WHI.3

 The first permanent settlements popped up along rivers during the Neolithic Era (New Stone Age)  These rivers provided settlements with constant access to water for drinking, fertile soil for crops, and protection from enemies  There are four major ancient river valley civilizations:  Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers)  Egypt (Nile River)  India (Indus and Ganges River)  China (Huang River)

 Rivers, and the valleys they carve out, offer rich soil and irrigation water for agriculture  Rivers flood, and when they do they leave the soil fertile and easy to grow  Also, they tended to be in locations easily protected from invasion by nomadic peoples.

 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).

 Hebrews (the Jewish people) first settled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River Valley (part of Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia).  Hebrews call this the “Promised Land” or “Canaan”

 The Phoenicians were sea traders who settled on the Mediterranean coast and set up trade routes all long the coast of the Mediterranean Sea

 Nubia is a separate kingdom, south of Egypt, also along the Nile River

 Big Idea:  River valleys were the “Cradles of Civilization.” Early civilizations made major contributions to social, political, and economic progress. Social: Rigid class system, families of rules Political: City-states, empires, laws Economic: Metal, Surpluses in food, More trade, Slavery

 Hereditary rulers: Dynasties of kings- based on family (King dies, son the prince becomes king)  Sort of like the royal family in England, only back in the day women were excluded

 Strict and rigid social class system, where everyone has their place  Standing within civilization depends on what you do  Government and priests on top, slaves on the bottom  Slavery is both accepted and common

 World’s first organized governments (states)  First: City-States: a city that with its surrounding land forms an independent state (mini-country)  Next: Kingdom: a large state or country all under control of a royal leader, like a king or queen  Finally: Empire: a group of states or countries all under the control of one leader, usually an emperor

 Someone with ultimate authority  In charge of large scale projects  Establish law and provide for defense  Often based on religious authority  Ex: Egypt’s Pharaoh- he’s the head of government AND the head of the religion because he’s a God  Theocracy- Government where the ruler and the laws get their power from God or religion

 Name means “land between the rivers”  Rivers: Tigris and Euphrates  Entire area is part of the “Fertile Crescent” – An arc of land from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, through Mesopotamia, to the Persian Gulf in the east

Fertile Crescent in green, Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Region of Mesopotamia called Sumer in purple

 By 2000 B.C.E. Mesopotamia is run by a group of people called Amorites.  Capital set up in a city called Babylon  Now called Babylonians  City located near present day Baghdad, Iraq

 Babylon run by a ruler named Hammurabi  Established world’s first written law  Based on old Sumerian law  Established the “eye for an eye” principle

 Hammurabi had his law posted all over town for everyone to read  Point of the law was to keep the strong from taking advantage of the weak  Laws about civil and criminal law, land, trade, military and family law

 If a man puts out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be put out.  If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be knocked out.  If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be hewn off.  If a freeborn man strikes the body of another freeborn man of equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.  If the slave of a freed man strikes the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.

 Video on Hammurabi's Code Video on Hammurabi's Code

 According to the Bible, the Hebrew people (today called Jews) who were originally from Canaan, at one point moved to Egypt because of drought  While Egypt at first accepted the Hebrews as neighbors, they eventually enslaved the Hebrew people  Somewhere between 1300 and 1200 B.C. a Hebrew named Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt  On the way home, Moses stopped to pray on Mt. Sinai, and there God gave Moses the laws he wishes his people to obey  Those laws made up the Ten Commandments

 Originally on two stone tablets  Basis of civil and religious law for Hebrews  Civil: How people deal with each other  Religious: How people deal with God  New Covenant (deal) with God  Hebrews obey the Ten Commandments, God protects Hebrews

 Once man moved away from making his tools with stone, he turned to metal.  The first metal to be used in human tool making was copper.  Copper, however, is soft, so it was melted and mixed with tin to make stronger bronze.  Copper and bronze were used in the first metal tools and weapons

 Hittites from Asia Minor invaded Mesopotamia after Hammurabi and were able to rule because they could make iron  Mesopotamians couldn’t defend themselves with softer bronze and copper  Hittites kept recipe for iron secret to keep their power

 Eventually, the recipe for iron gets out  Hittites lose control of the empire  Knowledge of iron spreads around the world and starts the Iron Age

 As technology gets better and better, man is able to grow crops more productively  Better tools, farm equipment like plows, and irrigation all lead to bigger and more productive farms that create a surplus of food grown  All this extra food leads to an increase in the human population

 Within Mesopotamia lies a region called Sumer  Location of world’s first civilizations  Large ancient cities in Sumer include Ur, Uruk and Nippur

 Ancient slavery was both common, and accepted  While it’s always been used as a source of free labor, it is different from more modern forms of slavery  It is NOT based on race or skin color  Most ancient slaves were taken as the result of losing a war against a more powerful nation  The losing soldiers were taken as slaves, rather than killed

 Man branches out and begin to trade over rivers (good source of transportation)  The Phoenicians set up a vast trading empire all around the Mediterranean Sea  The Phoenicians traded many things, including purple dye