Early River Civilizations 3500 BC to 450 BC

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Early River Civilizations 3500 BC to 450 BC

• Review Rise of Civilizations
• 5000 BC Neolithic Revolution 3000 BC Bronze
  Age
• Mesopotamia City States
• Egypt Upper Lower Egypt
• Indus Planned Cities
• China Dynasties

2
Learn

• Role of geography
• Earliest civilizations
• Main characteristics for each
• Dynasties Empires (and leaders)
• Hammurabis Code other laws
• Science Technology
• Religion

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Africa Asia
Did you know?

• The earliest civilizations formed along the river
  valleys of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt, India,
  and China. Each of these societies had to
  overcome environmental challenges in order to
  create a stable social organization.
• These people experimented with new government
  institutions, from city-states and kingdoms to
  early empires. They also developed breakthroughs
  in science and technology. They spread their
  ideas and innovations to distant lands through
  trade.

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Early River Valley Civilizations
Environment

• Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable
• No natural barriers
• Limited natural resources for making tools or
  buildings

Meso-potamia

• Flooding of the Nile predictable Gift of the
  Nile
• Nile an easy transportation link between Egypts
  villages
• Deserts were natural barriers.

Egypt
Indus Valley

• Indus flooding unpredictable
• Monsoon winds. Rains ½ the year. Drought ½ the
  year.
• Himalaya mountains deserts were natural barriers

• Huang He flooding unpredictable River of
  Sorrows.
• Yangtze River flooding unpredictable.
• Mountains, deserts natural barriers
• Geographically isolated from other ancient
  civilizations

China
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Early River Valley Civilizations
Power Authority

• Independent city-states, often warring
• City-states governed first by priests, then by
  generals who became kings
• City-states eventually united to first empires by
  conquerors

Meso-potamia

• Kingdom with strong government organization
• Theocracy, with pharaohs ruling as gods
• Flexible social system talent rewarded with
  advancement

Egypt
Indus Valley

• Strong centralized government
• Planned cities
• Social divisions not significant.

• Community and family more important than
  individual
• Sharp divisions between nobles and peasants
• Inflexible social system. Once a peasant

China
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Early River Valley Civilizations
Science Technology

• Irrigation
• Cuneiform
• Bronze
• Wheel, sail, plow

Meso-potamia

• Hieroglyphics
• Pyramids Tombs not used on everyday basis
• Mathematics, geometry, astronomy
• Medicine

Egypt

• Writing (not yet deciphered)
• Cities built on precise grid
• Plumbing and sewage systems

Indus Valley

• Writing
• Silk
• Coined money
• Cast iron

China
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Early River Valley Civilizations
Legacies/Additional info

• Ziggurat-temples/city centers used every day
• Epic of Gilgamesh oldest novel
• Hammurabis Code first legal system set down in
  stone.
• Home to many civilizations over time.

Meso-potamia

• Egyptians polytheistic/immortality/life after
  death.
• Civilization survived for longest period of time
• Knowledge of hieroglyphics died out for
  centuries.
• Not sure how pyramids/etc. built.

Egypt

• Writing (not yet deciphered)
• Cities built on precise grid. Plumbing and sewage
  systems
• Trade with Mesopotamia, accurate weights
  measures

Indus Valley

• Long distance trade w/Rome drained Romes wealth.
• Great Wall may have pushed Huns into Europe.
• Emperors trying to isolate China ended up
  weakening it.
• Emperors sought immortality. Terra-cotta army.

China
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Ancient Middle East

• Babylonians Hammurabis Code, astrology,
  polytheism
• Hittites Iron tools, Chariots, less severe laws
• Hebrews Judaism, monotheism, 10 commandments
• Phoenicians sailors, traders, the alphabet
• Assyrians effective government, library at
  Nineveh
• Chaldeans Hanging Gardens, astronomy
• Persians better government, roads, cultural
  diffusion, Zoroaster

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Sum It All Up

• Due to Agricultural/Neolithic Revolution man
  transitioned from Hunting-Gathering to settled
  agricultural societies.
• The most logical places for these civilizations
  to arise is along rivers which provided water for
  crops, mud for building materials and
  transportation.

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Sum It All Up

• Four civilizations arose around 6 rivers.
• The geographic circumstances of the rivers and
  surrounding lands played a huge part in shaping
  the cultures that lived in/on them.

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Sum It All Up

• Lack of natural barriers (Mesopotamia) allows for
  constant invasions but easier trade of goods and
  ideas.
• Formidable natural barriers (India, China, Egypt)
  kept civilizations safe, but isolated, possibly
  vulnerable.
• Friendly geographic conditions (Egypt) help
  civilization survive for centuries.