This document provides a summary of world history from 3 million BC to 1500 AD in brief sections. It describes early humans migrating out of Africa around 3 million BC with no written language. The Neolithic Revolution beginning around 8000 BC marked the beginning of civilization with agriculture, permanent settlements, and the first forms of writing. River valley civilizations like Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China emerged around 4000 BC each with their own governments, writing systems, architecture, and religions. Major early societies included the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, the rise of Islam, classical China and India, feudal Europe during the Middle Ages, and the Aztec and Inca empires in the Americas. The Renaissance and major

1. The History of the World
9th Grade Edition!

2. 3 Million BC

3. Early Humans
• First humans appear in Africa around
3,000,000 BC
• They cross the Bering Strait to enter the
Americas
• No written language
• Nomads: Migrate to find food
• Paleolithic- Old stone age
• Find shelter in caves

4. 8000 BC: Neolithic Revolution

5. The Neolithic Revolution
• Beginning of civilization
• People learned to plant food and
domesticate animals
• Build permanent homes
• Communities established
Reconstruction of a Neolithic
House in Horton, England.

6. Neolithic Advancements
• CIVILIZATION!!!
• Agriculture
• Division of labor
• Written Language
• Money
• Religion

7. 4000 BC:
River Valley Civilizations

8. Nile River: Egypt
• Government: Pharaoh
• Writing: Hieroglyphics
• Architecture: Pyramids
• Religion: Polytheistic

9. Tigris and Euphrates River:
Mesopotamia
• Government: City State
• Writing: Cuneiform
• Architecture: Ziggurats (temples)
• Religion: Polytheism
• Law: Code of Hammurabi

10. Indus River: India
• Writing: Not yet translated
• Cities: Show evidence of central planning

11. Yellow River: (Huang Ho)
China
• Government:
– Shang Dynasty = monarchy
– Zhou = decentralized and feudal  3 philosophies
written
• Religion: Ancestor Worship and animism

12. Ancient Hebrews: 1400 BC
First
Monotheistic
culture.
(Judaism)
Began in
Babylon
(Mesopotamia,
not the town)

13. 750 BC: Ancient Greece

14. Government: City States
• Athens: Democracy
– Art literature, philosophy, trade
• Sparta: Oligarchy
– a form of government in which power effectively
rests with a small elite segment of society

15. Religion:
• Polytheism

16. Art and Architecture:
The Parthenon
Greek Statues

17. Intellectual Acheivements:
• Literature: Greek Tragedies
• Philosophy: Humanism
– Socrates
– Plato
– Aristotle
• Math
• Science
• Medicine

18. 700 BC: The Roman Empire

19. Government: Republic
• Senate
• Citizens allowed to vote

20. The Roman Military controlled large
areas.

21. Engineering
• Built roads and Aqueducts

22. Earliest System of Justice
12 Tables
of
Roman Law

23. Fall Of Rome
• Civil wars weakened country
• Attacks form other nations

24. 600 AD: Islam
• The Prophet
Muhammad starts
Islam after having a
vision of the
Archangel Gabriel.
• Islam spreads,
becoming a major
world religion.
• Monotheistic

25. Classical China
• Qin Dynasty: Legalism, great wall, unified
writing system
• Han Dynasty: Adoption of Confucianism, civil
service exams, largest Chinese Dynasty, falls
just like Rome

26. Classical India
• Emergence of Hinduism
• Maurya Empire: conquers most of India, but
the caste system really provides order
• Gupta Empire: Golden Age, Asoka, Buddhism
spreads

27. 1000 AD: Middle Ages, Europe

28. Feudalism

29. Religion: Christianity
• Church becomes
more powerful
• Only the religious
leaders can read
and write.

30. The Crusades
• War of the
Cross
• Trying to
reclaim the
Holy Land
• Cultural
diffusion and
trade

31. 1500 AD: The Rise of Europe
Europe: A strong desire for knowledge

32. A Time of Learning
• Modern languages
develop:
VERNACULAR
• Printing press
spreads knowledge
– More books printed
– Books more
affordable.

33. The Renaissance
Leonardo DaVinci
Michelangelo
William
Shakespear
Niccolo
Machiavelli
HUMANISM

34. Religion
• Protestant Reformation
King Henry VIII starts
the Church of England
when the Pope refuses
to grant him an
annulment.
Martin Luther: 95 Theses

35. Science
• Copernicus:
Heliocentric view
of solar system
• Galileo: Telescope
• Scientific method

36. Exploration
• Quest to find trade routes, spices!
• Vasco da Gama: Sailed to India
• Christopher Columbus sailed to
the Americas

37. People of Central and South
America
• Aztec
– Controlled Mexico
– Tribute empire:
Conquered people must
pay
– Polytheistic
– Human sacrifice
– Capital city, Tenochtitlan,
built on a lake,
protective causeways
• Inca
– Controlled most of the
Andes mountains
– Assimilated conquered
people
– Extensive system of
roads and bridges
– Polytheistic
– Quipu, but no writing
– Some human sacrifice

38. The Encounter
• Spanish Conquistadors
conquer Aztecs in Mexico
and Inca in Andes
Mountains
– Superior technology (Guns,
Germs, and Steel)