Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What is social studies?   

What are the five state standards? 

What is geography? 

What is history? 

What is economics? 

What is a culture/society/civilization?  

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time? 

How does the past connect to our world today?

Social Studies is the study of systems.  Students should be introduced to the idea that they will be studying how different cultures, no matter how far removed through time or distance, impact each other. 

Students will become familiar with the Illinois State Learning Standards for Social Studies (geography, history, government, economics, and socio-cultural systems).  These standards will be a beacon throughout the year, and will be periodically reviewed and discussed.   

Geography is the study of the physical and cultural features of an area, as well as the distribution of people and resources.  Teachers and students should also become familiar with the Five Themes of Geography. 

History is the study and interpretation of the human story.  The interpretation of the past can be used to examine and understand the present.  It can also shape the choices we make and help us to predict future events. 

Economics is the study of the production, distribution, consumption, and trade of goods and services. 

A culture encompasses the shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, traditions, art, and achievements of a group of people that are passed on from one generation to the next. 

A society is a group or groups of people who form an association for their mutual benefit and protection.  A society may include many different cultures (i.e. United States).  When we speak of societies, we may often refer to them as civilizations with certain characteristics:  1.) a stable food supply leading to a surplus, 2.) specialized labor, 3.) a system of government, 4.) social levels (hierarchy), and 5.) a highly developed culture including art, architecture, religion, music, laws, and some level of scientific inquiry. 

A civilization is a complex society with a high level of cultural and technological development. 

The study of history is, in its essence, the study of change.  More than knowing “what happened,” students need to understand the factors behind societal changes and the nature of those changes.     

The study of the past, particularly that of the ancient and medieval world, often fails to engage students because it does not relate to their world or life.  As teachers of ancient and medieval world history, we must strive to make all study of the past connected to the world and lives of our students.  At times, we can directly trace how a past event led to a current world or local situation.  At other times, we must help students to imagine how their life might be different had an event or moment in ancient or medieval history not existed.  Finally, we must engage students in problem solving and critical thinking around the universal human issues that faced people in the past and that continue to face our students today.

How do we locate things in the world?

How does the environment shape human activity?

How does human activity shape the environment?

On a basic level, students must be able to locate, define, and use the essentials that make up a map, such as scale, latitude and longitude, a legend, a compass rose, a grid, and an inset.  They should also understand the differences between maps and globes and the projection issues associated with maps, and be able to identify hemispheres, the prime meridian, and the equator.  Finally, students must also know how to read and create a variety of different maps, such as a physical map, an historical map, a route map, and a cultural map.  It is important to be able to locate things in the world and read a variety of maps so we may assess how humans interact with their environment and to determine how the environment has impacted historical human/cultural/societal development.   

Human history is the story of survival by adapting and shaping the environment in ways that make it more useful.  However, there is a dual interaction between humans and the environment in which both influence each other.  Both today and in the past, humans, the activities they pursue, the settlements they make, and the migration patterns they follow have been/are intertwined with and shaped by topography and climate. 

What is the difference between pre-history and history? 

How do we evaluate information?

How do people make sense of information?

How do we reconstruct the past?

How and why do people make sense of time? 

Pre-history is history before the development of writing.  History and pre-history are similar in that we are striving to learn of significant events throughout time and how those events impacted/influenced groups and individuals.   

Students will learn how to evaluate and question information by learning about the different types of historical sources (primary and secondary) and the different types of dating information (cultural, absolute and relative, scientific, and radiocarbon).  By becoming familiar with how historians scrutinize and make sense of the past, students will also learn how to do the same.  Students should be able to reconstruct and organize the past by making timelines of events that chronicle both long and short periods of time.  Students should also understand that time has been measured differently by different cultures and societies.  The topic of B.C. and A.D. versus B.C.E. and C.E. should be introduced, and students should understand the difference between the two dating styles.   

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What is archaeology?

How does the environment shape human activity? 

How do humans fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services? 

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively? 

How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristic? 

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time? 

How does the past connect to our world today?

Archaeology is the process of reconstructing past human life and activities as shown by fossil relics, monuments, and artifacts. It is important to remember that archaeology has played a vital role in establishing our knowledge of early humans.

Early humans tended to be nomadic, following their food supply and relying on hunting and gathering.  As time went on, they settled in fertile places (often near rivers), created a surplus, and began to trade with other peoples.  Surplus food supplies allowed the people of Catal Huyuk and the Fertile Crescent to expand their craft industries and create specialization of jobs among community members.  The civilization of Ur participated in long-distance trade and could not survive without this economic process, as they lived in a hot, dry plain where farming could not take place.  

Human need has historically driven the process of invention and the development of civilizations.  Homo habilis created tools for cutting meat, and from there, the tools of homo erectus and homo sapiens continued to become more advanced and more sophisticated.  The tool making of these early humans marked the dawn of technology.   

Early humans developed language to more easily communicate with each other, and they went on to create simple communities that blossomed into civilizations.  These civilizations helped keep order amongst the people by establishing a system of government, as well as keeping a stable food supply, offering a variety of jobs, and developing culture that included art, religion, music, etc.  All of these human developments had one aim—to make life run more smoothly and efficiently. 

