Early Human Progress In Ancient China

In chapter 6 of Earth's in his people's we begin to see the similarities between the first civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt in which around roughly the same time The Fairly large Indus Valley Civilization Rose during the same time period as the first civilizations. Liking other civilizations the Indus Valley Civilization had huge cities, with the two most famous ones being Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in which archaeologist show that the cities were very organized with their Construction and standardization of styles and shapes of the things they built such as houses churches statues and many other things. The Indus Valley people had like other countries developed many sophisticated Technologies and works of art and unique buildings however,

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.

While Mesopotamian and the Indus River Valley were alike in their social characteristics, their political views differed slightly. Records from the Indus civilizations have yet to fully been translated, and therefore not much is known in the way of Indus political structure. What most historians assume is that it was broken into city-states with a common ruler, which is the way that Mesopotamia was governed as well. Despite this similarity, the Indus government was more focused on religious aspects than Mesopotamian government was. This can be deduced by the fact that Indus rulers were always priest-kings, while the highest status in Mesopotamia was achieved first by the king, and then by the priests. These kings were also usually the head of the military, while the priests ran schools, distributed land, were considered doctors, and were in charge of religion. Kings and

The 5 “hearths of civilization” are the ancient locations where society first developed. The 5 hearths of civilization are: The Indus River Valley, The Nile River Valley, Mesopotamia, The Huang He River Valley, and Mesoamerica. One thing that each of these unique ancient civilizations had in common was that they were all best suited for agriculture. Generally, this is because each group was located near water and the soil was usable for growing crops. In each of these civilizations, the “Agricultural Revolution” of about 8,000 B.C.E. was significant because it prompted the people of each land areas to develop farming as a central aspect of sustainability, providing for the development of cities, language, and further development.

Some ancient civilization depend on rivers for their agriculture like Mesopotamian, Egypt, India, and China. Neolithic Mesopotamian and Chinese civilization learned to adjust to climate by using a systematic agriculture of farming and herding, living sedentary and developing a pottery, allowing the preparation and storing food and water. Over time other civilization such Indus Valley from India learned to predict a flooding of the river and use it to their benefit. Unlike the Canaanites society from Egypt in which believed to sacrifice an infant and child in the name of the earth god(Baalim)and goddess(Baalot) to ensure a prosperous harvest.

“ All our civilization is based on invention; before invention, men lived on fruits and nuts and pine cone and slept in caves “ - Reginald Fessenden. All major civilizations have a significant influence on mankind and the different inventions the civilizations produced. Although, it is evident that the Chinese Civilization has the greatest impact on the development of man out of all of the civilizations due to the innovation of gunpowder, and the discovery of the silk road.

The origins of tea are rooted in China (Food Timeline). According to legend, the beneficial properties of tea were first discovered by the Emperor Shen Nung in the year 2737 B.C. He drank only boiled water for hygienic purposes, and one day while he drank a breeze rustled the branches of a tree and a few leaves fell into his cup. Creating the first cup of tea. It is challenging to know whether or not the emperor was real or just a part of the spiritual and cultural development of ancient China. China was not unified as an empire until the third century, so it is unlikely emperors existed back then. One thing that is known is that tea was popular in China thousands of years ago. The first written reference of tea is in the third century B.C. A famous surgeon recommended the beverage to patients to increase concentration and alertness. Tea was first written as “tu” in ancient texts. This caused a good deal of confusion because the same Chinese character was used for both tea and Chinese sow thistles. Between 206 B.C. and A.D. 220 a Han Dynasty emperor ruled that when referring to tea, the characters should be pronounced as “cha”. From here on, tracing tea’s history became easier because tea acquired its own individual character (Food Timeline).

I believe that ancient china was not just successful but it was one of the most successful ancient societies of all time. For such an early period of time that ancient china existed in, it was so advanced that it had religions and philosophy. A special route for merchants to travel along to trade on and inventions that have stayed modern for multiple millennia and more to come. Ancient china was so successful that they were able to be united by one man and become one of the oldest and largest civilisation to have ever existed.

