2nd semester by Will Egan, Will Rucker, and John King

Geography

How does where you live shape your culture? What parallels do you see between cultures?

Egypt

The Nile

• Started as river valley society.
  • Lower Egypt (Kemet) formed around Nile river delta
  • upper Egypt (Deshret) formed around Nile valley
• Nile deposits fertile silt annually for 100 days in a period called the inundation.
  • silt provided perfect conditions for farming after the river had receded
  • Pharaoh based taxes on height of flood each year.
    • If flood is high, taxes are high
    • if flood is too high, taxes are medium
    • if flood is low, taxes are medium
      • if flood waters persist to be low, taxes decrease
        • famine is a possibility
    • device to measure Nile called Nilometer.
      • used by priests to predict Nile's highest point.
• Nile current flows south to north.
  • winds blow north to south, resulting in a two way river.

Natural Barriers

• North= Mediterranean Sea
• South=Cataracts
  • Cataracts are rapids along the Nile forcing boats to have to be lifted out of the water
    • seven cataracts
• East=Desert
• West=Desert

Expansion

• conquered part of lower Nubia in the middle kingdom
• conquered Sinai peninsula in the new kingdom
• had some control over eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea

Effects on Culture

• Fertile soil helped create specialized workers
• Relative isolation led to few attacks and an increased sense of self importance
  • foreigners were disliked

China

The two rivers

• Yellow river and Yangzi river
  • river valley civilizations formed around these two rivers
    • yellow river deposited loess on bottom of river and banks
      • causes the river to rise and change location over time
      • when mounds of loess sheer off destructive floods occur
        • dykes were created and towns often were deserted if the river changed course
• Rivers deposited loess in the northern china plain
  • loess is very fertile type of silt
    • has yellow color
    • tendency to sheer off

Natural Barriers

• North= deserts
• West= mountains
  • China slopes from west to east
  • mountains divide north china from south china
• South= oceans
• East= oceans

Climate

• North= dry, cold winds in winter, grows millet and wheat
• South= more moist; summer monsoons, grows rice, teas,bamboo, and mulberry trees

Effects on Culture

• Relative isolation

Persia

Kingdoms Conquered

• consisted of Media, Lydia, Ionian city-states, Babylon, Egypt, mountainous regions in Eastern Asia
  • later conquered Macedonia, Thrace, and part of western India.

Natural Barriers

• Not many natural barriers
  • always conquering

Greece

Crete

• Island surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea

Climate

• relatively mild
• no harsh winters

Land

• beaches and sea- people relied on these for food
• hilly plains
• not good farming land

Effect on People

• Culture based on the sea
• separated from other cultures, so there is little influence on their culture until later when trade picks up

Mainland

• almost completely covered in mountains
• very little usable land
• mountains provided barriers between cities and Northern culture
• Adriatic sea to the West, Aegean sea to the East, Mediterranean to the South

Climate

• Same as Crete
• very windy as well

Land

• 80% mountains
• rest is hilly plains
• not good for farming
• livestock is able to be raised (pigs in the plains, goats in the mountains)

Effect on People

• mountains separate city-states, created autonomy (self governing)
• largely farmed grapes and olives and fished for food

Conquered Lands

• Egypt
• Persia
• Macedonia
• As far East as the Indus River
• As South as the Persian Gulf

Rome

• Alps to the North
• Mediterranean Sea to the West, Adriatic to the East

Climate

• Northern Italy receives harsh winters with temperatures that get below freezing
• Southern Italy is much more moderate and warmer climate year-round

Land

• Mountains to the North
• Hills and plains to the South
• OK amount of fertile land in the South
• City of Rome is situated along the Tiber River

Effect on People

• Not enough farmland or food growth when Rome gets huge
• food has to come from somewhere else
• Mount Vesuvius erupts and destroys city of Pompeii

Conquered lands

• Latins in Central Italy
• Greek city states to the South
• Etruscans to the North
• Carthage
• Greece and Macedonia
• Jugurtha in Africa
• Gauls to the North
• Everything up to the Danube River
• Egypt
• Britain
• Thrace
• Mesopotamia
• Dacia

Matching Maps

• On map #4, paste the Shang Dynasty map
• On map #5, paste the Western Zhou map
• On maps #6 and #7, paste the Eastern Zhou
• On map #8, paste the Qin Dynasty
• On map #9, paste the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty
• On map #10, paste Han