Comparison Of River Valley Civilizations

One way early river valley civilizations affected the future was developing a written language. The Sumerians were the very first people to develop a written language. That language was called cuneiform. They used a writing tool to carve shapes into a certain surface. It was kind of like only using emojis to communicate. According to document 1, “Sumerians invented this writing system to keep track of business dealings because they traded with people who lived in lands that were hundreds and even thousands of miles away.” (Document 1). They used cuneiform for that and to keep records, and to pass new ideas from generation to generation.

Ancient river valley civilizations were some of the most innovative and inventive civilizations in history and are a key element to technologies and innovations in present day. Communities and civilizations in current-day China, India, and Egypt are heavily responsible for inventing some of the world’s most important inventions. For example, irrigation systems, writing, sewage systems, calendars, and much more were created in these ancient river valley civilizations . Ancient buildings such as the Great Pyramids and other religious temples were built with techniques that are still used today and advanced construction all over the world.

There were four main ancient River Valley civilizations: the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, the Nile River of Egypt, the Indus River of India, and the Yellow River of China. These civilizations showed specific similarities and contrasting differences. Many of these differences and similarities showed up in the three categories of the technological advances, the types of government, and the geography of the civilization. Two civilizations that are very interesting to delve deeper into and study the contrasting societies are China and Egypt. Since China and Egypt were both isolated from the outside, they developed with a strong focus on technology and learning with strong governments to hold the nations together.

The earliest forms of civilizations were said to be located on the three river valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia, the Nile River in ancient Egypt and the Huang He and Indus River in ancient India and China. These three river valley civilizations had many differences yet still lived common life styles. Although the civilizations are located on different continents, they share similar social, political, and economic beliefs from their intellectual developments to types of government to religious beliefs and trading systems.

Although early river valley civilizations developed in four separate places, they seem to have more similarities than differences. This essay will compare and contrast the ancient Egyptian, Harappan, Chinese, and Sumerian civilizations.

The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt develop into successful civilizations by having floods from the nile river that provided water, food and fertile area in the middle of the desert as document 1 states. In document 2 it says that they also had rivers that provided many resources such as transportation, trade as well as plants, the rivers were surrounded by deserts.

Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley civilization were two incredibly productive and successful empires. While Mesopotamian politics were slightly less focused on religion and more on other aspects, the two societies shared many social characteristics. They both had defined social hierarchies, as well as similar views on gender roles. These traits are helpful in explaining the similarities and differences between the two cultures.

The river valley civilizations of Sumer, Egypt, India, and China were historical pillars of innovation. Not only were they each responsible for having forged new technological innovations, but they each created their own system of writing as well. Each of them meets the requirements of being labeled as a “civilization” because each had a form of social organization, trade and economic activity, government, division of labor, and some form of record keeping. What sets them apart from one another are the specifics within the similarities they shared. These similarities and differences within their technological innovations and writing are numerous.

I chose the Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley. These two civilizations are two of the most favorable ancient civilizations. Although these civilizations are similar in many ways, the small, but impacting differences it what makes these two civilizations stand out the most. The Nile River Valley was located in northern Africa in a country called Egypt. Mesopotamia was located in modern day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Kuwait, and parts of Turkey. The origin of Mesopotamia comes from the meaning “between two rivers.” The land is between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Defining moments for human civilization began within these two.

The first topic of comparison is the prospect of culture and environment in each society. Due to cultural diffusion amongst the civilizations, except geographically isolated China, among other factors, it can be deduced that the civilizations had many similar practices. However, each society boasted distinctive qualities. Early Mesopotamia, known by the moniker of “the land between the rivers,” was a fertile plain settled near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers located in the Fertile Crescent. All of the river valley civilizations settled near a river. Egypt settled near the Nile; the Indus Valley

    The river valley civilizations developed writing systems. Each writing system was unique, but they also had similarities between them. The people from Mesopotamia had a writing system called “cuneiform.” The Egyptians had a writing system called “hieroglyphics.” Cuneiform was a writing system based on pictures (3.) Just like cuneiform, hieroglyphics was also based on pictures (11.) Both writing systems presented objects or ideas. Also, they were both carved into stone.

The civilizations of the Nile River valley, the Mesopotamia valley, and Indus Valley marked human progress toward fixed settlements and the development of a rich culture. These civilizations shared many characteristics that contributed to their success. What made these civilizations unique were the contributions that each one gave to the world. They contributed their own ideas and accomplishments in the areas of religion, science, and mathematics. These contributions defined each civilization and how they would be remembered, as well as, their importance to the world.

Some similarities among the cities and city-states that developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley were that they were all created around a big river, and they all used the river to their to really survive by using it for irrigation purposes to grow crops.

The most important achievements that are made by ancient civilizations, are those that are long lasting and affect multitudes of diverse people. A standardized writing system, calendar, and a new practice of religion are the most important and long lasting contributions made by Ancient River Valley Civilization. While things like protected cities, indoor plumbing, the wheel, and the plow are very crucial aspects of one’s life today, they just do not match up to the benefits of the other inventions that were made by the same civilizations.

Another god is Inti, the sun god also known as the father of Incan rulers.(the one living god there)