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River Valley Civilizations

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River Valley Civilizations Mesopotamia Egypt Indus River Valley China Why do people choose to live near rivers? Water for life Transportation of goods Fields/crops ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: River Valley Civilizations


1
River Valley Civilizations
  • Mesopotamia
  • Egypt
  • Indus River Valley
  • China

2
Why do people choose to live near rivers?
  • Water for life
  • Transportation of goods
  • Fields/crops

3
MesopotamiaAlso Known As The Fertile Crescent
  • Why is it also called the Fertile Crescent?
  • Where is it?
  • Modern day Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait AKA The
    Persian Gulf region (see pg 28)
  • About the same size as Massachusetts
  • Two rivers..
  • Tigris and EuphratesWhat advantages do these
    rivers provide?
  • SILTWhat is it?
  • What are the disadvantages?
  • Unpredictable
  • Other Disadvantages of this area?
  • Vulnerable b/c no natural barriers
  • Small size
  • Limited natural resources

4
Sumerians4500BCE-3500BCE
  • The first people to settle in this region became
    the dominating civilization in this area
  • They were the first to create a civilization
  • Irrigation (surplus crops)
  • Trade (they could get the natural resources they
    didnt have readily available)
  • They had leaders, workers, laws, etc.

5
5 Characteristics of Civilization
  • Advanced Cities
  • Specialized Workers
  • Complex Institutions
  • Record Keeping
  • Advanced Technology
  • ASCRA

6
By 3000BCE---City-States Emerge!
  • Share the same culture
  • All have Ziggurats-what are these?
  • What does this say about the importance of
    religion? Of religious leaders, known as priests?
  • Have their own governments
  • Have their own leaders
  • Controlled the land surrounding it
  • Much like what today?
  • Countries.US and Canada Germany and Austria
    England and Scotland

7
Dynasties Evolve
  • Series of rulers from a single family
  • They evolved from the need for a ruler during
    times of war
  • Times of war became very frequent
  • These rulers remained in control

8
Around 2500 BCE
  • Many new cities in the F.C.
  • A lot of trade occurred and when they traded all
    over the areathey traded more than goods.also
    ideas
  • CULTURAL DIFFUSION
  • Does this still occur today?
  • Examples?

9
Sumerian Culture
  • Polytheistic-
  • 3,000 gods representing all different aspects of
    life
  • They believed their gods were immortal and
    all-powerfulbut had human characteristics too
  • Epic of Gilgamesh(one of the oldest books)-told
    of their myths and legends

10
Sumerian Society
  • Social Classes
  • Priests and Kings
  • Wealthy Merchants
  • Workers
  • Slaves
  • Who was a slave? Could they earn their freedom?

11
Women
  • Could own property
  • Choose any occupation
  • Could join lower ranks of priesthood
  • Can they in present day religion?
  • What couldnt they do? Scholars believe they
    couldnt attend school.why do they think this?

12
Science and Technology
  • Invented
  • Wheel
  • Sail
  • Plow
  • First to use Bronze..for what?
  • Weapons and tools
  • Geometry, arithmetic, circle360
  • First form of writing---Cuneiform
  • Map found from around 2300BCE

13
  • Used mud, bricks, mortar to build their
    ziggurats.which were the first examples of
  • Arches
  • Columns
  • Ramps
  • Pyramid-shaped designs
  • A lot of civilizations after the Sumerians
    borrowed this technology

14
2350 BCE--Sargon
  • He takes over Sumer
  • His people were Semitic
  • What is this?
  • Speak a language very close to Arabic and Hebrew
  • He controlled both the N and S areas of
    Mesopotamia
  • He creates the first EMPIRE
  • Brings together many nations under one ruler
  • Lasts only 200 yearsdownfall? Internal fighting

15
2000 BCEBabylonian Empire
  • Were nomadic warriors
  • Semitic
  • Moved capital to Babylon (see map on pg 28)
  • Peaked under Hammurabis reign
  • 1792BCE-1750BCE

16
Hammurabis Code
  • A uniform code would unify the people
  • Engraved the laws into stones
  • Placed these stones all over the empire
  • 282 Laws
  • Covered all aspects of life
  • An Eye for an Eye and a tooth for a tooth
    principle was appliedwhat does this mean?

17
So whats the big deal?
  • Established the Government as the entity to would
    make the laws
  • Government was responsible for what happened in
    society
  • Now everyone knows the laws and punishmentsno
    excuses if you do something wrong

18
Nile River Valley
  • Where is it?
  • Pg 24-25
  • What river do the people depend upon?
  • In which direction does this river flow?
  • Upper and Lower Egypt
  • For most of history, only Lower Egypt is known
  • Delta region Rich land because of silt
  • The river united Upper and Lower
  • Trade was abundant between the two

19
The Nile River
  • Predictable
  • Surrounded by desertsnatural protection from
    invaders
  • But also isolated them from other civilizations

20
Trade in 3200BCE
  • Egyptians began trading with Mesopotamia (AKA
    what?)
  • Egyptians began traveling the Nile to find ivory,
    gold, cattle, and granite
  • Egypt became a good blend of different cultures
    because of their trade
  • This exchange of ideas is called what?
  • Cultural Diffusion!

