ORT History cheat sheet

Neolithic Revolution: transition from foraging to farming, c. 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent; independently in China (c. 7000 BCE), Mesoamerica (c. 5000 BCE), and the Andes (c. 3500 BCE).

Writing systems emerged independently in Mesopotamia (cuneiform, c. 3200 BCE), Egypt (hieroglyphs, c. 3200 BCE), China (oracle bones, c. 1200 BCE), and Mesoamerica (c. 600 BCE); writing enabled record-keeping and complex administration.

River valley civilizations: Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates), Egypt (Nile), Indus (Indus), and China (Yellow River); each depended on irrigation, flood control, and surplus agriculture.

Code of Hammurabi (c. 1754 BCE): Babylonian legal code inscribed on a stele; exemplifies lex talionis (retaliation) and social hierarchy in penalties.

Caste system in ancient India: varna categories (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras) described in the Rig Veda (c. 1500 BCE); jati (occupational groups) developed later.

Mandate of Heaven: Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE) political doctrine justifying rule by divine approval; loss of mandate explained rebellion and natural disaster.

Athenian democracy (c. 508 BCE, Cleisthenes): direct democracy with Assembly (Ekklesia), Council of 500 (Boule), and popular courts; citizenship excluded women, slaves, and metics.

Roman Republic (509–27 BCE): mixed constitution with consuls, Senate, and popular assemblies; checks and balances influenced later republican thought.

Classical Greece (c. 500–323 BCE): Persian Wars (490–479 BCE), Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE), and Alexander the Great's conquests (336–323 BCE) spread Hellenistic culture.

Roman Empire: Augustus (27 BCE–14 CE) established the Principate; Pax Romana (27 BCE–180 CE) brought relative stability; Edict of Milan (313 CE) tolerated Christianity; fall of Western Empire in 476 CE.

Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE): Confucian state ideology, Silk Road expansion, and civil service examinations; contemporary with Roman Empire.

Byzantine Empire: continuation of Eastern Roman Empire; Justinian (527–565 CE) codified Roman law (Corpus Juris Civilis) and built Hagia Sophia.

Rise of Islam (7th century CE): Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE); Five Pillars; rapid expansion under caliphs; Abbasid Golden Age (8th–13th centuries) advanced science, mathematics, and philosophy.

Feudalism in medieval Europe: manorialism, vassalage, and fiefs; decentralized political authority; serfs bound to land.

Magna Carta (1215): English barons forced King John to accept limits on royal power; established principle that monarchs are subject to law.

Mongol Empire (1206–1368): Genghis Khan unified tribes; largest contiguous land empire; facilitated trade and plague transmission across Eurasia.

Renaissance (14th–17th centuries): revival of classical learning in Italian city-states; humanism; printing press (c. 1440, Gutenberg) accelerated knowledge diffusion.

Protestant Reformation (1517): Martin Luther's 95 Theses; challenged papal authority; led to Peace of Augsburg (1555) and Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), ended by Peace of Westphalia (1648).

Age of Exploration (15th–17th centuries): Portuguese and Spanish voyages; Columbian Exchange (after 1492) transferred crops, animals, and diseases between hemispheres.

Scientific Revolution (16th–17th centuries): Copernicus (heliocentrism), Galileo (telescope), Newton (Principia, 1687); challenged Aristotelian cosmology.

Enlightenment (18th century): Locke (natural rights), Montesquieu (separation of powers), Rousseau (social contract); influenced Atlantic revolutions.

Atlantic Revolutions: American (1776), French (1789), Haitian (1791–1804), and Latin American independence (early 19th century); challenged monarchy and slavery.

Industrial Revolution (c. 1760–1840): began in Britain; mechanization of textile production, steam power, and railways; urbanization and social change.

World Wars: WWI (1914–1918) and WWII (1939–1945); total war, genocide (Holocaust), atomic bombings; postwar decolonization and Cold War (1947–1991).

