What is History?

1. What is History? • According to the dictionary (WEBSTER’S) • a chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes  • a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events <medieval history> • a: events that form the subject matter of a history b:events of the past Study of the past that effects our present and our future.

2. Types of Thinking in History • Chronological Thinking • Historical Analysis • Historical Research • Historical Issues & Analysis • Historical Comprehension

3. Chronological Thinking • Chrono = Time • Ability to distinguish between past, present and future • Ability to identify the historical narrative • Able to measure time and create timelines • http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/historical-thinking-standards-1/1.-chronological-thinking

4. Historical Analysis • Ability to compare and contrast historical narratives • Able to see differing viewpoints and sets of ideas • Able to consider those viewpoints and perspectives as equal • Can draw comparisons between the two. • http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/historical-thinking-standards-1/3.-historical-analysis-and-interpretation

5. Historical Research • Can formulate historical questions • Can find historical information from a variety of sources • Can uncover the context of historical information and use it to their advantage • http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/historical-thinking-standards-1/4.-historical-research-capabilities

6. Historical Issues & Analysis • Can see problems with the past and analyze them • Can identify relevant historical antecedents • Can create a “solution’ to a historical “problem” • http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/historical-thinking-standards-1/5.-historical-issues

7. Historical Comprehension • Can identify the author or source of historical information. • Able to identify the essential question of the source • Can use other sources to increase understanding (maps, etc.) • http://www.nchs.ucla.edu/Standards/historical-thinking-standards-1/2.-historical-comprehension

8. Primary Sources • Definition • A primary source is a document or physicalobject which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event. • Types of Documents that are Primary Sources • Original documents • (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records  • Creative Works • Poetry, drama, novels, music, art • Relics or Artifacts • Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings • PRINCETON.EDU

9. Secondary Sources • Definition • A secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them. • Types of Sources that are Secondary • Publications • Textbooks, magazine articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, encyclopedias  • PRINCETON.EDU

10. Before we begin!!!!! • Political: Who controls what? What type of government is there? Anything to do with laws or war. • Economic: What type of economy? How do people make a living? • Geography: Where is it? Is the land mountainous? Desert? Oceanic? • Social: Religious, intellectual, artistic

11. Ancient River Valley Civs

12. ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA • Oldest known civilization • Cradle of Human Civilization • Old Testament • Nebuchadnezzar • Ziggurat (right) • Hanging gardens

13. Geography • This civ rose in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. • Known as the Fertile Crescent

14. In what modern day country was the Fertile Crescent?

16. Civilizations in Mesopotamia • Sumerians (3,500 BC) • Akkadians (2,300 BC) • Babylonians (1,900 BC) • Assyrians (1,300 BC)

17. Land of Firsts • First to invent the wheel • First to use sails on boats • First to make up a story (Gilgamesh) • First to use cuneiform (writing) • First to use the calendar • First to use a plow for farming

18. Agriculture • Farmers would use the flooded land around the rivers to grow crops. • Used tools like a PLOW and different irrigation techniques to help plants • Irrigation • To supply water to a place by artificial (man-made) means • Pipes / Ditches / Canals • Grew different crops • Wheat, barley, various vegetables and fruits

19. Agriculture cont. • Irrigation will lead to a surplus of food • Surplus • Excess of a product • Surplus leads to a growth in cities and a growing system of trade.

20. Social - Cuneiform • Written with reeds from plants on a clay tablet • Invented by the Sumerians • Wrote down business deals, letters, stories, etc. • Most famous story was of Gilgamesh

21. More cuneiform writing

22. Language • Writing leads to increase in what… • Communication • Allowed Mesopotamians to stay in touch and develop relationships between cities.

23. Religion • The people of Mesopotamia believed in many gods • Polytheistic • The temple, the center of worship, was also the center of every city • Around the year 2000 B.C., temple towers called ziggurats were built to link heaven and earth

24. Ziggurat

25. Famous Leaders of Mesopotamia • Nebuchadnezzar • Hammurabi • Both are Babylonian

26. Hammurabi • Lived around 1700 BC • Wrote down a set of laws governing his kingdoms. • 282 Laws • First laws that are actually WRITTEN DOWN

27. Hammurabi’s Code • Laws are known as Hammurabi’s Code. • Written in cuneiform and placed in public areas for people to see. • Laws were harsh • Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

29. Hammurabi

30. Nebuchadnezzar • Babylonian King • Defeated the Egyptians and extended his empire to Jerusalem. • Enslaved the Jews and started the Babylonian Captivity • Built Ishtar’s Gate and Hanging Gardens

31. Hanging Gardens of Babylonia

32. Ishtar’s Gate