Global Developments - SAT Subject Test in World History

The Neolithic Revolution is the first recognized agricultural revolution in human history. It marked the transition from hunter-gatherer tribes into established and settled agricultural communities - thus allowing for a massive expansion in population, as well as the development of art and culture for the first time in human history. It first occurred in what is known as the “Fertile Crescent” - particularly fertile and abundant lands in Ancient Mesopotamia (now called The Middle East). Historical sources vary, but most scholars agree that the Neolithic Revolution began around 12,000-10,000 B.C.E. and had resulted in complicated societies (like the Sumerians) by 5,500 B.C.E.

The “Fertile Crescent” is the name given to the agricultural plains of Ancient Mesopotamia, which are abundant in comparison to the surrounding desert. The land of the “Fertile Crescent” can be found around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in and around modern Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Southern Turkey, and Northern Saudi Arabia. This area's importance to history is that it was the first part of the world that we know of to inspire humanity's adoption of a settled and agricultural life, which in turn lead to the first powerful empires and cultures of the ancient era.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest known systems of law that we know about from the ancient world. Hammurabi was a Babylonian king in the 1700s B.C.E.

When you see dates written, it is traditionally in the format of B.C. (Before the birth of Jesus Christ) and A.D. (After the birth of Jesus Christ); however, in recent years, it has become more common practice to use B.C.E. (Before Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era). So this year is 2015 A.D. and 2015 C.E.; the year 432 B.C. is also the year 432 B.C.E. The years begin in the distant B.C.E., countdown to zero (Christ’s birth) and then count back up in the Common Era. So the year that is the furthest in the past is 1212 B.C.E.

The Bantu people are one of the earliest organized civilizations in African History. They originated in West Africa and, over a period of several thousand years, migrated South and East. The Bantu Migration is used to explain the similarities between languages and culture across Western, Southern, and Eastern Africa. It is estimated that the Bantu Migration (also called the Bantu Expansion) ended in South Africa as recently as 300 C.E., although historians have largely been unable to confirm this due to the dearth of archaeological evidence.

The earliest settlers of North America arrived from Asia. The people would have crossed the Bering Straight (between modern day Russia and Alaska) during an ice age and migrated south throughout the whole continent searching for food and shelter.

The Maori people migrated from Polynesia to the islands of New Zealand. They are considered the indigenous people of New Zealand, although it is worth noting that they arrived from Polynesia around 1000-1200 CE.

The Aborigines are the native people of Australia. They arrived there from South Asia tens of thousands of years ago, most probably between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago. They lived as the dominant people of Australia until the arrival of the Europeans in the eighteenth century, who relegated the Aborigines to second-class status.

The "Bantu Migration" is the term used to describe the movement of the Bantu people, and their culture and language, around Central and Southern Africa, starting around 1000 BCE and lasting for roughly 1300 years. Languages in Bantu language groups continue to be spoken to this day and include Swahili, Zulu, and Kirundi.

The Edict of Milan was issued by Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 C.E. It formally ended persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Siddhartha Gautama is often credited with founding modern Buddhism. He promoted the idea of a Middle Way - that encouraged a middle ground between sensory indulgence and complete asceticism that was popular in the India of his time.

A ziggurat is an ancient structure built in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and other Mesopotamian civilizations. It generally takes the shape of a step pyramid. Ziggurats were religious buildings part of temple complexes, and many survive to this day.

The Neolithic era spans from about 10,000 B.C.E. to about 2,000 B.C.E. It is marked by the movement of human society away from hunter-gatherer societies and towards settled agricultural communities. The change took place first in the fertile lands in the Middle East but spread almost everywhere where hunting was difficult or lands were fertile. The movement towards settled agricultural communities paved the way for cities, large communities, civilizations, and empires, as well as art, culture, and written language.

The Bronze Age began first in the Near Middle East in about the 4th millenium B.C.E. It provided people with new tools to manipulate the environment around them - allowing people to build better buildings, farm more efficiently, and wage war far more effectively. The Bronze Age eventually spread around much of the world (although remained absent indefinitely in some places) and contributed dramatically to the growth of civilizations.

Despite the connotation of the word "roads," exchange along the Silk Roads took place by both land and sea. These passageways greatly facilitated—rather than inhibited—the exchange of goods and ideas to and from China. The Silk Roads were established well before the fourteenth century CE.

The Phoencian people were seafaring traders who established trading outposts all over the Mediterranean from approximatley 1200 BCE to 500 BCE. Their importance in human history is twofold: they helped connect the peoples and cultues of Mediterranean Europe, and their alphabet developed into the Greek and Latin alphabets.

The Silk Road is the name given to a series of trading routes that ran from Han China to the Mediterranean. First established in the second century CE, the Silk Road connected the East to the West via trade for the first time in human history. This would facilitate the spread of ideas, religions, resources, as well as disease and economic catastrophes.

Classical Indian texts were almost exclusively written in either “Vedic” or “Classical” Sanskrit. Many notable early works of Indian philosophy, Hindu spiritualism, Indian mathematics, and Buddhist practice are written in Classical Sanskrit. Its influence continues today and it remains one of the official languages of India. Urdu is an Arabic written language used primarily in Northern India, Pakistan and other parts of the Eastern Middle East. Hindi is the majority language of India and Bengali is a language spoken by people in Eastern India and Bangladesh.

The Phoenician empire is an ancient and classical-era civilization that emerged around 1200 BCE along the Mediterranean Coast of the “Fertile Crescent." It was primarily a maritime and economic empire, and its culture spread throughout Mediterranean Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. The Phoenicians are credited with inventing one of the earliest known writing systems, and almost certainly the world’s oldest alphabets. Because of Phoenicia’s expansive trading habits, their alphabet spread to many parts of the world. It was the direct ancestor of the Greek (and subsequently, Latin) alphabets, as well as the modern Arabic and Hebrew scripts.