1. Location: near great rivers (fertilised the land) food for large populations
1.1. Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates
1.2. Egypt: Nile
1.3. India: Indus
1.4. China: Huang He and Yangtze
2. Characteristics
2.1. Large scale complex societies
2.1.1. Political power
2.1.1.1. Monarchs
2.1.1.1.1. Powerful
2.1.1.1.2. Leaders of the army
2.1.1.1.3. Made laws
2.1.1.1.4. Religious leader
2.1.1.1.5. Aided by state officials
2.1.2. Social hierarchy
2.1.2.1. Small minority of privileged people members of the king's family
2.1.2.2. Most people were very poor
2.1.3. Large scale building works
2.1.3.1. Irrigation canals
2.1.3.2. Palaces
2.1.3.3. Temples
2.1.3.4. Tombs
3. Writing (Used to separate History from Prehistory)
3.1. First used in Mesopotamia in 3500 BC
3.1.1. Cuneiform writing appeared in Sumer, Mesopotamia more than 5000 years ago
3.1.1.1. Egyp also developed the hierogliphics, the oldest is the Narmar Palette in 3100 BC
3.1.1.2. Cuneiform was written by making signs on a clay tablet with a reed
3.1.1.3. It was called cuneiform because the patterns looked as if they were made by a wedge (cuneus/cuña)
3.2. Useful for keeping record of
3.2.1. Taxes
3.2.2. Trade
3.2.3. Population