Advanced Cities in Major River Valley

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Advanced Cities in Major River Valley
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Map Tigrus Euphrates and Nile
SUMER
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Map Indus
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Map Yellow
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Geography

• TE Very fertlie land located between 2 rivers,
  no natural barriers, open for trading and
  invasions
• Nile Deserts acted as natural barriers that
  forced Eygptians to stay close to the Nile and
  shut out invaders, remained peaceful for most of
  its early years
• Indus Mountains created natural barrier and
  helped protect the Indus Valley from invasions
• Yellow Natural barriers isolated China Pacific
  Ocean, Himalaya Mountains, Gobi Desert, Plateau
  of Tibet

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Irrigation Farming

• Rivers flooded at least once a year, left a thick
  bed of mud called silt
• Used irrigation to produce a surplus
• Surpluses allowed for growth of villages and
  specialized jobs

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Farming in China

• Used both
• Irrigation Terrace
• Terrace Farming-farmers create steps in
  mountains that allow for small, flat fields
  workable for agriculture

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City-States and power

• city-state-a city and its surrounding lands
  functioning as an independent political unit
  (like a country functions today)
• farming villages, each one had its own rituals,
  gods, and cheifs
• Features surrounded by a high wall, ziggurat
  (temple) in the center
• Power Priests ruled at first, during war time
  power was given to military commanders who
  eventually became rulers

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City-State in the Indus River Valley
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Trade

• Cultural diffusion-process of a new idea or a
  product spreading from one culture to another
• TE, Egypt, Indus Developed trade with each
  other, as technology grew (ships and wheel),
  trade over greater distances
• China Viewed people who lived outside of China
  as barbarians, thought their civilization was the
  center of the civilized world

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Early Trade Routes
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Written Language

• TE Cuniform-used wet clay to draw a system of
  lines and marks, Epic of Gilgamesh-earliest work
  of literature, told myths and legends of
  Mesopotamia
• Nile Hieroglyphics-flexible writing system,
  papyrus-early form of paper made from reeds,
  developed written numbers, calendar
• Indus Developed but we have not been able to
  translate
• Yellow Each character stands for an idea (not a
  sound), memorize over 1,000 characters, unifies
  the area because EVERYONE writes the same

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Religion

• Polytheism-Believed in many different gods
• Various forces in nature were controlled by gods
  (ex. Floodings and droughts)
• Egyptians worshipped the Nile, also believed
  their rulers were gods

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Achievements

• TE
• Wheel, sail, Plow, 1st to use bronze
• Indus
• Laid out their cities on a precise grid system,
  Buildings were made from oven baked bricks
• Very sophisticated plumbing and sewage systems
• China
• Invented the chariot, Skilled workers (artisans)
  made silk and bronze items

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EgyptPyramids

• Pyramids were final the resting place for
  pharohs, believed to rule after death so their
  tombs were more important than their palaces
• Remarkable engineering achievements, they hadnt
  begun using the wheel
• Represent the strength of Egyptian civilization

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Early Rulers

• TE Hammurabi was the ruler of Babylon WHAT
  WOULD YOU DO?
• Nile To Eygptians the kings were gods, Pharaohs
  stood at the center of Egypts religion,
  government and army
• Indus Not enough is known about the civ.
• Yellow Mandate of Heaven-royal authority came
  from heaven, a just ruler have divine approval,
  became a central idea to Chinese govt.
• Dynastic cycle-patterns of rise, decline and
  replacement of dynasties