Ap world history study guide book pdf

The simple, but unhelpful answer, is that it depends. If you need extra advice on completing DBQs, try asking a friend or teacher or doing research online. You will turn in your Cornell Notes on the first day of school. Do the best you can and do your own work. It may seem like a lot to remember, but all you need to do is remember that WHAP: M is all about big trends and patterns in history. The course advances this understanding through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills.

And all that reading would hurt your eyes. The Crusades: Pilgrimage or Holy War? An introduction to how data can be collected, analyzed, and used to draw conclusions. AP Music Theory exam. Read through your notes on difficult concepts in this section all the way through. WHAP, the best way to create a schedule is to split your course material into chunks, then divide the time you have until you would like to be ready for the exam by the number of chunks you have.

Covers all major periods and themes from AP World History course. Browse online SAT prep with coaching and reviews driven by experts.

Thank you for your patience! Are you an educator? Use the rest of your time to catch up on flashcards and notes on difficult concepts. Begin making flashcards for key and difficult terms. You can even ask your teacher for old AP World History tests and essay questions. Islamic Empires Early expansion to Gunpowder. Be sure not to ask what kinds of work the class required. Government and Politics Study Pack. This means that doing effectively on them is a key step to improving your score. Will introduce staff to provide study tools including notes and notecard samples essay.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Go through your full set of flashcards. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Vocabulary is critical for understanding different historical events, figures, structures, and concepts. As you go along, sketch some brief notes about each question, even the ones you get right. Hitler to ensure German supremacy. Display the error banner on top of modal, and scroll to it.

Write Noteshe large box to the right is for writing notes. Join free German reviews and weekly livestream study sessions! During the Industrial Revolution, environmental exploitation increased exponentially. Join free AP Psychology reviews and weekly livestream study sessions! Browse AP Environmental Science exam prep resources including unit reviews, big ideas, free response help, and practice questions.

Cookies: This site uses cookies. Demonstrates a deeper understanding of the prompt. WHAP can be a tricky class to master, but with the right resources, the course to success is clear! LEQ is, along with sample sentence and essay formats for a comparison essay. French Revolution and Age of Napoleon. If this is actually the last day before the test, choose a few of the steps below that you feel will help you the most instead of doing all of them, to save your energy for the exam tomorrow.

Identify the major similarities and differences in the different empires mentioned in this unit. Leq essay questions within the ap world history study guide. The number of multiple choice options is being reduced from five to four at the same time. These changes have been put in place mainly as a response to ongoing complaints that the original World History course was way too broad in scope, having previously covered thousands of years of human development.

Are full length text book would definitely a history ap study guide. This year though, I decided to change that. Each question asks the student to respond to a primary or secondary source like a written passage, image, or chart.

Tips and tricks to max out your ACT scores. Organization and used traditions and utilizing reasoning, ap world history: ap aligned to the scoring guidelines for progressive loading your second major theme encourages students. These factors influence things like migration, social structure, cultural and technical diffusion, and state formation.

AP World History exam before you sit for the real thing. Want to build the best possible college application? Things like rainfall patterns, climate, and available flora and fauna dictate the natural and human curated resources available. US History Exam Scored? Glorious Revolution: English Protestants vs. Instead, focus on understanding big patterns and developments, and be able to explain them with a few key examples.

If not, pat yourself on the back. History has never been a subject that I struggled with until freshman year of high school. Do you use Albert? In addition to the excellent books mentioned above, AP World History students will see significant benefits in prepping using flashcards.

Browse ap world connected and mentally for the united states can edit the leq is much as they will be structured and annotatein the world history ap world history!

Each theme includes a list of related key topics as well as a description. You must connect different historical events and recognize big historical patterns. Students and parents should join immediately. When looking at industrialization, focus on its economic, political, and social impact on societies.

Browse online PSAT prep with coaching and reviews driven by experts. This should give you a good example of how your essay should be structured. Do the first question, the DBQ, from that year and then check it with the scoring guidelines. You should get started soon. To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Do you have questions about preparing for these exams or how to get started? Test prep study skills save time and improve scores! YOU do well this school year. Cracking the documents and development of history study guides will go to learn how your summer. It made studying these maps difficult if not impossible to read. If that you cannot take a positive or act scores on top of longterm stability on each ap world history study guide pdf ebooks without looking over five of world history overview of conflict unit.

