Download River Valley civilizations (3500 BC to 500 BC)

River Valley civilizations
(3500 B.C. to 500 B.C.)
During the New Stone Age,
permanent settlements
appeared in river valleys.
MESOPOTAMIA
Land between the rivers
Ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
• Earliest known civilization
• Located in Southwest Asia (Middle East)
• Nicknames: “Cradle of Civilization” “Fertile
Crescent” and “Land between the Rivers”.
• Located between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers; flows into the Persian Gulf
• Modern day Iraq
• Open Plains left Mesopotamia open to
invasion.
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Sumer
• Located in southern Mesopotamia
• Earliest known civilization on
Earth
• Each city in Sumer was
considered a city-state
• Religion-polytheistic (many gods)
Ziggurat-temple at the middle
of each Sumerian city-state.
Cuneiform-Sumerian writing;
earliest known form of
writing
http://www.penn.mus
eum/cgi/cuneiform.cgi
Sargon I of Akkad conquered
Sumer; world’s 1st empire
Hammurabi
• Babylon
• He conquered Akkad and Sumer
• Best known for creating the world’s
first code of laws
• Innocent until proven guilty
• Golden Age of Babylon
Contributions
• Invented the wheel, plow, and
sailboat
• Number system based on 60
• 12 month calander