Unit 2 Study Guide – River Valley Civilizations

Directions: Use everything from Unit 2 of your notebook as well as pages 17 – 90 in your textbook to answer all of these questions.

Characteristics of a Civilization1. Name the five characteristics of a civilization

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

River Valley Civilizations

Mesopotamia – Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon 3. Why did people settle in Mesopotamia?

4. The Mesopotamian river valley civilization formed along the following river(s):

5. What were three problems encountered by people who settled in Mesopotamia AND how did they address each of these problems?

1.

2. River Valley Map – locate and label each of the following on a map: a. Tigris River d. Egypt g. Early China j. Mediterranean Sea b. Euphrates River e. Nile River h. Huang He River k. Red Sea c. Mesopotamia f. Indus River i. Yangtze River

2.

3.

6. What is a dynasty?

7. What was the form of writing developed by the Mesopotamians?

8. What is shown in the image to the left AND what was its purpose?

9. Describe the religion of Mesopotamia and the role of priests in these civilizations.

10. What is the meaning of the term “monotheistic”?

11. What is the meaning of the term “polytheistic”?

12. Were the Mesopotamians polytheistic or monotheistic?

Ancient Egypt13. The ancient Egyptian civilization formed along the following river:

14. Why did the Egyptians call it the “Gift of the Nile”?

15. In which direction does the Nile River flow?

16. Where is the Upper and Lower Kingdoms located?

17. What were cataracts?

18. The rulers of ancient Egypt were known as __________________________________.19. What is a theocracy?

20. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the pharaohs?

21. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the afterlife?

22. Were the ancient Egyptians monotheistic or polytheistic?

23. Name the three Egyptian gods we learned about in class and provide a brief description of each.1.

2.

3.

Indus River Valley24. The Indus River valley civilization formed near the ________________________ River. 25. What is one reason we learned in class why we do not know as much about the Indus River valley

civilization as we know about the other three river valley civilizations that we covered in class?

26. What were the two major advancements that the Indus cities had? Also, explain what each one was.

a.

b.

27. What were the names of the two major cities of the Indus Valley?

Early China28. The Huang He river valley civilization formed between the _____________________ River (also known

as the Yellow River) and the ______________________ River.

29. What are two dynasties we learned about in class that existed in the Huang He river valley?

30. What was the Mandate of Heaven?

31. Explain the religious beliefs of the people who lived in the Huang He river valley.

32. What did they call feudalism in Early China? Also, explain what it was.

The Other Middle Eastern Civilizations33. Where were the Hittites located?

34. How did the Hittites treat women?

35. Whose culture did Hittites adopt?

36. Where did the Phoenicians live? 37. Did the Phoenicians ever unite together and form a country? If not, how did they live?

38. What are three accomplishments of the Phoenicians that we learned in class? 1.

2.

3.

39. Where were the Nubian-Kush located?

40. With which other civilization that we learned about in class did the Nubians-Kush interact extensively? (They would overtake this civilization one day.)

41. What was the difference between the Pharaohs in Egypt and Nubian-Kush?

42. Much of our knowledge about the early history of the Hebrews is found in the __________, which contains written records and beliefs of the Jews. _______________________ were the written laws that guided the Hebrews.

43. What is the name of the Hebrews' religion and why was it so different then the other religions we have studies in class?

45. Where did the Hebrews settle?

46. What dominated Assyrian life?

47. Name some of the advancements of the Assyrians.

48. What civilization was the first to use Iron?

49. Which civilization was Indo-European?

50. BE ABLE TO LOCATE – the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the Assyrians, and the Nubian-Kush