How Is The Shang Civilization Different From Ancient Chinese Civilization

One of the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful civilizations is by their water sources. In document 1, the river Nile in Egypt flooded every year, which gave the land around it soft fertile ground, great for planting crops. Most people lived near the river. In document 2, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which was also called the Fertile Crescent, provided food, transportation, and plants. They were especially populated since the area had deserts and mountains. Another reason is their rulers. As stated in document 3, the ancient Egyptian looked at their ruler, the pharaoh, as one of their gods in a human form, serving them well and deciding what’s best for the country. Quoting document 4, the people of Mesopotamia

Ancient River Valley Civilizations The first four ancient river civilizations all developed in a similar, complex manner and left behind many accomplishments with great influence on following civilizations. While all four has expected differences in culture and language, there are some core similarities that they all share. In order to maintain a

Egypt and Mesopotamia were both located near rivers, and these rivers helped shape everyday life. Both civilizations used their respective rivers (Nile for Egypt, Tigris and Euphrates for Mesopotamia) to help grow crops. However, the Nile was much calmer and more predictable than the Tigris and Euphrates, making it much easier to grow crops and predict when the waters would rise. The Tigris and Euphrates were much more unpredictable, flooding irregularly and requiring more labor to grow crops. The Nile’s calmness and predictability allowed Egyptians to get an abundance of food while not having to work as much, giving them time to spend on other things, such as building pyramids and temples.

Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to

Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia The setting is around 3000 BCE, surrounded on all sides by vast, arid deserts, steep cliffs, and extensive bodies of water. And, in these massive deserts civilization exists; there are grand, shining empires, pillars of humanity. Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, both known as cradles of

The ancient lands of Mesopotamia are unknown territory for many people. It is one of the earliest civilizations in the world. The first great civilization, located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was developed in 3500 BC. Word “Mesopotamia” is derived from two Greek words meaning ‘land between two rivers’. The region is a vast, dry plain through which two great rivers flow. People of Mesopotamia were ‘Sumerians’. Tigris and Euphrates created fertile river basins for the region. World’s first cities grew up in Mesopotamia. The people of Mesopotamia were among the first to use the written words and a language of their own. Mesopotamia is known as the “cradle of civilization”. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided rich fruitful soil and

The historical land of Mesopotamia significantly contributed to early civilization in relation to its close proximity to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and rich fertile land it provided. The rivers offered the people of Mesopotamia fertile soil, irrigation water for crops and fishing, and also supplied an abundance of wild barley and wheat for food or could stored as a food supply.

How were the needs for water and economic structures in some of the earliest of world’s civilizations cities and states met around 3100 BCE-100 CE and how did they get there? The cities and states back then depended on working waterways and architectural growth in order for their population to thrive. The larger the population, the greater the need for more easily and readily available water. When we think of a large population, we often think of the word civilization and if they had certain traditions that may have been passed down. Some of the first known civilizations were that of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt which were located along the well-known Nile, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. They had traditions just like any other culture, but the Mesopotamians wrote them down allowing historians a glimpse into their culture and their need for water. By looking at these civilizations today, we can talk about the political and economic factors of how water supplies were regulated around Mesopotamia and

The overflow, flooding, or lack thereof of the rivers as well as weather differences contributed greatly to the economic stability of each country. As previously stated, Mesopotamians were farmers. The flooding of the Tigris and the

Mesopotamia was a successful farming community early on. Utilizing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers this community was able to create a successful way of farming through the use of irrigation and drainage ditches (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2010). Once the use of irrigation became large scale and widely used it was possible to support a larger community base and thus encouraged expansion throughout the civilization.

The first thing I have learned when I was learning about the civilizations was the river system. There were two rivers in Mesopotamia called the Tigris and Euphrates river. The rivers in Mesopotamia had flooded and damaged crops and destroyed crops, but had

Mesopotamia has two kinds of agriculture: dry farming in the North (Assyria) and irrigation farming in the south (Babylonia and Sumer)” (Rhea Nemet-Nejat, 253). They used their northern land to raise the animals to produce those products and used the southern land to grow crops. All of these things for valuable to have so that they could trade. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the only way to make this possible, but they were constantly flooding which was bad for their land. To stop the flooding they created an irrigation system. This way they could control the way the rivers flow and prevent flooding. The irrigation system was also a great advancement for the civilization because of the hot climate which would dry out the soil with out it. Because this system was so important, it was a duty for the king to keep it working efficiently. Scribes and overseers managed the projects, and the common people were ordered to work on them through the system of forced labor. To be able to farm the people needed the equipment to do so. Farming tools were made of stone and bone. Metals such as bronze were far too expensive to use in this way, while copper was too soft for most uses.

Each civilization flourished agriculturally as a result of location. Mesopotamian's were polytheistic, as were the Egyptians, and believed that droughts and other natural disasters were the results of angry gods needing appeasement. Located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Mesopotamia was prone to storms and flooding so it was conjectured that their gods were frequently angry with them. For this reason, they became proficient in diverting flood waters from the fields to be stored for later agricultural use. Mesopotamian's honored the gods through worship and the work that was executed from day to day. Men worked specialized jobs outside the home, whereas, women cooked, cleaned and raised the children. Women had equal rights and

One of the most important aspects of a successful civilization is their ability to thrive in agricultural production. Civilizations that were based in Mesopotamia had a great agricultural advantage because the land they were on was extremely fertile and they had two great sources of water: the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Soon after 6000 BCE, early Mesopotamian cultivators realized the potential of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and began to build reservoirs and canals to manipulate water in order to irrigate their crops. In Mesopotamia, many citizens farmed fields of barley, wheat, and peas, while Egyptians primarily focused on legumes because of their use in increasing soil fertility and their high protein content. The second civilization