1. Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C. - 450 B.C.

2. Early River Valley Civilizations ► City-States in Mesopotamia ► Pyramids on the Nile ► Planned Cities on the Indus ► River Dynasties in China

3. City- States in Mesopotamia

4. ► A Fertile Crescent created by the Tigris and the Euphrates gave birth to this civilization ► Divided into several city-states which created their own but similar governments.

5. City-States in Mesopotamia ► Mesopotamians used Hammurabi’s as their law. ► It was the oldest known form of law ever used. ► Mesopotamia then fell to invaders and started to decline, while another civilization was taking place in the east.

6. Pyramids on the Nile

7. ► “The Gift of the Nile” as Herodotus called it, Egypt could not exist without the Nile. ► Like Mesopotamia, the Nile flooded and brought Egypt fertile soil.

8. Pyramids on the Nile ► Egypt, unlike Mesopotamia, was united into one kingdom with one ruler. ► Pharaohs ruled Egypt; people believed that they were “gods”.

9. Pyramids on the Nile ► Ancient Egyptians built “Pyramids” as tombs for their pharaohs. ► They believed that there was an after life, and always left treasures next to the mummified Pharaohs.

10. Planned Cities on the Indus

11. ► A fertile plain formed by the Indus and Ganges rivers, was where the Indus river- valley civilization took place. ► Its three major cities were Kalibanpan, Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa.

12. Planned Cities on the Indus ► Cities in the Indus Valley were well constructed. ► They used oven baked bricks for their buildings. ► Also they were one of the first civilizations that had plumbing. (right)

13. River Dynasties in China

14. ► The Huang He (Yellow River) gave birth to a new civilization in “Modern Day China”. ► The Huang He brought “LOESS” to China; Loess is a type of fertile soil. (right)

15. River Dynasties in China ► China was ruled by dynasties, or a sequence of rulers from the same family. ► China’s first dynasty is believed to be the Xia (SHYAH) dynasty.

16. River Dynasties in China ► The Chinese believed the transition from one dynasty to another was caused by a mandate of heaven. ► The Dynastic Cycle in China is shown to the right. Corrupt Dynasty Natural Disasters Dynasty loses The Mandate of heaven Dynasty is overthrown New Dynasty Strong Dynasty

17. Early River Valley Civilizations ► These early river valley civilizations would lead to the movement of people and ideas as you will see in the next chapter. The End!!!