1. The Ziggurats were at the city centre on a platform and appeared like steep pyramids, with staircases leading to the top.
2. Around this temple were complexes of ceremonial courtyards, shrines, burial chambers for the priests and priestesses, ceremonial banquet halls, along with workshops, granaries storehouses and administrative buildings.

1. The Numerous sculpture, paintings and carvings attest to the artistic skills of Egyptians.
2. Their writing is also a form of art.
3. Giza pyramids are considered to be one of the wonders of the world.
4. These monuments display the engineering, architectural and human resource management skills of the Egyptians.

USE OF NON-CONVENTIONAL SOURCES OF ENERGY:
(i) India depends on thermal and hydro power plants to meet its power needs.
(ii) Both these sources have an adverse environmental impact.
(iii) They emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, which pollute the environment.
SOLAR POWER:
(i) Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity either directly using photovoltaic cells or indirectly using concentrated solar power.
(ii) Solar panels absorb the sunlight as a source of energy to generate electricity.
(iii) A solar electric system can reliably produce electricity for our home and offices.
(iv) It reduces their electricity costs.
(v) Tamilnadu is the state with highest installed solar capacity in India.
(vi) Tamilnadu is one of the leading solar power producing states in India.

Democracy is the dominant form of government in the contemporary world. It has not faced a serious challenge or a rival so far. In the last hundred years, there has been an expansion of democracy all over the world. The various aspects of democracy and its challenges are:
1. Illiteracy
2. Poverty
3.. Gender discrimination
4. Regionalism
5. Casteism, communalism and religious fundamentalism
6. Corruption
7. Criminalisation of politics.
8. Political violence

Philosophy:
1. Lao Tze was the master achive keeper of Chou state. He was the founder of Taoism.
2. He argued that desire is the root cause of all evils.
Confucius:
1. Confucius was famous among the Chinese philosophers and a political reformer.
2. He insisted on cultivation of one's own personal life.
3. He said, "If personal life is cultivated, family life is regulated and once family life is regulated, national life is regulated."
Mencius:
1. Mencius was another well-known Chinese philosopher.
2. He travelled throughout China and offered his counsel to the rulers.
Literature:
1. Chinese poets and philosophers contributed to the development of Chinese civilisation.
2. Sun-Tzu, B military strategist, wrote the work called Art of War.
3. The Spring and Autumn Annals is the official chronicle of the state at the time.
4. The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine is considered China's earliest written book on medicine.
5. It was codified during the time of Han Dynasty.

1. The writing of Egyptians were called hieroglyphic.
2. This form of writing used a pictogram based system.
3. Hieroglyphic was used in inscriptions on seals and other objects.
4. Many texts and books were written using this script.
5. The Egyptian writing system was deciphered by the French scholar Franco is Champollion cuneiform.
6. Cuneiform is the Sumerian writing system.
7. The shape of the letter is in the form of wedge and hence it is called cuneiform
8. It is one of the earliest scripts of the world.
9. The epic of Gilgamesh was written in this script.
10 The Sumerians used this script for commercial transactions and writing letters and stories.
11. The clay tablets contain loads of information on the Sumerian civilisation.

(i) PPI - Purchasing Power Parity
(ii) HD - Human Development Index.

The major indicators to measure the level of economic development are
1. Net National Product (NNP),
2. Per Capita Income (PCI),
3. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP),
3. Human Development Index (HDI).

(i) Development refers to the progress of a particular field or a particular person.
(ii) The economic progress of a country is known as economic development.
(iii) Development refers to the improvement in quality of life such as higher income, better education, better health and nutrition less poverty and more equal opportunity.

Abraham Lincoln defines democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people