Download ch 2 WH Early River Civilizations

World History
Ch. 2 Early River
Civilizations
Advanced
Advanced
Cities
Technology
Specialized
Record-
Workers
Keeping
Complex
Institutions
– The Earliest
of the River Valley
Civilizations
 Sumer
 Sumerian
Civilization
grew up along the
Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers in what is now
Kuwait.
Geography
Promotes Civilization

Fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
became site of world’s first civilization

Fertile Crescent well suited for agriculture

Farming in Mesopotamia posed challenges:


If water levels too high, crops washed away

If water levels too low, crops died
People developed methods to control water:

Basins, canals, and dikes

Organization: assigning jobs, allocating
resources
Sumer
Religion
and Government
•
Shaped life in city-states
•
Polytheism: worship of many gods
•
Priests had high status and were the
first rulers
•
War chiefs began to rule as kings
•
Dynasty: series of rulers from one
family
Sumerian Culture
 Writing
 Math
•
Cuneiform: Sumerian writing
•
•
Business accounts and records
•
•
Law, grammar, literature
•
Scribes
•
•
•
 The
Arts
and Sciences
System based on number 60
Geometry
May have been the first to use
the wheel
Invented the plow
Basic surgery
 Trade
and Society
•
Arches, ramps, columns
•
Traded for wood and metals
•
Sculpture
•
Social hierarchy
•
Cylinder seals
•
Distinct male/female roles
Empires
•
•
Each conquering invader adapted aspects of Sumerian culture.
Thus Sumerian civilization continued to influence life in
Mesopotamia.
Sargon’s
•
•
in Mesopotamia
Empire
Sargon I:
– Around 2350 BC, created
first permanent army
– Conquered Sumer and
northern Mesopotamia
– Established world’s first
empire, which lasted about
100 years
Sumerian culture spread far
beyond Tigris and Euphrates
valleys
The
•
•
•
•
Babylonian Empire
Hammurabi became king in
1792 BC
United all of Mesopotamia
Able ruler and administrator
Hammurabi’s Code:
– 282 laws covering
everything from trade to
murder
– Written for all to see
– Babylon became
Mesopotamia’s greatest city
Sumer gave us the city-state.
Define: city-state
Political unit made up of a city and the
surrounding lands. Each city state has
its own government, even when it
shares a culture with neighboring city
states.
.
Cuneiform is created by pressing a pointed stylus
into a clay tablet.
 Brick
technology
 Wheel
 Base 60 – using the circle . . . 360 degrees
 Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a
minute
 12 month lunar calendar
 arch
 ramp
 ziggurat
The laws governed such
things as lying, stealing,
assault, debt, business
partnerships, marriage,
and divorce. In seeking
protection for all
members of Babylonian
society, Hammurabi
relied on the philosophy
of equal retaliation,
otherwise known as “an
eye for an eye.”
Ch. 2 Sect. 2
What did Herodotus
mean when he said that
Egypt is the “gift of the
Nile?”
Because of the
geography of the area.
Nile River
Sahara Desert
The Geography of Egypt
Environmental
Challenges
• Light floods reduce crops, cause starvation
• Heavy floods destroy property; deserts isolate
and protect Egyptians
Upper
Egypt and Lower Egypt
• River area south of First Cataract is elevated,
becomes Upper Egypt
• Cataract—where boulders turn Nile River into
 churning rapids
• River area north, including Nile delta, becomes
Lower Egypt
• Delta—land formed by silt deposits at mouth of
river; triangular
NEXT
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
Geography and Early Egypt
•
The Nile
–
Most important physical feature in Egypt
–
4,000 miles long; flows through the Sahara Desert
•
Without the Nile’s waters, no one could live there.

