Snapshot Chart:The First Civilizations
MESOPOTAMIA / EGYPT / NORTE CHICO / INDUS VALLEY / SHANG/ZHOUCHINA / OLMEC
Date(s)of Emergence / c. 3500 B.C.E. / c. 3100 B.C.E. / c. 3000 B.C.E. / c. 2600 B.C.E. / c. 1766 B.C.E. / c. 1200 B.C.E.
Location, Main Geo.
Feature, & WHAP Region / Present-day Iraq
(Tigris-Euphrates River Valley)
Middle East / Present-day Egypt
(Nile River Valley)
Middle East/No, Africa / Central coastal Peru
(Andes Mountains)
South/Latin America / Pakistan
(Saraswati & Indus River Valleys)
South Asia / China
(Yellow River Valley)
East Asia / Coast of Gulf of Mexico, near Veracurz
North/Latin America
Agriculture / Intensive irrigation of wheat & barley / Sustainable agricultural system of wheat / Traded for squash, beans, & guava / Irrigated agriculture (rice & cotton) / Rice and millet / Maize, beans, & squash
Political System/
Ruler(s) / Separate city-states ruled by priest-kings / Unified kingdom ruled by pharaoh (god-king) / 25 self-contained urban centers / Little evidence: small republics? Rule by priests? Early caste system? / Centralized dynastic state ruled by a monarch (“Son of Heaven”) / Series of competing chiefdoms
Economy & Trade / Long-distance trade w/ Indus Valley, Anatolia, Egypt, Iran, & Afghanistan / Long-distance trade in the Mediterranean, Middle East, & Nubia / Rich fishing industry (anchovies & sardines) / Irrigated agriculture
trade w/ Mesopotamia
Copper/bronze industry / Built roads and canals to improve trade; cast iron industry / Agricultural economy
Monumental
Architecture / Ziggurats / Pyramids / Earthen platform mounds / Elaborately planned cities (Harappa & Mohenjo-Daro) / Lavish tombs for rulers / Colossal basalt heads
Writing/
Record-Keeping / Cuneiform / Hieroglyphics / Quipu / 400 pictographs as yet undeciphered / Oracle bone script / Signs that represent sounds & words
Religion/
Belief System / Polytheistic w/ angry gods & uncertain afterlife / Polytheistic w/ peaceful gods & belief in afterlife for rulers & upper-class / N/A / Unknown: goddess figurines? Bulls & Elephants as gods? / “Son of Heaven” intermediary b/t Heaven & Earth; use of oracle bones to predict future / Elaborately decorated pyramids, temples, altars, & ritual sacrificeshows sign of relig. belief
Causeof Decline / Deforestation, soil erosion, & salinization of soil weakened city-states / Extended period of low floods sharply reduced agricultural output, loss of livestock, social upheaval, & political disruption / Unknown; abandoned cities by 1800 BCE / Irrigation incr. amount of salt in soil lowered crop yields;
making of mud bricks generated soil erosion & deforestation / Dynasties replaced but maintained impressive cultural continuity until modern times / Unknown; Abandoned cities mysteriously