World History P28

 

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

1. People stopped being nomadic because they developed systematic agriculture. During the Neolithic era, people began farming and could settle down in one place rather than chase animals for food.

2. People began picking and choosing the seeds from the biggest, best plants and planting only those in order to grow even bigger crops (this is called the domestication of plants). Farmers also used an irrigation system to control the flow of water to different areas of land by using canals.

3. Division of labor means that tasks in a society are performed by separate groups.

4. An example of bartering is trading a woven basket for an iron pot.

5. Monarchs were the new leaders of towns and cities. They used laws to keep order, and many claimed to have power based on "divine right."

6. Leisure time advanced civilizations because people had time to explore ideas and be creative.

#4 has more than one correct answer.

7. A surplus is an excess of food, and it is important because that is what created leisure time. It also meant that populations could expand and that people did not have to follow a herd for food anymore.

8. The first civilizations were mostly found around Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Central America.