dear ap world history students, - wtps.org world - summer...dear ap world history students, over the...
TRANSCRIPT
AP World History
Summer Assignments
Dear AP World History Students,
Over the course of the next school year, we will explore over 10,000 years of history. We will analyze the story
of humanity from the beginnings of civilization up until the present day. Our exploration of the journey of
mankind begins today with 6 assignments that you will complete over the course of the summer. The
assignments are as follows:
Assignment 1 – Read chapter 1 and answer the corresponding questions.
Assignment 2 – Read the excerpt from the Rig Veda and answer the corresponding questions.
Assignment 3 – Read the excerpt from the Code of Hammurabi and answer the corresponding questions.
Assignment 4 – Use the pneumonic device “PERSIA” to complete the chart. The chart should be torn
from this packet and submitted with the rest of your answers.
Assignment 5 – Read the articles by Howells and Diamond and answer the corresponding questions.
Assignment 6 – Color code the sub-regions listed on the map. Use the maps in the AP World History
Course and Exam Description, p. 35, at https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-
world-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf The map should be torn from this packet and
submitted with the rest of your answers.
PLEASE RECORD ALL OF YOUR ANSWERS ON SEPARATE SHEETS OF PAPER. YOU MAY
TYPE YOUR RESPONSES IF YOU PREFER.
The assignments are due the first day of school. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email
me. I will be more than happy to assist you. If possible, I would suggest signing up for text reminders by
texting @wtapworld2 to 81010. You may also want to follow me on Twitter @drmuscelli. Over the summer,
I could use text messages and/or Twitter to let you know about possible extra credit
I fully understand how anxious many of you are beginning your high school career and taking your very first
Advanced Placement course. While the work will be challenging, it is not impossible. For the past two years,
every student that signed up for the course not only survived, but many scored well above the national average
on the AP examination. My ultimate goal is to not only make this a fun and exciting journey, but to help each
and every one of you earn a 5 (the highest score possible) on the AP exam. You can always reach me via email
or text (by signing up for Remind), and I am after school almost every day. Please do not hesitate to contact me
if you have any concerns or questions.
Best regards,
Dr. Muscelli
P.S. Please do not wait to work on your summer assignments until the last night of summer!
1
AP World History
Assignment 1: Chapter 1 Reading
CHAPTER 1
Please contact Dr. Muscelli for the Chapter 1 Reading
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
Assignment 1: Chapter 1 Questions
Multiple Choice – After reading Chapter 1, please answer the questions below by choosing the best possible choice.
Please record your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
1. Which of the following statements is true of the inhabitants of the paleolithic age?
a. They had mastered writing
b. They domesticated animals
c. They were hunters and gatherers
d. They had discovered agriculture 2. Most scholars believe that, during the paleolithic age, social organization was characterized by
a. a relative social equality.
b. a ruling priestly class.
c. a dominant class based on the private ownership of land.
d. a dominant matriarchal structure. 3. What do archeologists now believe is the most fundamental difference between the neolithic and paleolithic eras?
a. use of tools
b. use of fire
c. reliance on foraging for subsistence
d. reliance on cultivation/farming for subsistence Short Answer – After reading Chapter 1, answers the question below in complete sentences. Please write your answers
on a separate sheet of paper.
4. How did the nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering societies encourage social equality?
5. Identify and explain the factors that led to the transition to agriculture around 15,000 years ago.
6. What were the effects of agriculture on human societies (at least 1 paragraph)?
7. Discuss how early cities differed from neolithic villages and towns (discuss 2 differences, 1-2 paragraphs in length).
8. Is the below image from the Neolithic or Paleolithic Age? How do you know this?
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
Assignment 2: Rig Veda on the Castes
The caste system in India was developed after the migration of the Indo-Aryan peoples into the region during the second
millennium BCE. "Caste" refers to a person's standing in society. There are four castes within the Indian caste system:
Brahmins (priestly caste), Kshatriyas (warrior caste), Vaishyas (merchant caste), and Shudras (artisan/agriculturist caste).
The Harijan, or "untouchables," stand outside the caste system. This excerpt from the Rig Veda provides an etiological
account of the caste system, linking it to the creation of the universe. Recently, India instituted legislation that outlaws
discrimination based on caste in education and employment.
Rig Veda: Excerpt
A thousand heads hath Purusha (cosmic man or self), a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
He covered earth on every side and spread ten finger's breadth beyond.
This Purusha is all that hath been and all that is to be,
The Lord of Immortality which waxes greater still by food.
So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than this is Purusha.
All creatures are one-fourth of him, [the other] three-fourths [of him are] eternal life in heaven. . . .
