REVIEW SHEET 3	EARLY INDIAN, CHINESE & AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS
pp.  16-27

 
 

1.	Focus Question:   How was early Indian Civilization unique compared to the Middle Eastern civilizations?
	Along with river system did the first civilization develop on the Indian subcontinent?   When did this civilization flourish? What are the two major river systems on the Indian subcontinent?  Where and when was the Vedic Aryan civilzation founded?  Why do we know so relatively little about the Indus Valley civilization?  In size, how did the Indus Valley civilization compare to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the Third Dynasty of Ur?  What does the remarkable homogeneity of culture suggest about the Harappan civilization?  What were the chief characteristics of Harappan culture?  What engineering feat of the Harappan cities is most impressive?  What was the economic basis of the Indus state?  What indications are there that the Harappans carried on extensive trade?  In general, how does the range of Harappan art compare with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?  What indications are there that Harappan religion affected later Hinduism?  What theories account for the destruction of the Harappan civilization?  How closely related are the Vedic Aryan and Harappan cultures?
2.	Focus Question:  What characteristics made the Vedic Aryan Civilization both "Indian" and "foreign"?
	What is the chief source of our knowledge about Vedic Aryan culture?  From where did the Aryans come?  What was the economic basis of the early Aryans?  What did the Aryans bring to India? What military inventions gave the Aryans superiority?  What was the nature of Vedic Aryan society?  How many varnas did the late Rigvedic period recognize and what where they?  How did the Aryans measure wealth?  What was the most important contributions of Vedic India to later history?  How do the gods of the Aryans compare to those of the Greeks?  What was the focus and recurring theme of Vedic religious life?
3.	Focus Question: What were the stages of early Chinese history?  What led each to evolve to the next?
	When did the agricultural revolution reach China?  Where was it located and what was the principal crop? What do we know about these early cultivators? What was the characteristic political institution of Bronze Age China? In what areas did Shang kings exercise authority? What were the three most notable features of Shang China? What artifact supplies us with information about Shang religion? What did the Shang believe about the divine? Why were the Shang interested in cosmology?  When did bronze first appear in China? Was its appearance earlier or later than in the Near East and India? How as society structured? What technology allowed the aristocrats to exploit the cultivators? On what occasions did the Shang practice human sacrifice?
	How did the Zhou/Chou manage to conquer the Shang? Why did the Zhou/Chou assimilate Shang culture? How and why did the Zhou/Chou justify their conquest of the Shang? How did the Zhou/Chou concept of Heaven change over time? What was the fate of the Western Zhou/Chou? What was the political condition of China during the Spring and Autumn period?  What three basic changes in Chinese society contributed to the rise of large territorial states?
4.	Focus Question:  Why did the process of civilization in the Americas not proceed at as rapidly as in other parts of the world?
	When did peoples first cross from Asia into the Americas? How and why did the original Americans participate in the Neolithic revolution differently from Africa and Eurasia? What crops were most important in the agricultural revolution in the Americas? What were the four areas of relatively dense settlement in the Americas?  Where and when was the earliest monumental architecture in the Andean region produced?
	Harappa Veda Rig Veda Brahmanas Mahabharata Ramayana Xia/Hsia oracle bones shih Chavín Olmec