Early Civilizations Summary Guide

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Civilization:Sumerian

Location:Mesopotamia

Religion:Polytheistic, probably the first to write down their beliefs

Major developments or contributions:

  1. first to develop intensive year-round farming,
  2. Oldest discovered form of writing, it is called cuneiform
  3. Multi-tiered pyramids called ziggurats

Civilization:Akkadian

Location:Mesopotamia

Government:Theocratic

Religion:Polytheistic

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Sometimes considered the first empire

Civilization:Babylonian

Location:Mesopotamia

Religion:Polytheistic

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Code of Hammurabi (code of laws that had concepts like eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth)
  2. Introduced major medical practices like prescriptions & therapy
  3. Produced the Epic of Gilgamesh one of the earliest pieces of known literature

Civilization:Hittites

Location:Anatolia (present day Turkey) & Mesopotamia

Religion:Polytheistic

Major developments or contributions:

  1. One of the first civilizations to produce iron weapons & tools

Civilization:Persian

Location:Mesopotamia (present day Iran) their empire grew to include Anatolia, Egypt and the lands north of Iran. They also attempted to conquer Greece.

Government:Monarchy

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Zoroastrianism-major early religion that believed there was one universal god (monotheistic)

Civilization:Assyrian

Location:Mesopotamia their empire extended to Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Used terror as a weapon of war, they destroyed towns, killed entire groups, maimed prisoners, burned people to death, burned crops and destroyed resources

Civilization:Phoenician

Location:N. Palestine

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Famous traders known for their purple dye that became the color of royalty
  2. Spread their alphabet around the Mediterranean as they traded which became the basis of our modern alphabet

Civilization:Israelites

Location:Palestine

Religion:Monotheistic

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Developed a religion in which one god was worshipped, became the basis of three of the world’s major religions (Judaism, Christianity, & Islam)

Civilization:Aryans

Location:India

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Hinduism one of the world’s major religions developed from earlier Aryan beliefs (includes ideas like reincarnation, karma)

Civilization:Mauryan

Location:India

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Buddhism another major religion that developed during the Aryan period as a rival to Hinduism begins to spread around Asia

Civilization:China

Location:China

Major developments or contributions or themes:

  1. Very isolated from other civilizations
  2. Confucianism-belief system that combines moral, philosophical, ethical & social values
  3. Bureaucracy-first civilization to install system of civil servant exams for government officials
  4. Filial piety-members of a family should subordinate their needs to those of the male head of household

Civilization:Mayan

Location:Central America

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Stepped pyramids
  2. Hieroglyphic writing system
  3. Highly advanced in mathematics & astronomy

Civilization:Incan

Location:South American

Major developments or contributions:

  1. Domesticated the llama
  2. Urban planning-massive architectural projects like Machu Picchu high in the Andes

Civilization:Native Americans

Location:North America

Major developments or contributions:

1. Lots of different groups lived in US/Canada included Iroquois, Mohawk, Mississippian, Hopewell, Adena, Seminole