Geography of the Fertile Crescent  Fertile Crescent is an arc of rich farmland in Southwest Asia, between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea.  The two rivers that help agriculture here are the Tigris and Euphrates River. Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Environmental Challenges  Flooding of the rivers were unpredictable. Little to no rainfall.  No natural barriers to protect them from invaders.  Limited natural resources- stone, wood, metal.

Solutions  To provide water, irrigation ditches were built.  For defense, they built city walls with mud brick.  Traded with people in their region for products they lacked.

Sumerians Create City-States  City-states function like an independent country.  In the beginning, temple priest ruled city-states.  In times of war, however, a strong fighter and leader ruled.  Dynasties, or rulers from the same family, emerge.

Sumerian Culture  As populations grow and trade expands, thoughts and ideas are exchanged.  Religiously, Sumerians believed different gods controlled various forces of nature.  Bleak outlook on the afterlife.  Epic of Gilgamesh is written.

Enlil- god of clouds/air

One of the Earliest Works of Literature

Sumerian Society  Priest and kings.  Wealthy merchants.  Workers who labored in the field and workshops. Majority.  Slaves- From wars or debts.  Woman could pursue most occupation and had some rights.  Wealthy men were educated.

Sumerian Science and Technology.  Invented the wheel, sail, and plow.  First to use bronze.  Developed the number system in base 60. Measures time.  Building and construction.

First Empire Builders  Sargon creates the world's first empire combining northern and southern Mesopotamia.  Weak city-states could not fend off attacks from people in their area.  Afterward, Amorites establish an empire. Babylon the capital.

Sargon of Akkad

Amorites or Babylonians  Reach their peak under Hammurabi.  Established a single, uniform code to unify his empire.  282 laws that dealt with community issues.  Eye for an eye concept.  Fall to nomadic warriors.

Hammurabi

Geography of Egypt  Home to the longest river in the world- Nile River.  The Nile's floods were predictable. Flow northward.  Cataracts, churning rapids, provided a barrier by water.  Desert provide barriers.

Nile River

Environmental Challenges  Even though floods were predictable, flood waters were not.  Starvation and flooding.  The desert was a great natural barrier, but it also isolated the Egyptians.  Come into contact with Mesopotamia around 3200 B.C.

Egypt Unites Into Kingdom  Divided between Upper and Lower Egypt.  Narmer or Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt.  Creates a double crown.  Established capital at Memphis.  Spans 2,600 years.

Narmer or Menes

Egyptian Rulers  Egyptian rulers were considered representatives of the gods or god-kings called pharaohs.  Ruled in life and death.  Was the center of religion and government.

Pyramids

Egyptian Religion  Worshiped over 2,000 gods and goddesses.  Believed in an afterlife and planned their burials. This included mummification.  Book of the Dead help to guide the soul in the afterlike.

Egyptian Afterlife

Egyptian Society  Pharaoh.  Government officials.  Artisans/ merchants.  Farmers/ laborers. Largest.  Slaves.  Woman had rights.  Social mobility.

Egyptian Achievements  Writing system-Hieroglyphics.  Paper like substance-Papyrus.  Developed a calendar system.  First to check a persons pulse.  Splints for broken bones.  Treated fevers.

Papyrus Hieroglyphics

Chariot Riders Invade Egypt  Power of the Pharaohs decline during the Old Kingdom.  The Middle Kingdom would be taken over by the Hyksos.  New Kingdom would be the most successful kingdom in Egyptian history.

Indian Geography  India is part of the subcontinent of South Asia.  Flat and fertile plain is formed by the Indus and Ganges Rivers.  Desert and plateau.  Country is a peninsula

Monsoons or Seasonal Winds

Environmental Challenges  Floods of the Indus River were unpredictable.  Had to cope with wet and dry seasons of the monsoons.  Mountains and desert isolate India. Protects them.

First Arrivals in the Indus Valley  Not sure how human settlement began here.  People may have came by way of Khyber- Pass.  Most evidence found in Harappan.

Planned Cities  Cities laid out on a grid system.  Fortified area called a citadel.  Buildings made of oven-baked brick.  Plumbing and sewage system.

Mohenjo-Daro

Indus Trade and Culture  Uniform housing.  Clay and wooden toys.  Few weapons have been found.  Worship mother goddess and cattle.  Stamps and seals have been found in Sumer.

Indus Seal Indus Toy

Indus Valley Decline  River shift or overuse of the soil.  Earthquake.  Do not know because we can not translate their language.

Geography of China  Deserts and mountains make up 2/3 of China.  Almost all land that is suitable for farming lies on a plain were the Huang Hu and Yantze Rivers. China's heartland.

China's Geography

Environmental Challenges  Huang He floods were unpredictable.  Natural barriers did not protect China from being invaded from the north or west.

Great Flood of 1887

First Dynasties and Cities  Shang becomes the first dynasty of China around 1500 B.C.  Anyang, one of the capitals, was built of wood.  Cities were surrounded by earthen walls.

Peking Man-1.7 B.C.

Shang Social Classes  King  Nobles  Peasants.  Social classes sharply divided.  Peasants use inferior tools.

Chinese Society  Family was most important.  Woman had few rights.  Spirits of family brought good or bad fortune.  Worshiped many gods.  Shang Di.

Oracle Bones

Shang Advances  Written language.  Silk cloth.  Bronze working.  Those who were skilled crafts people made up a different social class. Weapons, jewelry, and religious items.

Zhou Replaces Shang  Change in dynasty does not bring a new culture.  Justify their authority under the Mandate of Heaven.  This starts a succession of dynasties called the dynastic cycle.

Dynastic Cycle

Zhou Feudalism  Feudalism is a political system in which land that belongs to the king is exchanged for loyalty and military service.  Controlled a large area.  Towns grow into cities.  Nobles fight each other. Grow stronger.

Zhou Technology and Trade  Roads and canals.  Coined money.  Cast iron. Create weapons and tools

Warring States  Nomads from the north sack the Zhou capital of Hao.  Rule as a weak dynasty in Luoyang for 500 years.  Lords fought over lords for power.  Traditional values are lost.