HIST 261 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Silt, Royal Archives, Harappa
Document Summary
The indus river: leaves huge deposits of silt on banks, periodically caused destruction (flooding, made agricultural communities possible, indus river valley crops fed 2 cities, harappa, mohenjo-daro, current day pakistan and northern india. Harappa and mohenjo-daro: no evidence of political system, city walls, fortified citadel, and large granary, extensive human labor needs to build the city. Political organization in early china: yellow and yangzi river, xia: progressively brought china under a single authority. The yellow river: unpredictable, extremely fertile soil and easy to work with, 3 ancient dynasties, xia, shang, zhou. The xia dynasty: 2200 bce, one of the earliest to organize public life, founder: sage king yu, no information survives, established a precedent hereditary monarchy. The shang dynasty: 1766-1122 bce left written records. Bronze metallurgy and chariots: bronze metallurgy changed chinese society, during the shang dynasty, allowed the shang"s to take over the xia. Shang political organization: controlled over 1000 towns, capital moved 6 times.
