Regents Review Packet Answers 1-6

Forms of Government

Democracy  Government controlled by citizens or their elected representatives  Voting rights  A lot of personal freedoms  USA/Ancient Athens

Feudalism  Kings give land (fiefs) to nobles (vassals) who run it – land for loyalty  Kings have limited power  Nobles must give loyalty/military service back  Medieval Europe and Japan

Fascism  One party; dictator  Ultra-nationalism  Few individual rights  Very militaristic  Hitler’s Germany  Mussolini’s Italy

Totalitarianism  Government controls all aspects of life  One party or dictator rule  No personal freedom  Stalin’s USSR  Hitler and Mussolini again

Absolutism  Monarchy where God believed to appoint king (divine right/Mandate of Heaven)  Can’t be questioned  Limited personal freedom  Louis XIV of France or Emperor of China Page 2 – Economic Systems

Traditional  Basis is agriculture  Little innovation  Decisions are made based on how things always have been  Mesopotamia

Feudal/Manorial  Everyone lives on manors  Peasants farm land for themselves and their lord  Long distance trade unsafe  Medieval Europe and Japan

Mercantilism  Parent countries form colonies  Buy cheap raw materials and sell manufactured goods – exports over imports and FBoT  Europeans in Africa and India

Market/Capitalism  Limited amount of control by the government  People invest money in companies  Law of supply and demand  Adam Smith àlaissez-faire  Most of Europe and US

Command/Communist  Government makes all the economic decisions  Owns businesses and farmland  USSR/Cuba/North Korea Page 3 – Geography 1

Mountains  Himalayas: Between India and China o Barrier to China’s contact with outside world in early civs.  Andes: West coast of South America/the Incas o Required adaptation to high altitude, terrace farming, built roads through mountains

Rivers  Nile: Egyptians o Provided fertile soil (silt) for crops and water “superhighway”  Huang He: China o Provided fertile soil (loess) for crops but floods disastrously (China’s Sorrow0

Deserts  Sahara: Civs. Of North Africa including Egypt o Sometimes a barrier to invasion; non-usable land; desertification; gold-salt trade  Gobi: Between China and northern nomads o Sometimes a barrier but Mongols and other raiders crossed

Island Locations  Japan Archipelago o Dependence on fishing and need for boat trade; isolation/tsunami  Britain o Caused it to become a naval empire; canals, rivers, seacoast help spur Ind. Rev.

Monsoons  S.E. Asia/Indian Civs o Brought rain to dry areas so they could be farmed  Japan o Floods the coastline Page 4 – Geography 2

Strategic Waterways  Mediterranean Sea (Rome/Venetians) o Control of trade made them a rich “superpower”  Suez Canal and Britain during imperialism o Vastly shortened shipping route for goods to and from India  Bosporus/Dardanelles (Byzantines/Ottomans) o Control Med. and Black Sea trade routes

Coastlines  Greece with irregular coast and natural harbors o Created dependence on sea trade and fishing  West Africa and smooth coastline o One of few places for imperialists to dock ships and take over. No coastline other than West Africa

Mineral Resources  South Africa w/diamonds and gold o Created conflict between British and Dutch (Boer War)  Britain with coal deposits o Make Britain first country to experience the Ind. Rev.

Rainforests  Congo rainforest in Africa o Rubber trees cause European imperialism (Leopold II/Berlin Conference)  Amazon rainforest in S. America o Contributes to inability of S. America to unify after Bolivar led independence. Deforestation for economic output now

Savannahs  East African grasslands o Elephants à ivory trade à British imperialism  S. American pampas o Used for cattle grazing after age of imperialism  Mongolian plains o Flat grasslands, nomadic lifestyles, easy to expand/conquer new lands Page 5 – Ancient Civilizations

Mesopotamia  Fertile Crescent in Iraq; Tigris and Euphrates Rivers  Irrigation, cuneiform, first empire, Hammurabi’s Code, wheel, sail, and plow  Persian empire took over – no natural barriers

Egypt  Nile river; flooding/fertile soil; NE Africa  Pharaohs, hieroglyphs, Rosetta stone, papyrus  Conquered by Romans

Yellow River Valley (Huang He)  Terrible flooding but fertile loess soil in N. China  Great Wall; oracle bones tell future; Qin’s terracotta army; Confucianism  Mandate of heaven and dynastic cycle bring new dynasty

Indus River Valley  Flows through modern Pakistan; monsoon rains  Grid plan cities; modern plumbing  Cities abandoned; replaced by Aryan invaders

Greece  Geography causes need for sea trade and lack of unification; defeated Persians twice  Invented philosophy and scientific study; famous for temples (Parthenon), Olympic Games  Destroyed themselves in Peloponnesian War – taken over after by Alexander the Great

Rome  Invented the republic, then converted to empire based in Italy  Famous for engineering, Med. sea empire, military power, 12 Tables  West overrun by tribes; East became Byzantines

Mayan  Central American city-state  Invented glyph writing, calendar, astronomy, blood sacrifice  Destroyed by civil war, over-farming (slash and burn) Page 6 – Social Structure

China  Emperor à Mandarin bureaucrats à craftspeople à peasants à merchants  Typical hierarchy except Confucianism says merchants are parasite so status is low  Passing Exam system allows mobility to mandarin level

India  Priests (Brahmins) à warriors (kshatriya) à crafts/merchants (vaisya) à peasants (sudras) à untouchables  Caste system – originally based on occupation; based on birth and can’t be changed; none

Middle Ages Europe  Kings à nobles à knights à merchants/crafts à peasants/serfs  King’s have limited power in feudalism; land for service system  Little mobility

Feudal Japan  Emperor/shogun àdaimyos à samurai à merchants/crafts à peasants  Military power in hands of shogun; otherwise like Europe  Little mobility

Colonial Latin America  Peninsulares à creoles à mestizos à free blacks and native Americans à slaves  Race/origin based on system; all Spanish at top  None