KEY IDEAh 65CHAPTER
1
Structure of Early Civilizations
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary:As agricultural villages evolved into cities, some urban areas
began to display the characteristics of civilizations (described in Chapter 5).
The earliest civilizations in the Eastern Hemisphere arose in Mesopotamia,
the Nile valley, the Indus valley, and the Huang He valley; civilizations arose
later among the Olmecs in Mesoamerica (Middle America) and the Chavín in
the Andes Mountains of South America.Key Terms
covenant* polytheism*
cuneiform* Quetzalcóatl
diaspora* Ten Commandments
hieroglyphics* theocracy*
jati* Torah*
mandate of heaven* untouchables*
matrilineal* Varna*
monotheism* Vedas*
oracle bones* Yahweh*
patriarchal* ziggurat*
pharaoh*Mesopotamia
The world’s earliest civilization arose in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in an area
the Greeks called Mesopotamia (“Land Be tween the Rivers”). The cultural achievements of
Mesopotamia represented independent innovation, achievements that it passed on to other
river valley civilizations in Egypt and, especially, the Indus valley. Around 4000 b.c.e., theCHAPTER
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