Transcript River Valley Civilizations

River Valley
Civilizations
• 3500 to 500 BC
The “Cradles of Civilization”
Where did the earliest
civilizations develop?
• River valleys
Why did ancient civilizations
develop in river valleys?
• They had rich soil for agriculture because
periodic flooding left silt which made the soil
rich in nutrients
They were protected by geographic
barriers (mountains, deserts, seas,
jungles, etc.)
Where were the earliest civilizations
located and when did they exist?
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River Valley Civilizations
(3500 BC to 500 BC)
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Mesopotamia in Southwest Asia
Egypt in Northeast Africa
India in South Asia
China in East Asia
From west to east “EMIC”
Evidence of Early Civilizations
What were some characteristics
of the Ancient River Valley
civilizations?
Mesopotamia: Sumer
Geography
Mesopotamia
•Mesopotamia was a region located in the
part of the Fertile Crescent that lies between
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Mesopotamia
• Present-day Iraq
(Middle East).
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Protected on three sides by mountains,
deserts and the Persian Gulf (but
vulnerable to invaders from the north)
Sumerian Government
• Sumer was the first known civilization
• It arose in southern Mesopotamia
Sumer
• Sumer was made up of 12 independent city- states
each ruled by its own king.
• City-state: A city and the surrounding land
Cuneiform:
• the first written
language (wedge
writing)
Irrigation:
• brought water from the rivers to the fields
during the dry summer months
Controlling the Rivers
Bronze
• Smelted from
copper and tin
Other Sumerian
Accomplishments
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Plow
Ziggurats
Wheeled vehicles
Number system
based on 60
Sumerian Inventions
Babylonian Empire
• The first empire to arise in Mesopotamia
• Empire: several peoples, nations, or
previously independent states under the
control of one ruler.
Code of Hammurabi
• First set of
published laws
• Based on the
principle of an
“eye for an eye”
• Laws differed
based on class
Sumer
Egypt
Geography
• Nile Delta and
Nile River Valley
(Northeast Africa)
Nile Delta
• The delta was located
in Lower Egypt
(northern Egypt lower in elevation)
• Delta: broad, marshy,
triangular area of
land formed by
deposits of silt at the
mouth of a river.
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Protected by deserts and seas
View from space shuttle
Egyptian Government
• Pharoahs were rulers
thought to be gods. They
had absolute power
(complete control) over
the Egyptian Empire.
• They were thought to be
responsible for making the
sun rise, the Nile flood,
and crops grow.
• Egypt, had a rigid class system and
slavery was accepted.
Egyptian Religion
• Like other
River Valley
peoples,
Egyptians were
polytheistic
(believed in
many gods).
Egyptian Writing
•Hieroglyphics: Pictures stood for sounds as
well as ideas
Egypt
India: Indus Valley Civilization
Geography
• Located on the Indus
River in present-day
Pakistan (Indian
subcontinent).
Indus River Flood Plain
Natural Barriers
• The Himalayan and the Hindu Kush Mountains as
well as the Indian Ocean protected the Indian
subcontinent from invasion.
Indus Valley Government
• Made up of independent city-states including
Harappa, and Mohenjo-Daro (and 2500 other
sites)
Indus Valley Achievements
• Plumbing
The great bath at Mohenjo-Daro
Cotton Cloth
• first to cultivate cotton and weave its fibers
into cloth (textiles)
Writing
• has not been deciphered
Indus Valley
China
Geography
• Huang He River
•Also called the Yellow River and the River of
Sorrows (yellow silt caused flooding)
Flooding of the Huang He
• Satellite images
before
after
• Protected by the Gobi desert,
Himalayan Mountains, Pacific Ocean,
dense jungles
Chinese Government
• China was ruled by a succession of ruling
families called dynasties (Early dynasties:
Shang and Zhou)
China
• Chinese rulers
were
considered
divine (godlike).
• They served under a mandate of heaven
(approval of the gods) only as long as their
rule was just
Dynastic Cycle:
• Explains the rise and fall of families of rulers
Ancestor Worship
• The Chinese believed that the spirits of family
ancestors could bring good fortune or disaster
• They paid respect to family ancestors and made
sacrifices in their honor
Early Chinese Achievements
• Silk cloth (made from the cocoons of
silkworms).
Writing:
• Characters stood for ideas, not sounds.
• The earliest evidence of Chinese writing is found on
oracle bones.
Irrigation:
• Water wheels
were used to
bring river water
to the fields
• Bronze
Bronze vessel used for sacrificial food
Shang Dynasty