History & Geography
World history is the story of people, of the human experience. It is a story of how people, ideas, and things spread across the earth creating our past and our present. History is divided in four eras: prehistory, ancient times, middle ages, and modern times.
Primary and Secondary Sources
We learn about the past from historians. Historians get their information from art works, government records, diaries, letters, speeches, and newspaper articles. Historians also study history books, textbooks, and encyclopedias. After historians examine their sources, they write histories based on their understanding of the truth. But, what they write are influenced by their own opinions or by lack of information. Historians do not know everything about a past event, so they must rely on the evidence left behind. If new evidence is found, interpretations of history can change.
Geographers divide most of the land surface of the earth into seven large landmasses called continents. The continents are Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, North America, and South America. Antarctica is the only continent not settled by humans. The Ural Mountains of Russia are considered the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Europe and Asia form a single large landmass called Eurasia. The continents, however, cover less than a third of the earth’s surface. Earth is mostly a water planet, and 97% of that water is found in the earth’s four oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian and the Arctic. Because ocean water is salty, it cannot be used for drinking, farming, or manufacturing. Far less than 1% of the earth’s water is fresh water, water that is not salty and can be used to grow crops.
Plate Tectonics
According to the theory of plate tectonics, the earth’s surface is composed of about a dozen plates of solid material that slowly move as they float on a bed of magma, or molten rock. In other words, the surface of the earth resembles a cracked eggshell, and the pieces of the shell are moving. These plates include boththe ocean floor and the continents. The continents are simply high areas on the plates above sea level, so both the continents and the sea floor move with their plates. Earthquakes and volcanoes often occur at boundaries between plates as the plates push together, spread apart, or slide against one another. Plate tectonics continues to shape the earth’s surface, as does erosion caused by wind and water. Scientists believe all of the present continents might have been together in a single large landmass long ago before they broke apart and drifted to their present locations on the earth. This super continent of the past is called Pangaea.
Stone Age
History has been divided into three eras based on the kinds of tools, or technology, that people used during these periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. By far the longest stretch of human history took place before and during the Stone Age, a period called prehistoric times, when people did not yet know how to read or write. The earliest discoveries of human art are also from the Stone Age. Paleolithic is a scientific term applied to the early Stone Age when humans made their living mostly by hunting, scavenging, or gathering wild food such as nuts and berries. Neolithic means the late Stone Age when agriculture began, and copper tools were developed. (Neo means new; lithic means stone. Both terms come from Greek, another ancient language that contributed to the modern language we use today.)
We learn about the past from historians. Historians get their information from art works, government records, diaries, letters, speeches, and newspaper articles. Historians also study history books, textbooks, and encyclopedias. After historians examine their sources, they write histories based on their understanding of the truth. But, what they write are influenced by their own opinions or by lack of information. Historians do not know everything about a past event, so they must rely on the evidence left behind. If new evidence is found, interpretations of history can change.
Geographers divide most of the land surface of the earth into seven large landmasses called continents. The continents are Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, North America, and South America. Antarctica is the only continent not settled by humans. The Ural Mountains of Russia are considered the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Europe and Asia form a single large landmass called Eurasia. The continents, however, cover less than a third of the earth’s surface. Earth is mostly a water planet, and 97% of that water is found in the earth’s four oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian and the Arctic. Because ocean water is salty, it cannot be used for drinking, farming, or manufacturing. Far less than 1% of the earth’s water is fresh water, water that is not salty and can be used to grow crops.
Plate Tectonics
According to the theory of plate tectonics, the earth’s surface is composed of about a dozen plates of solid material that slowly move as they float on a bed of magma, or molten rock. In other words, the surface of the earth resembles a cracked eggshell, and the pieces of the shell are moving. These plates include boththe ocean floor and the continents. The continents are simply high areas on the plates above sea level, so both the continents and the sea floor move with their plates. Earthquakes and volcanoes often occur at boundaries between plates as the plates push together, spread apart, or slide against one another. Plate tectonics continues to shape the earth’s surface, as does erosion caused by wind and water. Scientists believe all of the present continents might have been together in a single large landmass long ago before they broke apart and drifted to their present locations on the earth. This super continent of the past is called Pangaea.
