The Four River Valley Civilizations

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The Four River Valley Civilizations
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I. Tigris-Euphrates Rivers

• Located in the Middle East (modern-day Iraq)
• Often called Mesopotamia (land between the
  rivers)
• First example of human civilization
• By 4000 - 3500 B.C.E.
• Farmers were working with some metals, invented
  the wheel
• Flourishing culture
• Written language cuneiform
• Complex religious beliefs
• Sumerians erected shrines and massive towers,
  called ziggurats, to honor gods
• Some ideas (gods creation of earth, floods)
  influenced other religious beliefs
• Lasting beliefs Judaism began 2500 B.C.E.

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I. continued

• Highly organized
• Relied on city-states small, autonomous regions
  ruled by a king
• Developed strict class systems kings, noble
  class, priests controlled most land
• Regulated system of laws and courts
• Babylonian leader, Hammurabi, set early code of
  law in stone

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IV. Nile River

• Originated in modern-day Egypt, along Nile River
• 3000 B.C.E.
• Ruled by a pharaoh, or king
• Considered to be directly descended from the gods
  
• Complex religious and political rituals
• Book of the Dead guided the soul to the
  afterlife
• Mummification of bodies preserved those with
  elite status for eternity
• Theocracy ruled through laws based on religion
• Development of writing
• Hieroglyphics comes from Greek words meaning
  sacred carving
• More complex than cuneiform
• Used papyrus reeds to make a paper-like writing
  surface

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V. Indus River

• Located in modern-day Pakistan, near Indias
  border
• 2500 B.C.E.
• Advanced cities
• Sophisticated city planning grid patterns,
  indoor plumbing
• Example city of Harappa
• Traded with Mesopotamia, but developed
  independently
• Developed system of writing, but never been
  translated
• Thought to be a theocracy, religion a precursor
  to Hinduism
• Environment and invasions a factor in
  disappearance
• Monsoons, floods
• Nomadic invaders (Aryan tribes)

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VI. Huanghe (Yellow River)

• Located in northern half of modern-day China
• Flows from central China to east coast
• About 2000 B.C.E.
• Developed independently from other civilizations
• Largely cut off from contact with outside world
  by geography
• Developed sophisticated irrigations systems
• Controlled flooding of Yellow River
• Early pioneers in science and weapon/tool-making
• Early religious beliefs based on spirits,
  centered around family
• Social classes divided society
• Nobles and peasants
• Established early system of feudalism nobles
  owned all the land that peasants worked
• Rigid political system develops paves way for
  later dynasties