1. Welcome to AP World History!
Ms. Makarechian

2. Taking an AP course as a sophomore is a big challenge
Taking an AP course as a sophomore is a big challenge! After all, it is a “college level” class.
You may have lots of questions about it…like
“WTH have I gotten myself into?”

3. Appointment Clock Write your name in the center of your clock
Find a partner that you would like to work with, and write each others’ names on the line next to 12:00. (You are making a group).
Now, move around the room and find two different people to work with. Write each others’ names on the line next to 3:00. Everyone in the group should have the same names next to 3:00!!
Next, move around the room and find a different person to work with. Write each others’ name on the line next to 6:00.
Finally, move around the room and find three different people to work with. Write each others’ names on the line next to 9:00. Everyone in the groups should have the same names next to 9:00!
KEEP THE APPOINTMENT CLOCK IN YOUR APWH NOTEBOOK!

4. Please go to your 3:00 appointment
Take out a ½ sheet of paper (one per group), and write down any and all questions that you have about the class.
Anything—homework, grading, papers, the AP test…whatever YOU want to know.

5. Now, I will answer all your questions and try to allay your fears…

6. Check out textbooks! Go to Resource Center!

7. Syllabus and class website

8. Housekeeping items:
Syllabus
Reading schedule
Notebook guidelines
etc.

9. Textbook Note-taking—you should take notes EVERY night on the reading
In each section: Skim it first, looking for
WHAT (major events or developments)
WHEN (dates, time spans)
WHERE (locations, countries, regions)
WHO (key people(s)
WHY (reasons for actions/events)
HOW (the ways event occurred)
Write down no more than 20 key words/phrases from the section
Write a summary statement of the section using the 20 key words/phrases
***Tip: answer the margin questions!!!

10. Example: pg 20 of textbook
Above all else, these Paleolithic societies were small, consisting of bands of people, in which relationships were intensely personal and normally understood in terms of kinship. No anonymity of hiding in the crowd was possible in a society of relatives. The available technology permitted only a very low population density and ensured an extremely low rate of population growth. Scholars estimate the world population may have been as low as 10,000 people around 100,000 years ago and grew slowly to 500,000 to 30,000 years ago and then to 6 million by 10,000 years ago. Paleolithic bands were seasonally mobile or nomadic, moving frequently and in regular patterns to exploit the resources of wild plants and animals on which they depended. The low productivity of a gathering and hunting economy normally did not allow the production of much surplus, and because people were on the move so often, transporting an accumulation of goods was out of the question.

11. Example: pg 20 of textbook
Above all else, these Paleolithic societies were small, consisting of bands of people, in which relationships were intensely personal and normally understood in terms of kinship. No anonymity of hiding in the crowd was possible in a society of relatives. The available technology permitted only a very low population density and ensured an extremely low rate of population growth. Scholars estimate the world population may have been as low as 10,000 people around 100,000 years ago and grew slowly to 500,000 to 30,000 years ago and then to 6 million by 10,000 years ago. Paleolithic bands were seasonally mobile or nomadic, moving frequently and in regular patterns to exploit the resources of wild plants and animals on which they depended. The low productivity of a gathering and hunting economy normally did not allow the production of much (no) surplus, and because people were on the move so often, transporting an accumulation of goods was out of the question.
Summary: Paleolithic societies of 100,000 years ago were small (25-50 people), based on kinship, had low population density, were nomadic, practiced hunting and gathering, and did not produce a surplus.

12. The Five Habits of Historical Thinking
Learning to Think Like a Historian in Order to Better Understand World History and Enjoy Its Challenge

13. The story of the past is many things
The story of the past is many things. It is full of dramatic moments, bitter conflicts, and great achievements.

14. Violence, oppression, and hatred have been key parts of the story of the past. Slavery, for example, has existed in many societies throughout history.

15. At other times, history has been a story of inspiring heroism or amazing creativity.

16. History is also a story of struggle and triumph over difficult circumstances.

17. Sadly, all too many students think of history as a boring subject.

18. Yet history is the story of all of humanity’s great moments
Yet history is the story of all of humanity’s great moments. To grasp what the past was like isn’t easy. It takes effort, but that effort can fire your imagination.

19. Armenian refugees farming in Thrace, 1915
What was it like to live in past times and through past crises? Photos like these help give you an idea.
However, this photo gives us just a hint about two individuals. What of the stories of the millions of other people in the past? How can we ever hope to understand all of them?
We can’t really…
Armenian refugees farming in Thrace, 1915

20. The past is gone. All we have to go on are the “primary sources”—that is, the records we still have.
Photos like this are one kind of record.

21. As you learn more about various times in the past, keep this in mind: History is not the past itself. It is the account a historian creates based on evidence left behind.

22. This is the first of Five Habits of Historical Thinking that can help you in studying any history topic.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

23. Pause:
Write a sentence or two about what happened in your life yesterday
Turn to the person sitting next to you, discuss what happened and how accurate your accounts of it are.
Would someone else disagree with your account of yesterday?