Stone Age
History has been divided into three eras based on the kinds of tools, or technology, that people used during these periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. By far the longest stretch of human history took place before and during the Stone Age, a period called prehistoric times, when people did not yet know how to read or write. The earliest discoveries of human art are also from the Stone Age. Paleolithic is a scientific term applied to the early Stone Age when humans made their living mostly by hunting, scavenging, or gathering wild food such as nuts and berries. Neolithic means the late Stone Age when agriculture began, and copper tools were developed. (Neo means new; lithic means stone. Both terms come from Greek, another ancient language that contributed to the modern language we use today.)
Agriculture
Before the Neolithic period, most humans made their living by hunting and gathering, which meant that humans were constantly on the move following wild game herds. This began to change about 12,000 years ago when people in the Middle East discovered they could plant and harvest a wheat plant they found growing wild. At about the same time, people began to domesticate wild animals, raising them for food and as a source of power that could pull wagons and plows. (Agriculture means farming and raising livestock.) People no longer had to follow the wandering animal herds; they could settle in one place, grow crops, and eventually build towns and cities. With permanent homes, people could collect more possessions, which encouraged the invention of new technologies such as pottery making and looms for weaving. Because agriculture could support more people per square mile than hunting and gathering, human population jumped from about two million people during the early Stone Age to about 60 million during the late Stone Age. Farmers learned to grow more food than they needed for their own use, resulting in a surplus. Agricultural surpluses made it possible to accumulate wealth, and they led to job specialization because not everyone had to raise food to make a living. Some people could specialize in non-agricultural work -- like making pottery, or becoming priests or government officials -- and be supported by others from the agricultural surplus. Agriculture became the main source of wealth in most societies until the industrial age.
Before the Neolithic period, most humans made their living by hunting and gathering, which meant that humans were constantly on the move following wild game herds. This began to change about 12,000 years ago when people in the Middle East discovered they could plant and harvest a wheat plant they found growing wild. At about the same time, people began to domesticate wild animals, raising them for food and as a source of power that could pull wagons and plows. (Agriculture means farming and raising livestock.) People no longer had to follow the wandering animal herds; they could settle in one place, grow crops, and eventually build towns and cities. With permanent homes, people could collect more possessions, which encouraged the invention of new technologies such as pottery making and looms for weaving. Because agriculture could support more people per square mile than hunting and gathering, human population jumped from about two million people during the early Stone Age to about 60 million during the late Stone Age. Farmers learned to grow more food than they needed for their own use, resulting in a surplus. Agricultural surpluses made it possible to accumulate wealth, and they led to job specialization because not everyone had to raise food to make a living. Some people could specialize in non-agricultural work -- like making pottery, or becoming priests or government officials -- and be supported by others from the agricultural surplus. Agriculture became the main source of wealth in most societies until the industrial age.
Jericho
Agriculture and irrigation began in an area of the Middle East called the Fertile Crescent. Villages grew near farmlands, and the world’s first known city developed at Jericho in Palestine around 8,000 BC. Walls were built around Jericho to protect its agricultural surplus from nomadic raiders. Agriculture later developed independently in China and Central America. Hunting and gathering declined as agriculture became the way most humans made their living.
Civilization
Agriculture made civilization possible because it permitted humans to settle permanently in one place, build cities, and develop complex societies. Large groups of people living together encouraged job specialization, the development of government, and written language, all of which are important features of civilization. Writing probably began as a way to record business dealings, especially the exchange of agricultural products. Cities and writing are considered the primary indicators of civilization. When people started to write, prehistoric times ended, and historic times began.
The Middle East
The Middle East is a region that includes southwest Asia and northeast Africa, extending from Libya in the west to Afghanistan in the east. It was also the birthplace of three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Today the Middle East is important as the major oil-producing region of the world.
