Download Ancient River Valley Civilizations

Pre-History and Early River
Civilizations
S.P.R.I.T.E.
(S)ociety
• Describe how each ERC’s society was set up.
• What was life like for the people?
• What was their religion like?
(P)olitical
• Describe how the government was set up.
• What kind of government were they?
(R)esources
• Describe the natural resource of each ERC.
• What resources did they have/not have?
(I)nteraction with other civilizations
• Describe how each ERC interacted with other
groups.
• Did they trade, fight, or avoid?
(T)echnology
• Describe the types of technology each ERC
had.
• Did they invent anything?
(E)conomy
• Describe the economy for each ERC.
• Was there a class structure?
• How did people live?
Pre-History
Pre-History
• This is the time before the invention of writing
– about 5,000 years ago
• Archaeologists – scientists who work like
detectives to uncover the story of prehistoric
peoples
– They do this by excavating (or digging) and
studying the traces of early settlements
Pre-History Cont’d
• Evidence such as bones and artifacts are
examined
– Bones can help reveal what they looked like, how
tall they were, types of food they ate, diseases
they might have had, and how long they lived
– Artifacts – human-made objects, such as tools
and jewelry
• This can hint at how they might have dressed or
worshipped
Culture
Culture
• Scientists called anthropologists study culture
– Culture – a people’s unique way of life
• Originally, people lived near to each other and
would develop common ways of doing things
– Dressing, hunting practices, food
Culture Cont’d
• Way of life of a group of people and includes
– Common Practices
– Shared Understandings
– Social Organization
Components of Culture
Common
Practices
•
•
•
•
Food
Clothing
Sports
Tools and
Technology
• Social
Customs
• Work
Shared
Understandings
•
•
•
•
•
•
Language
Symbols
Religion
Values
Arts
Politics
Social
Organization
• Family
• Class
Structure
• Relationships
• Government
• Economic
System
• View of
Authority
Culture Cont’d
How Culture is Learned
• Not born with it
• Therefore, it is learned
– Usually it is learned in one of two ways
• 1. observe and imitate behavior
• 2. taught directly to them by individuals
– Mostly through spoken or written language
Media
Government
Religion
Family
School
Friends
Workplace
Technology
• This is the way of applying knowledge, tools,
and inventions to meet needs
Civilization
How Civilization Develops
Civilization – a complex culture with 5
characteristics;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Advanced Cities
Specialized Workers
Complex Institutions
Record Keeping
Advanced Technology
Advanced Cities
• A city is the center of trade for a large area
• It was not just based on the population
• Farmers, merchants, and traders all would
bring goods to the market to sell and trade
– They would usually exchange them with those
who lived in the city
Specialized Workers
• As population in the cities grew, so did the
need for specialized workers.
– This might include; traders, government officials,
and priests
• Since there was a surplus of food, people were
able to develop specialized skills
– Specialization – the development of skills in a
specific kind of work
• One example might be an artisan – skilled worker who
makes goods by hand such as jewelry, tools, weapons,
clothing, or pottery
Complex Institutions
• Since cities were growing larger, the need for a
government was necessary
– This meant that leaders would need to emerge in
order to maintain order among the people and to
establish laws
– Institution – a long-lasting pattern of organization
in a community such as a government and religion
• Religion was a major part of life in most early
civilizations and priests helped make major decisions
for the people
Record Keeping
• Since government, religion, and the economy
was becoming more complex, people realized
they needed to be able to keep records
– Government officials needed to be able to keep
track of tax collections, the passage of laws, and
the storage of food
– Priests needed to keep track of the calendar for
important rituals
– Merchants needed to keep track of debts and
payments
• Scribes – professional record keepers
– Cuneiform – means ‘wedge-shaped’ and was one
of the earliest know forms of writing
Improved Technology
• As cities grew, it was important to have new
tools and techniques to solve the problems
that might arise
– Farmers would use animals or natures power
• Use ox-drawn plows for the soil
• Created irrigation systems to water fields
– The potter’s wheel was also created to help make
pottery such as bowls, plates, and jugs
• Metal workers also started to mix tin and
copper together – this made bronze and thus
started the Bronze Age around 2500 B.C.
