What is meant by the term ‘Abbasid revolution’?
The term ‘Abbasid revolution’ refers to the Dawa Movement initiated by Abu Muslim from Khurasan against the Umayyad dynasty. This revolution put an end to the Umayyad dynasty, which ruled from 661 to 750. With the fall of Umayyad dynasty in 750, the Abbasid came to power and ruled till 1258.
What were the features of the lives of the Bedouins in the early seventh century?
Give examples of the cosmopolitan character of the states set up by Arabs, Iranians and Turks.
What were the effects of the Crusades on Europe and Asia?
How were Islamic architectural forms different from those of the Roman Empire?
Describe a journey from Samarqand to Damascus, referring to the cities on the route.
Look at the diagram showing the positive feedback mechanism on page 13. Can you list the inputs that went into tool making? What were the processes that were strengthened by tool making?
Why do we say that it was not natural fertility and high levels of food production that were the causes of early urbanisation?
Why was trade so significant to the Mongols?
Describe two features of early feudal society in France.
Which elements of Greek and Roman culture were revived in the 14th and 15th centuries ?
Compare the civilization of the Aztecs with that of the Mesopotamians.
How did Britain’s involvement in wars from 1793 to 1815 affect British industries?
Comment on any points of difference between the native peoples of South and North America.
What were the major developments before the Meiji restoration that made it possible for Japan to modernise rapidly?
Humans and mammals such as monkeys and apes have certain similarities in behaviour and anatomy. This indicates that humans possibly evolved from apes. List these resemblances in two columns under the headings of (a) behaviour and (b) anatomy. Are there any differences that you think are noteworthy?
What new food items were transmitted from South America to the rest of the world?
Imagine an encounter in California in about 1880 between four people: a former African slave, a Chinese labourer, a German who had come out in the Gold Rush, and a native of the Hopi tribe, and narrate their conversation.
Compare the Venetian idea of good government with those in contemporary France.
Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings?
Other than the use of English, what other features of English economic and social life do you notice in 19th century USA?
Discuss the extent to which (a) hunting and (b) constructing shelters would have been facilitated by the use of language. What other modes of communication could have been used for these activities?
Why were Italian towns the first to experience the ideas of humanism?
How do later Mongol reflections on the yasa bring out the uneasy relationship they had with the memory of Genghis Khan.
What were the new developments helping European navigation in the 15th century?
Do you think that Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China were successful in liberating China and laying the basis for its current success?