Lesson · Grade 7 · Social Studies
What Makes a Civilization
- Grade 7
- Social Studies
- 1 min 10 s
- British Columbia
- BC7-SS-07
A farming village grows on screen into a walled city with a granary, workshops, a palace, a temple, a social class pyramid, a clay tablet and a canal, while a card on the right ticks off the eight features historians look for: extra food, cities, specialized jobs, government, religion, social classes, writing and public works. It notes that the first cities grew in Mesopotamia about 5,500 years ago and ends on the recap that these eight features together make a civilization.
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
What turns a group of farming villages into a civilization?
In a village, a few families live together and nearly everyone farms.
Transcript
What the lesson says
What turns a group of farming villages into a civilization?
In a village, a few families live together and nearly everyone farms.
It starts when farmers grow more food than they need, and the extra is stored.
With food to spare, thousands of people can live together in a city.
The first cities grew in Mesopotamia about 5,500 years ago.
Not everyone has to farm, so people take on specialized jobs, such as potters, weavers and metalworkers.
A government of rulers and officials makes laws, collects taxes and plans big projects.
People share a religion, and they build temples for worship.
People are ranked in social classes, with rulers at the top and farmers and workers below.
Writing lets people keep records, send messages and pass on knowledge.
Working together, people build public works such as walls, canals and roads.
Together, these eight features make a civilization.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 7
Social Studies, Ancient world to the 7th century: features and characteristics of civilizations and factors that led to their rise and fallBC7-SS-07
Previous: How Ancient Peoples Adapted to Their LandNext: Why Civilizations Rise and Fall
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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- All Grade 7 Social Studies lessons
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