Overview
What epoch is human history?
Pleistocene
What was the economy based on in early civillizations?
Agriculture
What was the common language in Alexander the Great's empire?
Greek
What major non-climatic European event occurred near the beginning of the LIA?
The Bubonic Plague/Black Death
How many people were there pre-Holocene?
< 10 million
How long ago was the Holocene?
~11,700 years ago
What is a common theory for scholars as to why there was a fall in so many civilizations?
Climate change
Who inherited Alexander the Great's empire?
Romans
What time span did the LIA cover?
1300 - 1850 CE
What groups ruled Mesoamerica?
What are the periods of the Holocene? (not early/middle/late)
Greelandian Stage, Northgrippian Stage, Meghalayan Stage
What groups were rulers of Mesopotamia?
Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians
What is another name for the Middle Ages?
The Dark Ages
Why is it difficult to split the LIA into periods?
Not a single event
What is the mandate of heaven and what civilization had that belief?
The concept that external conditions such as prosperity in the land and favorable weather validated the authority of the current ruler
Which period is referred to as the transition between the stone age and the bronze age?
Middle/Northgrippian
What are the three periods scholar split the Indus Valley civilization into called?
Early, Late, and Mature Harappan
What land did he Alexander the Great conquer?
Egypt + Persia, went as far as India
What did the Sahel region in Africa experience during the LIA?
Droughts
What was the "worst year to be alive?" What was the climatic reason for it?
536 CE; volcanic activity
What does the name "Meghalayan" refer to/come from?
Location of a cave in northeast India where mineral deposits give evidence of a climatic event
What were Mesopotamia's sources of water?
Tigris and Euphrates rivers
What was the climate during the peak of the Romans' power?
Stable conditions + rainfall in important portions of the empire
What are the causes of the LIA? When did they happen?
Solar minima; 1280−1350 (Wolf minimum), 1654−1715 (Maunder minimum), and 1790−1820 (Dalton minimum)
What is a popular historical narrative about the LIA? Why is it potentially disproven?
Humans overcame the LIA by building modern states; current conditions of the Anthropocene