Rachel's Western Civ Blog

Lo1: Define pre-history, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Fertile Crescent  Lo2: Describe the Impact of the Agricultural Revolution Lo3: Identify the 5 characteristics of civilization  Pre-History - the time periods before written record Neolithic- (the New Stone Age) was marked by advanced tool making and the beginnings of agriculture Fertile Crescent - where new societies got fertile soil, starting communities Agricultural Revolution:  - was a shift from itinerant hunting/gathering to more permanent settlements centered on agriculture - populations rose due to uncreased ability to care for young children - hierarchies appeared in village life, the status of women was lowered as women were confined more to domestic duties - invention of wheel and plow made it possible to produce enough food for storage - villagers were polytheists, worshipped multiple nature, human and animal gods - moved out of the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age 5 Characteristics of Civilizat...

Australopithecines "Lucy" was the oldest one found to date found in East Africa could carry food and children  developed opposable thumb  brain size of 500 cubic centimeters first human-like creature to walk upright  Homo Habilis  found in East Africa Brain size 700 cubic centimeters first to make stone tools  discovered in 1960 means “man of skill” used tools made of lava rock to cut meat and crack open bones Homo Erectus  means “upright man” more intelligent and adaptable  developed technology became skillful hunters  developed tools for digging, scraping and cutting first to migrate to south Africa settled in India, China, Southeast Asia and Europe first to use fire developed the beginning of spoken language  Cro-Magnons  identical to modern humans  about five and a half feet tall migrated from North Africa to Europe and Asia Nea...

Lo1: Define Economic Liberalism Lo2: Characteristics of "capitalism" Lo3: Compare capitalism to other economic systems (communism, socialism) Economic liberalism is an economic system organized on individual lines, which means that the greatest number of economic decisions are made by individuals or households rather than by collective institutions or organizations. Some of capitalism's characteristics are capital accumulation, commodity production, private ownerships of the means of production, high levels of wage labour, the investment of money to make a profit, the use of price mechanism to allocate resources of competing uses, and freedom of capitalists to act in their self-interest in managing their business and investments. Two different types of economic systems are communism and socialism. Socialism takes more money from their community's income but they have things such as free college and health care. They want to have necessities like those more acc...

Lo1: Define Liberal Democracy Liberal Democracy is a political ideology and a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of classic liberalism  Lo2: Describe the characteristics of liberal democracies around the world today Liberal Democracies have universal suffrage. They also emphasize the separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances between branches of the government.  Lo3: Detail the origins of liberal democracy in history The Liberal Democracy was established during the Age of Enlightenment. Britain was the first modern European country to adopt the system of the liberal democracy. 

Lo1: Define Western Civilization Western civilization is a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems and specific artifacts and technologies that have some organ or association with Europe.  Lo2: Identify "The West" Countries that are considered the west are the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, France, UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Greece.  Lo3: Describe Characteristics of the Modern Western World 1. Liberal Democracy - a liberal political ideology and a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principals of classic liberalism.  2. Economic Liberalism - an economic system organized on individual lines meaning that the greatest possible number of economic decisi...