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The Neolithic Revolution

Farming changed how people lived more than almost any other development in history.
  • Around 10,000 BCE people in the Fertile Crescent began domesticating plants (wheat, barley) and animals
  • Agriculture produced food surpluses, which supported permanent villages and larger populations
  • Surpluses allowed specialization of labor: artisans, priests, soldiers and rulers
  • Farming arose independently in several places, including China, Mesoamerica and the Andes
  • Costs included more disease, social hierarchy and dependence on a few crops

River Valley Civilizations

The first civilizations grew along rivers that provided water, fertile soil and transportation.
  • Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates): Sumerian city-states, cuneiform writing, ziggurats
  • Egypt (Nile): pharaohs ruled as god-kings; hieroglyphics; pyramids built for the afterlife
  • Indus Valley: planned cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro with drainage systems; script still undeciphered
  • China (Yellow River / Huang He): Shang dynasty oracle bones; the Zhou claimed the Mandate of Heaven
  • Common features of civilization: cities, organized government, complex religion, specialization, social classes, writing

Law, Writing and Belief

Early states created lasting tools for organizing society.
  • Hammurabi's Code (Babylon, c. 1754 BCE) was one of the earliest written law codes: 'an eye for an eye'
  • Writing began as record-keeping for trade and taxes
  • Most early religions were polytheistic; the Hebrews developed monotheism
  • The Phoenicians spread an alphabet through Mediterranean trade
  • Bronze and later iron tools changed farming and warfare
Don't confuse the Tigris/Euphrates (Mesopotamia) with the Nile (Egypt) or the Huang He (China).
The Indus script hasn't been deciphered, so much about that society is inferred from archaeology.
Hammurabi's Code applied different punishments by social class. It wasn't 'equal justice'.

Greek City-States

Greece was a collection of independent city-states (poleis) rather than one country.
  • Athens developed direct democracy under reformers like Cleisthenes and Pericles, though women, slaves and foreigners couldn't vote
  • Sparta was a militaristic oligarchy that trained boys as soldiers from age seven
  • Greek city-states united to defeat Persia in the Persian Wars (490–479 BCE)
  • The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta weakened Greece
  • Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE) spread Greek culture across a huge empire: Hellenistic culture

Greek Ideas

Greek thinkers shaped philosophy, science and the arts for centuries.
  • Socrates taught by questioning (the Socratic method)
  • Plato wrote The Republic and founded the Academy; Aristotle studied logic, science and politics
  • Greek drama, the Olympic Games and columned architecture (Parthenon) remain influential
  • Herodotus and Thucydides began writing history based on inquiry
  • Hellenistic scholars like Euclid and Archimedes advanced math and science

Rome: Republic to Empire

Rome grew from a republic with elected officials into a vast empire.
  • The Roman Republic (509 BCE) had consuls, a Senate and, later, tribunes for plebeians
  • The Twelve Tables (c. 450 BCE) put Roman law in writing
  • Julius Caesar's rise and assassination (44 BCE) ended the Republic; Augustus became the first emperor in 27 BCE
  • The Pax Romana (c. 27 BCE–180 CE) was two centuries of relative peace and trade
  • Christianity spread through the empire and was legalized by Constantine (313 CE); the Western Empire fell in 476 CE
Athenian democracy excluded women, slaves and foreigners. It wasn't universal.
The Roman Republic wasn't a democracy in the modern sense; the Senate was dominated by patricians.
Rome didn't 'fall' all at once, and the Eastern Empire survived nearly a thousand more years.

