Xia Dynasty And Before
The Xia dynasty was recorded in traditional Chinese histories as the oldest of the ancient dynasties. The existence of this dynasty has been disputed, though some archeological evidence for it has been discovered. From the sometimes elaborate burials, one can tell that there was already major social stratificationsome people were buried with hundreds of grave goods–pots, pieces of jade, etc,. others with nothing. There were distinct styles in pottery and jade in different areas, some of which reached high levels of sophistication, especially the thin-walled pottery with an almost metallic luster. At the beginning of the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese already had hemp, silk, sophisticated pottery and pictographs on the oracle bones. It is unclear if these pictographs were a complete written language, capable of narrative, or if these pictographs represented only names, abstract ideas and objects. In either case, they evolved into the modern written Chinese language.
How Did Physical Geography Most Likely Contribute To The Development Of Early Settlements In China
The ability to start farming was usually tied to geography. In China two major river basins provided the abundant resources fertile soil and natural defenses needed for people to safely settle down and start building small societies. These rivers were the Yellow in the north and the Yangtze in the south.
How Did The Geography Of China Affect The Development Of Early Civilization There
The geography of China affected the development of early civilization because the location of its rivers determined the crops and livestock that early Chinese people could produce. Furthermore, China’s proximity to the Gobi Desert, the Taklamakan Desert, and the Himalayan Mountains contributed to Chinese isolation and created natural trade barriers.
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Early Chinese civilization was largely influenced by the Yellow River and its annual floods. The floods would sometimes become uncontrollable, until the Chinese developed a system of dikes and irrigation ditches. The floods created alluvial soil, which was good for growing crops such as rice. The Yangtze River valley was…
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Overlays For Classroom Use
Geographic Distribution of China’s National Minorities
1. Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture 2. Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 3. Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture 4. Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 5. Huangna Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 6. Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 7. Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 8. Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 9. Haixi Mongolian, Tibetan, Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture 10. Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture 11. Kizilsu Khalkhas Autonomous Prefecture 12. Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture 13. Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture 14. Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture 15. Xiangxi Tujia, Miao Autonomous Prefecture 16. Haina Li, Miao Autonomous Prefecture 17. Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 18. Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 19. Liangsha Yi Autonomous Prefecture 20. Qiandongnan Miao, Dong Autonomous Prefecture 21. Qiannan Bouyei, Miao Autonomous Prefecture 22. Wenshan Zhuang, Miao Autonomous Prefecture 23. Honghe Hani, Yi Autonomous Prefecture 24. Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture 25. Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture 26. Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture 27. Dehong Dai, Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture 28. Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture 29. Degen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
What Is The Impact Of Geography On History
So the role of fresh water can easily be seen as a major influence on history because it helps to explain why civilizations were located in particular places. Living on or near a major river also had its challenges. While it may have brought trade and commerce, it could also bring invasions and wars.
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Qinghai And The Tibetan Plateau
Physical characteristics: Altitude, which can average 3962.4 meters , best defines the physical environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Except in the bright sunlight, it always is very cold. Located mostly in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, the region is arid to semi-arid. This means that despite a latitude close to the Tropic of Cancer, Qinghai and Tibet are nontropical for the most part. Still, there are areas along its southern and western boundaries, where rhododendron and banana trees grow in the shadow of active glaciers. This is attributable to the heavy rainfall and temperatures associated with the Indian monsoon.
History: Because of the region’s adjacence to India and central Asia, the people, economies, and even religion of Qinghai and Tibet have seldom been affected by those of China in the east. Even Mongolia had closer cultural links to this region than did China proper. Animal husbandry and nomadism are traditional ways of life. Until the 1950s, one out of every five Tibetans was a Buddhist nun or monk. Monasteries have been at the center of society since at least the eighth century.
Economic activities and resources today: Qinghai and Tibet remain remote and largely unpopulated. Where conditions permit, the Chinese have encouraged the westward migration of farmers from overpopulated areas to the east. Animals continue to be raised, and wool weavings are another important product. Goods are also produced from indigenous gold and turquoise.
The Southeast Coast And Shanghai
Physical characteristics: This region shares the entire Yangzi Valley’s dominant characteristics of water, wetlands, and hot and humid summers. However, the influence of the Pacific Ocean as well as access thereto make the area distinctive. The ocean’s warm current creates milder winter temperatures than in the interior. In addition the nearby mountains are favorable for crops other than aquaculture , which is prominent in the lowlands. Mild climates and abundant rainfall mean farmers in this area generally expect to obtain three or more crops every year. Some form of food, whether from land or sea, is always abundant and in surplus.