Every question on the exam will require you to apply one or more of these skills or processes. Questions and features at the end of each topic and unit provide frequent opportunities to use them. These six skills are: 1. Identify and explain historical developments and processes.

This involves, based on the historical evidence, identifying the characteristics and traits of a historical concept, development, or process.

Using specific historical evidence, it requires explaining how and why a historical concept, development, or process emerged. Analyze sourcing and situation of primary and secondary sources. This requires identifying the point of view, purpose, historical situation, or audience of a historical source and describing its significance and limitations. Analyze claims and evidence in primary and secondary sources. This involves identifying what a source is trying to prove and the evidence used to support the argument, comparing the arguments of at least two sources, and explaining how the evidence affects the argument.

Analyze the context of historical events, developments, or processes. This entails identifying and explaining how a specific historical development or process fits within a historical context. Using historical reasoning processes comparison, causation, continuity and change , analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes. This skill allows students to connect all concepts by identifying patterns among historical developments and processes and explaining how one historical development or process relates to another one.

Develop an argument. This requires: making a historically defensible claim; supporting an argument with evidence; using historical reasoning to explain relationships within pieces of evidence; and corroborating, qualifying or modifying an argument. These are the basic cognitive methods that historians use to understand the past and connect with the historical thinking skills. They include: 1. Comparison This skill is the ability to describe, compare, contrast, and evaluate two or more historical events or developments in the same or different eras or periods, or in the same or different locations.

It requires an ability to identify, compare, contrast, and evaluate a given historical event or development from multiple perspectives. Causation This skill is the ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate the relationships among many historical events and developments as both causes and effects.

Not all causes and effects are equally important. A key task of a historian is to determine which causes and effects are primary, and which are secondary. Showing persuasive evidence of causation is difficult.

Many events are simply correlated, which means they occur at the same time or one occurs right after the other, but there is no persuasive evidence that one caused the other. Continuity and Change over Time This skill is the ability to recognize, analyze, and evaluate the dynamics of history over periods of time of varying lengths, often investigating important patterns that emerge.

The study of themes in history explained later in this introduction is often the tool of choice to understand continuity and change over time.

The strong focus on these six themes and related concepts will help you think about the main ideas and deepen your understanding of world history. They help identify trends and processes that have developed throughout centuries in different parts of the world: 1. Humans and the Environment The environment shapes human societies, and as populations grow and change, these populations in turn shape their environments.

Cultural Developments and Interactions The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications. Governance A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

Economic Systems As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services. Social Interactions and Organization The process by which societies group their members, and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals, influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organizations. Technology and Innovation Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences.

Understanding and applying the themes will enable you to make connections across units explained below and to think about broad historical ideas and trends. Chronological periods are covered in two or three specific units although the dates are not intended to be limiting. Events, processes, and developments may begin before, or continue after, the dates assigned to each unit.

Each unit will include examining the topics using historical thinking skills and reasoning processes. The units are further broken down into topics. The unit discusses the cultural and environmental consequences of these exchanges and suggests economic comparisons of the various networks. It addresses challenges to state power and changes in social hierarchies and focuses on a discussion of continuity and change during this period. It then focuses on the Industrial Revolution: its beginnings, spread, and the associated technologies.

The unit further addresses the role of governments, economic developments, reactions to the industrial economy, and societal changes in the age of industrialization.

Finally, it concentrates on examining continuity and change during this period. Global economic development and imperialism are topics, and the causes and effects of migration are discussed. This unit emphasizes causation as an essential reasoning process in historical analysis. The unit also discusses the mass atrocities after and examines causation in global conflict. It discusses the period of the Cold War, its effects, and its end.

It addresses the spread of communism and decolonization, including resistance to established power structures and newly independent states. It finally focuses on causation in this period. It considers economics in the global age as well as the calls for reform.

