Download The First Civilizations

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The First Civilizations
Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
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I t wasn't easy to be a prehistoric nomad. You wandered everywhere with your small family
group looking for food. But if you were lucky enough to wander into the fertile crescent,
your lives changed. What the nomads found was an especially fertile area for growing crops
between the two rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates. At the same time, people were settling around the Nile
River in Egypt.
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The relative ease of obtaining food made for a stabile population. This permitted the growth of cultural
inventions such as art, music, and written languages. The Sumerians were the first known civilization to
record simple transactions on wet clay tablets. After the tablets dried, they could last a long time.
In Egypt, writing took the form of stylized pictures called hieroglyphs. These were painted on walls, carved
into rock, and painted on papyrus paper. Papyrus paper was easier to transport than the clay tablets of their
neighbors to the west, but the paper did not last very long.
1. Name the city north of Damascus.
2. Think about the shape of a crescent. On the map, which shaded area probably corresponds most closely
with the area called the fertile crescent?
3. Which sea is southeast of Giza?
4. Which city is at about 351/10Nand 45"E?
5. Which city is at about 35'/2"N and 37"E?
6. Assuming the way is equally difficult, would it take
longer to get from Ur to Uruk or from Ur to Lagash?
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7. Approximately how far is it from Babylon to Nineveh?
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8. Egypt and the Akkadian Empire both shared which sea as a border?
9. Persepolis is at the same latitude as which other cities on the map?
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10. Name all five cities that are east or southeast of Nippur.
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The First Civilizations
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ncient Mesopotamia
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Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
E Mesopotamia was not a country In the same way that the Midwest in America refers to a
specific group of states, Mesopotamia names a specific region in the fertile crescent. The word
means, roughly, "land between two rivers." Mesopotamia was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Mesopotamians were the people who lived there.
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In the beginning, small nomadic groups settled into independent city-states. They built high walls around the
cities to protect them from one another. Much of the area around the fertile crescent was desert.
Mesopotamians had access to water with which to grow crops, so they were fortunate compared to the desert
nomads. They used their relative prosperity to build beautiful buildings and carve sculptures. They are best
remembered for inventing writing. Sumer is credited with being the first city-state to think of recording
information on clay tablets. Later, the Assyrians and Babylonians would use writing to record their conquests-and poetry and myths such as the story of Gilgamesh. It is for these reasons and others that
Mesopotamia is also known as the birthplace of civilization.
1. Name three cities along the Euphrates River.
2. Which one of the Euphrates cities was almost certainly the capital of one of the early empires?
3. Based on the map and the information above, which city is likely to have a greater population: Ashur or
Jarmo? Explain.
4. List all of the cities shown between the 35th and 40th parallels.
5. List all of the cities shown between the 35th and 40th meridians.
6. Describe the location of the fertile crescent in terms of latitude and longitude.
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7. What does the gray area of land represent on the map? Why were Mesopotamians fortunate to live
there?
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8. If a traveler walked straight from one city to the next, which would be a longer journey: from
Jerusalem to Ebla or from.Thebes to Memphis?
9. Which sea is north of the Persian Gulf?
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10. What is the approximate distance from Babylon to Ur?
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Ancient Mesopotamia
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Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
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argon, Hammurabi, Tiglath-Pileser, Shalamaneser, Ashurbanipal . . . no, these are not names
of new car designs or vacation spots. They are names of the rulers of ancient Assyria. Assyria
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began as Akkadia. Its ruler, Sargon I, was not content with ruling the small city-state of Kish.
He attacked the neighboring city-states and soon controlled the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
The next ruler to conquer the city-states was Hammurabi, a ruler from the city-state of Babylon. This pattern
of control of Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions passing from the Assyrians to the Babylonians and
back continued for centuries. This map looks at the increasingly large kingdoms built by some of the greatest
of the Assyrian kings. These rulers were kings during the final and greatest period of ancient Assyrian culture.
Ashurbanipal contributed greatly to what we know about the time and culture of the people by building the
largest library of his time. Although the library was destroyed, enough of the clay and wax tablets survived to
give us a wealth of information about the people and cultures of the time.
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1. Which capital of Assyria is located at approximately 35'/1°N and 43"E?
2. What town is immediately north of that city?
3. What river do these two cities depend on for water?
4. Mesopotamia, the area controlled by Tiglath-Pileser, means "land between two rivers". What are the two rivers?
5. What other large river is labeled on the map?
6. Ashurbanipal conquered which two cities along the river named in question 5?
7. Ashurbanipal placed his library in Nineveh. If a scholar lived in Carchemish and another lived in Uruk,
which would have to travel farther to get to the library?
