This document provides an overview of early world history from the emergence of humankind to the development of civilizations. It discusses how hominids evolved in Africa around 5-6 million years ago and began migrating from Africa around 2 million years ago. Around 11,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution began as some hominid groups started domesticating plants and animals, allowing for population growth and division of labor. Some of the first complex civilizations emerged around 3500 BCE in river valleys and dominated the globe until the post-1000 CE era. Civilizations laid the foundations for modern empires, religions, technologies, and social inequalities.

1. AP WORLD HISTORY –
STRAYER UNIT 1
OVERVIEW
THE BIG PICTURE: TURNING POINTS IN EARLY WORLD
HISTORY

2. THE EMERGENCE OF HUMANKIND
• Most scholars in the post-Darwinian world regard human
beginnings in the context of biological change.
• archeologists and anthropologists believe that the lines of descent
leading to Homo sapiens (modern man) and chimpanzees diverged
around 5 million–6 million years ago
• hominid family emerged in eastern and southern Africa, with
20–30 different related species
• they were bipedal (walked on two legs)

3. HOMINIDS DEVELOPED OVER TIME
• brain size increased
• around 2.3 million years ago, Homo habilis began to use stone
tools
• by 1 million years ago, some hominid species, especially Homo
erectus, began to migrate from Africa
• knew how to use fire
• Of the hominid species, only Homo sapiens still survives.
• emerged in Africa around 250,000 years ago; around 100,000 years ago
began to migrate beyond Africa

4. HOMINID DEVELOPMENT (BRAN SIZE)

6. THE GLOBALIZATION OF HUMANKIND
• Today humans occupy every significant landmass
• 500,000 years ago didn’t exist
• 100,000 years ago fewer than 10,000 individuals
• Remarkably become a worldwide and increasingly
dominant presence

7. GRAPH OF HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH OVER TIME

8. THE PALEOLITHIC ERA (“OLD STONE AGE”)
• Initial migrations from Africa took place in the
Paleolithic Era.
• gatherers and hunters
• Paleolithic era continued until around 11,000 years ago
• The Paleolithic era accounts for over 95 percent of
human time on earth
• accounts for about 12 percent of the total number of
people who have lived

9. RELEVANCE OF EARLY HUMAN HISTORY
• No other large species created homes in every
environmental niche as Homo sapiens did.
• slowly developed technology
• slowly imposed meaning through
• art,
• ritual, and
• religion

10. THE “REVOLUTION” OF FARMING AND HERDING
• There are around 7 billion people in the world today; almost all live
from domesticated plants and animals.
• Domestication first occurred in several regions about 11,000 years ago.
• it was the most significant and enduring transformation of
humankind
• provided the foundation for almost all subsequent change
• the period from 11,000 years ago to around 1750 C.E. can be
regarded as a single age—
• the age of agriculture
• allowed for a large increase in the human population

11. IMPORTANCE OF FOOD PRODUCTION
• Food production laid the foundation for enduring divisions within
human communities.
• some regions were luckier in terms of climate and plants/animals
available for domestication
• the Americas were disadvantaged by the lack of large animals to be
domesticated
• in the Afro-Eurasian world, conflicts between agriculturalists and
pastoralists became an enduring pattern

12. THE TURNING POINT OF CIVILIZATION
• The most prominent human communities that emerged were
“civilizations”: societies based in cities and governed by powerful
states.
• Almost everyone in the world now lives in a state with a formal
political authority.
• The first cities and states emerged around 3500 B.C.E.
• well after 1000 C.E. substantial numbers still lived in communities
without any state or urban structures

13. RELEVANCE OF STATE CITY-BASED SOCIETIES
• state- and city-based societies have been the most
powerful and innovative human communities
• a. they have given rise to empires
• b. they have created enduring cultural and religious
traditions
• c. they have created new technologies
• d. they have bred sharp class inequalities, patriarchy,
and large-scale warfare

14. A NOTE ON DATES
• A recent convention encourages dating by
B.C.E. and C.E., not B.C. and A.D.
• B.C.E. = before the Common Era = B.C. (before Christ)
• C.E. = the Common Era = A.D. (Anno Domini, Latin for
“year of the Lord”)
• B.C.E./C.E. dating is an effort to get away from
Christian-centered and Eurocentric thinking.
• Societies have reckoned time in many different
ways.
• 1. China: dated by the reign of particular emperors
• 2. Muslim calendar: Year 1 marks Muhammad’s
emigration to Medina in 622 C.E.