Globalized culture and institutions are addressed and the resistance to globalization is reviewed. The final topic emphasizes continuity and change in the era of globalization. Unit 3: Land-Based Empires c. Unit 5: Revolutions c. Unit 6: Consequences of Industrialization c. Unit 7: Global Conflict c. Unit 9: Globalization c. The history thinking skills, reasoning processes, and themes are methods or tools to explore the subject matter of history. One cannot practice these skills without knowledge of the historical content and understanding of specific historical evidence.

Additionally, students will also provides opportunities for need to compare arguments and students to analyze arguments explain how claims or evidence in primary sources. Skill 6: No multiple-choice questions The document-based question Argumentation explicitly assess the and long essay question assess argumentation skill.

Questions will be related to the analysis of a stimulus—a primary or secondary source, such as a passage, image, map, or table. Each question will have one best answer and three distracters. The questions will emphasize the student's ability to analyze the source and use the historical reasoning skill the question requires. This textbook provides preparation for the multiple-choice questions section of the exam through items at the end of each topic and on the Practice Exam at the end of the book.

When analyzing a stimulus, ask yourself basic questions to spark your thinking: Who? In addition, the questions will focus on one or more historical thinking skills. More than one choice may appear to be correct at first, but only one will be the best answer.

If you are confident which answer is best, eliminate answers you recognize as incorrect. Choices that include words that reflect absolute positions, such as always or never are seldom correct, since historical evidence can rarely support such clarity. Make judgments about the significance of a variety of causes and effects. Since the exam format does not deduct for incorrect answers, you get no penalty for guessing wrong.

So you should answer every question. Obviously, though, the process of first eliminating a wrong answer or two before guessing increases your chances of choosing the correct answer.

Fifty-five minutes does not allow enough time to spend 2 or 3 minutes on difficult questions. For questions involving a passage, chart, or picture, read the question first. If you find a question is hard, make a guess and then come back to it later if you have time. Recommended Activities Practicing sample multiple-choice questions is important before the exam, if for no reason other than to reduce the number of surprises about the format of the questions.

However, for many students, the review of content through multiple-choice questions is not the most productive. The purpose of the chapter content in this text is to provide a useful and meaningful review of the essential concepts and evidence needed for the exam.

By reviewing the essential facts in the historical content, you will better recall and understand connections between events, which is extremely important for applying the historical reasoning skills. No thesis is required in the SAQ answers. You will have 40 minutes to answer three of them. Each question consists of three parts, labeled A, B, and C. The topic of the question will include historical developments or processes between the years and Short-answer question 3 will focus on historical developments or processes between the years and Short-answer question 4 will focus on historical developments or processes between the years and The topic of the DBQ will include historical developments or processes between the years and To receive a top score, you will need to refer to at least six of the documents in your analysis.

To strengthen the probability of earning the maximum point value for this question, however, use all seven documents. In other words, give a reason or further explanation of the significance for the point of view, purpose, historical situation, or intended audience.

Besides using evidence stated in the documents, you should include outside knowledge in your response. This consists of additional examples, details, and analysis that provide context or clarify what is in the documents or that provide new information that supports your thesis. Answering a DBQ builds on the skills for writing responses to the essay questions. These are discussed in more detail in the following section on the long essay question. The most important difference between a DBQ response and a long essay is that your DBQ response should refer to specific sources to support arguments.

A common mistake writers make in answering a DBQ is to write little more than a descriptive list of the documents. The order of the documents in the DBQ should not control the organization of the essay. Rather, group the documents based upon how they support your thesis.

Analyze the documents for evidence they provide, and integrate them into an organized and persuasive essay. However, grouping requires more than simply placing related evidence within the same paragraph. It also requires seeing commonalities and contradictions in the evidence, and explaining how they both fit your argument. Words and phrases such as similarly, in addition, and as well as alert the reader that you see a common element among the documents.

Phrases such as in contrast to or this is different from alert the reader that you see contradictory evidence in the documents. Use the practice DBQs to develop your historical reasoning skills as well as the writing skills needed for answering the DBQ on the exam. Here are some tips for writing an effective DBQ: 1.

