Chapter 2 by

Indus Valley

nathan1917 — 2013-09-04 04:26:42 UTC

The Indus Valley lies on what is known as the Indian Subcontinent. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh all lie on this landmass.

Messopotamia

sam1890 — 2013-09-04 04:26:48 UTC

Land of the Popos - Sam

Fertile Cresent

sam1890 — 2013-09-04 04:33:33 UTC

Within a region in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, there is a bit of land that provided a good place to farm. It was called the Fertile Crescent. The fertile crescent is where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded, leaving behind rich soils. People started farming there in around 4500 B.C., and in 3300 B.C., the Sumerians came. There were, however three problems with the crescent. It flooded with no signs of flooding, it had no surroundings to make it more difficult to attack, and materials were hard to find. Over periods of time the Sumerians found ways to solve their problems. To get water they made irrigation ditches that would carry river water to their fields. They built walls around their city to defend against enemies. They also traded their grain, cloth, and tools with other places in exchange for necessary materials.

Rivers, Mountains, and Plains

nathan1917 — 2013-09-04 04:47:54 UTC

The tall mountains in the north and the vast deserts in the east both help protect the people of the Indus valley from Invasion. The Valley's most important aspect was the huge, flat, fertile plain that were formed by the Indus and Ganges rivers. Because the Thar Desert covers much of the lower valley, farming can only be done in these plains that are connected to the rivers. The plain that these rivers contribute to stretches across 1,700 miles of northern India. Silt is brought down with the waters helping produce land that is suited for agriculture.

Sumerian City States

sam1890 — 2013-09-04 04:52:14 UTC

Sumerians were one of the first peoples to establish civilization. Many people built upon Sumerians accomplishments. City-States were like cities but they were states. Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur were all Sumerian city states. Sumeria's oldest governments were ruled by the priests. People believed that the Gods helped with crop outputs, and made a Ziggurat to worship the Gods from.. Eventually, though the lands started to be ruled by warlords. Lots of farms allowed for surpluses of food in the future.

The Geography of China

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-06 11:06:42 UTC

China's early civilizations depended on the yellow river which also known as Huang He. Same as other early civilization, the river brings both pros and challenges. For pros a river can bring the place rich soil and increase the population, but on the other side the river may bring floods which will destroy lives and villages. China’s relative geographic isolation protected China from outer invaders but it also block trades from other place. China have to use their own supply. The areas around the Yellow River and Yangtze River is always being the heart of Chinese's civilizations.

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-08 07:43:30 UTC

Weather, Climate, and Environment

nathan1917 — 2013-09-08 08:55:31 UTC

Monsoons, seasonal winds, dictated India's climate. The winter monsoons blow dry air from the northeast, west across the country. These monsoons take place between October and February. Then later in the year from June to October the weather changes and the monsoons bring through moisture from the south. These rain clouds can bring in huge amounts of moisture that cause flooding. This is beneficial towards the output of crops, sometimes these summer monsoons don't come around which leads to drought and crop failures.

Civilization

nathan1917 — 2013-09-08 09:04:47 UTC

There is not that much known about the civilization of the Indus Valley. Their system of writing has not yet be deciphered and most of the known information has been taken from archaeological digs, but due to the flooding in the area, it is assumed that much of what was left has been washed away. However it is known that at its peak the Indus Valley had a much greater reach than that of Mesopotamia or Egypt.

It is not certain how humans came to settle in the Indus Valley, some theories suggest that they arrived by sea from the south coming from Africa. Others present the idea that immigrants from the north may have gone through the Khyber Pass in the Hindu Kush mountains. Evidence has been found in the highlands of domesticated animals and forms of agriculture. These dated back to around 7000 B.C. By the time 3200 B.C. came around people had begun farming in villages that lied along the Indus River.

While the Egyptians were building the pyramids around 2500 B.C. the beginnings of India's first cities were being built. Strong walls or levees were built to keep water out of the cities. Upon discovering that this was inadequate protections, man-made islands were created that raised the cities above the level of the flood waters. The ruins of more than 100 different settlements have been found along the Indus and its major tributaries, these lie mainly in modern-day Pakistan. The three largest cities were called Kalibangan, Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa. The site of Harappa has been the source of many discoveries which made it the title piece to Indus Valley civilization, which is often called Harappan civilization.

