Download Early Civilizations

Farming Game
1. Was your group successful? Why
2. What group had it best? Why
3. What separated successful groups from
unsuccessful groups?
4. What would disadvantaged peoples do to
solve their problem?
5. So what… Why is this critical when
discussing the origins of World
History…what does it tell us (make some
predictions)
Changes
• What changes in society will happen
because of specialized labor
• What will happen to the price of goods
• Now that you can get your basic needs
faster what will you start doing with your
extra time
• How can specialized labor connect
civilizations
• What problems could be created by
specialized labor
Early Civilizations
The Major River Civilizations
Early Peoples: Progress
• Technology & Food Drive Humanity
• Nomads: Wander in search of food
• Hunter/gatherers: villagers but relocated
when supply runs out
• Domestication: create tamed herds
• Villages accelerate progress
• New tools = farming,
surplus food
• More food = more people!
• Labor groups & social classes
government structure
Neolithic Revolution
• Name given to the time period which
humans stopped hunting/gathering and
settled in cities
• Would eventually lead to the formation of
civilizations/culture
• Occurred around 8,000 BC in India and
Middle East
5 LARGE Characteristics of Civilization
• Language: spreads idea, keeps records
(histories, taxes…)
• Achievements: important solutions to
problems (technology, buildings,
weapons, irrigation…)
• Rules: Codes of behavior to follow
(government and religion create order)
• Geography: location and land features
(rivers and resources)
• Economics: development of specialized
labor and forms of trade.
4 River Civilizations
•
•
•
•
Mesopotamia: Tigris & Euphrates (Iraq)
Nile (Egypt)
Yellow (China)
Indus (India)
The Benefits of Water!?
• Access to fresh water
• Fishing
• Fertile Soil
• Easy Transportation/Trade
PROBLEMS
Protection needed from
invaders
Need water for crops
Difficult to plant &
harvest
Need order & peace
Need to know when to
plant & harvest
SOLUTIONS
Problem/Solution
• Protection from invaders
• Build walls, ditches, military, weapons, find
allies
• Need water for crops
• Irrigation ditches/man-made streams
• Flood ponds
• Difficult to plant & harvest
• tools . . . Plows, selective planting, more
people
• Need order and peace
• Create laws, police/army, religion, govt.
• Need to know when to plant and harvest
• Map the stars, almanacs/records, weather
patterns
What is Language?
• What were the problems with using
pictures/drawings?
• What were the problems with using the
code and hieroglyphics?
• Symbols with universal understanding
arranged in ways to convey a message
Cuneiform
• Written Sumerian
language (Meso)
• Tax records
Hieroglyphics
• Picture writing of ancient Egypt
• Used symbols of common items found in
Egypt
The Rosetta Stone
• 186 B.C. – tax records and statue
construction orders
• Written in a spoken Egyptian dialect,
hieroglyphics and Greek
• Discovered by Napoleon in 1799 A.D.
• We could read hieroglyphics by
translating Greek to Egyptian &
matching Egyptian to Hiero’s . . .
• The British defeat Napoleon &
take the stone to England
Video CER
• History of the World in 2 hours
- 48:00 to 1:00:00
• Support the given claim with evidence
and your explanation
Mesopotamia
• Located in the
Fertile Crescent
• Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
• Powerful citystates
Ziggurat “Holy Mountain”
• Temple and city center
• Place for sacrifice
• Land of No Return
Mesopotamian Classes
Kings,
Priests
Merchants
Field workers
Slaves (lowest)
Achievements
•
•
•
•
Arithmetic/geometry – build walls, 60sec
Ziggurats, columns
Cuneiform
Code of Law
-Hammurabi’s Code
Nile River
• Longest River in the
world = 4,100 mi
• Life-blood
Government & Religion
• Pharaohs are god-kings
• Theocracy: priests were top advisors
• 31 dynasties
• Two kingdoms unite
•
•
•
•
Polytheism
Pharaohs continued ruling after death
Mummification saved body for afterlife
Pyramids and burial chambers
Using the Nile
• Straw and reeds
• Creates a narrow
strip of fertile
land
Environment
• Desert barrier
• Less war
• Less trade
• Predictable flooding (seasons)
• Not much usable land
Egyptian Burial
• Sarcophagus protects the
physical body
Social Structure
• Royalty
• Landed/army
• Artisans/merchants
• Farmers/workers
• Slaves
• Hieroglyphics
• Papyrus – paper like plant
• Calendars, geometry, engineering,
astronomy, columns, medicine. . .
Indus River
• Located in
Northwest India
• River changed
directions
• Monsoons inflict
damage
Indus River
• Rugged and
elevated
terrain
• Many
natural
barriers
• Pre-planned
cities
Huang He River
• Huang He tint
comes from the
silt
• Spans Northcentral China
• Rulers receive
The mandate of
heaven
Chinese Writing
• Developed early
written language