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Contents - Lessons & Practice

Humanities

World History, Volume 1: to 1500

OpenStax book

OpenStax

World History, Volume 1: to 1500

17 lessons

One lesson for each chapter of World History, Volume 1: to 1500, in the book’s order. The lesson teaches what that chapter says you need to know, then checks it.

  1. 1Understanding the PastYou will gain critical-thinking and analysis skills that will help you fulfill the role of a global citizen in our interconnected world.
  2. 2Early HumansFor about the last thirty thousand years, modern humans, or Homo sapiens , have been the only human species walking the Earth.
  3. 3Early Civilizations and Urban SocietiesThe Sumerian city-states under the rule of their lugals or kings commonly waged war against one another and against a stream of foreign invaders
  4. 4The Near EastDuring the Iron Age that followed, the Near East underwent an even deeper transformation as the Neo-Assyrians created the first empire to control both Mesopotamia and Egypt.
  5. 5Asia in Ancient TimesThe Xiongnu, for instance, fought with the Chinese for control of the Silk Roads.
  6. 6Mediterranean PeoplesThe Late Bronze Age witnessed the development of a common culture that linked the diverse states of the eastern Mediterranean from Asia to the Aegean region.
  7. 7Experiencing the Roman EmpireThe domus , or family home, was where wealthy Romans conducted much of their business; a Roman patron would invite his clients to his home, and luxurious estates were places of wealth display.
  8. 8The Americas in Ancient TimesDuring the last glacial period, modern humans crossed Beringia and entered the Americas for the first time, migrating across North, Central, and South America.
  9. 9Africa in Ancient TimesGeography played a critical role in the development of early human civilization in Africa.
  10. 10Empires of FaithBoth Constantine and the Christian emperors who succeeded him attempted to manage the church and Christian orthodoxy through ecumenical councils, new laws, and increased bureaucratization in the Roman government.
  11. 11The Rise of Islam and the CaliphatesThe issue of leadership following Muhammad’s death caused immediate tensions within the Islamic ummah even as the first four caliphs, the Rashidun, oversaw significant territorial expansion.
  12. 12India, the Indian Ocean Basin, and East AsiaThe new religion of Islam came into India with waves of invaders, from Turkic speakers of central Asia to Arabs from the distant west.
  13. 13The Post-Roman West and the Crusading MovementThe early Middle Ages helped set the stage for a new society to emerge from Roman, Christian, and Germanic traditions, and for a revival of the classical world to influence the rise of Islamic culture.
  14. 14Pax Mongolica: The Steppe Empire of the MongolsBy 1204, Temujin was the unchallenged ruler of the People of the Felt Walls
  15. 15States and Societies in Sub-Saharan AfricaAfrica’s ancient migrations diffused technological and cultural innovations that helped establish settlements later enriched by the spread of new belief systems.
  16. 16Climate Change and Plague in the Fourteenth CenturyThe field of historical climatology has enabled historians to combine analyses of written sources with data about the ecological environment of the past.
  17. 17The Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the MingFollowing the sack of Constantinople by crusaders and the Mongols’ defeat of the Seljuk Turks, the Ottomans emerged as a power in northwestern Anatolia.