Critical-Thinking Question: No Written Records from This Time Exist Because Writing Had Not Yet Been Developed

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It was a natural process: Groups of hunter-gatherers, who until then had been nomads, began to settle near a river, which provided them with the water they needed to raise crops and to make Archaeologists study what human beings have left behind in an effort to chart the movement of agriculture a permanent part of their way of life. It also allowed them to irrigate nearby areas fairly peoples of the past throughout the world. Scientists have tried to reconstruct early human history- easily, and small villages eventually sprang up near those areas as well. Gradually, villages along the where the first human beings originated and how they gradually spread throughout the world. river began to cooperate, usually to deal with problems that affected all of them (such as periodic flooding). Over many years, the villages coalesced into cities or "city-states" that controlled small regions. Eventually, stronger city-states Critical-Thinking Question: No written records from this time exist because writing had not yet been developed. Instead, absorbed weaker ones-usually by force. The resulting political unit was considered an "empire" or a "civilization." Little is known about the government researchers use many other kinds of clues. They find artifacts-artwork or tools or structures-and trace them from place to place, enabling This process, with some variations, happened at approximately the same time in four places in the ancient world. By about 3500 them to propose theories about human migration. They explore similarities and differences in languages from place to place to find out BCE, the Sumerians were beginning to subdue the Mesopotamian city-states that had grown in the "Fertile Crescent" between the Tigris of the Harappan civilization. Based on which peoples most likely lived in a certain region. They analyze the racial and ethnic similarities of groups of people who live in different and Euphrates Rivers to form the first of the Mesopotamian empires. By 3100 BCE, the Upper Kingdom and Lower Kingdom along the Nile the geography of the Indus Valley areas. They also find fossilized human remains in different places around the world, and use this information to develop and refine theo- River had joined to form the Nile Valley (Egyptian) empire. Before 2500 BCE, the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization had formed along (where the Harappan empire was ries about migration patterns. For example, human fossils that are equally old have been found on several continents. This led archaeolo- Critical-Thinking Question: the Indus River. In the Huang Valley around 3000 BCE, farmers discovered how to control the floods of the Huang He River; agricultural located), do you think its government gists to revise theories about when migrations took place and discredited the old assumption that human life developed first in Asia. What theory of the origin of settlements along the river eventually cam together to form dynasties. These civilizations, located in present-day Iraq, Egypt, India/Pakistan, and China respectively, helped shape the modern world. They developed institutions-ways of organizing people and had a great deal of centralized In one exciting recent development, geneticists have joined archeologists in analyzing the genetic makeup of today's human beings to bet- humanity does the map present? things-that greatly influenced later civilizations, including ours. control? Why or why not? ter understand not only their ancestry but their ancestors' movements. This research is still new, but it holds great promise. How do you know?

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In most of the world, farming gradually displaced hunting and gathering over time as it spread in Civilization probably developed in the Indus Valley in the middle of the third millennium BCE. all directions from the early river valley civilizations. Rivers from the Himalayas provided water for irrigation and deposited soils that enriched the land. Two major trading centers developed: Harappa in the north and Mohenjo-Daro 400 miles to the Excellent climatic conditions for farming, a wide range of domesticated animals, and the nat- south. There is strong evidence that the Indus Valley people traded with people from the ural prevalence of self-pollinating crops like wheat and barley made the Fertile Crescent the perfect Mesopotamian civilization. spot for early development of agriculture. By 8000 BCE, people there were cultivating crops. Agriculture spread to Greece and Cyprus by According to legend, the Indus civilization was destroyed by Aryan invaders from central Asia. While such invasions did occur, it is 7000 BCE; to Egypt and India by about 6000 BCE; to continental Europe by 5400 BCE; and to Britain by 4000 BCE. Scientists have pointed more likely that the civilization gradually declined because of climatic changes and natural disasters. One cause of its decline was the out that because Europe and Asia extend further from east to west than from north to south, agriculture was able to spread across land drying of another ancient river, the Sarasvati or Ghaggar-Hakra. Geographers today have tried to map out this river's course. Critical-Thinking Question: that lay at about the same latitude and had comparable climates and growing seasons. Crops that could succeed in those conditions Meanwhile in eastern China, a civilization developed along the Huang He, or Yellow River. The river deposited rich layers of the flourished; so did civilizations that developed when farming and herding became established ways of life, including those of the Far East Critical-Thinking Question: windblown, glacial yellow soil called loess. This was beneficial for agriculture, but also dangerous: the river was infamous for raging Why is it unlikely that members of the (present-day China and Southeast Asia). floods which could wipe out crops and create famine conditions. Consequently, inhabitants of the river valley learned how to construct Indus Valley and Huang Valley Did agriculture begin in one place and and carefully maintain levees. civilizations ever had contact with Because the orientation of North and South America is more north-to-south, the spread of agriculture faced more of a climatic chal- spread throughout the world? How do Unlike the Harappan civilization, the Huang did not disappear from history altogether. By about 1700 BCE, the small kingdoms that one another? lenge than in Asia. Agriculture arrived later and took longer to spread. Nevertheless, farming apparently began about 6500 BCE in what is you know? had developed along the Huang He had consolidated into the Shang Dynasty. This dynasty would prosper and last for about 600 years. now Central America, then spread north and south into the two continents. A similar process occurred in Africa.

