Home Is Where the Hearth Is

Have you ever wondered where the first civilizations were formed? As you know from the previous unit, areas with warmer climates and an abundance of fresh water make human life easier to sustain.

This knowledge helps explain the appearance of the world's first civilizations near water sources.

Map of the Fertile Crescent

Map Activity Icon For this module's map activity, you should review the continents, mountain ranges, and oceans.

- - - - Continents: North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica
        
        Oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic.
        
        Mountain Ranges: Rockies, Andes, Himalayas, Hindu Kush, Alps, Caucus, and Atlas

The new locations to identify include the rivers and seas near the first civilizations.

Use the atlas of your choice to identify the following rivers and seas.

Rivers: Euphrates, Huang He, Indus, Tigris, and Nile.
Seas: Black, Caspian, Mediterranean, Red
Civilizations: Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indus, Chinese, Andean

Complete the map sort activity below.

Although water is one of the necessities for human existence, more than a good climate and water is needed to have sprawling civilizations. What changes occurred and led to the creation of the world's first civilizations? Watch the videos below to learn about the innovations that led to the development of cultural hearths and eventually civilizations.

Read a transcript of the U6 Migration video.

Read a transcript of the Agricultural Importance video.

In the video above, pay particular attention to segments:

0:11-1:12
4:09-9:23

Read a transcript of the First Cities video.

Now that you have learned about the changes that occurred and the importance of agriculture, read the following text to review the basic information and learn about the consequences of the development of agriculture. As you read, make sure you can answer the following questions:

What is culture and how does it develop?
How did agriculture benefit humans?
Were there negative consequences to the development of agriculture?

Read The Origins of Civilization handout.

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.