Thesis+Statements

**1. Compare and contrast the ways civilization developed in India and Mesopotamia.** Civilization in India and Mesopotamia both developed around a stable water supply: the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley in India. However, in Mesopotamia, highly-centralized government was created, while in India, people constructed fragmented regionalized governments. **2. Compare and contrast the impact of Confucianism in China with Hinduism in India (200 B.C.E to 200 C.E.**) Both Confucianism and Hinduism helped maintain social stability in China and India, respectively. Nevertheless, both philsophies established different political, social, and economic traditions and institutions within each respective region between 200 BCE and 200 CE. **3. Describe the changes and continuities in the role of women in the transition from a hunter gathering life style to civilization.** Although women still held menial occupations and a subordinate status throughout the growth of civilization, they began to exert direct and indirect influence over society through both manual labor and the development of philosophical and spiritual ideas that led to increased respect for their sex. **4. Compare the development of political structures in Classical China with those in Classical India.** In Classical China, the most enduring form of government was centralized bureaucracy, while throughout most of India's Classical history, government was characterized by decentralized regionalism. These differences in government structure can be attributed to geographical characteristics and philosophical influences on the two regions (namely Confucianism and Hinduism). **5. Describe the different trading patterns China and India (200 B.C.E to 200 C.E.) What factors can explain these differences?** Between 200 BCE and 200 CE, India became a regional trading power while China relied heavily on internal trade because of different geographic and philosophical influences.