Similarities Between The Ancient River Valley And Mesopotamia

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.

This can be seen when looking at the geography of where these civilizations originated. Just like the other three societies, Chinese civilization grew among the Huang He River, or the Yellow River. The river supplied water for the Chinese to be able to practice agriculture. The river also gave them a mode of transportation to move goods from place to place, just like the Harappans. Another characteristic of the Chinese that is similar to the Harappans was the fact that we do not know much about them because they did not leave any records behind. Life along the Yellow River was also similar to life along the Nile. The people of both civilizations built ditches and canals in the rivers in order to use them for transportation and irrigation. They both used water to feed their people, and cattle as they raised them along the river, and to use for their crops, as both rivers were fertile. Unlike the Nile, the Yellow River brought both positive and negative consequences. The Yellow River was also given another name by its people, the River of Sorrows. This was because the Yellow River did not flood regularly like the Nile, it was irregular. Some years the Yellow River would not flood at all, and in other cases it would flood and bring devastation to its people. The Egyptians luckily did not experience this with the Nile River, instead they celebrated it and called it their giver of

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 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.

Time after time throughout history we see civilizations succeeding by rivers such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley and the Yellow River. One of the things the rivers provided in Mesopotamia was the “ground is extremely fertile”. The Mesopotamians used the river for irrigation and the rich soil to produce and abundance of resources to support a large population.

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.

Ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes referred to as the “Cradle of Civilization”, was located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, bringing the Greek origin of its name, of “land between rivers”. There were two very different regions in ancient Mesopotamia:

Mesopotamia means “the land between two rivers” (Tigris and Euphrates rivers). In Mesopotamia, A man named Hammurabi conquered and united all of the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule (Document 2). His advancement of Mesopotamia was his set of laws. It is an advancement because his laws were one of the first written laws. These laws were called “Hammurabi’s Code”. The type of laws were an “Eye for an Eye” which means if you killed someone you would also be killed. It wasn’t a fair policy because if you killed someone of a lower class all your punishment would be is a fine.

1. What are some similarities and differences among the cities and city-states that developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley?

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 civilization, were hosts to some of the greatest ancient kingdoms of mankind. These empires shared a number of common practices due to similar geographical settings, but likewise they were different in their structure, customs, and views. The ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia shared many similarities; however Egypt was more prosperous economically, established a superior, unwavering political structure, and possessed more unified and content religious views.

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.

Mesopotamia was the world's first civilization--the first time people settled down to live together in one place. They didn't have to rely only on hunting and gathering to get food because they knew how to farm and could save up food for the winter. Since they had so much extra time now (the time they used to spend hunting animals and gathering plants), this allowed them to begin creating objects and ideas to help them live a little easier.

Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilizations have long been compared throughout history and were both some of the earliest civilizations in the world. Mesopotamia, also known as, 'the land between the rivers,' was named for the triangular area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. This area has been extended and now covers modern day Iraq, adding ancient Assyria and Babylonia to that land. The Indus civilization is often referred to as the Harappan civilization from the first city discovered called Harappa. The Indus civilization existed in the vast river plains of what are now Pakistan and northwestern India between the Indus and Ganges rivers from about 2800 BC to 1800 BC. Though these two territories had many things in common