Warm-Up: Review the locations of the early river valley civilizations on your own.

Quiz 3a You may use the same quiz sheet as before, or pull out a new sheet of paper Only write the correct letter for each 5 questions

What do you remember about Egypt???

Filling out the Indus River Valley on your chart….. With a small group (3-4 people), visit all of the pieces of information posted around the room about the Indus River Valley Civilization Write down everything you see underlined OR in red Remember, the top right corner tells you which box you should be filling out Once you are finished, return to your seat

Indus River Valley

Ancient Indians Location: The Indus River valley is located in South Asia on the Indian subcontinent Geography

The Hindu Kush and Himalaya Mountains protect India from many invaders. Hindu Kush Himalayas Geography

Unlike the flooding of the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile rivers, the flooding of the Indus can be very unpredictable. The river often changed its course, depending on rainfall. Geography

Sometimes it may not flood at all, which causes droughts and famine. Sometimes it floods too much, which also causes widespread problems.

India’s climate is dominated by seasonal winds, called monsoons. In the winter and spring, dry winds blow towards the Indian Ocean. Geography

In the summer wet winds blow inland.

All of these environmental changes have made it difficult to find ruins, artifacts or detailed records of the Indus River Civilization.

Writing/Language Indus Script has yet to be deciphered (we don’t know what it says! We cannot translate it!) Accomplishments

Mohenjo-Daro Harappa

ADVANCED CITIES (and technology): The two most famous cities were HARAPPA and MOHENJO DARO In these cities were organized in a grid system. Some households had indoor plumbing, and some even had working toilets No other civilization would achieve the same level of convenience until the 1800s!!!! Accomplishments

Politics

Worshipped a mother goddess (fertility) and animals Religion Their beliefs are believed to be an early form of Hinduism.

Economic Traded long distances Artifacts found show that Sumer and Indus traded for about 350 years Economics

There is little evidence to show any division of classes Homes were all about the same size Social Structure

Decline Indus Valley Civilizations declined between 1750 and 1500 BC. Historians are uncertain as to why. Famine? Flooding? Over farming? Disease? Foreign invasion?

Indus Valley Ruins & Conclusions Work with your group members to complete the ruins & conclusions sheet This is page 13 in your binders BINDER CHECK NEXT CLASS

Chinese Civilization Location: Along the Huang He (Yellow River) in East Asia Geography Natural Barriers = isolated: * East – Yellow Sea & Pacific Ocean * West – Taklimakan Desert & Plateau of Tibet * Southwest – Himalayan Mountains * North – Gobi Desert & Mongolian Plateau

Major Rivers: Huang He (Yellow) River ‘China’s Sorrow’ Frequent devastating floods caused by large amounts of loess deposited on the river floor loess: fertile deposit of windblown silt Flood control and irrigation increased agricultural production Food surplus allowed cities to grow Geography

Chinese Civilization RECORD KEEPING – The Ancient Chinese developed a writing system based on PICTOGRAMS where each character represents an idea not a sound Achievements Advantage: Unified the land with one written language Disadvantage: Enormous amount of characters No connection to spoken language

Government – succession of ruling families called dynasties King was supreme ruler Kings divided territory among nobles Feudalism: Nobles granted use of lands that belong to the king in exchange for owing loyalty and military service to the king Politics

Mandate of Heaven - heaven would bless a just (good) ruler, but would be upset with a bad ruler and would lead to the overthrow of that ruler (i.e. natural disaster meant that ruler should be overthrown) Rulers were considered divine (god like), but as long as their rule was just, they served under the Mandate of Heaven Religion

Dynastic Cycle : Mandate of Heaven was used to explain the dynastic cycle rise, decline and replacement of different dynasties Strong dynasty establishes peace & prosperity Dynasty declines and become corrupt Disaster occurs (floods, famines, revolts) - Loses Mandate Dynasty is overthrown by rebellion New dynasty gains power and claims to have the Mandate of Heaven Religion

Oracle Bones: Animal bones and tortoise shells etched with questions Heated until they cracked and then interpreted by priests Used to communicate with the gods Religion

Ancestor Worship Human Sacrifice: To win favor of the gods Keep the king company in the afterlife Religion

Family: Central to Chinese Society Chief loyalty was to one’s family Older males controlled property and decisions (Patriarchal) Women were treated as inferiors Mothers would eventually have to obey their own sons Girls had marriages arranged between 13 & 16 Social Structure

Trade: Classical Contributions: Paper, Silk, Porcelain Silk: Most important trade item Transportation: Roads and canals were constructed Linking growing cities Coined Money: Introduced metal coins to Chinese Civilization (possibly 1 st in the World) Improved trade Economics