WHAP: AP Review

Period I: t0 600 BCE

5% of the AP Exam
Climate
:
Climate has been a major factor in determining where people settled. People settled in areas that have
climates that would accommodate agriculture and livestock.

Time Periods
:

The
Paleolithic Age
refers to about 12,000 BCE during which people were nomadic and hunter
gatherers.
The
Neolithic Age
refers to the age from c. 12,000 BCE to c. 8000 BCE during which people
settled in communities and civilization began to emerge.
River Valley Civilizations
refers to c. 3500 to 1500 BCE.

Economic Systems
Type of System
(Start date noted not end date as
these societies are ongoing)

Type of Technology
Developed

Main Geographic Locations

Agricultural societies
8,000
BCE

Cultivation of crops
Domestications of plants and
animals
Iron tools
Writing systems

River valleys:
Mesopotamia
Egypt
India
China
Mesoamerica
Andes

Pastoral Societies
8,000
BCE

Domestication of horses and

camels

Typically found in areas with

insufficient rainfall to support
settlements
Steppes
Grasslands
Deserts
Mountain ranges

Foraging Societies
35,000
BCE

Baskets for storing crops and

hunting tools

Everywhere until Neolithic

Revolution
Agricultural societies
and then empires took
over most fertile land.

River Valley Civilizations:

Each early civilization developed its own unique ways of life, but they all share some common characteristics
Complex irrigation systems
Legal codes
Art and written literature
Job specialization
Social stratification
Written language
Scientific and technological innovations


WHAP: AP Review

Civilization

Geographic
Location

Political
Organization

Social Structure

Culture

Mesopotamia
(developed by 3500
BCE)

Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
(modern day Iraq,
Syria,

City-states:
Sumeria
Babylon

Assyria
Warrior kings
Hammurabis Code
Constant fighting
led to instability

Job specialization
led to social classes
Slavery

Language:
Cuneiform
Art/Literature:
ziggurats,
Epic of
Gilgamesh
Science/Technol
ogy:
Bronze tools,
astronomy, math
Religion:
Polytheism, kings
not divine
Trade:
With Egypt
and Indus Valley

Divine kingship
the pharaoh
Highly centralized
government
Extensive
bureaucracy

Multiple classes
Some social
mobility through
the bureaucracy
Priests have high
status

Egypt
(developed
by 3000 BCE)

Nile River

Women:
Marriage
contracts, women of
upper classes less
equal than lower
class counterparts

Women:
Equality
under the law,
Hatshepsut
,
female pharaoh,
Nefertiti
,
influential wife of
pharaoh, and
Cleopatra
, the last
pharaoh all
examples of women
rising to power.
Indus Valley
(developed by 2500
BCE)

Shang China
(developed by 1700

Indus River
(modern day
Pakistan)

Yellow River

Assumed to be
complex and
thought to be
centralized
Harappa and
Mohenjo-Dara

Priests have high

status

Centralized
government

Job specialization
Slaves

Women:
Statues
reflect reverence for
female reproduction
function

Language:
Hieroglyphics
Art/Literature:
Pyramids, :
The
Book of the Dead
Science/Technol
ogy:
Astronomy, math
Religion:
Polytheism, divine
king, strong belief in
afterlife (i.e.
mummies)
Trade:
Mesopotamia,
Mediterranean Sea

Language:
Writing
system
indecipherable
Art/Literature:
Pottery
Science/Technol
ogy:
Stone
arrowheads
Religion:
Polytheism,
beginning of
Hinduism?
Trade:
Mesopotamia and
China

Language:
Oracle
bones


WHAP: AP Review

BCE)

Emperor

Social classes
Patriarchal
Women:
Wives
and concubines,
sometimes shamans

Art/Literature:
Palace/temple
complexes
Science/Technol
ogy:
Bronze
weapons,
horse-drawn
chariots
Religion:
Polytheism,
ancestor worship,
oracle bones
Trade:
Indus
Valley

Olmec
(developed
by 1600 BCE)

Gulf of Mexico
(modern day
Mexico)

City-states
Not united
politically

Craft specialization
Priests have high
status
Patriarchal

Language
: Glyphs
on stellae
Art/Literature
:
Colossal heads,
stepped pyramids
Science/Technol
ogy:
Astronomy
Religion:
Polytheism, ritual
ballgames,
feathered serpent,
blood sacrifice
Trade:
Within the
Americas

Chavin
(developed
900 BCE)

Andes mountains
(modern day Peru)

Possible political
unification
City-states

Priests have highest

status
Patriarchal

Language:
Glyphs,
pictograms
Art/Literature:
Temples with strong
acoustics
Science/Technol
ogy:
Metallurgy,
drainage systems
Religion:
Polytheism, jaguars
Trade:
Within the
Americas