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

Around 3500 B.C, the first ancient River Valley Civilizations were formed. The Nile was the first civilization in the River Valley. Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia were three of these civilizations, that contributed crucial things for societies to come.

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 civilizations in river valleys both had communities that were forced to work together due to the lack of agricultural resources. They each had to focus on maintaining canals, dikes, weirs, and other structures related to the valleys. Floods were constantly a threat, and so each civilization had a different view on nature’s aspects. Mesopotamians tried their best to please the kings and queens of nature, while Egyptians trusted supernatural powers. The difference in religious thoughts led to contrasting attitudes towards life after death and therefore burials. Egyptians displayed the majority of their wealth on their tombstones. Rulers of Egypt had several rooms dedicated to their passing, so as to provide a better afterlife. Mesopotamians built new cities, walls, palaces, and religious buildings, as final exhibitions of their existence. River valley civilizations had different opinions on the role of women. Mesopotamians women in the second millennium had little freedom, but Egyptians women had a high level of respect, as referred to in poems and books.

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.

As a basketball player, I must travel to different towns away from greely. As I travel to these towns I must adapt to the new environment that I am faced with. Things like the fans, The other team having a home court advantage and the new court. The River valley citations also had to adapt to their environment, but it was life or death in their case. In order to survive, they had to start their civilizations near water in order to survive. They could not be picky about where the water source was located, so they had to overcome some serious challenges. These original river valley civilizations had a major impact on civilizations today.

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.

For Confucians life after death is not a big thing, Confucius said that there was no point on speculating about things that nobody can know anything about. But after you die, you deserve to be worshipped as an ancestor. This is the exact opposite in Daoism, they believe that the soul survives after death and has the ability to travel through space. They also believe in immortality, but immortality doesn 't mean living for ever in the physical body, the idea is that as the Daoist draws closer and closer to nature throughout

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

Buddhism is a religion that is practiced by millions of people across the world. It is a religion that heavily focuses on a variety of traditions, beliefs, and spiritual practices that are based on the teachings of the Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama. Periodically viewed as a philosophy or a religion, the teaching of Confucius also known as Confucianism, is concerned with primarily ethnical principles; the way of life. Buddhism and Confucianism are both spiritual beliefs that sought ways to end peoples suffering across the world. For those that practice the Buddhist faith or that of Confucius can see many of the similarities and differences that both these practices share. To understand the similarities and differences one needs to be exposed to the pathways of Confucianism and Buddhism.