Geography of Egypt
•
The Nile flooded every year
–
Predictable floodwaters with spring rains
–
Left rich, black silt
•
Narrow band of fertile soil
•
Became home of Egyptian civilization
Geographical
Delta
•
Egypt’s most fertile
soil in Nile Delta
•
Silt deposits at
mouth of river
•
•
Features
Cataracts
•
Nile afforded
protection itself
•
Black Land of rich
arable soil
Flowed through
cataracts to the
south
•
Red Land unlivable
but afforded
protection
Currents and
waterfalls made
sailing impossible
•
Not an easy
invasion route
 Draw
Conclusions
 How
did geography affect where
the early Egyptians lived?
Answer(s):
They lived in a narrow strip of fertile land
where they could raise crops. It was surrounded by
inhospitable desert, which would not easily support life.
Egypt
Unites into a Kingdom
King Narmer Creates Egyptian Dynasty
• Villages of Egypt ruled by two kingdoms—Lower
Egypt, Upper Egypt
• King Narmer unites them around 3000 B.C.; makes
Memphis capital
• Establishes first Egyptian dynasty
Pharaohs Rule as Gods
• To the Egyptians, kings are gods; Egyptian god
kings called pharaohs
• Pharaohs control religion, government, army,
well-being of kingdom
• Government based on religious authority—
theocracy
Continued
...
NEXT
 Hieroglyphics
 Pyramids
 Geometry
 Advances
in medicine and surgery
Religion and Life
•Egyptians
believe in 2,000 gods and
 goddesses—polytheistic
•Re is sun god, Osiris, god of the dead; goddess
 Isis is ideal woman
• Believe in life after death; person judged by deeds at death
Egyptian
Writing
In hieroglyphics writing system, pictures
 represent ideas
 Paperlike sheets made from papyrus
reeds used for writing
Early Egyptian writing found on tombs
was indecipherable.
Hieroglyphics
Sacred
Carving
No one could read these sacred carvings
until Napoleon invaded Egypt and his
archaeologists found the Rosetta Stone.
The ancient Egyptians decorated tombs with paintings and
reliefs to ensure that the deceased spent eternity in a
comfortable and familiar environment. This relief, from the
5th Dynasty (2465 BC-2323 BC), shows the deceased seated
at a table stacked with offerings of food.
 Ancient
Mummy
Egyptian
 1.
Which direction does the Nile flow?
North
 2. What do we call a government based on
religion?
Theocracy
3. What is the Egyptian god king called?
Pharoah
4. What is the belief in many gods?
Polytheism
5. What do we call the Egyptian writing?
Hieroglyphics
Around 2600 B.C. the
various regional
cultures were united in
what is called the Indus
Valley Civilization. It is
also commonly referred
to as the Harappan
culture after the town of
Harappa (where it was
first discovered.)
What made the Indus
Valley a good place for a
civilization?
Planned Cities on the Indus
The Geography of the Indian Subcontinent
Indian Subcontinent
• Subcontinent—landmass that includes India,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh
• World’s tallest mountain ranges separate it from rest
of Asia
Rivers, Mountains, and Plains
• Mountains to north, desert to east, protect Indus
Valley from invasion
• Indus and Ganges rivers from flat, fertile plain—the
Indo-Gangetic
• Southern India, a dry plateau flanked by mountains
• Narrow strip of tropical land along coast
Continued . . .
NEXT
The Geography of the Indian Subcontinent
Monsoons
• Seasonal winds—monsoons—dominate India’s
climate
• Winter winds are dry; summer winds bring rain
can cause flooding
Environmental Challenges
• Floods along the Indus unpredictable; river can
change course
• Rainfall unpredictable; could have droughts or
floods
NEXT
Civilization Emerges on the Indus
Indus Valley Civilization
• Influenced an area larger than Mesopotamia or
Egypt
Earliest
Arrivals
• About 7000 B.C., evidence of agriculture and
domesticated animals
• By about 3200 B.C., people farming in villages along
