River Valley Civilization

The early river valley civilizations did many things in their time that affected the future today. The early river valley civilizations were the first to use a written language, develop laws and beliefs, and also had many innovations that affect today's world. All of the civilizations contributed to different categories including writing, laws, and innovation to affect the future with setting their own rules and invention.

River valley civilizations were common as complex societies began to emerge. The ways of life in the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates civilizations parallel each other, yet still have their differences. The beginnings of advanced societies in the Nile river valley were numerous small kingdoms that governed themselves. When an official named Menes rose to power, he unified Egypt and created a central government controlled by a pharaoh. The pharaoh was said to be a god in human form. Offspring of the pharaoh inherited their divine kingship. In Mesopotamia, city-states ruled by kings emerged on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. During the Babylonian empire, King Hammurabi created an extensive list of rules to govern his empire. Unlike Egypt, women sometimes

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 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.

In the following treatise, the research that will be presented will provide criteria involving similarities and differences in three attributes of life in the four primary river valley civilizations. The river valley civilizations are composed of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China. While each of these civilizations is unique in their habits and traditions, they share many similar qualities. For this work to be as comprehensive as possible, the primary focus will be on comparing and analyzing the cultures and ambiance, or environments, political organization and religious beliefs, and social structures of each society. The following categories are going to be analyzed by utilizing the frameworks of the four river valley civilizations. Without further ado, a juxtaposition of the ancient river valley civilizations.

The Neolithic Revolution was the major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming. This revolution changed people’s lives in several ways. It changed the way people lived because before the Neolithic Revolution they relied on hunting and gathering food. It also changed the way they settled, because of this revolution they were able to live in villages for a long time, unlike before; they had to relocate often because their food source would become scarce.  The way civilizations lived changed because of the Neolithic Revolution. A civilization is a form of culture that consists of cities, advanced technology, specialized workers, complex institutions, and record keeping. The early river valley civilizations; which developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, and China, had more similarities than differences. The river valley civilizations were similar when it came to their writing systems, inventions, and geography. However, they were also different when it came to writing systems and inventions.

Ancient river valley civilizations are one of the earliest societies in the world. The rises of these ancient river valley civilizations started the first cradle of civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient China are the earliest civilizations that were successful enough to make enough food for everybody. Every one of these civilizations had three things in common: they all had a special relationship with the river, they created their own writing system, and they all relied on trade.

The Yellow River is located in Qinghai, China. In the present day it is not very dense in population. It is a very high-altitude called the Tibetan Plateau. It is place of strong Tibetan and Mongol cultural traditions in present day China. The Yellow River is known by all Chinese people as the “mother river” (Wu). It is also agreed upon by almost all Chinese people that it is the cradle of Chinese civilization and the spiritual home of the Chinese people (Zhou). The Yellow River is the symbol of the Chinese nation, the spirt of the Chinese people, but most importantly civilization itself.

Buddhism began in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ by Siddhartha Gautama. The teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, are the major beliefs of Buddhism. Buddhism is a belief and religion based on an assortment of customs, principles, and practices. The name Buddha means the awakened one. Buddha’s teachings were of the termination of suffering, attaining nirvana, and absconding from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Buddhism has spread all across Asia and throughout the world, now with between two hundred thirty million and five hundred million followers. Buddhism is largely based around the belief of Karma. Karma is the “action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation” (Dictionary.com) or “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.” (Dictionary.com) In simpler words, how you live your life now determines how you will come back when your current soul expires. Buddhists live their lives in hopes of achieving to be placed in the highest state known as Heaven. The after-life stems from Karma and leads into Rebirth. Rebirth is a course of action where humans proceed within multiple lifetimes in one or more of the six states of after-life. Each lifetime begins with birth and ends with death. Buddhists believe that we should not fear death because

River Valley civilizations changed a lot from the Neolithic time period, becoming more developed and elaborate. The ancient world between 1500 and 500 BCE became more complex and would share more commonalities than differences, socially, politically, and economically. Each River Valley civilization was unique, but they all had similar aspects in regards to social matters. Most of the religions people had were polytheistic, the belief in more than one God.

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is the oldest and fourth largest religion in the world with around 500 million followers. Buddhism focuses on teaching people how to come to terms with and end the suffering of themselves and others by cutting out greed, hatred, and ignorance from their lives. Unlike most major world religions, Buddhism does not revolve around worshiping a god or divine creator, instead the focus of Buddhism is living one 's best life and transforming the lives of others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment and upon death achieve Nirvana, the liberation of pain and suffering. For Buddhists, it is the individual’s responsibility to find his or her own path to enlightenment; the principles of Buddhism are seen more as guidelines than rules.

Although the Indus River Valley and Yellow River civilizations emerged close to the same time, and upon the same continent, they didn’t advance in the same way. While there are many similarities that should have caused for relatable civilizations, the Indus River Valley civilization quickly advanced with written records, ceramics, copper, an advanced sewer system, highly populated cities, and their city was built in a grid like pattern. However, the Yellow River civilization had some advancements like clay pottery, bronze and wooden tools, and silk clothing, but it doesn’t appear to have made fierce progress like the Indus River. This likely had to do with the rivers they developed by and trade. In continuation, a possible factor of the

Created by progressive erosion, the Huang He River Valleys give insights into Ancient Chinese Civilisations. The River is affectionately named "The Cradle of Ancient Chinese Civilisation." (Yellow River WWF, 2013). The Riverine Landscape was formed by water flow erosion from its source; the Kunlun mountains. This erosion has created valleys where the water currently flows downstream to the Bohai Sea. The water's colour is yellow because of the masses of the fertile Loess sediments deposited there, but often seen other colours due to pollution. This fertile soil has meant the land and banks is traditionally excellent for crop farming for the locals, but in modern times, excessive pollution has devastated this ability to farm freely. The river is known as having three main sections, the upper reaches, the middle reaches, and the Lower reaches. (China Travel, 2009) The image below shows that

The Yellow River Valley Civilization was one of the oldest civilizations in the world and main source of Chinese civilization. It is not just a river, but also stands for origins of their culture and civilization. Has been referred to as “the Mother River” to the Chinese and “the Cradle of Chinese Civilization.” The River was the birthplace of ancient civilizations in the Xia and Shang eras (2100-1600 BC and 1600-1046 BC). The Yellow River Valley Civilization was the most prosperous religion in early Chinese history. They regard yellow as a color of ancient origins- an emblem of the loess land the Yellow River flows through, the yellow skin of the Chinese, the legendary Chinese Dragon from whom they are descendants from, and the emperor.