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Chapter 2
Early River Valley Civilizations
Early Civilizations
River valley civilizations (about 3500 to 500 B.C.
[B.C.E.])
• Mesopotamian civilization: Tigris and Euphrates River
Valleys (Southwest Asia)
• Egyptian civilization: Nile River Valley and Nile Delta
(Africa)
• Indian civilization: Indus River Valley (South Asia)
• Chinese civilization: Huang He Valley (East Asia)
These river valleys offered rich soil and irrigation water
for agriculture, and they tended to be in locations
easily protected from invasion by nomadic peoples.
Other early civilizations (about 2000 to 500 B.C.
[B.C.E.])
• Hebrews settled between the Mediterranean
Sea and the Jordan River Valley (part of Fertile
Crescent in Southwest Asia).
• Phoenicians settled along the Mediterranean
coast (part of Fertile Crescent in Southwest
Asia).
• Nubia was located on the upper (southern)
Nile River (Africa).
Patterns
Development of social patterns
• Hereditary rulers: Dynasties of kings, pharaohs
• Rigid class system where slavery was accepted
Development of political patterns
• World’s first states (i.e., city-states, kingdoms,
empires)
• Centralized government, often based on religious
authority
• Written law codes (e.g., Ten Commandments,
Code of Hammurabi)
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Development of economic patterns
Use of metal (e.g., bronze, iron) tools and
weapons
Increasing agricultural surplus: Better tools,
plows, irrigation
Increasing trade along rivers and by sea
(Phoenicians)
Development of the world’s first cities
Development of the practice of slavery within
most cultures in the ancient world, taking
various forms
Religion
• Polytheism was practiced by most early civilizations.
• Monotheism was practiced by the Hebrews.
Origins of Judaism
• Abraham
• Moses
• Jerusalem
Beliefs, traditions, and customs of Judaism
• Belief in one God (monotheism)
• Torah, which contains the written records and beliefs of the Jews
• Ten Commandments, which state moral and religious conduct
Spread of Judaism
• Exile
• Diaspora
Language &
Writing
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Pictograms: Earliest written symbols
Hieroglyphics: Egypt
Cuneiform: Sumer
Alphabet: Phoenicia
Egypt
Vocab
1. Shadoof—A machine used to lifet water from the Nile to the
basins
2. Pharaoh—Egyptian Kings
3. Pyramids—Tombs for the pharaoh that serves as a gateway to the
afterlife
4. Embalming—A method of preserving bodies for the afterlife
5. Mummy—A wrapped body of a pharaoh
6. Legend—A list of symbols and what they stand for
7. Hieroglyphic—A kind of writing in which pictures represent
words/sounds
8. Papyrus—Paper made from the reeds of plants
Section 1:The Nile
1. The Nile was the region of Africa in which its
first civilizations developed. This civilization
was called Egypt.
2. The people settled along the Delta regions of
the Nile where the land was fertile.
3. Along the Nile, Egyptians dug holes called
basins. These holes were filled with water in
which a shadoof could carry water to the
crops.
Section 2: India
1. Eastern River Valley civilization began along the Indus
River around 2500BCE.
2. The first people to establish a civilization in the Indus River
valley were the Harappans.
3. The Harappans controlled the Indus River as a means of
fertilizing their crops.
4. The Harappans are believed to be the first people to grow
cotton, weave it into cloth, and developed planned
communities.
5. The oldest cities in the Indus Valley were Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro.
6. Around 1200 BCE, the Aryans took control of the valley.
7. They brought an ancient language called Sanskrit.
Section 3: China
1. The Chinese kingdom began with the legendary kingdom of Xia.
2. This civilization settled along the Huang Ho River around 2000 BCE.
3. Not much is known about the Xia, but historians believe they
chose this river because its floods left the land very fertile.
4. Due to the ferocity of floods and the color of the water, the Huang
Ho River had two other names, Yellow River and China’s Sorrow.
5. The first recorded Chinese dynasty was the Shang.
6. The Shangs developed China’s oldest known written language.
This language was found written on oracle bones.
7. The Shang dynasty flourished because of their ability to make
bronze weapons.
8. However, the dynasty came to an end with Zhou invasion in 1122
BCE.