Indus River
Planned Cities
• By 2500 B.C., people build cities of brick laid out on
grid system
• Engineers create plumbing and sewage systems
• Indus Valley called Harappan civilization after
Harappa, a city
NEXT
 What
do the planned cities of the Indus
Valley people tell us about their culture?
High level of cooperation, strong central
government
What skills were needed to build these planned
cities?
Central gov. building materials, engineering
and architectural skills
Harappan Culture
Language
•Had writing systems of 400 symbols; but
scientists can’t decipher it
Culture
•Harappan cities appear uniform in culture; no
great social divisions
•Animals important to the culture; toys suggest
prosperity
NEXT
Role of Religion
• Priests closely linked to rulers
• Some religious artifacts reveals links to modern Hindu
culture
Trade
•Had thriving trade with other peoples, including
Mesopotamia
Harappan Decline
•Signs of decline begin around 1750 B.C.
•Earthquakes, floods, soil depletion may have
caused decline
•Around 1500 B.C., Aryans enter area and become dominant
NEXT
Excavations at the ancient
Harappan and Mohenjo Daro
mounds revealed well planned
cities and towns built on massive
mud brick platforms that
protected the inhabitants against
seasonal floods. In the larger
cities the houses were built of
baked brick while at smaller
towns most houses were built of
sun-dried mud brick. Each city
is laid out in a grid pattern and
shows signs of stunningly
modern plumbing systems.
Much writing has been found at these
sites, but it has not yet been translated.
 1.What
environmental challenges do the people of
the Indus face?
 Yearly floods, rivers change course, monsoons
unpredictable too much rain or not enough.
 2. Was the geography of Mesopotamia or Egypt more
like that of the Indus Valley?
 Mesopotamia b/c the floods were unpredicable.
 3. What environmental challenges did the people of
the Indus face that the first 2 didn’t?
 The Monsoons
Lack of contact with
foreigners helped give
the Chinese a strong
sense of identity and
superiority. They
regarded their land as
the only civilized land
and called it Zhongguo
or the Middle Kingdom.
This Chinese isolation
contributed to the
Chinese belief that
China was at the center
of the earth and the
sole source of
civilization.
North,
South , East, West
Natural
barriers isolated China from all other
civilizations.
Mongolian
Taklimakan
Desert
Plateau
Gobi
Desert
Plateau
Himalaya
Mountains
of Tibet
Pacific
Ocean
China:
Size and Population
Click
United
States
9,629,091
Square
China
9,596,960
area
Square
1,284,303,705
Population
Red Stars to find more information.
area
280,562,489 Population
The
population of China is more that one billion people, the largest national
group in the world. Two-thirds of the Chinese people are farmers, but only
4% of China’s land can be cultivated.
In
an effort to balance the relationship between
land and people, China adopted a “one-couple,
one-child” policy in the 1980’s.
US
Agricultural
Production
River Dynasties in China
The Geography of China
Barriers Isolate China
• Ocean, mountains, deserts isolate China from other
areas
River Systems
• Huang He (“Yellow River”) in north, Yangtze in south
• Huang He leaves loess—fertile silt—when it floods
Environmental Challenges
• Huang He floods can devour whole villages
• Geographic isolation means lack of trade; must be
self-sufficient
China’s Heartland
• North China Plain, area between two rivers, center
of civilization
NEXT
China’s Geography
The development
of civilization
in early
Loess
Soils, Climates
China
aided by features
like long
China’s
firstwas
civilizations
• Annual floods deposited
rivers, in
fertile
soils, temperate
developed
river valleys
rich soil,climates,
loess, on flood
plains
and
isolated valleys.
Two major rivers
supplied
Rivers,