Islam and the Caliphates

Islam spread rapidly after the 7th century, creating a vast network of trade and learning.
  • Muhammad began preaching in Mecca around 610 CE; the hijra to Medina in 622 marks year 1 of the Islamic calendar
  • The Five Pillars: faith, prayer, charity, fasting during Ramadan, and pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca
  • The Sunni–Shia split began over who should succeed Muhammad
  • The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) made Baghdad a center of learning (House of Wisdom)
  • Muslim scholars preserved Greek texts and advanced algebra, medicine and astronomy

China and the Mongols

The Tang and Song dynasties were golden ages, followed by Mongol conquest.
  • The Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) expanded the civil service exam system based on Confucian learning
  • Song innovations: movable type, gunpowder weapons, the magnetic compass, paper money
  • Genghis Khan united the Mongols (1206); his successors built the largest contiguous land empire in history
  • Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in China; Marco Polo described his court
  • The Pax Mongolica made Silk Road trade safer, but it also helped spread the Black Death

African Kingdoms and Trade

Trade across the Sahara and Indian Ocean built wealthy African states.
  • Ghana, Mali and Songhai grew rich from the trans-Saharan gold–salt trade
  • Mansa Musa of Mali made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca (1324), displaying enormous wealth
  • Timbuktu became a center of Islamic scholarship
  • Swahili city-states on the East African coast traded in the Indian Ocean network
  • Great Zimbabwe's stone enclosures reflect a wealthy inland trading state
Gunpowder was invented in China, not Europe.
The Sunni–Shia split was about succession, not the Five Pillars.
African kingdoms like Mali were wealthy, literate trading states, not isolated from the wider world.

Feudalism and Manorialism

After Rome's fall, Western Europe organized around land, loyalty and local protection.
  • Feudalism: lords granted land (fiefs) to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty
  • Knights were mounted warriors bound by a code of chivalry
  • Manorialism: peasants and serfs worked a lord's manor in return for protection; serfs were bound to the land
  • Charlemagne was crowned emperor by the pope in 800 CE, reviving the idea of a western empire
  • Viking, Magyar and Muslim raids encouraged local defense and castles

The Church

The Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful institution in medieval Western Europe.
  • The Church shaped daily life through sacraments, holidays and tithes
  • Monasteries preserved learning and copied manuscripts
  • Popes and kings clashed over authority, as in the Investiture Controversy
  • The Great Schism of 1054 split Christianity into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
  • The Crusades (1096–1291) were religious wars to control the Holy Land; they increased trade and contact with the Muslim world

Change in the Late Middle Ages

Several shocks in the 1300s loosened the medieval order.
  • The Magna Carta (1215) limited the English king's power and protected nobles' rights
  • The Black Death (1347–1351) killed roughly a third of Europe's population
  • Labor shortages after the plague raised wages and weakened serfdom
  • The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between England and France helped build national identity
  • Growing towns, guilds and trade fairs revived the economy
Feudalism (lords and vassals) and manorialism (lords and peasants) aren't the same system.
The Crusades didn't permanently secure the Holy Land for Europeans.
The Magna Carta protected nobles first. It wasn't a democracy for everyone.

The Renaissance

A 'rebirth' of interest in classical learning began in the Italian city-states around 1350.
  • Humanism focused on human potential and the study of classical Greek and Roman texts
  • Wealthy patrons like the Medici family of Florence funded artists and scholars
  • Artists used perspective and realism: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael
  • The Northern Renaissance (Erasmus, Dürer, Shakespeare) often blended humanism with Christian themes
  • Gutenberg's movable-type printing press (c. 1450) spread books and ideas quickly

The Protestant Reformation

Criticism of Church practices split Western Christianity.
  • Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517, attacking the sale of indulgences
  • Luther taught salvation by faith alone and the authority of the Bible over Church tradition
  • John Calvin taught predestination and led a strict Protestant community in Geneva
  • Henry VIII broke with Rome and created the Church of England (1534), partly to annul his marriage
  • The printing press helped Protestant ideas spread rapidly

The Catholic Response and Its Effects

The Catholic Church reformed itself while fighting Protestant expansion.
  • The Council of Trent (1545–1563) clarified Catholic doctrine and ended some abuses
  • The Jesuits (founded by Ignatius of Loyola) spread Catholic education and missions
  • Religious wars followed, including the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)
  • The Peace of Westphalia (1648) strengthened the idea of sovereign states
  • The Reformation weakened papal authority and strengthened monarchs
The Renaissance began in Italy, not Northern Europe.
Luther didn't want to start a new church at first; he wanted to reform the Catholic Church.
Henry VIII's break with Rome was as much political and personal as doctrinal.

