Topic Opener Essential Question

Why is Culture Important?

Culture refers to the way of life of a society, which includes its beliefs, values, and practices. Early humans moved from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to permanent farming settlements. As complex civilizations emerged, cultures changed and progressed.

Look at the cave painting. Art and communication have played important roles throughout human history. Why is culture important? Discuss your ideas with a partner as you consider the following:

• basic human needs

  
  

• tools

  
  

• communication

  
  

• art

  
  

• religion

  
  

• the spread of cultural ideas

Many different factors influence how people live. These same factors influence how civilizations develop. Geography played a large role in the development of the first civilizations, which you will read about in this unit. The region where civilization was born is called the Fertile Crescent. What clues does this name give you about how geography affects how and where people live, both in the distant past and today?

Here are some more questions to get you started thinking about the effects of geography on people’s lives.

• What geographical features would attract people to settle in a place? Which factors might they try to avoid?

  
  

• What ways of life might people develop if they live near the sea? Near mountains? In a desert?

  
  

• If you were starting a civilization, what single geographical feature would be the most critical? Why?

As you studied early civilizations, you learned that they developed complex religions. Centuries ago, new religions and belief systems emerged in India and China that are still practiced today.

Consider how religion and culture are intertwined and discuss these connections with a partner:

• How religions develop, and how culture might affect the religion

  
  

• How the basic teachings of a religion both reflect and impact culture

  
  

• How the spread of religion might change culture and how culture affects the spread of a religion

  
  

• How belief systems might influence the way people live and organize their lives

  
  

• How religious beliefs and government are connected

As you learned in earlier topics, many ancient civilizations developed along major rivers, which provided both water for agriculture and a watery highway for transport. In the Americas, however, civilizations often arose in much different environments.

Think about each of the environments below. What do you think people might have to do to make agriculture—and thus civilization—possible there? Discuss your ideas with a partner.

• high valleys among steep mountains

  
  

• a dense tropical jungle

  
  

• scattered islands in the midst of a swampy lake

  
  

• a hot desert

Every society has some form of government in which certain powers are exercised by a ruling body or person. Some governments are elected. We call these democracies, a form of government that was developed by the Ancient Greeks. Often, people who live in democracies, along with those who live under other kinds of governments, disagree on how much power government should have. Different forms of governments have different powers.

Here are some questions to get you started thinking about how much power governments should have.

• Should government have the power to make laws? To enforce laws? To punish lawbreakers?

  
  

• Should government be able to tax citizens to pay for things? Who should decide how much tax people will pay or what things the government should pay for?

  
  

• Should government have the power to make decisions for members a society without their consent? If so, which decisions?

  
  

• Should government have the power to fight wars? To force members of the society to fight in these wars?

Rome was founded as a republic, a government in which people choose some of the officials. At first, most of the power rested with the upper class. However, the lower classes eventually gained representation in the senate. Later, the republic ended, as leaders such as Julius Caesar began to dominate Roman politics. Augustus, Rome's first emperor, focused on building a stable government.

Read the quotation. What do you think makes a government successful? Read the list below and discuss with a partner.

• It educates and employs its citizens.

  
  

• It ensures equal treatment of all citizens under the law.

  
  

• It provides peace and stability.

  
  

• It rules in a fair, open, and consistent manner.

  
  

• It builds public infrastructure, like roads.

  
  

• It allows citizens to participate in their government.

  
  

• It tolerates diversity.

May it be my privilege to establish the State in a firm and secure position, and reap from that act the fruit that I desire; but only if I may be called the author of the best possible government, and bear with me the hope when I die that the foundations which I have laid for the State will remain unshaken.

—Augustus, Rome's first emperor

One of the most heated political debates of our time is the proper role of government in society. Different levels of government affect daily life in a number of ways, and people often disagree about the kinds of actions government should take.

What areas and activities do you think are legitimate concerns of government? Read the list below and decide whether you think each action is the proper responsibility of government or not.

• passing laws to prevent air and water pollution

  
  

• raising money for and organizing a military force

  
  

• maintaining lists of gun owners

  
  

• setting standards for what subjects should be studied in schools

  
  

• mandating serving sizes for sugary soft drinks and other foods

  
  

• regulating the manufacture of drugs and medicines to ensure cleanliness and purity

Lesson Synthesize: Learning About Our Past

Archaeologists at Work

British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of ancient Egypt’s King Tutankhamen (King Tut) in 1922. Read Carter's description of the discovery and then answer the question that follows.

• What do you think drives an archaeologist such as Carter?

Three thousand, four thousand years maybe, have passed and gone since human feet last trod [walked on] the floor on which you stand, and yet. . . you feel it might have been yesterday. . . [You feel] the exhilaration of discovery, the fever of suspense, the almost overmastering impulse, born of curiosity, to break down seals and lift the lids of boxes, that thought—pure joy to the investigator—that you are about to add a page to history.

—Howard Carter

Start Up: The Neolithic Revolution

The Neolithic Revolution

Read the quotation from archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon about the discoveries that led to the world's first revolution. Then write a few sentences to answer the question.

• Why does Kenyon consider the development of farming by Stone Age people to be “revolutionary”?

For hundreds of thousands of years, [man] had lived on wild foods, as a hunter and gatherer. . . The revolutionary step forward was the discovery that wild grains could be cultivated and made more productive, and wild animals herded and their products made constantly available. With this discovery, the growth of fixed settlements became possible. . . From this, all civilisation is derived.

—Kathleen Kenyon, archaeologist

Lesson Synthesize: The Neolithic Revolution

Paleolithic Versus Neolithic

Use the Venn diagram to compare and contrast life during the Paleolithic Period and the Neolithic Period. Use the overlapping portion of the diagram to list characteristics common to both periods.

Start Up: Civilization Begins

Civilization Begins

The development of the first civilizations brought about a major change in daily life. Instead of everyone working on a few major tasks necessary for day-to-day survival, such as farming and hunting, people in early civilizations developed and perfected many new trades. Look at the ancient Mesopotamian carving of a carpenter at work and then answer the question below in a few sentences.

• How does this ancient carving support the idea that the ancient Mesopotamian people were able to specialize in their work?

Lesson Synthesize: Civilization Begins

Cities and Civilizations Arise: Cause and Effect

A series of causes and effects led from the development of farming to the rise of the first empires. Complete the cause-and-effect chart by identifying the effect that resulted from each cause in the development of civilizations.

Start Up: The Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent is the place where some of the earliest civilizations developed. Study the map. What geographical features may have made this area one in which people settled?

Write down your answer to this question.

Lesson Synthesize: A Civilization Emerges in Sumer

What Is Civilization?

After reading the text, how would you define civilization? Write a definition and then explain how Sumer relates to this definition. Use details from the text and this image when writing your explanation.

Start Up: The Spreading of Ideas

The Spreading of Ideas

The cultural, political, and economic influence of civilizations can spread in many different ways. It can spread through military conquest. It can spread through trade, exchanging goods and services with other people. Culture can also spread when members of a society move to other places and take their ways of life with them. Write a paragraph explaining which of these ways you think has the strongest, most long-lasting effect and why.

Lesson Synthesize: Empires in Mesopotamia

Persian Influences

Fill in a chart like this one listing the influences of Persia on politics, religion, and culture. Then write 2–3 sentences describing how Persia became a strong and unified civilization.

Start Up: The Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible

Read this quote. Then write down your answers to the questions that follow.

“I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”

—Exodus 20:2-3

• What does this quotation from the Hebrew Bible say that God did for the ancient Israelites? What does God demand in return?

  
  

• What idea in this quotation refers to a belief that is different from most other cultures in the Fertile Crescent that you have read about in earlier lessons?

Lesson Synthesize: The Hebrews and the Origins of Judaism

Origins of Judaism

Put these key historical events and beliefs from the Jewish tradition into the correct chronological order, from earliest to latest.

• King Solomon completed Jerusalem’s temple.

  
  

• Moses brought the Israelites to Canaan.

  
  

• King Saul united the tribes of Israel into a nation.

  
  

• Abraham made a covenant with God.

  
  

• Many Jews from Judah were forced into exile during the Disapora.

Write 2–3 sentences describing the central ideas of Judaism on a separate sheet of paper.

Start Up: The Nile River

The Nile River

Based on what you already know about the Nile River and Egypt, a mostly desert country, and what you know about rivers in general, make a list of pros and cons of living on the banks of the Nile River.

Use your completed table to write 1–2 sentences predicting how the Nile River likely affected ancient Egyptian civilization.

Write down your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

Lesson Synthesize: Egyptian Civilization

Egyptian Civilization

Complete the chart comparing and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom.

Complete this activity on a separate sheet of paper.

Start Up: Ancient Civilizations, Modern Voices

Ancient Civilizations, Modern Voices

You know that archaeology is the study of past people and cultures through their material remains. In this lesson, you will learn about some of the major archaeological discoveries on the Indian subcontinent.

• What types of artifacts do you think archaeologists found on the Indian subcontinent? Make a prediction about what you will learn about their discoveries.

Not often has it been given to archaeologists . . . to light upon the remains of a long-forgotten civilization. It looks, however, at this moment, as if we were on the threshold of such a discovery in the plains of the Indus.

—Sir John Marshall, Director General of Archaeology in India, 1924

Lesson Synthesize: Early Civilization in South Asia

Ancient Civilizations of the Indian Subcontinent

Archaeologists have long been fascinated with the ancient civilizations of the Indian subcontinent. Through exploration and investigation, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts that have led to a greater understanding of how these civilizations lived, worked, and interacted. Consider what you have learned about the Indus Valley and the Aryan peoples. Using the Venn diagram, compare and contrast the major attributes of the Indus and Aryan civilizations.

Start Up: Religion and Society

Religion and Society

Consider the quote from the ancient Hindu text, the Agni Puranam. Think about what this quote says about the relationship between religion, society, and nature in Hindu cultures.

• In what ways were religion and society intertwined in ancient India? Make a prediction, based on what you have already learned, about how religion and society developed in ancient Indian cultures.

Thus said the God of fire—Now I shall describe the sanctity of the river Ganges, which imparts to men enjoyment of earthly cheers in this life and salvation in the next. The countries which the Ganges meanders through should be deemed as hallowed [holy] grounds. The river Ganges is the earthly door to salvation to men who long for emancipation from this prison house of life. . . . Hundreds, nay thousands, of impious [immoral] persons become sinless and pure, by seeing, touching, or drinking of the river Ganges.

—from the Agni Puranam, a Hindu sacred text

Lesson Synthesize: The Origins of Hinduism and Buddhism

Hinduism and Buddhism

The development of Indian society has always had a strong connection to Indian religious practices. Hinduism grew out of the overlapping beliefs of the diverse populations that settled on the subcontinent of India. Hindus follow a caste system, and believe that good actions in life will lead to a better reincarnation. Buddhists follow the teachings of the Buddha. Buddhists believe that meditation and virtuous living can lead to nirvana—a release from the cycle of rebirth.

• Review the Start Up question: Make a prediction, based on what you have already learned, about how religion and society developed in ancient Indian cultures. Were your predictions correct or incorrect? Based on what you have learned, what has, historically, been the relationship between religion and society in Indian culture?

Start Up: Powerful Rulers and the Golden Age in India

Powerful Rulers and the Golden Age in India

Read the quotation from the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian book on how to govern. It was written for India’s first emperor, Chandragupta Maurya, who is still honored today.

Make a prediction about the kind of government that would result from this philosophy. What types of social and political laws would likely result from a ruler following these ideas?

In the happiness of his subjects lies [a king’s] happiness, in their welfare his welfare. He shall not consider as good that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects.