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Control of the city-states of Mesopotamia passed among various empires until about 1775 BCE, when the Mesopotamia, the "Land Between the Rivers" that comprises part of modern-day Iraq, was home to some Babylonian Empire began to emerge under the powerful king Hammurabi. Hammurabi increased trade, agricul- of the earliest civilizations that left records of their progress. The earliest was that of the Sumerians, ture, and building in areas under his control; pioneered taxation; and developed the system of laws known as who migrated to the Tigris-Euphrates valley in southern Mesopotamia from Central Asia around 3500 the Code of Hammurabi. BCE and gradually displaced the native Ubaidian settlements. City-states in Sumer-including Erida, Ur, Over the next few hundred years, however, the Babylonian empire was supplanted, first by such groups as the Hittites and the Mitanni and then by the Assyrian empire around 1350 BCE. From their capital city of Nineveh, Uruk, Lagash, Umma, and Nippur-were established at that time. In these laboratories of civilization, the Assyrians succeeded as empire builders because they made significant advances in weaponry and warfare. Sumerians developed pictograph and cuneiform writing, invented the wheel, expressed key mathemati- They also made advances in culture: The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world's earliest literary masterpieces, cal concepts, set up an economic system based on money, and built reservoirs and canals for irrigation. was produced during the reign of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (668-626 BCE). Sumerian merchants traded textiles and crops in Asia Minor and Iran. The Sumerians also created a Eventually, the far-flung nature of the Assyrian empire proved to be its downfall: despite their smelted- sophisticated religion with many gods and rituals. iron weapons and sophisticated military organization, the Assyrians could not defend all the areas under their Conflicts among the city-states made the Sumerian civilization ripe for conquest by outsiders. In control. A people known as the Chaldeans people gradually chipped away at Assyrian-controlled areas, and con- 2334 BCE, King Sargon and the Akkadians subdued the city-states. In 2180 BCE, the city-states came quered Nineveh in 612 BCE. Also called the Babylonians because their capital was the ancient city of Babylon, under the control of the Guti invaders from the north. Over the next 70 years, the city-states revolted the Chaldeans made significant advances in mathematics and astronomy. Among other achievements, the against these conquerors, and in 2112 BCE Ur-Nammu of Uruk reassembled the empire of Sumer. Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar built the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon (considered one of the Seven However, internal and external pressures caused the empire to disintegrate before 2000 BCE. In the Wonders of the Ancient World) and conquered Jerusalem in 586 BCE, sending the biblical Hebrews into exile. years after that, the region came firmly under the control of the Babylonian civilization. Critical-Thinking Question: Critical-Thinking Question: What does the geography of Mesopotamia suggest about why the city-states In which direction did the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow? How do you know? were constantly trying to conquer one another?

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King Menes joined upper and lower Egypt in about 3100 BCE. He established capitals at Memphis and Abydos and was the first of the rulers (pharaohs) of Egypt's Old Kingdom. For 900 years, this kingdom flourished under a series of dynasties, with very powerful pharaohs advised by priests and supported by laboring serfs. During this time the first great pyramids were built, and Egyptian civilization recorded major achievements in architecture, writing, science, and art. Famine caused the central government to collapse in 2181 BCE, and a chaotic time known as the first Intermediate Period ensued. After about 50 years, the pharaoh Mentuhotep I prevailed over rival war- lords and reunified Egypt, establishing the Middle Kingdom. He moved Egypt's capital to Thebes, and stability returned. Trade, agriculture, and mining flourished. At times, Egypt extended as far south as the Nubian region and as far north as Syria. But after 500 years, its leaders lost control of part of its territo- ry and Egypt was divided again. The second Intermediate period lasted from 1650 to 1550 BCE. During this time, Middle Eastern invaders called Hyksos controlled much of Egypt. Eventually, Theban Egyptians led by Ahmose I defeated the Hyksos and uni- fied Egypt again, resulting in what's known as the New Kingdom. Despite wars with the Hittites and Assyrians, Egypt remained independent for a thou- sand years before finally being absorbed by newer powers-the Persians (525 BCE), the Greeks of Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire.

Only in modern times did an American archaeologist coin the phrase "Fertile Crescent" to describe the broad, curving area that gave rise to the civilizations of the Middle East. But the term will probably last since it is perfectly descriptive: Because of its fertility, or ability to sustain life, this quarter moon- shaped area became the birthplace of the earliest civilizations. Experts believe that the western part of the Crescent, near the Jordan and upper Euphrates Rivers, was the site of the first farming-based settlements about 11,000 years ago. The first town-like settlements may have existed at Iraq-ed-Dubb and Tell Aswad, in modern-day Jordan and Syria respectively. Societies developed along the banks of the rivers of the Fertile Crescent. Although surrounded by desert, plants and crops could grow in the Crescent regions because of the climate and the annual flooding of the rivers that enriched the soil. The presence of domesticated animals in the region-cows, goats, pigs, and sheep-also favored the development of civilizations. People could settle down in the wetter areas of the Fertile Crescent, leaving behind the nomadic life led by most early humans. Today, the Fertile Crescent region includes Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories, plus Critical-Thinking Question: parts of Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. A political powder keg, it was dubbed by Time magazine a "crescent Why do you think the Nile was cru- of crisis" a generation ago. cial to the development of ancient Egyptian civilization? Critical-Thinking Question: Is the Fertile Crescent the same as Mesopotamia? Explain your answer.