Forming Complex Societies

Chapter 2 Lesson 2

Explain how living in villages changed the way people related to one another

Describe inventions that helped people of this time lead better lives

Objectives

Subsist – to survive

Terrace – flat areas built on the slopes of hills and mountains

Plow – tool used to cut, lift, and turn over soil

Irrigation – ways to move water to land

Barter – to trade for things people want

Pastoral Society – group of people living as nomads with herds of animals

Vocabulary

By 7000 BC some farming communities in southwestern Asia that produced surplus food had grown into villages

Farming Villages

By 6000 BC farming had spread to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa

People had domesticated a variety of animals and plants for food and clothing

Farming Communities Spread

People developed and improved farming tools, such as the plow and irrigation

Allowed people to grow crops in more places

Changes in Technology

Early farmers bartered to get goods they wanted

Leaders controlled surpluses and trade, as well as resolved conflicts between the groups

Economic and Social Change

Changes in agriculture that began before 7,000 BC caused dramatic changes in societies

Surplus food allowed farming settlements to grow into villages

Surpluses of food and other resources led to trade

With trade, people developed more complex societies and economies

Summary