8. About how far would a scholar in Sippar have to travel to get to the library?
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9. What are the approximate coordinates of latitude and longitude for the city of Memphis? (Round to the
nearest whole number.)
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10. What has happened to the coastline of the Persian Gulf over time?
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Ancient Assyria
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ities of Ancient Egypt
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Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
w h y does it seem like the titles of upper and lower Egypt are backwards? The mouth of a
river is considered its lower section. Its source is usually at a higher elevation, so it is the
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river's upper section. Upper and Lower Egypt refer to their place on the Nile River-the source
of life in that section of Africa.
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Egypt was the first civilization to make someone king. Most other people in the region lived in independently
ruled city-states. Egypt unified first as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, and then these joined together under a
common pharaoh. Later, Nubia became part of the empire, too.
Human settlement was made possible in Egypt by the flooding of the Nile. Heavy spring rains in Ethiopian
mountains cause the flooding of the Nile. The river begins to rise at the first cataract in the last week of June,
reaches its peak in September, begins to recede in October, and reaches its low point in June.
A cataract is an obstruction of hard stone that turns the river into an impassable rapid. The cataracts cut
Egypt off from the area to the south. Egypt then extended from the first cataract to the Mediterranean, where
the Nile exited in seven mouths. Over the centuries, the path of the river changed. The Nile now exits in only
two places.
1. What is the capital city of Upper Egypt? Of Lower Egypt?
2. Which city is immediately north of Philae?
3. If you traveled east from Saqqara, what city would you soon come to? What is the significance of this city?
4. In the delta area, two cities very close to each other border the same stretch of the river. What are the
two cities? Which is on the eastern side of the river and which is on the western side?
5. Which city appears to sit right on the 25th parallel north?
6. Which cities are at approximately 271/2'N and 3loE?
7. Which natural geographic feature is at approximately 20"N and 30'/z0N?
8. At what point is the distance from one side of the fertile area to the other at its thinnest point?
Approximately how wide is it?
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9. What is the approximate distance from one side of the fertile area to the other at its widest point?
Where is it?
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10. What is the approximate distance from the third to the fourth cataract? (Hint: Draw a dot at the bottom
of the U in the river between them. Measure to and from the dot and add.)
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The Cities of Ancient Egypt
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he Empire of Asoka
Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
A s o k a was an army general who had aspirations of becoming an emperor. He took his army
southeast of Mohenjo-Daro and captured the lands there. This took quite a bit of effort-the
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people who lived there had managed to resist being part of the Indian empire up until that
time. As Asoka traveled through the land that now belonged to him, he was overcome by the destruction and
suffering he saw that was a result of his actions.
He decided to stop putting effort into acquiring new land and instead poured his energy into being a fair and
generous ruler. He established laws based on the principles of Buddha and soon earned the love and respect of
his people. In order to hold everyone accountable, he placed rock and pillar edicts throughout the kingdom.
These edicts listed some of the laws and principles of government that he had established. The map shows
only a fraction of these edicts. Some still stand today,
Interestingly, although Asoka became a very religious man, he never insisted that any of his subjects or
employees follow the same faith. He believed in their right to choose.
1. Draw the symbol for the location of an edict on the map. Which one is furthest south?
2. Which mountain range forms a natural barrier in the northeast part of the empire?
3. Use the map and the information above to make an educated guess about the name of the conquered area.
4. The 70th meridian passes through which major river?
5. Was Sri Lanka part of Asoka's kingdom? How do you know?
6. Which edict appears to be closest to the city of Harappa? About how far is it from that town?
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7. What is the approximate location of Pataliputra in latitude and longitude?
8. How many of the shown cities are not on a river? Name any.
9. Which is the lesser distance: from Pataliputra to the Tosali edict or from Harappa to the Mansehra edict?
10. Which mountain is shown and what is its height?
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The Empire of Asoka
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ncient River Valley Cultu
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Read the paragraph for background information. Then, use the map to answer the questions.
E a c h of these four ancient cultures would give birth to unique forms of art, rich and complicated religious practices, powerful rulers, and the expansion of their kingdoms.
There is more than luck at play here. The birthplaces of these ancient civilizations share some key characteristics. First, they are all at similar distances from the equator, so they share similar climates. Second, they arose
around steady water sources. Many of these rivers provided the land around them with fertile topsoil on
which to grow crops. A reliable food supply led to steady populations and population growth.