Motives and Technology

European exploration was driven by 'God, gold and glory' and made possible by new technology.
  • Motives: spreading Christianity, finding wealth (spices, gold) and gaining national prestige
  • Europeans wanted a sea route to Asian spices that avoided Ottoman and Italian middlemen
  • Technology: the caravel, the magnetic compass, the astrolabe and better maps
  • Prince Henry of Portugal sponsored voyages down the African coast
  • Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa (1498)

Encounters in the Americas

Columbus's 1492 voyage began sustained contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
  • Columbus, sailing for Spain, reached the Caribbean in 1492
  • Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire (1521); Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca (1530s)
  • Diseases like smallpox killed a large majority of the Indigenous population, a catastrophic decline
  • The encomienda system forced Indigenous people to labor for Spanish colonists
  • The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided newly claimed lands between Spain and Portugal

The Columbian Exchange and Global Trade

Plants, animals, people and diseases moved between hemispheres.
  • From the Americas to Europe, Africa and Asia: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, cacao, tobacco
  • From the Eastern Hemisphere to the Americas: horses, cattle, wheat, sugarcane and diseases
  • The Atlantic slave trade forcibly moved about 12 million Africans across the Atlantic
  • Mercantilism: nations sought wealth (gold, favorable trade) and used colonies as sources of raw materials
  • Silver from Potosí and Mexico flowed to Europe and China, linking a global economy
Disease, not just warfare, caused most Indigenous deaths after contact.
Potatoes and maize went from the Americas to Europe, not the other way.
Columbus didn't prove the Earth was round; educated Europeans already knew that.

The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment

New methods of inquiry led thinkers to apply reason to society and government.
  • Copernicus proposed a sun-centered (heliocentric) model; Galileo supported it with telescope observations
  • Newton's laws of motion and gravity (1687) showed nature follows mathematical laws
  • John Locke: natural rights to life, liberty and property; government by consent of the governed
  • Montesquieu: separation of powers; Rousseau: the social contract and popular sovereignty
  • Voltaire championed freedom of speech and religion

The American and French Revolutions

Enlightenment ideas inspired revolutions against monarchy.
  • The American Declaration of Independence (1776) echoed Locke's natural rights
  • The French Revolution began in 1789 amid debt, food shortages and inequality among the three estates
  • The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) proclaimed liberty and equality
  • The Reign of Terror (1793–1794) under Robespierre executed thousands
  • Napoleon rose to power, spread revolutionary legal reforms (Napoleonic Code) and was defeated at Waterloo in 1815

Revolutions in the Americas

Enlightenment ideas and weakened European powers helped Latin American colonies win independence.
  • The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), led by Toussaint Louverture, created the first nation founded by formerly enslaved people
  • Simón Bolívar led independence movements in northern South America
  • José de San Martín led independence in Argentina, Chile and Peru
  • Creoles (American-born people of European descent) often led these revolutions
  • Mexico's independence movement began with Father Hidalgo's call in 1810
Locke, not Rousseau, is the source of 'life, liberty and property'.
The French Revolution didn't lead straight to democracy; it passed through the Terror and Napoleon.
Creoles, not peninsulares, led most Latin American independence movements.

