Netherlands VWO 4 (bovenbouw, 2e fase) History

1. Historical awareness

Time and chronology · Change and continuity · Historical inquiry and explanation · Judging the past

• Timeline I: The Idea of Chronology (6 MYA to 1 BCE) – Chronology means putting events in the right time order. Historians use BCE and CE for years, BP (before present) and MYA (million years ago) for very old times. Soil layers and carbon dating help find dates. Timeline I runs from the first upright-walking human ancestors about 6 million years ago to farming, cities and writing, ending at 1 BCE.
• Historical Thinking: How Historians Work – History is the study of the past using evidence. Put events in order on a timeline and read them in their context. Use primary sources (made at the time) and secondary sources (made later). Judge each source: who made it, when, why, and what is missing. Events have many causes: slow long-term causes and a short trigger. Look for both change and continuity, decide what was significant, and build an argument backed by evidence.

2. Eras 1-4: prehistory to late Middle Ages

Era 1: Hunters and farmers (until 3000 BC) · Era 2: Greeks and Romans (3000 BC - 500 AD) · Era 3: Monks and knights (500-1000) · Era 4: Cities and states (1000-1500)

• Early Humans and the Beginning of Civilisation – Modern humans (Homo sapiens) first appeared in Africa about 3 lakh years ago and slowly spread across the world, reaching India tens of thousands of years ago. Historians split this long past into ages by the tools people used: Palaeolithic (old stone), Mesolithic (middle stone, tiny tools), Neolithic (new stone, farming), then copper, bronze and iron. When people learned farming, they settled in villages, stored grain and made pots. Some villages grew into planned cities, like the Harappan cities on the Indus and Ghaggar rivers. At about the same time, river-valley civilisations rose in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.
• An Empire Across Three Continents: the Roman Empire – The Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea: parts of Europe, West Asia and North Africa. Power was shared, often unequally, among the emperor, the senate and the army. Its economy ran on farming, towns, ships, money and trade in olive oil, wine and grain. Society had layers, from rich senators down to a large number of slaves. Roman traders sailed with the monsoon winds to ports in India. From the 4th century, the empire changed: Christianity became the main religion, Constantinople became a new capital, and the western half broke up in 476 CE. Historians call this time of change 'late antiquity'.
• The Three Orders: Feudal Society in Europe – From about the 9th to the 16th century, western Europe was a feudal society. People were seen as three orders: the clergy who prayed, the nobles who fought, and the peasants who worked. Lords held land from the king and ran manors where serfs worked. New tools and trade helped towns grow, but in the 14th century colder weather, famine and the Black Death caused a crisis. Afterwards kings of France, England and Spain built standing armies and tax systems, starting the rise of nation states.
• Medieval Europe: A Thousand Years from Rome to the Renaissance – The Middle Ages in Europe lasted about 1,000 years, from the end of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE) to around 1500. In the early period, migrating peoples set up new kingdoms in the west, the Franks grew strong under Charlemagne, and the Byzantine Empire carried on Roman rule in the east. Society was organised by feudalism: land given in return for loyalty and service. The Church shaped daily life through monasteries, cathedrals and the crusades. From about 1000, trade revived, towns, guilds and universities grew, and kings gained power. In the 1300s the Black Death and long wars brought a crisis that helped end the medieval world.

3. Historical context: towns and burghers in the Low Countries 1050-1700

Rise of an urban citizenry in the Low Countries (1050-1302) · Burghers under Burgundian and Habsburg rule (1302-1602) · Burghers and the Republic in the Golden Age (1602-1700)

Coming soon