Warm Up

Diffusion is the process of a new idea or a product spreading from one culture to another culture

With your neighbor come up with one real life example of the following diffusion topics:

1.Technological Diffusion

2.Linguistic (language) Diffusion

3.Religious Diffusion

4. Architectural Diffusion

Label the 4 early River Valley Civilizations on your map:

• Ancient China - Huang He River

• Sumerian Civilization - Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia)• Egyptian Civilization - Nile River

• Harappan Civilization - Indus River

China Huang He

ANCIENT EGYPTSphinx

“Egypt, the gift of the Nile.”~ Herodotus, Greek historian (484-432 B.C.E.)

Examine this quote:

1. What do you infer from this quote, what did Herodotus mean by “the gift of the Nile”?

The Nile provided irrigation and predictable flooding, which provided the ability to farm in a desert region

2b.) How was the Nile River Valley vulnerable to invasions in the past?

Invasions came from over the Middle East.

2a.) However, Egypt was 2a.) However, Egypt was rarely invaded. What do rarely invaded. What do you believe kept them you believe kept them safe?safe?

Geography - Desert and the Seas

Middle East

invasions

THINK AHEAD:THINK AHEAD:

3. Describe how the Nile 3. Describe how the Nile River affected farming, trade River affected farming, trade and religion in Ancient Egypt.and religion in Ancient Egypt.

Turn to your partner and discuss the following:

GEOGRAPHYdeserts formed natural barrier“black land”“red land”predictable floodingNile provided farmingin the desert.

FACTS: THE NILE•part of it flows in the opposite direction of prevailing winds

•flows from South to North•has many cataracts

The Nile fans out into a delta as it empties to the Mediterranean Sea flowing from South to North.

Next Slide: Zoomed in Here

RELIGION

GOVERNMENT

VOCABULARYTHEOCRACY:

government whose Ruler is a King / and considered a God -a.k.a god-king

DYANSTY: series of rulers from a

same family

POLYTHEISTIC RELIGION

•Osiris•Isis•Horus

•Ra•Anubis•Thoth

mummification: process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent decay

Discuss this with your neighbor:*4.) What was the Egyptian view of the afterlife and why did they develop this idea?

*The afterlife was very important to ancient Egyptians; through mummification they preserved their rulers bodies in the afterlife.

• Believed each pharaoh ruled even after death, because they all possessed the same eternal spirit = ka; and being god, naturally bore full responsibility for Egypt’s well-being.

• Therefore, Pharaoh’s tomb very important, because it was still a place of rule.

• Built massive tombs called pyramids.

Heather Nice

After death, a high priestess of the god Amon-Ra (ca. 1,000 BC) was mummified and buried within these coffins. A set of inner and outer coffins held the body and demonstrated the high status of the deceased. Mythic scenes depicted on the coffins were meant to guide and to protect the dead person's spirit

The mummy of Ramses II (1304 -1237 BC ) Tutankhamun’s Burial Mask still preserved today, 3,200 years later, at the Cairo Museum.

CONTRIBUTIONS:•architecture/art

•papyrus paper

•hieroglyphics

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 A.D.

The Rosetta Stone can be viewed by tourists today in the British Museum.

How we decoded the hieroglyphics…

Scientific Achievements

• Stone columns• Solar calendar• Geometry • numeric system on

base 10 (decimal) • Irrigation and

agriculture• Astronomy• Medicine • engineers and

architects

Unfortunately the Egyptians took their years of

well-protected geographic isolation for granted

and made little real defensive preparations

should the unthinkable happen.

The unthinkable happened.

Invaded by the Hyksos, an Asiatic people, great chariot-riders – which they introduced in Egypt for the first time. These foreigners bring the Middle Kingdom period to an end and will rule Egypt for 70 years.

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

Thebes

NILE G Y P T

R.

• The wheel did not arrive in Egypt until the Hyksos invasion with chariots in the 16th century BC. 

• The Egyptians adopted the wheel and the chariots for their transportation.

• What is this an example of? Technological DIFFUSION

Ironically the Egyptians then used the chariots to drive the Hyksos out of power in Egypt

INDUS RIVER VALLEYIndia

Subcontinent – large landmass forming a distinct part of a continent

GEOGRAPHY

Geography (cont.)

monsoons= seasonal wind

protected by several mountain ranges

Indus-Ganges Plaindominate climate

Indus drains into Arabian Sea

CHALLENGES

A. unpredictable floodingB. cycle of wet & dry seasons

C. The settlements sometimes were forced to changed location because the river changed course.

Oh NO!!

