1. World History AUGUST 24, 2015

2. Unit 1 Civilization Begins Lesson 8 Objectives  Identify key physical features of the Indian subcontinent and early China.  Summarize what archaeologists have discovered about early civilization in the Indus Valley and why their knowledge is limited.  Describe the origins and structure of Chinese society and culture.

3. The Indus River Valley  The Indus River begins in the Himalaya Mountains, flows through Pakistan, and empties into the Arabian Sea.  It annual floods and a warm climate allows farmers to harvest twice a year.  Jackals, tigers, wild pigs, chickens, water buffalo, zebus and cattle, rice, banana, pepper, mustard, cotton, wheat, rice, and barley are crops and animals available in this region.

4. Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro  The Harappan people were successful farmers and builders.  The cities were carefully laid out on a grid system with huge grain houses, a large citadel, and wall that protected the city.  The people were excellent architects and engineers.  Today’s historians are not able to translate the written language so there are still some mysteries about the civilization.  It is believed that a natural disaster, perhaps an earthquake, drought, or overwhelming floods caused the people to leave their city.  A new group of people moved into the region, the Aryans.  Aryans were horsemen and herders from Central Asia.  Probably due to war or natural disasters they left Central Asia and migrated to the Indus Valley. The Aryans are the ancestors of current Indians and Pakistanis. These people made a successful civilization and also depended on the Indus River. They also introduced new ideas to the region and their language, Sanskirt.

5. Mohenjo-Daro

6. The Yellow River  Ancient Chinese people began building their lives and civilization depending on the Huang He River.  The Huang He River is so full of silt that it looks yellow. The silt is a very fertile soil called loess.  It originates in Bayan Har Mountains and empties into the Yellow Sea.  Unmanageable floods have Chinese referring to the river that gave birth to their civilization "China’s Sorrow."  The North China Plain, China’s major farmland is great for farming rice, millet and vegetables.

7. Chinese crafts and dynasties  The Chinese were excellent craftsmen. Beautiful artifacts have been found made of differently materials including strong stone, jade.  The Chinese also discovered the silk worm. By raising the silk worms and uncoiling their cocoon, and weaving they made silk.  Silk was a prized possession. Traders came from distant lands just to get it.  China was ruled by dynasty – a line of rulers belonging to the same family.  The Shang Dynasty ruled China for nearly 700 years.  Archaeologists have dug up the ancient capital of the Shang at Anyang and several other cities. The Shang built palaces and cities with earthen walls around them.  The people built the great city by direction of their king.  Geographic features like the Himalaya and Gobi desert help keep China isolated and this helped them create a unique culture.