Four River Valleys

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.

Louis L’Amour, author of “Rivers West” and many other famous books and short stories, was born in Jamestown North Dakota March 22, 1908. L’Amour was an indifferent student and dropped out of school at the age of 15. The next two decades L’Amour traveled the world and held many different jobs, he was a lumberjack, an elephant trainer, a miner, and during World War 2 he served as an officer in the tanks corps in Europe. It was not till he came back from World War 2 that he decided to be a writer and he wrote books as wells short stories, but finally after years his big break came at the age of 46 with the western book “Hondo” which later was adapted into a movie done by John Wayne. L’Amour married Katherine Elizabeth Adams in 1956, and they had two children. Over the next thirty years L’Amour wrote many more books and short stories, some were eventually adapted into movies, and on June 10,1988 Louis L’Amour died of lung cancer though he was not a smoker.

The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt develop into successful civilizations by having floods from the nile river that provided water, food and fertile area in the middle of the desert as document 1 states. In document 2 it says that they also had rivers that provided many resources such as transportation, trade as well as plants, the rivers were surrounded by deserts.

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

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 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.

During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent

The Indus Valley was located along the Indus and Ganges Rivers. The Yellow Valley was located along the Huang He (aka Yellow) and the Yangtze Rivers. 11) Fertile land/soil aided the agricultural production of the RVCs. Page 1 of 5Page 2 of 512) Egypt was located in the Fertile Crescent. 13) The Code of Hammurabi helped Hammurabi to keep order in a society. This was developed in Mesopotamia. 14) A Ziggurat was a tiered, pyramid­shaped structure that formed part of a Sumerian temple.It was similar to a pyramid. 15) The "Miracle of the Nile" was yearly flooding that brought fertile soil which allowed sedlements to grow. 16) Two significant features of the Indus Valley citites of Mohenjo­Daro and Harappa was that they both had advanced plumbing and sewage and advanced city planning. 17) The Caste System was the social class pyramid of Ancient India. 18) The Huang he is also known as the Yellow River because huge amounts of yellowish Silt is deposited when it overflows it's banks 19) The Mandate of Heaven in Chinese history was the divine approval thought to be the basis of royal authority. The Dynastic cycle was the historical pattern of the rise, decline, and replacement of

The earliest societies, such as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt exhibiting indicator traits of civilization developed along the floodplains of great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, and the Nile in Egypt. People had settled in Mesopotamia by 7000 B.C. and the First Dynasty of Egyptian

These early civilizations experienced similar environmental situations that contributed to the shaping of their societies because both societies were built around two river valleys. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates river, but their river valley societies were surrounded by a desert that was easy terrain. While the first Chinese civilization developed along the Huang he (Yellow) and Yang Zi rivers, but this society was isolated from the rest of the world. Ancient China was surrounded by various environmental barriers; deserts from the north and west, the surrounding oceans from the east, and mountainous valleys from the south limited this societies interaction. Even though these civilizations had different environmental surroundings, they both had to adapt to their situations. These societies were located in fertilely rich lands that were great for agricultural lifestyles,

Both cultures were stationed near a river, which enhanced their agriculture tremendously. This advancement gave rise to a better economy. Later, trading had begun between nations which

The “Urban Revolution” started around 6,000 years ago, after 3,500 BCE, with the transition from Neolithic cultures to the establishment of the first of six different independent civilizations. Each of these civilizations arose independently from each other, were distinctly pristine in their beginnings, and principally located on or near major river tributaries and watersheds. They include the Tigris and Euphrates river basin known as Mesopotamia, which is present day Iraq, the Nile River basin in Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Ganges River systems in India; the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China in Asia and the Middle East. Additionally, the Amazon River basin in Peru; and the Sierra Madre Occidental - Del Sur Mountain Range watershed system

In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. Mesopotamia had rich soil for agriculture, but experiences floods. For the Mesopotamians, these floods would destroy major cities, but for the Egyptians it would keep the soil rich all year long without the damage that the Mesopotamians had experienced.