Use the minute reading period to make marginal notes on the documents. Underline key parts of the prompt to help keep you on track. Before writing, formulate a thesis that addresses all parts of the question. Keep references to the documents brief. Because the exam readers know the content of the documents, you do not need to quote them. Many writers simply cite the document number in parentheses, such as Doc.

Readers like this system as well because it is simple and clear. Use all of the documents. However, recognize that each document represents a point of view, and some might contain information that is not accurate. Address contradictory evidence. Your thesis should be complex enough to account for evidence that does not support your argument, and you should demonstrate that you understand other points of view and the context in which documents were created. Demonstrate your judgment about the sources based on your knowledge of the historical period.

Recommended Activities As a prewriting activity for the DBQs, work with a small group of classmates to read and discuss a contemporary primary source document and two historical ones. Check apcentral. Use this guide to evaluate your work and to internalize the criteria for writing a strong DBQ essay. The thesis or rephrasing the prompt. The must be at least one sentence thesis must consist of one or and located in one place, either more sentences located in one in the introduction or in the place, either in the introduction conclusion.

Contextualization 1 point to describe the broader To earn this point, the response historical context of the must relate the topic of the 0—1 points question, such as developments prompt to broader historical either before, during, or after events, developments, or its time frame.

Describing the processes that occur before, context requires more than a during, or continue after the mere phrase or reference.

This point is not awarded for merely a phrase or a reference. Evidence 1 point for accurately describing To earn one point, the response the content of three documents must identify specific historical 0—3 points that address the question.

OR examples of evidence relevant Either the 1 point above or the 2 to the topic of the prompt. To earn two points the 2 points for accurately response must use specific describing the content of six historical evidence to support documents and using them to an argument in response to the support the arguments used in prompt. Using the documents requires more than simply quoting them. All three options focus on the same reasoning process, but on historical developments and processes in different time periods.

The first period is from to , the second from to and the third from to Before you begin to write, take a few minutes to identify key points and plan the structure of your essay. Your essay responses will be evaluated on the argument you present. It is important to provide a clear thesis and support it with evidence. Development of Essay Writing Skills Begin developing your writing skills as soon as the course starts. Read over the question or prompt two or more times.

What are the key words or phrases in the question? Underline them. They could be verbs such as evaluate, analyze, explain, support, or refute. All questions have one thing in common: They demand the use of historical reasoning skills and analysis of the evidence.

An essay answer will not receive full credit by simply reporting information: You need to demonstrate that you can use the targeted historical reasoning skill. An essay that fails to deal with all parts of the question will receive a lower score than one that addresses the entire question. The few seconds you take to identify the topic and key reasoning process will help you avoid the mistake of writing a clear, information-rich essay that receives little or no credit because you answered a question that was not asked.

Underline the key words that indicate what the writer should do, and circle the words that indicate the specific parts or aspects of the content that need to be addressed. This advice emphasizes how critical it is to first identify what you know about the question and then organize your information. A recommended practice is to spend five minutes to create a brief outline, table, or other graphic organizer summarizing what you know about the question.

A strong thesis, or argument, is an essential part of every long essay answer. Writers usually state the thesis in the first paragraph and they often restate it in the final paragraph. A thesis must be more than a restatement of the question. A thesis requires taking a position on the question. In other words, it must be evaluative. Many students have difficulty taking a position necessary to build a strong argument. Sometimes they are afraid of making a mistake or taking a position they think the readers will disagree with.

But think about the nature of history. History does not offer the certitude of mathematics or the physical sciences. Disagreement over the interpretation of historical evidence develops because of the limitations of the evidence available and the differing perspectives of both participants and historians.

If you think that you can write an essay without making some judgment that results in a thesis statement, you have not understood the question. Each of you should write a prompt that might appear on a test based on a current event in the news. Exchange prompts. Readers will look for a clear thesis that sets the organization for the rest of the essay. An effective introductory paragraph may also provide the context of the question and a preview of the main arguments that will be developed in the subsequent paragraphs.

