Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• What were some factors that led to hominid bipedalism?
• Why did Homo sapiens start to prefer agriculture?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• Why were the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers significant for ancient Mesopotamians?
• What were the characteristics of Sumerian City States?
• How did the rulers of ancient Mesopotamian empires unite their people?
• What is the significance of Mesopotamia for World History?
• What were some of the characteristics of Israelites and Ancient Israel?
• How do the Early Israelites and their written tradition reflect the central beliefs of Judaism?
• How did the United Kingdom of Israel develop?
• What is the importance of the Israelites and Ancient Israel?
• Which characteristics of civilizations were seen in Ancient Egypt?
• What major continuities were evident throughout Dynastic Egypt?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How did the geography of South Asia (India) impact its history?
• Why was India’s First Major Civilization, The Indus Valley Civilization, important?
• How did kingdoms form during the Vedic Age?
• How did India transition to an empire?
• How was the Mauryan Empire governed?
• How can we think of regional states, trade, and devotional religion?
• Why is the Gupta period sometimes described as a classical age?
• What are the characteristics of early medieval India?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How can we think about the geography of East Asia?
• What kinds of evidence do we have to reconstruct the first dynasties in Chinese history?
• How did Zhou kings justify overthrowing the Shang Dynasty?
• Why was the Qin Dynasty so important to the history of China?
• What were the prominent features of Han Dynasty society and governing?
• What was the Period of Division?
• What were the foundations of Tang Dynasty power in East Asia?
• Why was China was one of the most developed countries in the world during the Song Dynasty?
• What were the origins of the Yuan Dynasty?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• In what ways did Greek geography and topography impact the history of the ancient Greek world?
• What are the different periods of Greek History and the defining characteristics of each?
• What primary sources are available for the study of Greek history?
• Where is the gap between mythology and history?
• What were the most important developments in the Greek world in the Archaic Period?
• What were some of the most important contributions of Classical Athens?
• What were some of the achievements and legacies of the Hellenistic period?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How did the geography and topography of Rome and the Roman Empire impact the history of the ancient Roman world?
• What are the different periods of Roman history and the defining characteristics of each?
• What primary sources are available for the study of Roman history, and their limitations?
• What were the key civic conflicts and civil wars of the Roman Republic?
• When and why did the Roman Republic fall?
• What was the early Roman empire like?
• What were the problems that the Roman Empire faced during the third-century crisis?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How did the Germanic peoples of Western Europe relate to the former Roman territories?
• Which of Justinian’s policies during his reign of Byzantium had the longest-lasting effects?
• What was the difference between the Post-Roman East and West?
• What was life like in Europe’s periphery: The British Isles?
• How did the Byzantine state reorganize itself to face the challenges of seventh- and eighth-century invasions?
• How did the Church provide a sense of legitimacy to the kings of the Franks?
• How can we look at Europe in this era in a Global Context?
• How did the majority of people in Europe and the Byzantine Empire live in the Early Middle Ages?
• What were the characteristics of the Carolingian Collapse?
• What was the Tenth Century Church like?
• Why were the Macedonian Emperors considered the climax of Byzantium?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How does geography play a role in Islamic history?
• Why were the concepts defined by muruwah so important to the early development of Islam?
• What factors led to the rapid expansion of Islam?
• Who were the Rashidun caliphs?
• How did the Umayyads come to power following the Rashidun caliphs?
• What was the transition from the Umayyads to the ‘Abbasids?
• How did the Fatimids take over Egypt?
• How did the Crusaders gain a foothold in the Middle East?
• What led to the establishment of the Mamluk Sultanate?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• What were the methodological challenges of studying Ancient and Medieval African History?
• What was distinctive about the agriculture of the Ethiopian Highlands?
• What characteristics were shared by the Western Sudanic States?
• How did the ruling classes of Great Zimbabwe generate wealth and demonstrate their elite status?
• What was the urban style of Swahili city-states?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• What crops were first domesticated in the Americas and where?
• How did the Maya support such rapid urbanization?
• Who were the Aztec?
• How did the Inca use local resources to build their empire?
• How were cultures of the North American West able to overcome limited rainfall?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• How did the geography of Central Asia have an impact on its history?
• In what way did the Turkic migrations change the culture of Central Asia?
• What helped to expedite the conversion process of Islam?
• How did Genghis Khan differ from his predecessors?
• What was the significance of Inju to the history of the Chagatai Khanate?
• What role did religion play in the Ilkhanate?
• Why did Timur attempt to externalize the violence of the steppe?

Concepts Covered:

• Introduction
• Who held most political and military power in a feudal system?
• What were some reasons that European towns started to grow in the eleventh century?
• Why did Europe’s agricultural output increase in the eleventh century?
• What were some lasting results of the eleventh-century popes’ attempts to reform the Church?
• What were the peripheries of the Holy Roman Empire?
• How did Christendom expand?
• In what ways did the church reform in the eleventh century?
• What were the Crusades?
• What was the twelfth century like in Western Europe?
• How did empire collapse and recover?
• What characteristics defined the twelfth-century renaissance?
• What was the Third Crusade?
• How did the Fourth Crusade differ from its predecessors?
• How did the thirteenth-century Capetian kings of France strengthen their authority?
• Why did Crusading ultimately fail?
• What was scholasticism?
• What was daily life like at the Medieval Zenith?
• How can we describe Crises in the fourteenth century?
• What wars were going on at this time?
• What characteristics defined southeastern Europe in the late middle ages?
• What the late Medieval Papacy like?
• How can we think of the European Renaissance?
• How did states function in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance?
• Why did Christopher Columbus think he could sail directly from Europe to Asia?