Mesopotamia
Located in the modern country of Iraq, Mesopotamia is known as the “cradle of civilization” because it is here that civilization first began around 3500 BC, a date considered the beginning of ancient times. Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; the name Mesopotamia means “between the waters” in Greek. Here farmers learned to build irrigation systems that turned the dry valley into a prosperous center of agriculture supporting many people. As settlements in southern Mesopotamia grew into busy cities, this area called Sumer became the world’s first civilization. The Sumerians built walled cities and developed the earliest-known writing called cuneiform, in which scribes (record-keepers) carved symbols onto wet clay tablets that were later dried. The Sumerians are credited with writing the world’s oldest story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, about the life of a Sumerian king. The Sumerian number system was based on 12, which explains why we have 60-minute hours, 24-hour days, 12-month years, and 360-degree circles.
Religion
Early religions usually worshiped several gods, a practice called polytheism. Religion was extremely important in Sumer where originally priests were the most powerful people in society. Later, warrior kings would take control. Priests supervised the worship of seven great gods: earth, sky, sun, moon, salt water, fresh water, and storm. Sumerians believed their gods lived in statues housed in temples including large pyramid-like structures called ziggurats.
Egypt
Not long after the world’s first civilization arose between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia, civilization spread west to the Nile River valley of Egypt. Egyptians probably learned about irrigation, the plow, writing, and other technologies from Mesopotamia. Egypt is said to be a “gift of the Nile” because the river provided irrigation water, fertile soils due to annual floods (it floods every year because the snow melts on the mountain top and the ground becomes like a sponge that is full of water and is unable to aborb anymore. The water flows downhill and collects together in a river. In the spring too much water gets in the river and it overflows its banks and floods), and easy transportation by boat. Boats on the Nile were pulled north by the Nile’s current (so if you wanted north then you would not set sail and just let the currents push you downstream), and they sailed south with the prevailing winds (so if you wanted to go upstream you would set sail and let the winds push you upstream.) Egyptians considered the river sacred; it separated the “land of the living” on the east bank (where the sun rises) from the “land of the dead” on the west bank (where the sun sets). Egypt’s two main geographic features are the Nile and the Sahara Desert. Ancient Egypt was a long, narrow oasis along the river in the desert. It has been said, “geography is destiny,” and perhaps this was true in Egypt where the Nile was the lifeblood of the country, and the desert provided natural barriers to enemies (that means that raiders who wanted to steal Egypt's wealth could not cross the desert because they got thirsty so they died or went back home) permitting ancient Egyptian civilization to last for 3,000 years, the longest in history (3100 BC to 30 BC, which is very long because America is only 200 years old from the time that General Washington won United States Independence from England). Ancient Egyptians had a polytheistic religion; their important gods included Ra, god of the sun and creator of life, and Osiris, god of rebirth. The struggle between Osiris and his evil brother Set represented the eternal struggle between good and evil. Many works of art, literature, and architecture survive from ancient Egypt including huge tombs of the pharaohs, the Sphinx, and the great pyramids near Cairo, Egypt’s modern day capital city (our capital city is Washington DC where our rulers go to make decisions.) The ancient Egyptians also developed a 365-day solar calendar that is the basis for the calendar we use today.
Agriculture and irrigation began in an area of the Middle East called the Fertile Crescent. Villages grew near farmlands, and the world’s first known city developed at Jericho in Palestine around 8,000 BC. Walls were built around Jericho to protect its agricultural surplus from nomadic raiders. Agriculture later developed independently in China and Central America. Hunting and gathering declined as agriculture became the way most humans made their living.
Civilization
Agriculture made civilization possible because it permitted humans to settle permanently in one place, build cities, and develop complex societies. Large groups of people living together encouraged job specialization, the development of government, and written language, all of which are important features of civilization. Writing probably began as a way to record business dealings, especially the exchange of agricultural products. Cities and writing are considered the primary indicators of civilization. When people started to write, prehistoric times ended, and historic times began.
The Middle East
The Middle East is a region that includes southwest Asia and northeast Africa, extending from Libya in the west to Afghanistan in the east. It was also the birthplace of three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Today the Middle East is important as the major oil-producing region of the world.
