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The first civilization started along the rivers where farmers grew rice in the middle of the Chang Jiang Valley. In the north, farmers grew cereals such as millet and wheat along the Huang He river.
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The first farm settlements started in Mesopotamia growing wheat, barley, and other food. Livestock, fish, and birds were a good source of food too.(p.55)
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The Sumerians developed a civilization in Mesopotamia with a start of several hundred thousand Sumerians. They practiced polytheism and showed great achievements such as cuneiform, pictographs, and epics. They also made the wheel and built sewers under the city streets. They had math based on the number 60 and scholars studied science. Their artwork skills made architecture, a ziggurat and seals that "signed" documents. Later, Babylonians Conquered Mesopotamia and ended the Sumerians
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In the Old Kingdom there was a pharaoh who was a king and a god. One of the most famous pharaoh was Khufu because of the monuments that was built after himThe Egyptians thought that Egypt belonged to many different gods such as Bast, Ra, Horus, Anubis, and Osiris.
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Old Kingdom was the time where Egypt's political system grew based on the belief of that there are gods and pharaoh is one of them. One of the most famous pharaohs was Khufu who it says that he was cruel but had many monuments about him. The Egyptians built pyramids for the pharaohs and had amazing feats of engineering.
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The Harappan civilization started around the Indus river valley. They had fortresses and had public wells and amazingly, a sewer system.
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Around 2200 BC, it says that Yu the Great first found the Xia dynasty. Archaeologists have not found clear evidence if the tales of the Xia dynasty are true.
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The Middle Kingdom was a period of order and stability.
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The Aryan civilization, unlike the Harappans, lived in small communities, mostly on family ties.The Aryans didn't read and write so they used Sanskrit, the most important language of ancient India.
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Babylon was a city located in the Euphrates River which is now Iraq. Hammurabi became king in 1792 BC and became the city's greatest monarch. Hammurabi made a set of 282 laws called the Hammurabi's Code that told the people to know how to live their daily lives.(p72-73)
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Around 2000 and 1500 BC, people say that Abraham led his family away from their home, Mesopotamia, according to God's words. So Abraham left Mesopotamia and decided to settle in Canaan. However, the Israelite moved to Egypt. Later, God told Moses to bring them out of Egypt back to Canaan in 1200 BC.
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In 1700 BC, a group in the Southwest Asia called Hyksos invaded Egypt. They had horses, chariots, and a higher technological weapons and conquered Lower Egypt for 200 years.
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The Hitties conquer Babylon and the kind got killed by an assassin.
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The New Kingdom was when it was Egypt's height in their power and glory. After they were invaded by Hyksos, the leaders were feared for more invasions so they conquered the homeland of Hyksos, and the kingdom of Kush. It was also the time where trading was a success where Queen Hatsheput helped to success.
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As Kush's army was growing from wealth and trade, Egypt feared that Kush would invade Egypt. So Egypt invaded Kush for 450 years.
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The first dynasty with clear evidence is the Shang dynasty. The Shang dynasty ruled along the northern China. They had the China's first writing system which was more than 2000 symbols.
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Ramses the Great started to conquer many groups like the Hitties and the Tehenu. After Ramses the Great died, invaders called the Sea Peoples almost conquered Egypt after 50 years of fighting.
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The Assyrians conquered Babylon and took parts of Asia Minor and Egypt starting from northern Mesopotamia. They were able to succeed by a strong army. When they conquered the Fertile Crescent, they ruled from Nineveh and demanded heavy taxes or the people will be severely punished.
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The Zhou leaders joined with other tribes and overthrew the Shang dynasty. It is said that the Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasties in Chinese history. In 771 BC, invaders reached the capital. Even though the Zhou dynasty lost the dynasty survived. in 481 BC, the Warring States period started which was a time of many civil wars. During the late Zhou period, Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism were some which helped unite China again.
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The Israelites were attacked by the Philistines during the mid-1000s. To defend them from getting attacked, they first picked a leader who could lead them to battle. That leader was Saul who was the first king of Israel. When Saul died, David became king and were loved from Israelites unlike Saul. He established the capital of Israel as Jerusalem.
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In 965 BC, David's son, Solomon became king. Like David, he was a strong leader.
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The Phonecians were good at sailing and trading throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The Phonecians used the first developed alphabaet which helped them in trades.
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According to a Spartan tradition, their social system was created by a man named Lycurgus after a slave revolt. If a baby boy was born, then the government officials looked at him and if he wasn't healthy, he was left to die outside the city. If he was healthy, he would be trained from an early age to become soldiers. Spartan boys stayed in the army until they were 60. Women in Spartan society ran their households when their husbands were gone. Slaves were the ones who did the housework.