The Indus people laid out their cities in a systematic way using a grid system. This was very sophisticated compared to the cities of Mesopotamia which was a unorganized cluster of buildings with a labyrinth of streets to connect it all. All cities had a citadel which was a fortified area in which the major buildings of the cities were held. The sophisticated sewer systems of the cites could rival most systems built before the 19th century. All of these factors come together to suggest that the Indus people had a very strong central goverment.

Culture

nathan1917 — 2013-09-08 09:28:11 UTC

Harappan culture spread very quickly through the Indus Valley. Like Egypt and Mesopotamia it was largely based on agriculture. The people of the Indus developed a language system that to this day has not been deciphered. This language was written using stamps or seals, it contained a very limited 400 characters. The culture of the Indus people had a uniform religion, the social divisions were not very far apart, and artifacts of children's toys suggests that they were prosperous and had plenty of resources to make non-essential goods. They were seemingly a very peaceful civilization as there were no weapons found. Animals are also thought to be very significant seeing as a lot of images, sculptures have depictions of animals. However there are also images of beasts, hybrids of many animals, but the significance of these has not yet been found.

Religion was an important thing to those of the Indus Valley. They believe that the Indus people worshiped many gods, however no evidence of a temple has been found. Also historians think that the religion of the Harappan Culture ties into the Hindu religion.

The Indus valley was home to a thriving trade system. Many resources such as gold and silver were brought down from the north. Many items of jewelry were also found to be crafted by the people of the Indus Valley. The Indus river was very important to these trade systems because they linked into the sea, allowing trade with distant peoples. This opened up opportunities for new items to be brought into the area. Ships using this route brought jewels, lumber, copper, and other luxury items to the people of Sumer.

The culture of the Indus Valley began to deteriorate and the cities began to die down. For a while why the great civilization fell was a mystery, but recent theories suggest that shifts in the tectonic plates caused great earthquakes that would have taken a great toll on the people. The shifts may have caused important trade rivers to dry up, and prevented large amounts of food crops to fail, and the soil would no longer be as fertile. These major events most likely caused the people to move away from the cities.

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-08 10:25:37 UTC

Civilization Emerges in Shang Times

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-09 11:51:40 UTC

Time periods in Chinese history was called Dynasties. The first Dynasty with written language was Shang Dynasty. Before that there was fossil of ancestors of modern humans who live in about 1.7 million years ago and was locate northern China near Beijing. According to legend, the first Chinese dynasty, was called Xia which was ruled by a king (empire) Yu. China was the only ancient civilization that haven't fell to outside invaders .

The Development of Chinese Culture

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-09 12:34:16 UTC

In Chinese culture, Father was the most important person in the family, everyone have to show respect to him. When the son grown up the family have to respect him then, even his mother.

For Chinese society everyone have to show respect to the king as if he is their father.

Chinese believe in their ancestors, who will bring them luck, or maybe curse.

Chinese develop there writing for a long time. Each word/symbol represent a thing. There are no links between Chinese spoken language and written language. A person needed to know over 1,500 characters to be barely literate. So only people in high social class can read.

Egypt

anhya2130 — 2013-09-09 22:33:04 UTC

EGYPT: Pyramids on the Nile

Geography of Egypt:

-Yearly flooding brought the water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow.

-When the river exceeded in October, it left behind a rich deposit of fertile black mud called silt.

-Peasants would plant wheat and barley fields in the soil.

-They worshiped the Nile like is was a god who gave life and seldom turned against them.

-Egypt was the “Gift of the Nile”

Problems of the Nile river:

-If the floodwater was just a few feet lower than normal, the amount of fresh silt and water for crops was greatly reduced. Thousands of people starved.

-If the floodwater was just a few feet higher than normal, unwanted water destroyed houses,granaries, and the precious seeds that farmers needed for planting.

