Unit 1: First Civilizations

Unit Description

The earliest humans were hunter-gatherers until the Agricultural Revolution allowed for the beginnings of civilization. The agricultural revolution created the chain reaction of food surpluses and the specialization of jobs. All the progress we’ve made today- in technology, literature, science, education, and government- cannot be understood without acknowledging the progress people made long ago.

The Fertile Crescent civilizations are the first civilizations the world has ever seen. Mesopotamia, like other river civilizations, embodied the characteristics that define what it means to be a civilization. Being the first people to settle down permanently, the Fertile Crescent changed the course of human history. We still learn from the lessons of Mesopotamia and remind ourselves to not reinvent the wheel.

Ancient Egypt was one of the most powerful civilizations with their advanced social structure, government, religious systems, economy and intellectual achievements. Given life by the Nile River, the ancient Egyptians were the gift of the Nile River Valley. African Americans can trace their greatness back to ancient Egypt which enables us to see the greatness in ourselves today.

Essential Question

How does geography impact human life and settlement?

Themes

    • Historians must challenge the dominant historical narrative because it is often told from the perspective of the oppressor.
    • The standard of living of a group of people depends upon a region's environment, access to natural resources, and the ability to exploit resources for their benefit.
    • Push/pull factors cause people to migrate to seek a better life, which causes cultures to diffuse and mix their traditions.
    • A region’s economy typically becomes reliant upon its resources and environment.
    • The development of legal systems establishes an authority structure through formalizing laws and consequences.
    • Societies use social systems and belief systems to create a shared identity and organize themselves according to power and authority.
    • Humans develop different technologies and innovations as they settle in a region to organize themselves and meet community needs and wants.

Standards Addressed

    • 6.1.1- Produce clear and coherent writing for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences by evaluating a broad variety of primary and secondary sources
    • 6.1.2- Construct and interpret a parallel timeline of key events in the ancient world
    • 6.1.3- Analyze information in primary and secondary sources to address document-based questions
    • 6.1.4- Identify and compare measurements of time in order to understand historical chronology
    • 6.2.1- Analyze the relationship between geographical features and early settlement patterns using maps and globes
    • 6.2.2- Examine how the achievements of early humans led to the development of civilization
    • 6.2.3- Describe the characteristics and achievements of the ancient river civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, and China.
    • 6.2.6- Analyze the origin and spread of major world religions as they developed throughout history
    • 6.3.3- Compare and contrast physical and political boundaries of civilizations, empires, and kingdoms using maps and globes
    • 6.3.4- Determine world migration patterns and population trends by interpreting maps, charts, and graphs
    • 6.4.1- Identify and describe physical features and climate conditions that contributed to early human settlement in regions of the world.
    • 6.4.2 - Explain how world migration patterns and cultural diffusion influenced human settlement
    • 6.4.3- Explain the connection between physical geography and its influence on the development of civilization.
    • 6.6.1- Explain the impact of job specialization in the development of civilizations.
    • 6.6.3- Describe the economic motivation for expanding trade and territorial conquests in world civilizations using economic concepts
    • 6.6.4- Explain how the development of trade and taxation influenced economic growth in the ancient world

Unit Outcomes

Students will know:

    • The chronology of historical events on horizontal and vertical timelines.
    • The characteristics of Paleolithic people.
    • The migration patterns of early people.
    • The importance of geography to human settlement.
    • The effect of the agricultural revolution.
    • The characteristics of early civilizations.
    • The political and legal structures of early civilizations.
    • The religious practices and beliefs of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
    • The use of trade to drive cultural diffusion.

Students will be able to:

Historical Thinking:

    • Annotate documents
      • Use the different steps for different types of documents when analyzing their contents
    • Source documents
      • Identify author’s point of view/position on a historical event
      • Identify author’s purpose in producing the document
      • Consider the source’s audience
    • U1: Strong body paragraphs
      • TOSEEC
      • Topic Sentences
      • 2 types of evidence

Unit Vocabulary

  1. Paleolithic Age- “Old Stone Age;” time when people were hunter-gatherers
  2. hunter-gatherers- nomadic people who hunted and collected food rather than growing it
  3. social classes- a division of society based on social and economic status
  4. surplus- having more than you need of something
  5. scarcity - not enough to go around; not enough supply to meet demand
  6. specialization- the process of concentrating on and becoming an expert in a particular skill
  7. nomad- a person who moves place-to-place following food
  8. migration- to move from one place to another
  9. natural resources: materials that come from the Earth
  10. Neolithic Age- “New Stone Age;” time when people started farming
  11. Agricultural Revolution- gradual change when people settled down and began farming
  12. Ice Age- Period of freezing climate; hunter-gathering was popular because it was too cold to farm
  13. cultural diffusion- the spreading and sharing of ideas/culture from one place to another
  14. fertile soil- soil that has nutrients to feed crops; good for farming
  15. irrigation- bringing water to dry land (for farming!)
  16. Cradle of Civilization- Nickname for Mesopotamia because it had the 1st civilizations
  17. Tigris and Euphrates River- Rivers Mesopotamia relied on for farming
  18. ziggurats- Sumerian temple to worship gods
  19. cuneiform- 1st writing system’ found in Sumer
  20. Code of Hammurabi- 1st set of written laws; eye-for-and-eye justice
  21. city-states- decentralized collection of cities; each acts as its own country
  22. scribes- a person who specializes in reading and writing
  23. irrigation- system used to carry the rivers’ water inland and create more fertile soil for growing crops.
  24. plow- an early farming tool that made the soil more useful for farming and led to mass agricultural production
  25. Nile River- river the Egyptians relied on for farming
  26. pyramid- built as tombs to lay pharaohs bodies after death
  27. pharaoh- king of Egypt
  28. interdependence- when two or more civilizations rely on each other for trade
  29. cultural diffusion- the mixing and blending of cultures over time.