Late Classical period (200 C.E.–600 C.E.)

Foundations: c. 8000 B.C.E.–600 C.E.

Major Developments

1.  
   1.  
      1. Late Classical period (200 C.E.–600 C.E.) Collapse of empires (Han China, loss of western portion of the Roman Empire, Gupta)
         1. Movements of peoples (Huns, Germans)
         2. Interregional networks by 600 C.E.: Trade and religious diffusion

         Major Comparisons and Snapshots

      2. Comparisons of the major religious and philosophical systems including some underlying similarities in cementing a social hierarchy, e.g., Hinduism contrasted with Confucianism
      3. Role of women in different belief systems -- Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Hinduism
      4. Understanding of how and why the collapse of empire was more severe in western Europe than it was in the eastern Mediterranean or in China
      5. Compare the caste system to other systems of social inequality devised by early and classical civilizations, including slavery
      6. Compare societies and cultures that include cities with pastoral and nomadic societies
      7. Compare the development of traditions and institutions in major civilizations, e.g., Indian, Chinese, and Greek
      8. Describe interregional trading systems, e.g., the Indian Ocean trade

         Examples of What You Need to Know

         Below are examples of the types of information you are expected to know contrasted with examples of those things you are not expected to know for the multiple-choice section.

      9. Nature of the Neolithic revolution, but not characteristics of previous stone ages, e.g., Paleolithic and Mesolithic
      10. Economic and social results of the agricultural revolution, but not specific date of the introduction of agriculture to specific societies
      11. Nature of patriarchal systems, but not changes in family structure within a single region
      12. Nature of early civilizations, but not necessarily specific knowledge of more than two
      13. Importance of the introduction of bronze and iron, but not specific inventions or implements
      14. Political heritage of classical China (emperor, bureaucracy), but not specific knowledge of dynastic transitions, e.g., from Qin to Han
      15. Greek approaches to science and philosophy, including Aristotle, but not details about other specific philosophers
      16. Diffusion of major religious systems, but not the specific regional forms of Buddhism or Aryan or Nestorian Christianity