The document summarizes four early river valley civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Ancient China. It focuses on details about Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, with irrigation canals enabling agriculture. Writing in cuneiform on clay tablets emerged over 5,000 years ago. Egyptian civilization arose along the fertile Nile River valley. Power was centered around pharaohs, who were believed to be gods and controlled the land and trade. Both civilizations made advances in art, architecture like pyramids, and religion involving many gods and beliefs about afterlife.