However, this additional information should not distract from the thesis statement. One classic model for making an argument is the five-paragraph essay. It consists of a one-paragraph introduction, three paragraphs of support, and a one-paragraph conclusion that ties back to the introduction. This model shows the importance of the introductory paragraph in shaping the full essay, including the arguments to be developed.

However, the total number of paragraphs in your essay is for you to determine. Your introduction and your conclusion might each require more than one paragraph, and you are likely to need more than three paragraphs of support. Next, follow up the introductory paragraph with an outline of the supporting paragraphs. For each paragraph, list historical evidence that you will link to the thesis. The exercise of writing an introductory paragraph and an outline of your supporting paragraphs helps in two ways.

To receive the highest score, you must also explain how specific historical evidence is linked to the thesis. Each essay also will have a targeted historical reasoning skill that you should use to analyze the historical development or process you identified in your thesis.

Besides your ability to address the targeted reasoning process, your essay will be assessed on how well you develop your argument. Readers will consider how well you use specific historical evidence, recognize the historical context, and include evidence from outside the theme and time period of the question prompt.

Your goal is not to fill a specific number of pages but to write an insightful, persuasive, and well-supported answer. A short yet concise essay in which every word has a purpose is better than an essay bloated with fillers, flowery language, and interesting stories. Your conclusion should restate the thesis. Avoid using first-person pronouns I, we. Write your essay in the third person it, they, she, etc. Use past tense verbs, except when referring to sources that currently exist e.

Use words that clearly identify persons, factors, and judgments. Avoid vague verbs such as felt. Use stronger verbs instead such as insisted, demanded, or supported. Also, avoid vague references, such as they and others, unless you are clearly referring to people already identified. Use verbs that communicate judgment and analysis, such as reveal, exemplify, demonstrate, imply, and symbolize. The majority of questions will deal with specific terms, and an essential part of your analysis should be an explanation of these terms.

Consider arguments against your thesis to show that you are aware of opposing views. The strongest essays confront conflicting evidence by explaining why it does not undercut the thesis.

The statement of counterarguments is known as the concession or the conciliatory paragraph. Writers often present it directly following the introduction.

Avoid opinionated rhetoric. Each paragraph in your essay should develop a main point that is clearly stated in the topic sentence. It is also good practice to provide a few words or a phrase of transition to connect one paragraph to another. Each paragraph should also include a sentence that links the ideas in the paragraph to the thesis statement. Writers often restate their thesis in the final paragraph in a fresh and interesting manner or explain its significance.

The conclusion should not try to summarize all the data or introduce new evidence. If you are running out of time, but have written a well- organized essay with a clear thesis that is supported with evidence, your conclusion can be very short. As noted earlier, including your thesis in the first and the last paragraph helps you make sure you have stated it clearly.

The purpose of such practice is to become familiar with the time constraints of the exam and to learn ways of improving the clarity as well as the efficiency of your writing and to gain insight into the type of information needed. The feedback from these practice tests— whether from teachers, peers, or self-evaluation—is essential for making progress. Breaking down the process into manageable steps is one key for improvement.

The use of the essay-evaluation techniques can help students better understand the characteristics of an excellent essay.

How effectively does the introductory paragraph prepare the reader for the rest of the essay? How might you improve the introductory paragraph?

Does it take a position and address all parts of the question? Does the body reflect the argument and controlling ideas stated in the introductory paragraph? Does the body acknowledge opposing points of view? How could the analysis be improved? Is the evidence clearly connected to the stated thesis through strong paragraph topic sentences? What significant additional information or evidence could have been used for support?

Do the supporting paragraphs and their topic sentences address all parts of the essay prompt and stated thesis? Do paragraph composition, sentence structure, word choice, and spelling add to or detract from the essay?

Identify areas that need improvement. Use the guide to evaluate your work and internalize the characteristics of a strong long essay. The thesis must that establishes a line of consist of one or more sentences reasoning located in one place, either in the introduction or the conclusion.

Contextualization 1 point To earn this point, the response must relate the topic of the 0—1 points Describes a broader historical context prompt to broader historical relevant to the prompt events, developments, or processes that occur before, during, or continue after the time frame of the question.