—Arthashastra, a Maurya handbook on governance

Lesson Synthesize: Powerful Empires Emerge in India

Maintaining Peace and Order

Centralized governments and proactive rulers led to unity and great advancements in India. Astronomy, higher learning, mathematics, medicine, the arts, and overseas trade all flourished during these periods of unification.

The Mauryas and Guptas were two of the most notable ruling groups in India. Compare and contrast the ways that Maurya and Gupta rulers achieved peace in ancient India.

Start Up: Philosophy, Society, and Technology

Philosophy, Society, and Technology

This quote is from the Confucian book of philosophies, called the Analects. The quote indicates some of Confucius’s ideas on responsibility and how rulers should behave toward “common people.”

Considering the importance of Confucianism in Chinese society, what predictions can you make about the structure of early Chinese civilization?

Behave when you are away from home as though you were in the presence of an important guest. Deal with the common people as though you were officiating at an important sacrifice. Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you, then there will be no dissatisfaction either in the state or at home …

—From the Analects

Lesson Synthesize: Ancient Civilization in China

Maintaining Peace and Order

Centralized governments and proactive rulers led to unity and great advancements in India. Astronomy, higher learning, mathematics, medicine, the arts, and overseas trade all flourished during these periods of unification.

The Mauryas and Guptas were two of the most notable ruling groups in India. Compare and contrast the ways that Maurya and Gupta rulers achieved peace in ancient India.

Start Up: Strong Rulers, New Civilizations

Strong Rulers, New Civilizations

The Great Wall stretches for approximately 5,500 miles across northern China. The wall is almost 25 feet high with a wide brick road on the top. Look closely at the image of the Great Wall of China, which was built during the Qin dynasty.

Think about how a structure like the Great Wall would be created. What would it take to build a wall like this? Why do you think a ruler, or rulers, would want a wall like this to be built? How do you think this image relates to the focus of this lesson: Strong Rulers Unite China ?

Lesson Synthesize: Strong Rulers Unite China

Changing Systems of Government

The Qin and Han dynasties instituted differing systems of government in China. Although their approaches to governing were not the same, both the Qin and Han dynasties unified China and ushered in eras of new innovations.

Use the Graphic Organizer to compare the advancements that occurred under the Qin and Han dynasties. Consider technological and cultural innovations.

Start Up: Civilizations in the Americas

Civilizations in the Americas

Scientists currently believe that people arrived in the Americas sometime between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. Although the exact method of their arrival is unknown, it is obvious that these civilizations have had a major impact on those that came after.

Create a list of five questions to help guide you as you read this lesson. What do you want to learn about the civilizations of Middle America? Consider things like which civilizations developed in the Americas, how they sustained their populations, types of technological advancements they made, and the cause of the decline of these populations. Refer to these questions as you read–you will revisit them at the end of the lesson.

Lesson Synthesize: Civilizations of Middle America

The Rise of the Mesoamerican Civilizations

Although much is still unknown about how civilizations like the Olmec, the Maya, and the Aztec developed, and why they eventually declined, we do know that these civilizations had lasting influences. From trade routes and archeological remains to advancements in science and medicine, the innovations of these populations still resonate today.

Refer back to the five questions that you developed at the beginning of the lesson. Think about how these questions helped guide your reading of the text. Then, answer each question, to the best of your ability. Are there any questions that were not answered in the lesson? Where else could you look to find this information?

Start Up: Government and Civilization

Government and Civilization

Read the quote from Pedro Cieza de Leon, a Spanish explorer who lived during the 1500s. Think about what this quote tells you about the Incas. Then, based on this quote, make a prediction about what you will learn in this lesson about the Inca civilization.

“In human memory, I believe that there is no account of a road as great as this, running through deep valleys, high mountains, banks of snow, torrents of water, living rock, and wild rivers…. In all places it was kept clean and free of refuse, with lodgings, storehouses, Sun temples, and posts along the route.”

—Pedro Cieza de Leon, Spanish explorer admiring the Inca road system in the 1500s

Lesson Synthesize: The World of the Incas

Three Great American Civilizations

Three powerful civilizations helped shape the development of the Americas: the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Incas. These civilizations each fostered unique progress in government, technology, and culture.

Using the graphic organizer, compare either the Maya or the Aztec to the Incas. Compare and contrast the developments in culture, government, and knowledge that occurred during the height of the Inca civilization, as well as during either the Maya or Aztec periods.

Start Up: Climate and Civilization

Climate and Civilization

Look closely at the image. This is one type of dwelling built by the Ancestral Puebloans, or Anasazi, of North America.

Make a prediction about the conditions that would lead to the development of these types of structures. Why do you think the Ancestral Puebloans would build, and live in, structures like this? Based on this prediction, what do you think you will learn about the peoples of North America in this lesson?

Lesson Synthesize: The Peoples of North America

Ancient Civilizations in the Americas

Think back to the Essential Question for this topic: How much does geography affect people’s lives?

Based on the information discussed in these lessons, how would you answer the essential question? Write a one- to two-paragraph answer addressing the topic of geography and the development of civilization. Consider things like government, community, trade, culture, and technology.

Start Up: The Influence of Trade

The Influence of Trade

Early Greece was strongly influenced by trade. Crete, the island where the Minoans and later the Mycenaeans lived, was located in a region that allowed traders to reach areas in Africa and the Middle East, so that these early Aegean civilizations, trading by sea, made contact with other great early civilizations. Consider how trade influences the culture and economies of countries as you think about the following questions.

• How might the need to access trading routes affect a country?

  
  

• How might trade affect the building and settlement of towns?

  
  

• How might contact with other groups have an impact on people?

  
  

• What might cause culture to spread across different countries?

Start Up: By Mountains or the Sea

By Mountains or the Sea

Think about where you live. How would your community be affected by living near mountains or the sea, or both? The ancient Greeks adapted to both conditions. The mountains of Greece divided the population, and settlements grew in the valleys. The seas provided the means for trade, and Greeks both spread and received new ideas, trade goods, and ways of doing things.

Consider how such geographic factors might affect everyday life. Then write brief answers to the questions below.

• How could access to the sea influence a country’s trade, economy, and travel in relation to other countries?

  
  

• How might mountains impact overland trade and political unity?

Lesson Synthesize: The Greek City-States

Alliances: Cooperation for a Cause

You have read how the ancient Greek city-states joined together to battle the Persian armies. For a time, societies as different as Sparta and Athens cooperated for a cause they felt was important.

Consider the Delian League as well as international alliances that exist today. Modern alliances include the European Union, a political and economic association of European countries; the League of Arab States, set up to protect the interests of independent Arab nations; and the United Nations, an organization intended to maintain peace among the nations of the world. Then write brief answers to the questions below.

• Why do countries form alliances?

  
  

• What advantages do such groups provide their members?

  
  

• What disadvantages might such groups have?

  
  

• What tensions might occur in an alliance over time?

Start Up: A Lasting Legacy

A Lasting Legacy

For thousands of years people have admired and been influenced by the ideas and achievements of the ancient Greeks. In art, architecture, literature, and philosophy, the early Greeks have had a lasting impact. Take a few moments to recall what you know or have heard about Ancient Greece. Then read the following questions and write a few sentences describing what you know.

• Think about art and architecture. What do you know about ancient Greek influence in these areas? What details in buildings might have come from Greek architecture?

  
  

• You may have heard of ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. What do you know about their ideas?

  
  

• The ancient Greeks also left a lasting legacy in literature. What do you know about their poetry and drama?

Lesson Synthesize: Greek Thinkers, Artists, and Writers

Remembering Greece

In the Connect activity, you thought and wrote about what you already knew about ancient Greek art, architecture, philosophers, and philosophy. Now that you have completed the lesson, write a short paragraph summarizing your knowledge of ancient Greek ideas and achievements.

As you work on your summary, consider the following questions:

• Which ideas and accomplishments of the ancient Greeks were familiar to you?

  
  

• Which ideas and accomplishments were most impressive?

  
  

• Which ideas and accomplishments did you know about before but did not know that they originated in ancient Greece?

  
  

• Did your impressions about Ancient Greece change after studying this lesson?

Start Up: The Golden Age

The Golden Age

Despite frequent wars, the Golden Age of Ancient Greece set lasting standards in art, philosophy, architecture, and literature. Think about the relationship between arts and ideas and the times during which they are created. Then write brief answers to the questions below and discuss your ideas in class.

• After the Peloponnesian Wars, Macedonian rulers took over Greece. How do you think that the change in rulers might affect arts and ideas?

  
  

• As Alexander the Great took over much of the Persian empire, he spread Greek culture. How do you think this might affect the Greek arts and ideas that were spread across Persia?

  
  

• During the age of Alexander the Great and afterwards, scholars began to look back at the accomplishments of earlier empires. How do you think this might affect scholarly progress?

Lesson Synthesize: Alexander the Great and the Legacy of Greece

Effects of Size

An important factor in the Greek city-state was its size. Aristotle asserted that a polis could not consist of only ten citizens, and that “one composed of 100,000 men would no longer be a polis.” By citizens he meant those who were free to participate in public life, rather than men with certain legal rights. Given this definition, write brief answers to the questions below.

• Would Aristotle have seen the Persian empire as a polis? Explain why or why not.

• What about Alexander’s empire?

  
  

• How does increasing size affect public participation in cultural life?

Start Up: From Humble Beginnings

From Humble Beginnings

In this famous tribute, the Roman poet Horace credits his father, a former slave, for his own achievements. The quote reveals much about the father's role in Roman society.

After reading the quote, make a few predictions about Roman life. Consider the role of men in Roman society, the values of the republic, and social mobility. Write a sentence or two explaining your predictions.

If my character is flawed by a few minor faults, but is otherwise decent and moral, if you can point out only a few scattered blemishes on an otherwise immaculate surface,…if I live a virtuous life,…my father deserves all the credit. For although he was a poor man, with only an infertile plot of land, he was not content to send me to [the school in his home town]…. My father had the courage to take his boy to Rome, to have him taught the same skills which any equestrian [rider of horses] or senator would have his sons taught…. I could never be ashamed of such a father, nor do I feel any need, as many people do, to apologize for being a freedman's [former slave's] son.

—Horace, Roman poet

Lesson Synthesize: The Roman Republic

Communication Is Key

The Essential Question asked: What makes a government successful? Good communication is an important element of a successful government. Rome's extensive system of roads was crucial in unifying Roman territory and consolidating its power. New communication technologies often impact society. Today, communication is being revolutionized by the Internet.

How did well-built roads contribute to Rome’s success?

How might the Internet and Roman roads be similar in their effect on culture and the economy?

Start Up: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Long after Julius Caesar died, his name became a symbol for power and authority. Many languages adapted Caesar’s name to create titles for their leaders. In Germany, the nation’s ruler became known as the kaiser. The Russian word, tsar, also comes from Caesar.

Look at the image and think about what you may know about Caesar. What details does the artist use to show that Caesar is a powerful person? How would a man like Caesar change the republic?

Lesson Synthesize: The Roman Empire: Rise and Decline

When Did Rome Fall?

The fall of Rome is considered an important historical event. Not everyone agrees, however, when this event actually occurred. Review the contrasting opinions of the two historians.

• What about Rome’s end most surprises Gibbons?

  
  

• How does Brown differ with Gibbons on this point?

Argument for an Enduring Rome

The Roman Empire lasted a lot longer than its supposed date of collapse ... Things don’t change overnight in a big, lazy empire. The life of the cities remained much more vigorous than was thought; the classics continued to be taught with great intensity and a real feeling that they were still relevant. Even after the official end of the empire, as late as 476 A.D., many of the social structures we associate with the empire endured.

— Historian Peter Brown

Argument for a Ruined Rome

[T]he decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate [excessive] greatness. Prosperity ripened the ... decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.

