Essential Key Concepts List
On this page you will find the Essential Key Concepts List for 7th Grade. These are the concepts that you will know after 7th Grade.
Enjoy the journey.
1. 8.2.1-Cultural regions are often defined by language and religion.
2. 8.2.1-Cultures changed as people of different cultures interact with one another.
3. 8.2.1-Early people survived by hunting animals and gathering plants.
4. 8.2.1-Agriculture made it possible for a few people to raise food for an entire group, while others could specialize, or concentrate on other tasks.
5. 8.2.2-Mineral rich silt deposits and irrigation technology made farming in ancient Egypt very productive.
6. 8.2.2-The pharaoh was central Egypt’s government, economy, and religion.
7. 8.2.2-The writing system of Egypt, called hieroglyphics, provided a way for government workers to communicate over long distances.
8. 8.2.2-Egypt became an empire when it conquered Nubia, Syria, and Lebanon. These new lands gave Egypt a wealth of new resources upon which to draw.
9. 8.2.2-The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 yielded hundreds of New Kingdom artifacts.
10. 8.2.6-8.2.2-Egypt’s social pyramid is described as having the pharaoh on top as the most powerful, and the numerous farmers and slaves on the bottom.
11. 8.2.2-Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
12. 8.2.2-The rise to power of Hammurabi made Babylon one of the world’s richest and most powerful cities in ancient times.
13. 8.2.4-Monotheism–the belief in one god–set the Hebrews apart from other groups around them.
14. 8.2.2-The Indus River brings water and silt to northwest India that makes farming possible.
15. 8.2.2-Little is known about Harappan civilization because its writing system has not yet been figured out.
16. 8.2.4-An important theme in Hinduism is reincarnation. This is the idea that people live in a constant circle of birth, death, and rebirth.
17. 8.2.4-The Buddha borrowed beliefs from Hinduism. He also taught the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Middle Way.
18. 8.2.2-Loess has made the Huang River valley extremely fertile, but it causes many problems too.
19. 8.2.2-Around 1700 B.C., the Shang state won control over the Huang Valley region. They ruled for about 600 years.
20. 8.2.2-Around 221 B.C., Shihuangdi unified China with his powerful armies and strengthened his government by creating standard writing and money systems.
21. 8.2.2-The Han dynasty produced many great achievements in science, math, the arts, and trade.
22. 8.2.6-Asia, the world’s largest continent, has more mountains than any other. These include the awesome Himalayas.
23. 8.2.6-Genghis Khan began the Mongol invasion of China in the 1200’s.
24. 8.2.3-Ancient Greeks used the Mediterranean Sea as a highway to trade for goods they could not produce themselves.
25. 8.2.3-Spartans spent much of their time working to strengthen their bodies and their army.
26. 8.2.3-In Athens, free women and girls worked at home, while boys and men worked, went to school, or took part in government.
27. 8.2.7-In the 400’s B.C., during the “Golden Age”, Athenians discussed philosophy, wrote plays, and built many grand buildings.
28. 8.2.3-When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, he spread Greek culture from Egypt to India.
29. 8.2.3-The city of Rome was founded on seven hills, which help protect it from attack.
30. 8.2.3-The Republic of Rome was divided into three main branches–the Senate, the citizen assembly, and the Consuls.
31. 8.2.3-Wealthy patrician citizens had more power than the poorer plebeian citizens.
32. 8.2.3Julius Caesar became dictator of Rome in 45 B.C. He was killed by Senators opposed to his rule on the Ides of March in 44 B.C.
33. 8.2.4-The life and teachings of Jesus are recorded in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
34. 8.2.3-Rome has left legacies of government, language, and architecture.
35. 8.2.6-While some of Arabia is desert, the coastal areas receive enough rain to support agriculture.
36. 8.2.4-Muslims believe that the sacred book of Islam, the Quran, contains holy teachings that Muhammad received from Allah.
37. 8.4.6/8.2.4-Mosques were centers of Muslim worship and remain religious centers today.
38. 8.2.5-Europe, Earth’s second smallest continent, has a long jagged coastline, and is made of a series of peninsulas.
39. 8.4.2/8.2.5-Feudalism is a way of organizing and governing society, based on land and loyalty or service.
40. 8.2.5-The Christian Church had a great influence on the lives of Europeans during the Middle Ages.
41. 8.4.6/8.2.5-In 1348, a plague struck Europe–the Black Death–killing one-third of the people.
42. 8.2.5-The Renaissance began in Italy, where an interest in humanism first developed.
43. 8.2.4/8.2.5-Martin Luther’s protests led to the splitting of the church into the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches.
44. 8.2.5-King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, limiting the power of the king by making them abide by the law.
45. 8.4.2/8.2.3-Zeus and Hera were considered to be the King and Queen of the Greek Gods and Goddesses.
46. 8.2.2-Many historians credit the invention of the wheel to the Mesopotamians.
47. 8.1.2/8.2.5-The development of the printing press allowed a wider amount of people the chance to read, and helped bring Europe out of the Middle Ages.
48. 8.2.3-The concept of democracy, or rule by the people came from the Greeks.
49. 8.2.3-Augustus Caesar began the 200 year period of peace in Rome, known as the “Pax Romana”.
50. 8.4.6-Monotheistic Christianity developed in a region dominated by a polytheistic Roman religion and governors.
