Unit 3 World History: Early Cities, States, and the Indus Valley Civilization

Vocabulary flashcards covering early human societies, urbanization, state formation, writing, and the Indus Valley Civilization based on Unit 3 class notes.

Iron Technology

A key agricultural tool-making process developed independently in Anatolia and West Africa that spread worldwide through trade networks and conflict.

City

A large, permanent, and densely populated human settlement that is bigger and more important than a town or village.

State

A political structure consisting of a city, or several cities, plus surrounding villages and farms, organized with political, social, and economic hierarchies.

Civilization

A complex, large-scale human society defined by urban centers, centralized government, job specialization, and surplus food production.

Characteristics of Civilizations

Key features used by historians to identify and study complex societies, including surplus food, specialized jobs, social classes, and centralized government.

Early Urbanization Regions

Geographic areas where early cities emerged, including Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt (nearly 6,000 years ago), China, India, and Southeast Asia (5,000 years ago), and Mesoamerica, the Andes, Mediterranean, and sub-Saharan Africa (4,000 to 2,500 years ago).

Early Writing Systems

Inventions closely connected to the rise of states, initially created to record the trading of goods, food surpluses, and administrative instructions from rulers to distant commanders.

River Valleys

Geographic areas that provided water and fertile soil necessary for agricultural growth, where many early civilizations developed.

Indus Valley Civilization

One of the ancient world's largest civilizations, which developed around the Indus River and flourished around 3000 BCE, containing more than 1,500 discovered sites.

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro

Two major, carefully planned cities of the Indus Valley Civilization featuring grid-like street arrangements, advanced wells, and drainage and sewage systems.

The Great Bath

A notable structure located in Mohenjo-Daro that historians believe may have been used for religious or ritual purposes.

Indus Seals

Artifacts created by the Indus Valley people, possibly used for trade or identification.

Indus Valley Trade

Long-distance trade networks in which the Indus Valley people participated, notably trading with Mesopotamia.

Undeciphered Indus Script

The writing system of the Indus Valley Civilization that historians still cannot decipher, forcing them to rely heavily on archaeological evidence.