The Industrial Revolution

Machine production transformed economies and societies, starting in Britain in the late 1700s.
  • Britain had coal and iron, capital, colonies, a large labor force and stable government
  • Key inventions: the steam engine (improved by James Watt), the spinning jenny, the power loom
  • Factories moved work out of homes; cities grew rapidly (urbanization)
  • Harsh conditions (long hours, child labor, pollution) sparked labor unions and reforms
  • New ideas: capitalism (Adam Smith), socialism, and Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto (1848)

Imperialism and World War I

Industrial power fueled empires and, eventually, a world war.
  • Industrial nations sought raw materials and markets, leading to the Scramble for Africa (Berlin Conference, 1884–85)
  • Causes of WWI: militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism (MAIN)
  • Spark: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (1914)
  • Trench warfare, machine guns and poison gas caused enormous casualties
  • The Treaty of Versailles (1919) blamed Germany, imposed reparations and redrew borders

World War II

The Depression and resentment of Versailles helped bring totalitarian regimes and a second world war.
  • The Great Depression (from 1929) created economic desperation
  • Fascist and totalitarian leaders rose: Mussolini (Italy), Hitler (Germany); militarists in Japan
  • Appeasement failed; Germany's invasion of Poland (1939) started the war in Europe
  • The Holocaust: the Nazi genocide of about six million Jews and millions of others
  • The war ended in 1945; the United Nations was founded and the Cold War began
Franz Ferdinand's assassination sparked WWI but wasn't its only cause.
Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto; Adam Smith defended free-market capitalism.
WWII in Europe began in 1939 with Poland, not with Pearl Harbor (1941).
Term
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Unit 1: Ancient Civilizations

Neolithic Revolution
The shift from hunting and gathering to farming, beginning c. 10,000 BCE.
Fertile Crescent
Arc of fertile land in Southwest Asia where early agriculture and Mesopotamia arose.
Cuneiform
Wedge-shaped Mesopotamian writing on clay tablets.
Hammurabi's Code
Babylonian law code (c. 1754 BCE); one of the earliest written legal systems.
Mandate of Heaven
Chinese idea that rulers govern with heaven's approval, which can be lost.
Specialization of labor
People doing different jobs, made possible by food surpluses.

Unit 2: Classical Greece & Rome

Polis
A Greek city-state, such as Athens or Sparta.
Direct democracy
Citizens vote on laws themselves (Athens).
Hellenistic culture
Blend of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Indian cultures after Alexander.
Roman Republic
Government with elected consuls and a Senate (509–27 BCE).
Pax Romana
Roman peace, c. 27 BCE–180 CE.
Edict of Milan
313 CE decree by Constantine allowing Christian worship.

Unit 3: Post-Classical Asia & Africa

Hijra
Muhammad's move from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE.
Five Pillars
Faith, prayer, charity, fasting in Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca.
Abbasid Caliphate
Islamic dynasty (750–1258) centered in Baghdad; golden age of learning.
Song dynasty
Chinese dynasty (960–1279) known for movable type, compass, paper money.
Pax Mongolica
Period of Mongol-protected trade across Eurasia.
Mansa Musa
Ruler of Mali famous for his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca.

Unit 4: Medieval Europe

Feudalism
Lords grant fiefs to vassals for military service and loyalty.
Manorialism
Economic system: serfs work the lord's manor for protection.
Great Schism (1054)
Split between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
Crusades
Religious wars (1096–1291) over the Holy Land.
Magna Carta
1215 charter limiting the English king's power.
Black Death
Plague pandemic (1347–1351) that killed about a third of Europe.

Unit 5: Renaissance & Reformation

Renaissance
'Rebirth' of classical learning and art, c. 1350–1600, beginning in Italy.
Humanism
Intellectual movement focused on human potential and classical texts.
Printing press
Gutenberg's movable-type press, c. 1450.
95 Theses
Luther's 1517 criticisms of Church practices, especially indulgences.
Predestination
Calvin's belief that God has already chosen who will be saved.
Council of Trent
1545–1563 Catholic council that defined doctrine and reformed abuses.

Unit 6: Age of Exploration

Columbian Exchange
Transfer of plants, animals, people and diseases between hemispheres after 1492.
Caravel
Small, maneuverable Portuguese ship for long voyages.
Treaty of Tordesillas
1494 line dividing new lands between Spain and Portugal.
Encomienda
Spanish colonial system of forced Indigenous labor.
Mercantilism
Economic policy: build national wealth through colonies and favorable trade.
Triangular trade
Atlantic trade linking Europe, Africa and the Americas, including enslaved people.

