• The tallest mountains and the large desert protected the Indus Valley from invasion
• The mountains is guarded an enormous flat and fertile plain from by two rivers(Indus and Ganges). Each river is an important link from the interior of the subcontinent to the sea.
• Indus river: flows southwest from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea. The Valley occupied by the Thar desert.
• Farming is possible if its near the river
  

• The Nile River flows from the the highlands of East Africa to the Mediterranean Sea
  
• Fertilized lands were located along the Nile

oracle bone - A piece of bone or tortoise shell used for divination by Shang kings and priests.

Mandate of Heaven - The divine approval that the Chinese believed a just ruler to have.

dynastic cycle - A cycle in which dynasties rise, decline, and get replaced.

feudalism - A political system in which the king gives his nobles land in return for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on their lands.

• The eastern border was surrounded by large bodies of water, including the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
  
• The western border was surrounded by the Taklimakan Desert, the Plateau of Tibet, and the Himalayas.
• The northern border was covered by the Gobi Desert and the Mongolian Plateau.

• The Sumerians believed that many gods controlled the different forces in nature. (polytheism)
• The gods were described as immortal and powerful beings who had the same traits as humans, such as falling in love, having emotions, having children, and many others.
• Thought that humans were servants of the gods.
• To keep the gods happy, the Sumerians built ziggurats and had many sacrificing rituals.
• After they died, Sumerians believed that their souls went to a gloomy place called the "land of no return" between the Earth's crust and the ancient sea.

• From 3000 to 2000 B.C., the Sumerian city states were at constant war against each other.
  
• The weakened cities were soon loosing to attacks from other civilizations from surrounding areas

Sargon of Akkad

• At 2350 B.C., an Akkadian conqueror defeated the city-states of Sumer and created the world's first empire by taking control of northern and southern Mesopotamia.
• Before that, the Akkadians had adopted most of Sumerian culture, and Sargon's conquest helped the culture spread even more.
• Sargon's dynasty lasted only about 200 years, due to internal fighting, invasions, and a famine.

• Were polytheistic and worshipped more than 2000 gods/goddesses
• Two most important gods were Re, the sun god, and Osiris, or god of the dead. The most important goddess was Isis who represented the ideal mother and wife
  
• Built temples to honour the them
• Believes in the afterlife and the dead would be judge for their deeds
• Anubis or the god and guide of underworld will weigh the dead's heart; if the heart tipped the scale, it shows that the heart was filled with sins
• Kings and queens built pyramid while other Egyptians built smaller tombs
• Royal and elite Egyptians' bodies were preserved by a process called mumification

• Pharaoh's power declined by 2180 B.C., which ended the Old Kingdom
  
• Strong Pharaohs regained power during the Middle Kingdom (2040 B.C. to 1640 B.C.)
• Dug a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea to improve transportation and trades
• Built huge dikes for irrigation and created thousands acres of farmland from draining the swamps of Lower Egypt
• In about 1640 B.C., people from Palestine called Hyksos conquered Egypt
• The New Kingdom rose up after the Hyksos lost power in 1523 B.C.

-They weren't sure how human settlements began in the Indian subcontinent.Perhaps they arrived by sea from Africa settled the south. Northern migrants may have made their way through the Khyber Pass in the Hindu kush mountains.

-Archaeologists have found evidence in the highlands of agriculture and domesticated sheep and goats dating to about 7000 B.C. By about 3200 B.C., people were farming in villages along the Indus River. 

Planned Cities 

-They built strong levees, or n walls to keep water out of their cities in around 2500 B.C. They construct human-made islands to raise the cities above possible flood waters.

-Archaeologist have found the ruins of more than 100 settlements along the Indus and it tributaries mostly in the modern-day Pakistan.

- The largest cities were Kalibangan, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Their Indus Valley civilization is sometimes called Harrapan civilization.

-One of their great achievements of the Indus Valley people was their sophisticated city planning. The cities of the early Mesopotamian's were a jumble of buildings connected by a maze of winding streets. 

-Cities featured a fortified area called citadel, which contained the major buildings of the city. They were constructed of oven-baked bricks cut in standard sizes, unlike the simpler, irregular, sun-dried mud bricks of Mesopotamian's. 

