The river valley civilizations

1. •Mesopotamia (3500 BC-1600 BC)
•Indus River Valley Civilization
(2500 BC-1700 BC)
By : Nirmal Roshan R
Class :
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2. From Neolithic to
Civilizations
 Settlements need rules/law to maintain
order
 Rules and laws needed to regulate
irrigation
 Threat of outside invasion made it
necessary to have rulers who could
provide protection
 Money from taxes and tributes
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3. River-Valley Civilization
It refers to the civilizations
developed in the fertile river
valley
Rivers played a great role in
the birth of the earliest
civilizations that began in
Asia and in Africa. The
ancient people built their
settlements along the
riverbanks for several
reasons.
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4. River-Valley Civilization
First, rivers are great sources
of food and fresh water.
Second, crop planting and
livestock raising are best in
the river valleys.
Each time the river is
flooded, fertile soils are
deposited in the planting
field. Also, pastoral animals
are herded along the river
banks where they enjoy the
moderate climate.
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5. Lastly, rivers were the great
centers of ancient trade.
The easy access to water
routes speeded up the
trading activities by different
groups of people. Thus the
most prosperous settlements
were those built along the
rivers and other coastal
waters.
River-Valley Civilization
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7. Mesopotamia (3500
BC-1600 BC)
 Tigris and Euphrates River around 4500 BC
 Sumerians arrive in 3500 BC-Begin
irrigation
 City-States established around 3000 BC-
ruled by monarchy-often military leaders
who displace priests as rulers-pass power to
their sons who pass it to their sons
(dynasty)
 Polytheistic religion-Ziggurat (temple)
center of each city state
 Scientific Achievements: Wheel, plow, sail,
bronze, pottery, arch, number system
based on 60 and 360 degree circle,
cuneiform (writing)
 Hammurabi’s Law Code-First written law
code
 Other Civs (Assyrians, Phoenicians,
Hebrews) adopt ideas first developed by
the Sumerians
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9. MESOPOTAMIA
It lies in the Fertile Crescent
It is an arc of fertile land
from the Persian Gulf up to
the Mediterranean Sea
It has 2 parts:
Mesopotamia – Eastern part
Levantine Coast – Western
part
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10. MESOPOTAMIA
 Etymologically, it comes from the
Greek words “meso” which means
“between” and “potamus” or “river”.
 Literally means land between two
rivers:
 Tigris – eastern part
 Euphrates – western part
 water of the two rivers comes from
the Caucasus Mountains to the
north and it flows southward to
the Persian Gulf. The two rivers
join together at the so called Shatt
al-Arab before it exits to the
Persian Gulf.
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12. Political Impact-
Made the law more
stable and
predictable-less
personal, more
objective
Legal Impact – The
idea of a separate
judiciary (court
system) like the U.S.
& India
Hammurabi’s
Law Code…
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14. Mesopotamians fell due
to weak and ineffective
rulers and due to the
invasion of other groups
of people.
Causes for Decline of
Mesopotamian Civilization
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15. Indus River Valley (2500
BC-1700 BC)
 First Major cities include Mohenjo-Daro
and Harappa
 Developed cities on grid system and had
sophisticated plumbing and sewage
systems
 Early cities declined due to a possible
change in the course of the Indus River.
 Indo-European peoples known as the
Aryans settle in the Indus Valley around
1500 BC.
 Aryan religious features: sacred
literature known as the Vedas
 Caste system
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17. Computer generated picture of what
Mohenjo Daro may have looked like. 17

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19. Important Elements of
Both…
 Advanced cities
 Irrigation
 Systems of government and religion
 Written legal codes
 Trade networks
 Architecture-arch
 Divisions of time/calendar system
 Writing
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