-The vast and forbidding deserts on either side of the Nile acted like a natural barriers between Egypt and other lands, forced them to live on a very small portion of the land and reduced interaction with other peoples.

-River travel was common.

-In the Nile where boulders turn the river into churning rapids called a cataract.

-Impossible for riverboats to pass this spot, known as the First Cataract.

-Between the First Cataract and the Mediterranean lay two different regions.

The river area in the south is called Upper Egypt
Skinny strip of land from the First Cataract to the point where the river starts to fan out into many branches.

To the north, near the sea, Lower Egypt includes the Nile delta region.
The delta begins about 100 miles before the river enters the Mediterranean.
The delta is a broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river.

-The Nile provided a reliable system of transportation between Upper and Lower Egypt.

-The Niles flows north, so northbound boats simply drifted with the current.

-Southbound boats hoisted a wide sail, prevailing winds of Egypt blow from north to south, carrying sailboats against the river current.

-Easy transportation made trading easier.

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Egypt Unites Into a Kingdom

-Started farming villages as far back 5,000 B.C.

-Each village had it’s own rituals, gods,and chieftain.

-By 3,000 B.C., Lower and Upper Egypt were united.

-They believe it was a king called Scorpion/ Narmer.

-The king of Lower Egypt wore a red crown, and the king of Upper Egypt wore a tall white crown shaped like a bowling pin.

-Narmer created the double crown to symbolize a United Kingdom.

-He settled his kingdom in Memphis, near the spot where Upper and Lower Egypt meet.

-The history of ancient Egypt would consist of 31 dynasties.

-Spanning 2,600 years.

Pharaohs Rule as Gods

-King=God.

-Egyptian god-kings are called pharaohs.

-Government ruled based on religious authority is called a theocracy.

-Pharaoh stood in the center of religion as well as government and army.

-It was the pharaoh who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow.

-It was also the pharaoh’s duty to promote truth and justice.

Builders of Pyramids

-Egyptians believed that their king ruled even after his death.

-He had eternal life force, or ka.

-In the Egyptians’ mind, the ka remained much like a living king in its needs and pleasures.

-Since the kings lived forever, the tomb were more important than their palaces.

-Kings in the Old Kingdom were buried in a immense structure called a pyramid.

-Unlike the Sumerians, the Egyptians did have a good supply of stone, both granite and limestone.

-Each perfectly cut stone blocked weighted at least 2 ½ tons.

-Some weighted 15 tons.

-More than 2 million of these blocks were stacked with precision to a height of 481 feet.

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Egyptian Culture

-The early Egyptians were polytheistic=believed in many gods.

-Important gods like, Re, the sun god, and Osiris, god of the dead.

-Important goddess was Isis, who represented the ideal mother and wife.

-Worshipped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses.

-Built huge temples to honor the major deities.

-Egyptians believed in an afterlife.

-Believed that they would be judged for the deeds when they died.

-Anubis, god and guide of the underworld, would weight the heart.

-To win eternal life, the heart could be no heavier than a feather, if the heart tipped the scale, it was heavy with sin, and a fierce beast known as the Devourer of Souls would pounce on the impure heart and gobble it up.

-If it passed, it would live forever in the beautiful Other World.

-People of all classes planned for their burials so that they might safely reach the Other World.

-Kings and queens built great tombs, such as the pyramids, and other Egyptians built smaller tombs.

-Royal and elite Egyptians’ bodies were preserved by mummification.

-Involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying.

-Attendants placed mummy in a coffin inside a tomb, and they filled the tomb with items the dead person could use in the afterlife, such as clothings, food, cosmetics, and jewelry.

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Life in Egyptian Society

-Egyptian society formed a pyramid.

-King, queen, and royal family stood at the top.

-Below them were wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, and army commanders.

-After them it was merchants and artisans.

-At the base of the pyramid was the largest class, consisted of peasant farmers and laborers.

-Later periods of Egyptian history, slavery became a widespread source of labor, usually captives from foreign war.

-Not locked into their social classes, lower and middle class Egyptians could gain higher status through marriage or success in their jobs.

