Mesopotamia was the place where the Pythagorean theorem was made, and the 1st government, means the land between two rivers. Importance-the two rivers were the Tigris and Euphrates, trade and commerce baskets and pottery. Euphrates was the calmest river, cities on the bank, good for trading. Challenges-flooding, cities would abandon, change courses without notice, Tigris was fast and violent. Mesopotamian s believed in many gods (about 3,000), they wrote on stones, buried people with items. Beliefs- the world was a flat disc, water covered the earth, the universe was born from the enormous sea. Festivals-phases of the moon, annual agricultural cycle, equinoxes and solstices. Geography-located in the fertile crescent, centered around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, north known as Akkad, south known as Sumer. Bordering-Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, turkey. Reasons to settle, water, warm climate, fertile soil. Lack of resources- few trees, little rainfall, traded surplus for stone, wood, and metal. the worlds first cities like Babylon began around 4000-3500 B.C. Asher found in 3rd millennium B.C.
Nile river flows through Africa and is 4,160 miles long. Importance-life depended on the water and irrigation of the river, provided sources of life. Called the chief of transport for trade and stuff. Trade was easy. People were called Egyptians and lived on both sides of the river, and 5 classes of society, dark skin, dark hair, wore skirts and robes and dresses, girls wore makeup and painted their fingernails. Religion was based on nature, main ones were the sun god (Re or Ra) and the god of the Nile (Hapi). Believed in life after death. 40 million people live there today. It's still in use today.
Yellow River is a large river flowing from central to eastern china, supporting hundreds of civilizations, named after yellow clay “loess”, about 3,000 miles long, begin in central china. What they did-a lot of people died from natural disasters and disease, King Yu is said to have saved China from the raging floods of the Yellow River. Only 10 percent of the land is suitable for farming, couldn’t sell or trade because of the geography of the mountains, had to grow their own crops and raise their own livestock. Culture-called the cradle of the civilization, women are not able to own property they believed in supernatural powers, they asked the gods for their needs, the leader was Shang King, ruled the civilization from the city of Anyang, he was the overall king, could remove military leaders, they didn’t have written language, family is important, men did rituals, father was head of the family, Yin was the capital of the Shang Dynasty, formed by the river, and very useful to the city, Shang(city) was another city, many cities were built along the river.
Emperors and Kingdoms- they started out of rivers, no known kingdoms heard of the Indus River, China- xia dynasty, known for black pottery, Shang, liked human sacrifice, known for bronze works, if a king died many slaves would join him in the grave, western Zhou, father son kingdom passing, eastern Zhou, had to relocate after the western Zhou collapsed, Mesopotamia- Babylon nation and dynasty, small and powerless, ruled the valley, city is 55 miles south of Bagdad, means gate of gods, all that’s left is mud and brick buildings, The Old Kingdome, pharaohs were buried in pyramids, then they were easy to spot and rob, so they put them in tombs, The Middle Kingdome, egypt’s golden age, trade, arts, and literature, The New Kingdome, expansion period, expanded through military conquest, many people lived off the rivers.
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