ENEM Human Sciences Syllabus

Human Sciences syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Human Sciences in ENEM, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   History

   5 topics

   • Ancient History
   • Medieval History
   • Modern History
   • Contemporary History
   • Brazilian History
2. 2

   Geography

   5 topics

   • Physical Geography
   • Human Geography
   • Economic Geography
   • Geopolitics
   • Brazilian Geography
3. 3

   Philosophy

   5 topics

   • Ancient Philosophy
   • Medieval Philosophy
   • Modern Philosophy
   • Contemporary Philosophy
   • Ethics and Politics
4. 4

   Sociology

   5 topics

   • Classical Sociology
   • Contemporary Sociology
   • Brazilian Sociology
   • Social Movements
   • Culture and Society

Human Sciences flashcards for ENEM

20 of 51 cards from the Human Sciences deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. In Ancient History, what were the two foundational river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and which rivers sustained each?

   Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians); Egypt developed along the Nile River, whose annual floods deposited fertile silt enabling hydraulic agriculture.

2. What was the political system of the Greek 'polis' of Athens under Cleisthenes, and why is it historically significant?

   Athens developed a direct democracy in which free adult male citizens voted in the Assembly (Ekklesia). It is significant as the first documented democratic system, though it excluded women, slaves, and foreigners (metics).

3. Distinguish the Roman Republic from the Roman Empire in terms of government.

   The Republic (509–27 BCE) was governed by elected magistrates and the Senate with shared power (consuls). The Empire (from 27 BCE, under Augustus) concentrated power in a single emperor, ending collective aristocratic rule.

4. In Medieval History, define feudalism and its three core relationships.

   Feudalism was the socio-economic order of the Middle Ages based on: (1) suzerainty/vassalage (lord grants a fief in exchange for military loyalty), (2) the manorial economy (self-sufficient estates), and (3) servitude (serfs bound to the land owing labor and dues).

5. What was the role of the Catholic Church in the Medieval period?

   The Church was the dominant political, economic, and cultural institution: it held vast lands, monopolized education and literacy (Latin, monasteries), legitimized kings, and shaped a theocentric worldview where faith explained the world.

6. What economic and social transformation ended the Middle Ages and began the transition to the Modern era?

   The Commercial Revolution and revival of urban life (Renascimento Comercial e Urbano) revived trade and a money economy, strengthened the bourgeoisie, and undermined the feudal manorial system, aided by the Black Death's demographic collapse.

7. In Modern History, what was the Renaissance and its guiding philosophy?

   The Renaissance (14th–16th c.) was a cultural rebirth centered on humanism and anthropocentrism, valuing classical Greco-Roman models, reason, science, and the individual over the medieval theocentric worldview.

8. What triggered the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and who led it?

   Martin Luther's '95 Theses' protested the sale of indulgences and Church corruption, launching the Reformation. It split Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant branches (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism).

9. Define mercantilism, the dominant economic doctrine of the Modern Absolutist states.

   Mercantilism was state economic interventionism aimed at accumulating precious metals (metalismo/bullionism) through a favorable trade balance, protectionism, and colonial monopolies (Pacto Colonial).

10. What were the Enlightenment's core ideas, and how did they challenge the Old Regime?

    The Enlightenment (Iluminismo, 18th c.) championed reason, natural rights, separation of powers (Montesquieu), popular sovereignty (Rousseau), and economic liberalism (Adam Smith), challenging absolutism, mercantilism, and clerical privilege.

11. In Contemporary History, what were the two phases of the Industrial Revolution and their key energy sources?

    First Industrial Revolution (c. 1760, Britain): coal and steam power, textiles, iron. Second Industrial Revolution (c. 1870): electricity, petroleum, steel, and the internal combustion engine, spreading to Germany, USA, and Japan.

12. What were the main causes of World War I (1914–1918)?

    Nationalism, militarism, imperialist rivalry over colonies, and the system of alliances (Triple Entente vs. Triple Alliance). The immediate trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo in 1914.

13. Contrast fascism/Nazism with liberal democracy in the interwar period.

    Fascism and Nazism were totalitarian, ultranationalist, anti-communist, and anti-liberal, exalting the State, a single party, and a leader (Duce/Führer). Liberal democracy defends pluralism, individual rights, and free elections.

14. What was the Cold War and its defining characteristic?

    The Cold War (1947–1991) was a bipolar ideological, economic, and military dispute between the capitalist USA and socialist USSR. It was 'cold' because the superpowers never fought directly, competing instead through proxy wars, an arms race, and the space race.

15. In Brazilian History, what economic system defined the colonial period (1500–1822)?

    The Plantation system (plantation): large-scale monoculture (sugarcane, later gold and coffee) for export, worked by enslaved labor (indigenous then African), organized under the Colonial Pact benefiting Portugal.

16. What was the immediate cause and the date of Brazilian Independence?

    Facing pressure from the Portuguese Cortes to recolonize Brazil, Prince Dom Pedro declared independence on 7 September 1822 (the 'Grito do Ipiranga'), founding the Empire of Brazil as a constitutional monarchy.

17. How and when was slavery abolished in Brazil, and what law completed it?

    Slavery was abolished on 13 May 1888 by the Lei Áurea, signed by Princess Isabel. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, after gradual laws (Eusébio de Queirós 1850, Ventre Livre 1871, Sexagenários 1885).

18. What characterized the Vargas Era (1930–1945) in Brazil?

    Getúlio Vargas centralized power, promoted industrialization and labor rights (CLT, 1943), and imposed the authoritarian Estado Novo (1937–1945), a nationalist and populist dictatorship with censorship and a corporatist state.

19. In Physical Geography, what are the four external (exogenous) agents of relief modeling?

    Water (rivers/rain – fluvial and pluvial erosion), wind (eolian erosion), ice (glacial erosion), and living organisms/temperature (weathering). They wear down relief, while internal agents (tectonics, volcanism) build it up.

20. Distinguish weather (tempo) from climate (clima).

    Weather is the instantaneous, momentary state of the atmosphere at a place (temperature, humidity, pressure). Climate is the average pattern of weather over many years (typically 30+) for a region.

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