The First Civilizations

The first civilizations developed in river valleys like Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Huang He. Ancient people lived by these rivers, where they could farm the fertile soil. The social classes in most of these civilizations were made of slaves, soldiers, farmers, builders, traders, priests, and rulers.

The Sumerians, one of the first civilizations, were important in Mesopotamia, developing cuneiform writing, city-states, and polytheistic religion. They also improved agriculture with fertilizers and used silver for trade. They lived in the fertile crescent, between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

The Babylonians developed Hammurabi’s code, the first set of laws that regulated property rights and duties of family members.

On the Nile shores, the Egyptian civilization was founded. They harnessed the river's overflow to grow crops. They built giant temples to their gods out of stone, and invented mummification. Hieroglyphs were their way of writing. The Hyksos were one of the peoples who invaded their country.

The Sumerians used cuneiform and the Egyptians used hieroglyphs.

On the river Indus in India lived a civilization of peaceful people called Harappans (archeologists found very few weapons in that region). They lived in brick cities with bathing areas and drainage systems. These people had their type of writing that was similar to cuneiform. It is speculated that they were conquered by the Aryans from the north. Another possible explanation for why their civilization disappeared was because of a natural disaster.

The banks of the river known as the Huang-He was the home for the first Chinese civilizations. In China, the ground is only 10% fertile, even though there are rivers running through it. This made life harder for the people, and so did the mountain ranges surrounding them (this made them not able to easily trade). This civilization believed that their gods chose the king and that each of the kings were entitled to rule through the mandate of heaven (being chosen by heaven and keeping that role by being a good ruler).

Families were significant in the Chinese culture, and the value of Filial Piety (respect for parents) is important even today.

The cycle of dynasties followed a pattern:

1. The expansion of the dynasty.
2. Dynasty control over the country erodes.
3. The land is divided between warlords.
4. Unrest, in-fighting, etc…
5. Collapse of the dynasty and the forming of a new one.