Key Stage 2 history · World history

KS2 earliest civilisations: where and when they began

Before a school studies one early civilisation in depth, children get an overview of where and when the first civilisations appeared. They learn that the earliest ones grew up beside great rivers thousands of years ago, in places such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley and China, and they practise placing them on a map and a timeline. This overview gives them the big picture they need to make sense of the depth study.

The earliest civilisations, explained

The National Curriculum asks for two things here: an overview of where and when the first civilisations appeared, and a depth study of one of four: Ancient Sumer, the Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt or the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China. Schools choose one of those four for the depth study, so your child will not be taught all of them in detail. The overview is where children meet the whole group and see how they compare.

A civilisation is more than a group of people. Historians use the word for a society with several features together: cities where many people live, farming that produces enough food to spare, people with specialist jobs such as potters, builders and scribes, some form of government and laws, trade over long distances, shared beliefs, and often writing. Children are encouraged to ask which features each society had and how we know. Not every early society had every feature, and children learn that historians still debate where to draw the line.

Where did they start? The earliest large civilisations all grew up beside rivers in warm regions: the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in what is now Pakistan and north-west India, and the Yellow River in China. Rivers gave water for crops and drinking, fertile mud when they flooded, fish, and a route for boats to carry goods. Farmers could grow a surplus, which freed some people to do other work, and that is how cities begin.

When did they start? Sumer in southern Mesopotamia had cities from about 3500 BC, and Egypt was united under one ruler around 3100 BC. The cities of the Indus Valley reached their peak from about 2600 BC, and the Shang Dynasty ruled parts of China from about 1600 BC. All of these dates are approximate and sources differ. Children place them on a timeline, compare them with periods they already know, such as the Stone Age and Bronze Age in Britain, and begin to appreciate how long ago, and how long before the Romans, these societies were.

Words your child will hear

Civilisation: A society with cities, government, specialist jobs, trade and usually writing. The curriculum spells it “civilization”.
Mesopotamia: The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in modern Iraq. The word means “between the rivers”.
Surplus: More food than a community needs to eat, which allows some people to do other jobs.
Settlement: A place where people live, from a small village to a large city.
Scribe: A trained person who could read and write and kept records.
BC: Years counted backwards from the traditional birth of Jesus. The larger the number, the longer ago.
Archaeologist: A person who studies the past by digging up and examining objects and buildings.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about the achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer, The Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt, The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study.
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example: putting civilisations in place and in order

Place Sumer, Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley and the Shang Dynasty in order of when each appeared, and explain why they began beside rivers.

Find each one on a world map and name its river: Sumer by the Tigris and Euphrates, Egypt by the Nile, the Indus Valley by the Indus, and the Shang by the Yellow River. Notice that all four are in the warm part of the Northern Hemisphere.
Put the start dates on a number line, remembering that for BC dates a bigger number means earlier. Sumer’s first cities about 3500 BC, Egypt united about 3100 BC, Indus Valley cities about 2600 BC, Shang about 1600 BC.
Check the order by comparing the gaps. Sumer and Egypt began within a few hundred years of each other, while the Shang is nearly 2,000 years after Sumer. The Indus cities fall between.
Explain the rivers. Water and fertile mud gave good harvests, which produced a surplus. With spare food, some people could become builders, traders, priests or scribes, and towns grew into cities. Boats on the river helped trade.
Add a caution: dates are estimates based on archaeology, and a civilisation grows gradually, so there is no exact start.

In order: Sumer, Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley, then the Shang Dynasty. They began beside rivers because river water and fertile soil gave a food surplus, which allowed cities, specialist jobs and trade to develop.

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking Ancient Egypt was the first civilisation

Egypt is the best known, with pyramids and mummies in films and museums, so children assume it came first.

What helps: Show the timeline: the cities of Sumer appeared slightly before Egypt’s unification, and several other civilisations were developing at the same time in different places.

Believing all ancient civilisations were in Europe or were connected

Most children first meet Romans and Greeks, so they picture history happening in one region.

What helps: Use a world map and mark each civilisation. Some traded with each other, such as Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, while others, like the Shang, developed largely independently.

Getting BC dates the wrong way round

Everyday numbers get bigger as time goes on, but BC counts down towards the year 1, so 3500 BC is earlier than 1600 BC.

What helps: Imagine a countdown to a rocket launch: 10, 9, 8, and so on. A bigger BC number is further from the launch, so it is longer ago.

Treating “civilised” as meaning better or cleverer than other people

In everyday language the word can suggest politeness or superiority, so children may think societies without cities were less intelligent.

What helps: Explain that “civilisation” is a historian’s label for a particular kind of society. People living in other ways were just as intelligent, and often more skilled at living in their landscapes.

How to help at home

Draw a rivers map. Using an atlas or a globe, find the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and the Yellow River. Colour them in and mark where each early civilisation grew up.
Make a BC number line. Stretch a long piece of paper or string across the floor and mark 4000, 3000, 2000 and 1000 BC, then AD 1 and today. Put the civilisations on it, and add events your child already knows, such as the building of Stonehenge about 5,000 years ago.
Play the “what do you need?” game. Ask what a group of 5,000 people would need to live in one place: food, water, homes, rules, jobs, ways to keep records. It builds the idea of why cities and civilisations developed.
Visit a museum collection. Many museums have free galleries of early objects, clay tablets, seals and tools. Pick one object and ask what it might have been used for and what it tells us about the people who made it.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: A significant society in world history