Early Civilization in West Asia, Africa, the Aegean and

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Chapter 1 Early Civilization in West Asia,
Africa, the Aegean and the Western Hemisphere
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Origin of Crops and Domestic Animals
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The Ancient Near East 1.
Protoneolithic culture developed independently in
northern Syria and the Jordan Valley at Jericho
near the Dead Sea in Palestine. Existing as early
as by 8000 B.C.E., Jericho covered several acres
by 7000 B.C.E. Massive fortified walls 6 feet 6
inches at the base and at some places 20 feet
high surrounded the city. Enclosed within the
wall were the houses of the two thousand
inhabitants. In the north on the central plateau
of Asia Minor above the Taurus Mountains was the
Neolithic town of Çatal Hüyük which covered about
thirty-two acres and housed about six thousand
inhabitants living in one story mud-brick houses
built around inner courtyards. Reaching its
zenith between 6700 and 5700 B.C.E., the
community apparently grew wealthy due to trade in
obsidian that was used in jewelry, mirrors, or
knives. With adequate rainfall and both plants
and animals to domesticate, agriculture
apparently began in these plains rather than the
river valleys. 2. The headwaters of the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers are found in the mountains
of Armenia (modern Turkey). The land between the
two rivers is a rolling plateau broken by
limestone suitable for pasturage. Beyond the
Tigris are wooded hills and fertile, well-watered
valleys. The Euphrates flows over a course of
about 1675 miles while the Tigris winds for
almost 1150 miles and joins the Euphrates about
120 miles from the Persian Gulf at the Shatt
al-Arab. Subject to rains, tributaries, and the
melting snow in the Zagros Mountains between
April and May, the two rivers irregularly flood
leaving deposits of rich alluvial silt in the
swamps of the delta. Such conditions fostered
the necessity for water management through
irrigation and drainage canals. This required
both population concentrations (cities) and
organizational and bureaucratic controls. One of
the earliest cities was Uruk near the Euphrates.
It occupied an area of about a thousand acres and
was surrounded by a six-mile long wall with
defensive towers every thirty to thirty-five
feet. The housing consisted of both the flats of
peasants and larger dwellings of civil and
religious officials. 3. Overland trade routes in
Mesopotamia usually followed the Euphrates
because the banks of the Tigris are frequently
steep and difficult. The excellent location of
Babylon allowed it to dominate the trade of
Mesopotamia. Merchants followed the Tigris north
to the lands of Assyria and Armenia while the
Euphrates led northwest to Syria, Palestine, and
the Mediterranean. 4. The early residents of
Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, arrived at the mouths
of the Tigris and Euphrates around 4000 B.C.E.
and by 3000 B.C.E. had created a number of
independent city-states, most notably Ur, Uruk,
and Lagash. Vulnerable due to the ease of
invasion from the north and constant warring over
land and water rights, Semites from Akkad
conquered the area. By 1700 B.C.E., the Sumerian
element was completely submerged due to the union
of Mesopotamia by the Amorite (Semite) Hammurabi
(1792-1750 B.C.E.) of Babylon. 5. The Hittites,
Indo-Europeans, arrived in Asia Minor about 2700
B.C.E. By about 1750 B.C.E. the Hittite Empire
had extended itself to Babylon where the dynasty
of Hammurabi was extinguished. Hittite strength
came from being the first in the Near East to
master the technology of smelting iron. This
gave them both a military and commercial
advantage. The empire disappeared about 1200
B.C.E. in part due to the attack of marauders
called the "Sea People." Question 1. What
physical and geographical characteristics might
affect development of organized society?
The Ancient Near East
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• Mesopotamia
• Sumerian city-states
• Ur, Uruk, Lagash
• Agriculture
• Artisans
• Ziggurats
• Ensi
• Cuneiform
• Religion
• Akkadian Empire.
• Sargon
• Amorites (Old Babylonians)
• Code of Hammurabi
• Assyrian Empire
• Chaldean Empire