Early humans often formed bands of hunter-gatherers, and within these bands, jobs were often assigned by sex.  Fossils and burial sites of Neanderthals (show picture of Terry Bradshaw) give evidence that these early communities had great respect for the elders of their group.   

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What makes an effective government?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

How does the environment shape human activity?

How does special or discriminatory treatment influence individuals, groups, and society as a whole?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Early Mesopotamia was neither a country nor a nation, but an area of independent city-states.  These city-states were initially ruled by priests who were in charge of building and maintaining the irrigation systems.  The irrigation systems allowed the city-states to grow a surplus of food and thus turn their attention towards other specializations.  As time passed and outside threats from nomadic raiders impacted the survival of the city-states, successful military leaders eventually became the rulers (kings) of these areas, who were perceived to be all powerful and had a divine right to rule.

For the societies of ancient Mesopotamia, religion was a means for explaining the natural world and why things occurred.  Ancient Mesopotamian religion was based on the complex system of polytheism.  Moreover, because ancient Mesopotamians believed that these gods controlled every part of life, the only way to ensure survival and prosperity was through service to the gods.

With priests acting as direct links to the gods and the king as the gods’ appointed representative on earth, the ancient Mesopotamian religion helped to assure that the people would obey their ruler, creating order and stability, instead of anarchy.  The eventual expansion of city-states into empires caused the need to create a consistent governmental framework and codes of law like Hammurabi’s Code that would unify different peoples in far off areas.

Expansion and the need to acquire scarce resources also brought about increased trade with far off areas.  To help ensure an even and efficient system of trade, ancient Mesopotamians developed a system of weights and measures (bulla), and a method of recording transactions in writing (pictographs and then cuneiform).

Like many other early civilizations, Mesopotamia was located in and around major river valleys.  In fact, the word Mesopotamia itself comes from the Greek language and means, “the land between two rivers.”  Located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Mesopotamia was established on the barren plains of present-day Iraq, and parts of Syria and Turkey.  While the climatic conditions of this area are often desert-like throughout most of the year, the Mesopotamian people were able to adapt to this environment through the creation of irrigation and water retention systems that helped to control the unpredictable floods that occurred throughout the growing season.

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does the environment shape human activity?

How does human activity shape the environment?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

What impact do new inventions, technologies, and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture?

How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristic?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Ancient Egypt was another early civilization that developed in and around a major river valley.  Located along the course of the Nile River, the ancient Egyptians developed irrigation systems and flood control and retention systems to help harness the only reliable source of water within this desert environment.  Yet, unlike ancient Mesopotamia, the floods in ancient Egypt occurred on a predictable annual basis, thus making farming easier, and provided the ancient Egyptians with a reliable seasonal cycle.  Moreover, the Nile not only served as a reliable source of water, but also provided a source of food and papyrus for making paper.

Like Mesopotamia, ancient Egyptian religion was based on polytheism.  This religion was primarily focused on the belief in the afterlife.  In fact, this belief was so strong that the ancient Egyptians developed the processes of embalming and mummification, so the body would be preserved for the next life.  Moreover, because the ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaohs were actually gods (different from Mesopotamia’s belief that their kings were only the appointed representatives of the gods) massive tombs and monuments such as the pyramids were constructed as symbols to their divine nature.

With their strong belief in the afterlife, ancient Egyptian technology and invention focused on the preparation (and preservation of the body) for death.  The technological prowess of the ancient Egyptians in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and architecture is also apparent in the afterlife-related construction of the pyramids and tombs of the pharaohs, embalming and mummification, and the development of an accurate lunar calendar system.  Finally, using the natural resources provided by the Nile River, the Egyptians developed a much more efficient system of preserving their written record (hieroglyphics) through the use of papyrus (as opposed to the clay tablets used in Mesopotamia).

As with any society, the Egyptians had a system of social hierarchy that differentiated between people’s status.  At the top was the king, followed closely by the royal family and the priests.  The next level was reserved for government officials and scribes.  Artisans formed the next level, and below them were the farmers who formed the large base of this social pyramid.  Slaves such as Nubians and the Israelites had no status in ancient Egypt. 

While the mummies have been found intact and the pyramids at Giza still stand, this culture is dead.  The current nation of Egypt is much different from the culture being studied in this unit.  Overtime, ancient Egypt grew and conquered more and more territory under the leadership of powerful and successful rulers (some such as Hatshepsut were women).  Moreover, as war and conquest brought new territories and people under the rule of the ancient Egyptians, it also brought them into contact with other empires.  As time passed, internal power struggles and weak rulers led to rebellions and military defeats at the hands of the Kushites, the Assyrians, the Romans, Muslims from Saudi Arabia, and Europeans (the French and British).  Eventually, the ancient Egyptian culture was superceded by the culture of the groups who succeeded in conquering this territory.

Our current understanding of ancient Egyptian culture, particularly their hieroglyphic writing system, was a direct result of the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799, and the successful deciphering of it in the early 19^th century.  Furthermore, archaeological discoveries such as King Tut’s Tomb have greatly added to our overall knowledge of ancient Egyptian culture.

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does the environment shape human activity?

What makes an effective government?

How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristic?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies? 

How do societies fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services?

