World History: Six First Civilizations

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

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.

In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.

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 was the life force of ancient Egypt. People from all over the region immigrated to the area for its irrigation waters and rich silt deposits. The geography of the region played a huge role in the way the inhabitants and civilization in general was formed. The main core of Egypt covered 386, 560 square miles, of which only 11, 720 were cultivable (Tignor et al., Worlds Together, 62). The Nile differed itself specifically from the Tigris and Euphrates in that its waters did not irrigate or fertilize nearly as well but it did create green belts along the water. This created a society that flourished along the river. The Nile unlike Mesopotamia did not have a bountiful borderland but did have a desert rich in materials. The Niles predictability as the source of life and abundance shaped the character of the people and their culture. (Tignor et al., Worlds Together, 63). The Nile was peaceful and calm unlike the vicious Tigris And Euphrates Rivers. Egypt with its natural borders, which included the Mediterranean Sea, Deserts, and Large Waterfalls, was very isolated. This helped to achieve

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.

These three civilizations created cultures that built societies and people for future generations. Starting around 3100 BC they began. The rule of King Menes began the Egyptian civilization by unifying the Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom (Duiker and Speilvogel 17). The Mesopotamian civilization located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, began with the Sumerians people (Duiker and Speilvogel 9). Also, in now what is modern day India, another civilization began. It was located in the Indus River Valley with the Harappan people (Duiker and Speilvogel 38). Three early civilizations laid the foundation for what would be the progression of future civilizations, all of which would greatly influenced the world.

The first civilizations, the foundations for future empires, were all founded and created between 3500 B.C.E. and 500 B.C.E. by groups of nomadic peoples who decided to settle in an area for certain group specific reasons. Some of the main states of the first civilization were Mesopotamia, Norte Chico, Egypt, Indus Valley, China, and Olmec. The second wave civilizations, built between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E., included the Persians, the Greeks, Romans, Chinese (Qin and Han), and India (Mauryan and Gupta). The first wave civilizations were sparked by the agricultural movement that led to the settlement of large groups of people in areas that became the cities and states that formed these first civilizations. The rise of civilization led to

Early civilizations started to form beginning from the fourth millennium B.C.E. such as ancient Egypt and early China under the Shang and Zhou. Geography had significant influences on the development of economy, religion, society, and culture in these two civilizations. While both ancient Egypt and early China were isolated by natural borders and thrived on their great river systems, Egypt and China had access different natural resources which affected their culture and religion.

Early civilizations and empires of the Middle East and Egypt developed several distinct characteristics. Babylon, Ancient Israelites, and Egypt developed characteristics that included governmental, social, and economic structures as well as distinct religions and innovations. These civilizations and empires existed between 2,575 B.C. - 323 B.C. and most of them had notable rulers.

Ancient China was ruled by several dynasties and every reign added a unique element to life and society.The chinese was one of the first earliest civilizations, the Zhou dynasty (1046 BC to approximately 256 BC) was the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou dynasty began to emerge in the Yellow River valley, overrunning the territory of the Shang .Surrounded by mountain ranges and river valleys it makes it hard for people to travel or trade their crops and keep their live stocks up, so they have to mostly rely on their

The following are the Chinese dynasties in order from oldest to most recent: Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The legendary dynasty is the Xia, which is believed to be around 2000 BC. The Shang (1700-1000BC) developed the first written Chinese language. The Zhou (1028-221BC) built the first roads, expanded trade contacts and trade routes, and also developed plows and irrigation systems. Trade at this time was expanding in China. The Qin Dynasty (221-207BC) built the famous Great Wall of China as a defense mechanism and also united all of China under one central government. Next is the Han Dynasty (207BC-AD220), which did a lot for China in terms of trading. They developed the Great Silk Road, a trading route that stretched from China all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sui Dynasty (589-618) united almost all of China. Followed in suit by the Tang Dynasty (618-917) discovered one of Chinas' leading exports, porcelain. During the Tang Dynasty, the first block-style printing press was invented. The Song Dynasty (960-1279) came next, which took over all of China and later took the southern rule after being conquered by the Jin. The Song Dynasty is responsible for developing Chinese cuisine as we know it today. During this time period the compass and gunpowder were also discovered. The Jin Dynasty (1127-1234) took rule over Northern China from the Song. The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) brought a long period of peace to

Extremely early Egyptians began settling along the Nile during the Neolithic period. The Nile provided necessary resources such as water, wildlife, and the ability to grow crops that the new form of human settlement had become accustom to. The Nile provided life for the Egyptians, but the desert around The Nile, was filled with nothing but death for humans. The

Ecology shaped the culture of Egypt civilizations which helped them progress and ultimately spread around. The Nile River was the reason that gave an optimistic shape of the Egyptian culture. The Egyptians learned to cultivate the land from the Nile to grow crops. As a result, the valley became densely populated. The river was considered a source of blessing rather than a cause of the curse because of predictable flooding and controlled irrigation system, they were able to produce a surplus amount of food which help them focus on new innovation and social development.(The Hym of a Nile) With the help of ecology, the Egyptians civilization evolved rapidly, developed its own systems which include (hieroglyphics) writing, (astronomy) predicting the pattern of weather and (architecture) scripture of god and goddesses. In addition, near the Nile river was the “papyrus,” a form of paper, Egyptian 's used

The civilization of Ancient Egypt was one of the earliest in history one of the things that most help the Ancient egyptians was the Nile river.The Nile river is located in egypt and was a huge benefit to the Ancient Egyptians (Transportation,Water,Food),. Today i am going to explain why that is.