Mesopotamia
Geography of the Fertile Crescent
• Between the Persian Gulf and the
Mediterranean Sea is predominately desert
• There is an arc of land though that provides
some of the best farming in SW Asia
• Since the region is curved and it is very fertile,
it is referred to as the Fertile Crescent
• It is located in Mesopotamia, which means
‘land between the rivers’
Geography Cont’d
The land is framed by two rivers
1. Tigris
2. Euphrates
The rivers would flood Mesopotamia at least
once a year and as the waters receded, it
left a thick bed of mud called silt.
— Farmers would use this rich new soil and would
irrigate the fields with the river water
•
They were able to produce excess amounts of food
which allow populations to increase and cities to
grow
Environmental Challenges
A group of people called the Sumerians started to settle
the area around 3300 B.C.
Good soil helped with food, but there were 3
disadvantages to the area
1.
2.
3.
Unpredictable flooding combined with little to
no rain (either too much or not enough rain)
No natural barriers for protection (nearly
defenseless)
Few natural resources (building materials, along
with other items were scarce)
Solving Problems
The people of Sumer eventually created
solutions to these problems
1. Dug irrigation ditches from the rivers to their
fields (could grow a surplus of food)
2. Built city walls with mud bricks (defense)
3. Trade their grain, cloth, and tools for stone,
wood, and metal (got the resources they
lacked)
City-States
• Sumerians built multiple cities, each was
surrounded by fields
• The cities all shared the same culture, but
they developed their own forms of
government, with their own rulers
• Each city and the surrounding land it
controlled was called a city-state
– It functioned much like an independent country
City-States Cont’d
• Over time military leaders took control of the
city-states
• They would pass their power to their sons
who would in turn pass it to their sons and
etc…
• A series of rulers from a single family is called
a dynasty
City-States Cont’d
• Many cities started popping up all over the
Fertile Crescent
• The Sumerians exchanged products and ideas,
such as living in cities, with the neighboring
cultures
• The process in which a new idea or a product
spreads from one culture to another is called
cultural diffusion
Culture
• The Sumerians believed that many gods
controlled the various forces in nature
– The belief in more than one god is called
polytheism
• They worshipped in ziggurats and would offer
sacrifices of animals, food, and wine to the
gods
The First Empire Builders
• From 3000 to 2000 B.C., a lot of the city-states
were at war with each other
– This weakened them and they could not fight off
other people groups
Empire Cont’d
• Sumer was defeated by a conqueror known as
Sargon
– He led his armies from Akkad
– He now controlled both the northern and the
southern parts of Mesopotamia.
• This was the worlds first Empire
– Empire – the bringing together of several peoples,
nations, or previously independent states under
the control of one ruler
Empire Cont’d
• Around 2000 B.C. the Amorites invaded and
established their capital of Babylon, on the
Euphrates River
• This empire reached its peak under a man
named Hammurabi
– His most enduring legacy is the code of law he put
together
Hammurabi’s Code
• Single, uniform code of law
– Believed this would help unify the diverse groups
within the empire
– Collected existing rules, judgments, and laws into
the Code of Hammurabi
• It was engraved in stone and placed all over
the empire
Hammurabi’s Code Cont’d
• Had 282 specific laws
– These dealt with everything that affected the
community, including family relations, merchants,
traders, or farmers
– It also protected women and children from unfair
treatment
• Did have different punishments for rich or
poor
– Eye for an eye…a tooth for a tooth
Nile
Geography
• From the highlands of East Africa to the
Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River flows
northward across Africa for over 4,100 miles
– This is the longest river in the world
• The land surrounding it was very fertile, but all
around was desert
– The change from fertile soil to desert, Black Land
to Red Land, was so abrupt that a person could
stand with one foot in each
Gift of the Nile
• Just as in Mesopotamia, yearly flooding
brought the water and rich soil that helped
settlements grow
• Every July, rains and melting snow from the
mountains of east Africa would spill over the
