The document discusses early river valley civilizations including the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, the ancient Egyptians along the Nile River, the Indus Valley civilization in India, and early Chinese civilization along the Yellow River. Key developments discussed include the Sumerians creating the first known writing system of cuneiform, tightly organized city-states in Mesopotamia and Egypt ruled by divine kings, and advances in agriculture, trade, architecture, mathematics and astronomy in these early civilizations. The legacies of these river valley peoples included innovations like the wheel, early systems of writing, and influences on art, architecture and divisions of time.

1. RIVER VALLEY
CIVILIZATIONS
UNIT 1 Lesson 2
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2. Tigris-Euphrates
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3. Mesopotamia
Civilization ‘from scratch’
Sumerians [most influential]
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4. Sumerians
First known writing system [cuneiform]
Astronomical sciences
Intense religious beliefs
tightly organized city-states
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5. Sumerians
Improved agricultural prosperity
Fertilizers
Silver for commercial exchange
Polytheist - many gods & divine forces in
natural objects
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6. Sumerians
Tightly organized city-states ruled by kings w/ divine
authority
Government regulated religion & provided a court system
for justice
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7. Sumerians-->Akkadians-->Babylonians
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8. Hammurabi
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9. Egypt
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10. Egypt
Nile river [3000 BC]
Trade & Influence from Mesopotamia
Durable centralized institutions
Mathematics & Architecture
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11. Egypt
2700 onward - Pharaohs directed
building of pyramids [tombs]
Monumental architecture requiring slave
labour
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12. Indus Valley
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13. Indian Civilization
Along Indus River by 2500 BC
Several large cities [e.g. Harappa]
Trade w/ Mesopotamia
Distinctive alphabet and art
Invasion by Indo-Europeans resulted in
almost complete destruction of culture
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14. China
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15. China
Developed along the Yellow [Huanghe]
River
Considerable isolation
Organized state regulating irrigation
Advanced technology & elaborate
intellectual life by 2000 BC
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16. China
More continuity b/w Chinese River Valley
Civilization and later Chinese civilizations than
in other regions
Shang Dynasty begins around 1500 BC
Impressive tombs and palaces
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17. Heritage of the River Valley Civilizations
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18. River Valley Civilizations
the wheel, alphabets, mathematics &
divisions of time
art & architectural influences
Writing systems
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19. The belief that there are fundamental differences between
the “civilized” and the “barbarians” is an old and widespread
one, used by the Chinese, American Indians, ancient Greeks,
and modern western Europeans, to name just a few. The
latter attempted to define a series of stages in human
development that ranged from utterly primitive to
“advanced,” with the advanced culture belonging to the
western Europeans. By the 19th century, racial qualities were
quantified as qualifiers for position along the hierarchy of
“civilization.” In the 20th century much of that intellectual
baggage was eventually discarded. At present, the most
accepted way to approach a definition of civilization is to see
it as one of several ways humans identify social organization
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20. The scope and legacy of the first civilizations are unique to geography
and other factors
Mesopotamia was flat with few natural barriers to recurrent invasions.
Thus the Middle East had an active role as an agent for wider
connections with other cultures
Egypt, though not isolated, was more self-contained with the Libyan
desert, Nile River, and Red Sea serving as barriers. Therefore, Egypt
played less of a role as intermediary among different regions
China also had less far-reaching contacts than Mesopotamia. But it
did make major connections with Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
Harappan [Indus Valley] society did trade widely with Mesopotamia;
but its rapid decline limited its impact on surrounding cultures.
Early Civilizations & The World
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21. Sources
All images via wikimedia commons unless
other wise indicated
Information via Hall & Lintvedt, World
Civilizations Instructor’s Resource
Manual.
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