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The First Cities, States, and Empires

Driving Question: How did ancient communities grow larger and more complex?

As agriculture spread and intensified, human communities grew. Villages expanded into large cities. For the first time, human communities grew beyond tens of thousands. As cities linked together, they formed powerful states and complex networks that still shape our world today.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Analyze the causes and consequences of urbanization and expanding networks of exchange.
  2. Investigate the characteristics of the first states and the qualities that united people living there.
  3. Use causal reasoning to evaluate demographic changes that were the result of farming.

Vocab Terms:

  • dynasty
  • empire
  • government
  • inequality
  • patriarchal
  • periphery
STEP 1

Opener: The First Cities, States, and Empires

Teaching Tools

Check out this blog post External link from the OER Project team to learn more about narratives and frames and how they connect to other key concepts in the course.

STEP 2

Sourcing History

Teaching Tools

Check out the Sourcing One-Pager for a quick review of teaching sourcing.

STEP 3

Urbanization

Teaching Tools

Looking for ways to give feedback to students on their causation skills? Here’s the Causation Feedback Form.

Examine the possible causes and consequences of population growth from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE, as humans transitioned to agriculture and began forming agrarian societies.

STEP 4

States and Empires

Teaching Tools

Need a refresher on the Three-Step Reading process as your students unpack these articles? Check out this tool.

What’s a state? What’s an empire? Historians frequently debate these questions. Explore these articles to find answers, and then apply what you’ve learned in the activity.

STEP 5

Mesopotamian Empires

The first empires appeared in Mesopotamia. The Akkadians and Assyrians conquered the region, expanding their power and offering a new model of governance.

STEP 6

Closer: The First Cities, States, and Empires

Teaching Tools

Read about how other teachers use claim testing to help students evaluate claims in this conversation External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

Think about what you know to be true—and false—about the first cities, states, and empires. Can you tell what’s real and what’s not?

Extension Materials
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Delve deeper into the world of early cities, states, and empires with this video and article.
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First States

When and where did states begin? Two historians explain the who, what, where, and how of state creation.

First States External link

People built states at different times and in different places—but historians don’t always agree on the details.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.