assyrian War Bulletin
• “I burned the cities with fire, I
destroyed them, I made them even
with the ground, I made of them
heaps and a desolation; I laid upon
them the grievous yoke of my
dominion, and in their presence I
gave thanks unto Asshur my Lord.”
• “I slew two hundred and sixty
fighting men; I cut off their heads
and made pyramids thereof. I slew
one of every two.”
Assyrian War
Bulletin
• “I built a wall before the great gates of the city; I
flayed the chief men of the rebels, and I covered
the wall with their skins. Some of them were
enclosed alive in the bricks of the wall, some of
them were crucified on stakes along the wall; I
caused a great multitude of them to be flayed in
my presence, and I covered the wall with their
skins. I gathered together the heads in the form of
crowns, and their pierced bodies in the form of
garlands.”
Biblical Warfare
• Saul instructed by God to
destroy the Amelekites
(1000 B.C.):
“Spare no one; put them
all to death, men and
women, children and
babes in arms, herds and
flocks, camels and asses.”
-- I Samuel 15:3
Persian Empire: 525 B. C.
The World: 500 B.C.
Empire of Alexander the Great:
323 B. C.
Greek Influence
• Alexander the Great
conquered the Achaemenid
Persian Empire 323 B.C.
• Introduced Hellenistic
culture to the mideast
• Maintained by subsequent
Greek rulers until 130 B. C.
• Greeks colonized southern
Italy and Sicily for grain
growing
Roman Empire
• Romans conquered
Italy and Sicily,
• Romans then
conquered the entire
Greek world (except
for Persia):
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Asia Minor
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Much of Europe
Roman Empire: Wheat Empire
• Roman empire dependent on
wheat to feed soldiers, populace
of Rome
• Roman forts were granaries
designed to hold a year supply
of wheat in case of siege
– Soldier’s rations were 3 pounds
of wheat a day.
– Barley was punishment rations
• The Roman garrison in Britain
Roman Fort
consumed 1,277.5 tons of
grain/yr
– Much of it was brought by ship
from supply depots
Trade Routes of First Century
A.D.
• Persians never
conquered by
Romans
• Persians
established silk
trading routes to
China
Roman Trade
• A fleet of specialized grain
carriers was used to
import wheat from Egypt
to Rome
– Huge food giveaway
program for citizens
• Romans depleted their
treasury importing luxury
items and spices from
India
– Could no longer support
food giveaways or army
– Led to collapse of Empire
in West
Roman Inheritance
• Romans inherited 3000
years of Mid East Culture:
– Writing
– Art
– Math
– Science
– Agriculture
– Religion
• Romans passed this
culture on to Europe
The World: 500 B.C.
Shang Dynasty in China
• 1700-1000 BC
• First Chinese dynasty
• Yellow River Basin
Zhou Dynasty in China
• 1000-221 BC
• Yellow and Yangtze
river basins
• Great Wall started in
north
Ch’in Dynasty
• 221-206 BC
• Warring states of
China united
• Includes Yellow,
Yangtze, and Xi River
Basins
Han Dynasty
• 206 BC-220 AD
• Western expansion opens
Silk road
• Southward expansion for
rice production
• Central control of dams,
canals, irrigation
T’ang Dynasty
• 580-907 AD
• Grand Canal Opened
– Links Yellow and
Yangtze river basins
– 1100 miles long
Trade Routes of First Century
A.D.
Expansion of Islam 632-1000 A.D.
Arab Empire
• Islam swept through
Arabia, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Persia
632-660 A.D.
• Much of Hellenistic
culture of Greeks and
Romans lost
• Islam moved through
North Africa, reaching
Iberian Peninsula
Religions of Europe:
1100-1200 A.D.
• Islam was a leader in
science, math, and
technology
– Taught Europe during
the Middle Ages
• Christianity in Europe
split:
– Roman Catholic
– Eastern Orthodox
• Crusades against Islamic
control of Holy Land:
1095-1291 A.D.
Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
1279-1378 A.D.
• Mongols conquered most
of Asia
– China, Central Asia,
Persia, to Danube River
• Great Military
Achievement
– Mobile army on
Horseback
• Trade within China
restricted
– Treasury Depleted
• Foreign trade welcomed
– Marco Polo visits China
Ottoman Empire 1300-1699 A.D.
• Roman/Byzantine empire
in Asia Minor conquered
by Ottoman Turks 1176
A.D.
• Ottoman Empire expanded
1300-1699 A.D.
• Trade routes to China and
India controlled by
Islamic/Ottoman rule
• Forced Europeans to
explore alternate routes
around Africa
Islamic World
Europe: 1400 A.D.
• Many warring countries
and city states
• Many languages
• Culturally unified by
Catholic Church
– Roman Catholic
church in West
– Eastern Orthodox in
East
• Effort to push Moslems
out of Iberia
• Venice a center of trade
with Moslems