Download early river valley civilizations outline _autosaved_

Early River Valley Civilizations
I.
Mesopotamia (Land between two rivers)
A. Religion
1. Polytheism
a. Religion of many gods
b. Gods were much like humans
c. Made sacrifices to gods
2. Ziggurat
a. Sumerian Temple
b. Acted as holy/government central location
B. Geography
1. Southern Mesopotamia=flat swampy lands
2. Land between the Tigris and Euphrates
b. called Fertile Crescent
c. flooded at least once a year
d. Left large deposits of silt=good farming
e. Crops irrigated by river water
3. Limited Resources
4. Limited barriers for Protection
C. Political Structure
1. Leaders and laws were earliest form of Government
a. Needed to supervise irrigation systems
b. Laws set up to settle disputes on land and water
use/distribution
2. City-States
a. Shared same culture
b. Had own rulers and government
c. Priests controlled early government-collected taxes
3. Hammurabi’s code
D.Social Structure
1. Sumerians did not believe in an afterlife
2. Social Classes
a. Highest Ranking classes
i. Kings
ii. Landholders
iii. Priests
b. Wealthy Merchants were ranked second
c. Common class of people
i. Worked in fields
ii. Worked in workshops
d. Lowest class were foreign captured slaves
3. Contributions/Inventions
a. arithmetic/geometry
b. Architectural innovations
i. Arches, columns, ramps,
ii. Pyramid design
II.
c. Cuneiform-system of writing
E. Military Tactics
1. Built city walls of mud bricks
2. Invaders
a. Sargon of Akkad-created first empire
b. Babylonian Empire-Amorites invaded from the
North
i. Hammurabi-created code of laws
ii. Made up of 282 laws-protected everyone
differently
Nile
A. Religion
1. Nile was worshipped as a God
2. Pharaohs rule as Gods
a. Pyramids built to honor Pharaohs
b. Some of the largest structures on earth
3. Polytheistic
B. Geography
1.
Highlands of East Africa to the Mediterranean
Sea
2. Nile River-Longest in the world
3. Black Land/Red land-fertile soil/desert
4. Very consistent flooding-every October-left silt
behind
C. Political Structure
1.
Each village had its own rituals, gods and
chieftain
2. Two separate Kingdoms-Upper and Lower Egypt
a. King of Lower Egypt wore a Red crown
b. King of Upper Egypt wore a White crown.
3. Kings=Gods
4. Rule based on religious authority=theocracy
D.Social Structure
1. Believed in an afterlife
2. Believed they would be judged (afterlife) for their
deeds when they died
3. Social Classes
a. Pharoahs-Nobility
b. Educators/Scholars-intelligentsia
c. Peasants and farm laborers Labor
d. Outcasts
4. Contributions
a. Writing-Hieroglyphics
b. papyrus-early form of paper
c. Science and Technology
i. Calendar-invented the solar year 365 days
accurate to within 6 hours of actual solar year.
(Leap year)
ii. Written numbers
d. Medicine
i. heart rate detection
ii. setting bones
iii. early forms of surgery
5. Trade with outsiders?
E. Military Tactics
1. Pharaoh=leader of the army
2. Hyksos invade from Palestine
III. Indus
A. Religion
1. Links to the modern Hindu religion
2. Shiva-major Hindu god-represented
3. Early figures of later Indian civilization emerged
(Worship of the bull, mother goddess etc.)
B. Geography
1. Highest mountain range in the world is to the north
a. helped protect from invasion
b. provided water source for Indus river
2. Indo Gangetic Plain-land between Indus and Ganges
3. Monsoons –Wet season/dry season
C. Political Structure
1. Theocracy
D. Social Structure
1. Advanced city planning
2. Cities laid out in a grid system
3. Sanitation system
4. Traded with other people in the region
E. Military Tactics
1. Aryans invaded from the Hindu Kush mountains
IV. Yangtze
A. Religion
1. Believed that the spirits of family ancestors had the
power to bring good fortune or disaster
2. Shang Dynasty-Worshipped a supreme God-Shang Di
B. Geography
1. Two major river systems from the mountains to the
Pacific
a. Huang He (Yellow River)
b. Yangtze
2. Yellow river had disastrous floods
3. Only 10% of land is suitable for farming (North China
Plain between Yangtze and Yellow Rivers)
C. Political Structure
1. Dynasties
2. Mandate of Heaven-divine approval-lost through
floods, famines, revolts and invasions.
D. Social Structure
1. Had to supply their own goods due to
2. Isolation from surrounding areas.
2. Social classes
a. Divided between Nobles and peasants
b. Noble families controlled the land in exchange for
loyalty and military service-feudalism
3. Chinese writing-used symbols-limited the number of
literate, educated Chinese
E. Military Tactics
1. Invasions from the West and the North were common
2. Surrounded cities with earthen walls to protect them
3. Zhou dynasty-known as the time of warring states.