— Historian Edward Gibbons

Start Up: Advances in Roman Culture

Advances in Roman Culture

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a philosopher, politician, and passionate defender of law. As the republic declined, he often attacked ambitious men, such as Julius Caesar. When Caesar came to power by force, one might have expected Cicero to be in danger. But Caesar forgave Cicero, noting that it was “more glorious to have enlarged the limits of the Roman mind than the boundaries of Roman rule.”

Think about what you know about Roman culture. How do you think Caesar’s comments support the idea that Romans placed much value on cultural achievements? Use details from this story to support your answer.

Lesson Synthesize: The Legacy of Rome

Architecture in Ancient Rome

Study the image and think about what you have learned about Roman culture. What does this image illustrate about ancient Rome?

Start Up: A Roman Emperor Accepts Christianity

A Roman Emperor Accepts Christianity

The Roman empire was tolerant of different religions, but it was almost 300 years before a Roman emperor fully supported Christianity. Legend has it that the emperor Constantine—just before a battle—saw a cross in the sky along with the words, “By this you shall conquer.” He had his troops mark their shields with the Christian symbol. After winning the battle, he granted tolerance to Christians.

What did emperor Constantine think his vision of a cross in the sky meant? How could this battle be considered an important event in the development of Christianity?

Lesson Synthesize: The Origins of Christianity

Key Roles in Early Christianity

Think about the key people and events in the development and spread of Christianity in ancient Rome. Then complete the chart.

Start Up: Learning About Our Past

Learning About Our Past

Anthropologist Mary Leakey discovered a set of ancient footprints preserved in volcanic ash in Laetoli, Tanzania, in 1978. As she studied the pattern of the footprints, Leakey speculated on how they might have been created. After you read the quotation below, write a few sentences to answer the following question: Why is the phrase “intensely human” significant in Leakey’s account of her discovery?

At one point . . . the traveler stops, pauses, turns to the left to glance at some possible threat or irregularity, then continues to the north. This motion, so intensely human, transcends time. Three million seven hundred thousand years ago, a remote ancestor–just as you or I–experienced a moment of doubt.

—Mary Leakey

Start Up: A Sovereign City

A Sovereign City

In 1203, when the Crusaders arrived in Constantinople, they were amazed by its splendor. Almost 900 years after its founding by the Roman emperor Constantine, the immense richness and vast size of the city still astounded visitors.

Read the quotation and answer the questions that follow:

• If you were first seeing Constantinople in 1203, how do you think you would have felt about such a magnificent city?

  
  

• What do you think makes such cities grow rich and successful, and then later decline?

[T]hose who had never seen Constantinople opened wide eyes now; for they could not believe that so rich a city could be in the whole world, when they saw her lofty walls and her stately towers wherewith she was encompassed, and these stately palaces and lofty churches, so many in number as no man might believe who had not seen them, and the length and breadth of this town which was sovereign over all others.

—Villehardouin, a French Crusader

Lesson Synthesize: The Early Middle Ages

Cooperation-The European Union

The Romans and Charlemagne attempted to unify Western Europe. Later in the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire and the Church clashed over control of the region. When European nation-states developed, they became economic and military rivals. Now, however, there is an effort to unite Europe through cooperation rather than conquest. The European Union was established in 1993, and a common currency called the euro came into use in 1999.

Look at the photo of a produce stand in Spain. At the time of transition to the euro, stands such as this one in countries around Europe displayed prices in both the old national currency, in Spain the peseta, and the new euro.

• What do you think were obstacles in unifying the nations in the European Union?

  
  

• How do you think these obstacles were similar to those Charlemagne encountered as he tried to unify his empire?

Start Up: Knighted on the Battlefield

Knighted on the Battlefield

A young man of good family, trained in warfare, has proven himself in battle. He has bravely assisted the knight he serves. As another battle looms, his knightly master now tells the young squire to kneel. The knight strikes the young man on the shoulder with the flat of his sword or his glove, and says, “I make you knight.” As his sponsor, the older knight also presents the young man with a sword and spurs. Now the young man is ready to fight for his lord: he has become a knight.

Think about how the young man has achieved his place of both honor and responsibility in the medieval world. Write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• If you lived in Europe during the Middle Ages, how would you have felt if your brother trained for war and became a knight?

  
  

• How do you think the relationship between medieval squires and knights is similar to or different from the relationship between soldiers today?

Lesson Synthesize: Feudalism and the Manor Economy

A Powerful Woman

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122–1204), as daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, was of very high noble birth. Although many women had their rights to inherit restricted under the system of feudalism, Eleanor did not. Her father left her a vast inheritance. She had a strong influence on her first husband, Henry VII, king of France. Unlike most women under the feudal system, she wore armor and rode on horseback, accompanying her husband on the Second Crusade. When he ended their marriage, Eleanor, according to feudal customs, regained control of her father’s lands, which she actively managed. In 1173, after aiding her sons in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow her next husband, Henry II of England, Eleanor was imprisoned but freed by her son Richard (known as “the Lionheart”), the next king of England. While he went on a crusade, she ruled in his place.

• What made it possible for Eleanor of Aquitaine to be so active at the highest political levels of medieval Europe, where men dominated the political stage?

  
  

• What major characteristics of the political and social system of feudalism do you think supported the efforts of both women such as Eleanor of Aquitaine and young men such as the one knighted on a battlefield in the lesson Connect activity to achieve places of honor and responsibility in the medieval world?

Start Up: The Medieval Christian Church

The Medieval Christian Church

During the medieval period, monasteries produced elaborately illustrated works known as illuminated manuscripts. These books were beautifully decorated by monks who specialized in the laborious process of copying by hand. Look at the image and answer the questions that follow.

• Pope Gregory the Great declared that “painting can do for the illiterate [those unable to read or write] what writing does for those who can read.” Do you agree?

  
  

• The monks believed their work on the illuminated manuscripts was a way of “fighting the Devil by ink and pen.” What does this statement mean? How can illustrations “fight” against evil?

Topic Synthesize: Origins of Civilization

Why is culture important?

At the beginning of your study of early civilizations, you used the list to consider the role that culture played:

1. basic human needs

   
   

2. environment

   
   

3. tools

   
   

4. communication

   
   

5. art

   
   

6. religion

   
   

7. the spread of cultural ideas

Consider what you have learned about the impact of culture on the development of early civilizations. How did cultures change as people shifted from a nomadic life to river valley civilizations? Support your answer with at least three examples from the Topic.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of early civilizations, take a few minutes to reflect on other reasons why culture is important.

How did dramatic changes in early people’s cultures affect the organization of societies?

How did these changes affect people’s migration habits, ways of adapting to the environment, and economic systems?

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how much do you think culture affected the development of early civilizations?

Topic Synthesize

Reflect on the Essential Question: How much does geography affect people's lives?

At the beginning of your study of the ancient Middle Eastern civilizations and how they had a powerful influence on later civilizations, you thought about how geography affects people’s lives. You considered some questions about the effects of geography on people’s lives.

1. What geographical features would attract people to settle in a place? Which factors might they try to avoid?

   
   

2. What ways of life might people develop if they live near the sea? Near mountains? In a desert?

   
   

3. If you were starting a civilization, what single geographical feature would be the most critical? Why?

Write a paragraph in which you take a stand on this statement: Geography has much less effect on people’s lives today than it did in the past. Give reasons to support your position. Share and discuss your response with a partner.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of ancient Middle Eastern civilizations and their influence on later civilizations, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Think about the cultures, governments, religions, scientific advances, and economic ideas of these civilizations. Choose three elements you feel have had the greatest influence on us today. Share your list with the class and explain why you made your choices.

Reflect on the Essential Question: How are religion and culture connected?

First ask students to reconsider the Essential Question for the Topic: How are religion and culture connected? Remind students of the connections they considered at the start of the Topic. For example:

1. How religions develop, and how the culture in which they originate might affect the religion

   
   

2. How the basic teachings of a religion both reflect and impact culture

   
   

3. How the spread of religion might change culture and how culture affects the spread of a religion

   
   

4. How belief systems might influence the way people live and organize their lives

   
   

5. How religious beliefs and government are connected

Consider the question in light of what you’ve learned about ancient India and China. How did the religious and philosophical beliefs of the people impact their social order and culture? Support your answer with at least three examples from the Text.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of ancient India and China, take a few minutes to reflect on other ways religion and culture affected the social order of people’s lives there.

1. Did culture reflect the development and spread of the religion?

   
   

2. Did religion alter social structure?

   
   

3. How did religion affect the lives of ancient Indians and Chinese?

Reflect on the Essential Question: How much does geography affect people’s lives?

At the beginning of your study of Civilizations of the Americas, you considered how you might adapt the following environments to make them suitable for agriculture:

• high valleys among steep mountains

  
  

• a dense tropical jungle

  
  

• scattered islands in the midst of a swampy lake

  
  

• a hot desert

Consider those environments again in light of what you’ve learned about the civilizations that developed in the Americas. How did the people of the Americas create civilizations in such places? Support your answer with at least three examples from the Text.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of early American civilizations, take a few minutes to reflect on other ways that geography affected people’s lives there. For example, how did geography affect transportation? The materials people used for building? The items they had for trade or their manner of dress? On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, how much do you think geography affected the lives of early peoples in the Americas?

How much power should the government have?

At the beginning of your study of Ancient Greece and its legacy, you thought about how much power government should have. You considered some questions about what specific powers government should be allowed to exercise.

1. Should government have the power to make laws? To enforce laws? To punish lawbreakers?

   
   

2. Should government be able to tax citizens to pay for things? Who should decide how much tax people will pay or what things the government should pay for?

   
   

3. Should government have the power to make decisions for members of a society without their consent? If so, which decisions?

   
   

4. Should government have the power to fight wars? To force members of the society to fight in these wars?

Write a paragraph in which you complete this statement by choosing from the words in parentheses: Our government in all its (national, state, and local) forms has (too much, the right amount, too little) power. Then write a paragraph giving reasons to support your position. Share and discuss your response with a partner.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of Ancient Greece and its legacy, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Think about the ways in which the world has been influenced by Ancient Greece. Then choose three ideas you feel have had the greatest influence on us today. You might consider the areas of art, architecture, literature, drama, science, technology, political institutions, religion, philosophy, or any other element you think is important. Share your list with the class and explain why you made your choices.

Reflect on the Essential Question: What makes a government successful?

At the beginning of your study of ancient Rome, you read a quote from Augustus and you considered a list of criteria to judge whether a government was successful. Consider the list again, keeping in mind what you now know about Roman government. Do you think Augustus succeeded in creating the best possible government? Use the list and what you have learned about Augustus’s rule to support your opinion.

1. It educates and employs its citizens.

   
   

2. It protects and expands the country's borders.

   
   

3. It ensures equal treatment of all citizens under the law.

   
   

4. It provides peace and stability.

   
   

5. It rules in a fair, open, and consistent manner.

   
   

6. It builds infrastructure, like roads.

   
   

7. It allows citizens to participate in their own government.

   
   

8. It tolerates diversity.
   Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of ancient Rome, take a few minutes to think about how some of the principles of the Roman republic were adopted by later governments, including that of the United States.

Answer these questions to help you get started:

1. What did both governments do to broaden political participation?

   
   

2. How did the Roman government try to meet the needs of its people? What does the U.S. government do to help its citizens?

   
   

3. What were the rights and responsibilities of Roman citizens, and how do they compare to your civic responsibilities today?

Lesson Synthesize: The Medieval Christian Church

Role of the Church

During the Middle Ages, the Church was the spiritual authority for all Christians and played a vital role in everyday life. It also grew to be the most powerful secular institution in Europe.

Create a graphic organizer to show

• the types of power held by the Church

  
  

• the ways the Church used its power

Draw the main circle and label it “The Church.” Then draw three circles above it. Fill in each circle with a type of power held by the Church. Below the main circle, add circles with examples of how the Church used its power.