•
•
water for earliest civilizations
Chang Jiang, also called
Yangzi
•
Valley of Huang He
particularly fertile due to
loess
Huang He, or Yellow River
Fine dusty soil
Both flow east from Plateau
Carried into China by
desert winds
of Tibet to Yellow Sea

Crops
•
Most of eastern China covered with fertile soils; some regions
better suited than others for growing certain crops
•
Southern China—warm, receives plenty of rainfall, excellent
region for growing rice
•
Further north—climate cooler, drier; suitable for grains, wheat,
millet
Isolation
•
Combination of rivers for irrigation, fertile soil for planting
allowed Chinese to thrive, as did China’s relative isolation
•
Mountains, hills, desert protected China from invasion
•
Himalaya Mountains separate southern China from India, rest of
southern Asia; vast Gobi Desert prevented reaching China from
west
 Takes
its name from the vast
quantities of loess soil it
picks up along its route


Loess is an extremely fine and
powder-like soil that gradually
builds up in the river bed,
raising the river bed and
forcing the water out of its
established path
Yellow River periodically
unleashes terrible floods,
earning it the nickname
“China’s Sorrow”
Civilization Emerges in Shang Times
The First Dynasties
• Around 2000 B.C. cities arise; Yu, first ruler of Xia
Dynasty
• Yu’s flood control systems tames Huang He
(“Yellow River”)
• Shang Dynasty, 1700 to 1027 B.C., first to leave
written records
Early Cities
• Built cities of wood, such as Anyang—one of its capital
cities
• Upper class lives inside city; poorer people live outside
• Shang cities have massive walls for military defense
NEXT
 Summarize
 What
geographic features
influenced life in early China?
Answer(s):
Rivers deposited rich soil for
farming; mountains, hills, and desert isolated
the area.
 Event
1
2000 B.C.
 The Xia (Shay) dynasty emerged. Its leader
was a mathemetician named YU. He used
irrigation and flood control.
 Event
2 1700 to 1027 B.C.
 The Shang dynasty emerges. They were the
first family of Chinese rulers to leave written
records.
 Event
3 Anyang
One of the capitals of the Shang. Anyang was
built mainly of wood.
 Vast
network of walled
towns whose local
rulers recognized
authority of the Shang
kings
 Shang rulers moved
their capital six times

Capital at Yin (near
modern Anyang)
contained a complex of
royal palaces and eleven
large and lavish royal
tombs
Royal
tomb at Anyang
The Development of Chinese Culture
Chinese Civilization
• Sees China as center of world; views others as
uncivilized
• The group is more important than the individual
Family
• Family is central social institution; respect for parents a
virtue
• Elder males control family property
• Women expected to obey all men, even sons
Social Classes
• King and warrior-nobles lead society and own the land
Continued
...
NEXT
The Development of Chinese Culture
Religious Beliefs
• Spirits of dead ancestors can affect family fortunes
• Priests scratch questions on animal bones and
tortoise shells
• Oracle bones used to consult gods; supreme god,
Shang Di
Development of Writing
• Writing system uses symbols to represent syllables;
not ideas
• People of different languages can use same system
• Huge number of characters make system difficult to
learn
NEXT
Fish shaped money
The
Chinese Zhou dynasty (1045?-256 BC)
helped pave the way for the unification of China by
the subsequent Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). During
the Zhou period, farming techniques improved,
iron became widely utilized for tools and weapons,
and Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism) gained
widespread popularity.
 Event
4 Development of Writing
 The advantage of the Chinese system of
writing was that people all over China could
learn the same system of writing, even if
their spoken language were very different.
This helped unify China.
Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle
The Zhou Take Control
• In 1027 B.C., Zhou Dynasty takes control of China
Mandate of Heaven
• Mandate of Heaven—the belief that a just ruler had
divine approval
• Developed as justification for change in power to Zhou
• Dynastic cycle—pattern of the rise and decline of
dynasties
Control Through Feudalism
• Feudalism—system where kings give land to nobles in
exchange for services
• Over time, nobles grow in power and begin to fight each
other
NEXT
 Event
5 1027B.C. to 256 B.C.
 Zhou overthrew the Shang and established
the Zhou dynasty.
 Event
6 771 B.C.
 Nomads from the north and west sack the
Zhou capital only a few royal members
survive. They flee to new capital at Luoyang.
Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle
Improvements in Technology and Trade
• Zhou Dynasty builds roads, canals to improve
transportation
• Uses coins to make trade easier
• Produces cast iron tools and weapons; food
production increases
A Period of Warring States
• Peaceful, stable Zhou empire rules from around 1027
to 256 B.C.
• In 771 B.C., nomads sack the Zhou capital, murder
monarch
• Luoyang becomes new capital; but internal wars
destroy traditions
NEXT
 Summarize
 What
geographic features influenced
life in early China?
Answer(s):
Rivers deposited rich soil for
farming; mountains, hills, and desert
isolated the area.