Category Archives: Grade 7

Grade 7 – 2nd quarter revision booklet

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The Ancient Egypt and Nubia

The Geography of the Nile

Map on the page 67

 

Here are the places you should be able to locate on a blank map:

Water
Mediterranean Sea
Red Sea
Nile River
Cities
Alexandria
Giza (Cairo)
Memphis
Thebes
Territories
Palestine
Syria
Lower Egypt
Upper Egypt
Nubia

 

 

 

Herodotus – Egypt is the gift of the Nile (because Nile makes soil fertile)

Course of the Nile River

The Blue and White Nile map, page 67

The Nile through Ancient Nubia

Nubia – ancient region in the southern Nile valley

Cataracts – rock filled rapids of the river Nile

The Nile through Ancient Egypt

Upper Egypt – The Nile Valley

Lower Egypt – Delta

Delta is a plain at the mouth of a river

The gifts of Nile

Fertile soil for agriculture

Silt is fine soil found on the river bottom

Black and red land

Black fertile land (Kemet –in old Egyptian language) – Nile Valley

Red land – desert

Desert protection

Desert protects Egypt from the foreign invaders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions:

  1. Merging which two rivers makes the Nile?
    1. Mississippi and Missouri
    2. Black and White Nile
    3. Blue and White Nile
    4. What is the gift of the Nile?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

  1. What is Delta?

____________________________________________________________________________________

  1. What geographically protects Egypt from foreign invaders?
    1. Army
    2. Nile
    3. Desert

 

 

The Rulers of Egypt

Pharaoh is the title used by the kings of Egypt

Hatshepsut, the only woman which become pharaoh

A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family or ethnic group.

Ancient Egypt had 31 dynasty from 3200 BC to 332 BC

This period from 3200 BC to 332 BC is divided on three kingdoms: The old, Middle and New kingdom (timeline on page 76)

Egypt is unified

Pharaoh Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt.

Narmer Palete – page 75

All powerful pharaohs

Absolute power or complete control over their people was held by pharaohs

 

Questions:

  1. Pharaoh is ____________________________________________________________

 

  1. A dynasty is a series of ______________________ from the  same _____________ or ___________ group

 

  1. How many dynasties ancient Egypt had, from 3200 BC to 332 BC?
    1. 32
    2. 31
    3. 33

 

  1. What is the name of the pharaoh that united Upper and Lower Egypt?
    1. Menes
    2. Tutankhamen
    3. Ramses II

The three kingdoms,

The Old Kingdom

                Pyramids

Peace & trade with Nubia, timbers & wood from Mediterranean coast.

The Middle Kingdom

Construction of buildings and irrigational projects

The New kingdom

First pharaohs of the New kingdom wanted to build an empire, they had huge armies, and bronze swords were in use.

Tutankhamen become ruler of Egypt while he was still a child

1922. his tomb is discovered in the Valley of the Kings in present day Luxor

Rule during the New kingdom

Tutmose III and Hatshepsut

A regent is someone who rules for a child until the child is old enough to rule.

During the rule of the pharaoh queen Hatshepsut:

Peace and economy

Expedition in the land of Punt

Hatshepsut temple at Deir el Bahari was built

Tuthmose III rules

Greatest pharaoh of the New kingdom

Wars in Syria and Phoenicia

Borders of Egypt in his time: Euphrates on East, Nubia on the south

Ancient Egypt after the New kingdom

Civil war left Egypt weak and poorly defended.

332. Alexander the Great deposed the Persian rule

51 BC Cleopatra VII last Macedonian ruler

31 BC Egypt was conquered by the Romans

Questions

  1.  Characteristics of the Old Kingdom period?

____________________________________________________________________________________

  1. What first pharaohs of the New kingdom wanted?
    1. To build and empire
    2. To import a wood from Mediterranean coast
    3. To build a temple
    4.  1922 the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered
      1. in the Valley of the Kings in present day Luxor
      2. in Giza, present day Cairo
      3. in Dendera, present day Qena
      4. someone who rules for a child until the child is old enough to rule is a
        1.  King
        2. Regent
        3. Ruler
        4. Expedition to the land of punt was organized during the rule of ___________________________
        5. The greatest pharaoh of the New Kingdom was ______________________________________
        6. Alexander the Great deposed the Persian rule in Egypt in _______ BC  and in ______ BC Egypt was part of Roman Empire

Egyptian Religion

The Egyptians believed in an afterlife, a life after death.