-Even slaves could hope to earn their freedom as a reward for their loyal service.

-To win highest positions, people had to read and write.

-Once someone has these skills, many careers were open in the army, the royal treasury, the priesthood, and the king’s court.

-Woman held many of the same rights as men.

Egyptian writing

-Simple pictographs were the earliest form of writing in Egypt, but scribes quickly developed a more flexible writing system called hieroglyphics. Comes from Greek words hieros and gluph meaning “sacred carving”..

-Earliest form of hieroglyphic writing, a picture stood for an idea.

-Hieroglyphs could be used almost like letter of the alphabet.

-Wrote on papyrus.

-Grew in marshy delta

-Split the reeds into narrow strips, placed them crosswise in two layers, dampened them, and then pressed them.

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Egyptian Science and Technology

-Developed a calendar to keep track of the time between floods.

-Observed the same star-Sirius-appeared above the eastern horizon just before the floods came.

-Calculated the number of days between one rising of the star and the next as 365 days-a solar year.

-Divided this year into 12 months of 30 days and added five days for holidays and feasting.

-So accurate it fell short of the true solar year by only six hours.

-Developed a system of written numbers for counting, adding, and subtracting.

-Helped to assess and collect taxes.

-Used an early form of geometry to survey and reset property boundaries after the annual floods.

-Egyptian architects were the first to use stone columns in home, palaces, and temples.

-Egyptian doctors knew how to check a person’s heart by feeling for a pulse.

-Set broken bones and had effective treatments for wounds and fevers.

-Also had surgery to treat some conditions.

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Invaders Control Egypt

-Power of pharaohs decline about 2180 B.C. marking the end of the Old Kingdom.

-Strong pharaohs regained control during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 B.C)

-Improved trade and transportation by digging a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea.

-Middle kingdom did not last.

-In about 1640 B.C. a group from the area of Palestine moved across the Isthmus of Suez into Egypt.

-The Hyksos ruled much of Egypt from 1639 to 1523 B.C.

-Egypt rose again in the New Kingdom.

Sumerian culture

sam1890 — 2013-09-10 02:53:15 UTC

Sumerians were a polytheistic people, meaning they worshiped several Gods. Enlil was one of the most powerful Gods, and was the controller of the wind and the air. Demons known as Ugallu protected them from the evil demons. The Gods could set fire to them whenever. They used cunieform to keep track of things. They also had arithmetic and arcitectural innovations.

The First Empire Builders

sam1890 — 2013-09-10 02:56:17 UTC

Sargon of Akkad conquered a bunch of stuff. The Babylonian empire were nomadic warriors that invaded Mesopotamia and overwhelmed the Sumerians. Then Hammurabi came around and made a code of conduct that had set rules for all levels of society (though they differed depending on your class).

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the Dynastic Cycle

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 11:56:48 UTC

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isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 11:59:32 UTC

Zhou and the Dynastic Cycle

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 12:15:28 UTC

In around 1027 BC Shang king started to fall and Zhou came to power and start the Zhou Dynasty.

Mandate of Heaven

To clam the people the new king think of an idea of Mandate of Heaven. The reason why Zhou took over Shang is because the foolish king. They do it for Heaven. And then the history of China

have too more words Mandate of Heaven and Dynastic Cycle.

Control Through Feudalism

The new king also think of a new idea of Feudalism which is to give control over different regions to members of the royal family and other trusted nobles.

Improvements in Technology and Trade

• Roads and canals were built to stimulate trade and agriculture. • Coined money was introduced, which further improved trade. • Blast furnaces that produced cast iron were developed.

A Period of Warring States

This Dynastic lasted from 1027 to 256 B.C. it was a peaceful time. At about n 771 B.C., nomads from the north and west sacked the Zhoucapital and murdered the Zhou monarch. A few

members of the royal family escapedand set up a new capital at Luoyang.

ISAIAH WAS HERE

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 12:21:39 UTC

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 13:48:13 UTC

isaiah2286 — 2013-09-10 13:50:58 UTC