Chapter 7 Outline
Chapter 7 Outline
Chapter 7 Outline
Opening Vignette
A. Maya language and folkways still survive among about 6 million
people.
1. recent Maya revival
a. 1994 uprising
B. Classical-era civilizations arent just Eurasian.
1. the Americas: Maya and Moche
2. Africa: Mero, Axum, Niger River valley
C. There are basic similarities in the development of human cultures
everywhere.
1. part of great process of human migration
2. Agricultural Revolutions took place independently in
Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas
3. resultant development of civilizations
D. The worlds population at the beginning of the Common Era was
about 250 million people.
1. more than 80 percent were in Eurasia
E. There were important differences between civilizations in different
regions.
1. the Americas lacked nearly all animals suitable for
domestication
2. Africa imported previously domesticated sheep, goats,
chickens, horses, camels
3. metallurgy was less developed in the Americas
4. writing
a. limited in the Americas to Mesoamerica; most
highly developed among the Maya
b. in Africa, was confined to north and northeast
5. fewer and smaller classical civilizations in the Americas
and Africa
II.
The African Northeast
A. Africa had no common cultural identity in the classical era.
1. great environmental variation within the continent
2. enormous size of the continent
3. most distinctive: Africa is the most tropical of worlds
supercontinents
a. climate means poorer soils and less productive
agriculture