Transcript Midterm Proficiency Review

World History
Midterm Proficiency Review
Prehistoric People to Ancient
Greece
Chapter 3: Prehistoric People
1. What are the main differences between
Paleolithic and Neolithic people?
• Paleolithic people were hunter/gatherers. They
were nomads, or moved around from place to place
looking for food.
• Neolithic people were able to settle down in one
spot because of the Agricultural Revolution
(farming) and the domestication, or taming of
animals.
*The most important difference is how they obtained
their food because it changed the world forever.
2. What is prehistory?
The time in human
history before writing
occurred.
3. Explain the Agricultural
Revolution:
Growing of food on a
schedule (farming), made
it possible for prehistoric
people to settle down in
one spot and develop
villages.
Chapter 4: Mesopotamia
1. Why is Mesopotamia also
known as the Fertile Crescent?
 Fertile land (Excellent farming
land) and crescent shape gave
the “cradle of civilization” its
nickname.
2. What present day country was
Mesopotamia located on?
 Iraq
3. What did the Sumerians
invent that helped control their
environment?
 Irrigation systems helped
changed the physical
environment by controlling
floods on the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers.
5. What are ways Mesopotamia
changed the world:
They invented:
 Writing
• Cuneiform writing (1st writing
system)
 Technology and Math
• the wheel
• sailboat
• wooden plow
• Improved math/astronomy
 Modern Civilization
irrigation ->
surplus farming ->
specialization ->
rise of city-states
4. Explain who Hammurabi was and why he is so
infamous:
Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who created a
code of laws. The laws dealt with almost every
aspect of life: crime, farming, family, business, and
marriage. Each law had a punishment.
Hammurabi’s code became known as “an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The codes were meant to
limit crime, blood feuds, and protect the less
powerful (ex: women from abuse from their
husbands). The code later influenced the laws of
Greece and Rome. Aside from his code of laws,
Hammurabi conquered new lands and created the
Babylonian Empire which stretched from the
Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
Chapter 5: Ancient Egypt
1. Why was the Nile River so
important to the people of
Egypt?
 Besides providing water for
drinking, cooking, bathing,
and farming, it also…
• It’s yearly predictable flooding
left rich soil on the river banks
for farming.
• Irrigation systems to help
farm the land during dry
seasons.
• Cataracts, waterfalls or
rapids in the river, made it
hard for invaders to travel up
the Nile and kept Egypt
isolated.
2. What is a pharaoh and what
are they responsible for?
 A pharaoh is the leader
(government and religious) of
Egypt.
They are responsible for:
• Building granaries to store
food for the people so they
wouldn’t starve during hard
times.
• Repairing irrigation systems
so the crops wouldn’t dry out.
• Performing important
religious rituals.
3. Explain the importance of the
afterlife to the Egyptians:
• Egyptians embalmed the
dead to preserve the bodies for
the afterlife because the soul
needed a body for the afterlife.
• embalm- the process of
treating a body to keep it from
decaying.
• Important Egyptian pharaohs
of the Old Kingdom were
honored and laid to rest in
pyramids.
4. What are pyramids and why
were they built?
 The pyramids used math,
engineering, science, and
astrology to built the pyramids
tombs.
 The pyramids were built to
honor the pharaohs of the
Old Kingdom.
 King Tut, pharaoh in the New
Kingdom, was not buried in a
pyramid.
5. How did the ancient Egyptians
change the world?
Math and Medicine:
• The Great pyramids were built
by the worlds first engineer
using geometry. They were
also placed in a specific
location according to the stars
using astronomy.
• They invented 365 day
modern calendar.
• They learned a lot about the
human body from embalming.
Their notes from the
embalming process became
the worlds first medical books.
6. What did Mesopotamia and
Egypt have in common?
• They worshiped many gods
(polytheism).
• Relied on the river for
irrigation to grow crops.
• Expanded their territory by
conquering new lands during
their history.
Chapters 7-8 Ancient Greece
1. What was life in Sparta like? What was their government
like?
• A city state based on its military. They were so determined to be a
society of strong warriors that they left sick babies on a hillside to die.
Women had more rights.
• Their government was run as
an oligarchy- a small group
of wealthy people with control
of the government. They were
a very strict society.
2. Compare and Contrast Sparta and Athens
Sparta
• A city state based on its
military. They were so
determined to be a society of
strong warriors that they left
sick babies on a hillside to die.
Their government was run as
an oligarchy.
Athens
• A city state based on art,
philosophy, architecture, and
democracy. The leader that
made Athens such a grand
great city-state was named
Pericles.
3. Why were the Olympics
important to the ancient Greeks?
 The Olympics were held to
honor the god of all gods,
Zeus.
4. Who was Pericles?
 A leader of Athens that turned
the city-state into a center of
art, philosophy, and
architecture.
5. What was the last city-state to
take over Greece?
6. From what culture did the
Greeks get their alphabet from?
 The Phoenicians are known for
giving the idea of an alphabet
to the world.
Chapter 9: Ancient India
1. Describe the Indus River
Valley:
• The oldest civilizations of
ancient India were formed
along the Indus River.
• Farming, transportation, and
trade were all dependent on
the rivers of ancient India.
2. Describe the ancient cities of
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro:
 Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
were two major cities. They
were unusual because their
streets were laid out in a
square grid pattern like our
modern day cities today. The
people of Harappa were the
first to develop major cities.
3. Explain how the caste system and how it
affected the afterlife:
• Hinduism is based on the Caste system in which good
people could be reincarnated, or reborn into a higher caste.
Your Karma- the force that decided what caste you will be
reincarnated into, is based on your Dharma- your personal
duty (job) based on your placement in the caste system.
Chapter 10: Ancient China
1. What are oracle bones and
why were they used in ancient
China?
2. Describe the two powerful
rivers that the ancient Chinese
settled on:
 Kings turned to their ancestors for
answers to great questions in life.
They would scratch these
questions on oracle bones and
heat them over a fire. They
believed the pattern of cracks in
the bones were the answers to
their questions from the gods and
ancestors.
• One of the rivers the ancient
Chinese settled on the Huang He
River, or the Yellow River,
nicknamed for its yellow soil.
Although the flooding Huang He
river has provided China with rich
soil for farming, it has also taken
millions of lives which is why the
river was nicknamed China’s
Sorrow.
• The second river the ancient
Chinese settled on is called the
Chang Jiang, or the Yangtze River.
3. Compare and Contrast the 3 philosophies of ancient China
 Confucianism and Daoism encourage the improvement of society by putting
your family and communities first and by giving up worldly desires and living
in peace with nature.
 Legalism punished society with harsh laws and strict punishments.
4. Explain the “Golden Rule”
Confucius said to live by:
5. How did the Shang civilization
weaken?
There was a great difference
between the wealthy aristocrats
and the poor.
“The rich keep getting richer, the
poor keep getting poorer.”
Chinese Inventions
• Cast iron plow- break up soil
better than a wooden plow.
• Drainage systems made
swampy lands farmable.
• Waterwheels could grind more
grain.
• Iron drill bits mined salt.
• Wheelbarrows could carry
heavy items.
• Silk/paper.
• Improved the sailboat.
• Acupuncture- A practice of
inserting fine needles through
the skin at specific points to
relieve pain and treat disease.
• New medicines with herbs.