To what extent can an individual’s and/or group’s actions determine the course of an entire society?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

India lies on a subcontinent that features mountains, rivers, and ocean access. While mountains such as the Himalayas have historically protected the subcontinent from outside invaders, the rivers and monsoons have provided fertile land and a regular rainy season to nourish crops.  These geographic features allowed societies such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro to arise as early as 2500 B.C.E. in the region of the Indus River valley. 

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Indus valley civilizations valued order, central planning, and agricultural and architectural innovation.  This evidence also shows that the people of the Indus valley maintained contact with other civilizations outside of the Indian subcontinent. 

Around 1500 B.C.E., the Aryans, a nomadic group, migrated from Eastern Europe into India.  People have learned about the Aryans through The Vedas, a collection of hymns and poems that were passed down from generation to generation and are still an important part of Indian religion and culture. 

The Aryans brought to India new religious beliefs and a strict social hierarchy called the caste system.  This approach to ranking and dividing people allowed the Aryans to maintain stability and order in their society.  It also determined the jobs people could have, the books they could read, the activities they could participate in, and the people they could marry.  Although the caste system has been officially declared illegal in modern India, it is still very influential. 

Hinduism, the major religion of India, has its roots in Vedic religion.  Hindus adopted the caste system and came to believe that each caste, from the highest priests and kings to the lowest slave, has its own sacred duty to fulfill.  People’s souls could be reborn into a higher caste by fulfilling their dharma and earning karma.  Hindus believe(d) in one absolute divine power that is represented by two main gods and hundreds of lesser gods. 

As Hinduism took hold throughout India, some people began to question the rigid caste system and the power of the Vedic priests.  One of these people was Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince who went on to found Buddhism, a new religion that gained followers because of its rejection of the caste system.  After a long journey to seek the truth, Siddhartha or Buddha, came to believe in the Middle Way, a philosophy that helps people to understand and overcome suffering.  Like the Hindus, Buddha believed that people could be reborn.  However, Buddha did not believe in a soul and thought that people could change, grow, and come closer to enlightenment within a lifetime. 

The Indian ruler Asoka built the powerful Mauryan empire and converted to Buddhism after a long, bloody war.  Asoka, like many other Buddhists, came to believe that violence, both towards humans and animals, was the source of weakness and problems in society.  Through edicts, Asoka spread Buddhism through his empire and beyond (China).

Throughout India’s history, religion has greatly influenced the arts.  Traditional Indian music, visual art, and dance have told the stories of the many Hindu gods and goddesses.  Even today, India’s huge film industry continues to make many movies that tell the stories of traditional religious tales and epics. 

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does the environment shape human activity?

What can a culture gain and lose from remaining isolated from outside influences? 

Why does a government collapse and how does the collapse affect society? 

What does a government need to do to survive and thrive?

When empires expand, how are cultures and societies affected?

How does special or discriminatory treatment influence individuals, groups, and society as a whole?

Why and how do new religions, belief systems, or branches of religions emerge and gain followers?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

China has many natural barriers, including huge mountains in the southwest, mountains and desert in the north and west, and the ocean to the east.  This geographic positioning allowed Chinese civilizations to develop continuously, within the vast territory enclosed by the natural barriers.  The different geographic features of China also gave birth to various internal regional cultures, each with its own language and customs. 

China’s earliest civilizations emerged near rivers starting in 10,000 B.C.E.  As societies became more settled, complex, and organized, leaders emerged.  Once of the first known Chinese leaders was Yu and he created the Xia, China’s first great dynasty.  Although we have little archaeological evidence of the Xia, ruins of cities, bronze artifacts, and oracle bones have told a full story of the Shang, the dynasty that came to power after the Xia.  Shang society was organized, innovative, and highly religious.  The polytheistic Shang believed in ancestral spirits and an afterlife and conducted elaborate burial rituals using oracle bones. 

The Zhou dynasty overthrew the Shang and claimed the, “mandate of heaven.” Zhou kings expanded their empire through a feudal system which gave power to nobles to rule their own smaller states.  The Zhou further unified their empire by standardizing Chinese written characters and spreading writing.  Over time, the Zhou nobles became more powerful and independent.  Eventually some of the nobles turned against the Zhou and, causing a period of chaos as many people fought for power and control. 

Amidst the chaos, different philosophers and teachers began to advise rulers with ideas for how to bring control and stability back to society.  Confucius, the most famous of these philosophers, taught that family relationships, friendships, and the relationship between a ruler and his subjects were the foundation of society.  If children showed respect to their parents, wives showed respect to their husbands, and so on, society would be stable.  Leaders could keep power by treating their subjects with respect and kindness and teaching good behavior to all. 

Many other groups disagreed with Confucianism and had their own ideas for how to end chaos in China.  The Moists believed that all people must love each other equally.  The Legalists believed that people were evil by nature and that only strict laws and harsh punishments would make society better.  The Daoists thought that society needed to become smaller, simpler, and more in harmony with nature and human feelings.  During a later period of societal chaos, after the fall of the Han dynasty, many Chinese turned to Buddhism as a new belief system. 

