Resource: World History Encyclopedia Millennium EditionClip art source: Broderbund’s PrintMaster Platinum 10

The Ancient World

• 4 million years ago to 500 AD• B.C. or B.C.E.- before Christ or before the

Christian Era• A.D.- Anno Domini, in the year of the Lord• 2.5 million years ago man’s earliest

ancestors appeared in Africa• 5000 B.C.- the world’s first civilizations

began to appear

Big Advances

• 2.5-2 million years BC- tools are made

• 8000 BC- farming begins and first towns appear

• 5000 BC- world’s first civilizations appear

• Civilization Characteristics: cities, government, religion, social structure, writing and art/technology.

Location

Sequence of Civilizations 5000- 3100 B.C.- different cultures appear

along the Nile River

3000 B.C.- farming settlements appear around the Indus River valley

2205 B.C.- families called dynasties rule China: Yellow River; Yangtze River

2000 B.C.- settlements along Indus River and the Ganges River.

Ancient Egypt

• Gift of the Nile• Lower and Upper

Egypt• 3100 BC- King Menes

united the two kingdoms

• 1554 BC- Pharaoh title is used.

Ancient Egypt Government

• Viziers- two appointed officials to help rule and collect taxes

• 42 nomes- governed by nomarchs

• Officials headed state departments like Royal Works

Egyptian Beliefs

• Life after death• The soul had to pass

several ordeals to make it to a better world.

• Body had to be intact for after world.

Indus Valley Civilization

• The Indus Valley Civilization was larger than Egypt.

• Harappa and Mohenjo Daro were major cities.

• Highly organized trade system

• Cities were laid out on a grid system.

• The houses were made of mud brick and had bathrooms and a drainage system.

Ancient China

• Located among three major rivers- Chang Jiang, Xi Jiang, and Huang He

• Irrigation was used.• Ruled by a series of

families (dynasties)• 221 BC Shi Huangdi

unites China and forms Qin dynasty

• Shi Huangdi is the first emperor of China.

Ancient China

• Shi Huangdi changed the government and standardized money, weights, and measures.

• The Great Wall of China was built between 214 and 204 BC in the north to keep out the Huns.

• The Wall areas more than 1,400 miles long.

Ancient Chinese Culture

• Chinese nobles watched the Great Wall being constructed.

• Convicted criminals and peasants constructed the wall.

• Chinese civil service was based on the beliefs of Confucius.

Mesopotamia

• Tigris River• Euphrates River• Fertile Crescent (land

between two rivers)• Theocracy• City-States