Midterm Study Guide

Midterm Study Guide – World History / Andrews

Fall 2018

If you can write 6-minute answers to the following questions and topics, you should do well on the midterm.

Do not answer more (or fewer) than 6 questions!

1) Discuss the evidence provided by Strayer that paleolithic peoples were more egalitarian than later peoples. Is this evidence convincing? Why or why not?

2) What was the significance of the development of agriculture?

3) What did it mean to be civilized to the Mespotamians who created the Gilgamesh story?

4) What are the elements of a civilization? How is it different from other forms of social organization?

5) Why was water so important in early societies? How might a good leader manage the water needs of his or her society?

6) What were the accomplishments of the Indus Valley people? Who were they? Why don’t we know more about them?

7) Strayer changes the term “hunter-gatherer” to “gatherer-hunter.” In what way does this change reflect the values of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as expressed in the Hallmarks? Should other scholars who write textbooks on World History adopt this change? Why or why not?

8) Discuss the development of social inequality in the first four eras of human history.

9) Discuss some examples of classical-era social variations (i.e. examples of societies that did not fit the standard mold of empire or cosmopolitan urban center or were unique in some way). Why are these important to study?