Start Up: Power of the Church

Power of the Church

In this lesson you will be reading how the Pope called on European Christian knights to join a Crusade to free the Holy Land from control of the Turks.

Think about what you have read about the power of the Church in the early Middle Ages. Predict whether Europeans will respond to the pope’s call to free the Holy Land from Muslim control. Why or why not?

Lesson Synthesize: Economic Expansion and Change: The Crusades and After

Power of the Church

Before reading this lesson you made a prediction about whether the people of Europe would respond to the Church’s call for Crusades.

Was your prediction correct? Why or why not?

Start Up: A Challenge to Power

A Challenge to Power

In 1215, King John of England met with his nobles and signed the Magna Carta, a document that would eventually shape English government and provide the foundation for many of the liberties we enjoy in the United States today.

Read the quotation and answer the questions that follow:

• Why do you think John agreed to sign the charter (Magna Carta)?

  
  

• What were the nobles demanding from King John?

  
  

• What liberties or rights do you feel are the most essential in our society today? Why?

King John, when he saw that he was deserted by almost all . . . [and] scarcely retained seven knights, was much alarmed lest the barons would attack his castles and reduce them without difficulty, as they would find no obstacle to their so doing. . . . Accordingly, . . . the king and nobles . . . began a long discussion about terms of peace and aforesaid liberties. . . . King John seeing that he was inferior in strength to the barons, without raising any difficulty, granted the underwritten laws and liberties, and confirmed them by his charter.

—Roger of Wendover

Lesson Synthesize: The Feudal Monarchs and the Church

Different Paths Develop Different Governments

In this lesson you have learned about European monarchies and their changing relationships with the Church. You also filled out a graphic organizer with notes about major developments in the relationships these states had with the Church.

Think about the lesson you just read and look over the notes you made in your graphic organizer. Then answer this question:

How did relations with the Church affect the monarchies of England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire?

Start Up: A Hero's Tale

A Hero's Tale

The Song of Roland is an epic medieval poem about a heroic knight, Count Roland. In this story, Roland is a brave warrior who fights for the great leader Charlemagne against the Muslim King Marsil. Roland’s stepfather, Ganelon, who also fights for Charlemagne, hates and envies the brave and loyal Roland. He plots with Marsil and convinces Charlemagne to place Roland and his troops as a rear guard. Marsil and his troops attack them and Roland is killed—after fighting bravely and well. Charlemagne tries to save Roland, but he is too late. He does succeed in defeating Marsil, however.

Think about this story and the stories you read today about heroes and superheroes. Write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• How is this story similar to and different from the stories you watch or read today?

  
  

• What makes a person a hero?

  
  

• Why would the people of medieval Europe want to hear stories about heroic knights?

Lesson Synthesize: Learning, Literature, and Arts of the Middle Ages

Reach for the Sky

As you have read, the architectural advancements of the High Middle Ages resulted in the construction of magnificent cathedrals all over Europe. Think about what you have learned about the growth of the Church during the Middle Ages. Then examine the photo and answer the following questions:

• What details from this image show the revolutionary changes in the architecture of the period?

  
  

• How does this building and its architectural changes reflect the growing power and influence of the Church during the Middle Ages?

Start Up: The Black Death Approaches

The Black Death Approaches

The disease called the plague, or the Black Death, reached the British Isles from mainland Europe in 1348, spreading fear, sickness, and death. The Welsh poet who wrote these words died of the plague in 1349.

Read the quotation and write a few sentences to answer the questions that follow.

• Gethin describes the arrival of death as “black smoke” and “a rootless phantom.” What type of images do those phrases create in your own mind?

  
  

• How do you think the people in your community would react to a mysterious illness with unknown cause and treatment that swept through the community causing many fatalities?

  
  

• How might public services, such as electricity, water supply, and fuel supply, be affected if almost half the population of a city or town were to suddenly disappear?

We see death coming into our midst like black smoke, a plague which cuts off the young, a rootless phantom which has no mercy or fair countenance. Woe is me . . . It is an ugly eruption that comes with unseemly haste. It is a grievous ornament that breaks out in a rash. The early ornaments of black death.

—Jevan Gethin

Lesson Synthesize: The Late Middle Ages: A Time of Upheaval

Epidemics: Science vs. Fear

At the time of the Black Death in the 1300s, science provided little insight into the cause, spread, or treatment of the disease. Today, in spite of advances in science, the world still suffers from epidemics. In recent years, for example, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) has spread quickly and been carried internationally by airplane travelers.

Look at the photo of Chinese officials wearing face masks to protect them from SARS.

• What do you think the main reasons epidemics continue to pose threats are?

  
  

• How are the reasons epidemics can easily spread today similar to the reasons the Black Plague spread in the 1300s?

Start Up: Clans and Factions

Clans and Factions

In this lesson you will be reading about Russia and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. In 965 a Jewish traveler from Moorish Spain named Ibrahim-Ibn-Yaqub visited Eastern Europe. Read his words about the Slavic peoples he visited and write one or two sentences to answer the question below.

What parallels can you find between the Slavs that Ibrahim-Ibn-Yaqub described and conflicts that exist in the world today? Use examples you have seen in the news to develop your response.

The lands of the Slavs stretch from the Syrian Sea to the Ocean in the north . . . They comprise numerous tribes, each different from the other...if not for the disharmony amongst them, caused by the multiplication of factions and by their fragmentation into clans, no people could match them for strength . . . The Slavs wage war with the Byzantines, with the Franks and Langobards, and with other peoples . . . with varying success.

—Ibrahim-Ibn-Yaqub

Lesson Synthesize: Russia and Eastern Europe

The Impact of the Mongols

Think about what you have learned in this lesson about the development of Russia and the impact of the Mongols there. Use the graphic organizer below to help you organize information from the chapter.

Topic Synthesize: Medieval Christian Europe

Reflect on the Essential Question: What should government do?

At the beginning of your study of Europe in the Middle Ages, you considered a list of actions governments might take and decided which actions you thought were valid.

1. passing laws to prevent air and water pollution

   
   

2. raising money for and organizing a military force

   
   

3. maintaining lists of gun owners

   
   

4. setting standards for what subjects should be studied in schools

   
   

5. mandating serving sizes for soft drinks and other foods

   
   

6. regulating the manufacture of drugs and medicines to ensure cleanliness and purity

Choose one of the actions above. Then write a short dialogue between two people, one who believes the activity is a legitimate task for government to perform, and one who does not.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of Europe in the Middle Ages, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Think about how most people lived in Europe in the years you have read about. Then discuss with a friend the following question: How have ideas and feelings about membership in a community changed since the Middle Ages? You might want to consider these points:

1. What communities do you feel you are a member of? What communities might a person living in Europe during the Middle Ages have felt a part of?

   
   

2. How often are you made aware of things that are happening around the world? How do you learn about what’s happening in the world? How aware of the world might a person living in Europe during the Middle Ages have been?

   
   

3. How does government influence what you do and how you live? How do you learn about its influence? How might a person living in Europe during the Middle Ages have been influenced by government?

Essential Question: How are Religion and Culture Connected?

How are religion and culture connected?

In the early 600s, a man named Muhammad spoke to a handful of followers in the market town of Mecca, on the Arabian Peninsula. His teachings of monotheism, or belief in one God, and his rejection of traditional Arab gods were controversial, and at first, few people listened to him. But over time, Muhammad’s teachings developed into Islam, and the faith spread. Islam is both a religion and a way of life, and its teachings shape the lives of Muslims around the world.

How are religion and culture connected? Consider the connections between:

• religion and the economy

  
  

• religion and the family

  
  

• religion and government

  
  

• religion and the arts

  
  

• religion and daily life

  
  

• religion and the law, and

  
  

• religion as a unifying force.

Start Up: Mecca

Mecca

Look at the picture. Describe what you see in three or more sentences.

Now, answer the following questions:

• What do you think is going on?

  
  

• Why are the people there?

  
  

• What are they doing?

Share your response with your neighbor.

Lesson Synthesize: The Origins of Islam

Foundations of Islam

In the graphic organizer below, define each of the terms. Then provide three important aspects of Sharia and the Quran and identify the Five Pillars of Islam.

How do these three foundations of Islam help unify Muslims?

Start Up: Nomadic Raids

Nomadic Raids

Read the quote. In two sentences, describe how Arab tribes had historically dealt with other tribes.

For centuries, nomadic Arab tribes had been in the habit of making raids, or razzias, on other tribes. The usual aim was to drive off the camels or other livestock of the opponents. The favorite plan was to make a surprise attack with overwhelming force on a small section of the other tribe. In such circumstances it was no disgrace to the persons attacked if they made their escape; and so in many razzias there was little loss of life.

—W. Montgomery Watt, The

Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe

Lesson Synthesize: A Muslim Empire

The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates

In the Graphic Organizer, list the accomplishments and the reasons for decline of both the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates.

Which do you think was more successful? Why?

Start Up: Inspiration from Aristotle

Inspiration from Aristotle

Read the quote, which describes how Caliph a-Mamun was inspired to establish the “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad. Like many other empires, Muslim civilization absorbed traditions and knowledge from other cultures, particularly the ancient Greeks.

How do you think the caliph’s actions will affect Baghdad and Muslim scholars?

Share your answer with a neighbor.

One night, Caliph al-Mamun had a vivid dream. There in his chambers he came upon a balding, blue-eyed stranger sitting on the low couch.

“Who are you?” the caliph demanded.

“Aristotle,” the man replied.

The caliph was delighted. He plied the great Greek philosopher with questions about ethics, reason, and religion. After al-Mamun awoke, his dream inspired him to action. He had scholars collect the great works of the classical world and translate them into Arabic. By 830, the caliph had set up the “House of Wisdom,” a library and university in Baghdad. During the Abbasid period, scholars made advances in a variety of fields.

Lesson Synthesize: Achievements of Muslim Civilization

Accomplishments in Medicine, Literature, History, and Mathematics

In the graphic organizer, select one individual from each of the fields of literature, history/philosophy, medicine, and mathematics, and list one of their accomplishments.

What do these accomplishments reflect about Muslim civilization?

Start Up: Constantinople Falls

Constantinople Falls

When Mehmet II became Ottoman sultan in 1451, his goal was to conquer Constantinople, which was all that was left of the once mighty Byzantine empire. The Ottoman fleet was anchored near the city walls. The Byzantines sought help from the pope and European princes as Mehmet’s grip tightened. In 1453, Mehmet began a 54-day siege of Constantinople. He used every means to break through the ancient walls of the city, including commissioning a 27-foot cannon hauled overland by oxen. As the walls were bombarded, the defenders quickly repaired them. Time, however, was running out. Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, who made the city the capital of their large Muslim empire.

Why was the fall of Constantinople a powerful symbol?

Lesson Synthesize: The Ottoman and Safavid Empires

The Ottoman and Safavid Empires

Complete the graphic organizer to compare the Ottoman and Safavid empires. Include information on culture, religion and leadership.

Start Up: Danger in the Desert

Danger in the Desert

In 1325, a young Moroccan named Ibn Battuta began a pilgrimage to Mecca. His travels, which lasted more than 30 years, took Battuta to many parts of Asia and West Africa.

Read this passage about crossing the Sahara Desert written by Battuta.

In a few sentences, explain how the Sahara’s geography, as described by Battuta, might have affected the development of early African societies. More generally, how do you think geography affected the cultural development of early Africa?

That desert . . . make[s] sport of him [the traveler] and disorder(s) his mind, as that he loses his way and perishes. For there is no visible road or track . . . nothing but sand blown hither and thither by the wind. You see hills of sand in one place, and afterwards you will see them moved to quite another place.

