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The First Civilizations Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China Remember: What is a CIVILIZATION? • Definition: “social organization of a high order, marked by advancements in the arts and sciences.” (Civilized versus primitive, barbaric) • Features: • Economic system - providing goods and services • Political organization - protection, laws, govern • Moral code/shared religion • • Intellectual development - written language, interest in knowledge, science, arts Urban areas Geography of the Ancient Civilizations ✤ Where did the first civilizations begin? They shared one common and important feature.... Geography Egypt ✤ Nile - Source of life in Egypt ✤ Flooding of the Nile essential ✤ ✤ Silt ✤ Delta What did the Nile do? ✤ Connected Upper and Lower; Trade; Wildlife; Papyrus Geography - Egypt (continued) ✤ Other important geographic features - aided in isolating the Egyptians ✤ Cataracts ✤ Libyan and Nubian deserts ✤ Mediterranean and Red Seas ✤ Exception: Sinai Peninsula ✤ Crowded Nile villages. Over time, irrigation and drainage systems Geography - Mesopotamia ✤ Mesopotamia: “land between two rivers” ✤ Tigris River and Euphrates River ✤ From Armenian Plateau to Persian Gulf ✤ Unpredictable floods ✤ Complex irrigation systems ✤ Not many natural barriers ✤ Fertile Crescent: “Crossroads of the world” ✤ Difficult to unite under one ruler; constant exchange of ideas Geography India ✤ ✤ ✤ ✤ Indian subcontinent Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal Himalayas (1500 miles), Hindu Kush Khyber Pass ✤ Three great rivers of northern plain region: ✤ Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra ✤ Flow from Himalayas ✤ Home of first Indian civilization ✤ Deccan Plateau ✤ Eastern and Western Ghats, coastal plains ✤ Monsoon: seasonal winds Geography China ✤ Surrounded by: Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang, Tibet regions ✤ Himalayas ✤ Gobi Desert ✤ Pacific Ocean Geography - China (continued) ✤ Limited contact ✤ “Middle Kingdom”; many outsiders considered barbarians ✤ Good farmland due to river systems and coastal plains ✤ Yellow River ✤ ✤ ✤ Loess “River of Sorrows”; irregular rainfall and flooding; ancient Chinese dredged river, constructed dikes and dams Yangtze River