1. Social Studies Final Review
Geography of Ancient Civilizations

2. Fertile Crescent
Land between two rivers – Mesopotamia - *fertile land!
Two Rivers – Tigrus and Euphrates – flow north to south. They empty into the Persian Gulf
Called Fertile Crescent because it is shaped like a crescent moon.
The deserts and city-states made it difficult to form a unified government

3. Ancient Egypt Nile River – Flows from the south
Empties into the Mediterranean
4000 miles long
Most silt is found in the Nile Delta
Deserts on either side formed a natural barrier
Cataracts – rock filled rapids
Made boat travel difficult

4. Ancient Egypt Sources of the Nile - Blue Nile (Ethiopia) wild rapids
- White Nile (East Africa) – Calm
They both meet to form the Nile in Sudan
Egpyt has fertile soil
Nubia has cataracts
Napata is rich in iron ore

5. Rivers Overflow PROS CONS Provided fish for food
Gave rich soil for farming
Provided clay for building and tablets (cuneiform)
Provided strong reeds to make boats
CONS
Was unpredictable
Caused death and damage

6. Ancient India Indus and Ganges Rivers located in Northern India
Both Rivers were unpredictable
Indus empties into Arabian Sea
Ganges empties into Bay of Bengal
Himalayas and Hindu Kush form natural barriers – separate India from Asia
Mount Everest – 15,000 miles long and 5 miles wide
Subcontinent – large land mass that juts out from a continent
Mountains provide natural protection

7. Ancient China
North China Plain – made from soil deposits from the Huang River *Rains only in summer
Southern China = Warm and Wet gets heavy monsoons from March to September
Northern China - Brief but intense summer monsoon winds, no rain the rest of the year, climate is cool & very dry
Middle Kingdom – surrounded by mountains, seas, and deserts
Huang River – “Yellow River” –second largest in China
Loess – yellow-brown soil
Chang River – Longest River – it was unpredictable
Dikes – help control the flooding of the rivers

8. Ancient Greece Mountainous - Poor soil – Little farming
Rough terrain (rocky and rugged) separated by city-states
Used goats and sheep to handle the terrain
No River systems for fertile soil
Relied on sea-travel
Grew olives and grapes
Many peninsulas – land surrounded by water on 3 sides
Attica and Peloponnesus are 2 main peninsulas
Crete and Rhodes main islands

9. Ancient Rome
Rome is on a long narrow peninsula located on Mediterranean Sea
Good for trade
Tiber River (West)
Po River (north)
Rome built around these river systems
Sicily – island off Italy
4 natural land regions
1. Apennines
2. Alps – protection to the north
3. Po Basin- good farming
4. West coastal plain – good farming