7 Components of River civilization By: Adam Bozich, Mitchel Brown, and Brendan Aten.

Get Started. It's Free
or sign up with your email address
7 Components of River civilization By: Adam Bozich, Mitchel Brown, and Brendan Aten. by Mind Map: 7 Components of River civilization By: Adam Bozich, Mitchel Brown, and Brendan Aten.

1. Social Structure and Family Life

1.1. Sumerians

1.1.1. In the homes of the poor and rich alike, the husband and father is the master of the household. He has the right to divorce his wife. He is even allowed, under certain circumstances, to sell his wife and children into slavery.

1.1.2. Despite the husband’s position, a woman of the upper class has  freedom. She has the right to own property and have an income separate from her husband's.

1.1.3. Boys of wealthy families attend school, while girls are educated at home.

1.1.4. Sumerians take the burial of the dead seriously. There are no cemeteries except for the king and his most important nobles. In Sumer the body is most often buried within the house in the family tomb

1.2. Shang / Zhou

1.2.1. The Shang Dynasty was a society which followed a class system of land-owners, soldiers, bronze workers, and peasants.

1.2.2. The aristocracy were centered around Anyang, the Shang capital, and conducted governmental affairs for the surrounding areas. Regional territories farther from the capital were also controlled by the wealthy.

1.2.3. Artisans and craftsmen where in the "middle class" of Shang society. Their largest contribution was their work with bronze.

1.2.4. At the bottom of the social ladder were the peasants, the poorest of Chinese citizens. They where majority of the population and were limited to farming and selling crops for profit.

2. Economy and Trade

2.1. Sumerian

2.1.1. Jobs included pottery makers, stone cutters, bricklayers, metal smiths, farmers, fishers, shepherds, weavers, leather-workers, and sailors.

2.1.2. Sumerian economy was based on agriculture, which was influenced by major technological advances in Mesopotamian history.

2.1.3. Iron was smelted for trade and tools about 2500 BC.

2.1.4. Discoveries of obsidian from far-away locations in Anatolia suggest that there was a large network of trading.

2.2. Shang / Zhou

2.2.1. Slaves were used for production increase.

2.2.2. Agricultural was also a major part of the Shang and Zhou economy

2.2.3. Because of their metal working and craft skills they traded musical instruments and weapons

2.2.4. Were well advanced with many workshops outside of the town with furnaces, forges and other crafting.

3. Geography and Agriculture

3.1. Sumerian

3.1.1. Sumeria is located in Mesopotamia, in the fertile Cresent.  The rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates, both very infulential  in the shaping of the earths oldest known civilization.

3.1.2. Mesopotamia is divided into two parts: upper mesopotamia and sumer.  Mesopotamia as a whole had few natural boundries, and the fact that it was perfect for farming lead to more people and more conflict.

3.1.3. The flip side to this is that it forced its inhabitants to either fight to the death or progress. The people in Sumeria had to make new technology and methods to coup with their enviorments

3.1.4. Sumeria's climate was hot. Not only did the Sumerians deal with crazy rivers, but also had a harsh climate to deal with. It didn't rain often and when it did, it usually came as a storm from the Perisan Gulf. Basically the climate was dry forcing people to move to the rivers, but the rivers flooded causing havic and chaos if your not prepared.

3.2. Shang / Zhou

3.2.1. Located near the yellow river in northeast china

3.2.2. They had water and good fertile soil which helped them thrive as a civilization

3.2.3. Natural borders protected this area making it a good place for a civilization.

3.2.4. The Western Zhou was built on the banks of the Wei River,

4. Government and Leaders

4.1. Sumerian

4.1.1. The Summerians were credited for the invention of Government

4.1.2. Created to organize labor and solve community economic issues

4.1.3. Started to make laws and give the Sumerian people an idea about what was expected of them.

4.1.4. The Government they enforced was a combination of Democracy and Monarchy

4.2. Shang / Zhou

4.2.1. Ruled by a King and his administrators who were mostly relatives of the King himself.

4.2.2. Both civilizations were Monarchy based.

4.2.3. This was an earlier stage of what later was a Empire.

4.2.4. The civilizations surrounding Shang and Zhou were ruled by lords.

5. Religion

5.1. Sumerian

5.1.1. There religion is polytheism which is the worshiping of more then 1 god

5.1.2. Sumerian religion has its roots in the worship of nature, such as the wind and water.

5.1.3. They worshiped deities for different things examples Anu god of hevan, Enlil god of air and so many more.

5.1.4. Believed humans created for servants to the gods.

5.2. Shang / Zhou

5.2.1. The Shang believed in spiritual control of the world by various gods as well as ancestor worship.

5.2.2. They believed in the after life and buried there dead

5.2.3. Heavenly spirits, terrestrial forces and human ancestors were the three realms of deities of the Zhou religion

5.2.4. they would sometimes do human sacrificaes when nobles would die so they had servents in the after life

6. Science and Technology

6.1. Sumerian

6.1.1. Examples of Sumerian technology include: the wheel, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation systems, sumerian boats, lunisolar calendar, bronze, leather, knives, arrowheads, swords, glue, daggers, bags, harnesses, armor, quivers, boots, sandal, harpoons, and beer.

6.1.2. The Sumerians are perhaps remembered most for their many inventions. Many authorities credit them with the invention of the wheel and the potter's wheel. Their writing system was the first we have evidence of.

6.1.3. The Sumerians ushered in the age of intensive agriculturalism in Ancient Mesopotamia. Wheat, barley, sheep and cattle were  among the species raised for the first time on a big scale. These inventions and innovations easily place the Sumerians among the most creative cultures in human history. Sumerian scientific achievements were important to the modern world.

6.2. Shang / Zhou

6.2.1. While bronze casting was invented at the begin of the 2nd millennium BCE, the Shang period  was the first time when bronze casting was industrialized and bronze tools were produced in royal workshops.

6.2.2. The digging of irrigation canals and creating of dams seemed not to be within the crucial tasks of the kings of Yin, later it became one of the most important charges of the Chinese rulers.

6.2.3. From Shang times on until the twentieth century, today even sometimes used in art, the cyclic lunar calendar was the instrument to date every event

6.2.4. During the Zhou reign, iron casting technology began and bronze casting was perfected. Higher-quality iron weapons, chariots, armament and fortifications were created.

7. Arts and education

7.1. Sumerians

7.1.1. Summerian art was carved in stone or clay and was typically a prayer.

7.1.2. The art was used to decorate wealthy homes or places of worship

7.1.3. Education was done in schools just like current day elementary school.

7.1.4. The students copied down lessons onto clay tablets and carried them in bags from home to school.

7.2. Shang / Zhou

7.2.1. Art and other paraphernalia was made from bronze along with other materials by the Shang and Zhou people.

7.2.2. The artwork was of people, houses, and everyday things.

7.2.3. As well as creating artwork purely for looks they made designs on pots and other tools.

7.2.4. They made jewelry from gold and used some gems as well.