Unit 7: Revolutions & Enlightenment

Scientific Revolution
16th–17th century shift to observation and experiment (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton).
Natural rights
Locke: rights to life, liberty and property that governments must protect.
Social contract
Idea that government's authority comes from an agreement with the governed.
Separation of powers
Montesquieu's idea of dividing government into branches.
Reign of Terror
1793–1794 period of mass executions during the French Revolution.
Haitian Revolution
1791–1804 revolt led by Toussaint Louverture; created Haiti.

Unit 8: Industrial Age & World Wars

Industrial Revolution
Shift to machine and factory production, beginning in Britain in the late 1700s.
Urbanization
Growth of cities as people moved for factory work.
Imperialism
Extending a nation's power over other territories.
MAIN
Causes of WWI: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism.
Treaty of Versailles
1919 treaty that blamed Germany for WWI and imposed reparations.
Appeasement
Giving in to an aggressor to avoid war (e.g. Munich, 1938).
Press 1–4 to answer · Enter for next

Unit 1: Ancient Civilizations

The Neolithic Revolution
Farming changed how people lived more than almost any other development in history.
River Valley Civilizations
The first civilizations grew along rivers that provided water, fertile soil and transportation.
Law, Writing and Belief
Early states created lasting tools for organizing society.
Key fact
The Neolithic Revolution began around 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent.
Key fact
Hammurabi's Code is one of the earliest written law codes.
Key fact
Mandate of Heaven: Chinese belief that heaven grants and withdraws the right to rule.
Key fact
Cuneiform (Mesopotamia) and hieroglyphics (Egypt) are early writing systems.

Unit 2: Classical Greece & Rome

Greek City-States
Greece was a collection of independent city-states (poleis) rather than one country.
Greek Ideas
Greek thinkers shaped philosophy, science and the arts for centuries.
Rome: Republic to Empire
Rome grew from a republic with elected officials into a vast empire.
Key fact
Athens: direct democracy for adult male citizens.
Key fact
Augustus became Rome's first emperor in 27 BCE.
Key fact
Pax Romana: about 200 years of relative peace.
Key fact
The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE; the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire lasted until 1453.

Unit 3: Post-Classical Asia & Africa

Islam and the Caliphates
Islam spread rapidly after the 7th century, creating a vast network of trade and learning.
China and the Mongols
The Tang and Song dynasties were golden ages, followed by Mongol conquest.
African Kingdoms and Trade
Trade across the Sahara and Indian Ocean built wealthy African states.
Key fact
622 CE: the hijra, year 1 of the Islamic calendar.
Key fact
Song China: movable type, compass, gunpowder weapons, paper money.
Key fact
The Mongols built the largest contiguous land empire in history.
Key fact
Mali's wealth came from the gold–salt trade; Mansa Musa's hajj was in 1324.

Unit 4: Medieval Europe

Feudalism and Manorialism
After Rome's fall, Western Europe organized around land, loyalty and local protection.
The Church
The Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful institution in medieval Western Europe.
Change in the Late Middle Ages
Several shocks in the 1300s loosened the medieval order.
Key fact
Feudalism: land for loyalty and military service.
Key fact
Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800 CE.
Key fact
Magna Carta (1215) limited the power of the English king.
Key fact
The Black Death killed about one-third of Europe's population.

Unit 5: Renaissance & Reformation

The Renaissance
A 'rebirth' of interest in classical learning began in the Italian city-states around 1350.
The Protestant Reformation
Criticism of Church practices split Western Christianity.
The Catholic Response and Its Effects
The Catholic Church reformed itself while fighting Protestant expansion.
Key fact
Humanism: focus on human potential and classical learning.
Key fact
Gutenberg's printing press (c. 1450) spread ideas fast.
Key fact
Luther's 95 Theses: 1517.
Key fact
Council of Trent: the core of the Catholic (Counter-) Reformation.