-Early engineers also created sophisticated plumbing and sewage systems. These systems could rival any urban drainage systems built before the 19th century. The uniformity in the cities' planning and construction suggests that the Indus peoples had developed a strong central government.

Harrapan Planning

-Partially build on mud- brick platforms to protect it from flooding. The brick wall is about 3 and a half miles long surrounded it. Inside was a citadel , which provided protection for the royal family and also served as a temple.

-Streets were as wide as 30 feet. Walls divided residential districts from each other. Houses are in various size . 

-Narrow lanes separated rows of houses, which laid out in block units. Houses featured bathroom where waste water flowed out to the street and then to the sewage pits outside the city walls.

-Their language was hard to simplify, because linguist have not found any inscriptions that are bilingual.

- The language is found on stamps and seals made of carved stone used for trading pottery and tools. 400 symbols make up a language.

- Scientist believed symbols are used to depict an object and also as phonetic sounds . Some signs stand alone and others combined into words.

Culture

- Artifacts such as clay and wooden children's toys suggest a relatively prosperous society that could afford to produce nonessential goods.

- Few weapons for the warfare have been found, suggesting that conflict was limited.Most animals are shown in their artifacts, animals were an important part of their culture.  

- Archaeologist found more information about the animals that are existed in that region. However some of the seals portray beasts with parts of several different animals . (ex. the head of a man, horns of a bull, a elephants tusks).

Role of religion 

-more of a Hindu culturePriests usually pray for good harvests and safety from floods. 

-They think it might be the early representations of Shiva, a major Hindu god. Otthers were related to a mother goddess, fertility images and the worship of the bull.-

Trade

-trade brightly colored cloth. Also the Indus river provided a link to the sea, so they can allow the valley to develop trade with distant people, including Mesopotamian. 

-Ships used the Persian Gulf to trade copper, lumber, precious stones and luxury goods to Sumer. Trading began 2600 B.C. and continued until 1800 B.C.

-Some cities survived, mostly were destroyed. They cause a new river, Sarswati, to dry up.

- Their cities and agriculture began to die, may have to force people to live in the city in order to suvive.

-Since the Aryans arrived around 1500 B.C. Indian civilization must grow under their influence.

Monsoon:

a wind that shifts in direction at certain times of each year.

Harrapan civilization:

another name for the Indus Valley civilization that arose along the Indus river, possibly as early as 7000 B.C. characterized by sophisticated city planning.

The First Dynasties:

• China's settlements began growing into cities at around 2000 B.C.
  
• The first dynasty, called the Xia Dynasty (which may or may not have been real) started at around this time.
• The Xia Dynasty was said to be led by Yu, an engineer and mathematician who built irrigation and flood control systems to control the Huang He.
• After the Xia Dynasty came the Shang Dynasty, which lasted from around 1700 B.C. to 1027 B.C..
• The Shang left behind many artifacts, including palaces, tombs, and the first written records in China maintained by the ruling family.

• China's culture was built on the bonds between the Chinese people.
  
• The Chinese would often value the group over the individual.
• Family, obedience, and respect were very important values for the Chinese.

• The Chinese writing system is made up of thousands of characters, each of which standing for one syllable or unit of language.
  
• As a result, the written system didn't have much to do with the spoken system of Chinese.
• However, this helped unify China, since everybody would be able to understand the written system, even if they spoke differently.
• Since the written system of the Chinese was based on pictographs, it also required people to memorize many of the characters.
• This, in turn, led to a small amount of literate and educated Chinese.

The Mandate of Heaven:

• In order to justify their takeover, the Zhou rulers introduced the Mandate of Heaven.
  
• The Mandate of Heaven was the idea that rulers were given authority through the approval of the gods.
  
• The Zhou believed that the Mandate of Heaven had passed to them from the Shang, who had become foolish and wicked.
• This became a central idea to the Chinese government, and was used to justify many later rebellions.
• It was also one of the major factors in the pattern called the dynastic cycle, in which dynasties rise, decline, fall, and get replaced.