Western Civ

1. Division of labor- characteristics of civilizations in which different people perform different jobs.

Irrigation- method of transporting water for crops based on the use of ditches and canals.

Artisans- skilled craft workers

Cultural diffusion- spread of culture from one area of the world to another.

2 + 3. Nile River- Africa

Tigris and Euphrates River- Southwestern Asia

Indus River Valley- Southern Asia

Huange He- Eastern Asia

In these four river valleys, people first developed civilizations.

4. The need for irrigation and flood control lead to the development of government because when the irrigation system and flood control projects were developed they required cooperation among the people. It is thought that because of this cooperation that government was developed. People made rules to govern their behavior and to plan, direct, and regulate their work.

5. Calendars developed when the people of the river valley tried to regulate the flood season. They created a lunar calendar based on the movements of the moon. A bright star would also appear at the start of the flood season. They crated 12 months of 30 days, and 5 days left over for holidays and feasting. They also counted their years by how long a Pharaoh had been raining. They had a numbers system based on 10.

In about 3000 B.C. a form of writing came about called hieroglyphics, which consisted of 600 different signs. They were first carved in stone and then later written down on a paper made of papyrus and a sharpened reed. The ink was also out of soot, water, and vegetable gum.

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