Test: Class 11 History NCERT Based - UPSC MCQ

Ethnography is the study of contemporary ethnic groups and includes an examination of their modes of livelihood, technology, gender, roles, rituals and social customs.

On 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin ‘On the origin of species’ published the study of evolution. All 1250 copies were sold out, Darwin argued that humans were evolved from animals a long time ago

The earliest cities in Mesopotamia date back to the Bronze Age, 3000 BCE. Metals were necessary for accurate carpentry, drilling beads, carving stone seals, cutting shells for inlaid furniture. The Mesopotamian weapons were made of bronze.

The two powerful empires ruled over most of Europe North African and the Middle least in the period between the birth of Christ and the early part of the seventh century. These two empires were those of Rome and Iran. The Romans and Iranians were rivals and fought against each other for much of their history. Their empires lay next to each other, separaetd by a narrow strp of land that run along the river Euphrates.

Transhumance is the herdman’s regular annual movement between higher mountain regions and low lying ground in search of pasture for sheep and other flocks. It was widespread in the countryside of Numidia (modery ALgeria). These pastoral and semi nomadic communities were on the move, carrying over shaped huts with them.

The Arabs were divided into tribes each led by a chief who was chosen partly on the basis of his family connections but more by his personal courage, wisdom and generosity. Each tribe had its own god or goddess who was worshipped as an idol in a shrine.

Muhammad’s own tribe, the Quraysh lived in Mecca and controlled the main shrine there, a cube like structure called Kaba in which idols were placed. Even tribes outside Mecca considered the site as holy.

The dawah movement brought down the Umayyads and replaced them with Abbasids in 750. The abbasids portrayed the Ummayad regime as evl and promised a restoration of the original ISlam of the Prophet. The revoilution led not only to a change of dynasty but changes in the political structure and culture of Islam.
 The Great Mosque of al -Mutawakkil in Samarra was built in 850. The minar is 50 metres high and is made of bricks. It was inspired by Mestopotamian architectural traditions and was the largest mosque in the world for centuries.

A group of religious minded people known as Sufis sought to seek a deeper connection with God through asceticism and mysticism. Sufis sought to renounce the world and rely on God alone. 
Pantheism is the idea of oneness of God and that the soul must be united with its maker.
Sufis used musical concerts to induce and stimulate emotions of love and passion and submerged themselves in love of God.

The Hirji era was established during the caliphate of umar with the first year failing in 622 ce. A date in the Hurji calendar is followed by the letters AH The Hirhi year is a lunar year of 354 days, 12 months of 29 or 30 days. The Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year. Therefore none of the Islamicreligous festivals correpoons in any way to seasons.

1227 - Death of Genghis Khan
1258 - Capture of Baghdad and end of the Abbasid caliphate.
1368 - End of Yuan dynasty in China

Genghis Khan envisaged that his sons would rule the empire collectively and to underline this point, military contingents of individual princes were placed in each ulus. The sense of dominion shared by the members of the family was underline at the assembly of chieftains ‘quriltais’, where all decisions relating to the family or the state for the forthcoming season, campaigns, distribution of plunder were collectively taken.

Gengis Khan had already fashioned a rapid courier system that connected distant areas of the regime, Frash mounts and dispatch riders were placed in outposts at regularly spaced distances. For maintenance, Mongol nomads contributed a tenth of their herd or livestock as provision This was called the qubur tax, a levy that the nomads were willing to pay for the multiple benefits. 

During the high Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an elaborate hierarchy with the pope as the head in western Europe. He established supreme power. Many innovations took place in the creative arts during the high Middle Ages. Literacy was no longer merely a requirement among the clergy.

One result of the Crusades was an increase in trade between the Middle East and Europe,

The growth of maritime and overland trading routes led to increased cultural diffusion.

A direct result of the Crusades was that the Europeans increased their demands for goods from the East.

The Franks a Germanic tribe gave their name to Gaul, making it France, From the sixth century this region was a kingdom ruled by Franksish/ French kings who were Cheristian, The french had strong links with the church which were further strengthened when in 800 the Pope gave King Charlemagne the title of Holy Roman Emperor to ensure his support. The head of the eastern church in Constantinople had a similar relationship with the Byzantine emperor.

Johannes Gutenberg was a German who made the first printing press and 150 copies of the bible were printed in the workshop.

A German monk named Martin Luther launched a campaign against the Cathholitc church and argued that a person did not need priests to connect with God, He asked his followers to have complete faith in God for faith alone could guide them to the right life and entry to heaven. This movement led to the movement called the protestant reformation.

Coperniucs was a contemporary of Martin Luther. He asserted that the planets including the earth revolved around a bright star, but was afraid of the reaction to his theory by the clergymen.Later , the difference between heaven and earth was bridged through writings of astronomers like Kepler and Galileio. The theory of the earth as part of the sun centred system was made popular by Keplers’ cosmographic mystery, which demonstrated that the planets move around the sun  in ellipses. 

In 1477, Ptolemy's Geography (written 1300 years earlier) became available in print and came to be widely read. According to Ptlomey, the regions of the world were arranged in terms of latitudes and longitudes.Reading the texts, gave Erupeans knowledge of the world, which they understood to have three continents, Europe, and Africa. Ptlomey suggested that the world was special but he underestimated the width of the oceans.

From the fifteenth century, European maritime projects produced knowledge of contnoys sea passages from ocean to ocean. Before this most of these passages had been unknown to Europeans. Some are not known to anyone. The South Atlantic was wholly unexplored, no-sea going ship had ever entered its waters. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century all these feats were accomplished.

The influx of gold and silver helped further expansion.Between 1560 and 1600 a hundred ships carried silver from South american mines to Spain. But it was not SPain and Portugal that benefited. They did not invest their huge income in further trade or building merchant navy., It was countries like Atlantic England, Holland, France and Belgium.

Ghazan Khan (1295-1304( was the first Il-Khaid ruler to convert to Islam.

He was the seventh Ilkhan of the Ilkhanid dynasty and the first Mongol ruler who converted to Islam and made Islam the official religion of the dynasty. Some scholars maintain that Ghazan's conversion was political; nevertheless, he paid special attention to Islamic rituals and respected the Imams of the Shi'a and the descendants of the Prophet (s) in general.

Ghazan Khan cut his relations with the other Mongol rulers after his conversion. He commanded mint coins bearing the Two Testimonies (al-Shahadatayn). He also prohibited usury and wine drinking and set the mahr 19.5 dinars. During his reign, many buildings were constructed for the poor and needy, and the construction of mosques, schools, shrines, and domes became widespread after him.

The first Mesopotmain tablets were written around 3200 BCE and contained pictures like signs and numbers. Writing began when society was required to keep records of transactions.

Sumerian language is the earliest known language of Mesopotamia and was gradually replaced by the Akkadian language after 2400 BCE. Cuneiform writing in the Akkadian language continued in use until the first century CE, that is for more than 2000 years.