Transcript Early Civilizations

Mesopotamia
 People
begin to settle along rivers because of
the need for fresh water.
 The first four civilizations to show up are
located in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and
India
Constant supply of
fresh water
 Used for cooking,
cleaning, bathing,
drinking, laundry,
restroom
 Watering crops
 Water for animals
 Transportation
 Flooding

Positives
Flooding
 Unsanitary from
people and animals

Negatives
Civilizations are complex societies
 Rivers were very important

They could water enough crops to feed large groups
of people
 Without having to worry about basic needs, people
had time to think of other things and do other jobs;
Specialization

The 2 rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates
 Irrigation: the building of walls, canals, and
ditches to water crops and control flooding
 Flooding is both good and bad

Good: brings fresh soil
 Bad: washes crops away if not harvested in time

 Mesopotamia
is not a civilization. It is a
region where a bunch of different peoples
lived.
 Many different groups came to power over
time.
 The
first group to come to power
 Organized into city-states
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City-state had its own government (was its own
country) Sumerian cities were not united.
The city-states were often at war with one
another
Divided because of geography
 Polytheistic-believe
in many gods and
goddesses
 Ziggurat-religious temple
 Kings and leaders were probably war heroes
3
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main classes of people
Upper: kings, priests, gov. officials
Middle: artisans (skilled workers) merchants,
farmers (majority of people were farmers), and
fishermen
Lower: enslaved people
 Slavery

was not based off of skin color
They were prisoners of war or simply owed
money
 Invented
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Cuneiform- the first system of writing using
wedge shaped marks
Scribes- people that were taught to write, only
boys, held honored positions in society
Oldest known story Epic of Gilgamesh
 Some
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
many things
of them we still use today
Wagon wheel, plow, number system (based off of
60), 60 minute hour, 12 month calendar
They built the first carts pulled by animals and
sailboats