REFLECTION:5.) What do you think was the

greatest challenge faced by people living along the Indus?

•unpredictable rivers

• strong winds / monsoons

Indus River Valley Civilization• Historians know very little about this civilization

because they have not yet deciphered the Indus system of writing

• Archaeologist have found evidence of agriculture, domestication of sheep & goats.

• Also that the civilization was much larger that Mesopotamia and Egypt. That they had a sophisticated city planning. Few weapons were found suggesting that conflict was limited

• Archaeologist also found stamps and seals found in India from Mesopotamia suggesting trading

TIMELINE: Early Settlement7000 BC - Agriculture & domestication of

sheep, goats3200 BC - first evidence of farming in

villages along river1750 BC – decline of cities1500 BC - Early Indus Valley - Harappan

civilization collapsed1500-250 BC- Aryans warriors invade&

implementing a caste system

Planned cities in the Indus Valley

• streets were made in a grid• citadel• sewage and water systems• uniform housing• early religious artifacts found

The finer things in life

Note: The religions of

Hinduism and Buddhism both originate from

India

What happened to the Harappan civilization on the Indus River?

Above: The Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro. Surrounding pics: various Harappan artifacts.

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

• 6.) Why did this civilization disappear?– Evidence Several unburied skeletons are found

along with homes and possessions being abandoned.

The people may have overworked the land (overcutting trees, overgrazed, over farmed land depleting nutrients) Invaders - The disputed (A.I.T.) Aryan Invasion Theory

Aryans1000B.C.

• Indo-European (nomadic warriors) crossed over the northwest mountains into the Indus River Valley.

• Created a Caste System or a social class ranking system were the Aryan race were seem as the “nobles” and the Indus race were inferior

• Introduced Hinduism• Competed for land and power

Huang He River Valley China

PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

ENTERA Chinese junk on the Huang He today.

An artist visualizes what the ancient Chinese village of Banpo on the Huang He may have looked like over 4,000 years ago.

Chinese script is unique, isn’t it?

Think about other elements of Chinese culture:Chinese architecture, music, technology, dress and fashion, and eastern belief systems…Also unique!

Discuss with your partner:7. Based on the map, why did China develop apart from other cultures?

• China’s geography ocean, desert, high mountains, isolated China.Isolated geographically, cut off from trade, there would be little opportunity for cultural diffusion in China’s case. Developing in a vacuum, China’s civilization would stand out as the most unique of our world’s early civilizations.

Gobi Desert

Taklimakan Desert

Himalaya Mts. Pacific Ocean

China Geography

• Two major rivers Huang He in the North and the Yangtze in central China. Suitable farm land lay in between the two rivers.

• When flooding occurred it would devoured all the villages earning the nickname “China’s Sorrow”

• Loess- dusty yellowish silt that was blown in from the desert (silt was fertile soil)

Dynasty: series of rulers from a same family

Ancient China

Neolithic ca. 12,000 - 2000 B.C.

Xia ca. 2100-1800 B.C.

Shang 1700-1027 B.C. Western Zhou 1027-771 B.C.

Eastern Zhou 770-221 B.C.

Warring States period 475-221 B.C.

ReligionConfucianism • Emphasis on order, balance, things to make this world better• Social Hierarchy (father over son, husband over

wife, emperor over subjects, etc.)• Importance of family, ancestors, tradition the most important

virtue was respect for one’s parents• Value of ritual and education

The primary goal of Confucianism was to

restore the social order through proper

behavior

Believed that sprits of family ancestors had power to bring good fortune or disaster to living members. Shang Kings consulted the gods through oracle bones where priest had scratched questions for the gods to answer.

Important Vocabulary

• Dynasty: series of rulers from a same family

• Mandate of Heaven: Royal authority came from heaven, a just ruler had divine approval

• Dynastic Cycle: The rise and decline, replacement of a dynasty

• Feudalism: political system in which nobles, are granted the use of land that legally belongs to the king, in return for loyalty, military service, and protection to the people who live in their estate.

China’s Technology

• Chinese method of writing, each character stands for an idea not a sound --one could read Chinese without being able to speak it, thus unifying a large diverse people.

• Bronze work was a leading craft• Iron weapons and tools (which is

stronger that bronze) made farm work easier and faster

• Silk cloth• Zhou introduced coined money to

improve trade

In each civilization the people settled near rivers.

Define irrigation

This lead to the development of irrigation which in turn brought about an abundance of food.

8.) How would an increase supply of food affect families, jobs, and government?

ie…Population increase, better health, specialized jobs such as basket weaving, tool making, scribe. Governments were then needed to organize large community projects