1 / 14

Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C.E.-450 B.C.E.

Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C.E.-450 B.C.E. Chapter 2 Section 1. Do Now: Name as many countries in Europe as you can Obj : Explain why the Fertile Crescent was able to support civilizations Understand the function of City-states

luz
Download Presentation

Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C.E.-450 B.C.E.

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C.E.-450 B.C.E. Chapter 2 Section 1

  2. Do Now: Name as many countries in Europe as you can • Obj: Explain why the Fertile Crescent was able to support civilizations Understand the function of City-states HW: Active Reading pg. #35-41; Main Ideas #3-5; Critical Thinking # 6

  3. Vocabulary • Fertile Crescent • Mesopotamia • silt • City-state • Dynasty • Cultural diffusion • Polytheism • Empire • Hammurabi

  4. Four River Valley Civilizations • Mesopotamia • Egypt • Indus River Valley (India) • China

  5. Mesopotamia • Fertile Crescent • Great farm land in Southwest Asia, surrounded by desert • Mesopotamia- “land between the rivers” (Greek) • Tigris and Euphrates rivers surround Mes. • Rivers flood the land every year and leave behind silt

  6. Environmental Challenges • Sumerians (3300 BC) faced with 3 challenges: • Unpredictable floods • No protection • Low natural resources • Solutions Through Organization: • Irrigations ditches from river to crops • High city walls made of mud bricks (lots of mud) • Trade: surplus food for raw materials

  7. Sumerians Create City-States • 3000 BC several city-states emerge • Same culture different rulers • Act as independent countries • First ruled by priests • Farmers pray for crops to grow • During war, elected strong fighter to lead • After a while fighters kept control permanently • Led to dynasty

  8. Sumerian Culture • Polytheism • Belief in more than one god • Describe gods are doing “human” things; i.e. falling in love, having children, quarreling • However; viewed as immortal and all-powerful-humans are servants • Built large ziggurats to offer sacrifices to the gods

  9. Sumerian Culture • Life in Sumerian Culture: Social Class

  10. Sumerian Culture • Science and Technology: • The wheel, the sail, plow, and among the first to use bronze • Arithmetic: number system based on 60; still used for measuring time (60 seconds=1 minute) and 360* in a circle • Architectural: arches, columns, ramps • Cuneiform: writing system carved into clay tablets. • Some oldest written records of astronomy, chemistry, and medicine

  11. Building Empires • 3000-2000 B.C.E. Sumerians city-states plagued with war • Left Sumer weak and vulnerable to outsiders • Sargon of Akkad: • 2350 B.C.E. Sargon led his Akkadians to victory over Sumer • Control over both North and South Mesopotamia created the world’s first empire • Akkadians maintained strong Sumerian culture

  12. Babylonian Empire • 2000 B.C.E. nomadic tribe called Amorites invade Mesopotamia • Gradually overwhelm the Sumerians and establish capital in Babylon on the Euphrates River.

  13. Hammurabi and his Code • Babylonian Empire reached its peak under the rule of Hammurabi. (1792 B.C.E. – 1750 B.C.E) • Hammurabi’s Code: • Attempt to unify diverse people of his empire • Code consisted of 282 specific laws • Dealt with everything that affected the community • Protected women and children from unfair treatment • Code was copied onto stone tablets and spread throughout the empire.

More Related