—Ibn Battuta

Lesson Synthesize: Early Civilizations of Africa

Revisit the Essential Question

How are religion and culture connected? Write an answer to the Essential Question in which you use information from the lesson to support your response. You may want to consider some of the following questions as you write your answer:

• How did interactions between Muslims, Jews, and Christians impact migration and the cultural development of Africa?

  
  

• How did Africa’s geography help contribute to cultural and religious diversity?

  
  

• How did trade help Nubian civilization develop?

  
  

• How did the medieval caliphates affect the development of trade, culture, and religion in Africa?

Start Up: Trade in Mali

Trade in Mali

In 1526, Hassan ibn Muhammad, also known as Leo Africanus, published an account of his travels through North and West Africa. Here he describes the value of goods traded in Gao, a city in the African kingdom of Mali.

What can you conclude about the need for salt in West Africa? What does Hassan ibn Muhammad’s description tell you about the trading patterns of Mali? What does this story tell you about how the kingdoms of West Africa developed and prospered? Explain your answer.

It is a wonder to see what plenty of merchandise is daily brought hither, and how costly and sumptuous [lavish] all things be. Horses bought in Europe for ten ducats [coins] are here sold again for forty . . . and spices are sold at a high rate; but of all other commodities salt is most extremely dear [expensive].

—Hassan ibn Muhammad

Lesson Synthesize: Kingdoms of West Africa

Mansa Musa's Pilgrimage

From 1312 until 1337, Mansa Musa ruled the West African kingdom of Mali. During his reign, the gold trade in the kingdom expanded, as did Mali’s territory. The wealth of the kingdom and Mansa Musa’s power and generosity became legendary. In 1324, Mansa Musa made a great pilgrimage to Mecca, in a caravan that dazzled and awed everyone who saw it. Read the excerpts below about Mansa Musa’s trip from two different people, and answer the questions that follow.

• After reading the excerpts, why do you think Mansa Musa’s rule is known as “the Golden Age of Mali”?

  
  

• Why would Mansa Musa’s actions in the first excerpt endear him to the sultan?

From the beginning of my coming to stay in Egypt, I heard talk of the arrival of this sultan Musa on his Pilgrimage . . . I asked the emir Abu . . . and he told me . . . “When I [the emir] went out to meet him . . . he did me extreme honor and treated me with great courtesy . . . Then he forwarded to the royal treasury many loads of unworked native gold and other valuables . . . [In the sultan’s presence Mansa Musa] said ‘I make obeisance to God who created me!’ then he prostrated himself and went forward to the sultan. The sultan half rose to greet him and sat by him by his side.

—Al Umari

[Mansa Musa] and all those with him . . . were well-dressed, grave and dignified. He was noble and generous and performed many acts of charity and kindness. He had left his country with 100 loads of gold which he spent during his Pilgrimage on the tribes who lay along his route . . .

—Ibn AmirHajib

Start Up: Trading States of East Africa

Trading States of East Africa

When the rulers of Ethiopia commemorated their conquests in war, they etched descriptions of their victories on stone. Read what King Ezana had to say about his conquest of Nubia, and then answer the questions that follow.

What does this quote say about the role of religion in Ethiopia and in King Ezana’s life?

May the Lord of Heaven make my kingdom stronger! And as He has this day conquered my enemy for me may He Conquer for me wherever I go. . . . I will rule the people with righteousness and justice, and will not oppress them . . . I have set up this throne by the might of the Lord of Heaven.

—King Ezana

Lesson Synthesize: Trading States of East Africa

Kingdoms and Trading States of East Africa

Fill in the flowchart below to understand how trade affected the development of East Africa’s kingdoms.

Start Up: The Dama

The Dama

Study the photo, read the description, and then answer the questions that follow.

In West Africa, the dama is an ancient celebration that usually lasts for three days. During that time, dozens of dancers don flowing costumes and masks, the most important of which is the sirige. Carved from a single tree, the sirige links the Dogon with their ancestors. Among other things, the Dogon believed that their deceased ancestors watched over their villages and provided good weather, a good harvest, and protection from outsiders. The dama is a way for the Dogon to ask the spirits of their ancestors to create peace and harmony within the village. Those who put on the sirige are the most skillful of Dogon dancers, using their teeth to balance the masks, which can top 20 feet.

What does the dama tell you about the Dogons’ relationship with their ancestors and the arts in some parts of West Africa?

Lesson Synthesize: Diverse Peoples and Traditions in Africa

African Society

A concept web helps you diagram relationships between ideas or concepts. Now that you’ve read the lesson, fill in this concept web to understand some of the relationships within African society.

Topic Synthesize: The Muslim World and Africa

Reflect on the Essential Question: How are religion and culture connected?

At the beginning of your study of the Muslim world and Africa, you considered a list of ways in which culture and religion are connected. You considered

1. religion and the economy

   
   

2. religion and the family

   
   

3. religion and government

   
   

4. religion and the arts

   
   

5. religion and daily life

   
   

6. religion and the law

   
   

7. religion as a unifying force

Consider the list again, keeping in mind what you now know about the Muslim world and Africa. What other factors have an important influence on a society’s culture? Use some of the criteria above and what you have learned to support your opinion.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of the Muslim world and Africa, take a few minutes to think about how religion might affect a culture.

Answer these questions to help you get started:

1. How did Islam affect people’s perception of family and daily life?

   
   

2. How did Islam affect the region’s arts, economy, and law?

   
   

3. In what ways did Islamic traditions influence government?

Essential Question: What Distinguishes One Culture from Another?

What distinguishes one culture from another?

Culture is the shared way of life of a group of people. It includes how people live, work, and play; their language, history, customs, and traditions; their religion and set of beliefs; their art and literature; and many other elements.

Here are some questions to help you think about what distinguishes different cultures.

• What do you think makes American culture different from other cultures in the world? What are the most important differences?

  
  

• What are some ways American culture is like other cultures?

  
  

• What are some ideas, customs, and traditions that American culture has adopted from other cultures? What are some reasons that one culture borrows from another? How does this occur?

  
  

• Are some values, beliefs, or ideas shared by all cultures?

Start Up: Akbar the Great Speaks on Religion

Akbar the Great Speaks on Religion

Akbar the Great spoke eloquently in this prayer about the diversity he found in his land.

Consider the meaning of Akbar’s words. What is Akbar saying about the importance of diversity and tolerance in India? Write a statement explaining your interpretation of Akbar’s prayer.

O God, in every temple, I see people that seek You. In every language I hear spoken, people praise You. If it be a mosque, people murmur the holy prayer. If it be a Christian church, they ring the bell for love of You . . . It is You whom I seek from temple to temple.

Lesson Synthesize: The Delhi Sultanate and Mughal India

Cultures Meet in India

Now that you’ve read about the steps Akbar took to strengthen his rule during the Mughal dynasty, reread the quotation in the Connect activity. What specific actions did Akbar take that prove the value he placed on diversity? What was the overall effect of these policies?

Write two paragraphs explaining your conclusions.

Start Up: Fireworks and Gunpowder

Fireworks and Gunpowder

Although dramatic displays of fireworks make many Americans think of Fourth of July celebrations, fireworks actually originated in China. Gunpowder was easy to make because the raw materials were abundant. Tang and Song artisans used gunpowder not only for fireworks but also for weapons. Gunpowder was one of many goods that were traded along the ancient Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean Sea. What are some ways this trade in gunpowder might have affected the Song dynasty?

Lesson Synthesize: Golden Ages in China: Tang and Song Dynasties

Tang China

Tang rulers carried empire building to new heights, conquering Vietnam, Tibet, and Korea. Within China, Tang emperors instituted a system of land reform. How did foreign conquests and land reform strengthen the economy and the Tang empire? Fill out the chart, using examples of how each factor helped the Tang dynasty attain and maintain its power.

Start Up: Warriors on Horseback

Warriors on Horseback

The Mongols were tough warriors who lived in the saddle and were considered the most skilled riders in the world. Read the Italian traveler Marco Polo’s description of Mongol battle tactics and then write a few sentences in response to the questions that follow.

• What have you heard about the Mongols? If you were seeing Mongol horsemen for the first time, how do you think you would have felt about such warriors?

  
  

• How do you think an attacking army of such horsemen would affect their enemies?

  
  

• How do you think the Mongol horsemen learned to shoot arrows on horseback and trained their horses so well?

They keep hovering about the enemy, discharging their arrow first from one side and then from the other. . . . Their horses are so well broken-in to quick changes of movement, that upon the signal given, they instantly turn in any direction, and by these rapid maneuvers many victories have been obtained.

—Marco Polo, A Description of the World

Lesson Synthesize: The Mongol Empire and Ming China

Timeline of Mongol Empire in China

Answer these questions. You should use your completed timeline from the Interactive Reading Notepad and what you have read in this lesson. Refer back to the text if necessary.

• Which dynasty came first, the Ming or the Yuan?

  
  

• Which dynasty did Kublai Khan found? Which did Zhu Yuanzhang found?

  
  

• What were the effects of the Mongol invasion and the rise of the Ming dynasty on China?

Start Up: Korea and Its Neighbors

Korea and Its Neighbors

Korea is a small country surrounded by larger, more powerful countries. Think of other countries or peoples you have studied about who were surrounded by larger, more powerful neighbors, such as those living near the Roman Empire. How did the nearness of such neighbors affect the people who lived in these smaller countries? Make a prediction about how Korea might have been influenced by neighbors such as China and Japan.

At the start of this lesson, you made predictions about how Korea, a small country, might have been affected by its larger, more powerful neighbors, such as China and Japan. Revisit your prediction. Was your prediction accurate? Why or why not? What is some evidence from the lesson that proves or disproves your prediction? Fill in the graphic organizer.               

How was Korea affected by its more powerful neighbors?

Start Up: Devastating Tsunamis

Devastating Tsunamis

Look at the map and note its topography and other geographical features. Based on its geography, what predictions can you make about the development of Japanese culture and history?

Lesson Synthesize: The Island Kingdom of Japan

Japan During the Heian and Tokugawa Periods

Complete the graphic organizer to compare Japan during the Heian period with Japan after the Tokugawas took control of society. Be sure to include the roles of women and the differences in the arts.

Start Up: Geography of Southeast Asia

Geography of Southeast Asia

Look at the geographic features shown on the current map of Southeast Asia. What parts of the area would have been the most difficult for foreign countries to influence? Why?

Lesson Synthesize: The Many Cultures of Southeast Asia

The Impact of Geography

The geography of a region can help determine its culture, as well as shape many other aspects of life in the region. Review how the geography of Southeast Asia contributed to the region’s cultural, economic, political, and religious development. Choose an area and explain how its geography affected its development. Refer to the map in the Connect activity.

Topic Synthesize: Civilizations of Asia

Reflect on the Essential Question: What distinguishes one culture from another?

At the beginning of your study of the Civilizations of Asia, you thought about how culture is the shared way of life of a group of people. You considered some questions about what distinguishes different cultures.

1. What do you think makes American culture different from other cultures in the world? What are the most important differences?

   
   

2. What are some ways American culture is like other cultures?

   
   

3. What are some ideas, customs, and traditions that American culture has adopted form other cultures? What are some reasons that one culture borrows from another? How does this occur?

   
   

4. Are some things shared by all cultures? Why or why not?

Remember that culture includes how people live, work, and play; their language, history, customs, and traditions; their religion and set of beliefs; their art and literature; and many other elements. Write a one-paragraph response to this statement: Cultures are more alike than they are different. Share and discuss your response with a partner.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of the Civilizations of Asia, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Think about the different cultures. Choose one and make a list of three things that you feel most strongly represents the culture. You might consider the areas of art, architecture, literature, drama, science, technology, social institutions, religions, and economics, along with any other element that helps make up a culture. Share your list with the class and explain why you made your choices.

