Geography
• What influence does geography have on civilization?
• Land, weather, transportation, water etc.• It is no coincidence that almost all major
civilizations developed near bodies of water or rivers.
• Geography also had a major impact on trade• Fertile lands where conditions favored farming
Agricultural Revolution
• 10,000 years ago people began to:• Domesticate of animals– Man power to animal power– Domesticated animals provided meat, milk,
hide.• Farming – Domestication of plants– Population increase
First Civilizations
• Civilization- highly organized group of people with their own language and ways of living
• Most developed independently from one another.
• ALL shared certain features that we define as the basis for civilization
Government
• What are the basic needs for government?- Order vs. anarchy- laws and rules - Protection- Cooperation- Power structure
Religion
• Organized belief begins to surface.– Gives meaning and purpose, and often, a goal to
aspire to when life is complete.– Home, farming, relationships, marriage, birth and
death, these are all common events in cultures; needed guiding principals
• Often gives codes of behavior for society and culture.
Specialization
• Specialization- the separation of tasks within a system.
• Surplus = specialization• New technologies = new skills• Allowed for development of trade
economic systems
Social Class
• Beginning of class in a civilization: • Strong provided protection • General hierarchy– King or leader -> Priests and nobles (owned land)
-> government officials/ wealthy merchants -> artisans/ farmers (majority of people) -> slaves.
Record Keeping/ Alphabet
• Development of writing– Pictographs– Cuneiform
• Tax records and religious ceremonies
• Propelled trade• Credible laws