10th GRADE EDITION
8000 BC – 500 AD
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. Cicero
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The
Neolithic Revolution
About 8000 B.C. people who lived in great river valleys learned to grow
food crops and domesticate animals. This was the beginning
of the Neolithic Revolution. As a result of this, people
were no longer just hunter-gathers; they were food producers! For the
first time, they were able to establish permanent settlements in fertile
river valleys.
Improving the Standard of Living
Slowly, over the course of the next five and a half millennia,
farmers and herders improved their agricultural knowledge and technology.
This resulted in greater crop yields and larger herds of domesticated
animals such as horses, donkeys, oxen, sheep, and goats. As more food
became available, the standard of living improved and
the population increased.
Economic
Growth
While many people depended on subsistence farming,
others were able to produce excess products which could be traded for
other products. As production and trade increased, the demand
for goods made by craftspeople and artisans also increased. As a result
of this, people began to create more handcrafted products and invent
new technologies.
New
Technologies
Circa 3500 BC, an unknown Sumerian inventor built the wheel; this provided
an easier method for transporting goods. By 3000 BC, the Chinese were
weaving worm cocoons into silk fabric, and the Sumerians were making
bronze.
Rise
of Civilizations
Increased food production and trade fueled the growth of cities, and created
a need for social organization, laws, and written records. Consequently
by the beginning of the Bronze Age, river valley settlements
in Mesopotamia (Iraq)* Egypt, China, and the Indus Valley (India) evolved
into civilizations. Each area developed its own form
of government. These included monarchies, theocracies,
and, in China, a feudal system. In other areas, people
depended on tribal organizations and warrior kings to protect their trade
centers, farms, grazing lands, and natural resources.
The
Invaders
As natural resources, agriculture, and
workers became more valuable, invading warriors sought to gain control
over those assets. These invasions resulted in spatial
diffusion which contributed to an expansion of knowledge, linguistic amalgamation,
new technologies, and increased trade.
* Country in parenthesis denotes the name and /or general location on
modern maps.
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