Description of the pharaoh journey to the afterlife:

Prayers for pharaoh soul on its way to the afterlife

Body was carried to the royal tomb

Workers closed the tomb

Egyptian gods and goddesses

Religion was an important part of daily life in Ancient Egypt

Gods & goddesses controlled the working of nature

Regional differences

Each town had their own gods and goddesses

Gods were shown as humans with animal head

All Egyptians worshiped certain principal god

Sun god Re or Falcon god Horus

Important gods

The chief god of the ancient Egypt was Amon Re.

Other gods: Osiris, god of the living and the dead

Isis, goddess and wife of Osiris

Horus, god of sky, son of Osiris and Isis

Belief in an afterlife

Mummy is the preserved body of a dead person.

 

 

Questions:

  1. Ancient Egyptians believed in:
    1. Future
    2. Afterlife
    3. Promises
    4. Describe the pharaoh`s journey to the afterlife

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

  1. How the gods were shown in ancient Egypt?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1. Who was the chief god of ancient Egypt?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  1.  The preserved body of a dead person is a
    1. Grave
    2. Mummy
    3. Dead

 

Pyramids

 

Pharaohs of the 4th dynasty build the largest and the most famous tombs.

Pyramid is huge building with four sloping triangle shaped sides.

 

The great pyramid was built for the pharaoh Khufu.

 

The great pyramid was built in the ancient city of Giza

 

The building process

Organization

The great pyramid – 2 million stones, 20 years of building

 

Building of a pyramid was an act of faith.

 

 

 

 

Questions:

 

  1. The pharaohs of ___________  dynasty build the largest and most famous tombs.
  2. Describe a pyramid?
  3. For who was built the great pyramid?
  4. Building of a pyramid was an act of ______________.

 

Ancient Egyptian Society

Everything we know about the life of ancient Egyptians is based on paintings from the tombs and temples.

Social Classes

Egyptian society resembled a pyramid (look at copy book for drawing)

At very top stood pharaoh

Beneath was small upper class – priests, members of court, and nobles

Next level was middle class – merchants and skilled workers

At the base of pyramid – lower class

Slavery

Slaves were prisoners captured in wars, they were separate class.

Writing in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt ideas were written down in picture like symbols called HIEROGLYPHS.

Hieroglyphs – picture stands for ideas or things and some of them for sounds.

Writing materials

The first writing materials were clay and stone.

Papyrus was an early form of paper made from reed found in the marshy areas of the Nile delta.

From papyrus plant

Unlocking a mystery

After 400 AD meaning of hieroglyphs was lost.

In 1799 soldiers digging a fort on the Nile found huge stone with three different types of writing on it – Rosetta stone

In 1822 Jean Francois Champollion unlocked a mystery. Rosetta stone was written on 3 languages, hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek. Knowing Greek Champollion was able to decipher hieroglyphs.

Ancient Egyptians had advanced knowledge in science and medicine

Astronomers are scientists who study the stars and other objects in the sky.

Questions:

  1. Everything we know about the life of ancient Egyptians is based on
    1. Stories of the people
    2. Paintings from the tombs and temples.
    3. TV shows
    4. What kind of symbols ancient Egyptians used for writing?
      1. Hieroglyphs
      2. Cuneiform
      3. Alphabet
      4.  Writing material in ancient Egypt was ___________________________________.
      5. Ancient Egyptians had a advanced knowledge in ________________________.
      6. In 1822 ____________________________________________ was able to decipher hieroglyphs.

The Cultures of Nubia

The region of Nubia was located south of ancient Egypt, beyond the first cataract of the Nile river.

Valuable resources

Nubia had rich mineral resources, such as gold, copper, and iron ore

An ore is a mineral or a combination of minerals mined for the production of metals.

Lower Nubia is region between the first and second cataract.

Upper Nubia is the region between the second and sixth Nile cataracts.

The most powerful Nubian kingdoms were in the cities Kerma, Napata and Meroe.

These kingdoms were ruled by Kushites, people who lived in southern Nubia.

Around 1600 BC Kushite kingdom had expanded from city of Kerma into parts of southern Egypt.

Around 1500 BC Pharaoh Thutmose I sent his armies into Nubia, after about 50 years, the Egyptians took control of Nubia.

Nubians adopted many Egyptian ways, two cultures become mixed.

In the late 700 BC Egypt was weak and divided, from their capital in Napata, the Kushites expanded their power into Egypt.

About 660 BC they were forced back into Nubia. They retreated to Napata and then gradually moved their capital south to Meroe.