When the gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering,
Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood. . . .
From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up.
He formed the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame.
From that great general sacrifice [sages] and [ritual hymns] were born.
Therefrom were [spells and charms] produced; theYajas [a book of ritual formulas] had its birth from it.
From it were horses born; from it all creatures with two rows of teeth.
From it were generated [cattle], from it the goats and sheep were born.
When they divided Purusha, how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?
The brahmin was his mouth, of both his arms was the kshatriya made.
His thighs became the vaishya, from his feet the shudra was produced.
The moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the sun had birth;
Indra (the god of rain) and Agni [the god of fire] from his mouth were born, and Vayu [the wind] from his breath.
Forth from his navel came mid-air; the sky was fashioned from his head;
Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions.
Thus they formed the worlds.
Directions: After reading the introduction and the excerpt of the Rig Veda, answer the questions below. Please record
your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
9. When was the caste system developed?
10. What is a caste?
11. How many castes are there in the Indian caste system?
12. How does this excerpt explain the origin of the caste system? Hint: You may have to read the passage several times.
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
Assignment 3: The Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi was the king of Babylon from 1790 to 1750 BCE. Easily his most famous achievement was to formulate a
code of laws for his society. Legend has it that the laws came from the gods of Babylon and were handed down to
Hammurabi, who then had the laws written into a stele and placed in the center of the city so that the population could see
it (though, in most cases, not read it). The original stele was discovered in 1901 and can now be seen in the Louvre in
Paris.
Hammurabi's law code defined socially acceptable behavior and detailed punishments for a variety of offenses, ranging
from theft to murder. While the code can be compared with other "eye for an eye" laws, its punishments were more
nuanced. An analysis of the code makes it clear that ancient Babylon was a rigidly hierarchical society; tiers of laws and
punishments detail varying penalties for lords, women, and servants or slaves.
Directions: After reading the above selections to the Code of Hammurabi, answer the questions below. Please record
your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
13. In Law 129, what does it mean to “bind them and cast them into the water?”
14. In Law 168, what does it mean to “disinherit” a son?
15. Two crimes in the document result in physical punishment. What are those crimes (not the punishments)? How might
Hammurabi argue that the punishments were just?
16. Hammurabi said this code was meant to protect the weak. Is there evidence in this document that the code did so?
17. Based on the above laws, who had more rights: males or females? Please explain.
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
Assignment 4: PERSIA AP World History is organized around themes that assist in unifying the content and assist students in seeing the “big
picture” of history. The themes facilitate cross-period questions and help students recognize broad trends and processes
that have developed over centuries in various regions of the world. The pneumonic device, PERSIA, will assist students in
memorizing the themes.
Political
Political structures & forms of governance
Empires & leaders
Nations & nationalism
Revolts, revolutions, & wars
Regional, transregional & global structures & organizations
Economic
Agricultural & pastoral production
Trade & commerce
Labor systems
Industrialization
Capitalism & socialism
Money
Religion
Belief systems
Holy books
Teachings
Conversion – role of missionaries
Sin & salvation
Deities
Social
Gender roles & relations – patriarchal, matriarchal
Family & kinship
Racial & ethnic constructions
Social & economic classes
Slavery
Entertainment, life styles
Intellectual/Arts
Art & music
Writing/Literature
Philosophy
Math/Science
Education
Inventions
Area/Geography
Location
Physical
Movement & trade
Human/Environment/Patterns of Settlement
Disease
P
E
R
S
I
A
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
For assignment 4, I would like you to practice using PERSIA. Trust me when I tell you that we will use PERSIA a
lot! We will use it for essays. We will use it to review information. We will use it to synthesize information. We will
use it to learn new material (like we are here). In short, know PERSIA and what each letter stands for!
Below, I listed twelve facts. Six facts are about the Indo-European migrations, and six facts are about the Bantu
migrations. After reading the facts, use PERSIA to determine the theme the fact is based around.
Notice how I completed two examples for you. Both facts are based around the theme of Area/Geography. Now you
complete the rest. The chart should be torn from this packet and submitted with the rest of your answers.
