Final Exam Study Guide

World History Final Exam Study Guide

For the final exam, you should be able to reconstruct our timeline by putting the major eras, and the four bullet points that describe each era, in their proper order. A full summary is copied below.

You should also be able to write 2-3 paragraph discussions on the following questions or statements:

1) The Mongols should be given more credit for the role they played in Eurasian history. Discuss.

2) What was the caste system and how did Buddhism challenge it?

  

3) Was Socrates a humanist? Explain.

4) Briefly discuss the rise, fall & lasting significance of Byzantium.

5) From a world historical point of view, the period from 500 AD to 1500 AD was not a "post"-Classical period but simply a continuation of the Classical period. The experience of Islamic and Chinese civilizations during this period illustrates why. Discuss.

6) The "kelp highway" theory makes a convincing argument for the existence of a coastal route that led to human settlement in the Americas during the late Paleolithic era. Discuss.

7) The "Polynesian thesis" makes a convincing argument for the existence of oceanic routes from the South Pacific that led to human settlement in the Americas during the Ancient and/or Classical eras. Discuss.

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Paleolithic

1) We evolved as Homo sapiens

2) We used basic (old) stone tools (lithic = stone)

3) Socially, we formed ourselves into moving bands of gatherer-hunters

4) We migrated out of Africa to other continents

Neolithic

1) We outcompeted all other species of Homo

2) We used advanced (new) stone tools for more complex purposes

3) We formed ourselves into small, settled agricultural communities

4) All continents except Antarctica inhabited by Homo sapiens

Ancient

1) Homo sapiens competed with each other for wealth, power, status à social hierarchy

2) We developed more sophisticated technologies, including writing

3) Agricultural surpluses à specialization à civilizations & city-states

4) Interaction between humans from different continents increases due to trade

Classical

1) Competition for dominance between civilizations

2) Unique thinkers develop the seminal ideas that still define us as peoples

3) Formation of complex Empires & cosmopolitan urban centers

4) Political units arise which straddle more than one continent

Modern

1) Capitalism intensifies competition within and among peoples

2) Industrial Revolution multiplies human productivity and output

3) Development of Colonial Empires and relationships

4) Western European civilization asserts superiority over all others

Post-Modern?

1) Regulation of capitalism & cooperation among peoples

2) Environmental sustainability becomes a critical goal of technology

3) Government is increasingly global with emphasis on cooperation

4) Western European civilization recognizes co-equality of other peoples