Golden Age China had a greater cultural influence than did 21st century China, whereas 21st century China has had a greater economic influence. There were many cultural benefits from the Golden Era, including religion, fine arts, and innovations. As a result of the peace and stability which formed during the Tang dynasty, Buddhism was introduced and became a dominant religion among the Chinese. Alongside the new religion, Taoism was also a major religion in China. Through the bonding of these two religions, several other religions emerged, such as the Pure Land Sect, Tian-tai sect, and also Chan Buddhism.

Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley were all civilizations situated near rivers. In Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rose annually but were prone to flooding. In Egypt, on the other hand, the Nile River had predictable flooding and was and still is the longest river in the world. It was also easy to traverse due to southern wind patterns and northern currents. In the Indus Valley, people lived near the Indus River, hence the name. Also, they were isolated, surrounded by the Himalayas, just as Egypt was isolated, surrounded by deserts, mountains, seas, and cataracts. On the other hand, Mesopotamia was more open and vulnerable to invasion.

Both the Indus River Valley civilization and Mesopotamia existed in the time period of 2000-1200 BCE. The two civilizations had economies that had been agriculturally based, and in the civilizations both had polytheistic societies. On the other hand there were differences politically; Mesopotamia had consisted if city -states, while the Indus River Valley was centralized. Although there are similarities in their economics, politics, and culture, was found in their life, these civilizations have enough differences between each other that dignify them into two separate civilizations.

Sumerians came up with a solution that had made a massive difference for their lifestyle. They came up with a method to get water where they needed it. These were called irrigation systems and they looked like mini rivers. "The development of these irrigation works was a remarkable achievement of mind and muscle” (Farming). Irrigation systems made it possible for people to get water from rivers to the crops. Therefore, letting the crops grow instead of washing them away. “Mesopotamians became masters at controlling water. They had to drain marshy land to expose the rich soil, and they had to get water from the only source - the river(s) - to the crops”

The Harappan Civilization is arguably one of the most successful and cultivated human development known to this date. Known as the Chalcolithic period because of copper and stone use, this civilization started in around 2600 B.C - 1900 B.C and is the oldest civilization in the world. Although many refer to it as the “Indus Valley” Civilization, it is not technically accurate because this culture was spanning way further than the Indus, so it is more reasonable to call it Harappan. The development of this society contains many different aspects, such as geography and buildings, crafts and trade, religion and ritual impurity, etc. From what we know so far, the works of this civilization is truly remarkable.

The Indus valley civilizations was an intriguing and sophisticated ancient culture and also a major contributor in the development of what later came to be known as “Hinduism” . The civilization was founded “accidentally” in the 19th century when the British engineers were searching for ballast for a railway line in north-western India (which is now modern day Pakistan) and found the remains of what seemed to be an ancient city which was only known only to locals until then. In the early 20th century, when other similar sites were uncovered, archaeologists realized the significance of the discovery, which turned out to be one of the most prospering civilizations of the ancient world. It is called The Indus Valley Civilization because most of its settlements are situated along the banks of the Indus River .The largest and most important of this civilization were its two prospering cities known as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. These names are of post–Indus origin as they were given with reference to the towns built much later on the ruins of these ancient cities. During their prosperous period,, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa had a population of around 40-50 thousand, which was a lot by ancient standards. Both of these cities were highly organized and strategically planned, and displayed remarkably similar features during their excavation. Given the structure of the cities, archaeologists suggest that there may have been a central authority for code enforcement and the Harappan

The state in Indus civilization was governed by a centralized government. (Hawkes 1973:263). The regular planning of Indus towns and cities could only mean that each was built as a whole by an authority with absolute control (Hawkes 1973:273). Because of the uniformity over such a large area, it is almost guarunteed that the entire Indus area was a unified state. (Hawkes 1973:273). The two main sights were Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, and they were the commercial and administrative centers. It is unlikely that there were two equal rulers, however. (Hawkes 1973:2730). The citadels suggest a combination of a combined military and religious power. There weren't temples that dominated the area like at Mesopotamia, only a few shrines have been found in the Indus territory. (Hawkes 1973:276). We don't know the nature of the authority there, whether it was ruling priests or kings,(Whitehouse 1977:122) but we know the ruling elite had religious practices of ritual cleaning through bathing. (Whitehouse 1977:278).