Essential Question: Why Is Culture Important?

Why Is Culture Important?

The image is from one of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. Although he thought of himself as an artist, Leonardo’s interests extended to many other areas in the arts and sciences, making him a true “Renaissance man.” His intellectual curiosity and creativity are reflected in his sketch for a machine to raise water.

Culture refers to the way of life of a society. Consider what you know about Leonardo and think about the role of culture in a society. As you go through the Topic, think about whether culture impacted, or was impacted by, the list below during the Renaissance:

• politics

  
  

• economics

  
  

• the arts

  
  

• science

  
  

• religion

Start Up: Michelangelo's David

Michelangelo’s David

The Renaissance, which began in the wealthy cities of northern Italy, was a time of great artistic and intellectual creativity. Michelangelo, a key Renaissance artist, completed his marble masterpiece, David, in 1504. The statue portrays the heroic David from the Bible, a shepherd who kills the giant Goliath. Renaissance art was influenced by earlier styles but also reflected a new emphasis on the individual.

Write a few sentences in response to these questions:

Based on this image of Michelangelo’s David , what do you think were some subjects and themes of Renaissance artists and writers? What influences do you see in this sculpture?

Lesson Synthesize: The Italian Renaissance

Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo painted a series of murals on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. These murals depict the biblical history of the world, from the Creation to the Flood. It took four years to complete. Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, not a painter. But his murals symbolize the great period of cultural rebirth that transformed Europe.

Based on the lesson text and the image of the Sistine Chapel, what ideas and themes are reflected in Renaissance art?

Start Up: An Expanding World

An Expanding World

By the mid-1400s, the Renaissance was spreading from Italy into northern Europe. Scholars, writers, and artists throughout northern Europe lived in an exciting time. The newly invented printing press made the world seem smaller, as books became cheaper and more plentiful. All over Europe, the world of knowledge was expanding in ways that would have been unthinkable in medieval times.

Write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• Based on Rabelais’s quote, how would you predict the Renaissance developed in northern Europe?

  
  

• How does the effect of the printing press compare with the effects of a modern technology? Explain.

Printing likewise is now in use, so elegant and so correct that better cannot be imagined, although it was found out but in my time by divine inspiration . . . All the world is full of knowing men, of most learned schoolmasters, and vast libraries; and it appears to me as a truth, that neither in Plato’s time, nor Cicero’s . . . there was ever such conveniency for studying, as we see at this day there is.

—from Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais, 1532

Lesson Synthesize: The Renaissance in Northern Europe

Erasmus

During the 1400s, Renaissance influence spread into northern Europe, reviving an interest in classical learning and education. Flemish painters created art that reflected religious and classical themes as well as the lives of ordinary people. Writers produced novels in the vernacular, which reached a larger audience thanks to the printing revolution. Read the quote from the noted humanist Erasmus.

After reading the quote, write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• How does the quotation show the impact of the printing press on how books came to be used?

  
  

• How does the quotation from Erasmus reflect the impact of the northern European Renaissance?

I consider as lovers of books not those who keep their books hidden in their store-chests and never handle them, but those who, by nightly as well as daily use thumb them, batter them, wear them out, who fill out all the margins with annotations of many kinds, and who prefer the marks of a fault they have erased to a neat copy full of faults.

—Desiderius Erasmus, The

Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters (1484–1500)

Start Up: Launching the Protestant Reformation

Launching the Protestant Reformation

Read the quote and the text and answer the questions that follow.

When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door, he formally challenged a powerful institution—the Catholic Church—to a public debate. This was Luther’s attempt to force Church authorities to defend a series of religious policies that more and more people were finding objectionable. This included the selling of indulgences and corruption in the Church. The Church’s response to Luther's challenge would help launch the Protestant Reformation.

• Why do you think it was important that Luther invite Church representatives to defend policies that had been in place for centuries?

  
  

• What clues exist in the opening paragraph of the 95 Theses that show Luther’s general state of mind at the time?

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

—Opening paragraph of Luther's 95 Theses

Lesson Synthesize: The Protestant Reformation

Technology: The Communications Revolution

During the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, new technology like the printing press revolutionized life. Consider the various impacts that the printing press had during the Protestant Reformation in areas different than religious reform, such as an emphasis on literacy.

Choose a modern technology that has had a comparable effect. Write two paragraphs explaining why the technology you chose is as important in terms of its impact today as the printing press was during the Protestant Reformation.

Start Up: Reformation Ideas Reach England

Reformation Ideas Reach England

Analyze this engraving of King Henry VIII of England, on his throne with Pope Clement VII under his feet.

What does the image suggest about Henry VIII’s attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church and the fate of the Reformation in England?

Lesson Synthesize: Reformation Ideas Spread

Spread and Impact of the Protestant Reformation

Use this flowchart to record the main ideas about the spread of the Protestant Reformation.

Start Up: A New Way of Thinking

A New Way of Thinking

The Renaissance emphasis on education and a desire to learn more about the physical world transformed the sciences. In 1609, a new Dutch invention, the telescope, inspired Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei to build his own telescope. When he pointed it at the night sky he saw mountains on the moon, fiery spots on the sun, and four moons circling the planet Jupiter. Discoveries by Galileo and others created a Scientific Revolution that continues to this day.

• How do you think this discovery affected Galileo?

  
  

• Why would ideas based on observations threaten the established order?

I did discover many particulars in Heaven that had been unseen and unheard of until this our age.

—Galileo Galilei, after looking at the night sky with a telescope

Lesson Synthesize: The Scientific Revolution

Important People of the Scientific Revolution

Use the table to identify some of the important people of the Scientific Revolution and their most significant achievement.

Topic Synthesize: The Renaissance and Reformation

Reflect on the Essential Question: Why is culture important?

At the beginning of your study of the Renaissance and Reformation, you looked at a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci and thought about the role of culture in a society. You considered whether culture impacted, or was impacted by, the list below during the Renaissance:

• politics

  
  

• economics

  
  

• the arts

  
  

• science

  
  

• religion

Consider the list again, keeping in mind what you now know about the Renaissance and Reformation. Do you think culture is important? Use some of the criteria above and what you have learned to support your opinion.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of the Renaissance and Reformation, take a few minutes to think about the importance of culture.

Answer these questions to help you get started:

1. How did Renaissance thinking affect politics, the arts, and economics?

   
   

2. How did the Renaissance influence the Reformation?

   
   

3. In what ways did the Renaissance spark a shift in scientific thinking and contribute to the Scientific Revolution?

Essential Question: Why Do People Move?

Why do people move?

Most people in ancient and medieval Europe had little contact with people beyond their own local region. But in the 1400s, Europeans went on the move and began a remarkable extended period of exploration and expansion. Over the next few centuries, European sailors, merchants, adventurers, missionaries, and settlers would reach almost every quarter of the globe. Why are some people willing to leave their homes, face the risks and obstacles of travel, and move to other lands? Consider the factors listed below and explain why they might cause a person to move.

• Conflict

  
  

• Environmental change

  
  

• Economic conditions

  
  

• Religious differences

  
  

• Political conditions

  
  

• Social conditions

Start Up: The Search for Spices

The Search for Spices

Cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, cloves . . . these and other spices were a vital part of the world economy in the 1400s. Because Arab merchants and traders controlled the spice trade, Europeans didn’t know how to get the spices they desperately wanted. Even when Europeans learned that spice plants could be obtained in Asia, they couldn’t grow them in Europe’s climate.

Think about the ways Europeans in the 1400s could find and secure the supplies of spices they needed. Then write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• If you were a king or queen in Europe during the 1400s, how do you think you would respond when an explorer asked for your help to pay for a voyage to find a direct route to the Asian source of spices?

  
  

• If you were a merchant at that time, how would you decide whether or not to invest in an expedition to cross uncharted seas to acquire spices?

  
  

• What do you think motivates people to devote their time, money, and energy to take great risks exploring unknown lands?

Lesson Synthesize: Europeans Explore Overseas

The Wealth of Asia

Read the excerpt from The Discoverers, written by historian Daniel Boorstin, and then answer the questions that follow.

• According to Boorstin, why did the Portuguese establish control over trade in the Indian Ocean?

  
  

• What trading powers lost power and wealth because of the new Portuguese trade routes?

  
  

• How would future international trade be different because of Western European countries developing new trade routes?

The Portuguese now ruled the Indian Ocean. . . . The consequences reached around the world. Much Italian splendor had been based on the wealth of the East pouring through Venice and Genoa. Now the traffic in Asiatic treasure—spices, drugs, gems, and silks—would no longer come through the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Levant, but on Portuguese ships around the Cape of Good Hope to Atlantic-facing Europe. . . .The Egyptian-Venetian trade was destroyed. The wealth of Asia, the fabled treasures of the Orient, were flowing west. The new Age of the Sea moved . . . commerce . . . from the coasts of a finite body, the closed Mediterranean . . . to the shores of the open Atlantic and the boundless world-reaching Oceans.

—Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers, 1983

Start Up: Gunfire Over Malacca

Gunfire Over Malacca

In 1511, a Portuguese fleet commanded by Afonso De Albuquerque dropped anchor off Malacca, a rich trading port that controlled the sea route linking India, Southeast Asia, and China. The fleet remained at anchor for several weeks before opening fire. This is a Malaysian account of the incident.

• What do these descriptions suggest about the Malaysians’ experience with gunfire up to that time?

  
  

• Recall why the Portuguese explored the coasts of Africa and the lands around the Indian Ocean. Why do you think Albuquerque’s fleet attacked Malacca?

  
  

• What impact do you predict the Portuguese might have in South and Southeast Asia?

The cannon balls came like rain. And the noise of the cannon was as the noise of thunder in the heavens and the flashes of fire of their guns were like flashes of lightning in the sky: and the noise of their matchlocks [guns] was like that of groundnuts [peanuts] popping in the frying pan.

—from the Malay Annals

Lesson Synthesize: Europeans Gain Footholds in Asia

International Trade: Different Approaches

In the 1500s and 1600s, Europeans took different approaches to establishing trade in Asia. In some cases, Europeans used military force to establish posts and take over cities with little regard for the rights of the people who lived there. In other cases, Europeans worked hard to establish friendlier trade relations through diplomacy. Sometimes, the preferred strategy was a combination of both diplomacy and force. Why did Europeans take these different approaches?

As you think about this question, consider the following factors:

• The government and military of the Asian civilizations

  
  

• Geographic factors of South and East Asia

  
  

• The technological achievements of the Asian civilizations

Start Up: Moctezuma is Filled with Terror

Moctezuma Is Filled with Terror

In 1519, the Aztec ruler Moctezuma heard an astounding report from his messengers. They described strange people who had just arrived in the region—people with white skin and yellow hair, clad completely in iron, who rode “deer” as tall as a house and had dogs with burning yellow eyes. According to a Spanish translation of native accounts, “When Moctezuma heard this, he was filled with terror. It was as if his heart grew faint, as it shrank; he was overcome by despair.”

Consider this account and then write a few sentences in response to the questions that follow:

• If you heard about the arrival nearby of people and animals so different from those you had ever experienced before, how do you think you would feel about them?

  
  

• Why do you think Moctezuma had such an intense reaction to the arrival of these foreigners?

  
  

• How was Moctezuma most likely to respond to the prospect of encountering these visitors and their animals?

Lesson Synthesize: European Conquests in the Americas

Unexpected Impacts

During the course of European exploration and expansion in the Americas, people were exposed to people, goods, ideas, and diseases that changed their lives forever. Some results of this contact were largely beneficial, such as the introduction of the horse. Others were harmful, such as the introduction of European diseases to which Native Americans lacked immunity. Think about the interaction between Europeans and Native Americans such as the Aztecs and Incas. Then create and fill in a Venn diagram with the following three headings. Discuss with a partner the reasons for your placement of various items in the diagram.

