In this unit, you learned about the development of the world's first great civilizations. What traits did these civilizations have in common? In what ways did they differ? Do you think there are certain traits or conditions that were necessary for the development of these civilizations? Why?

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

We are talking about the first civilizations that appeared on planet Earth. These were the Sumerians (the oldest civilization of all), the Egyptians, and the people from the Indus Valley.

What traits did these civilizations have in common?

These civilizations started to form when humans stopped to be nomads and started to develop agriculture techniques. Instead of continuing to follow herds to hunt animals to feed their families, they started to settle in specific regions to grow crops.

In what ways did they differ?

In the ways the started to develop, according to the circumstances and the characteristics of the region they settle in. For instance, the Sumerians settled in the middle of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in the Middle East region. They learned how to use the flooding of these rivers to grow crops and build important city-states such as Kish, Uriu, Lagasg, or Ur. Ancient Egypt developed in the Nile River banks. They had a different social hierarchy than the Sumerians and developed crop techniques to take advantage of different seasons in the desert.

Do you think there are certain traits or conditions that were necessary for the development of these civilizations?

Yes, the most important was the Agriculture or Neolithic Revolution in which humans of these civilizations had to learn agriculture techniques to grow the kinds of crops that allowed them to survive and prosper under different harsh conditions.

religion played a major role in the american revolution by offering a moral sanction for opposition to the british--an assurance to the average american that revolution was justified in the sight of god. the revolution strengthened millennialist strains in american.