Although Confucianism and Daoism continued to have a strong influence in China, the next dynasty to rule China was Legalist.  Using a system of rewards and punishments, the Qin dynasty created an empire much larger than the Zhou and unified China.  The emperor Qin Shihuangdi created a complex bureaucracy through which he ruled various provinces, each with a governor and defender than reported to the emperor.  Qin set standards for written language, measurement, and currency, and took land away from the nobles so that he would have direct control of the peasants.  The emperor harshly censored those who disagreed with him and sent many of his enemies to work as forced laborers on the construction of the Great Wall and his vast tomb. 

Many Chinese grew tired of the strict Legalism of the Qin dynasty.  One of the leaders of a rebellion against the Qin became ruler of the Han dynasty.  The Han ruled according to Confucianism, with some Legalist influences, and an understanding of the balance of yin and yang.  Most Han Chinese were farmers, although cities began to grow.  The Han gained support by ending many harsh laws and heavy taxes and by establishing the Confucian merit system.  They also created economic stability by encouraging invention and new ideas and trading prized Chinese silk on the Silk Road.  However, they continued to maintain relative isolation, sending middlemen to trade and closely guarding new inventions. 

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What can a culture gain or lose from opening itself to outside influences?

What makes an effective government?

What does a government need to do to survive and thrive?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

To what extent can an individual’s and/or group’s actions determine the course of an entire society?

How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristic?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Greece has a warm climate, similar to Southern California, where farmers can raise crops all year long.  Greece is made up of many islands and is ideally located for sea trade.  The Ancient Greeks made extensive contacts with people from other advanced cultures and these contacts led to the spread of ideas that spurred the development of Greek civilization.

Around 750 B.C. Greece was coming out of its Dark Age as isolated villages began to develop into cities.  As cities grew, trade increased and leaders arose.  The isolated cities developed into city-states----independent, self-governing units. 

The idea of democracy was developed over several centuries.  The people in the early Greek city-states were ruled by kings in a monarchy.  Over time, the kings began to rely on wealthy landowners, or nobles, to help defend their land from invaders.  These nobles began to demand to share some of the king’s powers, resulting in an oligarchy.  Food shortages caused unrest and discontent among the population.  These problems led to the rise of tyrants who seized power by force and ruled the city-state single-handedly.  Some people supported these leaders because they promised to make reforms.  However, eventually, the citizens of Athens became upset with the harsh rule of a tyrant, overthrew him, and began to share decision-making power.  This was the beginning of the world’s first democracy. 

The Greeks were polytheistic and believed that Zeus, the king of the gods, sat on a golden throne atop Mount Olympus and ruled all other gods and all of the Greeks.   The Greeks believed that all aspects of their lives were controlled by the gods and that humans had little to no free will. The gods of Greek myths formed a family, and each member had a specific role with particular duties and powers.  Zeus, as head of the family, set standards of justice and made sure that humans and gods followed them. 

Greek religious belief influenced all aspects of life including art, literature, drama, leisure activities, and daily decision making.  The Olympic Games honored Zeus, Greek myths told the stories of the gods, drama festivals which included comic and tragic plays were held to honor the gods, and Greeks regularly visited sanctuaries and shrines to receive guidance and advice from the gods through oracles.    

Sparta and Athens were the two largest city-states in Greece and each developed a unique society.  Men in Sparta were required to devote a large portion of their life to military service and all of their education focused on military training.  Spartan women had relative freedom as independent family caretakers.  While Athens did not ignore their military, boys and men in Athens were encouraged to pursue a rich cultural education and the exercise of personal freedoms.  Athenian women, on the other hand, had little political, economic, or social freedom, no decision-making power, and were only educated at home. 

The Golden Age of Athens was led by Pericles, who sought to protect and beautify Athens while strengthening democracy.  During the rule of Pericles, Greek culture flourished and many Greek male citizens became active participants in their government.  However, citizenship excluded women, slaves, and foreigners.  The glory of Athens came to an end as a result of war, disease, the loss of effective leadership, and the inability of the society to live up to its own ideals. 

The growing power of the Persian Empire posed a threat to both Athens and Sparta who, despite their differences, banded together to fight a common enemy.   Eventually, Alexander the Great created a Greek empire that defeated and overtook not only the Persians, but other empires as well.   Alexander’s military genius and his aggressive spreading of Greek culture left an enduring Hellenistic influence on conquered lands. 

Greek cultural expressions left a deep and lasting impression that still influences our lives today.  Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle searched for the truth and the meaning of life and challenged their societies by looking beyond the gods for answers to their questions about the world.  Epic poems like the Odyssey and the Iliad portrayed an appreciation for complex heroes who used their intelligence and physical strength to overcome insurmountable odds.  Lyric poetry richly portrayed human emotions and feelings.  Classical Greek architecture and art are still greatly admired and copied today.  Many Greek scientific and mathematical ideas are still used today and ancient Greece was one of the first societies to look for the natural causes for diseases. 

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does human activity shape the environment? 

What does a government need to do to survive and thrive?

What impact do new inventions, technologies, and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture?

How does special or discriminatory treatment influence individuals, groups, and society as a whole?

Why and how do new religions, belief systems, or branches of religions emerge and gain followers?

How do societies fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services?

When empires expand, how are cultures and societies affected?

Why does a government collapse and how does the collapse affect society?

How and why do civilizations (governments, economic systems, social systems, institutions, belief systems, and communication systems) change over time?

