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Beginnings of Civilization
Bell Ringer
• What is a Civilization?
-Historians distinguish eight basic
features found in most early
civilizations:
cities
well-organized central governments
complex religions
job specialization
social classes
art and architecture
public works
writing
4River Valley Civilizations
• The world's first great civilizations developed
in or around river valleys.
• The four great river valley civilizations were
the Nile River Valley, the Tigris-Euphrates River
Valley, the Huang-He River Valley, and the
Indus River Valley.
Fertile Cresent
• The earliest civilizations that
arose in the world
developed in the late fourth
and the third millennia BC
in parts of Asia and north
Africa.
• The three large alluvial
systems of the TigrisEuphrates, the Nile and the
Indus supported three great
ancient civilizations.
Rise of Cities
• -The first cities emerged
after farmers began
cultivating fertile lands
along river valleys and
producing surplus, or
extra, food.
• -These surpluses helped
populations to expand,
and soon enough,
villages swelled into
cities.
Rise of Cities
-Conditions favored farming for
early cities along the Nile River in
Egypt, in the valley of the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers in the
Middle East, along the Indus River
in India, and near the Yellow River
in China.
-On one hand, rivers provided a
water supply and a means of
transportation. On another hand,
the rivers flooded, causing
destruction and death.
Crossroads of Human History
• Historically, if you wanted to
travel anywhere in the
world (the known world),
you probably had to go
through the Middle East.
Because of this, the Middle
East benefited from new
ideas being brought in by
people from all over the
world.
Organized Governments
-To produce large amounts of food and
oversee irrigation projects, new forms of
government arose in the cities.
-Warrior kings soon emerged as the chief
political leaders, claiming that their right to
rule came from the gods.
-Government became more complex as
rulers issued laws, collected taxes, and
organized systems of defense. Over time,
bureaucracies evolved. A bureaucracy is a
system of managing government through
departments run by appointed officials.
Complex Religions
-Most ancient people were
polytheistic, meaning they believed in
many gods. People appealed to sun
gods, river goddesses, and other spirits
that they believed controlled natural
forces.
-Priests and worshippers performed
rituals such as ceremonies, dances,
prayers, and hymns to gain the favor of
the gods.
-People built temples and sacrificed
animals, crops, and sometimes humans
to the gods.
Job Specialization & Social Classes
-For the first time in history, individuals began to
specialize in certain jobs. Artisans, or skilled
craftworkers, made tools and weapons out of copper and
bronze, bricklayers built city walls, soldiers defended
them, and merchants sold goods
-People were ranked in society according to their jobs.
Priests and nobles were usually at the top of ancient
society, while slaves occupied the lowest social level.
Arts, Architecture, and Public Works
-Temples and palaces with
massive statues and
beautifully decorated walls
dominated cities, serving as
symbols of their strength
and power.
-Tombs were filled with
furniture and jewelry.
-Projects such as roads,
bridges, and city walls were
built to benefit the city.
Writing
-The need to keep records led
to the development of the are
of writing in early civilizations.
-Early writing was made up of
pictograms, or simple
drawings or symbols used to
represent words.
-As writing grew more
complex, only specialized
people called scribes learned
to read and write.
Spread of Civilization
-As ancient rulers gained more power, they conquered
territories beyond their cities. This expansion led to the
rise of the city-state, a political unit that included a city
and its surrounding land and villages.
-Rival leaders often battled for power. Sometimes
rulers conquered many cities and villages, creating an
empire, or a group of states of territories controlled by
one ruler.
-Occasionally throughout early history, there were
encounters between nomads and city dwellers. At
times, the two groups cooperated with each other. At
other times, they have been in conflict.
Civilizations and Change
-Ancient civilizations changed
in many ways over the
centuries.
-Occasionally, the cause of
these changes was the
changing environment. For
example, sudden, drastic
events, such as a volcano,
may have wiped out a
civilization. If the land’s soil
became exhausted, cities
would suffer famine.
Civilizations and Change
-An even more important source of change was
cultural diffusion, the spread of ideas, customs, and
technologies from one people to another. This
occurred through migration, trade, and warfare.
Civilization
Nile River Valley
(present-day Egypt)
Tigris-Euphrates River
Valley
(present-day Iraq)
Yellow River Valley
(present-day China)
Indus River Valley
(present-day India)
Geographical Factors
The Nile River provided predictable
floods and a stable food source
The River flows northward and empties
into the Mediterranean but the winds
blow south
This enabled river travelers to move
north or south along the river, which
promoted trade and unity in Ancient
Egypt
Deserts and seas surround the valley
and offered some protection from
invasion
The floods provided fertile soil and a
stable food supply
Accomplishments
Hieroglyphics
Wrote on sheets of dried papyrus plant
Miscellaneous
Rigid class structure with the
pharaoh at the top followed by
priests, artisans, farmers. and slaves
Polytheistic religion - believed in life
after death
Used geometry to survey fields and build canals as well as
pyramids as tombs for the pharaoh
Knew astronomy and produced a calendar of 365 days
Developed a system of writing called Cuneiform, which
were wedge-shaped characters pressed into a clay tablet
The floods of the Tigris-Euphrates
Built ziggurats and arches with sun-dried clay bricks
rivers were unpredictable and as a
result the Sumerians believed that
their gods were angry gods
The valley was surrounded by deserts & Developed the wheel and algebra
hills but they were relatively easy to
cross and so the peoples of this region
were constantly conquered and reconquered
Hammurabi's Code was constructed by the Babylonians and
was an early form of written laws (an eye for an eye)
Flooding of the Yellow River provided Developed a 360-day calendar based on the moon (priests
fertile, yellow soil and a stable food
added days when needed)
supply
The Chinese were surrounded by
Predicted eclipses and kept a written history
mountains and the Gobi desert and as a
result were very isolated from other
civilizations and cultures
As a result of this isolation the Chinese Early written language consisted of pictograms
developed an ethnocentric mode of
thinking
The Indus River and monsoons provided Developed a written language of pictograms
a food supply
Monsoons were unpredictable and led Constructed a water system, public baths, hospitals
to famine or floods and destruction
Valley is bordered by the Himalayas
and the Hindu Kush to the north,
however the Khyber pass allowed for
entry into the region and invasion
Practiced polytheism
Had no conception of a heaven or
salvation for the deceased
Dynastic cycle and Mandate of
Heaven
Practiced animism before Hinduism
and Buddhism take hold
The Aryans conquer the valley
They bring the Vedic religion and the
beginnings of the caste system