1. Ancient River Valley Civilizations
SOL 3

2. River Valley Civilizations emerge…
During the New Stone Age (Neolithic), permanent settlements appeared in river valleys and around the Fertile Crescent.
River valleys provided rich soil for crops (silt), as well as protection from invasion.

3. Earliest River Civilizations (~3500-500 B.C.)
Egypt (Africa)
Nile River Valley and Delta
Mesopotamia (South West Asia)
Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys
India (South Asia)
Indus River Valley
Ganges River Valley (*developed later)
China (East Asia)
Huang He Valley

4. Other River Valley Civilizations
Phoenicians
Settled along the Mediterranean coast (part of Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia).

5. Other River Valley Civilizations
Hebrews settled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River Valley (part of Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia).
Kush was located on the upper (southern) Nile River in Africa.

6. Cradle of Civilization
River valleys were the “Cradles of Civilization”
Early civilizations made major contributions to social, political, and economic progress.
Social Patterns:
Hereditary rulers
Dynasties of Kings
Dynasty: power is inherited
Pharaohs (*Egypt)
Rigid class system; slavery was accepted

7. Political Patterns Government often based on religion
Rulers were usually military and religious leaders
World’s first states
city-states – city & surrounding land
kingdoms
empires – formally independent peoples/states who come under one rule.
Written law codes
Ten Commandments
Code of Hammurabi

8. Economic Patterns Metal tools and weapons Agricultural surplus
bronze, iron
Agricultural surplus
better tools, plows, irrigation
Increasing trade along rivers and by sea
Phoenicians
Development of the world’s first cities in river valleys
Specialization of labor

9. Religion was important to the early civilizations
Polytheism was practiced by most early civilizations.
Monotheism was practiced by the Hebrews.
First monotheistic religion *before Christianity and Islam

10. Origins of Judaism (first monotheists)
Abraham – Founder
Moses – Led Jews out of slavery, received 10 Commandments
Jerusalem – Site of destroyed temple, now Western or Wailing Wall

11. Judaism | Beliefs Belief in one God (monotheism) Torah – Holy Book
Ten Commandments – moral and religious rules

12. Spread of Judaism
Some Hebrews lived in exile, or forced separation from their homeland.
Jews settling outside of the Holy Land is called diaspora.

13. Language & writing were important cultural innovations…
Pictograms | earliest written symbols (used in both Mesopotamia and China)
Hieroglyphics | Egypt
Cuneiform | Sumer (Mesopotamia)
Alphabet | Phoenicians

14. Civilizations must have 5 characteristics:
Growth of population (growth of cities)
Specialization of workers
Advanced technology
Complex institutions—gov’t, religion, education, military
System of writing or record-keeping
The Four River Valleys had the characteristics.
The three Other Civilizations (Phoenicians, Hebrews, and the Kush) also had these.