GEOGRAFÍA E HISTORIA 1º DE LA ESO

TEMA 3. EGIPTO 1. EGYPT: AN ANCIENT RIVER CIVILISATION 1.1. THE BIRTH OF EGYPTIAN CIVILISATION   Life in Egypt was possible thanks to the waters of the Nile river , because everything beyond its valley is desert. Around 5000 BC, the Neolithic populations located in the Nile valley learnt to predict and control the annual flooding of the river. They then built irrigation canals and this could increase the crop growing areas. This enabled the development of agriculture and a population increase . Settlement grew and became independent cities ruled by monarchs . Around 3100 BC , the king Menes unified the territories of Upper and Lower Egypt and began the history of Egyptian civilisation. 1.2. THE HISTORICAL PERIODS The history of ancient Egypt has been divided into several periods: Old Kingdom . The capital was Memphis. Large pyramids were built. Middle Kingdom . The capital was Thebes and Egypt extended its empire to the south. New Kingdom . Thebes was still the

TEMA 2. MESOPOTAMIA   1. THE FIRST HISTORICAL CIVILISATIONS THE RIVER CIVILISATION Around 5000 years ago, the first historical civilisation with a knowledge of writing emerged: the river civilisations, because they were situated next to some of the largest rivers on Earth, where they learnt how to use river water to irrigate their fields. The most influential of these civilisation were the Mesopotamian , located between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates; the Egyptian in the Nile valley; the Indian , along the rivers Indus and Ganges; and the Chinese , along the river Huang He (Yellow River). POLITICAL CHANGES The first states and empires of History were formed by these river civilisations. Political power emerged from the need to organise collective work, the distribution of water and the defense of the city.   The power was held by kings who controlled the political, military and religious power. They were considered to be gods or intermediaries between the gods