AP World History /

Test Review Unit 1 - -political: rulers, government structure;

Economy: trade (products, routes, merchants) and technology-irrigation;
Social: social classes;
Cultural: writing systems, literary works

Pre-History
Paleolithic c. 3.5 Million to 10,000 B.C.E.
Characteristics:
Culture: No writing skills; animistic and polytheistic religion

Economy: hunting (men)-gathering (women) existence

Technology: stone and bone tools, use fire

Society: social and gender equality- no ownership, no wealth

Neanderthal: sophisticated burials; use tools
Cro-Magnon: cave paintings,Venus figurines

Government: nomadic-no organized form government; clans had 40 people

Neolithic Age c. 10,000 B.C.E. to 3500 B.C.E

Characteristics:

Culture: no writing skills; polytheistic; rise priesthood

Economy: Agricultural Revolution; barter; irrigation systems; job

specialization-potters, farmers,
Soldiers; villages are created; towns- example: Catal Huyuk

Society: paternalistic; rise social classes using

Wealth-land

Government: clan leaders who undertook supervision of

Agricultural project-irrigation systems

River Valley Civilizations: c. 3500-1500 BCE Characteristics (use same classifications as above)

Mesopotamia/Sumeria c. 3500 -1500 BCE

Characteristics: Culture: writing-cuneiform, polytheism and religion, ziggurats
Political: Sargon, type of government systems, city-states, empires, Law Hammurabi Social:
Social classes, role women, slavery
Economic: Trade patterns (with whom they traded, products exported and imported); agriculture
(irrigation systems) technology, Tigris and Euphrates, crops and domesticated animals

Egypt c. 3500 BCE

Characteristics: Culture: polytheism, main gods, mummification process, priesthood, writing-
hieroglyphics, scribes, pyramids
Political: empire, pharaoh-concept divine kingship
Social classes: social classes, role women
Economic: agriculture, trade patterns, Nile-silt, irrigation, metallurgy, crops and domesticated
animals
Indus River Valley c. 2500 BCE
Characteristics: Harappa and Mohenjo Daro and Aryan Invasions
Culture: religion-formation Hinduism-Vedic Age
Political: who ruled? Maharajas and princes, decline cities
Social classes: Aryans, caste, role women, paternalistic
 Economic: trade and agricultural patterns, metallurgy, Indus river

River Valley Civilizations:

China: c. 2000 -221 BCE
Huang He: Shang – c. 1750-1027 BCE oracle bones, use bronze, empire, animistic religion and
ancestor worship, pigs, millet, chickens domesticated; silk textiles
Zhou – 1027-221 BCE Characteristics:
Political: Mandate of Heaven and the Son of Heaven; government Structure
Cultural: writing systems, philosophy born: Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism-secular Economic:
trade, technology

Classical Civilizations:
Origins of Classical China-
Qin- 221-201 BCE Characteristics:
Political: Emperor Shi Huangdi-unification China, Legalism, centralization, bureaucracy;
Economic: census, Systems of weights and measures, trade, agriculture
Han China 206 BCE-220 CE
Characteristics: Political: emperor Wu Ti, bureaucracy, role Confucian scholar, centralization
Economics: trade (Silk Road), agriculture, technological advances;
Society: social classes-Mandarins, “mean people”, role women, role peasants, merchants, soldiers

Culture: writing systems, literature

Causes- Decline
Greece 1000-500 BCE
Characteristics: Political: role citizen, democracy, military state, polis, cause/effect
Peloponnesian Wars, Pericles
Economic: trade patterns, technological innovations, agriculture;
Society: upper and lower classes, role women
Culture: philosophy-Socrates and Aristotle, literary works-Homer and epics, comedy and drama;
architecture-Dorian Ionic and Corinthian forms, Parthenon
Causes- Decline: Peloponnesian Wars, Macedonia

Hellenistic empire: c.323-30 BCE Alexander the Great, extent empire, cultural blend

Iran (Persia) 1000-30 BCE

Characteristics: Political: government structure, satraps, Medes, Achaemenid, emperor, Cyrus,
Darius, Xerxes, extent empire, Persian Wars (cause and effect)
Economic: trade, roads, products imported, exported, agriculture (Qanats)
Society: social classes

Rome 753-31 BCE

Characteristics: Political: Republic, Senate, consuls, tribune, emperor, empire extent, Julio Caesar
and republican crisis, Augustus-empire, Diocletian, Constantine
Economic: Trade patterns (with China also), large plantations-latifundia, exports and imports,
technology-engineering-roads, aqueducts, dome, Colosseum
Social: paterfamilias, patricians, plebeians, role women, slavery, paterfamilias
Cultural: literary works, Latin, Cicero, Virgil,
Causes- Decline

India: Maurya 324-184 BCE and Gupta 320-550 CE

Characteristics: Political: Kautilya, Chandragupta, Asoka, brief unification, extent empires,
bureaucracy
Social: caste System, role women
Economic: trade patterns, agriculture, technology, taxation
Cultural: role Hinduism – Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads
Decline: White Huns
 You will have a separate test after the Unit One test on Religions and trade routes, so you do
not need to know this on religions until after the Unit One test…

Religion: Major beliefs and characteristics of the following religions including founders, polytheistic or
monotheistic, how religion spread:
Polytheism (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greco-Roman) Hinduism (India) Aryans
Judaism (Jews-Middle East, Israel) Abraham, Moses Buddhism (India and Asia) Buddha
Christianity (Roman Empire) Jesus, Paul
Confucianism (Classical China) Confucius
Daoism (classical China) - Laozi