1. Early River Civilizations

2. Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates)
Egypt (Nile)
India (Indus and Ganges)
China (Yellow and Yangtze)

3. Civilization
Contributions
Geography

4. BELLWORK (Entry 6) In notebook, write down the question and answer:
List three reasons why early civilizations settled near rivers.
Also, send one person from your group to get two pieces of paper for each person (on front table)

5. Neolithic Revolution
The first agricultural revolution – the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement.

6. Civilization Advanced cities Specialized workers Complex institutions
Record keeping
Improved technology

7. Mesopotamia
Also known as the Fertile Crescent or the Cradle of Civilization.
People settled
here in 4500
BCE.

8. There were LOTS of disadvantages to living here…
Unpredictable flooding and droughts
No natural barriers for protection, defenseless against attack
Limited natural resources, building materials were scarce

9. …but, they were problem solvers!
Dug irrigation ditches that brought water to crops
Built city walls with mud bricks
Traded their grain, cloth and crafted tools with people of the mountains and deserts and as a result, got the raw materials that they needed: stone, wood and metal

10. Mesopotamia - CIVILIZATION
1st Civilization – advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and technology.
4500 BCE

11. Mesopotamia - CONTRIBUTIONS
Hammurabi’s Code, Wheel, Sail, Plow, geometry, 60 seconds in a minute (units to measure time), 360 degrees in a circle, cuneiform (written language), architecture (arches, columns, ramps)
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN

12. Mesopotamia - GEOGRAPHY
Present day Iraq
Awesome farming
Limited natural resources
Flooding and drought
No natural barriers

13. Nile River
Yearly floods made the land surrounding the river fertile, predictable
However, there were still risks
Low river – crops reduced and thousands of people starve
High river – floods destroyed homes, granaries, and seeds
Deserts surrounding region isolated people, reduced interaction with other people

15. Egyptian Culture Polytheistic – belief in many gods
Believed in ka, or eternal life
Theocracy – Pharoahs were rulers and were thought to be almost as powerful as gods themselves
Social classes

16. Nile - CIVILIZATION
Theocracy
Pyramids
Social Classes

17. Nile - CONTRIBUTIONS
Hieroglyphics, papyrus, 365 day calendar, system of numbers used for counting, adding and subtracting, pyramids, measuring heart rate, first surgeries, set bones
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN

18. Nile - GEOGRAPHY
Egypt
Predictable weather
isolated

19. Bellwork:
Please take out your foldable from Friday. Review the major contributions made by the Mesopotamian and Nile River civilizations.
If you were absent, come to the front table to get two pieces of paper and set your foldable up by looking on with a neighbor.

20. Indus and Ganges Rivers
Area between Himalayas and Arabian Sea
Mountains in the north and desert in the east help prevent invasion

22. Annual monsoons – June-October - winds blow eastward from the southwest carrying massive amounts of rain
Environmental challenges existed
Yearly floods deposit rich soil, but unpredictable
Rivers changed course
Cycle of wet and dry seasons unpredictable

23. Indus and Ganges - CIVILIZATION
Indus River was key trade route
Theocracy – links to modern Hinduism
No social divisions
Had excess
Peaceful
Written language – has not been deciphered

24. Indus and Ganges - CONTRIBUTIONS
Domesticated sheep and goats, bricks were oven-baked and uniform in size, plumbing and sewage systems, strong central government, three-story buildings.
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN

25. Indus and Ganges - GEOGRAPHY
Indian subcontinent
Natural barriers for protection – mountains and deserts
Monsoons

26. Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Huang He (Yellow River) and Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)
Like all of the other river civilizations, they faced challenges as well
Flooding
Geographic isolation – had to provide everything for themselves
Consistent invasions from the west and north

28. Dynasties
Family was the center of culture – respect for elders
Women were considered inferior, but could boost their status by bearing sons
Social divisions
Believed in spirits of ancestors, a supreme God, and lesser gods
Written language – characters – consistent throughout China
Feudalism

29. Yellow and Yangtze - CIVILIZATION
Dynasties
Feudalism
Social divisions

30. Yellow and Yangtze - CONTRIBUTIONS
Horse drawn chariot, coined money, blast furnaces produced cast iron and the emergence of weapons – daggers, swords, farm tools, etc. Construction of roads and canals to stimulate trade.
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN

31. Yellow and Yangtze - GEOGRAPHY
China
10% China suitable for farming
Geographic isolation
Susceptible to attack

32. Map Use an atlas to complete the following:
Label the seven rivers we discussed
Indus
Ganges
Tigris
Euphrates
Nile
Yellow
Yangtze
Highlight/shade the four ancient river civilization regions and label them.
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