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Ancient Egypt and the Nile 1. The Nile River
flows north almost 4200 miles from its
southernmost source in modern-day Burundi in
central Africa. In ancient times, the arable
portion of the Nile Valley extended about 800
miles upriver from the mouth. The river floods
every spring from about June to the end of
October over a narrow strip of land that is never
more than thirteen miles wide. Catch basins
built by the Egyptians trapped water over the
soil that allowed the salt to settle. Because
the color of the soil left by the flooding Nile
is black, Egyptians called their country Kemet
which means black. 2. At the Nile Delta about
one hundred miles from the Mediterranean Sea, the
river splits into a number of branches that flow
to the sea. This territory, north of Memphis, is
called Lower Egypt while the land upstream to the
south along a narrow ten to twenty mile wide
valley, is referred to as Upper Egypt. Like the
delta of the Tigris and Euphrates, engineering
works were required to make full use of the
waters. Unlike the Tigris and Euphrates that
required large population centers to help control
the unpredictable rivers, massive intervention
was not needed. For this reason, the population
remained rural. 3. Granite and sandstone for
building were mined near the First Cataract.
Minerals came from the hills and deserts to the
east. Nevertheless, Egypt lacked copper and
timber that were acquired from Sinai and
Palestine. The Nile Delta was the source of salt
for Egypt 4. The Nile was reflected in the
Egyptian creation myth which declared that before
creation there was a watery void and then, just
as the Nile recedes leaving little hillocks of
mud, the primeval watery void subsided leaving an
island hillock upon which sat the creator-god
Atum who brought into existence all other beings
and phenomena of the universe. (John A. Wilson,
The Culture of Ancient Egypt, p. 59) 5. For
administrative purposes, the Old Kingdom was
divided into twenty-two provinces in Upper Egypt
and twenty in Lower. After 2000 B.C.E., most
pharaohs made Thebes their capital. The temples
to Amon and tombs of the pharaohs and their
queens were built into cliffs at nearby
Luxor. 6. South of the delta is Memphis, the
capital of the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.E.).
North of the capital is Djoser's Pyramid, the
first pyramid to be built, and Giza where the
Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are located. These
pyramids served as burial places for the pharaohs
of the Old Kingdom. The largest of the pyramids
is Khufu (Cheops) dating from about 2540 B.C.E.
Standing 481 feet high and 756 feet on each side,
it covers thirteen acres and is composed of 2.3
million stone blocks averaging 2.5 tons each.
The pyramid was covered with limestone blocks
(subsequently removed for building Cairo). The
four sides coincided closely to the four points
of the compass. 7. During a religious struggle
in which the worship of Aton was introduced and
the temples of rival gods were closed, Amenhotep
IV or Akhnaton (1367-1350 B.C.E.) sought to
lessen the power of the priesthood of Amon-Re at
the capital of Thebes by moving the center of
government two hundred miles north to Akhetaton
(near modern Tell-el-Amarna) where an immense
temple to Aton was built. Questions 1. What
impact did the Nile have upon Egyptian
civilization? 2. Describe how the physical
environment of Mesopotamia and Egypt differed and
the manner in which this might contribute to the
emergence of different civilizations.
Ancient Egypt and the Nile
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• African Civilization
• Egyptian Civilization
• Upper and Lower Egypt united, 3000 B.C.E.
• Old Kingdom, 2700-2200 B.C.E.
• Pharaoh
• Religion
• Pyramids
• Middle Kingdom, 2050-1750 B.C.E.
• Hieroglyphs
• Hyksos, 1750-1550
• Horse-drawn chariots
• New Kingdom, 1550-1150 B.C.E.
• Amenhotep IV (Akhnaton), 1369-1353 B.C.E.
• The Kushite Kingdom
• Meroë
• Iron production

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The Pyramid at Gizeh
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The Temple of Queen Hatesheput in the Valley of
King
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Peoples and Cultures of Central and Latin America
1. The first wave of immigrants to reach South
America were primitive hunters and gatherers.
The second wave brought big game hunters. Lush
vegetation that supported game began to decrease
with the last glacial retreat around 9000 B.C.E.
To supplement the decline of animals for food,
the people turned to agriculture. Its beginning
was apparently in the highlands of Middle
America, the Andean altiplano, and on the desert
coast of Peru. Here soil was rich and was often
put under cultivation leading to a larger
population. Irrigation projects required
cooperation and regulation that gave rise to
centralized governments that eventually extended
their authority over large areas. 2. The tribal
level of organization was found in difficult
environments where production was limited such as
dense forests, plains, or the extremely wet, dry,
or frigid areas. These were hunting and gathering
non-sedentary people. Chiefdoms involved
intensive agriculture supporting a dense
population living in large villages ruled by
chiefs. State organization required intense
agriculture and maintained a large territory and
commerce between regions. Increased agricultural
demands were accomplished by merging political
and religious authority into one individual. 3.
True cities developed and became centers of
population, administration, and
religion. Questions 1. How did agriculture
develop and what were the consequences? 2. What
were the various forms of social organization?
Peoples and Cultures of Central and Latin America
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• Amerindian Civilization
• Chavin culture, 900-200 B.C.E.
• Olmec Culture, 1400-500 B.C.E.
• Traders, farmers
• Spread of Olmec culture
• La Venta
• Temples
• Heads

