HUMANS CONTROL THEIR WORLD

People Before Agriculture are:

1. Nomads: Highly mobile people who moved from food source to food source.

2. Hunter-Gatherers: People who live off the land hunting animals and foraging food.

BEFORE AGRICULTURE

CAVE PAINTINGS BECAME THE FIRST FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION BY HUMANS. THEY WERE CREATED AS NOMADS MOVED AROUND AND USED VARIOUS CAVES FOR SHELTER.

The agricultural revolution that brought wide spread changes to human life as a result of farming.

Food Gathering Food Producing

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION

Early popular farming technique that involved cutting and burning a field so that the ashes would fertilize the land.

Farmers would use this land for a couple years then move on.

SLASH AND BURN FARMING

The taming of animals such as goats, horses, dogs, and pigs.

Nomads would build pastures and only move when taking their herds to graze

Villages grow and prosper

DOMESTICATION

Discovered in modern day Turkey

Believed to be 8,000 years old

Earliest known example of permanent settlement in Mesopotamia

Early example of religion (temples to farming)

CATAL HUYUK: ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS

LESSON #2: THE BIRTHPLACE OF CIVILIZATIONS: THE CITY AND MESOPOTAMIA

VILLAGES CITIES

Villages began to grow through trading with other villages. (Grow into Cities)

Government, Religion, and Class Systems all began to develop.

Less people for farming means more people for everything else

5 CHARACTERISTICS OF A CIVILIZATION

1. Advanced Cities

2. Specialized Workers

3. Complex Institutions

4. Record Keeping

5. Advanced Technology

1. ADVANCED CITIES

Cities were not only large population centers but became the centers of trade which led to the sharing of knowledge and wealth.

2. SPECIALIZED WORKERS

The large food supply allowed for a group of people to become artisans who made things by hand such as clothing, jewelry, weapons, and pottery.

3. COMPLEX INSTITUTIONS

Large populations called for government to rule them and religion to inspire them. Government & Religion = Happy People

4. RECORD KEEPING

With new laws, taxes, and trading taking place, civilizations realized they needed a system of record keeping

Sumerian Scribes developed a system of writing called cuneiform (meaning wedge shaped) in order to keep records.

5. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

Workers always looked for ways to make their work faster and easier.

Metal workers found that copper and tin together would make bronze which was stronger than other metals. (The Bronze Age)

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LESSON #3: KICKIN’ IT OLD SCHOOL: THE FIRST EMPIRES

CITY STATES IN MESOPOTAMIA (2 TERMS)

1. Mesopotamia: Means land between two rivers and is the modern day middle east.

2. Fertile Crescent: Refers to the rich farming area in Mesopotamia

CHALLENGES IN MESOPOTAMIA

1. Unpredictable Weather

2. No natural barriers for defense

3. Limited natural resources (building materials)

SOLUTIONS IN MESOPOTAMIA

1. Provide constant water through irrigation

2. Build City Walls for protection

3. Trade goods such as food and tools for raw materials to build with

THE CITY STATE

A city and the surrounding land formed a city-state.

City-States acted like modern day independent nations.

Sumer became one of the first large ones

DYNASTIES

Rulers of city-states began passing down power to their eldest sons which kept the power in the family and created ruling dynasties.

POLYTHEISM

The belief in more than one god.

CULTURAL DIFFUSION

The process of a new idea or product spreading from one culture to another.

SUMERIAN (DOMINANT ETHNIC GROUP IN MESOPOTAMIA) ADVANCES

1. Arithmetic and Geometry to help build city walls and massive temples.

2. Architecture such as arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid.

3. Cuneiform, one of the first known systems of writing.

THE FIRST EMPIRE: THE AKKADIANS

King Sargon and the Akkadians united all of Mesopotamia under Sargon’s rule creating the first empire.

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

An Empire brings together several peoples, nations, or independent states under one ruler.

A nomadic tribe known as the Amorites moved into Mesopotamia and conquered the region.

Their Capital became the city of Babylon

HAMMURABI

Emperor at the peak of the Babylonian Empire from 1792 BC to 1750 BC.

Established the first known code of laws.

Had the law code written on tablets and spread all over the empire

Contained 282 specific laws and had different laws for rich and poor and men and women.

CREATE YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT

Create a poster that has the following:

1. Name your Government/Dynasty

2. Name your leader and 3 adjectives to describe them.

3. What type of Religion? Name one or some of your gods

4. What is the most important law in your government? What is the punishment?

5. Draw an image/symbol depicting your government/dynasty

LESSON #4: GOD KINGS: THE PHARAOHS AND EGYPT

EGYPT DIVIDED

Upper Egypt: Southern Egypt with a higher elevation and more mountains.

Lower Egypt: Northern Egypt centered around the Nile River Delta.

