Chapter 1 Sec. 3
Beginnings of Civilization
Mr. Marsh
Columbus North High School
Why was a surplus of food so important
to creating a civilization?
SHORTANSWER
River Valley Civilizations

Cities rose along the river valleys of the

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
Tigris
Euphrates
 Middle East
Nile
 Egypt
Indus
 India
Yellow or (Huang He)
 China
The area of Egypt and Mesopotamia is
referred to as the ________?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Fertile
Fertile
Fertile
Fertile
Moon
Crescent
Sun
Mertile
Features of Civilizations

Eight Basic Features of a Civilization
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Cities
Well-organized central governments
Complex religions
Job specialization
Social classes
Arts and architecture
Public works
writing
Rise of Cities

Rise of cities were the main feature
of a Civilization.


Civilization-is a complex, highly
organized social order
First cities developed after farmers
cultivated lands along river and
produced a surplus of food.
Organized Governments

Early Governments were lead by warrior kings

Rulers used heredity to ensure there families place.

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Rulers claimed the were placed there by god
 Early Chinese Kings took the title “Son of
Heaven”
Governments became more complex with time and
size
Complex Religions

Most ancient People were
Polytheistic

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Polytheistic-believed in many gods
Monotheistic- Believe in one god
Believed that the gods controlled
water, fire, sun and human
activities

To ensure divine help, people built
temples, and carried out sacrifices of
food animals and humans.
Job Specialization

As people moved into cities no
longer did they build everything
they needed.

People relied on each other, people
developed skills
Metal working
 Pottery
 Weaver
 Wood Worker
 Etc…

What did we notice about the quality of
craftsman's work in a civilization? And
why?
SHORTANSWER
Social Classes

The Development
of societies
brought along the
development of
social classes
Religious Leaders
Nobles
Wealthy Merchants
Peasants
I.E. Farmers
Slaves
Why do we use a pyramid to show
social classes?
SHORTANSWER
Arts and Architecture
Public Works

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Irrigation Systems
Roads
Bridges
Walls
Etc…
Pictograms are a type of writing?
A.
B.
True
False
Writing

A new skill found in civilizations


Theory is it began in temples in order
to record amounts of grain collected
Earliest forms of writing were
Pictograms

Pictograms- simple drawings that looked
like the object they represented
Spread of Civilizations

As cities grew they brought civilization to
new areas.

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First Empires grew from competition and
war

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City-States: a political unit which includes a
city and the surrounding farm lands, etc…
Wars between city states developed the first
empires
Nomadic Interaction

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The first cities were spread all over and needed
to work with nomadic tribes for trading.
Nomadic tribes are only considered noncivilized because of the lack of the eight basic
features
Civilizations and Change

Many things can cause civilizations
to change

Environmental Changes
Floods
 Droughts
 Volcanoes
 Over us of natural resources

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Interaction Among People
Cultural Diffusion
 Warfare