PERSIA
Category Indo-European Migrations
PERSIA
Category Bantu Migrations
Area/Geography originated in steppes of
southern Russia, which is
north of the Black & Caspian
Sea
18. originated in the eastern part
of Nigeria
Area/Geography 3000 BCE to until 1000 BCE 19. 2000 BCE to 1000 CE
20. knowledge of bronze
metallurgy; utilized carts,
wagons, chariots
21. iron tools allow them to clear
land & expand agriculture
22. domesticated horses allowed
for the growth of agriculture
& transportation
23. iron metallurgy allows for
military dominance
24. Indo-European language base
for many dialects in Europe
& South Asia
25. became the basis for many
sub-Saharan dialects
26. iron metallurgy allows for
military dominance
27. canoes allowed them to move
around sub-Saharan Africa &
trade the farm goods they
produced
*Themes may be used more than once. Some facts will have multiple themes. Not all the themes wi
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
Assignment 5: Article Analysis
Excerpted from “Back of History” (Man in the Beginning)
by William Howells
This brings us . . . to the meaning of the so-called Neolithic revolution. If you generalize, and take the typical effects on culture of hunting life on the one hand
and of farming life on the other, you can see that something stupendous took place . . . it was a breaking of one of nature’s bonds, the freeing of man from the
limits of the natural supply of food.
…simple hunter-gatherers.. . . have a few crude ideas about conservation and some…exerted themselves in pious rites1 to make the game more plentiful. But that
is wishful thinking; nature is in control, not they. Nature goads them about from spot to spot like howling monkeys, and there is nothing they can do about it.
They cannot stockpile their food: when they have eaten, it is high time to start thinking about the next meal. Around any camp there are only so many wild
animals and so many edible plants, because of the balance of nature. When these have been hunted or picked beyond a given point, the supply becomes too short
and cannot recover, perhaps, for that season. What do the people in the camp do? They pick up and move on, to a place where the game is untouched. So this
band must have enough territory to keep rebuilding the supply, it must preserve the supply against poachers, and it must move, move, move.
What about the numbers of people? Since they are actually part of the balance of nature themselves, they will be limited to a number which their territory can
support in its worst (not its best) years. So the whole human population must be relatively sparse and spread out.
And the size of the band? Actually the simplest family can carry on this kind of a life, the man to hunt and the woman to collect vegetables, insects, water and
firewood and to tend to odd jobs. But this leaves them with no help if they have need of it, while larger groups may not only protect themselves better but hunt
more effectively, whether by co-operating in a rabbit drive or by multiplying the chances of finding and killing a large animal on which all can feed. However,
the size of the band soon reaches a point at which it presses too hard on the food supply. There will simply not be enough food within their radius of action
around the camp, or the band itself will not be able to move fast enough and far enough to tap the resources it needs. Only once in a while can bands come
together in tribal meetings, and then perhaps when a natural crop—a cactus pear or a kind of grub — comes into season, and for a while creates plenty for
everybody. The rest of the time the bands must keep their distance, and the number of each will be something like fifty souls, more or less.
These laws of nature have teeth in them: many such peoples accept the necessity of killing some of their infants at birth because the mother already has all the
young children she can cope with on the march; and most of them ruthlessly abandon the sick or the helplessly old to freeze or starve. If, rarely, they put forth
efforts on the aged one’s behalf, these efforts are visibly strenuous. Such action is not subhuman callousness. Even though they may appear to take it calmly, the
people have no choice at all in what they do, or even the face they put upon it.
We see, in fact, human beings like ourselves trapped, without knowing it, in a life which prevents them from having higher material inventions and social
combinations. Small nomadic bands can hardly become civilized if they cannot even set up substantial households. They must find some escape from nomadism
1 I.e. religious rituals designed to increase the amount of animals to hunt.
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
first, and from isolation and the limits of small numbers. They must find some escape from the tread-mill of food-getting, which has them almost always either
hunting or getting ready to hunt, and so keeps them from having any specialization of their energies, and makes the only division of labor that between the
animal-hunting man and the plant-hunting woman. This escape was found with domestication, when the ordinary balance of nature was broken and food was
made to grow not by nature but by man. Camps changed to villages, and dozens of people to hundreds.
Excerpted from “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race”
by Jared Diamond
… recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which
we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence.
…While the case for the progressivist2 view seems overwhelming, it’s hard to prove. How do you show that the lives of people 10,000 years ago got better when
they abandoned hunting and gathering for farming? Until recently, archaeologists had to resort to indirect tests, whose results (surprisingly) failed to support the
progressivist view. Here’s one example of an indirect test: Are twentieth-century hunter- gatherers really worse off than farmers?
Scattered throughout the world, several dozen groups of so called primitive people, like the Kalahari Bushmen, continue to support themselves that way. It turns
out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each
week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked why he
hadn’t emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, “Why should we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?”
While farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers
provides more protein and a better balance of other nutrients. In one study, the Bushmen’s average daily food intake (during a month when food was plentiful)
was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people of their size. It’s almost inconceivable that
Bushmen, who eat 75 or so wild plants, could die of starvation the way hundreds of thousands of Irish farmers and their families did during the potato famine of
the 1840s.
