River Valley Civilizations Vocabulary

Flashcards covering the River Valley Civilizations, focusing on Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Indus River Valley, and China. Vocabulary style.

Neolithic Revolution

The discovery of farming that allowed nomadic people to settle into villages and towns, eventually leading to civilizations.

River Valleys

The world's first civilizations all began in these geographic formations.

Mesopotamia

Area known as the 'land between the rivers', specifically the Tigris and Euphrates.

Fertile Crescent

A term for Mesopotamia meaning the 'land between the rivers'.

Cradle of Civilization

The 'Cradle of Civilization', referring to Mesopotamia as the starting point for civilization.

Sumer

The 1st civilization that developed in the 'Fertile Crescent' of Mesopotamia.

Ziggurat

Sumerian city-states were protected by high walls with a temple at the city center.

Hammurabi

Babylonian King who created the first legal code.

Hammurabi's Code

The first legal code based on justice and retaliation.

Polytheistic

Belief in many gods

Judaism

The first monotheistic faith in history.

Torah

The holy book of Judaism.

Cuneiform

Sumerians made the world’s first writing.

Phoenicians

Simplified cuneiform to a 22 letter alphabet.

Ancient Egypt

Civilization that began along the Nile River in North Africa.

Deserts

Natural barriers that isolated and protected Egypt from outside invasion.

Gift of the Nile

Egypt has been called this because there would be no Egyptian civilization without it.

Pharaohs

Rulers of Egypt, considered 'king-gods' who controlled nature.

Hieroglyphics

Egyptian writing that used both pictograms and a phonetic alphabet.

Rosetta Stone

Stone inscribed with a decree from a pharaoh; it has three languages on it, so it provided the basis for understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics

Indus River Valley

River Valley (India) began along the Indus River.

Monsoons

Seasonal winds causing summer rains and floods in Indus Valley.

Hinduism

A polytheistic religion in the Indus River Valley.

Karma

Good or bad deeds during life.

Reincarnation

One’s soul is repeatedly reborn until moksha occurs

Moksha

Release of the spirit from the human form

Caste System

System that divided Indian society into classes based on their 'purity' in Hinduism.

Caste System

Society was divided by this system into classes based on their 'purity' in Hinduism.

China

Civilization that began along the Yellow (Huang He) and Yangtze Rivers.

Confucianism

Ethical system based on the philosophy of the teacher Confucius.

Filial Piety

Respect for elders.

Mandate of Heaven

Approval of the gods.

Ancestor Worship

Spirits of family ancestors should be honored and consulted.