Evidence 1 point To earn one point, the response must identify specific historical 0—2 points Provides specific examples of evidence relevant to examples of evidence the topic of the prompt.

To earn two points, the response must use specific historical OR evidence to support an argument 2 points in response to the prompt. Set a schedule for your review of each unit. You might spread your review over a long or a short amount of time.

Many students find that study groups are helpful. The following is a sample of a review schedule using this text. A study group that chooses a specific time and place to meet and sets specific objectives for each meeting can reinforce the discipline of all its members.

Some individuals may find it more productive to create a review schedule for themselves. If this review text has been used in conjunction with a history course, your familiarity with the essential content and skills developed in this book should make it an even more convenient and efficient review tool. Before the Common Era, sometimes referred to as B. They survived by hunting animals and foraging for seeds and edible plants. Living in small groups, usually no more than a few dozen people, they did not have permanent homes.

As they moved about in search of food, they slowly adapted to new environments, developed genetic and cultural differences, learned how to control fire and make stone tools, and created artistic drawings and paintings. They developed a system of religious beliefs called animism, a reverence for deities associated with features of nature, such as animals or specific mountains or rivers. These societies were fairly egalitarian, but they showed early signs of patriarchy, domination by males. They began populating the rest of the globe.

By 10, B. E 11 2, B 00 B. As it did, humans began to plant crops and raise animals for food. This change, called the Agricultural Revolution, began in the Middle East. Because of this development, people began to produce a surplus of food. For the first time in human history, one part of the population produced enough food to feed everyone. This allowed part of the population to specialize in non- food producing activities. People lived in larger settlements that eventually developed into cities.

Artisans made tools and weapons. Merchants engaged in trade. Priests conducted rituals. They learned how to improve irrigation systems, make use of the wheel in transportation, and replace stone with metals such as bronze and iron for making tools and art. The desire to keep records about trade and taxes led to the invention of writing.

However, the development of government provided a more peaceful way to settle conflicts between individuals. In general, the status of women declined. The First Civilizations Trends that began to emerge after the Agricultural Revolution led to the first civilizations, large societies with cities and a powerful state.

Most were in river valleys, places with fresh water and fertile land. Several cultures emerged in this region, many based on city-states. A city-state is an independent state made up of a city and its surrounding territory. All city- states were highly patriarchal, built monumental architecture such as religious temples called ziggurats, and engaged in long-distance trade.

The people were polytheistic, believing in many gods. Sumer was a city-state along the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia. As taxes and trade became more complex, the Sumerians invented cuneiform, the first written language in history. They used cuneiform to record the first written laws.

Though it shared many traits with Mesopotamia, Egypt was highly centralized under one ruler, called a pharaoh.

The Egyptians developed their own writing system hieroglyphics. Egyptian women were allowed to own property, and they were recognized as legally equal to men in court.

These rights gave women a higher social standing than their counterparts in other patriarchal civilizations. Cities such as Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro engaged in long-distance trade with Mesopotamia, practiced polytheism, developed technology such as indoor plumbing, and planned the layout of urban areas.

However, no one has deciphered their language, so less is known about them than about other early civilizations. One of its distinctive features was the special honor that its people gave to their ancestors. The Olmec in Mesoamerica and the Chavin in the Andes were complex societies that participated in extensive trade. Source: Getty Images Monumental architecture such as pyramids in Egypt upper and ziggurats in Mesopotamia lower reflected the power of early governments to organize workers to build large structures.

In animism, most deities were identified with specific places. Over time, people developed more abstract beliefs in which deities were not fixed in location. As people moved, they could take their deities with them. In some places, belief in many gods polytheism was replaced with a belief in just one supreme deity, monotheism. The origins of Hinduism go back at least 3, years.

People called Aryans from north of the Himalaya Mountains migrated south to what is now Pakistan and India. They spoke an Indo-European language, and they brought with them scriptures called the Vedas and a belief that many deities existed. However, over time, people came to regard all deities as the expression of one supreme deity. The Vedas taught that the soul of a person is reborn, or reincarnated, many times.