Mesopotamia
Located in the modern country of Iraq, Mesopotamia is known as the “cradle of civilization” because it is here that civilization first began around 3500 BC, a date considered the beginning of ancient times. Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; the name Mesopotamia means “between the waters” in Greek. Here farmers learned to build irrigation systems that turned the dry valley into a prosperous center of agriculture supporting many people. As settlements in southern Mesopotamia grew into busy cities, this area called Sumer became the world’s first civilization. The Sumerians built walled cities and developed the earliest-known writing called cuneiform, in which scribes (record-keepers) carved symbols onto wet clay tablets that were later dried. The Sumerians are credited with writing the world’s oldest story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, about the life of a Sumerian king. The Sumerian number system was based on 12, which explains why we have 60-minute hours, 24-hour days, 12-month years, and 360-degree circles.
Religion
Early religions usually worshiped several gods, a practice called polytheism. Religion was extremely important in Sumer where originally priests were the most powerful people in society. Later, warrior kings would take control. Priests supervised the worship of seven great gods: earth, sky, sun, moon, salt water, fresh water, and storm. Sumerians believed their gods lived in statues housed in temples including large pyramid-like structures called ziggurats.
Egypt
Not long after the world’s first civilization arose between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia, civilization spread west to the Nile River valley of Egypt. Egyptians probably learned about irrigation, the plow, writing, and other technologies from Mesopotamia. Egypt is said to be a “gift of the Nile” because the river provided irrigation water, fertile soils due to annual floods (it floods every year because the snow melts on the mountain top and the ground becomes like a sponge that is full of water and is unable to aborb anymore. The water flows downhill and collects together in a river. In the spring too much water gets in the river and it overflows its banks and floods), and easy transportation by boat. Boats on the Nile were pulled north by the Nile’s current (so if you wanted north then you would not set sail and just let the currents push you downstream), and they sailed south with the prevailing winds (so if you wanted to go upstream you would set sail and let the winds push you upstream.) Egyptians considered the river sacred; it separated the “land of the living” on the east bank (where the sun rises) from the “land of the dead” on the west bank (where the sun sets). Egypt’s two main geographic features are the Nile and the Sahara Desert. Ancient Egypt was a long, narrow oasis along the river in the desert. It has been said, “geography is destiny,” and perhaps this was true in Egypt where the Nile was the lifeblood of the country, and the desert provided natural barriers to enemies (that means that raiders who wanted to steal Egypt's wealth could not cross the desert because they got thirsty so they died or went back home) permitting ancient Egyptian civilization to last for 3,000 years, the longest in history (3100 BC to 30 BC, which is very long because America is only 200 years old from the time that General Washington won United States Independence from England). Ancient Egyptians had a polytheistic religion; their important gods included Ra, god of the sun and creator of life, and Osiris, god of rebirth. The struggle between Osiris and his evil brother Set represented the eternal struggle between good and evil. Many works of art, literature, and architecture survive from ancient Egypt including huge tombs of the pharaohs, the Sphinx, and the great pyramids near Cairo, Egypt’s modern day capital city (our capital city is Washington DC where our rulers go to make decisions.) The ancient Egyptians also developed a 365-day solar calendar that is the basis for the calendar we use today.
Bryan's Ancient Times ABC Book
A Ancient Times, Atlantic Ocean, Artic Ocean, Agriculture
B Bronze Age,
C Cairo, Continents, Christianity, Cuneiform
D Desert
E Epic of Gilgamesh, Euphratis River, Egypt
F Fight, Farmers, Fertile Crescent, Flood
G Geography, Greek
H Historians
I Indian Ocean, Irrigation, Islam
J Judaism, Jericho
K Kill
L
M Middle Ages, Modern Times, Middle East, Monotheism
N Neolithic, Nile
O Oasis, Osiris
P Prehistory, Plate Tectonics, Paleolithic, Pacific Ocean, Pyramid, Pharohs, Polytheism, Preists
Q Queen Cleopatra
R Ra
S Stone Age, Sumer, Sahara, Sphinx, Set, Sumerian Number System, 7 Sumarian Gods
T Tigris River, 365 Day Solar Calendar
U
V
W Writing, Warior Kings
X
Y
Z Zigurrats
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