River Valley Civilizations Mr. Emerson World History

Where did History Begin? Mesopotamia Hwang He Egypt MesoAmerica Indus

Where there is writing… Cuneiform Hieroglyphics Pictographs There is History!

Cuneiform Found in Mesopotamia The Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys Wedge Writing

Cuneiform Tablets made of Clay Write with a stylus – a wedge stick Try writing like a Babylonian

Hieroglyphics Found in Egypt The Nile River Valley Pictures represent sounds

Hieroglyphics This is the cartouche of Pharoah Hatshepsut. Notice the cartouche is encircled Means this is a name of someone important Try writing like an Egyptian

Pictographs Found In China Ancient texts can be read by modern Chinese

Pictographs Also found in India Indian writing cannot be read today

Pictographs Pictures represent ideas or thoughts Symbols become more simplified Sun River

Summary Ideas People in ancient times wrote down ideas This is the beginning of history History began in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus and Hwang He river valleys This is why we study these people first in World History

Bibliography and Sources Outline Map of the World http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernct.edu%2F%7Elukinbea%2Foutline.html Map of Mesopotamia http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/map01mes.htm Example of a Cuneiform Tablet http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/cuneiform/ Write like a Babylonian http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi Map of Ancient Egypt http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/map.htm Make your own Cartouche http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/cartouche/cartouche.html Harappa, Indus Valley Civilization http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html Chinese Pictographs http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/orthography/chinese2.html Map of Pakistan http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/pk.html Map of China http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/ch.html