1. Birth of
Civilisations
India, China and Southeast Asia

2. What is a Civilisation?
• when groups of people come to live together
• develop their own way of life
• share the same culture
• speak the same language
• obey same rules and laws
• follow same traditions and customs

3. Factors leading to the
rise of a Civilisation
• plentiful supply of water
• plentiful supply of food
• fertile land

4. A Kingdom
• controlled by a king
• small areas of land joined
together
• chief reports to the king

5. Empire
• Larger area controlled by an
emperor
• Kings defeat rivals, they
combined lands to form an
empire

6. Indus Civilisation
• started around 3000 BCE
• Indus plains had fertile soil
• directed water from the
Indus River by building
dams (irrigation)

7. Government

8. Occupations

9. Writing

10. Indus civilisation
• 2500 BCE, along the Indus Valley
• irrigation to bring water to farms and limit flooding
of the river
• Harappa
• Mohenjo-Daro

11. Indus Civilisation
• Evidences to show that there is a form of
government:
• well-planned cities
• citadel, drainage system, granary, Great Bath

12. Indus Civilisation
• Evidences to show that there are different
occupations:
• ploughs, utensils, bronze tools, artefacts, Public
Bath

13. Indus Civilisation
• Evidences to show that there is a form of writing:
• stone seals

14. Decline of the Indus
Civilisation
• 1500 BCE
• flooding of the Indus River
• outbreak of malaria
• Aryans’ attack

15. Who were the Aryans?
• nomadic people
• moved to the Ganges Plains as farmers
• Indian culture = Indus people and the Aryans

16. Shang Civilisation
• 3000 BCE, Yangshao and Longshan villages
existed along the Yellow River
• mainly farmers, craftsmen and hunters
• fertile soil - loess
• flood prone

17. Shang Civilisation
• 1500 BCE, rise of the Shang Civilisation
• Cities of Luoyang and Anyang

18. Shang Civilisation
• Evidences to show there is a form of government:
• ancient records, palaces, temples, storage
houses

19. Shang Civilisation
• Evidences to show there are different occupations:
• bronze objects (weapons, wine cups, jars)
• temples
• tools

20. Shang Civilisation
• Evidences to show there is a form of writing:
• pictograms on objects (oracle bones)

21. Fall of the Shang
Civilisation
• 1150BCE
• Shang dynasty taken over by Western Zhou
dynasty and later Eastern Zhou dynasty
• Period of the Warring States

22. Southeast Asia
Civilisation
• 200 BCE
• travel and large scale farming difficult due to
constraints of the environment
• people lived near the sea (based on evidences - clay,
pottery and beads, wall paintings)

23. Maritime Kingdoms
• grew rice
• domesticated water buffalo
• skilled boat builders
• conducted trading from villages to villages, from
India to China (rice, coconut, ivory, bracelet,
ceremonial drums)
• port cities developed

24. Funan City
Port Oc-eo
Present day Southern
Vietnam
produce rice

25. Srivijaya
Palembang
Rose after the decline
of Funan
trade was important

26. Southeast Asian
Civilisations
• Evidences to show there is a form of government:
• religious buildings made of stone
• palaces made from wood

27. Southeast Asian
Civilisations
• Evidences to show there are different occupations:
• port cities (traders, fishermen, sailors)
• religious buildings (priests)

28. Southeast Asian
Civilisations
• Evidences to show there is a form of writing:
• written records
• stone carvings in Sanskrit and Jawi script