Understanding Western Society
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Chapter Chronology

Introduction for Chapter 1

1

ORIGINS

TO 1200 B.C.E.

>What similarities and differences were evident in the nature and development of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations? Chapter 1 examines early human history, tracing the evolution of human society from its origins to the emergence of cities, kingdoms, and empires. For most of their history, humans were foragers moving through the landscape, inventing ever more specialized tools. About 11,000 years ago, people in some places domesticated plants and animals. They began to live in permanent villages, some of which grew into cities. They created new technologies and social systems that facilitated further growth and development. The first places where these new technologies and systems were introduced were the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys of southwest Asia and the Nile Valley of northeast Africa, areas whose history became linked through trade connections, military conquests, and migrations.

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Life in New Kingdom Egypt, ca. 1500–1300 B.C.E. In this wall painting from the tomb of an official, a man guides a wooden ox-drawn plow through the soil, while the woman walking behind throws seed in the furrow. (Deir el-Medina, Thebes, Egypt/The Bridgeman Art Library)

> CHAPTER CHRONOLOGY

ca. 250,000 B.C.E. ca. 3000 B.C.E.
– Homo sapiens evolve in Africa – Development of wheeled transport; beginning of bronze technology
250,000–9,000 B.C.E. ca. 2500 B.C.E.
– Paleolithic era – Bronze technology becomes common in many areas
9000 B.C.E. ca. 2300 B.C.E.
– Beginning of the Neolithic; crop raising; domestication of sheep and goats – Establishment of the Akkadian empire
ca. 7000 B.C.E. ca. 1800 B.C.E.
– Domestication of cattle; plow agriculture – Hyksos people begin to settle in the Nile Delta
ca. 5500 B.C.E. 1792–1750 B.C.E.
– Smelting of copper – Hammurabi rules Babylon
ca. 3800 B.C.E. 1258 B.C.E.
– Establishment of first Mesopotamian cities – Peace treaty between Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II and Hittite king Hattusuli III
ca. 3200 B.C.E. ca. 1200 B.C.E.
– Development of cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing – “Bronze Age Collapse”; destruction and drought
ca. 3100 B.C.E
– Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt

A note on dates: This book generally uses the terms B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) when giving dates, a system of chronology based on the Christian calendar and now used widely around the world.