Unit 6: Age of Exploration

Motives and Technology
European exploration was driven by 'God, gold and glory' and made possible by new technology.
Encounters in the Americas
Columbus's 1492 voyage began sustained contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The Columbian Exchange and Global Trade
Plants, animals, people and diseases moved between hemispheres.
Key fact
Motives: God, gold and glory.
Key fact
1492: Columbus reaches the Caribbean.
Key fact
Columbian Exchange: transfer of crops, animals, people and diseases between hemispheres.
Key fact
About 12 million Africans were forced across the Atlantic in the slave trade.

Unit 7: Revolutions & Enlightenment

The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
New methods of inquiry led thinkers to apply reason to society and government.
The American and French Revolutions
Enlightenment ideas inspired revolutions against monarchy.
Revolutions in the Americas
Enlightenment ideas and weakened European powers helped Latin American colonies win independence.
Key fact
Locke: natural rights of life, liberty and property.
Key fact
Montesquieu: separation of powers.
Key fact
French Revolution began in 1789.
Key fact
Haiti (1804): first nation founded after a successful revolt of enslaved people.

Unit 8: Industrial Age & World Wars

The Industrial Revolution
Machine production transformed economies and societies, starting in Britain in the late 1700s.
Imperialism and World War I
Industrial power fueled empires and, eventually, a world war.
World War II
The Depression and resentment of Versailles helped bring totalitarian regimes and a second world war.
Key fact
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s.
Key fact
MAIN causes of WWI: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism.
Key fact
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) blamed Germany and required reparations.
Key fact
The Holocaust killed about six million Jews.
Common mistakes for each unit — read the mistake, then make sure you know why it's wrong.

Unit 1: Ancient Civilizations

Watch out
Don't confuse the Tigris/Euphrates (Mesopotamia) with the Nile (Egypt) or the Huang He (China).
Watch out
The Indus script hasn't been deciphered, so much about that society is inferred from archaeology.
Watch out
Hammurabi's Code applied different punishments by social class. It wasn't 'equal justice'.

Unit 2: Classical Greece & Rome

Watch out
Athenian democracy excluded women, slaves and foreigners. It wasn't universal.
Watch out
The Roman Republic wasn't a democracy in the modern sense; the Senate was dominated by patricians.
Watch out
Rome didn't 'fall' all at once, and the Eastern Empire survived nearly a thousand more years.

Unit 3: Post-Classical Asia & Africa

Watch out
Gunpowder was invented in China, not Europe.
Watch out
The Sunni–Shia split was about succession, not the Five Pillars.
Watch out
African kingdoms like Mali were wealthy, literate trading states, not isolated from the wider world.

Unit 4: Medieval Europe

Watch out
Feudalism (lords and vassals) and manorialism (lords and peasants) aren't the same system.
Watch out
The Crusades didn't permanently secure the Holy Land for Europeans.
Watch out
The Magna Carta protected nobles first. It wasn't a democracy for everyone.

Unit 5: Renaissance & Reformation

Watch out
The Renaissance began in Italy, not Northern Europe.
Watch out
Luther didn't want to start a new church at first; he wanted to reform the Catholic Church.
Watch out
Henry VIII's break with Rome was as much political and personal as doctrinal.

Unit 6: Age of Exploration

Watch out
Disease, not just warfare, caused most Indigenous deaths after contact.
Watch out
Potatoes and maize went from the Americas to Europe, not the other way.
Watch out
Columbus didn't prove the Earth was round; educated Europeans already knew that.

Unit 7: Revolutions & Enlightenment

Watch out
Locke, not Rousseau, is the source of 'life, liberty and property'.
Watch out
The French Revolution didn't lead straight to democracy; it passed through the Terror and Napoleon.
Watch out
Creoles, not peninsulares, led most Latin American independence movements.

Unit 8: Industrial Age & World Wars

Watch out
Franz Ferdinand's assassination sparked WWI but wasn't its only cause.
Watch out
Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto; Adam Smith defended free-market capitalism.
Watch out
WWII in Europe began in 1939 with Poland, not with Pearl Harbor (1941).