Third, well-fed populations lead to invention and innovation. One common innovation of all four cultural
areas is a written language. Although archaeologists have not been able to decipher the writings of the Indus
Valley people, they did leave behind a written language. Egyptians invented hieroglyphs, the Mesopotamian
people began with cuneiform, and the Chinese carved symbols into bone, and, later, bronze.
1. What lines of latitude are all four civilizations within?
2. This area of latitude corresponds roughly with the same area in which the United States is found.
What would you hypothesize about the temperatures in these regions?
3. Of the four civilizations, which was least likely
to have contact with-or be able to trade with-the others?
4. What body of water might the people in Mesopotamia
have used to trade with Egypt?
5. About how much further is it to travel from the closest
edges of Mesopotamia to the Indus, Valley than from
Egypt to Mesopotamia?
6. Which culture grew up between the Arabian Sea and the
Bay of Bengal?
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7. Name four ways in which the ancient civilizations were similar.
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8. Approximately how far is it to travel across land from the
closest edge of the Indus Valley civilizations to ancient China?
9. China's position north of the equator is most similar to which
other ancient culture?
10. What natural land formation might make a journey from the
Indus Valley to China especially difficult?
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The Four Ancient River Valley Cultures
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The Minoans
Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
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The Minoans lived entirely surrounded by water on the island of Crete. Sometimes known as
the Bull-Jumpers for a popular sport on the island, they might be better known as the shipbuilders of the ancient world. They were the first civilization to have a navy
Without their navy, the Minoans might never have developed to the extent that they did. Elsewhere in the
Mediterranean Sea, ancient pirates controlled the waters. They would also land at towns and cities along the
coast and attack the people to steal their goods. The navy kept the Minoans safe and allowed the culture to
flourish.
The Minoans produced two famous forms of artwork. They covered their walls in colorful frescoes-paintings
made on wet plaster. They also made beautiful sculptures and vessels from bronze and pottery. During the
middle Minoan period, writing was developed and palaces were built. The first sophisticated form of writing
from the area is now called Linear A. A later form that came from the Greeks is known as Linear B.
1. What was Linear A and how does it relate to Knossos?
2. Which island is closest to 35"N and 24"E?
3. Look at the scale and the measures of latitude and latitude. Why is this information necessary when
comparing the map to other maps?
4. How many palace sites are shown on the map?
5. When did the Minoan culture first become established on Crete?
6. Which sea is south of Crete?
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7. What are the approximate coordinates of Myrtos in
latitude and longitude?
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8. If you travel directly west from Kato Zakro, which
palace will you come to next? Which settlement?
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9. Which palace is closest to Mount Ida?
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10. How far is Chrysi from Koufonision?
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The Minoans
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Read the paragraph for background information. Then use the map to answer the questions.
T h e Phoenicians were a trading people in the area that is now Lebanon. They did not have a
lot of other career choices. Although they were near the water, the land is not the right kind
for growing crops. Because it supports such limited vegetation, it is not a great place to raise
animals. They could not expand because there was a band of steep mountains around them, Their only natural asset was a plentiful supply of cedar trees.
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Cedar is a wonderful wood to build with. It is strong, it looks handsome, and it smells good. So the
Phoenicians made fine items with their cedar wood and became sailors who obtained what they needed by
trading their cedar furniture with other civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea. As they traveled, they
found other valuable materials, colonized those areas, and sold and traded those materials as well. From those
materials they also invented other arts. For example, the Phoenicians were famous for the glass they made. For
awhile, they had colonies throughout the Mediterranean Sea. They were considered the greatest sailors of
their time.
1. Which city of the Persian Empire appears to be farthest east?
2. Which city of the Persian Empire appears to be farthest west?
3. Which areas were a source of lead for the Phoenicians?
4. Name four island colony ports.
5. Which colony is at about 32"N and 15"E?
6. What are the approximate coordinates of the port of Panormus?
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7. Which is the greater distance: Carthage to Panormus or Tyre to Citium?
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8. About how far is it from Lixus to Ebusi?
9. You leave Byblos with some cedar beds. You arrive in Leptis Magna and trade the beds for salt. You want
to bring food back to Byblos. At what ports could you trade for something you can cook to eat?
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10. Why didn't the Phoenicians just march south and take over Assyria or Babylon?
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Phoenician Trading Empire