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Vocabulary

• Civilization• Surplus• Artisan• Pictogram• Scribe• City-state• Empire• Cultural Diffusion

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Beginnings of Civilization

The Rise of Cities

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Objective

• Describe development of early prehistoric people, their agriculture and settlements

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Pyramids

• Pyramid building required a society more organized and advanced than Neolithic farmers.

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The Rise of Cities

• A civilization is a complex, highly organized social order.

• Cities are a main feature of a civilization– As farmers produced surplus of crops in the fertile

land along rivers.– Populations began to expand

• Farming Villages began to grow into cities

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River Valley Civilizations

• Fertile Crescent– Tigris & Euphrates Rivers in Iraq– Nile River in Egypt

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River Valley Civilizations

• Indus River in India• Yellow River in China

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River Valley Civilizations

• Conditions favored farming• Flood waters spread silt which

keeps land fertile.• Animals flocked to river for

water – providing food• Rivers provided a regular

water source and means of transportation.

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River Valley Civilizations

• Rivers posed challenges– Had to control flooding and channel water to

fields.• Cooperation was needed and required

leadership and organized government.• Ancient cities required high walls for

protection.

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Features of Civilization

1. Cities2. Well-organized central governments3. Complex religions4. Job specialization5. Social classes6. Arts & architecture7. Public works8. Writing

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Organized Government

• To provide for a growing population – new forms of government appeared to provide organization for projects

• Warrior kings emerged as political leaders – setting themselves up as hereditary rulers– Claiming this right from their god

• Government became more complex as rulers issued laws, collected taxes, and prepared defenses.

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Complex Religions

• Most ancient people were polytheistic.• People created gods that dealt with natural

forces and human activities– Sun, rivers, sea, etc– Birth, trade, or war

• Built temples and designed elaborate ceremonies to please the gods.

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Job Specialization

• Individuals began to specialize in certain jobs• Artisans, or skilled craftsmen, developed

pottery, metalworking, • Construction – bricklayers built city walls• Soldiers – defended the city• Merchants – sold goods and • Teachers, entertainers, ……..

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Social Classes

• Social organization became complex– People ranked according to jobs

• Social Hierarchy– Priests & Nobles– Wealthy merchants & artisans– Peasant farmers– Slaves• Debt bondage • Prisoners of war

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Arts and Architecture

• Expressed the beliefs and values of the people that created them. – Temples and palaces dominated the scenery

• Skilled workers built and decorated massive buildings.– Some still can be seen today

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Public Works

• Projects ordered built by rulers– Roads– Bridges– Aqueducts– defensive walls

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Writing

• A critical new skill was the art of writing– Used to record harvest

amounts, weather info, rituals & prayers

• Earliest writing was in the form of pictograms, simple drawings that looked like objects they represented.

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Writing

• As writing became more complex, only specially trained scribes learned to read and write.

• Scribes were educated in special temple schools and worked for priest, rulers and merchants.

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Civilizations and Change

• Ancient civilizations changed in many ways over the centuries.

• Causes– Physical environment shifts– Interactions among people

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Environmental Changes

• Early people dependent upon the physical environment. – Changes with water and other natural resources

could be devastating. – Over farming could deplete soil – crops would fail • Survivors would move away.

• Natural disasters – volcanoes, hurricanes, floods could destroy entire cities.

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Interactions among people

• Cultural diffusion – the spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another. – Occurs through migration, trade, and warfare– People would share and adapt customs. – Trade introduced new goods or better methods of

production. – Warfare – victors forced their way of life upon

conquered people.

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Homework Questions

• How did the conditions in some river valleys favor the rise of early civilizations?

• How were governments and religion closely linked in early civilizations?

• What are the three causes of cultural change?• Give three examples of cultural diffusion in

today's world.