How does the past connect to our world today?

The area once known as Latium has a typical Mediterranean climate.  Rome’s location on several hills near the Tiber River and Mediterranean offered many advantages.  Rome was also within easy reach of Greece to the east, Spain to the west, and the northern coast of Africa to the south.

According to legend, Rome was founded by Romulus who served as the first of seven kings.  The early kings were advised by a Senate, a council of elders from Rome’s leading families.  A citizens’ assembly voted on decisions made by the king and the Senate.  The early kings also served as the chief priests.  Eventually, kings from Etruria came to rule Rome and they introduced many new ideas and expanded Rome.  After the Romans overthrew the last Etruscan king, Roman leaders adopted a very new form of government—a republic.  The citizens elected consuls to replace the king.  The Senate advised the consuls. 

Early Roman citizens were divided into two classes determined by birth--patricians and plebeians.  Although patricians had many more rights and privileges than plebeians, all adult male citizens had certain rights, such as the right to vote and to own property.  Women citizens, however, had limited rights.  Slaves and war captives were owned by citizens and had no rights.  Some, however, were able to buy their freedom and a tiny few were able to win freedom fighting as gladiators for the entertainment of the Roman masses. 

By 275 B.C.E., Rome had expanded and ruled the entire Italian peninsula.  Instead of punishing the people it conquered, Rome made them allies who had to fight for Rome in any future wars.  With the defeat of Carthage in the Punic Wars, Rome became the most important power in the western Mediterranean.  Next, Rome turned eastward, conquering Greece and Macedonia.  Once Rome became an empire, it expanded into present-day Western Europe and eventually into Asia Minor and Northern Africa.  Although Rome’s expansion eventually contributed to its fall, Rome was able to maintain its empire for centuries through extending citizenship to conquered peoples, utilizing engineering skills to build an extensive infrastructure, building a diverse economy based on agriculture, industry, and trade, and depending on the military might of the Roman legions. 

The Roman republic came to an end when Julius Caesar took control after a three year civil war.  Caesar declared himself dictator for life with absolute power.  After Caesar’s assassination, his adopted son Octavian rose to power by defeating his rivals and was named Emperor Caesar Augustus.  Augustus showed respect for the Senate and asked for their help in running the empire.  His reign marked the beginning of a period of 200 years of peace that became known as the Pax Romana.  Despite a wide variety of approaches to leadership, the success of all future emperors rested on their ability to gain the support of the military.

The emperor Diocletian introduced a number of major reforms and eventually came to share his power with another emperor, thus dividing the empire in two.  The emperor Constantine ruled both parts of the empire; however he established a new capital in the East.   Constantine also declared Christianity as the main religion in the empire and completed the reorganization of the Roman government.

Rome did not fall as the result of a single invasion.  Since the time of the Pax Romana, the empire had been fighting off attacks from outsiders or barbarians.  Some Roman emperors dealt with the barbarians more successfully than others, but, eventually the Western empire could not withstand the attacks of the Visigoths and other groups on key cities and settlements.  Unlike Rome, Constantinople withstood barbarian attacks and remained intact for another thousand years.

The Romans were polytheistic and borrowed many of their gods from the Greeks, bestowing Roman names on the Greek deities.  The Roman religion was based on rituals, or ceremonies, rather than a written creed or right behavior. 

Christianity, the religion based on the teachings of Jesus, began to gain followers during the Pax Romana.  The Roman government ignored the early Christians, seeing them as just one of the many groups of Jews who were dissatisfied with Roman rule, but did not have the power to rebel.  However, over time, as Christianity gained more followers, Roman emperors began to perceive Christianity as a threat and began to persecute Christians.  Persecution of Christians came to its height during the reign of Diocletian.  However, by the end of the C.E. 300s, the conversion of Constantine and later Roman emperors allowed the new faith to grow into a well-organized community with churches, priests, and bishops throughout the empire.

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What makes an effective government?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

Can there be a just war? Why or why not?

How do societies fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Because of the chaos caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire, a new political, economic and social system (feudalism) developed in Western Europe.  In a feudal hierarchy, the king gave a fief to nobles in exchange for their protection while the nobles, assisted by knights, protected the peasants and serfs in exchange for their labor.  Individuals such as Charlemagne became powerful local lords who provided peace and protection in the face of anarchy and chaos.  With a relatively weak king, the lords were able to secure greater rights through the Magna Carta. 

A feudal manor was a self-sufficient entity that consisted of a castle and its surrounding lands.  The castle served as both a home for the lord of a fief and a place of safety for all who lived around the castle.  Life in a medieval manor and the societal roles of lords, ladies, knights, peasants, and servants centered around farming and maintaining security in a time of constant war.  Over time, feudal life changed as agricultural and military technology became more advanced.

Gradually, as trade and movement became more possible, towns appeared, some towns became cities, and the role of the country manor and castle was diminished.  In these larger towns and cities, guilds were formed by artisans, craftspeople and merchants in order to establish standards and provide economic security for themselves.  Guilds of students and teachers eventually became universities which replaced the monks and monasteries as the most powerful centers of learning in Europe.

Eventually, the feudal system came to the end due to the wide spread effects of the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) which killed about 1/3 of Europe.