banks and when it receded in October, silt
would be left behind
Gift of the Nile Cont’d
• Peasants would plant crops before the sun
could scorch the ground
– During the fall and winter, they would irrigate
their fields
• The Nile was so great to the Egyptians that
they worshipped it as a god
Environmental Challenges
The Nile was like clockwork, unlike the Tigris and
the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, but there
were still problems that one could face
1. If flood waters were just a few feet shorter,
amount of silt and water for crops were reduced
(thousands would starve)
2. If flood water were just a few feet higher,
unwanted water destroyed houses and seeds
needed for crops
3. Since the desert was on both sides, they were cut
off from other people groups (good for defense,
but not trade)
Upper and Lower Egypt Unites
The Egyptian River Valley was split into two
parts
1. Upper Egypt – river area to the south (higher in
elevation)
2. Lower Egypt – near the sea in the north (lower in
elevation)
Unites Cont’d
Contact between the 2 was easy
— If you were heading north, just let the current
take you
— If you were heading south, the prevailing winds
could take you against the current if you hoisted
a large sail
This promoted trade and unified villages
Unites Cont’d
• It is believed that around 3200 B.C., a man
named Narmer unified the 2 parts of Egypt
• Lower Egypt's king wore red crown and upper
Egypt's king wore a tall white crown
– The 2 crowns were combined to unify the 2
kingdoms
Crowns
Upper Egypt
Lower Egypt
Combined
Pharaohs Rule as Gods
• In Mesopotamia, kings were viewed as
representatives of the gods
• In Egypt, kings were gods
– These god-kings were called pharaohs
• Thought to be almost as splendid and powerful as the
gods of the heavens
• This type of government, where rule is based
on religious authority, is called theocracy
• It was believed that the pharaoh was the one
who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood,
and the crops to grow
Builders of the Pyramids
• Egyptians also believed that the pharaoh ruled
even after his death
– He had an eternal life force called, ka
• Since he was expected to rule forever, his
tomb was viewed as more important that his
palace
– The kings of the Old Kingdom were buried in
pyramid – resting place of the Old Kingdom
pharaoh
• The Old Kingdom was the great age of pyramid building
in ancient Egypt
Pyramids Cont’d
• Built by people who had not even begun to
use the wheel yet
• The Great Pyramid of Giza
– Each stone weighted at least 2 ½ tons and some
weighted up to 15 tons
– More than 2 million blocks were stacked with
precision to a height of 481 feet
– The entire structure covered more than 13 acres
Religion
• The Egyptians were polytheistic
– The most important gods were Re, the sun god,
and Osiris, the god of the dead
– The most important goddess was Isis, who
represented the ideal mother and wife
– The Egyptians worshipped more than 2,000 gods
and goddesses
Religion Cont’d
• The Egyptians did believe in an afterlife
• They believed you would be judged for your
deeds
– Anubis, god and guide of the underworld, would
weight your heart
• If it was heavier than a feather (because of your sin)
then the Devourer of Souls would eat your heart, but if
you passed, you would live forever in the beautiful
Other World
Religion Cont’d
• Royal and elite Egyptians would be preserved
by mummification, which involves embalming
and drying the corpse to prevent decaying
• Their important organs would be placed in
Canopic jars
• The tombs would be filled with items they
thought they could use in the afterlife
– Some even purchased scrolls that contained
hymns, prayers, and magic spells intended to
guide the soul in the afterlife
• This collection is known as the Book of the Dead
Writing
• The Egyptians developed a form of writing
known as hieroglyphics – meaning sacred
carving
– A picture stood for an idea
• A picture of a man stood for the idea of a man
– Later, pictures stood for sounds as well
• The picture of an owl could mean the idea of an owl or
for an m
• They also invented a writing surface know as
papyrus
Invaders Control Egypt
• The pharaohs power declined about 2180 B.C.
– This marks the end of the Old Kingdom (3200 –
2180 B.C.)
• Strong pharaohs gained control again during
the Middle Kingdom and restored law and
order (2040 – 1640 B.C.)
– This did not last long
Invaders Con’t
• The Hyksos (the rulers of foreign lands) gained
and ruled most of Egypt from 1630 – 1523 B.C.
