Mesopotamia (Tigris and
Euphrates)
Egypt (Nile)
India (Indus and Ganges)
China (Yellow and Yangtze)
Civilization
Contributions
Geography
BELLWORK (Entry 6)
In notebook, write down the
question and answer:
List three reasons why early
civilizations settled near rivers.
Also, send one person from your
group to get two pieces of paper for
each person (on front table)
Neolithic Revolution
The first agricultural revolution –
the shift from hunting and
gathering to agriculture and
settlement.
Civilization
Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex institutions
Record keeping
Improved technology
Mesopotamia
Also known as
the Fertile
Crescent or the
Cradle of
Civilization.
People settled
here in 4500
BCE.
There were LOTS of disadvantages
to living here…
Unpredictable flooding and
droughts
No natural barriers for protection,
defenseless against attack
Limited natural resources, building
materials were scarce
…but, they were problem solvers!
 Dug irrigation ditches that brought
water to crops
 Built city walls with mud bricks
 Traded their grain, cloth and crafted
tools with people of the mountains and
deserts and as a result, got the raw
materials that they needed: stone,
wood and metal
Mesopotamia - CIVILIZATION
st
1 Civilization – advanced
cities, specialized workers,
complex institutions, record
keeping, and technology.
4500 BCE
Mesopotamia - CONTRIBUTIONS
 Hammurabi’s Code, Wheel, Sail, Plow,
geometry, 60 seconds in a minute
(units to measure time), 360 degrees in
a circle, cuneiform (written language),
architecture (arches, columns, ramps)
 CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN
Mesopotamia - GEOGRAPHY
Present day Iraq
Awesome farming
Limited natural resources
Flooding and drought
No natural barriers
Nile River
 Yearly floods made the land
surrounding the river fertile,
predictable
 However, there were still risks
 Low river – crops reduced and
thousands of people starve
 High river – floods destroyed homes,
granaries, and seeds
 Deserts surrounding region isolated
people, reduced interaction with
other people
Egyptian Culture
Polytheistic – belief in many gods
Believed in ka, or eternal life
Theocracy – Pharoahs were rulers
and were thought to be almost as
powerful as gods themselves
Social classes
Nile - CIVILIZATION
Theocracy
Pyramids
Social Classes
Nile - CONTRIBUTIONS
Hieroglyphics, papyrus, 365 day
calendar, system of numbers used for
counting, adding and subtracting,
pyramids, measuring heart rate, first
surgeries, set bones
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN
Nile - GEOGRAPHY
Egypt
Predictable weather
isolated
Bellwork:
 Please take out your foldable from
Friday. Review the major contributions
made by the Mesopotamian and Nile
River civilizations.
 If you were absent, come to the front
table to get two pieces of paper and set
your foldable up by looking on with a
neighbor.
Indus and Ganges Rivers
Area between Himalayas and
Arabian Sea
Mountains in the north and desert
in the east help prevent invasion
 Annual monsoons – June-October - winds
blow eastward from the southwest carrying
massive amounts of rain
 Environmental challenges existed
 Yearly floods deposit rich soil, but
unpredictable
 Rivers changed course
 Cycle of wet and dry seasons
unpredictable
Indus and Ganges - CIVILIZATION
 Indus River was key trade route
 Theocracy – links to modern Hinduism
 No social divisions
 Had excess
 Peaceful
 Written language – has not been
deciphered
Indus and Ganges - CONTRIBUTIONS
Domesticated sheep and goats, bricks
were oven-baked and uniform in size,
plumbing and sewage systems, strong
central government, three-story
buildings.
CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN
Indus and Ganges - GEOGRAPHY
Indian subcontinent
Natural barriers for
protection – mountains and
deserts
Monsoons
Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
 Huang He (Yellow River) and Chang Jiang
(Yangtze River)
 Like all of the other river civilizations, they
faced challenges as well
 Flooding
 Geographic isolation – had to provide
everything for themselves
 Consistent invasions from the west and
north
 Dynasties
 Family was the center of culture – respect for elders
 Women were considered inferior, but could boost their
status by bearing sons
 Social divisions
 Believed in spirits of ancestors, a supreme God, and
lesser gods
 Written language – characters – consistent throughout
China
 Feudalism
Yellow and Yangtze - CIVILIZATION
Dynasties
Feudalism
Social divisions
Yellow and Yangtze - CONTRIBUTIONS
 Horse drawn chariot, coined money,
blast furnaces produced cast iron and
the emergence of weapons – daggers,
swords, farm tools, etc. Construction
of roads and canals to stimulate trade.
 CHOOSE THREE TO WRITE DOWN
Yellow and Yangtze - GEOGRAPHY
China
10% China suitable for
farming
Geographic isolation
Susceptible to attack
Map
 Use an atlas to complete the following:
 Label the seven rivers we discussed
 Indus
 Ganges
 Tigris
 Euphrates
 Nile
 Yellow
 Yangtze
 Highlight/shade the four ancient river civilization regions
and label them.
 Pages 90-91 and page 18