Edison School District

Developing a desire for lifelong learning

World History & Geography: Ancient Civilizations

Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and      cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to

the agricultural revolution.

Þ Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire.

Þ Identify the locations of      human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how        humans adapted to a variety of environments. 

Þ Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing & shelter.

 

Students analyze geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush.

Þ Locate and describe the major river systems and discuss the physical settings that        supported permanent settlement and early civilizations.

Þ Trace the development of    agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.

Þ Understand the relationship       between religion and the social and political order in Mesopotamia & Egypt.

Þ Know the significance of            Hammurabi’s Code.

Þ Discuss the main features of    Egyptian art and architecture.

Þ Describe the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern                 Mediterranean and Nile valley.

Þ Understand the significance of Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great.

Þ Identify the location of the Kush civilization and describe its political, commercial, and cultural         relations with Egypt.

Þ Trace the evolution of language and its written forms.

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and  social structures of the Ancient Hebrews.

Describe the origins and significance of Judaism as the first monotheistic religion based on the concept of one God who sets

Þ down moral laws for humanity.

Þ Identify the sources of ethical teachings and central beliefs of Judaism.

Þ  Explain the significance of Abraham, Moses, Naomi, Ruth, David, and Yohanan ben Zaccai in the     development of the Jewish religion.

Þ Discuss the locations of the settlements and movements of Hebrew peoples, including the Exodus and their movement to and from Egypt, and outline the significance of the Exodus to the Jewish and other people.

Þ Discuss how Judaism survived and developed despite the continuing dispersion of much of the     Jewish population from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel after the destruction of the second    Temple in A.D. 70.

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Ancient Greece.

Þ Discuss the connections        between geography and the    development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region.

Þ Trace the transition from     tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, including the significance of the invention of the idea of citizenship.

Þ State the key differences     between Athenian, or direct, democracy and representative democracy.

Þ  Explain the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life.

Þ Outline the founding, expansion, and political organization of the Persian Empire.

Þ  Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta.

Þ Trace the rise of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture eastward & into Egypt.

Þ Describe the enduring contributions of important Greek      figures in the arts and sciences.

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of India.

Þ Locate and describe the major river system and discuss the physical setting that supported the rise of this civilization.

Þ Discuss the significance of the Aryan invasions.

Þ Explain the major beliefs and practices of Brahmanism in India and how they evolved into early Hinduism.

Þ Outline the social structure of the caste system.

Þ Know the life and moral teachings of Buddha and how Buddhism spread in India, Ceylon, and    Central Asia.

Þ  Describe the growth of the Maurya empire and the political and moral achievements of the emperor Asoka.

Þ Discuss important aesthetic and intellectual traditions.

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of China.

Locate and describe the origins of Chinese civili

Þ zation in the Huang-He Valley during the Shang Dynasty.

Þ Explain the geographic features of China that made governance and the spread of ideas and goods difficult and served to   isolate the country from the rest of the world.

Þ Know about the life of Confucius and the fundamental teachings of Confucianism and Taoism.

Þ Identify the political and cultural problems prevalent in the time of Confucius and how he sought to solve them.

Þ List the policies and achievements of the emperor Shi Huangdi in unifying northern China under the Qin Dynasty.

Þ Detail the political contributions of the Han Dynasty to the       development of the imperial      bureaucratic state and the      expansion of the empire.

Þ Cite the significance of the trans-Eurasian “silk roads” in the period of the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire and their            locations.

Þ Describe the diffusion of          Buddhism northward to China during the Han Dynasty.

Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures during the      development of Rome.

Þ Identify the location and        describe the rise of the Roman Republic, including the             importance of such mythical and historical figures as Aeneas, Romulus and Remus, Cincinnatus, Julius Caesar, and Cicero.

Þ Describe the government of the Roman Republic and its significance (e.g., written constitution and tripartite government, checks and balances, civic duty).

Þ Identify the location of and the political and geographic reasons for the growth of Roman         territories and expansion of the empire, including how the empire fostered economic growth through the use of currency and trade routes.

Þ Discuss the influence of Julius Caesar and Augustus in Rome’s transition from republic to      empire.

Þ Trace the migration of Jews around the Mediterranean region and the effects of their conflict with the Romans, including the Romans’ restrictions on their right to live in Jerusalem.

Þ Note the origins of Christianity in the Jewish Messianic           prophecies, the life and           teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament, and the contribution of St. Paul the Apostle to the definition and spread of Christian beliefs.

Þ Describe the circumstances that led to the spread of        Christianity in Europe and other Roman territories.

Þ Discuss the legacies of     Roman art and architecture, technology and science,     literature, language, and law.