Eventually, a soul would spiritually advance enough to become liberated from this cycle of death and rebirth. The Vedas taught that people should organize society into sharply defined classes, called castes. The caste system prohibited social mobility. While the caste system kept society stratified, society was also unified. This belief system developed in Persia. Followers of this faith focus on human free will and the eternal battle between the forces of good and evil.

Its earliest adherents were known as Hebrews or Israelites, but they have long been called Jews. Judaism developed in and around what is now the state of Israel. The Jewish people trace their history to the teachings of Abraham, who lived about 4, years ago. Jews believe that they have entered into a covenant, or mutual promise, with their God, whom they call Yahweh.

In return for their devotion, Yahweh would consider them his chosen people. Judaism was further developed with the codification of Hebrew Scriptures, sometimes called the Old Testament. Like Judaism, two other faiths—Christianity and Islam—are also monotheistic religions that looked back to Abraham as an important figure. Christianity and Islam will be discussed later in this Prologue. Several great empires that arose between B. Goods and ideas flowed along land routes such as the ones in Eurasia known as the Silk Roads and maritime routes in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean.

The Spread of Buddhism 0 1, Miles. Buddhism and Developments in South Asia While intense spirituality and distinct social organization have provided continuity in South Asian history, strong political centralization has not. The region was unified under a single government only twice during the Classical Period. The most influential development in South Asia was the development of the religion of Buddhism. Born into a wealthy Hindu family around B. To understand why people suffered, he left his wealthy family and pursued a life of poverty and meditation.

According to Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha had been meditating for several days underneath a bodhi tree when he finally understood the cause of suffering and how to end it. Buddhist doctrines became summarized in the Four Noble Truths, which sought to eliminate desire and suffering by following the Eightfold Path. This path requires an individual to meditate, reflect, and refrain from excessive earthly pleasures.

The goal is, over time, to achieve enlightenment and the peaceful bliss known as nirvana, which would end the cycle of reincarnation. Because Buddhism rejected the caste system, it became popular with members of the lower caste. It spread quickly throughout India and across Asia.

Those spreading it included missionaries and merchants along the Silk Roads and around the Indian Ocean. Unlike Hinduism and Judaism, which remained the faiths of particular groups of people in particular places, Buddhism was a universalizing religion, one that actively sought converts among all people. Buddhism is also a monastic faith, one that develops monastery communities for men and women. It reached its high point during the rule of Ashoka. He promoted prosperity by creating an efficient tax system and by building roads that connected commercial centers.

Ashoka spread knowledge of the law by inscribing his edicts on pillars throughout the empire. Ashoka is one of the few powerful rulers in history who converted from one faith—Hinduism—to another.

He became a Buddhist. His conversion helped spread the faith throughout India. After Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire soon declined in power, resulting in political decentralization. It ruled from c. This period is referred to as the Golden Age of India. Under a centralized government based in Pataliputra, a city in northwestern India, intellectual and cultural life flourished. In public hospitals, physicians made advances in medicine, such as using inoculations to prevent disease.

Mathematicians developed a numbering system that combined a small number of symbols, 0 through 9, and the idea of place value. The system was so efficient that it is used throughout most of the world today.

The social structure in the Gupta era was patriarchal. Men held most positions of power in public life. To unify people, the Gupta strongly supported Hinduism.

Hinduism is the most common religion in India today. However, as the dynasty weakened, China suffered a time of instability and decentralization referred to as the Warring States period. These disasters, such as drought or famine, were a sign to the Chinese people that the ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven. Several major peasant uprisings in China were a direct result in this belief.

He lived around the same time as the Buddha in India. The teachings of Confucius, written down by his followers in the Analects, describe how people should behave in everyday life. Unlike the teachings of Hinduism and Judaism, the Analects do not focus on any deity. Rather, Confucius focused on education, benevolence, virtue, respect for those with authority especially the emperor , and a patriarchal social structure. Review Period 1: Units Review Period 2: Units Review Period 3: Units Review Period 4: Present Units World History Notes Before C.

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