CONNECTIONS TO TODAY: 

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

What can a culture gain and lose from remaining isolated from outside influences?

What makes an effective government?

How does the environment shape human activity?

How do societies fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services? 

How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristic?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Japan was geographically isolated which led to the rise of feudalism.

Early Japan was ruled by competing clans.  As certain clans became more powerful, they attempted to centralize the Japanese government, putting all land and clans under the power of the emperor.  The central government was initially able to rule effectively, but could not maintain power over all of Japan.  Warrior clans fought for power and eventually created a warrior government led by a shogun.    The shogun was supported by nobles called daimyo who relied on warriors called samurai to protect their land.  The power of the shogunates depended on a strictly enforced social system based on loyalty and honor. 

Early and medieval Japan’s wealth was based on extremely efficient land use, along with fishing and rice cultivation.   Medieval Japan was based on a feudal system in which the emperor and the nobles of his court were able to become wealthy and powerful by taking over the country’s traditional private land owning system.  Rural nobles had less economic power, but were able to gain more as the emperor became more isolated and less able to control his kingdom.  Merchants and artisans had a good deal of economic freedom.  Small landowners had even less power and often worked for the nobles as tenant farmers.  At the bottom of the feudal economic pyramid were peasants.  As the shogunates became more powerful over time, they came to have more power than all but the imperial nobles and the emperor.

There was a sharp division in Japanese society between the aristocrats and the common people.  At the very bottom of Japanese society were the eta, a class of hereditary slaves who were only allowed to work in the most degrading jobs.  In early Japan, women had a certain level of equality with men; as Japanese society developed, women lost some of their social and legal rights.  However, throughout early and medieval Japan, women did play an active but limited role in both aristocratic and peasant life. 

From earliest times, Japanese art reflected nature, simplicity, and ideals of beauty.  Beginning in the mid 700’s, Japanese cultural expressions such as poetry, diaries, stories, and elaborate clothes, hairstyles, and makeup flourished.  After 1100, artistic expression was greatly influenced by Zen Buddhism as demonstrated in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, origami, painting, gardening, and drama and dance.  By the 1600’s, popular entertainment emerged, and forms such as kabuki and haiku became central parts of Japanese culture.

Eventually, Japan’s isolation was broken by the west with the ultimate arrival of Admiral Matthew Perry.  With this new contact came the introduction of new technologies such as gunpowder that ultimately brought down the entire feudal system.

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Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

To what extent can an individual’s and/or group’s actions determine the course of an entire society?

How does the environment shape human activity? 

What impact do new inventions, technologies, and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture?

How does the past connect to the world today?

How and why are people in a society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristics?

According to the Torah, some Mesopotamians were monotheistic and they eventually left Mesopotamia and migrated to the land of Canaan.  These people, who became known as the Hebrews, and, eventually, the Israelites, were the first believers in Judaism.    

Through the conquests of the Assyrian and Babylonian rulers, groups such as the Phoenicians, Philistines, and Israelites became conquered peoples.  Once conquered, these peoples were forced to pay huge annual sums in taxes to the leaders of Assyria and Babylon.  The Israelites in particular, resented these taxes, and often led rebellions and refused to pay their oppressors.  The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar brutally put down on of these rebellions, and forced thousands of Israelites out of their homeland into exile and slavery in Babylon.

Slaves were often the conquered peoples of lands obtained by the ancient Egyptian military conquests.  One such group were the Israelites (the ancestors of the Jewish people of today), who were held as slaves for 430 years.  According to the Torah, in the 1200s B.C., under the leadership of Moses and with the help of their god, the Israelites began an exodus out of Egypt, and returned to their homeland of Canaan.  On their way to Canaan, God made a covenant with the Moses and his people and issued the Ten Commandments

Part of the land that Rome conquered was Canaan, the historic home of the Israelites and Judaism.  After many battles with other people living in Canaan, the kingdom of Israel achieved stability under the rule of King David and his son Solomon who built the famous temple at Jerusalem.  Eventually, Israel split into two kingdoms that lasted until they were conquered by outside invaders.  Through the Maccabee revolt against the Syrians, the Jews regained control of their temple and land.  However, despite the efforts of the Zealots and the defenders of Masada, in 70 C.E., the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, ended Jewish rule in Canaan and enslaved and deported many Jews. The Jews’ initial exile in Babylon, the many centuries of struggle to regain control of their land, and life in the Diaspora during Roman rule strengthened their belief in the importance of faith and God, the laws of the Torah, and the role of rabbis and synagogues. 

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Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does the environment shape human activity?

When empires expand, how are cultures and societies affected?

What does a government need to do to survive and thrive?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

To what extent can an individual’s and/or group’s actions determine the course of an entire society?

How and why are people in society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristics?

What impact do new inventions, technologies, and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture? 

Can there be a just war?  Why or why not?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

The geography of the Muslim world played a very influential role in its growth and development.  Within a primarily desert environment, water resources and oasis areas became locations for city and trade-route development.

The religion Islam and the first Muslim empire began when Muhammad (Mohammed) unified the many different tribes in the Arabian peninsula.  As a religion, Islam integrated some of the core beliefs and practices of the polytheistic Arabian tribes with some of the monotheistic beliefs and practices of Judaism and Christianity.   According to Muslims, Allah had revealed himself partly through Moses and Jesus, but gave his final revelations to Muhammad.  Muslims believe that the Qu’ran (Koran) contains these revelations and gives guidelines by which they should live.  The most important of these guidelines are the five pillars of Islam. 