Questions:

  1. What mineral resources Nubia had?
  2. What is the ore?
  3. In which cities were the most powerful Nubian kingdoms?

 

 

 

The Fertile Crescent

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Land between Two Rivers

  • Scribes were professional writers. They were important because they kept records for the kings and priests.
  • The geographic setting:
    • Sumer was located in a region called Mesopotamia.
    • Mesopotamia means “between the rivers“ and it was the land between the Euphrates and Tigris, life-giving rivers, which had rich soil. That attracted people to become farmers and city builders.
    • Sumer became one of the most prosperous areas of the ancient world.
    • Mesopotamia as well as Sumer are part of Fertile Crescent, a region in southwest Asia that was the site of the world`s first civilizations.
    • The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the source of life for the people of Mesopotamia.
  • First cities:
    • By 3500 BC some of the earliest known cities arose in southern Sumer
    • Cities were not united under single ruler. They remained politically independent states.
    • A city state is a city that is also a separate independent state.
  • Religion:
    • Ziggurats were the pyramids made of terraces, one on top of another.
    • People of Sumer worshiped many gods and goddesses. A polytheism is belief in many gods
    • Myths are the stories about gods that explain people`s beliefs.
  • The Fall of Sumer
    • Sumerian city states fight each other over the land and the use of river water
    • Around 2300 BC the armies of neighboring Akkadia conquered Sumer.
    • King Sargon, united Sumerian city states and improved Sumer`s government and its military.
    • After 2000 BC Sumer fell to northern rival, Babylonia, in the 1700 BC.

Babylon and Assyria

    •  Two empires of Mesopotamia
      • The biggest and the most important Mesopotamian civilizations were the empires of Babylonia and Assyria.
        • An empire is an area of many territories and peoples that is controlled by one government.
      • The beautiful city of Babylon was the center of the Babylonian empire.
        • Around 1750 BC the empire reached its height
      • The Assyrians, named after the northern city of Assur, began expanding their lands in the 1300s BC. By the 600 BC they controlled a large empire.
      • The Babylonians and Assyrians had things in common like building a cities where culture and learning were highly valuated.
    • The Babylonian empire
      • The Babylonian king named Hammurabi crated the Babylonian empire by uniting the cities of Sumer. He conquered lands all the way to Asia Minor (Turkey).
      • City of Babylon become important crossroads of trade.
        • Caravans or group of travelers, stopped in the city in the city`s bazaars or markets.
        • Trade made Babylon rich
      • In 1760 BC Hammurabi conquered the city of Mari
      • North of Babylon lay Assyria, a small kingdom of a few walled cities. Assyria grew into powerful empire
    • The Empire of the Assyrians
      • Assyrians become good warriors cause they were constantly defending them self. About 1365 BC Assyrians started expansion, as the best method of defense is to attack.
      • By 650 BC Assyria had become a large empire. It covered area across the Fertile Crescent from the Nile River to the Persian Gulf.
      • ‘Assyrians invented the battering ram, a powerful weapon having a wooden beam mounted on wheels. Battering rams pounded city walls to rubble.
      • Assyrian capital of Niniveh became a city of great learning. It had a remarkable library.
      • Revolts against Assyrian rule. In 612 BC two groups, the Medes and Chaldeans joined to defeat the Assyrian Empire.
    • Babylonia rises again
      • Under the Chaldeans Babylon rise again to even greater splendor.
      • King Nebuchadnezzar II rebuild the city of Babylon, he build the gardens for his wife.
      • New Babylonian empire became a center of learning and science. Astronomy, math
      • In 539 BC the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered New Babylonian Empire.

The Legacy of Mesopotamia

  • A written code or organized list of laws, helps people to know what is expected of them and what punishment they will receive.
  • Hammurabi ruled Babylonia from about 1792-1750 BC. He set down rules for everyone in his empire. These rules are known as Hammurabi`s code.
    • It had 282 laws organized in different categories, trade, labor, property and family.
    • Code was based on idea of “an eye for an eye“
    • The art of writing
      • Writing first developed in Mesopotamia around 3100 BC. Long before Hammurabi issued his code.
        • Writing met the need of Sumerians had to keep records
        • Scribes held the position of great respect in Mesopotamia
        • Paper had not yet been invented, so scribes kept their notes and records on clay.
        • Clay was used for writing on.
        • Scribes combined symbols to make groups of wedges and lines known as cuneiform. Cuneiform script could be used to represent different languages.