History: This was the first region to feel the impact of the West through the Opium War and “Treaty Ports” of the eighteenth century. It has had the greatest number of Christian missionaries, Chinese Christians, and Christian churches in China. Like so many of China’s distinct physical environments, it is dominated by ethnic peoples not fully identifiable as “Han,” who speak distinct languages and often have closer ties to Chinese overseas.
Housing: plaster or brick to offset rain in rural areas, apartment buildings in urban areas
Social organization: class, family, or business compounds
Transportation: boats and ships on rivers and canals, cars, buses, and bicycles
Food staples: rice, seafood, and tropical fruits
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Timeline Of Ancient Chinese History
1766 BCE: traditional date for the founding of the first historic dynasty in China, the Shang dynasty
1122 BCE: Western Zhou dynasty founded after the overthrow of the last Shang king
771 BCE: Eastern Zhou dynastyperiod begins after the sack of the Western Zhou capital the first phase is traditionally divided into two: the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods
551-479 BCE: Confucius, Chinas preeminent philosopher, lives
221 BCE: The First Emperor, Qin Shih Huang, completes the conquest of all other Chinese states
202 BCE: The Han dynastyfounded, after several years of chaos following the fall of the Qin
220 CE: the Fall of the Han dynasty is a convenient marker for the end point of the ancient period of Chinese history.
Deadly Deserts And Towering Mountains
At more than 9.5 million square kilometers, China includes the four major ecological regions of inner Asia — forests, grasslands, deserts and mountain ranges — where many Silk Road routes were eventually formed. Inner Asia’s deserts include the frigid, shifting sands of the Taklamakan and the rocky, cold Gobi deserts. China’s towering mountain ranges cover two-thirds of the country, including the Himalayas, which hold the world’s tallest peaks along the country’s western borders. These treacherous deserts and mountains kept early China isolated from Western civilizations.
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An Assemblage Of Pieces
This background essay introduces the diversity of China’s natural and man-made features, as well as the relative population of its various areas. Used as background information, learners can explore the many different uses of maps . Road maps to find our way to other places. Physical maps show different landforms and elevations and bodies of water. Historical maps help us understand political boundaries and the movement of people, goods, and ideas. Military leaders need maps as they plan their campaigns, and tourists need maps in order to figure out interesting places to visit. Many maps show both natural and man-made features. They often reflect values of the people who create them and define their place in the world. Maps were used for military and political purposes and show how China viewed itself in relation to the rest of the world. In China ownership of a map indicated sovereignty over the land it depicted.
A distinct geographic print might include the following variables: physical and environmental features, such as climates, soils, topography, and location historic patterns and their relationship to the natural environment the economic activities and resources that define the area today.
How Did Geography Impact The Development Of Early Civilizations
The first civilizations appeared in locations where the geography was favorable to intensive agriculture. Governments and states emerged as rulers gained control over larger areas and more resources often using writing and religion to maintain social hierarchies and consolidate power over larger areas and populations.
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Why Did Several Ways Of Life Developed In China Because Of Geography
Most early people settled on the North China Plain because of its geography. Early people settled in the North China Plain because the North China plain has moderate climates so that is good for farming. They also have rivers so that helps water the plants and it is good drinking water and they have loess.
How Did Chinas Geography Affect Its Trade
Chinas geography affects Asias trading by blocking off certain parts of Their trade. The Gobi Desert is a very big desert and because of its size it would take days to cross just so people could trade. Same thing with all of the other features they are so big and time consuming to cross that people would even bother.
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Historical Overview Of Ancient China
Most of the history of Chinese civilization, including the ancient period, has traditionally been divided into dynasties lines of kings or emperors from a single family, following each other on the throne from generation to generation.
During much of the ancient period, what would later be known as Chinese civilization was only gradually spreading across the area which today we know as China. Thus the early dynastic rulers of China are known as kings, rather than emperors. It is only after the time of the First Emperor, who reigned over a united China from 221 BCE, that the imperial period of Chinese history began.
Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China
How Did Geography Affect Early China Before The Silk Road
The Silk Road is the name given to a series of trade routes formally established during the Han Dynasty around 200 B.C. that connected ancient civilizations across Asia, North Africa and Europe. These routes aided in establishing early global commerce, as well as the dissemination of culture, knowledge and technology. Prior to the formation of these routes, the varied and often harsh geography of early China resulted in an isolated, economically challenged and largely nomadic civilization.
