Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution started in Modern day Middle East or A.K.A The Fertile Crescent. It is considered to be the jump start to civilization. Humans transitioned from hunting and gathering to farming and animal domestication. This is also the jump start to Job Specialization. Job Specialization included Brick Makers, Woven Goods, Tool Makers, Storytellers, Merchants and etc. The highest Social Class was usually Priests and Nobles. Mostly Polytheistic.
Classic Civilizations (Greece, Rome, Han China)
We covered three major civilizations in World History A. Greece, Rome and Han China. In Greece City-States were common. The power did not belong to one specific ruler it was spread out. Iron in, Bronze out. Mostly Polytheistic. In Rome there were three wars called the Punic Wars. Rome won all three. There were 5 reasons for the decline of Rome. With Political Violence, Economic Problems, Social Decay, Foreign Invaders, and Climate Change. The Ancient Chinese was a great empire. They invented the Civil Service exam. It was open to any class and only men, if you did good on the test you got a job well given job in government. The Zhou dynasty and Qin Dynasty helped Ancient China. Greece helped us with our government system. Democracy.
Dark Ages
In the Dark Ages, Europe, was crumbling in literacy, art, and knowledge. There was no major empire, so people turned to the church and that is when the church became extremely powerful. Charlemagne, powerful ruler of Franks, helped protect the Pope. In return the Pope named Charlemagne ruler of Western Europe. Religions split in Eastern and Western Orthodox Christianity and becomes known as the Great Schism. The Dark Ages also had its strengths. Weapons. There were weapons like swords, axes, lances, daggers, mace, crossbows, and long bows. There was a huge population death to Europe though. The Black Death. The disease killed about 1/3 of Europe's population, and 35 million in Asia.
Islamic and African Empires.
Following Muhammad's death for the Islamic Empire, there were two groups that disagreed with each other on who should be the next leader. The Sunni and Shia or Shiite Muslims. The Sunni's believed that any Muslim could be the successor. The Shia's believed that the ruler had to be a descent from Muhammad. Abu Bakr is the first Caliph after Muhammad's death. The downfall was due to extreme wealth of empire. The leaders focused on wealth for themselves. In African Empires there were storytellers called Griot's and they are responsible for their history and traditions. Ibn Batu. Legendary world traveler. He was the first person to cross the Sahara Desert. Most of the reason why he got to cross the Sahara because of Camels. Camels emerged from Asia. Tolls helped build up the African Empire. Timbuktu was a school in Africa and is considered to be the center of learning leadership of Mali Empire.
Renaissance and Reformation
The Renaissance flourished in Italy because they had invested in a wealthy class of art. The Renaissance was when the Printing Press was invented. The Printing Press was invented by Johann Gutenberg. The Printing Press was the way that the bible had been able top be read by the people in Italy, because the bible was written in Latin and they could not read Latin, except for few people. Leonardo Da Vinci, William Shakespeare, and Niccolo Machiavelli were important people during this time period. Martin Luther, Monk. 95 Theses. In the end, The Reformation was a decline in religious unity.
European Expansion
The Mughal Empire was a powerful empire. The leader of the Mughal's was Akbar. He expanded the empire. He ended taxes on Non-Muslims, he opened the government jobs to all members of caste system, he also encouraged international trade. But everything good comes to an end. Akbar's reforms were abandoned, Hindus are persecuted, taxes are increased and everything falls apart. The Dutch, now became one of the bigger forces. They forcefully removed the Portuguese from China and started a monopoly of the spice trade. The Europeans goods were not wanted in China because China was so much more advanced than Europe.
The Mongolian Empire (Favorite)
I chose the Mongolian Empire as my favorite group. This is because they were one of the best empires in history. If they set their minds on something they most likely accomplished what they wanted. They had one of the best rulers in any empire. Genghis Khan of the best rulers. He conquered over millions of square miles and has been accounted for over 40 million deaths. Tamerlane was also a good ruler. He helped the spread of Mongolia also. Plus, the help of Genghis's grandson Kublai. He helped spread Mongolia to but not as much as Tamerlane and Genghis. Mongolia was also helpful to the people that they conquered. They helped increase trade in China and also helped China become more stable. After the fall of Mongolia, the Chinese became the powerful ones.