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Classical Greece
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• Early Aegean Civilization
• Minoan Civilization, 2000-1450 B.C.E.
• Knossos, Crete
• Writing and trade
• Indo -Europeans
• Origins north of the Black Sea
• Linguistic roots
• Patriarchal society
• Hittites, 1600-1200 B.C.E.
• Mycenaeans, 1600-1200 B.C.E.
• Indo-European
• Trojan War
• Dorians
• The Greek Dark Age, c. 1100-c. 750 B.C.E

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The Assyrian and Persian Empires 1. The
Armenian highlands and the plains of Babylon
bound the lands of ancient Assyria on the north
and south. In the east, the Zagros Mountains
lying just beyond the Tigris River hemmed in
Assyria. These geographical roadblocks kept the
Assyrians from ever permanently expanding north
and east. To the west, however, the absence of
natural boundaries and strong powers after the
demise of the Hittite Empire permitted Assyrian
expansion to the Mediterranean. 2. Mesopotamia
and the surrounding lands were satisfactorily
endowed but those of Assyria were not. Although
iron deposits were present, the Assyrians had to
seek other mineral resources from Armenia,
Persia, central Asia Minor, the Danube region,
and Egypt. Regular rainfall meant no large
irrigation works were needed and as a result
Assyria became a land of farming villages with
few significant cities. Trade was generally
carried out by foreigners. The aggressive nature
of the Assyrians may have been due to threats
from their war-like neighbors to the north and
east and from Babylon to the south. These
threats prompted political cohesion and
militarism. 3. By 700 B.C.E., Assyria
controlled Mesopotamia, parts of the Iranian
plateau, parts of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and
Egypt down to Thebes. The Assyrian army used a
variety of tactics including guerrilla and siege
warfare as well as terror, especially laying
waste the land of enemies by destroying dams,
burning crops, cutting down trees, obliterating
towns, and committing atrocities against the
people. Prisoners were often deported from their
lands to Assyria where they repopulated areas
decimated by warfare. Over the course of three
centuries some four to five million people were
deported to Assyria resulting in a very racially
and linguistically mixed people. 4.
Babylonia became wealthy due to its location on
the trade routes crossing Mesopotamia, a strong
agriculture, and a developed textile and metals
industry. An eight-mile wall, encircled by a
moat filled from the Euphrates surrounded the
capital of Babylon. The city was adorned with
temples and palaces including the Hanging Garden,
which consisted of terraces and an artificial
mountain upon which was a lush garden irrigated
by water piped to the top. 5. The original
homeland of the Persians was Persis in the
southwestern corner of modern Iran. The western
coast along the Persian Gulf is narrow and
harborless. Hemming in this hot arid region to
the east are abrupt mountains rising to six
thousand feet. Beyond the mountains is a high
plateau broken by valleys, which are fertile and
blessed with adequate rainfall. Here in a
temperate climate a considerable population could
be supported. Nevertheless, this was not the
basis for an empire since there was no outlet to
the sea and the only routes west were through the
mountain roads to Susa and Babylon. The
harshness of Persis is characteristic of all of
Persia. High mountains that isolate the interior
from the sea surround a vast central plateau,
which extends from the Tigris-Euphrates valley in
the west to the Indus valley in the east. On
this broad plain lay scattered oases and two
immense salt deserts (Dasht-i-Lut and
Dasht-i-Kavir covering some 38,000 square miles)
which physically form a barrier between the east
and west. The Dasht-i-Kavir southeast of the
Caspian Sea is mostly covered with salt instead
of sand and is devoid of water or plant life.
Facing the impossible desert, nomads migrating
into Persia from central Asia and the steppes of
Russia would turn east to India or west to
Mesopotamia. 6. Darius (521-486 B.C.E.), after a
year of civil war, began strengthening the
empire. He built a canal linking the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean by way of the Nile, campaigned
into western India extending Persian territory to
the Indus River, and conquered Thrace making the
Macedonian king a vassal. In 499 B.C.E., the
Ionian Greek city states revolted and after
receiving aid from mainland Greeks, invaded Lydia
and burned the provincial capital of Sardis. The
rebels were punished and Darius invaded the Greek
mainland culminating in his defeat at the
Marathon in 490 B.C.E. Question 1. How did the
geography of the Near East impact the character
of the Assyrians?
The Assyrian and Persian Empires
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• Ancient Persian Civilization
• Rise of the Persian Empire
• Indo-European
• Cyrus (559-530 B.C.E.)
• Darius I 522-486 B.C.E.)
• Royal Road
• Persian Culture and Religion
• Zoroastrianism