Unit 1: Early Civilizations
I. Chapter 2-Early River Valley
Civilizations, 3500-450 BC
A. City-States in Mesopotamia
1. Fertile Crescent known as
Mesopotamia (land between
two rivers)-developed between
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
in modern day Iraq
2. Sumerians eventually settled
this area and it became known
as Sumer
3. Creation of city-states
a. 5 key characteristics of
Sumerian society that set it
apart from earlier groups
1. advanced cities
2. specialized workers
3. complex institutions
4. record keeping
5. improved technology
b. 3000 BC-Sumerians built
many cities which became
city-states
1. each had its own
government and its own
rulers
2. cities controlled the
surrounding land and
these became known as
city-states
3. earliest governments
controlled by temple
priests
4. had ziggurats-places of
worship and it was like a
city hall
5. eventually military
leaders became rulers and
passed their power onto
their sons forming
dynasties –after 2500 BC
many city-states were
under the rule of
dynasties
c. spread of city-states
1. with the surplus of
goods Sumerians were
able to increase longdistance trade
2. products and ideas were
exchanged with
neighboring cultures and
this process is called
cultural diffusion
5. Sumerian Culture
a. polytheism-belief in more
than one god
b. social classes began to
develop along with civilizations
1. kings (representatives of
the gods), landholders, priests at
top
2. wealthy merchants
3. majority of Sumeriansfield laborers or working in shops
4. lowest level-slaves
c. women-could work as
merchants, farmers, or artisans;
could hold property in their
name, join the priesthood, upper
class women could learn to read
or write *Sumerian women had
more rights than women in later
civilizations
d. inventions-wheel, the sail,
the plow, one of first civilizations
to use bronze,
e. used arithmetic and
geometry
f. architectural inventionsarches, columns, ramps
g. Cuneiform-system of writing
6. Sargon of Akkad-2350 BC-he
defeated the city-states of Sumer
and created the world’s first
empire and his dynasty lasted
around 200 years
7. Babylonian Empire-2000 BCnomadic warriors invaded
Mesopotamia and established a
capital at Babylon
a. Hammurabi reigned during
the peak of Babylonian Empire
from 1792 BC to
1750 BC
b. Hammurabi’s Code-set of
laws created by Hammurabi which
reinforced the
principle that
government had a responsibility
for what occurred in society
8. Assyrians, Phoenicians and
Hebrews would eventually adopt
many ideas of the Sumerians
B. Pyramids on the Nile
1. civilization developed in
modern day Egypt on the Nile River
2. Upper and Lower Egypt-King
Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt
around 3000 BC
3. 2660 to 2180 BC-period known
as the Old Kingdom
a. pharaohs were Egyptian godkings
1. rule was based on
religious authority called a
theocracy
2. pharaohs were the
center of religion, government
and the army
b. pyramids were built as
tombs for pharaohs who ruled even
after death
c. pyramids showed strength of
Egyptian civilization both economically
and
technologically
4. Egyptian culture and life
a. polytheistic
b. believed in afterlife so all
classes prepared for death
c. social classes (designed like
a pyramid) but were fluid
1. king, queen, royal family
2. upper class-wealthy
landowners, government officials,
priests
and army commanders
3. middle class-merchants
and artisans
4. lower class-(largest class)
peasant farmers and
laborers
5. later in history-slaves
d. women-held many of the
same rights as men-owning
and trading property,
proposing marriage or
divorce
e. hieroglyphics-at first
written on stone and clay,
then on papyrus
f. science and technology
1. developed a calendar to
track the Nile’s floods
2. system of written
numbers for counting,
taxes, etc.
3. mathematical
knowledge-geometry and
calculations for pyramids
4. medicine-could check a
pulse, set broken bones,
treat wounds and fevers,
and some surgery
5. Invaders
a. Old Kingdom ended about
2180 BC
b. Middle Kingdom arose to
restore law and order (2040-1640
BC)
c. Hyksos from Palestine area
moved in and ruled from 16301570 BC
d. New Kingdom in Egypt
eventually arose (1570-1075 BC)
C. Planned Cities on the Indus
1. civilization arose c.
(circa=around) 2500 BC in modern day
Pakistan and India in the
Indus
River Valley
2. historians know little since they
cannot decipher their writing system
3. Harappan civilization-name
given to the Indus Valley civilization
4. had sophisticated city planninggrid system, plumbing, sewage systems,
and built
mud brick walls to
protect from flooding which suggests a
strong central government
D. River Dynasties in China
1. settlements began on and
between two rivers on the North China
Plain
a. Huang He (Yellow River or
China’s Sorrow)-loess
b. Chang Jiang (Yangtze)
2. because of China’s isolation
there was little trade
3. faced numerous invasions from
the north and west
4. Huang He-First dynasties
developed here before Sumerians in
Mesopotamia
5. Shang Dynasty-1700-1027 BCfirst to leave written records
a. cities built mainly of wood
with earthen walls for protection
b. major tool of war-chariot
6. Chinese culture
a. main loyalty was to the
family and elders, then
obedience and respect for the
ruler of the Middle Kingdom
(China’s name for itself)
b. family-central to Chinese
society, as was respect for
one’s parents
1. elders controlled
property and made decisions
2. women-treated as
inferiors and were expected to
obey their fathers,
husbands, and then their
sons
c. social classes
1. sharply divided between
nobles and peasants, ruled by a
king
2. ruling class-warriornoble families owned land and governed
local villages themselves
while paying a tribute to the Shang ruler
d. religion
1. believed family ancestors
had the power to bring fortune or
disaster
2. also consulted the gods
through the spirits of their ancestors
e. writing
1. each character stood for
one syllable or unit of language
2. no link between China’s
spoken language and its
written language so
people in all parts of China
could read it which unified
large areas
3. numerous written
characters- 1,500 to become
literate, scholars
knew at least 10,000
5. nobles learned to read
and write, peasants did
not
7. Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle
(1027-256 BC)
a. Zhou overthrew the Shang in
1027 BC and adopted a lot of the
Shang culture
b. Mandate of Heaven-the
Zhou created this concept saying
that a just ruler had divine
approval and royal authority came
from heaven and kings could lose
the Mandate of Heaven and
the right to rule
c. Mandate of Heaven-the way
new dynasties were able to rise
and
fall in what became
known as the dynastic cycle (chart
on pg. 54)
d. feudalism-the Zhou created
this political system in which
nobles, or lords, are
granted
the use of lands that legally
belong to the king and then owe
loyalty and military service to the
king and they protect the people
who live on their estates
1. the lords grew stronger
as their areas grew in size
2. people gradually
accepted the lords’ rule
3. the lords became less
dependent on the king and began
fighting with
themselves and
neighbors for wealth and territory
e. improvements in technology
and trade
1. roads and canals-built for
trade and agriculture
2. coined money was
introduced-improved trade
3. blast furnaces were
made for cast iron production
f. warring states
1. Zhou dynasty-mostly
peaceful and stable, but rule
weakened
2. 771 BC-nomads from the
north and west overthrew the
Zhou capital
and
monarch
3. dynastic cycle eventually
brings about a new start to
Chinese
civilization