Silk Road: network of trade routes linking China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean; exchanged goods, technology, religions (Buddhism), and diseases (Black Death).

Indian Ocean trade: monsoon-driven maritime network; East Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia; spread Islam and Swahili language.

Trans-Saharan trade: camel caravans; gold from West Africa to North Africa; spread of Islam; kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Columbian Exchange: after 1492; transfer of crops (maize, potatoes to Old World; wheat, horses to New World), diseases (smallpox), and people (slave trade).

Atlantic slave trade (c. 1500–1900): forced migration of about 12 million Africans to the Americas; Middle Passage; economic and demographic impact.

Age of Imperialism (late 19th–early 20th centuries): European powers partitioned Africa (Berlin Conference, 1884–1885) and colonized Asia; resistance and decolonization followed.

Globalization: increasing interconnectedness of economies and cultures; driven by trade, technology, and migration; has winners and losers.

International organizations: League of Nations (1920), United Nations (1945), and Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank) shaped postwar order.

Primary source: produced at the time by participants or witnesses; includes documents, artifacts, oral histories, and images. Secondary source: interprets primary sources; e.g., scholarly books and articles.

Source criticism: assess authenticity (external criticism) and credibility (internal criticism); consider author, audience, purpose, bias, and context.

Historical method: formulate questions, locate sources, evaluate evidence, synthesize, and construct interpretations; acknowledge uncertainty and conflicting evidence.

Historiography: the study of how history has been written; examines changing interpretations, schools of thought (e.g., Annales, Marxist, feminist), and historians' assumptions.

Bias and perspective: all sources reflect viewpoints; historians must contextualize and corroborate; absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Chronology and periodization: historians divide time into periods (e.g., Renaissance, Industrial Revolution) based on significant change; periodization is a constructed framework, not natural.

Quantitative methods: use of statistics, demography, and economic data; cliometrics applies economic theory and data to history.

Oral history: interviews with participants; valuable for underrepresented groups but subject to memory distortion; requires careful transcription and ethics.

BCE/CE notation: Before Common Era and Common Era; no year zero; 1 BCE is followed by 1 CE; calculate elapsed time by adding BCE and CE years (e.g., 500 BCE to 500 CE = 1000 years).

Decades, centuries, millennia: the 1st century CE is 1–100 CE; the 20th century is 1901–2000; the 3rd millennium began in 2001.

Periodization: conventional divisions (Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern) vary by region; the Middle Ages (c. 500–1500 CE) is a European framework not universal.

Cause and effect: distinguish long-term causes (structural), short-term triggers, and consequences; avoid post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.

Continuity and change: historical processes involve both; evaluate pace (slow vs. rapid) and scale (local vs. global).

Historical empathy: understand past actors' beliefs and values in their context without judging by present standards (presentism).

Historical significance: criteria include importance to contemporaries, lasting impact, and relevance to broader narratives; significance is debated.

Chronological reasoning: place events in sequence, identify patterns, and use timelines; recognize that dating methods (e.g., radiocarbon) have margins of error.

Themes in world history: interaction between humans and environment; development and interaction of cultures; state-building; economic systems; social structures.

Comparative history: examine similarities and differences across societies (e.g., feudalism in Europe and Japan) to reveal broader patterns.

Diffusion and innovation: ideas and technologies spread through trade, conquest, and migration; adaptation and syncretism are common.

Revolutions: political, industrial, and social revolutions share causes (inequality, new ideas, weak states) but differ in outcomes.

Empire: expansion, administration, and resistance; legacies include language, religion, and borders; decolonization reshaped global order.

Migration: voluntary and forced; shapes demographics, cultures, and economies; diasporas maintain transnational ties.

Historical significance: an event is significant if it had deep consequences, was remembered by contemporaries, and resonates today; significance is constructed and contested.

Connecting past and present: use historical context to understand contemporary issues; avoid oversimplified analogies.