21
Menes
  • Unites Upper and Lower Egypt in 3100BCE
  • Creates a new crown to illustrate the united
    kingdom (see pg 35)
  • This was the first Egyptian Dynasty

22
Pharaohs
  • God-kings
  • Theocracy
  • Ruled after their deaths
  • Pyramids
  • They didnt have the wheel but they could build
    these pyramids! (see pg 36)
  • Pyramids of Giza still exist and are one of the 7
    Wonders of the Ancient World

23
Egyptian Culture
  • Polytheistic
  • Ra-sun, Horus-light, Isis-ideal mother and
    wifeworshiped more than 2,000 gods/goddesses
  • Believed in afterlife
  • Mummification (Voice from the past, pg37)
  • Buried with many items to use in the afterlife

24
  • Society was hierarchical
  • King, Queen, Royal Family
  • Wealthy landowners, government officials,
    priests, army commanders
  • Merchants and Artisans
  • Peasants and Farmers (the majority of the people)
  • Slaves
  • Howeverthey had social mobilityhow could they
    move up?
  • Marriage, success in their professions

25
  • Hieroglyphics
  • Use of pictures to represent ideas first written
    on stones and clay
  • Papyrus
  • Reeds which were dampened, pressed flat, dried to
    create a crude form of paper

26
Rosetta Stone
  • Found by Napoleons men in Egypt 1799
  • Jean Francois Champollion spent 23yrs translating
    it
  • In 1822 he finished and gave the world the
    translation of hieroglyphics
  • The Rosetta stone is now housed at the British
    Museum in London

27
Egyptian Science and Technology
  • They needed numbers to count all of their goods
  • Needed geometry for property boundaries
  • Math to create the pyramids
  • Calendar to keep track of seasons for
    planting(and flooding)

28
Calendar (continued)
  • Used the bright star, Sirius, to create a 365 day
    calendar
  • Divided into 12 months each month had 30
    days.what did they do with the last 5 days?
  • Party!!!!
  • How accurate was this calendar to what we now
    use?

29
Medicine
  • Knew how to check heart rate by using a pulse
  • Used splints for broken bones
  • Surgeries too.
  • Embalming of bodies

30
End of the Egyptian rule(for a little while,
anyway)1640BCE
  • Here come the Hyksos!
  • They were from Asia
  • They were nomads
  • Traveled in horse drawn chariots
  • They ruled Egypt from 1640-1570BCE
  • How many years is this?

31
Indus River Valley
32
  • 2500 BCE
  • Located in North India
  • Little is known about themand less is known
    about how they disappeared
  • Isolated by the Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountains

33
The Rivers
  • Indus
  • Ganges- holy river to Hindu, extremely dirty, one
    of the most rivers in the world today polluted
    why dont they take measures to clean it?
  • Brahmaputra
  • All unpredictable

34
Indus Civilizations
  • Well planned cities-laid out on a grid system
  • Citadel-major city buildings were congregated in
    this area
  • Used bricks that were standard shaped
  • Modern plumbing system (pg44)
  • What does this say about their government?

35
Major Cities
  • Mohenjo-Daro
  • Harrapa
  • What kind of people lived in these cities?
  • Peacefulhow do we know this?
  • Hindu
  • Soapstone Seals-used for trade

36
What happened to them?
  • 1750BCE-1500BCE
  • River changed its course?
  • Farmed the land too much
  • Natural Disaster?
  • Invaded?
  • Aliens????? ? Probably not.

37
China
  • The last to develop a civilization
  • 1027BCE

38
Geography
  • Natural barriers create isolation
  • Many mountain ranges and deserts
  • Little trade
  • Two rivers
  • Huang He (aka yellow river, river of sorrow)
  • Yangtze
  • Loess-silt with a yellow tintcan make the water
    appear yellow

39
Civilizations
  • First Dynasty-Xia (shyah) around 2000BCE
  • Yu great engineer
  • Shang Dynasty 1532-1027
  • Anyang-built out of wood
  • Thick walls surrounded the cities
  • Social Class division
  • All were loyal to family and King/Emperor

40
  • Family
  • Men controlled the family
  • Women were inferiors
  • Arranged marriages
  • Girls married b/t 13-16-moved to husbands home
  • Religion
  • Spirits of ancestors (Mulan)
  • Priests and Oracle bones

41
  • Writing
  • Characters stand for ideas, not sounds like our
    alphabet
  • Many could speak, but not read Chinese
  • Literate1,000 characters
  • Scholar10,000 characters
  • Who went to school?
  • Technology/Art
  • Bronze work
  • Silk from silkworms

42
Zhou(1027BCE-256BCE)
  • Mandate of Heaven justified the dynasty
    changewicked and foolish kings lose the mandate
  • Feudalism Emerges
  • Nobles/Lords are given land from the King to
    usewhat do the Lords owe the King?

43
  • Technology
  • Roads and canals were built
  • Coined trade
  • Iron for weapons and toolsstronger than bronze
  • Warring
  • Peaceful for 300 years
  • Attacked by nomads in 771BCE
  • Crossbows used by warring noblesfought among
    themselves for power
  • Chaos in Chinathis used to be a land of honor,
    order and harmony
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