United States · Common Core State Standards
9th Grade World History I
Paleolithic Era through the First Global Age (~1750). US 9th Grade Social Studies covering early civilizations, classical empires, medieval societies, and the Age of Exploration.
Foundations of Human Society
From the Paleolithic Era to the emergence of the first urban centers and complex societies.
Hunter-gatherer life, tool development, and the migration of early humans across the globe.
The shift from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled agriculture, and why it changed everything.
Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria: the invention of writing, law codes, and urban life between the rivers.
Pharaohs, pyramids, and the Nile: how one river created one of history's most enduring civilizations.
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro: urban planning, sanitation, and the mystery of a lost script.
The Shang and Zhou dynasties, the Mandate of Heaven, and the foundations of Chinese culture.
The development of Judaism and its unique impact on the history of Western ethical thought.
Maritime trade, the spread of the alphabet, and the connection of the Mediterranean world.
Classical Civilizations & Belief Systems
The rise of massive empires and the philosophical foundations of the modern world.
Cyrus the Great, satrapies, and the governing of a multicultural empire through tolerance.
Athens vs. Sparta, the birth of democracy, and the philosophical traditions that still shape the world.
The conquests of Alexander and the blending of Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian cultures.
The evolution of Roman governance, the Punic Wars, and the struggle of the orders.
Augustus, the transition from republic to empire, and the period of relative peace and stability.
The life of Jesus, the spread of Christian teachings, and the transformation of the Roman state religion.
The unification of India, Ashoka's Edicts, and the Golden Age of Indian science and art.
The Han dynasty, Confucian governance, and the trade networks that connected East and West.
Post-Classical Transitions
The collapse of old empires and the rise of new religious and political structures.
Rome's eastern half survived for a thousand years, preserving knowledge and bridging East and West.
Muhammad, the Quran, and the rapid expansion of the Islamic faith across three continents.
The Abbasid Caliphate, the House of Wisdom, and advancements in math, medicine, and science.
The decentralized political system of lords, vassals, and serfs following the fall of Rome.
The Roman Catholic Church as the unifying force and political power in Western Europe.
China's golden ages: gunpowder, printing, the compass, and the world's most advanced economy.
Advanced mathematics, astronomy, and city-states in the jungles of Mesoamerica.
Interconnected Worlds
The expansion of trade, conquest, and the movement of people and ideas.
Holy wars that were also trade missions, cultural exchanges, and political power plays.
Genghis Khan and the largest contiguous empire in history, one that both destroyed and connected civilizations.
The networks of exchange that linked China, India, the Middle East, and East Africa.
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai: the wealth of the trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt.
The bubonic plague pandemic and its radical impact on European and Asian societies.
The conquest of Constantinople and the establishment of a powerful Islamic state in the Mediterranean.
The restoration of Chinese rule, the voyages of Zheng He, and the building of the Forbidden City.
Tenochtitlan, chinampas, and the complex social and religious structures of the Mexica.
Road systems, quipu, and the centralized administration of the Andes mountains.
Intellectual Rebirth & Religious Reform
The Renaissance, Reformation, and the birth of modern scientific thought in Europe.
Humanism, secularism, and the explosion of art and literature in Florence and Rome.
Christian humanism, the impact of the printing press, and the spread of ideas to Northern Europe.
Martin Luther, the 95 Theses, and the fracturing of the Catholic Church's authority.
The Council of Trent, the Jesuits, and the Catholic Church's response to Protestantism.
The shift from traditional authority to empirical observation and the scientific method.
Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau: ideas of liberty, rights, and the social contract.
The Age of Exploration
The encounters between the Old and New Worlds and the start of global integration.
The search for spices, the spread of Christianity, and the competition between European powers.
Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro: the fall of the Aztec and Inca empires.
The global transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and technology.
The Middle Passage and the forced migration of millions of Africans to the Americas.
The economic theory of mercantilism and the rise of joint-stock companies like the Dutch East India Company.
The encomienda system, the casta system, and the role of the Catholic Church in the Americas.
The Rise of Absolute Monarchies
The consolidation of power in Europe and the emergence of modern nation-states.
The Divine Right of Kings and the centralization of power in the hands of monarchs.
Versailles, the expansion of French power, and the height of absolute rule.
The Westernization of Russia and the construction of St. Petersburg.
The conflict between King and Parliament, the execution of Charles I, and the rise of Oliver Cromwell.
The bloodless transition to William and Mary and the signing of the English Bill of Rights.
Global Empires & Change
The state of the world on the eve of the modern industrial and revolutionary era.
Akbar the Great, religious tolerance, and the building of the Taj Mahal.
The unification of Japan, the Shogunate, and the policy of isolation (Sakoku).
The Manchu conquest of China and the expansion of the empire to its greatest borders.
The impact of new world foods and the shift in global demographics by 1750.
A summary of the world in 1750, looking forward to the Industrial and Political Revolutions.