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Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. Early Human Societies
    1. 1 Understanding the Past
      1. Introduction
      2. 1.1 Developing a Global Perspective
      3. 1.2 Primary Sources
      4. 1.3 Causation and Interpretation in History
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    2. 2 Early Humans
      1. Introduction
      2. 2.1 Early Human Evolution and Migration
      3. 2.2 People in the Paleolithic Age
      4. 2.3 The Neolithic Revolution
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    3. 3 Early Civilizations and Urban Societies
      1. Introduction
      2. 3.1 Early Civilizations
      3. 3.2 Ancient Mesopotamia
      4. 3.3 Ancient Egypt
      5. 3.4 The Indus Valley Civilization
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    4. 4 The Near East
      1. Introduction
      2. 4.1 From Old Babylon to the Medes
      3. 4.2 Egypt’s New Kingdom
      4. 4.3 The Persian Empire
      5. 4.4 The Hebrews
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    5. 5 Asia in Ancient Times
      1. Introduction
      2. 5.1 Ancient China
      3. 5.2 The Steppes
      4. 5.3 Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia
      5. 5.4 Vedic India to the Fall of the Maurya Empire
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
  3. States and Empires, 1000 BCE–500 CE
    1. 6 Mediterranean Peoples
      1. Introduction
      2. 6.1 Early Mediterranean Peoples
      3. 6.2 Ancient Greece
      4. 6.3 The Hellenistic Era
      5. 6.4 The Roman Republic
      6. 6.5 The Age of Augustus
      7. Key Terms
      8. Section Summary
      9. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    2. 7 Experiencing the Roman Empire
      1. Introduction
      2. 7.1 The Daily Life of a Roman Family
      3. 7.2 Slavery in the Roman Empire
      4. 7.3 The Roman Economy: Trade, Taxes, and Conquest
      5. 7.4 Religion in the Roman Empire
      6. 7.5 The Regions of Rome
      7. Key Terms
      8. Section Summary
      9. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    3. 8 The Americas in Ancient Times
      1. Introduction
      2. 8.1 Populating and Settling the Americas
      3. 8.2 Early Cultures and Civilizations in the Americas
      4. 8.3 The Age of Empires in the Americas
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    4. 9 Africa in Ancient Times
      1. Introduction
      2. 9.1 Africa’s Geography and Climate
      3. 9.2 The Emergence of Farming and the Bantu Migrations
      4. 9.3 The Kingdom of Kush
      5. 9.4 North Africa’s Mediterranean and Trans-Saharan Connections
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
  4. An Age of Religion, 500–1200 CE
    1. 10 Empires of Faith
      1. Introduction
      2. 10.1 The Eastward Shift
      3. 10.2 The Byzantine Empire and Persia
      4. 10.3 The Kingdoms of Aksum and Himyar
      5. 10.4 The Margins of Empire
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    2. 11 The Rise of Islam and the Caliphates
      1. Introduction
      2. 11.1 The Rise and Message of Islam
      3. 11.2 The Arab-Islamic Conquests and the First Islamic States
      4. 11.3 Islamization and Religious Rule under Islam
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    3. 12 India, the Indian Ocean Basin, and East Asia
      1. Introduction
      2. 12.1 The Indian Ocean World in the Early Middle Ages
      3. 12.2 East-West Interactions in the Early Middle Ages
      4. 12.3 Border States: Sogdiana, Korea, and Japan
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    4. 13 The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement
      1. Introduction
      2. 13.1 The Post-Roman West in the Early Middle Ages
      3. 13.2 The Seljuk Migration and the Call from the East
      4. 13.3 Patriarch and Papacy: The Church and the Call to Crusade
      5. 13.4 The Crusading Movement
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
  5. A Global Middle Ages, 1200–1500 CE
    1. 14 Pax Mongolica: The Steppe Empire of the Mongols
      1. Introduction
      2. 14.1 Song China and the Steppe Peoples
      3. 14.2 Chinggis Khan and the Early Mongol Empire
      4. 14.3 The Mongol Empire Fragments
      5. 14.4 Christianity and Islam outside Central Asia
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    2. 15 States and Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa
      1. Introduction
      2. 15.1 Culture and Society in Medieval Africa
      3. 15.2 Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa
      4. 15.3 The People of the Sahel
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    3. 16 Climate Change and Plague in the Fourteenth Century
      1. Introduction
      2. 16.1 Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century
      3. 16.2 Famine, Climate Change, and Migration
      4. 16.3 The Black Death from East to West
      5. 16.4 The Long-Term Effects of Global Transformation
      6. Key Terms
      7. Section Summary
      8. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
    4. 17 The Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Ming
      1. Introduction
      2. 17.1 The Ottomans and the Mongols
      3. 17.2 From the Mamluks to Ming China
      4. 17.3 Gunpowder and Nomads in a Transitional Age
      5. Key Terms
      6. Section Summary
      7. Assessments
        1. Review Questions
        2. Check Your Understanding Questions
        3. Application and Reflection Questions
  6. A | Glossary
  7. B | World History, Volume 1, to 1500: Maps and Timelines
  8. C | World Maps
  9. D | Recommended Resources for the Study of World History
  10. Index

2.1 Early Human Evolution and Migration

For about the last thirty thousand years, modern humans, or Homo sapiens, have been the only human species walking the Earth. But not only did several different human species once share the planet; they also evolved from much older and very different ancestors who began forging the path of global migration that modern humans later followed. Many tens of thousands of years or more later, Homo sapiens began creating sophisticated stone hand-axes from rock cores and mastered the use of fire for cooking, staying warm, guarding against predators, and creating places for social interaction. They used their keen ability to produce a variety of sounds to construct languages that allowed them to communicate complex ideas and pass important information to later generations. They created art that still speaks to us today. With all these tools, modern humans were able to migrate around the globe and create a diversity of cultures, traditions, and lifestyles.

2.2 People in the Paleolithic Age

Beginning perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, modern humans began leaving Africa and migrating far and wide. That this movement occurred during the start of the most recent glaciation period suggests that climatic changes may have been a motivating factor. Over time, these migrating humans found themselves in a great variety of environments that required them to develop appropriate tools and strategies. In very frigid parts of the world, for example, they fashioned tools like sewing needles to create sophisticated clothing for keeping out the cold.

For many tens of thousands of years, these groups lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, relying on edible plants as well as meat that could be either scavenged or hunted. Their diets varied from place to place but often included foods like wild grains, berries, honey, small and large mammals, fish, and shellfish. What we know or guess about these populations comes from both archaeological work and observations of the few modern hunter-gatherer societies that remain.

2.3 The Neolithic Revolution

The changes that came with the Neolithic Revolution beginning about twelve thousand years ago dramatically transformed human life. The adoption of agriculture and the domestication of animals allowed for larger populations, surpluses of food, and labor specialization, even as they reduced leisure time and restructured formerly egalitarian societies into hierarchical tiers. From the remains of Neolithic settlements we can get a sense of life at this important moment in our species’ history. The remains of Çatalhöyük feature rooms decorated with art and a settlement designed for protection. The art and architecture from there and from other places like Göbekli Tepe demonstrate both skill and high degrees of cooperation. They also show modern humans in a transitional period between the hunter-gatherer world and the fully agricultural one. Over time, hunter-gatherer lifestyles were abandoned in most places as agricultural settlements grew.

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