(As for prehistoric gatherer-hunter peoples versus agriculturalists) usually the only human remains available for study are skeletons, but they permit a surprising
number of deductions. To begin with, a skeleton reveals its owner’s sex, weight, and approximate age. In the few cases where there are many skeletons, one can
construct mortality tables like the ones life insurance companies use to calculate expected life span and risk of death at any given age. Paleopathologists can also
calculate growth rates by measuring bones of people of different ages, examining teeth for enamel defects (signs of childhood malnutrition), and recognizing
scars left on bones by anemia, tuberculosis, leprosy, and other diseases.
At Dickson Mounds, located near the confluence of the Spoon and Illinois Rivers, archaeologists have excavated some 800 skeletons that paint a picture of the
health changes that occurred when a hunter gatherer culture gave way to intensive maize (corn) farming around A.D. 1150…Compared to the hunter-gatherers
2 Progressivist: Someone who believes that human history is a history of constant progress and improvement of the human condition, usually due to technological advances.
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
who preceded them, the farmers had a nearly 50 percent increase in malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron- deficiency anemia, a threefold rise…in infectious
disease in general, and an increase in degenerative conditions of the spine, probably reflecting a lot of hard physical labor.
There are at least three sets of reasons to explain the findings that agriculture was bad for health. First, hunter-gatherers enjoyed a varied diet, while early farmers
obtained most of their food from one or a few starchy crops. The farmers gained cheap calories at the cost of poor nutrition… Second, because of dependence on
a limited number of crops, farmers ran the risk of starvation if one crop failed. Finally, the mere fact that agriculture encouraged people to clump together in
crowded societies, many of which then carried on trade with other crowded societies, led to the spread of parasites and infectious disease…Epidemics couldn’t
take hold when populations were scattered in small bands that constantly shifted camp (as in the gatherer-hunter lifestyle).
Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers have little or
no stored food, and no concentrated food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each day. Therefore,
there can be no kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others. Only in farming populations could a healthy, non- producing elite set
itself above the disease-ridden masses. Skeletons from Greek tombs at Mycenae c.3 1500 BCE. suggest that royals enjoyed a better diet than commoners, since
the royal skeletons were two or three inches taller and had better teeth (on the average, one instead of six cavities or missing teeth). Among Chilean mummies
from c. CE. 1000, the elite were distinguished not only by ornaments and gold hair clips but also by a fourfold lower rate of bone lesions caused by disease.
Farming may have encouraged inequality between the sexes, as well. Freed from the need to transport their babies during a nomadic existence, and under
pressure to produce more hands to till the fields, farming women tended to have more frequent pregnancies than their hunter-gatherer counterparts— with
consequent drains on their health…
…As for the claim that agriculture encouraged the flowering of art by providing us with leisure time, modern hunter-gatherers have at least as much free time as
do farmers. The whole emphasis on leisure time as a critical factor seems to me misguided. Gorillas have had ample free time to build their own Parthenon, had
they wanted to. While post- agricultural technological advances did make new art forms possible and preservation of art easier, great paintings and sculptures
were already being produced by hunter-gatherers 15,000 years ago…
Thus with the advent of agriculture an elite became better off, but most people became worse off. Instead of swallowing the progressivist party line that we chose
agriculture because it was good for us, we must ask how we got trapped by it despite its pitfalls.
3 c. means “circa” or “approximately”. Used to indicate when a precise date is unavailable.
Dr. Muscelli’s email:
After reading the selections from Howells and Diamond, please answer the questions below. Please write your
answers on a separate sheet of paper.
28. What is Howells’s main thesis/argument? This must be answered in three sentences or less.
29. What evidence does he use to prove his point? Give at least two pieces of evidence. Make sure to explain the
evidence.
30. What is Diamond’s main thesis/argument? This must be answered in three sentences or less.
31. What evidence does he use to prove his point? Give at least two pieces of evidence. Make sure to explain the
evidence.
32. Which argument do you prefer—Howells or Diamonds? Why? Please explain.
Assignment 6: Sub-regions
Color code the sub-regions recognized by the College Board for the AP World History course. Use the maps in the AP World History Course and Exam
Description, p. 35, https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-world-history-course-and-exam-description.pdf The map should be
torn from this packet and submitted with the rest of your answers.
33. North Africa 36. West Africa 39. Central Africa 42. East Africa 45. Southern Africa
34. North America 37. Latin America 40. The Caribbean 43. Central Asia 46. Middle East
35. South Asia 38. East Asia 41. Southeast Asia 44. Europe 47. Oceania
