Mesopotamia Dbq Essay

What similarities and differences did Egypt and Mesopotamia have and why was Egypt more politically unified than its neighbor, Mesopotamia? I think in order to answer these questions it is important to look at how both societies lived. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two civilizations existing during the time period of 2000-1200 BCE.(text, 97) These civilizations were shaped by their environment, involved with trade, and faced changes in government after the 100 year drought; however, they differed in that Egypt was shaped by the Nile, traded goods for goods and changed their outlook on the pharaoh who was ruler of all; whereas, Mesopotamia was shaped by the Tigris and Euphrates, traded money for goods, and had a ruler over rulers. The

The Nile River was surrounded by the Western Desert on the west, by the Eastern Desert on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, which provided natural barriers to keep out invaders. (Doc. A). The land hugging the Nile was relatively flat, so it was good for farming. The water from the Nile could be used to bathe in, catch food, and for many other uses. Also, the Nile flooded frequently, so the water was a very important resource. (Doc. B). The flood water provided fertile soil for farming and made it possible for the ancient Egyptians to have a stable food supply. The Nile was very long, so it provided for many people, and it allowed the Egyptians to grow food like date palms and flax. (Docs. A and D).

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.

Rivers can help develop different civilizations such as the Nile River. This great river measures thirty five hundred miles through many different countries (Orlin, 2010). The Nile helped to bring life, security and dictated how the people planned activities throughout the year. For example, the farmers would seed the land after the Nile would start swell and then recede to its normal banks (Orlin, 2010). This helped the seedlings to grow and then produce bountiful harvest. The Nile provided security for the Egyptian people by allowing the reeds and natural grasses around the bank of the river (Orlin, 2010). This would allow any enemy that wanted to attack to not

One way geography can affect the lives of people in the Ancient World is by allowing them to flourish permanent settlements. One important geographical feature that paved the way for permanent settlements is rivers. Rivers are necessary for major cities in the Ancient World to remain prosperous, as seen in the Geography of the Ancient Middle East Map (Doc 5). Rivers provide fertile soil for farming and plentiful drinking water. In Mesopotamia, two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates helped shape civilization for the next 2000 years. In Egypt, however, the Nile River was so important; it was given a hymn, as

Ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt develop into successful civilizations in many ways. For example document one it states ¨Heavy rains caused the Nile to overflow regularly, which made the soil fertile and good for farming.¨ Lots of people wanted to have good crops to live on. As many people did it on land lots of people did it by the Nial River. Like many sumers people like to work hard to please the king.

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.

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 Old Kingdom from Ancient Egypt was considered to be the most successful part of their history. The economic surplus was great and the Pharaoh was ruling all of Egypt successfully. This allowed the civilization to thrive and led to the construction of the great pyramids. However the people of ancient Egypt had the biggest roles in controlling the economic surplus as they grew crops and constructed buildings for the population to grow and flourish.

All the civilizations lived among rivers. The ancient Egyptians lived among the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians highly regarded the Nile as incredibly important and life giving. The Nile was important because it watered all of the land and in return deposited silt that was used to grow crops to feed all the animals and people.

The Nile River helped the Egyptians to farm for food. If it was too high the river flooded the cities. If it was too low it would not give the soil nutrients for the farming. The farmers along the long and narrow Nile Valley developed irrigation methods to control the flow of the river so that it won't overflow or underflow, and make sure that the crops could grow through both its rainy and dry seasons.

Egypt developed around the Nile River, while Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt and Mesopotamia grew into complex civilizations. Politically, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler, but Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh, while Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king. Socially, both civilizations were patriarchal, but Egypt was more lenient towards women while Mesopotamia was stricter. The political and social structures of Egypt and Mesopotamia both similarities and differences.

The early cities of Mesopotamia fell from one warlord to another, and were constantly changing, unlike the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt that kept its stability. The Egyptians lived along the Nile River, which probably made it easier to govern the people. The King was the owner and ruler of all Egypt and was considered a god by the people. The economy was a royal monopoly, the peoples duties was to serve the King. In the old Kingdom

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

Economically, these two civilizations both shared prosperous success in similar manners. One connection between Mesopotamia and Egypt is that they both manipulated their designated rivers to perform critical trade operations by using them as routes. They were able to communicated and send goods with other civilizations in a farther location via the river system. Also, these two civilizations were very productive in the agricultural field due to the strategically created irrigation systems that provided water to their fertile soils to provide lush vegetations in Nile and Sumer. The one difference between Mesopotamia and Egypt in terms of economy is that the Nile government controlled most if not all of the trading monopoly, and they had their citizens pay substantial taxes.