Agricultural Revolutions to
River Valleys
AP World History
2007
Pre-Civilization
• Farmers needed stability to control water
Small groups could not regulate waters
Small groups could not defend area
• Small, self-sufficient farming villages form
First appeared in SW Asia around 6000 BCE
Catal Huyuk in Turkey as example
Evidence of trade, tool making, artisans
Evidence of complex religion
Specialization of occupations: politics, military
Evidence of metal working (Bronze Age)
Introduction to Civilization
• Definition of civilization
A form of culture represented by complex
institutions, specialized workers, cities,
recordkeeping, and advanced technology
Introduction to Civilization
Development of civilizations
Culture hearths
Mesopotamia—3500 BCE
Egypt—3100 BCE
Indus River Valley—2500 BCE
Ancient China—2000 BCE
Mesoamerica—1250 BCE
What environmental conditions were
needed to develop the first civilizations?
Ancient Mesopotamia
• Farming develops in the Fertile Crescent
by 4500 BCE
Fertile soil caused by flooding rivers was good
for farming
• Three Disadvantages
Flooding of rivers was unpredictable
No natural barriers for protection
Natural resources were limited
• “Necessity is the mother of invention”
Ancient Mesopotamia
• Sumer first civilization
c. 3500 BCE
Initially priests ruled citystates
Built large temples called
ziggurats
Eventually kings took
over power
Power passed to sons
creating dynasties
Land owning aristocracy
dominated
Ancient Mesopotamia
• Sumerian Religion
Believed in 3,000 gods
Religion was to appease gods, control nature
Art and literature focus on gods and religion
Epic of Gilgamesh
• Sumerian Society
Clearly defined social classes
Slavery was common
Women could hold most occupations
Ancient Mesopotamia
• Sumerian Economy
Majority of people farmed
Traded for needed resources
along the Nile-Indus
Corridor
• Sumerian Science and
Technology
Inventions: wheel, sail, and
plow
1st to use bronze
1st system of writing—
cuneiform
1st number system
Later Mesopotamians
• Cycle of Civilization
Nomads conquer sedentary people
Conquerors assimilate local culture
New civilization blends cultures & thrives
“New” civilization grows old and is invaded
• Akkad “First”
First Empire—conquered all of Sumer
• Babylonian “First”
Hammurabi’s Code—1st written code of law
Ancient Egypt
• Geography different
from Sumer
Relatively isolated
Nile flooded regularly,
predictably
Provided rich
soil,easy soil to
farm
Civilization regulated
flooding, surveying
Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian Government
Unified for most of
history
Theocracy
Pharaoh was a god-king
Built pyramid tombs for
dead
• Egyptian Religion
Thousands of gods
Relatively egalitarian
Believe in afterlife
Mummification
Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian Society
Clearly defined social classes
Social mobility was possible
Slavery was a widespread source of labor
Women had more rights than other societies
Could own property, propose marriage, demand a
divorce
Women could be pharaohs
Ancient Egypt
• Cultural Achievements
Hieroglyphic writing system
Papyrus
Mathematics helped engineers and farmers
An early form of geometry
Calendar system
365 days (off by 6 hours)
Medicine
Indus River Valley
• City-states of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
emerged around 2500 BCE
Extremely well-planned, coordinated cities with
temples at the center
Polytheistic religion
Undecipherable writing system
Advanced technology
Plumbing systems
• Mysterious ending
Environmental degradation vs. Aryan invasion
Ancient China
• Developed in isolation along the Huang He
(Yellow) River around 2000 BCE
Xia Dynasty (mythical?)
• Shang Dynasty emerged around 1500
BCE
Warlike kings & landed aristocracy dominate
Few priests
Cities surrounded by massive earthen walls
Most people worked land as peasants
Ancient China
• Chinese Society
Family was center of society
Men dominant; women were subordinate
• Chinese Culture
Believed spirits of family ancestors could bring
good fortune or disaster
Chinese writing
Oracle bones
Helped unify a large, diverse land
Technology: bronze working and silk
Mandate of Heaven
• Mandate of Heaven
Rulers are chose to rule by heaven and will
continue to rule as long as heaven is pleased
If heaven is not pleased, heaven will take back
mandate to rule and pass the mandate to
another family
• Common Indicators of a Lost Mandate
Wars, invasions, military disasters
Over-taxation, disgruntled peasants, crime
Moral decline of elite classes
Legacy of Ancient Civilizations
• Major characteristics passed on
Writing systems inherited
Religious, philosophical systems copied
Useful inventions rarely forgotten, easily spread
• Ancient civilizations decline by 1000 BCE
All subject to nomadic invasions
Indo-Europeans and Semites were strongest
Geographical centers shifted (all except China)
Civilization Spreads
• Phoenician Sailors in Lebanon
City-states traded across Mediterranean
Invented alphabet
• Lydians, Hittites in Asia Minor
Introduced Iron, coinage to area
• Hebrews in Palestine
Large Semitic migration in area
Ethical monotheism
Conduct determines salvation
Acknowledgement
• The text of this power point was taken
from Mr. Jeremy Millhouse’s AP World
History website.
http://tweb.lisd.net/jeremy_millhouse/index
.htm
• Pictures were culled from the internet and
credits follow on the next two slides.
Picture Credits
• http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geog
res/maps/worldgif/wwhearth.gif
• http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalar
ch/images2/mapane.jpg
• http://www.crystalinks.com/ziggurat4.jpg
• http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=84493&r
endTypeId=4
• http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/course
s/306/Nile%20Delta.jpg
Picture Credits Continued
• http://www.ebibleteacher.com/images/pyramid.jpg
• http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/photo-gallery/steppyramid.jpg
• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/literature/picture
s/harappa2.jpg
• http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/uclib/bones/ob01.gif
• http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/isa/ninvest/min
g/gr/Dynastic%20cycle%20info003.gif
• http://www.georgehernandez.com/h/About/media/Phoeni
cian_gimel.png
• http://rg.ancients.info/lion/Lydian_trite_o.jpg
• http://www.imninalu.net/2history_file/MiddleEast2.gif