After initially struggling to gain followers in the religiously and politically important Arabian city of Mecca and the Kaaba, Muhammad left Mecca and won support from the people of the city of Medina.  Here, Muhammad created the first Muslim community or umma in which there was no separation between political, military, and religious authority.  Muhammad eventually returned to Mecca with a large army, spreading Islam in this city and beyond.  

The success of early Muslim empires led to the creation of strong infrastructures (roads, universities, hospitals), the promotion of science, technological invention, and artistic expression, the expansion of trade and control of essential overland trade routes, and the spread and acceptance of Islam.  The House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the preservation and translation of the great works of Greeks and Romans, the invention of the Arabic numeral system and algebra, countless advances in astronomy and medicine, literature and poetry such as the Arabian Nights and the work of Rumi, and the complex architecture and artistry of the mosque are some of the greatest accomplishments of the Muslim empires.  

Like the ancient Greeks, the Muslims promoted the idea of the equality of all people, yet struggled to truly extend equal treatment to all.  Although Islam defines all people as equal in the eyes of Allah, many Muslim empires had complex class systems and practiced slavery.  Although the Quran promoted respect for women and Muslim women were able to own and inherit property, women in Muslim societies were not allowed to exercise many freedoms and rights. 

Today, Muslims across the world are united in their belief in Quran and the use of Arabic as a language.  However, Muslims and Islamic societies exhibit a wide range of interpretations of the Quran’s guidelines on the treatment of women and non-Muslims, the relationship between religious and political power, and on concepts such as the umma and jihad. 

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Enduring Understandings

What makes an effective government?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

Can there be a just war? Why or why not?

How do societies fulfill their needs and desires for goods and services?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

During the Medieval period in Europe, Christianity can to be the dominate religion of almost every country and region.  This monotheistic belief system centered on the Trinity, and more specifically on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the idea that by following these teachings, one could ultimately achieve the salvation of their soul after death.  The authority of the Church dominated all aspects of the lives of the people and the societies of Medieval Europe. The influence of the clergy--from the pope, archbishop, and bishop to priests, monks and nuns--extended to every part of medieval life. The Church was the center of daily life and those who rejected the power of the Church were not accepted. While Jews lived and even sometime prospered throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, their lives were constantly made difficult because of persecution by Christians. 

Under the directive of the Pope in Rome and leaders such as England’s King Richard I, the Crusades were fought for a variety of religious, political, economic and social reasons. Motives included the desire of the Roman Catholic Church to show supremacy by helping the weakened Byzantine empire, the European desire to control the Holy Lands, particularly the sacred city of Jerusalem, the desire of landless knights to gain new fiefdoms, and the desire of many poor Europeans to travel away from the drudgery of daily life.  The Crusades resulted in an expansion of trade, an exchange of ideas between Western Europe and the Middle East, and an increase in nationalism and anti-Semitism in Europe.  The Muslim Empires remained in control of the Middle East and the overland trade routes. As a result, the Europeans were forced to search for new trade routes and their understanding of the world was changed and expanded due to contact with new cultures in Africa and the Western Hemisphere.

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Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

How does the environment shape human activity?

What can a culture gain or lose from opening itself to outside influences?

Why and how do new religions, belief systems, or branches of religions emerge and gain followers? 

How do humans determine the value of goods and services?

To what extent is trade beneficial or detrimental to a society?

How and why are people in society treated differently based on their gender, religion, race, ethnicity, age, class, or other characteristics?

What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Following dramatic changes in the climate of the Sahara, many people migrated into the sahel of West Africa and the savannahs and rainforests northern Central Africa.  The unique geography of each of these areas gave birth to thriving cultures and empires.  Over time, various factors caused Bantu-speaking people in West Africa to migrate further south.  This migration created a diverse array of new cultures with many common linguistic and cultural features. 

Most early West Africans lived in farming villages where they worked in agriculture. Some lived near the edge of the forest and rivers and relied on fishing and hunting while others lived as nomadic herders. Farmers developed crops and farming methods suitable to the climate and vegetation of their region. Most farmers grew a small surplus of crops to trade for food that they could not produce.

Traditional African villagers were polytheistic and believed in pleasing their gods and worshipping their ancestors with ritual, music, and dance.  Eventual contact with Arab traders and, later, with Christian missionaries, convinced many Africans to convert to Islam and Christianity.  However, even Muslim and Christian converts maintained many of their traditional beliefs and practices such as tracing lineage through matrilineal descent.  In traditional villages, history and culture were passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. Call and response story telling and songs emphasized the importance of community.

Kinship was the basis of village government.  The male heads of clans became village chiefs and religious leaders who often ruled with the assistance of a council of elders.  Some traditional African villages eventually grew into kingdoms. 

Slavery was accepted in many traditional African societies, but slaves were not mistreated or separated from their families and could earn their freedom.  Often, slavery was a way of paying off debts between clans. Captives of war also became slaves. When Portuguese merchants discovered that the buying and selling of slaves was a profitable business, a very different kind of European-dominated slavery began to be practiced and led to the eventual destruction of many African societies. 