Mediterranean civilizations

  • While the Hammurabi was rising and falling people on the Mediterranean coast were becoming rich by gathering snails. These snails produced the rich purple dye. Than with the dye they were coloring the cloths.
  • Phoenician sea power
    • Tyre was the major city in the region called Phoenicia.
    • The Phoenicia had limited but very important resources, wood cedar and snails.
    • From 1100 to 800 BC Phoenicia was a great sea power. Phoenician ship sailed all over the Mediterranean and into Atlantic Ocean.
    • They brought valuable goods from all over Mediterranean to the cities Tyre and Sidon
    • The Phoenician Alphabet
      • Alphabet is a set of symbols that represents the sound of the language.
      • The Phoenicians relied on writing to help them conduct trade.
      • They developed writing system that used 22 symbols. It forms the basis of alphabet used in many languages.
      • The simple Phoenician alphabet was easier to learn than cuneiform.
      • The sea trade helped the alphabet to spread

The Beginnings of Human Society

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Geography and History

 

  • 5000 years ago, people in Southwest Asia and Africa developed system of writing which marked beginning of history.
    • History is the written and other recorded events of people.
    • Prehistory (Pre=before) is the time before history. Prehistory is the period of time before writing was invented.
    • Archaeologists are scientists who examine objects to learn about past peoples and cultures.
  • Historians study the written records of human life and accomplishments to understand a society. They look different writings from the same time to conclude the truth.
  • Oral traditions are the stories passed down by word of mouth. Oral traditions are still an important part of many societies. Not all oral stories are historically accurate, stories often change as they are told and retold.
  • Geographyis the study of the Earth surface and the processes that shape it.
    • Egyptian civilization was built on the banks of the Nile river in Africa. Each year the Nile flooded, deposing soil on its banks. Because soil was rich, Egyptian farmers could grow enough crops to feed the large numbers of people in the cities. That meant not everyone had to farm, so some people could perform other jobs that helped develop the civilization. Without the Nile and its regular flooding, Egyptian civilization would not have become so successful.

Prehistory

  • The Stone Age was a period of time during which early humans made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone.
  • Early humans discovered fire probably by rubbing two sticks together or by striking stones together to produce spark.
  • Nomads are people who have no settled home.
  • Hunters and gatherers made their own tools and weapons using stone, wood, bone and animal skin.

The Beginning of farming

  • The New Stone Age become when people learn farming.
  • Some places were better for farming than others were. Soil on some areas was very fertile, or rich in the substances that plants need to grow.
  • Humans learned to domesticate plants and animals.

The Beginnings of Civilization

  • Irrigation is process of supplying land with water. It is very important for successful farming.
  • System of irrigation is supplying land with water from another place using a network of canals.
  • Farming techniques like irrigation system were important in crating early communities.

Advantages of a settled life

  • People who are farming and producing their own food do not need to travel from place to place in order to hunt or gather food.
  • People had a food surplus – more what is needed, that food could be stored for use at another time.
  • Food surplus can feed many people, family size was growing and parents had many children.
  • Food surplus allowed people to do something else than producing food, so they started working on another jobs. Some of them become artisans. An artisan is a worker who is especially skilled in crafting items by hand.

The growth of cities

  • Cities likely developed in areas where rich soil crated large surpluses of food.
  • Some of the earliest cities grew up along large rivers, such as the Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq (Mesopotamia). Cities grew up because the soil for farming is rich near riverbeds.
  • As population of cities grew, governments formed.
    • Government keep order in society and provided services, managed public building and irrigation projects.

The First Civilization

  • A civilization is a society that has cities, a central government run by official leaders, and workers who specialize in various jobs.
    • Writing, art and architecture characterize a civilization.
  • The first people to refine copper with tin had discovered a valuable new metal. Bronze is much harder that copper, it could be used to make items more durable.
  • Traders were traveling by land and by water and people of many different cultures came into contact with one another. People traded information along with gods.
  • A social class is a group of people having similar backgrounds, incomes, and ways of living.
  • Trading brought new prosperity in the cities. Prosperity led to major change in society the development of social classes.

Geography skills

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geography
The study of the earth, its physical features, and how human activity affects it

cartographer
A person who makes and studies maps

map
A flat representation of a certain area of earth’s surface

globe
A spherical representation of the earth
(extremely accurate)

hemisphere
A half of a sphere–cartographers divide the earth into the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Hemispheres

map scale
A tool that shows the relationship between distances on a map and distances in real life

lines of latitude
Imaginary lines that run horizontally and are used to locate places on earth
(also called parallels)
(measure how far North or South)

lines of longitude
Imaginary lines that run vertically and are used to locate places on earth
(also called meridians)
(measure how far East or West)

equator
The line of latitude at 0 degrees that divides the earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres

prime meridian
The line of longitude at 0 degrees that divides the earth into Eastern and Western Hemispheres
(starts at Greenwich, England)

North Pole
The northernmost point on earth, located at 90 degrees North latitude

South Pole
The southernmost point on earth, located at 90 degrees South latitude