24. The second of the Five Habits is “The Detective Model
The second of the Five Habits is “The Detective Model.” Like a detective, a historian uses clues to solve a mystery, question, or problem.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

25. For example, here is a question historians ask: “How did people at the time view the fall of the ancient Roman Empire?”
The Roman Colosseum, where gladiators often entertained crowds in fights to the death

26. For most historians “the fall of Rome” was not a single event
For most historians “the fall of Rome” was not a single event. It took place over many decades or even several centuries.
Caesar Augustus, first Roman emperor,
ruled 31 BCE–14 CE
Roman aqueduct in Algeria
Colosseum

27. But this question—“How did people at the time view the fall of the ancient Roman Empire?”—only leads to many others.
What did Christians think about what was happening?
Were Roman aristocrats aware of how life was changing?
What did the barbarians really want?
Did ordinary Roman citizens think life was getting worse or better? ?

28. To answer questions like these, historians must look for clues, or evidence.
The evidence is in the primary sources.
The problem is that the sources do not all agree.

29. Part of a wealthy Roman home in Pompeii, Italy
For example, some Roman aristocrats could not imagine a finer society than that of the Roman Empire, even as it was falling apart.
“For all the scattered nations you [Rome] create one common country. Those that struggle against you are constrained to bend to your yoke; for you offer to the conquered the partnership in your just laws; you have made one city what was aforetime the wide world!”
Rutilius Numantius, in 413 CE, three years after Visigoths had sacked Rome
Part of a wealthy Roman home in Pompeii, Italy

30. Others were not worried about the decline of Rome
Others were not worried about the decline of Rome. Christian theologian St. Augustine saw Rome as a sinful society—an “earthly city” not worth saving.
“The glorious city of God is my theme in this work… I have undertaken its defense against those who prefer their own gods to the Founder of this city—a city surpassingly glorious…[but] we must speak also of the earthly city, which, though it be mistress of the nations, is itself ruled by its lust of rule.”
St. Augustine, in the introduction to The City of God
St. Augustine wrote The City of God in the early 400s CE, as the western Roman Empire was falling apart.

31. So to decide, historians—and this means you—must make their own interpretations, based solidly on the evidence.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View ?

32. The third of the Five Habits is about time
The third of the Five Habits is about time. Over time, some things change, some do not. You need to keep both in mind at once.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

33. Along the banks of the Nile near Thebes, about one century ago
Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for three thousand years. In many ways, it changed little. For example, the Nile was a constant force in Egyptian life.
The Great Pyramid of Giza (built in the 2500s BCE), with the Nile in the foreground
Along the banks of the Nile near Thebes, about one century ago

34. Egyptians built monumental tombs for their pharaohs and made mummies out of their bodies so as to help them after death in the next life.
Mummy of 19th-dynasty pharaoh Ramses II, who reigned in the 1200s BCE
Fourth-dynasty pyramids and Sphinx at Giza

35. Yet as one royal dynasty followed another, many things did change—including the lavish burial customs of the pharaohs.
The Valley of the Kings, where many pharaohs were buried in rock tombs after about 1500 BCE
Step Pyramid of Djoser, 2600s BCE
The Great Pyramid of Giza, ca. 2500s BCE
Two huge statues of Amenhotep III, ca BCE

36. So to fully understand history as a process over time, you have to see how change and continuity constantly interact.

37. Pause:
List two things about you that have changed over your lifetime
List two things that have stayed exactly the same
Share with a person nearby

38. The fourth of the Five Habits focuses on something else historians try to explain, along with describing “what happened.”
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

39. For example, World War I (1914–1918) shattered a century of progress for Europe and led to the deaths of millions. What caused this worldwide catastrophe?

40. Some historians stress frantic military competition among European nations to develop and mass produce terrifying modern weapons.

41. However, no one cause ever really explains an event in history
However, no one cause ever really explains an event in history. Historians say all these factors and more helped to cause World War I.
“A relentless arms race was bound to lead to all-out war.”
“It was the frenzied drive for colonies and empire.”
“Nationalism turned European states against one another as never before.”
“Stupidity and sheer accidents were key factors.”
“A tangle of alliances locked diplomats into a choice for war.”

42. Some historians stress broad social and political factors
Some historians stress broad social and political factors. Others stress the individual choices leaders made. They interpret sources differently to make their case.
Social & Political Factors
Individual Choices
“It was the frenzied drive for colonies and empire.”
“A tangle of alliances locked diplomats into a choice for war.”
“Nationalism turned European states against one another as never before.”
“Stupidity and sheer accidents were key factors.”
“A relentless arms race was bound to lead to all-out war.”

43. Finally, a big challenge in studying history is to understand how people in the past saw things. The fifth of the Five Habits deals with this challenge.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

44. After all, it’s hard enough to empathize with others around us
After all, it’s hard enough to empathize with others around us. How much harder is it to see the world the way these people did?

45. Think about all of the ways their lives and ways of thinking differed from yours today.
Work from sunup to sundown
Different ideas about children
Different ideas about family
Different ideas about religion
Different ideas about community
No cell phones
No cars or trucks
No TV or Internet
No health clinics

46. A key challenge for historians is to grasp how like and unlike our own lives are to those of people in the past.

47. Keep the Five Habits in mind as you do the rest of this year’s tasks.
Five Habits of Historical Thinking
History Is Not the Past Itself
The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation
Time, Change, and Continuity
Cause and Effect
As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View