Ancient Civilizations

1. Indus

1.1. The first civilizations arose near rivers. One such civilization was in India.

1.2. Scholars have not yet discovered how to read the symbols found on the stone seals and pottery of the Indus Valley. There are too few examples of each symbol to be sure of its meaning.

1.3. Clearly, the people of the Indus Valley were well organized. Their cities show a surprising level of planning.

2. Egypt

2.1. Like the Fertile Crescent, Egypt was home to one of the world’s first great civilizations. As in the Fertile Crescent, Egypt’s civilization developed in a river valley with rich soil. However, Egypt’s geography and culture differed in many ways from those of the Fertile Crescent.

2.2. Egyptian writing used hieroglyphics. A Hieroglyphic is a drawing or symbol that represents a word or a sound.

2.3. During the 3000s B.C., two kingdoms developed in Egypt. Legends say that Narmer united the two kingdoms in about 3000 B.C.

3. Sumeria

3.1. The Fertile Crescent is a region of the Middle East that stretches in a large, crescent-shaped curve from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. The Fertile Crescent includes Mesopotamia, a wide, flat plain in present-day Iraq.

3.2. To record the number of fish given to a temple, for example, Sumerian priests drew a fish. Then they added marks to represent the number of fish.

3.3. Sumeria is the name given to the civilization that developed in the Mesopotamia region as city-states. The first leaders of Sumerian city- states were priests, not kings.

4. Huang

4.1. Chinese civilization arose along the Huang River, also called the Yellow River. By around 5000 B.C.farmers had settled in a number of villages in this river valley.

4.2. At times, the Chinese also used oracle bones to record important events related to their questions. From these written records, scholars have learned much about ancient China and its rulers.

4.3. From the early settlements along the Huang River, the Shang kingdom rose to dominate a large part of the region to become the first documented Chinese Dynasty. A dynasty is a ruling family that holds power for many years.