Download EARLY RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS

EARLY RIVER VALLEY
CIVILIZATIONS - AN
OVERVIEW
Dr. Afxendiou
Sachem North High School
AP World History - 9
First civilizations

Developed
about 5,000 to
6,000 years ago
 They began as
small
agricultural
villages in the
river valleys –
first in the
Middle East
MESOPOTAMIA
 Site
of first river valley civilizations
 Located between the Tigris and the
Euphrates Rivers
• Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers”
The Fertile Crescent
MESOPOTAMIA
 GEOGRAPHICAL


FACTORS
The floods of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers were
unpredictable and as a result the Sumerians
believed that their gods were angry gods.
The valley was surrounded by deserts and
hills but they were relatively easy to cross and
so the peoples of this region were constantly
conquered and re-conquered
MESOPOTAMIA
 The
first people to settle there were the
Sumerians
 The Sumerians created city-states (a city
and its surrounding lands)
 Each city-state had its own government
 Sumerian city-states were built around a
ziggurat
Ziggurat
MESOPOTAMIA
 The
Akkadians defeated the city-states of
Sumer and gained control of northern and
southern Mesopotamia
 Created the first empire which lasted
about 200 years
MESOPOTAMIA
 Amorites
overtake the Akkadians and
establish a capital at Babylon which gives
its name to their empire – The Babylonian
Empire.
 Most important and most famous ruler was
king Hammurabi who created the first
written legal code.
MESOPOTAMIA
Economy – an economy that has
its foundation in agriculture. Skills are
passed down from one generation to the next
 Traditional

FAT- farmers, artisans, traders
 Agriculture
and farming allowed for great
economy, had irrigation.

Grew wheat and barley.
 Traded
with Indus and Egypt. (Hittites
created iron tools and they were found in
Indus)
MESOPOTAMIA
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS






Developed a system of writing called Cuneiform,
which were wedge-shaped characters pressed
into a clay tablet
In engineering and architecture - Built ziggurats
and arches with sun-dried clay bricks
Created statues of gods for the ziggurats
Developed the wheel and the plow
Hammurabi's Code was constructed by the
Babylonians and was an early form of written
laws (an eye for an eye)
Had mathematics
MESOPOTAMIA
 Religion
was a major part of the civilization.
 Polytheistic- belief in many gods

try to explain the unknown.
 Built
pyramids called ziggurats- place of
worship.
 Priests preformed rituals. Believed in afterlife.
If you were bad in life you had a bad after life.
 Hebrews established first monotheistic
religion- Judaism
MESOPOTAMIA
 Had
many social classes, was a hierarchy.
Ruling family, high ranking officials,
nobility, and important priests
Artists, merchants, lesser priests
and scribes.
Farmers and peasants
Slaves
 Women
were not treated equal to men.
EGYPT

Soon after civilization
began in Mesopotamia,
similar developments
were taking place in
Egypt along the Nile
River.
Question: Why is Lower
Egypt above Upper
Egypt?
Answer: Upper Egypt is at
a higher elevation
EGYPT
 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
EGYPT
 Egyptian
kings were called Pharaohs
 In Mesopotamia kings were thought to
be the representatives of the Gods. The
Egyptians believed that their kings
WERE Gods!
EGYPT

Egyptians believed that pharaohs ruled even
after they died so they built magnificent
tombs, the pyramids.
EGYPT
 Old
Kingdom (3200- 2200 BCE)
 Middle Kingdom (2100-1650 BCE)
 New Kingdom (1550-700BCE)
EGYPT
 Traditional
economy
 Grew wheat and barley.
 Nile used for trade and agriculture.

Business was dependent on the Nile.
 Trade
was government directed
 Traded with Mesopotamia and Nubia.
 Irrigation and predicted flooding by
calendar.
 FAT
EGYPT

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
 Hieroglyphics-Wrote on sheets of dried papyrus plant
 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
 Knowledge of medicine and surgery because of
mummification
 Metal weapons, pyramids, and irrigation
 Built pyramids and statues of god.
 Sarcophagus had artistic paintings on them.
 Sculptures, paintings, carvings, and architecture.
EGYPT
 Polytheistic
religion
 Believed in afterlife (Amen Rah- sun god,
Osiris- God of Nile).
 Mummified kings and nobility, preformed
by priests.

Pharaohs mummified and buried in the
pyramids.
 Most
sophisticated polytheistic religion of
its time—“Book of the Dead”
EGYPT
 Social
classes
Pharaoh and high priests
Artists, merchants, lesser priests
Farmers
Slaves

Women were not treated equal to men but had
more rights than in other societies.
 Several queens, women pharaohs, Nephrititi being
the first.
INDUS RIVER VALLEY
CIVILIZATION

Located on the Indian
subcontinent
 Mountains isolated this
area – surrounded by
various mountain
ranges – the Himalayas,
the Hindu Kush both
very raged and nearly
impossible to traverse.
 Offered protection from
invaders
INDUS RIVER VALLEY
much is known about them – language
has not been deciphered
 One of their greatest achievements was
sophisticated city planning
 Cities were built on a grid system
 Structures were made of baked bricks
 Had indoor plumbing – even in the
smallest houses!
 Not
The city of Mohenjo Daro
INDUS RIVER VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
 There
is evidence that the civilization
began to decline around 1750 BCE. A
number of reasons have been suggested:




Tectonic plates may have moved causing
earthquakes
There may have been extreme floods
The River may have changed course due to
an earthquake
Perhaps natural resources were used up
CHINA
CHINA
 Natural
barriers isolated China from other
civilizations – mountains and Gobi Desert

Led to ethnocentric thinking
 Two
major rivers, the Hwang He and the
Yangtze Rivers.
CHINA
 The
first dynasty to rule China was the Xia
dynasty which arose around 2,000 BCE.
Left no written records
 Second dynasty the Shang – developed
writing, built palaces and tombs
CHINA
 ACHIEVEMENTS



Developed a 360-day calendar based on the
moon (priests added days when needed)
Predicted eclipses
kept a written history
SIMILARITIES OF FOUR ERV
CIVILIZATIONS
 Water:




Mesopotamia – Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Egypt – Nile
Indus Valley – Indus and Ganges Rivers
China – HuangHe (Yellow) and Yangtze River
 Agriculture
and domestication of animals
SIMILARITIES

Planned Economies

Construction
• Ziggurats, pyramids, planned cities, irrigation systems


Farmers sold surplus food
Community labor
• Overseeing by central authority
• Use of soldiers

Industry



Pottery, textiles, woodworking
Luxury items
Development and improvement of metal - Bronze
SIMILARITIES
 Religious



states
Theocracies “God ruled” states
Priests function as organized central
government (later replaced by warriors)
King regarded as a god or god’s
representative on earth
SIMILARITIES
 Social




Classes
Priests
Aristocrats (nobles)/warriors
Common people (peasants, artisans)
Slaves
SIMILARITIES

Architecture – big structures


Ziggurats, pyramids, big cities
Writing
SIMILARITIES
 Organization


of knowledge
Learning is cumulative
Leads to new knowledge and new achievents
LANGUAGE
SHARED IDEAS
LEARNING
NEW IDEAS