Comparison of Early River Valley Civilizations
Civilization
Sumer
Egypt
Indus Valley
China
Geography
Power and People
Science and Technology
Comparison of Early River Valley Civilizations
Civilization
Sumer
Geography
Fertile Crescent rivers
made land good for
farming
Power and People
Independent city-states (just like
separate countries), often wars
between them
Flooding of Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
unpredictable
City-states first governed by priests,
then by generals who became kings
No natural barriers
Egypt
City-states eventually united into first
empires by conquerors (Sargon ruled
world's first empire)
Limited natural resouce
for making tools or
buildings
Uniform system of laws (applied to
all groups) - Hammurabi's Code
Flooding of the Nile
predictable
Worshipped 3,000 gods and had a
dismal (sad) view of afterlife
United kingdom with strong
government organization
Science and Technology
Irrigation
Cuneiform - the first
system of writing
Bronze
Wheel, sail, plow
Hieroglyphic writing
Pyramids
Nile an easy
transportation link
between villages
(downstream current,
upstream winds)
Indus Valley
China
Theocracy with pharoahs rulings as
gods
Mathematics, Geometry
Believed in beautiful afterlife
Medicine
Allowed women to trade and seek
Deserts were natural
divorce
barriers (Red Land was
desert, Black Land was Pharoahs built pyramids
fertile soil)
Indus flooding
Strong centralized government
unpredictable
Planned cities
Monsoon winds
Social divisions not too important
Mountains, deserts were
natural barriers
Huang He flooding
unpredictable
Community and family more
important than individual
Mountains, deserts
natural barriers
Feudalism - Sharp divisions between
nobles and peasants
Geography isolated
China from other
civilizations
Mandate of Heaven
Dynastic Cycle - until 1900 A.D.
Calendar as accurate as
our calendar today
Writing (not yet
deciphered, which means
not figured out)
Cities layed out on a
precise grid (like streets
and avenues)
Plumbing and sewage
systems
Writing - had to know at
least 1,000 characters to
know how to read
Silk - from caterpillars
Cast Iron - built blast
furnaces to create great
heat
Essay (30 points) Choose any one of the following essay questions and answer it in several complete
paragraphs. Make sure each of your paragraphs begins with a single, clear topic sentence and has complete
sentences with supporting details.
A. Geography (rivers, floods, deserts, mountains, winds, resources) had a great affect on how civilizations
developed. Choose any three of the river valley civilizations we studied and give several examples of how
geography affected each civilization. (Remember: effects can be both good or bad.)
OR
B. The early river valley civilizations each had different systems of government and organization. Choose
any three of these civilizations and explain how each society was ruled and organized.
OR
C. Great advances in science (knowledge) and technology (inventions) improved the lives of the people in each
of the early river valley civilizations. Choose any three civilizations we studied and for each one describe how
the advances in science and technology improved the lives of the people.