BAHAUDDIN ZAKARIYA UNIVERSITY

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC
BEGINNING OF LIFE ON EARTH AND CIVILIZATIONS

SUBJECT
WORLD HISTORY

SUBMITTED TO

Dr. Attiya Awan

Presented BY
⮚ M ASIM
⮚ DANIYAL ZAFAR
⮚ M ZAHID SADIQ
⮚ WALEEJA ZAINAB
⮚ EISHA REHMAN
⮚ HASSAN NIAZ
⮚ HAMNA MALIK
⮚ RIMSHA
⮚ RABIA KHALID
⮚ MAHNOOR LIAQAT
 Beginning of Life on Earth
Life on earth began more than 3 billion years ago, with first living organism being of
simpler nature, a microbe. But with time, life evolved and resulted in the formation
of many complex life forms. Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, are the most
complex, intelligent and evolved of all life forms.

Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens are according to science first came into being about 300,000 years
ago. They evolved in Africa, developed a capacity for language about 50,000 years
ago and began moving outside of Africa starting about 70,000- 100,000 years ago.
Humans, Homo sapiens, are the only known species that have successfully
populated, adapted to, and significantly altered a wide variety of land region and
have affected not only the land but also the environment to a great extent

Stages of Mankind
The development of mankind is characterized by three ages, which are:

Stone Age: The stone age as the name suggests was the age were humans made use
of stones. In this prehistoric time, the humans used stones to make different kinds of
weapons, tools etc. It is also the age in which fire was discovered and was used by the
humans of that time to cook food. By the end of the stone age, people had learnt how
to farm, how to build more permanent settlements. They also developed their skills
in pottery and weaving

. Bronze Age: In this age, people learnt how to make bronze and extract other metals
from rocks. They learnt metalworking skills and people started to become powerful
and wealthy and conflict started. The wheel was also invented in this age a major
invention that helped humans to excel. Iron Age: In this age, people started using
Iron instead of bronze.

The Iron Age can be characterized by making/smelting of iron and steel tools. People
started using steel and iron and this helped them in agricultural practices and helped
making farming easier.

Civilizations
A Beginning The basic meaning of the word “Civilization”: a concept that we use to
relate to a complex, advanced society. A civilization is any society characterized by
the existence of the state that has developed culture, language, a writing system, and
currency etc.
Roman Civilization
550 BC – 450 AD

Known for its military, political reforms, and intellectual endeavors. The
Roman Empire, centred on the city of Rome, was established in 27 BCE. The Roman
Civilization/Empire is considered to be one of the strongest civilizations of ancient
times.

The Romans possessed a powerful army and were gifted in the applied arts of law,
government, city planning, and statecraft.Rome’s roads were without match in the
ancient world. Roman city planners achieved unprecedented standards of hygiene.

Finally, Latin, the language of the Romans, became the medium for a significant
body of original works in Western civilization.

Ancient Egyptian civilization

3150-30 BC

Ancient Egypt was a civilization in Northeast Africa situated in the Nile

Valley. Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced
around 3100 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political
unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes (often identified with Narmer).

The ancient Egyptian civilization, famous for its pyramids, pharaohs,

mummies, and tombs, flourished for thousands of years.
Ancient Egypt had the five major components of civilization: cities, specialized
workers, complex governing institutions, record keeping, and advanced
technology.
Egyptians are friendly, open to other cultures and known for their good hospitality,
so do not be surprised if people invite you to their homes and insist that you accept
the invitation. Egyptians also like to help people.
In daily life, the Egyptians seem little different from other ancient cultures. Like the
people of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Greece, they lived, mostly, in modest
homes, raised families, and enjoyed their leisure time.

Indus valley civilization

3300-1900 BC
The Indus civilization was the earliest known urban culture of
the Indian subcontinent—one of the world's three earliest civilizations, along
with Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt.
The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, a technical and political
process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment. They
are also noted for their baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply
systems, and clusters of large, nonresidential buildings.
The cities of the ancient Indus had "social hierarchies, their writing system,
their large planned cities and their long-distance trade [which] mark them
to archaeologists as a full-fledged 'civilisation.'" The mature phase of the Harappan
civilisation lasted from c. 2600–1900 BCE.

Indus Valley excavation sites have revealed a number of distinct examples of the
culture's art, including sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry, and
anatomically detailed figurines in terracotta, bronze, and steatite—more
commonly known as Soapstone.

