Download River Valley Civilizations

River Valley
Civilizations
Provided rich soil for crops, as well
as protection from invasion.
River Valleys Around
3500-500B.C.
 Egypt-Nile River
Valley and Delta
(Africa)
Mesopotamia
 Tigris and Euphrates
River Valleys (SW
Asia)
Indian Civilization
 Indus River Valley
(South Asia)
Chinese Civilization
 Huang He or Yellow
River (East Asia)
Other Civilizations
2000-500 B.C.
 Hebrews settled between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River
Valley( Part of the Fertile Crescent in SW
Asia)
 Nubia was located on the upper
(Southern) Nile River
 Cradles of civilization was another name
for the river valleys.
Social Patterns
 Hereditary rulers
(dynasties of kings
and pharaohs, etc.
 Rigid class structure,
where slavery was
accepted.
Political Patterns
 World’s first states (city-states, kingdoms,
empires)
 Centralized government often based on
religious authority.
 Written law codes (Ten commandments
and Code of Hammurabi)
Ten Commandments
 Moral codes of the Era
Code of Hammurabi
 “eye for an eye”
Economic Patterns
 Metal tools and weapons: bronze and
iron
 Increased agricultural surplus (Better
tools, plows and irrigation )
 Increasing trade along rivers and by sea
(Phoenicians)
 Development of the world’s first cities
 Specialization of labor
Religion Traditions
 Polytheism was practiced by most early
civilizations.
 Monotheism was practiced by the Hebrews.
 Monotheism of Abraham became the
foundation of Judaism, Christianity, and IslamReligions that changed the world.
 Hebrews were the first to become monotheist.
Judaism
 Abraham, Moses,
and Jerusalem.
Beliefs, Traditions, and
Customs.
 Belief in one god.
 Torah which contains
written records and
beliefs of Hebrews.
 Ten Commandments
(Moral and religious
conduct)
Language and Writing




Pictograms-Earliest written symbols.
Hieroglyphics-Egypt
Cuneiform-Sumer
Alphabet-Phoenicians-Settled along the
Mediterranean coast. His was part of the
Fertile Crescent in SW Asia.
Egypt
 Pharaoh held
absolute power and
created a
bureaucracy.

Oversaw trade

Collected taxes

Supervised the
irrigation projects.
Egyptians
 Believed that the souls
of the Pharaoh
continued to rule even
after death.
 Mummification-they
preserved their rulers
bodies and placed these
mummies, along with the
pharaohs possession in
the magnificent tombs
known as pyramids.
Levels in Egypt
 High-Royal family, nobles, and priests.
 Middle-Artisans and merchants.
 Low-poor farmers
Mesopotamia
 Did not provide a regular water supply.
 Sumerians built Mesopotamia’s first civilization.
 Sumerians city-states were built around
massive ziggurats and served as temples for
priests.
 Sumerians developed cuneiform.
 By 1900 B.C. Mesopotamia was ruled by the
Babylonians, Hammurabi-their greatest ruler,
create a law code for the region.
Indus Valley
 Unpredictable rain.
 Monsoons and
traded with
Mesopotamians
 Harappa and MohenJodaro were built on
the flood plain
Yellow River
 Carries large
amounts of soil
downstream.
 Shang was the first
Chinese dynasty.
Phoenicians, Hebrews,
and Judaism
 Phoenicians were left after the Hittite
invasion.
 Traders and merchants
 Produced dye and cedar wood for wine, slaves,
cloth, and gold.
 Alphabet
Hebrews and Judaism
 Worshipped one god.
 First monotheistic religion.
 Torah is their Bible. The first 5 books of
the Old Testament.
 Diaspora-Scattering of Jews
 The Exile was the enslavement and
removal of Jew from Palestine after their
Babylonian captivity.
 Asia Minor became part of the Byzantine
Empire, then the Ottoman Empire, and
later Turkey.
 Mesopotamia became Babylon which
later became Iraq.
 Persia became modern day Iran.