In West Africa, the salt and gold trade led to the growth of strong empires. Because of the need to replenish salt lost through perspiration, gold and salt were considered equal in value In Ghana, taxes collected on goods passing through the empire allowed its leaders to grow wealthy.   Mali continued this system and became well-known throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe because of Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage to Mecca. Under Mansa Musa, rich trading cities became centers of culture and learning and many West Africans converted to Islam.  Songhai came to dominate West Africa by separating from Mali, supporting strong rulers like Askia Muhammad, and following many of Mali's economic, cultural, religious, and political patterns.  Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were all eventually brought down by a combination of internal strife and external invasion.

The Swahili culture and language combined aspects of Bantu and Arabian culture and arose from contact between Africans and Arabian, Persian, and Indian traders on the eastern coast of Africa.  Arab merchants learned to use seasonal winds to sail between Indian and African ports.  Inland African groups brought gold and other precious goods to trade for foreign goods with the Swahili in the coastal cities.   Many trading ports eventually grew into wealthy city-states such as Kilwa.  Although the Portuguese tried to overtake the Swahili coast, they were ultimately unsuccessful and the Swahili culture survived and remains alive today.

The kingdom of Kongo developed during the 1300's and grew to be economically and politically powerful through farming, making use of the products of the forest, and serving as a crossroads for trade. The Kongo people were friendly to the Portuguese who sent traders and Christian missionaries to Africa. However, the Portuguese began using African slaves to work their plantations and eventually attempted to control the Kongo.  The friendly relationship between the people of the Kongo and of Portugal changed over time, as cultural beliefs and values about profit and slavery came into conflict and the Portuguese resorted to more aggressive and invasive tactics. Eventually, the Portuguese involvement with the slave trade in Kongo led to the collapse of the kingdom. 

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Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

When empires expand, how are cultures and societies affected?

Why does a government collapse and how does the collapse affect society?

What does a government need to do to survive and thrive?

How does human activity shape the environment?

How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

What impact do new inventions, technologies, and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture?

Can there be a just war?  Why/why not?

How does one event or occurrence influence the emergence or outcome of another?

How does the past connect to our world today?

Historians believe the earliest Americans were hunter-gatherers who probably migrated to the Americas across the Bering land bridge and learned to adapt their technology as conditions changed over time.  Based on the discovery of artifacts, archaeologists have theorized that one of the first American civilizations, the Olmec of southeastern Mexico, developed several features of a complex society including a class system, rituals, and networks of trade.  Olmec society was probably divided between a small elite group and a larger group of commoners and rulers served as both civil and religious leaders.  The Olmec traded with neighboring people to obtain jade and other raw materials and fought among themselves and with neighbors for resources and control of trade routes.

The Mayan people began to establish small farming villages in Southern Mexico, the Yucatan, and Central America between 1800 and 500 B.C.E.  Eventually, some of these villages grew into complex cities with magnificent palaces and pyramids, ruins of which are still in existence today.   Mayan kings functioned as both priests and warriors and cities were built around religious centers. The Maya worshipped many gods whom they believed controlled the natural world. They practiced sophisticated farming techniques and traded surplus food and other products with peoples living in Central America and Mexico.  The Maya also developed writing and number systems, created accurate calendars, and produced decorative arts that were both functional and creative.  Today, descendants of the Maya still live in parts of Mexico and Central America. 

The Aztec began as a nomadic group who eventually settled on a lake island in the Valley of Mexico.  As they learned from neighboring groups how to farm and build in a swampy area and wage war with great skill, they developed into a major military power that controlled a vast empire with a complex class structure.  Aztec nobles, commoners, merchants, serfs and slaves all lived in calpullis and commoners were required to pay tribute to the government.  Aztec merchants traded goods such as feathers, jade, and cocoa throughout the empire.  Aztec life revolved around religion and sacrifice of human captives was common in religious ceremonies.  Archaeological excavations of Aztec sites have uncovered elaborate buildings, everyday objects, and books called codices that were used to record various aspects of daily life.  Under the leadership of Moctezuma, the Aztec empire grew to have 25 million people. 

The Inca developed an empire along the Western edge of South America by conquering neighboring groups and states.  Historians know very little about the early history of the Inca because they had no written language.  However, archaeological evidence, oral tradition, and accounts of other groups have revealed that the Inca had highly develop administrative and organizational skills that allowed them to conquer, organize, and control many different regions.  A rigid social structure and a sophisticated road system that spanned the entire empire helped Incan rulers control the lives of their people.  Advanced farming techniques allowed the Inca to produce a surplus of food and make use of seemingly infertile land.  Ruins like Machu Picchu have revealed the Incas' architectural skill along with their religious devotion.  Priests played a major role in everyday life and the Inca prayed to both gods and ancestors and mummified their rulers.

Both the Aztec and Inca forced conquered peoples to pay tribute and provide soldiers for the empire.  Eventually, power struggles, famine, and civil strife weakened both civilizations. The arrival of the Europeans brought about the empires' complete downfall as the Europeans used trickery and technological superiority to defeat the already weakened Aztec and Inca. European diseases also had a disastrous effect on the empires of the Americas. 

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