Mr Wexler Ap World Chapter 1 Objectives

Front 1

Compare the social, political and cultural features ofh te Egyptian/Nile River civilizations to the Sumerian Civilization

Back 1

*Egyptian civ. and Sumerian civ all centralized government, a system of writing, significant advances in technology, and religion.
* they differed because Egypt had more significant monumental agriculture than Sumeria. Also, Egypt had predictable floods that they could harness, while Sumeria had random, devastating floods.

Front 2

Briefly describe the major components used to characterize civilization.

Back 2

*Specialization-specialization of labor technological advancement, peoples occupations are what htey do best
*complex political institutions-a developed governemnt
*functionally distant- far enough from other civs that they arent hostile
*religious center-focus on religion
*writing-some sort of writing and documentation
*social stratification- division among social classes, generally via economic status

Front 3

Describe three major shifts emanating from the change from early Neolithic to Agrarian Civilizations.

Back 3

*Revolution in state formation-People began to more readily come together and form a civilization and form ideologies on how a government should work.
*Revolution in trade- Groups of people began trading with others, allowing people to settle as they focused on just doing what they did best and would purchase other goods(specialization)
*Revolution in argiculture-People had a systematic approach to farming, so they would settle certain areas and rotate crops. Also, civilizations began keeping crop surpluses from this agricultural change, leading to sedentary life.

Front 4

Descrie three major technological developments and their impact during the Agricultutral Revolution.

Back 4

*Wheel- The wheel allowed for increased transportation of goods, as carts with wheels could be drawn by horses. Also, allows for better farming equipment in the fields.
*Horse domestication- By domesticating the horse, it could be used to pull goods and ploughs.
*Bronze- Ploughs made of bronze were much better than those previous to it and were easier to make.

Front 5

Describe three differences between agrarian and pastoral nomadic societies.

Back 5

*Agrarian societies were generally settled, as they relied on farming (which you have to be settled to take part in, for the most part). Pastoral nomadic societies moved from place to place with their agriculture, never settling.

*Pastoral nomadic societies are generally smaller bands of people with hardly any sort of government, while agrarian societies were often more developed with a possible central government.

Front 6

Describe the fundamental differences between bands, tribes, chiefdoms and state-level societies

Back 6

*Bands- Dozens of members, nomadic, no division of labor, reciprocal exchange
*Tribes- hundreds of people, one village, no hierarchy, no division of labor
*Chiefdom- thousands of people, 1+ villages, own food production, some division of labor, tributary
*State-level- over 50,000 people, many villages, has a capital and government, intensive food production, division of labor, redistributive via taxes

Front 7

Compare the social, political and culutral features of the Shang/Yellow River Valley Civilization to the Harappan/Indus River Civilization

Back 7

*The Yellow River civilization had a very complex system of writing that was developed, while the Indus River civilization had a very simplistic form of writing
*The Indus River civilization had hardly any religious system or ideology, while the Shang focused on ancestor and spirit worship. Oracle bone worship was also used.
*The Yellow River civ often fought nomads around them and had hostile relations with those around them, while the Indus River civilization embraced trade with many nations and were hardly hostile.

Front 8

Describe social, political and cultural features of the Olmec/Meso-American civilization

Back 8

*Believed to be the first nation in the West to develop a writing system
*Their religion developed all the themes of an obsession with mathematics and with calendars and a spiritual focus on death expressed through human sacrifice.
*Known for creation of four colossal heads, which shows impressive stonework
*Olmec religion focused significantly on the mythology of a were-jaguar
*Had rich soil, which allowed for huge maize production, an anchor of their society and possible cause of large population growth.