Textbook Notes & Discussion

When we all came into class, there were textbooks at every desk which was new because we never used textbooks before. Mr. Schick said that he doesn't have enough textbooks for everyone, so whenever we use the textbooks, we use them in class and will never have to take them home and do homework. I think that is super nice of Mr. Schick. Then, we started to take notes on pages 26, 27, and a little bit of 28 in the textbook. These are the notes:

• chapter 2: Early River Civilizations (3500 BC - 450 BC)
• the earliest civilizations farmed on fertile river plains, facing challenges such as seasonal flooding and a limited growing area
• projects such as irrigation systems required leadership and laws (organized government). they were controlled by priests, military leaders, and kings
• early civilizations developed bronze tools (wheel, sail, plow, writing, mathematics). these spread through trade, wars, and the development of peoples
• timeline:
• 3500 BC: timeline starts
• 300 BC: city-states form in Sumer, Mesopotamia
• 2660 BC: Egypt's Old Kingdom develops
• 2500 BC
• 1792 BC: Hammurabi develops code of laws for Babylonian Empire
• 1750 BC: Indus Valley civilization declines in China
• 1027 BC: Zhou Dynasty in China
• map notes:
• China: 3950 - 1000 BC
• Mesopotamia: 3500 - 1600 BC
• Ancient Egypt: 3000 - 2000 BC
• Indus Valley: 2500 - 1700 BC
• **questions in textbook under main ideas could be helpful for test**
• Hammurabi's Code: the first set of written laws that hold people responsible for their actions

We also had a class discussion about something. To be completely honest, I'm still not quite sure what the discussion was about. So many people were bouncing ideas back and forth that I lost track of what the original topic was. My best guess would be that the discussion what talking about the power between people difference of punishments. For example, the difference between the punishments if a person in poverty committed a crime versus if a rich person committed a crime.