Fertile Crescent ~ Nile Valley

A. What is civilisation?
Civilisation means:
A) Civilised people can read and write
B) Civilised people live and work together in villages toens or cities
C) Civilised people lived in a place where the government can protect their
properties

B. Main centers of early civilisation

Four centers of early civilisation:
1. The Fertile Crescent civilisation (started: 4000 BC)
- River Tigris
- River Euphrates
2. The Nile Valley civilisation ( started: 3500 BC)
- River Nile
3. The Indus Valley civilisation (started: 3000 BC
- River Indus
4. The Huanghe Valley civilisation (started: 1760 BC)
- Huanghe
Why they first started the civilisation in river valleys?
1. People could get water easily to grow crops
2. People could travel easils and carry goods by boats
3. People could hunt for food easily because the animals went to drink water near
the valley
4. The soil near valley was fertile and this was food for farming

The Fertile Crescent

When: 4000 BC
Where: In Mesopotamia, the land between River Tigris and River Euphrates (Iraq)
Who: The Sumerians
Writing: Cuneiform
Religion:
Sumerians
Worshipped many gods
Hebrews
First people to worship one god
Ended: 539 BC
The Nile Valley
When: 3500 BC
Where: present-day Egypt
Who: The Ancient Egyptians
Writing: Hieroglphics
Religion: worshipped pharaohand many gods
Ended: 332 BC

(I) The Fertile Crescent civilisation (Mesopotamia)

1. Location of Fertile Crescent
- Fertile Crescent is situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf.
- This region have fertile soil and is shaped like a new moon so it is called Fertile
Crescent
- Many tribes lived in the Fertile Crescent, included the Sumerians, the Babylonians,
the Phoenicians and the Hebrews

2. Sumerian civilisation
Cities and government
People lived in city-states where the city was ruled by a ruler, government and an
army. Ur was the largest city.

The social class system

Ruler
(sent by
god)

Nobility, priests

Merchants, craftsmen,
peasants

Slaves

Kings were responsible for fighting against the enemies, enforcing the law, and
repairing the city.
Economy
Most Sumerians were peasants.
- kept animals
- Grew crops
- Caught fish in rivers
- Knowed how to dig canal s to bring water from rivers to irrigate their crops

Some Sumerians were merchants.

- traded with people living in other parts of the Fertile Crecsent and the
Mediterranean Sea

Some Sumerians were craftsmen

- used metal such as gold, silver, copper and bronze to make tools and weapons
- Used stone to make seals

Religion and education

Sumerians worshipped gods and goddesses. They built temples “ziggurats”.

They believed that the gods would come down to earth through the tall building.

Education
- people learned how to write “cuneiform”
- Children learned reading, writing and mathematics together in an outdoor area

3. Other tribes living in the Fertile Crescent

People Description
- 3000 BC
Hebrews
- First people to believe in one god
- 3000 BC
Phoenicians
- Were famous for their trades, alphabet and colonies
- 2360 BC
Akkadians
- Set up world’s first empire
- 1728 BC
Old Babylonians
- Developed first set of laws
- 1400 BC
Assyrians
- Set up the Assyrians Empire
 - 612 BC
Neo-babylonians - The city became the world’s greatest cultural center
at the time

Baylonians
Babylonians were good at mathematics, science and astrogy.

4. Legacy of the Fertile Crescent civilisation

Writing: Cuneiform
- Sumerians were the first people to invent writing
- Cuneiforms were written n clay tablets with pen made from reeds
- The writing looked like wedges so it is either called wedg writing

Laws: the Code of Hammurabi

- King Hammurabi of the Old Babylonians set up the world’s first set of laws
- It was called the Code of Hammurabi
- The laws were carved on stone pillar
- There were 282 laws, including laws on debt, marriage, property and heritage

Architecture: ziggurats and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

- Sumerians built tall temples called ziggurats
- The Neo-Babylonians copied them and built even taller buildings
- King Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens in his palace

Other inventions: transportation and the calender

- Sumerians invented wheels by nailing pieces of wood together
- Also invented the sail by spreading a piece of cloth to clatch the wind and puch
the boat forward
- The Old Babylonians were the first people to invent calender

5. End of the Fertile Crescent civilisation

- In about 539 BC, the persians from western Asia conquered the Neo-Babylonian
Empire.
- This ended the Fertile Crescent civilisation
(II) The Nile Valley civilisation
1. Location of the Nile Valley
- Egypt has many deserts and very little rain
- Nile was very important for them
- Deserts and the sea protected the Nile Valley
- Epople were free from outside attacks
- So an early civilisation was able to grow in the Nile Valley from about 3500 BC