Ancient Civilizations

Civilization  A complex culture that has at least three charactericts.  People are able to produce surplus or extra food.  People establish large towns or cities with some form of goverenment.  People perform different jobs, instead of doing all kinds of work.

Chinese River Valley Civilizations (3950 BC-1000 BC)  Huang He (Yellow) River Valley  Shang Dynasty (2000 BC) – division of classes, importance of family.  Buddhism – Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, born in 6th Century BC to a noble family in northern india. (Buddhism follows many of the beliefs of Hinduism, including non-violence, selfdenial,  and to seek oneness with the “Great World Soul”; but it rejects the Caste System and numerous of gods.  Confucianism – Based on the ideas of Confucius (the Latin name for Master Kung). His major ideas are recorded in the Analects. .

The rivers of China  The Huang  The Chang  The Xi

The Huang He  Flows 2,900 miles across china before empying into the yellow river.  Ferile yellow soil called “loess”  yellow river  “china’s sorrow”

Shang Dynasty  Shang Dynasty (2000 BC) – division of classes, importance of family.  Stretched 40,000 square miles( moving capital several times)  Lunar calendar, moon-based. Used to record private and public events such as birth of a child and death of a ruler.  Religion, animism-the belief that spirits inhabit everything with ancestor worship.  Writing,ideograpghs and calligraphy.

Ancient Egypt  Earliest settlement along the Nile River begins in 5000 BC.  Irrigation along the Nile leads to Egypt being known as “The Gift of the Nile”. Flooding was on a regular yearly cycle.  Ruled by pharaohs who were considered god-kings; theocracy established as form of government  Polytheistic religion  Religious features: pyramids built as tombs for pharaohs; belief in the afterlife; mummification of the dead to prevent bodies from decaying  Stratified society: royal family followed by upper class followed by middle class (merchants and  artisans), and then the lower class (peasant farmers and unskilled laborers) Slaves later became a source of labor.  Writing system: hieroglyphics; writing done on papyrus

The Nile River  The longest river in the world.  4,160 miles  Main sources are the White Nile, beginning near Lake Victoria in eastern Africa. Blue Nile, runs from the Ethiopian high lands.  Runs north to south, fanning into a delta near the Mediterranean Sea.

Ancient India and the Indus river  First major cities include: Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa which were developed on  grid systems and had sophisticated plumbing and sewage systems.  These early cities decline around 1750 BC due to a possible change in course by  the Indus River.  Indo-European – people known as Aryans settle in the Indus Valley around 1500  BC  Aryan religious features: sacred literature known as Vedas  Caste system develops under Aryans  Hinduism – Polytheistic religion dating back to the Aryan invasion in 1500 BC  Vedas – collection of hymns and religious ceremonies of the Hindus that were  passed down orally and eventually written down  Reincarnation – belief that the soul is reborn in a different form after death.  Reincarnation reinforces the caste system of India  Karma – a person’s actions on earth that determine how the soul will be reborn

Indus River  First Indian civilization establish. about 4,500 years ago.

Ancient Mesopotamia and the Tigris-Euphrates