Early Civilizations
The transition from hunting/gathering to agriculture that began around 10,000 BCE.
What is the Neolithic Revolution?
The extensive trade network connecting China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean.
What are the Silk Roads?
The Mediterranean republic-turned-empire that governed the Mediterranean basin until the 5th century CE.
What is the Roman Empire?
The late 18th–19th-century shift from hand production to machines and factories.
What is the Industrial Revolution?
The global conflict from 1914–1918 that involved trench warfare and drew in colonial troops.
What is World War I?
The river valley civilization known for ziggurats, cuneiform, and Hammurabi’s Code.
What is Mesopotamia?
The interregional maritime trade network linking East Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia.
What is the Indian Ocean Trade?
The dynasty that expanded China and established the civil service, often paired with the Silk Roads.
What is the Han Dynasty?
The political-economic ideology developed by Karl Marx advocating class struggle and proletarian rule.
What is Marxism or Communism?
The ideological and geopolitical rivalry between the US and USSR after 1945.
What is the Cold War?
The writing system developed by Sumerians using wedge-shaped marks.
What is cuneiform?
The trade routes across the Sahara that carried gold, salt, and Islam into West Africa.
What is Trans-Saharan Trade?
The caliphates that expanded Islam rapidly in the 7th–8th centuries, later giving way to the Abbasids.
What are the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates?
The political movement of the 16th century that split Western Christianity and produced Luther and Calvin.
What is the Protestant Reformation?
The mid-20th-century process in which African and Asian colonies gained independence from European powers.
What is Decolonization?
The title given to the rulers of ancient Egypt, considered divine.
Who is the Pharaoh?
The Chinese admiral who led massive 15th-century treasure voyages across the Indian Ocean.
Who is Zheng He?
The Eurasian empire of the 13th–14th centuries that connected East and West under leaders like Genghis Khan.
What is the Mongol Empire?
The doctrine promoting state control, single-party rule, and extreme nationalism seen in Italy and Germany interwar.
What is Fascism?
The international organization founded in 1945 to promote peace and cooperation among states.
What is the United Nations?
The South Asian Bronze Age civilization noted for planned cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
What is the Indus Valley Civilization?
The biological and cultural exchange after 1492 that connected Old and New Worlds.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
— The multiethnic gunpowder empire that controlled Anatolia and Southeastern Europe, founded by Osman.
What is the Ottoman Empire?
The agricultural technology package of the mid-20th century that greatly increased crop yields in developing countries.
What is the Green Revolution?
The large-scale redistribution of people, goods, ideas, and capital accelerating since the late 20th century.
What is Globalization?