Western Civ day 6

Today in class we took notes on pages 36-43 and made fun of Logans G, which was a mix of the letters E F. G

The Geography of Egypt 

• To the west of the Fertile Crescent
• Nile River flows for 4,100 miles
• Settlements rose on this river
• river provided water and silt

The gift of the Nile

• river provided silt in same way as Mesopotamia
• crops were planted before sun dried the silt
• villagers used irrigation ditches to water crops
• Nile river was worshiped as a god

Environmental Changes

• Nile river flooding was like clockwork
• when floodwaters were lower, then crop count dropped dramatically
• when floodwaters were higher, then crop count rose dramatically
• the desert acted as natural barriers 
• desert also made it hard to get out of Egypt
• Invaders avoided Egypt

Upper and Lower Egypt

• river travel was common
• people lived in delta as well as inner Africa
• river is south Egypt is called upper Egypt
• river in north is lower Egypt

Western Civ day 5

Today in class we took a test on Ancient Mesopotamia and took notes on Ancient Egypt.  The test was pretty easy and I feel like I did well on it.  I still don't understand how you can make a 17 question test 75 points though.

Notes on Egypt


The Geography of Egypt 

• To the west of the Fertile Crescent
• Nile River flows for 4,100 miles
• Settlements rose on this river
• river provided water and silt

The gift of the Nile

• river provided silt in same way as Mesopotamia
• crops were planted before sun dried the silt
• villagers used irrigation ditches to water crops
• Nile river was worshiped as a god

Environmental Changes

• Nile river flooding was like clockwork
• when floodwaters were lower, then crop count dropped dramatically
• when floodwaters were higher, then crop count rose dramatically
• the desert acted as natural barriers 
• desert also made it hard to get out of Egypt
• Invaders avoided Egypt

Upper and Lower Egypt

• river travel was common
• people lived in delta as well as inner Africa
• river is south Egypt is called upper Egypt
• river in north is lower Egypt

Western Civ day 4

All notes so far

The origins and "ages of human beings"

• 200,000 years ago humans emerged in central Africa
• 14,000 years ago humans became a worldwide species
• Early prehistoric age is the Paleolithic age 
• Neolithic age was married by much better tools and agriculture

Agricultural revolution

• Population grew due to food surplus 
• Hierarchies appeared in village life
• The woman cared for children 
• Men were higher then women
• Invention of wheel+plow make getting food easier 
• Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey were in fertile crescent
• Jordan wasn't in crescent 

Earliest Cities

• Sumer was the district of land between rivers
• Some towns and cities had 40,000 people
• Population increased due to irrigation 
• Sumerians invented a form of writing- cuneiform  

A mess o' Mesopotamia 

• wandering nomads drove herds of domesticated animals 
• Sumer was conquered by the Akkadians c. 2350 B.C.
• King Hammurabi of Babylon created a series of laws know as "Hammurabi's Code"
• They owned slaves 

Fertile Crescent- a region that is curved in shape and he's rich farmland
Mesopotamia- land between two rivers
City-State- a Sumerian city, functions like a small country
Dynasty- a series of rulers from the same family
Cultural diffusion- spread of a new idea or product from one culture to another
Polytheism- belief in more than one god

western civ day 3

From Prehistory to Civilization

The origins and "ages of human beings"

• 200,000 years ago humans emerged in central Africa
• 14,000 years ago humans became a worldwide species
• Early prehistoric age is the Paleolithic age 
• Neolithic age was married by much better tools and agriculture

Agricultural revolution

• Population grew due to food surplus 
• Hierarchies appeared in village life
• The woman cared for children 
• Men were higher then women
• Invention of wheel+plow make getting food easier 
• Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkey were in fertile crescent
• Jordan wasn't in crescent 

Earliest Cities

• Sumer was the district of land between rivers
• Some towns and cities had 40,000 people
• Population increased due to irrigation 
• Sumerians invented a form of writing- cuneiform  

Western Civ day 2

1)
The Fertile Crescent was a present shaped region that has very rich soil.
Mesopotamia was known as the land between rivers that was also known for its rich farmland.
A city-state was a city that was operated like a small country.
Dynasty's are a group of powerful rulers that are all part of the same family.
The process of cultural diffusion was very important for the success of society.
The Sumerians were polytheistic people who believe in multiple gods that controlled the natural elements.
Empires are powerful things that have diminished over the centuries.
The best of the Babylonian emperors was Hammurabi.


3) The three environmental challenges that the Sumerians experienced in there city-states were the lack of natural barriers and defenses, the random and terrible floods, and lack of natural resources and building materials.  The Sumerians had to endure these challenges in order to succeed as a civilization.

Western Civ Day 1

Today in class we discussed how the class is going to function and how the rest of semester 2 is going to go.  We discussed that we don't need to bring the textbook home.  Mr. Schick teaches in a reverse class format (read text in class and no hw exact for blog).  We will have blogs overnight for homework.  If we miss class, then we have to say that in blog.  Mr. Schick has a very weirdly spelled last name (that's okay though).  We will have to take nots in a notebook and copy down notes in blog for homework.  Blogs are graded together.  Two points for each blog.  Mr. Schick said that we should not use our computers unless we are allowed.