QUAESTIO How did the environment shape the early

QUAESTIO: How did the environment shape the early river valley civilizations? NUNC AGENDA: Write down as many cool facts about the Indus civilization that you can remember from the video

QUAESTIO: How did the environment shape the early river valley civilizations? NUNC AGENDA: Work in groups to finish Cuneiform Chronicles activity

THE BIG FOUR RIVER VALLEYS • River valleys = Fertile: seasonal floods deposit silt into the soil, making surplus possible • Silt = sediment carried by river water, somewhere between sand clay, full of nutrients • Rivers can also facilitate travel and trade

CONTROL OVER WATER • Excessive flooding can destroy settlements and crops, and even cause deaths • Infrequent flooding leaves crops without sufficient water • Solution = Irrigation systems for bringing water to crops & Dikes to hold back flood waters • Required organization and coordination � Governments develop to oversee and direct • Some easy to control water (Egypt, Indus), some difficult (Mesopotamia, China, Yucatan)

THE BIG FOUR RIVER VALLEYS • Mesopotamia (several civilizations): Tigris & Euphrates Rivers – Modern Iraq & E Syria

Meso = Between Potamia = Rivers

THE BIG FOUR RIVER VALLEYS • Indus Civilization (aka Harappan Civilization): Indus River – Modern Pakistan & NW India

THE BIG FOUR RIVER VALLEYS • Egypt & Nubia: Nile River – Modern Egypt and Sudan

THE BIG FOUR RIVER VALLEYS • Xia & Shang China: Yellow River (aka Huang He River) – Modern NE China

MORE THAN FOUR • There were other important early civilizations that developed in areas where fertile land could be cultivated to produce surplus

MORE THAN FOUR • There were other important early civilizations that developed in areas where fertile land could be cultivated to produce surplus

CONNECTION AND ISOLATION • Civilizations like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley were very connected by trade and cultural diffusion due to geographic closeness and lack of barriers • China was more isolated from the others, mostly due to the Himalaya Mountains • The Americas were completely isolated, being separated by massive oceans

CONNECTION AND ISOLATION • Civilizations like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley were very connected by trade and cultural diffusion due to geographic closeness and lack of barriers • China was more isolated from the others, mostly due to the Himalaya Mountains • The Americas were completely isolated, being separated by massive oceans

Music Time! Listen close! What language is this?

CITY–STATES – CASE STUDY THE SUMERIANS • Sumerians = the earliest civilization, located in Southern Mesopotamia, a collection of city-states • Each city-state had one central city that controlled the lands surrounding it • City: Center of political and military control as well as trade and religious ritual • State: Wider lands which included many small villages and agricultural land

Meso = Between Potamia = Rivers

Sumer = First Civilization

CITY–STATES – CASE STUDY THE SUMERIANS • Politically divided but culturally united • Different rulers but shared language, religion, customs, trade • Spoke Sumerian, a language isolate (not related to any other known language)

DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING • Most early writing began as pictograms, symbols designed to look like things they represent, but later developed into more abstract forms, and came to represent sounds rather than things • Sumer: Cuneiform was the first system of writing ever invented, used for many different languages of peoples in and around Mesopotamia

DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING • Egypt: While not the first, Heiroglyphics was the ancestor script of many modern scripts, including our own! • The Egyptians borrowed the idea of writing from Mesopotamia

DEVELOPMENT OF WRITING • Writing developed (probably) three times independently • Other than Cuneiform in Sumer, the Oracle Bone Script was developed in China and the Olmec script was developed in Mesoamerica by the Olmecs

OTHER TECHNOLOGIES • Bronze: 4000 BCE Mesopotamians strengthened soft copper with tin to make the alloy metal called bronze, used for durable tools and weapons, but very expensive because of the rarity of tin • Wheel: 3500 BCE Sumerians began using wooden wheels, and wheeled carts by 3000 BCE, which dramatically improved transportation of large and heavy goods

TRADE NETWORKS • Specialized labor + more efficient transportation (land water) + geographic differences = Long-Distance Trade • River valleys often resource poor, had to trade with neighbors for special raw materials like lumber, tin, textiles, skins, dyes, gold, gems, slaves etc • Trade works best with healthy peaceful relations, though often continues even during hostility and war

TRADE NETWORKS • Indus Valley traded with Southern/Eastern India and Mesopotamia • Mesopotamia also traded with Asia Minor, Levant, and Egypt

TRADE NETWORKS • Egypt also traded throughout Eastern Mediterranean and upstream of Nile with Nubia and along the coast of East Africa • China had only very limited trade to the West but traded with their neighbors in East Asia • Contact and trade leads to cultural diffusion – exchange of ideas and technology

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS • Mostly polytheistic – belief in many gods (poly = many; theos = god) • Pantheon = collection of gods within a polytheistic system (pan = all) • Though less common, some examples of monotheism – belief in one god (mono = one)

Lamassu = Protector God

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS • Influenced by agriculture • Fertility still important as with Paleolithic, now focused on crops • Major themes = cycles of birth, death, and rebirth, just like crops and seasons • Most religions had stories of a major destruction by a flood, often sent by the gods