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Cyrus II was the first person to lead a successful revolt against others.That was when the Persian Empire started. He kept on conquering other land until he died in 529 BC when he ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen. Cyrus let the conquered people keep their own customs and cultures which helped to not have more chance of rebellion. Because of his great successes, he is now called Cyrus the Great. After Cyrus died, his son continued to expand his empire.
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Unlike Spartan society, rich Athenian boys were taught how to read, speak, and how to think properly. However, they were also taught to fight and train. Girls in the Athenian society didn't receive education like the boys. Women were not allowed to leave their homes, buy anything or own property, disobey their husbands and fathers, and didn't have almost any rights at all.
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A prince in northern India, Siddhartha Gautama, felt something missing in his life. The meaning of human life. He started fasting and meditating under a tree. After 7 weeks of meditating, he found the answer:
Human suffering comes from...
-wanting what we like but do not have
-wanting to keep what we like and already have
-not wanting what we dislike but have.
Then others started to call him Buddha, the enlightened one. -
Several Greek cities in Asia Minor rebelled against Persian rule which the Persians put down but Darius, the king after Cyrus's son, was furious and swore to revenge the Greeks.
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9 years after Greek cities rebelled, Darius and his army invaded Greece which started a series of wars called the Persian Wars. Although the Persians had more soldiers, the Greeks won since they had smarter leaders and better weapons than the Persians.
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Ten years after the battle, Darius's son, Xerxes I, tried to invade Greece again. Greece tried to slow them down but the Persians swept into Athens, attacking and burning the city. Even though the Persians won the battle, the Greeks quickly recovered. When they did after a few days, Athenians defeated the Persians through a clever plan. Defeated, the Persians left Greece.
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In 359 BC, Philip II became king of Macedonia. He were targeting the Greek and although Athenian army joined up with other Greeks, they were easily defeated. Then the Greeks agreed to make Philip their leader. When he died in his daughter's wedding in 336 BC, his son, Alexander, took the throne who was later known as the Alexander the Great.
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A military leader, Candragupta Maurya, conquered the entire northern part of India that made the Mauryan Empire which lasted for 150 years. He had war elephants, thousands of chariots, and 600,000 soldiers. But Candragupta Maurya decided to become a Janist moks in 301 BC.
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Candragupta Maurya took control of the northern India which turned into the Mauryan Empire and lasted for 150 years. At the end, the empire started to fall apart as soon as Asoka died. in 184 BC, the last Mauryan king died by one of his generals.
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When Candragupta Maurya became a Janist monk, his son took control and ruled northern India and conquered central India as well. Then Candragupta's grandson, Asoka, became king in 270 BC. He conquered and ruled over most of India but then he converted to Buddhism which he swore that he won't launch a war of conquest. When Asoka died in 233 BC, India started to fall apart and divided into small states.
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The Qin king, Ying Zheng, also known as Shi Huangdi, united China again. He followed Legalism and ruled with an Iron Fist. She Huangdi demanded that everyone had to follow the idea of Legalism and burn any books that oppose it. When scholars didn't agree, he buried 460 of them alive. He started the Great Wall of China and when rebel forces formed across country and attacked the Qin capital, there was no one to take authority so the country fell into a civil war.
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A peasant, Liu Bang, became the emperor of China because of the Chinese belief of the mandate of heaven. He was well respected by the soldiers and peasants, which helped him maintain control. Later, in 140 BC, Emperor Wudi took power and became the emperor. Because he wanted the to have a strong government, he took land from the lords, raised taxes, and placed the supply of grain under the government. Because of Wudi, Confucianism became China's official government philosophy.
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Although historians believe there were a few women who ruled the empire, they think that Queen Shanakhdakheto was the first to rule Kush
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In 160 BC, A Jewish family named the Maccabees had a successful revolt. For 100 years, the Jews ruled their own kingdom. However, their rule ended in 63 BC from the Romans.
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At first, Indian Buddhists came to China and had trouble spreading the word. Then they used ideas from Daoism to help describe Buddhist beliefs. The Chinese grew more interest in Buddhism. Then at AD 200, Buddhist alters stood in the emperor's palace.
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Many little problems started to weaken the kingdom of Kush as the Aksumite army of King Ezana noticed it and took over Kush.
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In AD 320, the Gupta dynasty took over India and united India again. The Gupta dynasty had many rulers which were Hindu so Hinduism became the major religion of India. In the 400 ADs, the Huns attacked India from northwest, which weakened the Gupta dynasty. The Huns took advantage of that and destroyed the Gupta dynasty in the 500s which separated India back into small kingdoms again.
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In 1947, few young boys were looking for a lost goat near the Dead Sea and found a small cave. In there they found several old jars filled with moldy scrolls.