Build Your Own Civ

							World History
Mrs. Patton
Fall 2012 Semester Project
Point Value: 500 points
In-Class Presentation: Monday, October 22 (A-day); Tuesday, October 23 (B-day)
Exhibition Evening: Thursday, November 01


                                  Build Your Own Civilization


For your fall 2012 semester project, you will create your own unique civilization. Your
civilization will take inspiration from 3-5 historic societies and will culminate with a project that
showcases your civilization, a short paper that elaborates on the connections with history, and a
formal presentation both in-class and during Exhibition Evening.


Your civilization may occur anywhere in the time period of 3000 BCE – 1900 CE, but you have
to build a sufficient history for it, i.e. you cannot have a civilization occurring in 1215 CE, but
only have it founded in 1000 CE – you need to give it enough history to “grow up”. Please note
that if your society is a contemporary one, then its “founding” must start no later than 1750 CE.
You may also place your current day in a different time period (i.e. 1450 CE, but the founding
was in 250 BCE).


Please note: Your civilization needs to piece together nicely. For example, you will not have a
theocratic (religious based leadership) government and then give your people freedom of
expression, press, culture, etc. You should start with one or two principle components that are
most important to you and then build around them.


Your Paper
(2 pages (minimum) typed, double-space, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman/Arial, 1” margins)
You must also include a summary of your civilization. I am most interested to learn about your
motivations for the various elements – basically, introduce your audience to the historical
societies that inspired you and show elements of each in your paper. I do NOT want a generic
run down of elements within the civilization – your project should portray those. This is an
opportunity to explain your reasoning behind your choices (government, culture, religion,
innovations, etc.), as well as lay out a nice description of your civilization’s most important
(think impact) and defining moments of their history.
Your Project
The project portion of this assignment is meant to showcase the aforementioned components of
your civilization. You have a lot of freedom in how you get your “vision” across. Please see
below for some suggestions.


* Model city that illustrates all of your components


* Series of city plans that, again, take into account all of your components (i.e. what building is
your religion associated with, your governmental affairs, your cultural aspects, etc.)


* Artistic renderings of your civilization (again, see above)


* A series of letters, public writings, and/or newspapers, (keep in mind that typed
correspondence will not pertain to all but the most recent time periods) – these need to look
authentic


* Computer generated model city


* A scrapbook of your civilization (remember all of your components)


* A museum exhibition of your civilization (think what art or history museums do when they
want to portray an entire collection (same idea – you are portraying an entire civilization))


* A combination of the above, or of your own design



Formal Presentations
You will present your civilization’s project both in-class and during an evening presentation.
Both are required to attend. You will need all components for each presentation; consider the in-
class report a trial run for Exhibition Evening. You will earn points for each presentation.
Exhibition Evening
You will present your civilization to curious onlookers the evening of Thursday, November 01
(7-8 pm; set up between 6:30-6:45 pm). You must dress for the occasion – Sunday best, and be
available to present and field questions. Allow for a short 3 minute overview of your project
(hint: anything interactive or in-character impresses people, including your teacher ). This is a
mandatory function and part of your project grade. If you cannot attend, please bring in a signed
note from your parent/guardian explaining why. You will then be required to attend an after-
school presentation session at a later date (TBD); your audience will be a panel of Social Studies
teachers and you will be required to have a formal 10 minute presentation (not including
question time from the faculty panel). Extra credit will be given for each family member you
bring to Exhibition Evening (you must check them in with me that evening, and they must stay for
the entire hour).
*students do not have school on Friday, November 2*



History
What is the history of your civilization? How in depth can you go? (this is your challenge –
impress me)
Global or regional issues involved in? (over resources (i.e. water, land, food), ideological, power
struggles, religious struggles, etc.)
With whom are they in an alliance? For how long?
Who are enemies? Why? For how long?


*When first starting to think about your civilization, I would go with what interests you most. I
ultimately want to see a realistic society, so if you have a dictatorial government, you have at
least two paths to choose: 1. At some point your people overthrew your dictator in a revolution
and you have since created a different form of government; 2. You still have your dictator but
s/he is allowed to stay in power through “elections”, etc. (i.e. your people shouldn’t be the
happiest people in the world because then it wouldn’t make sense that they have a dictator, that
might be more appropriate for a democracy or constitutional monarchy).


*You should be taking inspiration from history. Notice what societies go through – times of
peace, shattered by times of conflict; then sometimes replaced with peace, other times spiraling
down further into conflict.
Semester Project Idea List (put “x” next to items you need extra work on)
___Name


___Place, including description of physical surroundings
          Attached sheet
___Founding Year


___Current Year


___Flag (description)


___National motto



___Natural Resources (oil, water, minerals, etc.)


___Government


___Writing system (name)



___Artistic endeavors (what do they think is beautiful?)



___Belief system (religion/spiritual/moral beliefs)


___Diet and means by which they acquire food (what is/are their basic food(s)?)



___Social structure (class structure)


___Military/ways of defending themselves
___Societal rules and ways of punishing “wrong-doers”
          Attached sheet
___Leisure activities (how do they keep themselves entertained?)




___Economic activity (major trade or business/industries)



___Educational system



___Family norms (nuclear family/extended family, etc.)



___Fashion (linked to social classes? Freedom of fashion?)
          Attached sheet
___Cultural oddities, if any



___Media (how do they communicate information?)


___Town plan (where are buildings, parks, etc.? Any organized manner?)
          Attached sheet
___Medical innovations?



___Scientific innovations?



___Technological innovations?
          Attached sheet
Place, including description of physical surroundings
Describe, sketch, or outline the physical environment of your civilization.
Societal rules and ways of punishing “wrong-doers”
Describe or outline the rules of your society.
Describe, list, or sketch the punishments for crimes.
Fashion (linked to social classes? Freedom of fashion?)
Describe or sketch the fashion of your society.
Town plan (where are buildings, parks, etc.? Any organized manner?)
Make a list or key of buildings to include prior to creating your town plan.
Describe, sketch, or outline your town plan.
Technological innovations?
Describe, sketch, or outline your society’s technology.