Mayan Civilization
2600 BC – 900a A.D

The Mayan Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala,
reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D. The Maya
excelled at agriculture, pottery, writing, calendars and mathematics, and
left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and
symbolic artwork.

The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.
Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D.
250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and
western Honduras.

The Ancient Mayans developed the science of astronomy, calendar systems,

and hieroglyphic writing. They were also known for creating elaborate
ceremonial architecture, such as pyramids, temples, palaces, and observatories.
These structures were all built without metal tools. The Maya were skilled weavers
and potters.

Mesopotamian Civilization
3500 BC – 500 BC

Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the birthplace of writing and with it,

recorded history. Its people also built the world's first cities and developed the oldest
known political and administrative systems, mostly centered in what is now Iraq.

Not only was Mesopotamia one of the first places to develop agriculture, it
was also at the crossroads of the Egyptian and the Indus Valley civilizations. This
made it a melting pot of languages and cultures that stimulated a lasting impact on
writing, technology, language, trade, religion, and law.

The cultures of Mesopotamia are considered civilizations because their people: had
writing, had settled communities in the form of villages, planted their
own food, had domesticated animals, and had different orders of
workers.

Chinese civilization
1600 BCE- 1046 BCE

The Chinese civilization has made countless contributions to the world,

including the invention of compass, paper, gunpowder, silk, noodle,
porcelain, and paper money and other things that are a part of our lives today.
There were also many great works of architecture, such as, the Great Wall.

The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle
of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural
centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and
Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang.

These features include urbanization, palatial structures, temples,

metallurgy, a writing system, and institutionalized social stratification.

Ancient China was a very independent civilization. Its formidable land lacked easy
travel routes and made it very difficult for hostile invasions. This allowed early
Chinese culture to develop aspects such as filial piety, religious beliefs, and
writing that influenced and shaped a strong Chinese culture and society.

Ancient greek civilization

2700bc – 479BC

Ancient Greek civilization flourished from the period following Mycenaean

civilization, which ended about 1200 BCE, to the death of Alexander the
Great, in 323 BCE. By that time, Greek cultural influence had spread around the
Mediterranean and, through Alexander the Great's campaign of conquest, as far
afield as India

The Greeks made important contributions to philosophy, mathematics, astronomy,

and medicine. Literature and theatre was an important aspect of Greek culture and
influenced modern drama. The Greeks were known for their sophisticated
sculpture and architecture.

Ancient Greek civilization was concentrated in what is today Greece and along the
western coast of Turkey. However, ancient Greek colonists established cities all
around the Mediterran

Persian Civilization
550 – 331 BC
The Persians were the first people to establish regular routes of
communication between three continents—Africa, Asia and Europe. They
built many new roads and developed the world's first postal service.

The government of ancient Persia was based on an efficient bureaucracy which

combined the centralization of power with the decentralization of administration.

This empire developed great commercial power due to the construction of roads and
bridges that allowed them to connect their territories. The Persian conquests towards
other peoples were characterized by their religious tolerance and the
acceptance and adoption of culture and features of the conquered
regions

The Aztecs Civilization

1345 A.D- 1521 A.D

The Aztecs were the Native American people who dominated northern
Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. A
nomadic culture, the Aztecs eventually settled on several small islands in Lake
Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico
City.

The Aztec civilization is known for being the last of the great Mesoamerican
cultures before the Europeans arrived. They built impressive temple-
pyramids, used sophisticated techniques of agriculture, their eagle warriors built a
great empire, and they made human sacrifices to their gods.

They were the first people to discover chocolate.They made a drink that's similar to
the hot chocolate we drink today.They believed that cacao beans were a gift from the
gods. ...Before settling in Mexico, they were nomads who moved around central
America.The Aztecs believed in many gods.

Incas Civilization
1438 -1532 A.D

The Inca civilization is known for creating the largest empire ever seen in the
Americas, their impressive agricultural techniques, and their art and architecture
which uniquely combined geometrical stonework with the natural landscape.

Inca society was highly stratified. The emperor ruled with the aid of an aristocratic
bureaucracy, exercising authority with harsh and often repressive controls. Inca
technology and architecture were highly developed, although not strikingly original.

The Inca called their empire Tahuantinsuyu, or Land of the Four Quarters. It
stretched 2,500 miles from Quito, Ecuador, to beyond Santiago, Chile. Within
its domain were rich coastal settlements, high mountain valleys, rain-drenched
tropical forests and the driest of deserts.