Foundations+UNIT

1.01 Development of Civilization

 Summary: Civilization had only started to accomodate itself at around the time of the __Neolithic Revolution__, (9000-4000BCE), mostly on part because agriculture had started to replace the modest amount of game and gathering societies, and through this sedantary practice, societies converged to introduce the small but growing intellectual/economic/social/political spheres of civilization. Most of these early groups had taken root into fertile-rich land, between the Tigris-Euphratus, the Huanghe, and the Nile, and one Civilization, __Catal Huyuk__ settling in Turkey had been just one of the many nations growing out in Middle China, The Mediterrean, the Sub-Saharan Desert. But one of the earliest and prominent of civilizations had taken its roots in the Mesopotamian region, where City-states, Social Systems, Code of Law, Sanskrit, Cuneiform, and a barter system had came to define the complex role of civilization in the pre-historic world.

1.02 Classical China
 * Summary:** China was one of the earliest civilizations that emphasized on a prominent central government that would keep progress and maintain order at the same time. This occurance did not happen over a span of a hundred years though, it took its turn in stages, the first starting with the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou were the first dynasty to China, and it was new, very agricultural and politics was just starting to be experimented on. In the end though, the Zhou fell apart because of corruption and constant warfare amongst regional powers who sought to control the emporer's autocratic seat. It wasn't until the Qin dynasty took over that Politics started to grow further somewhat. Emporer Shi Huangdi, the first emporer of the Qin dynasty emphasized on legalism, a strong authoratative central government that will maintain order in an era of choatic struggle for power. He established a new system, qualification tests for bureaucrats, and enforced a strong army in order to maintain that social stability in which a country needs to survive. His dynasty though fell a little short in time. Right after his death, new powers sought to take control of the unpopular Qin dynasty. This new power was the Hans. The Hans focused on a further political role, creating more qualification tests and started to trainsition the central politics toward confucianism. this transition provided a strong backbone for the Hans, because 1. they weren't as harsh as the Qins, and 2. They still provided most of the same political laws that legalism drove. In the end, China became one of the most developed civilizations in the world because they had these stepping stones to build off of early on, allowing them to settle and base their cultures, intellectual atmosphere, and advance technology.

Classical India Summary: Active religious beliefs and cultural practices seperated India from China, who's main aspect of civilization had been to promote Unity in the form of Politics, and Social Equality. In India, the main partition had been to work willingingly to reach the state of Nirvana and to uphold cultural beliefs. Through these religious practices of Hinduism lead to the devlopment of the Caste System, under which the Brahman Priests were placed at the upper levels and created social inequality. They also influenced literature, art, and cultural ideaology, which then influenced the cultural importance of social interactions between nature and the gods. Also what seperated India from China was the way in which India ruled, through regionalism. Although Chandragupta had attempted to unite the entire sub-continent, it was short-lived, and further divisions in political power spread across the nation. Governmental institutions though were not what defined India to be India. Geographically the distinct features, made India so diverse. With the Himilayans in the north easy and the Sea in the south, not only was India cluturally diverse but it promoted a variety of agricultral products. Trade was also a prominent factor in India's classical life, since it was generally in the vicinity of the center of the classical civlizations, India had access to cultural aspects and goods from all over the Middle-east, Europe, and Asia. And only because India was so religiously active and culturally diverse, did it allow for India to live long term and develop a distinctivee society.
 * 1.03**


 * 1.04**
 * Classical Greece**