The Nile River is the lifeline between these two regions.

EGYPT UNITED

King Narmer unites upper and lower Egypt around 3,000 BC

A NEW TYPE OF GOVERNMENT

Pharaohs: The Egyptian Kings who were considered living Gods

Mesopotamian kings were considered representatives of the Gods

Theocracy: Government where rule is based on religious authority.

THE PYRAMIDS

Vast tombs created for the Pharaohs so they could continue to rule and live as a God-King in the Afterlife.

Mummification was a way of preserving the body so that royals would keep their form in the Afterlife.

EGYPTIAN LIFE

Hieroglyphics: Means sacred carving. It was a system of writing that uses symbols and pictures to represent words and sounds.

Papyrus: Paper like sheets that were created out of pressing marsh reeds together and drying them.

END OF THE OLD KINGDOM

Pharaohs lost power around 2180 BC with several invasions.

The pharaohs returned to power during two other periods known as the middle and new kingdom periods

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moO5HZr-Kw

INDIA: AN ADVANCED AND MYSTERIOUS CIVILIZATION

THE INDIA SUBCONTINENT

Includes Modern Day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The highest mountains in the World, the Himalayas isolate this region from the rest of the world.

Very rich farm land fed by the Indus and Ganges Rivers

INDIA’S ENVIRONMENT The Monsoons: Seasonal winds dominate India’s climate. As a result, India is split into two distinct wet and dry seasons.

Environment Challenges: 1. Unpredictable Flooding 2. Rivers can change course 3. Amount of rain each season can vary extremely

THE FIRST INDIANS

First Humans were believed to reach India around 7,000 BC from Africa.

Around 2500 BC, Indians were building their first cities.

This first group of cities is known as the Harrappan Civilization because the largest of these acient cities was discovered near the modern day town of Harrappa.

HARRAPPAN CITIES

Built cities on a precise grid system (Mesopotamia city buildings were randomly placed)

Vast amounts of roads were built and walls and forts were built to both keep out invaders as well as flood waters.

Created the first plumbing and sewage systems

HARRAPPAN CULTURE

They had a written language but we have never been able to translate it

Their Religion was Polytheistic with a particular emphasis on animals (Modern Hinduism had its roots with the Harrappans)

Trade drove Harrappan Culture and records show they traded as far away as Mesopotamia

HARRAPPAN CULTURE ENDS

The true ending of this civilization is a mystery however some geographers believe a period of severe earthquakes and flooding played a major role.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APn07PS-5qc

CHALK TALK

How can a civilization be destroyed or no longer exist?

MINOANS

The Minoans dominated Ancient World economics through trade by sea and their powerful navy.

Following their mysterious decline around 1200 BC, the door was wide open for a new empire to control the world economy.

THE PHOENICIAN EMPIRE

From the area known as Lebanon today

Replaced the Minoans as the naval and trading superpower

Conducted trade with almost every known civilization of the time

PHOENICIAN CITIES

Phoenicians did not worry about building large land empires but instead based their power through trade wealth.

Phoenician cities became powerful trading centers that sometimes competed with one another.

PHOENICIANS SKILLS

Skilled craftsmen in metal, wood, and glass and would trade these goods around the world

Expert sailors who built ships that were both faster and could carry more cargo at the same time.

PHOENICIAN ALPHABET

Phoenicians developed a writing system to assist with trade.

This system was adopted and changed by the Greeks and eventually became the alphabet we use today.

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HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=O_CNHUZ2HUQ

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JUDAISM

A NEW PEOPLE: THE JEWS

Around 1800 BC, Abraham makes the first Covenant with God and thus officially becoming the first Monotheistic (Belief in one God) Culture.

Abraham was from the land of Canaan which is modern day Israel today and near where the wealthy Phoenicians had their largest cities.

TO AND FROM EGYPT

The Hebrews moved to Egypt around 1600 BC to avoid drought and at first were greeted with open arms by the Pharaohs.

The Hebrews were soon enslaved when the Egyptians feared they were becoming too powerful.

MOSES AND THE PROMISED LAND

Moses is chosen by God to lead the Hebrews out of slavery.

A new convenant is made between God and the Hebrews and the Hebrews are given the “promised land”

After 40 years and the death of Moses they return to Caanan.

KING DAVID

After several wars, the Hebrews gain their promised land and independent nation under King David.

However by 922 BC, discontent and disagreement led to a split in the Kingdom with Israel forming in the North and Judah in the South

CAPTIVITY

Israel fell after a 100 years to the Empire of Assyria

150 years later Judah came under control of the Babylonian Empire (586 BC)

Judah remained under foreign control as different empires controlled the region (Persia, Greece, Rome)

INDEPENDENT AGAIN

It was not until 1948 (2,500 years later), when Israel was established, that a Jewish independent nation existed again