• Beneficial impacts

  
  

• Beneficial and harmful impacts

  
  

• Harmful impacts

Start Up: Competing for a Continent

Competing for a Continent

From the 1500s to the 1700s, European countries established colonial regions in North America. As they did so, they came into contact and collision with Native Americans and with each other.

Read the quotation and answer the questions that follow:

• Which European country is the parent country of the colony that William Shirley governs?

  
  

• What is Governor Shirley concerned about?

  
  

• What does Governor Shirley mean when he says “there is no time to be lost”?

Gentlemen, there is no time to be lost; the French seem to have advanced further towards making themselves masters of this continent within these last five or six years than they have done ever since the first beginnings of their settlements upon it.

—William Shirley, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, April 2, 1754

Lesson Synthesize: European Colonies in North America

A Conquest of the Greatest Importance

The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War and the larger global conflict between Britain, France, and their allies. Robert Rogers was a New England colonist and leader of a militia unit known as Roger’s Rangers. He and his unit were very active in the French and Indian War. In his journals, he recalled his impression of the conflict’s importance.

Read the quotation and answer the questions that follow:

• In your own words, describe why Rogers thought the war was so important.

  
  

• Did he think that the French would again challenge the English colonies?

  
  

• What participants in the war does he not mention? Why do you think he ignores them?

A conquest perhaps of the greatest importance that is to be met with in the British annals, whether we consider the prodigious extent of country we are hereby masters of, the vast addition it must make to trade and navigation . . . the security it must afford to the northern provinces of America, . . . the irretrievable loss France sustains hereby, and the importance it must give the British crown among the several states of Europe. . . .

—Robert Rogers, Journals of Major Robert Rogers

Start Up: Slave Ships From West Africa

Slave Ships from West Africa

In 1444, a Portuguese observer described the first ship of African slaves arriving in Portugal from West Africa. Judging from the writer’s words, what was his opinion of what he saw?

Based on this writer’s words, what was his opinion of slave trading? What does his description tell you about the impact of slave trading on Africans?

Some kept their heads low and their faces bathed in tears, looking at each other. . .others struck themselves in the face and threw themselves to the ground; and others sang sad songs—although we did not understand their words, the sound told of their great sorrow. . .The mothers threw themselves flat on the ground. They were beaten but they refused to give up their children.

—From Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea

Lesson Synthesize: The Slave Trade and Its Impact on Africa

Trade

The transatlantic slave trade expanded greatly between 1500 and 1800. Some individuals and societies reaped enormous profits from the slave trade. But for others, the slave trade meant suffering, death, and long-lasting social disruptions. Think about the long-lasting impact of the slave trade. Working with a partner or a small group, discuss the slave-trade’s long-term impact on each of the following:

• States and societies in Africa

  
  

• States and societies in Europe

  
  

• States and societies in the Americas

Start Up: Uniting Distant Parts of the World

Uniting Distant Parts of the World

Writing in the late 1700s, economist and philosopher Adam Smith looked back on the era of European exploration and expansion that began in the 1400s. He was especially interested in the increased global contact and global exchanges that occurred after the voyages of Columbus and other European explorers.

Read the excerpt and write a few sentences in response to the questions that follow.

• Did Smith think that increased global contact was generally a good thing or a bad thing? How does he make his opinion on this clear?

  
  

• In your own words, explain what you think Smith means when he describes some of the specific effects of increased global contact.

  
  

• Thinking about global contact in the world today, do you agree or disagree with Smith about the effects of global contact? Why?

The discovery of America, and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind. By uniting, in some measure, the most distant parts of the world, by enabling them to relieve one another’s wants, to increase one another’s enjoyments, and to encourage one another’s industry, their general tendency would seem to be beneficial.

—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

Lesson Synthesize: Effects of Global Contact

Capitalism and Mercantilism

Increased global connections stimulated the development of free enterprise and mercantilism. For some people, the effects were quite beneficial. But for others, these two economic systems created some problems and hardships. What are the main characteristics of each of these two economic systems? What are their advantages and disadvantages? To organize your answer to these questions, create a graphic organizer such as the one here.

Topic Synthesize: New Global Connections

Reflect on the Essential Question: Why do people move?

At the beginning of your study of New Global Connections, you considered how the factors listed below might cause people to leave their homes, face the risks and obstacles of travel, and move to other lands:

• Conflict

  
  

• Environmental change

  
  

• Economic conditions

  
  

• Religious differences

  
  

• Political conditions

  
  

• Social conditions

Consider those issues again in light of what you’ve learned about European exploration and expansion. Which of the factors listed above caused people to move during the period of new global interactions from the 1400s through the 1700s? Support your answer with at least two examples from the topic’s lessons and text.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of New Global Connections, take a few minutes to reflect on the lasting impact of the topic. Answer these questions to help you get started:

• How did European colonization affect Native Americans?

  
  

• What was the impact of the slave trade?

  
  

• How did the Commercial Revolution and the free enterprise system affect Europe and the Americas?

  
  

• How does the movement of people, culture, goods, plants, animals, and ideas from the 1400s through the 1700s still shape the world you live in today?

Write down several specific examples and then share your ideas with a partner.

Essential Question: How Much Power Should the Government Have?

How much power should the government have?

Until the 1800s, absolute monarchs ruled much of Europe. Some rulers were strong and effective, while others were ruthless and ineffective. As the world moved into the mid-1700s, philosophers began spreading ideas about limited government. In time, these ideas brought great changes to the power of government.

Read the powers of government below and decide whether you think each power is one the government should or should not have. Explain each response.

• Declare war in foreign lands

  
  

• Arrest citizens for crimes they commit

  
  

• Sign treaties

  
  

• Declare martial law

  
  

• Regulate businesses

  
  

• Spy on citizens’ actions

Start Up: Defining Absolute Monarchy

Defining Absolute Monarchy

Define the word absolute.

Define the word monarchy.

Now, using those two definitions, write down what you think would be a good definition for the term absolute monarchy.

In three to five sentences, explain what type of relationship you think an absolute monarch would have with his or her subjects (the people in the monarch’s country). Who would be in control? How would the monarch interact with the citizens?

Lesson Synthesize: Absolute Monarchy in Spain and France

Graphic Organizer: Defining Absolute Monarchy

Fill out the graphic organizer for both Philip II and Louis XIV. Some boxes may not apply to both monarchs.

Look back at your Connect exercise. Were you correct about the absolute monarch’s relationship with his subjects?

Start Up: Experiencing the Thirty Years' War

Experiencing the Thirty Years' War

What do you think it would be like to live through 30 years of war? If you are now 15 or 16 years old, the war could have been going on your whole life—and 15 years before you were born! Write three to five sentences explaining what life might have been like for someone your age during the war and directly after it. How would your family have been affected? What would you have done with your days? What would you have eaten?

They say that the terrible war is now over. But there is still no sign of a peace. Everywhere there is envy, hatred, and greed: that’s what the war has taught us . . . We live like animals, eating bark and grass. No one could have imagined that anything like this would happen to us. Many people say that there is no God.

—A German family Bible contained this entry describing the end of the Thirty Years' War

Lesson Synthesize: Rise of Austria, Prussia, and Russia

Lesson Synthesize: Mini DBQ

Read the documents to the right and answer the questions that follow.

How was the absolute rule of Peter the Great, Frederick II, and Catherine the Great different from the absolutism of earlier European monarchs? How was it similar? Use examples from the documents and from the Lesson to support your answer.

I mentioned in the relation of the former year [1698] the Tsar's coming out of his own country; on which I will now enlarge. He came this winter over to England and stayed some months among us. I waited often on him, and was ordered by both the king and the archbishops and bishops to attend upon him and to offer him such information of our religion and constitution as he was willing to receive. (. . .) He is mechanically turned, and seems designed by nature rather to be a ship carpenter than a great prince. This was his chief study and exercise while he stayed here. He wrought much with his own hands and made all about him work at the models of his ships.

—Bishop Gilbert Burnet, on Peter the Great

The sovereign is the representative of his State. He and his people form a single body. Ruler and ruled can be happy only if they are firmly united. The sovereign stands to his people in the same relation in which the head stands to the body. He must use his eyes and his brain for the whole community, and act on its behalf to the common advantage. If we wish to elevate monarchical above republican government, the duty of sovereigns is clear. They must be active, hard-working, upright and honest, and concentrate all their strength upon filling their office worthily. That is my idea of the duties of sovereigns.

—Frederick II, “Essay on the Forms of Government”

Should it so happen that even after the publication of the present decree of Her Imperial Majesty any serfs and peasants should cease to give the proper obedience to their landlords . . . and should make bold to submit unlawful petitions complaining of their landlords, and especially to petition Her Imperial Majesty personally, then both those who make the complaints and those who write up the petitions shall be punished . . . (and be) deported to Nerchinsk to penal servitude for life and shall be counted as part of the quota of recruits which their landlords must furnish to the army. And in order that people everywhere may know of the present decree, it shall be read in all the churches on Sundays and holy days for one month after it is received and thereafter once every year during the great church festivals, lest anyone pretend ignorance.

—Catherine the Great, Decree on Serfs (1767)

Start Up: Compare Rulers

Compare Rulers

In this lesson you will be reading about revolutionary changes in England that resulted in more power for Parliament. For a short period, England was ruled not by a king but by a “Lord Protector.”

On the right is a portrait of King James I. Below is a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, the “Lord Protector.” Compare and contrast how these men look.

What do these portraits suggest about these two men and how they ruled?

Lesson Synthesize: Triumph of Parliament in England

Steps Toward Liberty

England developed democratically as a result of a series of key events and documents. Use the graphic organizer to chart these events in the order they occurred, then answer the questions below.

What form of government did the developments in your flow chart lead to?

Even though it has achieved many reforms by the mid-1700s, why was England still far from democratic?

Start Up: Salons Spread Ideas

Salons Spread Ideas

Salons were gatherings where Enlightenment thinkers met to share ideas. Compare the salons of the Enlightenment with social media today. What do they share in common? How are they different from each other? Can you think of any other modern-day “salons”?

Lesson Synthesize: The Enlightenment

Enlightenment Ideas: Then and Now

Enlightenment thinkers applied reason to the study of human behavior in an effort to solve society’s problems. Below is a list of key ideas that came from Enlightenment thinkers. Review the list and then answer the questions that follow.

• natural rights

  
  

• social contract

  
  

• freedom of religion

  
  

• freedom of speech

  
  

• free market economy

  
  

• separation of powers

Which of these ideas was most important to the everyday lives of the people in the 1700s? Explain your answer.

Which of these ideas is the most important today? Explain your answer.

Start Up: The Unalienable Rights of Citizens

The Unalienable Rights of Citizens

In 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared the American colonies independent from Britain. The Declaration of Independence, authored primarily by Thomas Jefferson, outlined the colonists’ complaints along with what the obligations of a government were to its citizens.

Read the passage from the Declaration of Independence.

What do you think the philosophy behind these words was? Specifically, what did the colonists mean by “We hold these truths to be self-evident”? Why did the colonists believe that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were “unalienable rights”? Why was the phrase “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” a novel concept in the 1700s? Answer these questions in four to five sentences.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government . . .

—The U.S. Declaration of Independence

Lesson Synthesize: The American Revolution

The United States Constitution

How much power should the government have? Write an answer to the Essential Question in which you use information from the lesson to substantiate your response. You may want to consider some of the following questions as you write your answer:

• How does the U.S. Constitution achieve a balance of power between each branch of government?

  
  

• Should the federal government have more power than state governments? Explain why or why not.