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What Made The Shang Dynasty Successful
Shang Contributions to Chinese Civilization. The Shang made many contributions to Chinese civilization, but four in particular define the dynasty: the invention of writing the development of a stratified government the advancement of bronze technology and the use of the chariot and bronze weapons in warfare.
Economic And Cultural Isolation
With deserts and mountains in the west that were mostly impassible due to the limited long-range transportation options available, early China’s civilizations were unaware that European civilizations existed prior to the development of the Silk Road. In this way, geography kept early China culturally and economically isolated from the rest the world. However, ancient Chinese civilizations were exposed to the sheep and cattle herders inhabiting the grasslands in the northwest, and the fishing cultures along the southeast coasts. These surrounding societies were both nomadic and illiterate a fact which led ancient China to consider itself the most valuable and advanced civilization by comparison.
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Tying It All Together: From Empire To State
Clearly, to create political “China,” it is still important to tie these different regions together. Transportation remains the most crucial factor. As the means of tying the country and its regions together proceeded, a common written language and shared cultural values evolved. The written language and the bureaucratic class that used it were pivotal in creating a net of a shared experience and cultural values that bonded the disparate geographies and spoken languages of China and linked the past to the present.
Because the origins of China’s empire lay in its interior, imperial highways were initially the most important features of the transportation system. The network of imperial highways was first established by Qin Shihuangdi , who united the kingdoms of China in 221 B.C.E. He also initiated the construction of a canal system. By the Song dynasty , canals linked the lower Yangzi Valley and regions south of it to the North China Plain. Natural lakes and rivers also helped unify the Chinese Empire, with the Yangzi and its tributaries tying together coastal and interior regions. Except in Qinghai and the Tibetan Plateau and Xinjiang, an extensive rail system links China and is the most common form of long-distance travel.
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Early Chinese civilization was largely influenced by the Yellow River and its annual floods. The floods would sometimes become uncontrollable, until the Chinese developed a system of dikes and irrigation ditches. The floods created alluvial soil, which was good for growing crops such as rice. The Yangtze River valley was also noted for its livestock production. A temperate climate in China allowed for the production of mulberry bushes, an essential food for silkworms. The presence of water combined with a good climate for growing crops made China a successful ancient civilization with advanced art and science.
Chinese isolation was largely based on its close proximity to the Gobi Desert, the Taklamakan Desert, and the Himalayan Mountains. The Himalayan Mountains were considered sacred in ancient Chinese texts and served as a border between ancient China and India. Groups that would be associated with the Mongols used the Gobi Desert as a route to invade China. The Mongols inhabited the steppes of western China where they saw the sky and earth as sacred. They adopted a nomadic lifestyle due to the short growing season and abundance of grazing land in Mongolia.
How Did Geography Influence The Rise Of Civilization In Ancient China
The geography of Ancient China shaped the way the civilization and culture developed. The large land was isolated from much of the rest of the world by dry deserts to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the east, and impassable mountains to the south.
How did geography and environment impact the development of civilization?
Geography and the environment play a monumental role in the establishment and success of a nearly every civilization. For example, rivers bring water and allow for agricultural development, while mountains or deserts provide for protection and create a barrier.
How did the geography of Mesopotamia contribute to the development of civilization?
Mesopotamias rivers and location in central Asia supported extensive trade routes. This allowed Mesopotamia to access resources not native to its region, like timber and precious metals. In turn, Mesopotamia developed key aspects of civilization, like a token system to keep trading records.
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Geography Of Ancient China
Like the other early civilizations, Ancient China developed along rivers. There were 2 important river valleys in Ancient China: the Huang He or Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze River to the south. The Yellow River gets its name from the yellowish tint of its water. This comes from a rich yellow colored soil that was great for farming. It is often called the “cradle of Chinese civilization” because it was along its banks where the Chinese civilization first formed.
The Yangtze River is south of the Yellow River and also flows to the east. Farmers along the Yangtze River took advantage of the warm climate and rainy weather to grow rice. Eventually the land along the Yangtze became some of the most important and wealthy land in all of Ancient China.
One problem with these rivers is the periodic flooding that occurs. The Yellow River often flooded and destroyed farmland. Chinese mythology tells of how the first Emperor Yu the Great organized large-scale projects in irrigation and dike-building. This irrigation helped to distribute flood waters through canals and bring water to more farms. Yu then went on to found the first dynasty of China, the Xia. While this is a legend, archaeologists have found evidence of early dikes and canals around the river.