1. The Zhou made new inventions with iron so the catapult and the creation of the first cavalry.
2. Map of Sumerians
3. Shang/ Zhou
3.1. Government & Leaders
3.1.1. The Shang government was ruled by a strong monarchy and the king of Shang was surrounded by a court of wealthy nobles.
3.1.2. The way they kept peace was, they formed districts and appointed governors to rule that part of the country.
3.1.3. The king also had a large army at disposal in which they keep the peace in their country and other countries.
3.1.4. From time to time the army may need people so the farmers were need to join.
3.2. Religion
3.2.1. Shangs and Zhou both used jades as sacrificial to the Gods and ancestors, in burial rites, and for recording treaties between states.
3.2.2. The Shangs believed in afterlife which means a ruler would still need his richest and servants.
3.2.3. The shangs religion centered on the idea of ancestor worship so they needed to offer gifts to their ancestor in order keep them happy and fulfilled in the afterlife.
3.2.4. The Shangs also asked their ancestor for advice though the use of oracle bones.
3.3. Geography & Agriculture
3.3.1. The dynasty was located by the Yellow river and in present day it's known as Henan province.
3.3.2. The agriculture was the mean part of Shangs dynasty.
3.3.3. The had new ways of harvesting which mean cities were grow and more people also.
3.3.4. The growing of cities led to buildings of roads and canal.
3.4. Social Structure & Family Life
3.4.1. They build huge stable structure such as tombs for the rich when they died.
3.4.2. The Zhou population grew because of new ways to farm.
3.4.3. The Shangs dynasty created a social pyramid which had the king on top then military nobility, priests, merchants, and farmers.
3.4.4. Burials was the same as the social structure so the important people most of the time had all their richest with them when they died and the poor people were most of the time burying them.
3.5. Economy & Trade
3.5.1. There is evidence of the one of the first system of money created by the Shangs.
3.5.2. The Zhou use iron and it was the backbone of their economy.
3.5.3. The Zhou introduce coins.
3.5.4. The Shangs system was a slavery system.
3.6. Science & Technology
3.6.1. Shang dynasty era was known as bronze age which mean they use bronze to from weapons and the method is called "mold casting".
3.6.2. Vessel was another art they created most of them have a pattern of dragon, birds, bovine creatures,
3.6.3. They invented the chopstick which is still being use in present day.
3.7. Arts & Education
3.7.1. Shang dynasty art was carving jades. Also the Shangs had full command of the artistic and technical language developed in the diverse late neolithic time.
3.7.2. The Shangs first writing was closely tied to oracle bones and it has pictures on the bones
3.7.3. The Shangs built the calendar based on the cycle of the moon
3.7.4. Today they had found more than 150,000 oracle bones but the writings on the bones didn't survive.
4. Sumerians
4.1. Government & Leaders
4.1.1. They had 282 laws dealing with a variety of subjects called the Hammurabi Code.
4.1.2. The Priests initially governed the city-states, but the war chiefs ended up being kings due to force and followings from the people.
4.1.3. The Sumerians followed the Monarchy system which is one of the oldest forms of government
4.1.4. The leader of the city-state was in charge of the walls around the city, the irrigation, etc.
4.2. Religion
4.2.1. The Sumerians practiced polytheism, or the worship of many gods. They believed the gods controlled all the natural forces.
4.2.2. The Sumerians wanted to please the gods so much that they built ziggurats and temples where priests and priestesses offered the gods food and drink and held ceremonies.
4.2.3. They believed the gods governed every city state. They believed the gods were like humans in many ways. They ate, drank, fell in love, and even went to war.
4.2.4. Based on their religion, they thought every flood or storm was from how they were acting that month or day because they thought the gods were punishing them.
4.3. Geography & Agriculture
4.3.1. The Sumerians are in between the two rivers called the Tigris river and the Euphrates river. The reason they called it Mesopotamia is because it means "between the rivers".
4.3.2. The Sumerians started to farm as early as 5500 BC due to having some of the most fertile land. The two rivers would flood the farmland in the spring, leaving behind fertile soil for them to plant in.
4.3.3. They started to grow wheat and barley, two plants that provide the nutrients to keep a human healthy. They had plenty of food so villages started to grow.
4.3.4. Where Mesopotamia was geographically, they got very little rain, making it hard to grow the crops. They ended up making trenches for water to be stored when it rained or they put the rivers water in trenches to flow to the area where they farmed.
4.4. Social Structure & Family Life
4.4.1. There are families that are born into royalty due to how the families trade.
4.4.2. Slaves in the society are almost always from war but they can be from the village as a punishment.
4.4.3. Even though the priests were the highest level of the system, farmers are high up due to producing the items they traded for wood and other materials.
4.4.4. The women could do anything they want if the husband permitted it. But if the women is a widow, she can be free as long she isn't married.
4.5. Economy & Trade
4.5.1. Sumerians obtained many of their materials for houses and arts through trade. They lacked many raw materials, such as wood and metals.
4.5.2. Southwest Asia and beyond were the areas where they traded woven textures for metals,timber, and stone.
4.5.3. As trading escalated ranking of wealth formed from all the stuff people had.
4.5.4. Economy was based on the agriculture of the city-state.
4.6. Science and Technology
4.6.1. They used the irrigation system to water their crops and used some water as drinking water.
4.6.2. The Sumerians were known for being the first astronomers.
4.6.3. The creation of the cuneiform put the education part of mesopotamia better than most others.
4.6.4. They used the number 60 to base everything off of. We still use 60 in today's world for some of our science.
4.7. Arts & Education
4.7.1. In Mesopotamia, the education was taught in temples where they learned cuneiform. On blank slabs the teacher wrote on the left of the slabs and the students wrote in on the left.
4.7.2. Punishment was key in the schools. One mistake and you're getting the paddle or a whip on the back.
4.7.3. Since women would be helping in homes or making dinner for the family, almost every time it was all boys in school.
4.7.4. Ivory was a big item for making sculptures due to its look and ability to be carved.