World History I to 1500: A Milestone Documents E-text is a peer-reviewed textbook originally created for the Milestone Documents course service. The book contains 15 chapters arranged in roughly chronological order. Together, the chapters offer a comprehensive textbook covering the period from the development of early civilizations through the Renaissance. It is suitable for instructors and students from high school through lower undergraduate levels.

Unit 1: Domestication of Plants and Animals in the Fertile Crescent

Human History before the Domestication of Plants and Animals

East-West Axis and the Spread of Food Production6Domestication and Human Diseases

Unit 1 Review

Unit 2: Religion and Culture in the Earliest Civilizations in the Ancient Near East

Sumerian Culture

Temple Complexes, Religious Ritual, and the Order of Nature

City-states and Their Gods

Unit 2 Review

Unit 3: Earliest Civilizations of Africa

Carthage

Nubia

Egypt

Unit 3 Review

Unit 4: India

Indus Valley Civilization

The Maurya Empire

Vedas and Indian Religion

Unit 4 Review

Unit 5: China

The Influence of China on Japan and Korea

The Qin Empire

Mandate of Heaven and Dynastic Cycle

Unit 5 Review

Unit 6: Revolutions in Human Thought

Greek Philosophy

Confucius and Buddha

The Jewish Prophets

Unit 6 Review

Unit 7: Earliest Civilizations of the Americas

The Aztec

The Inca

The Olmec and Maya

Unit 7 Review

Unit 8: The Greeks

Hellenistic Age

Golden Age of Greece

Minoan and Mycenaean Greece

Unit 8 Review

Unit 9: The Romans

The Fall of Rome

The Roman Republic

The Roman Empire

Unit 9 Review

Unit 10: The Rise of Christianity

Christianity and the Roman Empire

The Structure of the Christian Church

Jesus

Unit 10 Review

Unit 11: European Peoples

Benedictine Monks and the Conversion of the European Peoples

The Vikings

Cultures of the People

Unit 11 Review

Unit 12: Ascendancy of the East

Expansion of Muslim Culture

The Rise of Islam

The Byzantine Empire

Unit 12 Review

Unit 13: The Formation of Western Christendom

Carolingian Renaissance

Corruption and Renewal in the Church

The Crusades

Unit 13 Review

Unit 14: The Medieval Age

Medieval Church and State

Europeans and Mongols

Reason and Faith in Thomas Aquinas

Unit 14 Review

Unit 15: The Renaissance

Renaissance Art and Science

Church Corruption

The Great Plague

Unit 15 Review