Early Civilizations

During much of the ancient history of the world most societies were polytheistic, or believing in more than one god. However, during this period the patriarch of Hebrew civilization, Abraham, recognized the monotheistic belief in one God. This was one of the first monotheistic peoples in history. Because of famine, the Israelites were driven from there homes and forced to migrate to Egypt where they became slaves.

During this period, Moses, another leader of the Hebrew people, freed them from captivity in Egypt and led them into the desert where they spent the next 40 years wandering. During this period, the Torah, or the Hebrew holy book, along with the 10 Commandments were believes to have been received at Mt. Sinai.

In 1020 BC, the first monarchy of the Hebrew civilization was established by King Saul.

In 930 BCE, the Hebrew Kingdom of Israel is divided into 2 kingdoms, the northern and southern kingdoms of Judah and Israel.

During these 2 years the Assyrians defeated the Israelites and exiled the 10 tribes.

Jerusalem and the first temple were destroyed and most people were cast out and forced into Babylonia

During this time frame the Jews moved back from Babylonia and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem .

The land in Judah was conquered by Alexander the Great.

The Jewish people revolted against Helenistic rule which destroyed their temple and refused to let them practice their religious beliefs.

In 63 BCE Jerusalem was captured by the Roman ruler Pompey and came under Roman rule until 313 CE.

The earliest evidence of civilization in India is seen in foothills of Sind. There, archaeologists have found evidence of crop cultivation and baked brick settlement structures.

Around 4000 BCE, experts have said that metal working started in India.

During this period the earliest Harappan settlements were in Baluchistan Pakistan beginngin about 3500 BC. These are independent cities of the Chalcolithic culture in southern Asia.

In the Indus River Valley, archaeologists have found wheel thrown pottery dating all the way back to 3300 BCE. This shows that civilization had formed and people where settled there early on.

Harappan (named after the archeologist that discover it was the first literate, urban society in India. These people settled down near the Indus river, in a place that was well suited to grow crops and formed large urban areas.

The largest buildings found in the urban areas of the Indus valley were not temples, but instead were bath houses. No one knows what the bath houses were used for, but one of the largest was built in Mohenjo-Daro around 2500 BCE.

Around 2300 BCE, the Indus cultures began trading with the people in Mesopotamia, spreading their culture.

During this time the culture seemed to disappear. They could have been conquered by other people, there could have been a natural disaster, or they could have destroyed their own environment and chose to move to thother places.

Vedic Aryan's first arrive in Punjab region of the Idus Valley probably looking for places to graze livestock.

Original Vedic hymns were written, some of which tell of conflicts between the Aryans and others. The Aryans settled in Pujab region and beyond where they took up cultivation and where they could take care of their livestock.

Around 1500 BC the nomadic Indo-European people, or Aryans, began the Vedic civilization on the Indian subcontinent. They also founded their holy texts the Vedas.

During this period the Indians spread themselves across the plains between the Yamuna and Ganges Rivers and further east, clearing forests as they went. This period was also called the Brahmanas Age because it was dominated by the priestly religion of the Brahman class.

Around 700 BCE the holy books of the Vedic Aryan people were finally written down.

Aryan people write the Upanishads, upon which was the founding of the Hindu religion.

Written poems about events that happened in the Vedic past.

Agriculture was first seen in the Chinese civilization in 4000 BCE in the basin of the Yellow river.

The first of the 3 ancient dynasties in the traditional Chinese history

Bronze first appearance in Chinese civilization.

The second of the traditional Chinese dynasties. This period had 3 notable feature: writing, Bronze, and social classes.

The third of the three traditional Chinese dynasties. Inception of the Zhou futile system.

The infant king fled to the eastern capital of Cheng-Zhou. It was the beginning of Chinese civil wars and the chariot warfare.

This was when the teachings of Confucius were most popular, and he was exiled from Lu. During this time period the Iron Age also started in China.

Futility was abolished by Lisi who became the prime minister of a united China