The History of the World9th Grade Edition!

3 Million BC

Early Humans• First humans appear in Africa around

3,000,000 BC• They cross the Bering Strait to enter the

Americas• No written language• Nomads: Migrate to find food• Paleolithic- Old stone age• Find shelter in caves

8000 BC: Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution• Beginning of civilization• People learned to plant food and

domesticate animals• Build permanent homes• Communities established

Reconstruction of a Neolithic House in Horton, England.

Neolithic Advancements• CIVILIZATION!!!• Agriculture• Division of labor • Written Language• Money• Religion

4000 BC: River Valley Civilizations

Nile River: Egypt• Government: Pharaoh• Writing: Hieroglyphics• Architecture: Pyramids• Religion: Polytheistic

Tigris and Euphrates River:Mesopotamia

• Government: City State• Writing: Cuneiform• Architecture: Ziggurats (temples)• Religion: Polytheism• Law: Code of Hammurabi

Indus River: India• Writing: Not yet translated• Cities: Show evidence of central planning

Yellow River: (Huang Ho)China

• Government: – Shang Dynasty = monarchy – Zhou = decentralized and feudal 3 philosophies

written• Religion: Ancestor Worship and animism

Ancient Hebrews: 1400 BC

First Monotheistic culture. (Judaism)

Began in Babylon (Mesopotamia, not the town)

750 BC: Ancient Greece

Government: City States

• Athens: Democracy– Art literature, philosophy, trade

• Sparta: Oligarchy– a form of government in which power effectively

rests with a small elite segment of society

Religion: • Polytheism

Art and Architecture:

The Parthenon

Greek Statues

Intellectual Acheivements:• Literature: Greek Tragedies• Philosophy: Humanism

– Socrates– Plato– Aristotle

• Math• Science• Medicine

700 BC: The Roman Empire

Government: Republic

• Senate• Citizens allowed to vote

The Roman Military controlled large areas.

Engineering• Built roads and Aqueducts

Earliest System of Justice

12 Tables of

Roman Law

Fall Of Rome

• Civil wars weakened country• Attacks form other nations

600 AD: Islam

• The Prophet Muhammad starts Islam after having a vision of the Archangel Gabriel.

• Islam spreads, becoming a major world religion.

• Monotheistic

Classical China

• Qin Dynasty: Legalism, great wall, unified writing system

• Han Dynasty: Adoption of Confucianism, civil service exams, largest Chinese Dynasty, falls just like Rome

Classical India

• Emergence of Hinduism• Maurya Empire: conquers most of India, but

the caste system really provides order• Gupta Empire: Golden Age, Asoka, Buddhism

spreads

1000 AD: Middle Ages, Europe

Feudalism

Religion: Christianity

• Church becomes more powerful

• Only the religious leaders can read and write.

The Crusades

• War of the Cross

• Trying to reclaim the Holy Land

• Cultural diffusion and trade

1500 AD: The Rise of EuropeEurope: A strong desire for knowledge

A Time of Learning

• Modern languages develop: VERNACULAR

• Printing press spreads knowledge– More books printed– Books more

affordable.

The Renaissance

Leonardo DaVinci

Michelangelo

William Shakespear

Niccolo Machiavelli

HUMANISM

Religion• Protestant Reformation

King Henry VIII starts the Church of England when the Pope refuses to grant him an annulment.

Martin Luther: 95 Theses

Science• Copernicus:

Heliocentric view of solar system

• Galileo: Telescope• Scientific method

Exploration• Quest to find trade routes, spices!• Vasco da Gama: Sailed to India• Christopher Columbus sailed to

the Americas

People of Central and South America

• Aztec– Controlled Mexico– Tribute empire:

Conquered people must pay

– Polytheistic– Human sacrifice– Capital city, Tenochtitlan,

built on a lake, protective causeways

• Inca– Controlled most of the

Andes mountains– Assimilated conquered

people– Extensive system of

roads and bridges– Polytheistic– Quipu, but no writing– Some human sacrifice

The Encounter

• Spanish Conquistadors conquer Aztecs in Mexico and Inca in Andes Mountains– Superior technology (Guns,

Germs, and Steel)

Spanish Empire!