  
  

• Should a democratically elected government be able to pass laws that curtail the rights of some of its citizens in order to keep the nation safe and secure?

  
  

• Compare and contrast the power of a king with the power of a president in a republic.

Start Up: The Rights of Citizens

The Rights of Citizens

In August 1789, the French National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The document was modeled in part on the American Declaration of Independence and took many ideas from the writings of John Locke and the philosophes. A major point of the document was that governments exist to protect the natural rights of citizens.

Read the excerpts at right, and then answer the questions that follow:

In your own words, restate the main ideas in each of the readings. In what ways might these ideas influence the revolutionaries in France? How do you know? Give examples from the excerpts.

To understand political power aright, and derive it from its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.

—John Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government, 1690

No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.

—Denis Diderot, Encyclopedia, 1752

Lesson Synthesize: The French Revolution Begins

Events of the French Revolution

Complete this sequencing diagram to describe the beginning stages of the French Revolution. When you are finished, answer the question that follows.

Do you think the French Revolution was inevitable, or was there a way it could have been avoided? Explain your answer.

Start Up: Violence in the Name of Revolution

Violence in the Name of Revolution

The only member of the royal family to survive the French Revolution was the young daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Marie-Therese Charlotte de France, called “Madame Royale.” Along with her parents and her younger brother, the Dauphin, she was imprisoned in 1792. The excerpts at right are from her memoirs. After reading, answer the question that follows.

In four or five sentences, explain what picture Marie-Therese tries to paint of her parents’ and brother’s lives in prison. Was this a just or an unjust way to treat a former ruler and his family? Explain your answer.

Because of my brother’s health, we went for walks in the garden every day, and almost every time my father was insulted by the guards. Rocher [the doorkeeper] tried to molest my father in every way: he sang the “Carmagnole” [a street song] and other horrors, and in passing blew smoke into his face, knowing that my father was bothered by the smoke. My father suffered all this very gently.

. . . The young prince was left to the brutal treatment of that monster Simon, a former shoe-maker. . . . Simon asked him one day: “Capet, if those Vendeens free you, what will you do?” The young king replied: “I shall pardon you.” During the winter, my brother suffered several attacks of fever; he was always close to the fire. . . . He grew weaker and weaker and died in agony. . . . I do not believe he was poisoned . . .

—Marie-Therese Charlotte de France

Lesson Synthesize: A Radical Phase

The Reign of Terror

Complete this chart to describe the events leading up to and during the second and most radical phase of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror. When you are finished, answer the question that follows.

Do you think the Reign of Terror helped or hindered the cause of reform in revolutionary France? Explain your answer.

Start Up: Enter Napoleon Bonaparte

Enter Napoleon Bonaparte

After the execution of Louis XVI, France entered a state of chaos without a single leader. Meanwhile, a brilliant military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, was rising through the ranks of the French army. Napoleon would eventually rule almost all of Europe. Read these two viewpoints about Napoleon Bonaparte. Then answer the questions that follow.

Describe in two or three sentences the viewpoints of both writers. Next, in a sentence or two, explain what might have motivated each of the writers. Both of these writers speak of liberty. How are their views of liberty different?

I do not believe that when Bonaparte became head of the government he had yet formulated the plan for a universal monarchy, but I do believe what he himself said to one of my friends, a few days after the 18 Brumaire [the date Napoleon overthrew the Directory]. ‘It is necessary,’ he said, ‘to do something new every three months, in order to captivate the imagination of the French nation, with whom any-one who stands still is lost.’ His system was to encroach [intrude] daily upon France’s liberty and Europe’s independence. . . . By alternating between cunning and force he has subjugated [conquered] Europe.

—Madame de Staël, French author

Liberty triumphs in the end, and Napoleon, our august emperor, comes to confirm it. Soldiers, I have often led you to victory. Now I would escort you to join this immortal legion which the Emperor Napoleon conducts to Paris, and which in a few days will reach the capital.

—Michel Ney, marshal in Napoleon’s army

Lesson Synthesize: The Age of Napoleon

The Age of Napoleon

Complete the flowchart to list the main events about Napoleon’s rise to power and his defeat. Then answer the question at the end.

How might Napoleon have avoided his eventual downfall? Explain your answer

Topic Synthesize: Absolutism and Revolution

Reflect on the Essential Question: How much power should the government have?

At the beginning of your study of absolutism and revolution, you considered a list of powers that governments might have and whether you thought governments should have them. Review the list of those powers, below.

1. Declare war in foreign lands

   
   

2. Arrest citizens for crimes they commit

   
   

3. Sign treaties

   
   

4. Declare marshal law

   
   

5. Regulate businesses

   
   

6. Spy on citizens’ actions

Consider the list again, in light of what you’ve read about absolutism and revolution.

The first power in the original list is government should have the power to “declare war in foreign lands.” Do you think the government should always have the power to declare war in foreign lands? Give at least three reasons supporting your opinion.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of absolutism and revolution, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Think about how later governments, including that of the United States, began moving away from the idea of absolute power. Write down at least three important observations about why this change came about. You might consider:

1. Were most leaders with absolute power fair?

   
   

2. How did Enlightenment ideas affect people’s thinking about government?

   
   

3. What advantages does limited government bring? What disadvantages?

Essential Question: How Do Science and Technology Affect Society?

How do science and technology affect society?

In the year 1750, people around the world lived very much as their ancestors had lived for centuries before them. They grew crops and manufactured goods using simple tools and machines. Over the next 150 years, innovative thinkers came up with inventions and discoveries that revolutionized daily life. Read each of the questions below and predict what you think the answer will be.

• Why did people begin to build factories?

  
  

• How were factory work and farm work different?

  
  

• Why did cities grow rapidly during the 1800s?

  
  

• How did transportation change?

  
  

• What developments affected human health and life expectancy?

Start Up: Compare Life Before and After Industrialization

Compare Life Before and After Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution brought radical change to people’s lives. Before industrialization, people lived in villages and farmed. Women in particular often worked at home, making goods to sell. The economy was based on farming and craftwork. By the late 1800s, the economy had shifted. Manufacturing by machine in factories and urbanization became commonplace. We can still feel the impact of this economic shift today.

Look at the two images here—one of the interior of a simple farmer's cottage from the 1700s and the other of life in an urban home of the early 1900s. Compare the details in each.

How do these images show the changes industrialization brought to people’s lives?

Lesson Synthesize: The Industrial Revolution Begins

Causes of the Industrial Revolution

Make a graphic organizer that shows all of the causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution. Once you have recorded all the causes and effects, answer the following question.

What do you think was the most important cause of the Industrial Revolution?

Explain the role of your chosen cause in bringing about the Industrial Revolution. In your response, provide examples and explanations of how that cause affected the shift toward industrialization.

Start Up: Working Conditions

Working Conditions

Over time, the standard of living rose with industrialization. People had access to opportunities and products unavailable before. However, working conditions in the early factories were harsh and difficult. Women and children often worked in factories, sometimes for up to 16 hours a day, six days a week. Men worked in mines to provide the coal to fuel the machines. Women and children also worked in mines, helping the miners. Mining was dangerous work.

Look at the photo and think about what life may have been like for the working class during the Industrial Revolution. Write a journal entry from the perspective of a worker in conditions like those in the photo. What is your typical day like? Look for clues in the photo and incorporate those details in your writing.

Lesson Synthesize: Social Impact of Industrialism

Economic Schools of Thought

Create a four-column chart like the one shown below to help you think about the main schools of social thought that developed in response to the massive changes caused by industrialism. Use the questions below to help you decide what to record in the chart.

• What were the key ideas of the four main schools of thought?

  
  

• Who were the main proponents of each point of view?

Start Up: Predict the Future

Predict the Future

In large part, the invention of the steam engine spurred the first Industrial Revolution. Steam-powered machines, ships, and trains gave rise to factories and new industries. The first Industrial Revolution changed many things, but it was not until the mid-1800s that a new way of life emerged. During the second Industrial Revolution, advances in science, technology, and big business promoted industrial growth and revolutionized the way people lived. These advances made the world a smaller place, and they made some people and some countries wealthier and more powerful than ever.

Remember what you learned about the first Industrial Revolution. Then write two predictions, based on the questions below, about the role of science and technology in the second Industrial Revolution. Return to these predictions as you work through the lesson’s readings and activities. Were your predictions accurate?

• How will advances in technology impact business?

  
  

• What technological advances do you think will change daily life?

Lesson Synthesize: The Second Industrial Revolution

Birth of the Industrial City

The birth of the industrial city helped to define the Industrial Revolution. As you have read, growing cities represented progress, but that progress did not come without costs. Read the quotation and think about what you have learned in the lesson.

Then take some time to write down brief answers to the questions below.

• What were the most significant features of the industrial city?

  
  

• How did towns and cities change during the Industrial Revolution?

  
  

• How does the quotation illustrate the costs of progress?

  
  

• What can you infer about the way work changed?

[Coketown] was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows …. It contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next.

—from Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

Start Up: Changing Attitudes and Values

Changing Attitudes and Values

Business and industry were not the only things revolutionized during the Industrial Age. The class structure was redefined, gender roles were questioned, education changed, and scientists rocked long-held traditions and beliefs. In an 1892 speech, the American women’s rights leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton addressed two essential issues of the day: education and women’s rights.

Read the quote and write a few sentences in response to these questions:

• How does Stanton believe that an education would help women better control their lives?

  
  

• How do you think society reacted to Stanton’s ideas?

  
  

• How could her ideas be applied to the working class?

  
  

• Why do you think education and equal rights become important issues during the Industrial Revolution?

  
  

• What other issues and changes do you expect to learn about?

. . . As an individual, she must rely on herself . . . To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes. . . . In talking of education, how shallow the argument that [men and women] must be educated for the special work [they propose] to do, and that all of the faculties not needed in this special work must lie dormant and utterly wither for lack of use, when, perhaps, these will be the very faculties needed in life’s greatest emergencies!

—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “The Solitude of Self”

Lesson Synthesize: Changing Ways of Life and Thought

Art Reflects Culture

For thousands of years, art has served to reflect the culture in which it was created. As values, ideas, and traditions change, so do the ways authors, poets, and dramatists express their ideas. During the 1800s, two major literary movements emerged—romanticism and realism—each in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Though the movements were extremely different in style, they had one thing in common: each writer strove to create works that conveyed powerful themes, or messages, about the changes in society and human nature.

Think about the literary movements of romanticism and realism. Then write responses to the following questions:

• What were the main characteristics of each movement?

  
  

• How was each movement a reaction to the social, economic, or technological changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution?

  
  

• ]Who were the leading figures of each literary movement?

  
  

• What were the goals of each movement?

  
  

• How does each movement represent the cultures in which it was created?

Topic Synthesize: The Industrial Revolution

Reflect on the Essential Question: How do science and technology affect society?

At the beginning of your study of the Industrial Revolution, you predicted the answers to the following questions:

1. Why did people begin to build factories?

   
   

2. How were factory work and farm work different?

   
   

3. Why did cities grow rapidly during the 1800s?

   
   

4. How did transportation change?

   
   

5. What developments affected human health and life expectancy?

Consider those questions again in light of what you’ve learned about the Industrial Revolution. How many of your predictions were accurate? Did you learn anything that surprised you as you read about this topic? List at least one of your predictions that was correct and one unexpected thing you learned.

Reflect on the Topic

As you complete your study of the Industrial Revolution, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have learned. Consider what you would say if you were asked to be an advisor to a country that has not yet become industrialized. How would you answer the following questions?

1. What benefits can my country expect from industrialization?

   
   

2. What problems can my country expect from industrialization?

   
   

3. How will industrialization change our traditional way of life?

   
   

4. How can my country maximize the benefits of industrialization and minimize the problems?