Mr. Kallusingh World History

 Developed around rivers like the Nile, Tigris/ Euphrates, Indus, and Huang that flooded the soil for the farmers  Cities developed as people began to settle down with division of labor, artisans, kings, government, cultural diffusion coming later

 The longer cities were inhabited the more ideas began to spread like Science, Math, writing, etc  Religion was developed to explain the forces of nature and the existence of man

 The land in between the Tigris and Euphrates is so well suited for farming it is called the Fertile Crescent  The Sumerians were the first group of people to inhabit this area, but not for long as this area was under constant attack, they invented cuneiform-the oldest form of writing, it has 600 symbols

 Sumerians created ziggurats as religious temples  City-States were all Sumerian, but they did not work together. City-States were run by priests and then kings because of competition for food  Code of Hammurabi is the first known law code based on the philosophy ‘an eye for an eye’

 Nile river floods during the summer rain fertilizing the soil. The Nile flows north and the winds blow south allowing travel both ways  Egypt is surrounded by desert and sea which helps isolate it from the rest of the world  They built pyramids, made paper from papyrus, created a form of writing hieroglyphics, made calendar to track floods, figured out mummification

 Old Kingdom BC, built pyramids and sphinx, two social classes lower-farmers and peasants upper-pharaoh, priest, scribes, govt officials  Middle Kingdom BC, ‘Golden Age’, pharaohs lose power to nobles, Hyksos invaded with chariots  New Kingdom BC, pharaohs had absolute power, turned into an empire, Amenhotep tried monotheism

 The monsoon rain provided water for the crops, but if it came late they dried up and if there is to much rain then they flood  Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were two of the early cities in India about 4500 years ago, Harappa could support up to people

 Caste System 1)Brahmans- priest and rulers 2)Kshatriyas- warriors 3)Vaisyas- merchants, commerce, farmers 4)Sudras- majority of population, workers 5)Untouchables- 5% of people, trash collectors and handle dead bodies  Hinduism- it is polytheistic, believes in reincarnation, goal is nirvana

 Buddhism- focused around ethics, desire causes suffering, no god  Confucianism- dominates Chinese history, society is more important than the individual  Daoism- created by Lao-Tzu, individual is more important than society,  Legalism- humans are evil by nature, harsh laws to control humans

 Shang dynasty created a strong bureaucracy, introduced animism  Zhou dynasty introduced the Mandate of Heaven, broke up the kingdom into provinces weakening the central power