• We will talk about the New Kingdom later
Indus Valley
Geography
•
•
The Indus River Valley civilization is found on
the Indian subcontinent
This area was protected by natural
boundaries
– World’s tallest mountains to the north
(Himalayas) and a large desert to the east (Thar)
Geography Cont’d
There is an enormous flat and fertile plain
thanks to two rivers
1. Indus
2. Ganges
Theses two rivers make up 1,700 miles of land
across northern India
— They also produce silt for farming
Monsoons
• Seasonal winds dominate India’s climate
– From October to February – winter monsoons
from the northeast blow dry air westward across
the country
– From mid June to October – the winds shift – they
blow eastward from the southwest carrying
moisture from the ocean in rain clouds
• Flooding usually happens a lot but if there is no
summer monsoon, droughts tend to occur and crops
don’t grow
Environmental Challenges
• Yearly floods spread deposits of rich soil over
a wide area but they were unpredictable
• At times, the rivers would change course
• Cycles of wet and dry seasons (monsoons)
were also unpredictable
– If too much rain, it would wash entire villages
– If too little rain, crops would die and people would
go hungry
Civilization
• People were farming the area by around 3,200
B.C.
• In order to keep the floods out of the cities,
they would build strong levees, or earthen
walls
– If this wasn’t enough, they would built humanmade islands that would raise the cities above the
flood levels
Civilization Cont’d
• They also were very sophisticated with their
city planning
– They were made using a precise grid system
– There was a fortified area called a citadel
• This area held major buildings of the city
– The cities also had a plumbing system and sewage
system
The End
• Around 1,750 B.C., the quality of the cities
started to decline
• It is believed that tectonic plates shifted and
caused earthquakes and flooding that might
have shifted the course of the Indus River
• Cities began to die because there would be no
fertile ground and therefore no food
China
Geography
• Natural barriers isolate ancient China from all
other civilizations
– The Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and the Pacific
Ocean in the East
– The Taklimakan Desert and the 15,000 foot
Plateau of Tibet in the west
– The Himalayas in the southwest
– The Gobi Desert and the Mongolian Plateau in the
north
River Systems
Two major river systems flow from the
mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean
1. The Huang He (Yellow River) is in the north
•
This river leaves yellowish silt called loess
2. In central China, the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)
Environmental Challenges
• The Huang He would flood at times destroy
entire villages (nickname: ‘China’s Sorrow’)
• Because China is relatively isolated, settlers
did not trade, they had to supply their own
goods
• They were invaded a lot from the west and
north
• Only about 10% of China was suitable for
farming
The First Dynasties
• Around 2,000 B.C., the first Chinese dynasty of
Xia emerged
– The leaders name was Yu
• Eventually a group of people called the Shang
rose up and took power in northern China
– The Shang dynasty lasted from 1,700 to 1027 B.C.
– They were the first Chinese rulers to leave written
records
Shang Culture
• Family – most important virtue was respect
for one’s parents
• Their was a division between nobles and
peasants
– Warrior-nobles headed by a king governed the
people
Shang Culture Cont’d
• Writing – each character generally stands for
one syllable
– There was no link between written and spoken
language
•
•
•
•
One could read without being able to speak any of it
Not that strange (2 + 2 = 4 / deux et duex font quatre)
To be considered barely literate – 1,500 characters
To be considered a true scholar – 10,000 characters
Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle
• Around 1027 B.C., a people called the Zhou
overthrew the Shang and established their
own dynasty
• The Zhou said that the Shang ruler was so bad
that the gods had taken it away and given it to
the Zhou.
– This justification developed over time into a
broader view that royal authority came from
heaven
– A just ruler had divine approval – Mandate of
Heaven
• A wicked king could lose it and thus lose the right
to rule
Dynastic Cycle Cont’d
• The Chinese used this as a way to explain
rebellions, civil wars, and the rise of new
dynasties
– The rise, decline, and replacement of dynasties
became known as the dynastic cycle
New Dynasty Claims
‘Mandate of Heaven’
Disasters
New Dynasty
•Natural Disasters
•Revolts
•Invaders
•Restore Peace
•Protects Citizens
•Builds Infrastructures
Old Dynasty Loses
Mandate of Heaven
New Dynasty
Becomes Old Dynasty
Old Dynasty
•Over Tax Citizens
•Poor Protection
•Decline in Infrastructure
•Injustices