History: Ancient Civilizations Essays

Submitted By sidneybrgn
Words: 711
Pages: 3
Open Document
Think about the two types of civilizations we have studied this semester - river valley and Mediterranean. Explain how their natural environments influenced their formation and focus. Also discuss how their geography impacted political structure, cultural development, achievements and technology, and religious beliefs.

River Valley Civilizations:
Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates (Sidney)
Egypt: The Nile (June)
India: Indus (Sidney)
China: Chang and Huang He (June)

Mediterranean Civilizations: (Ania)
Greece: Mediterranean
Rome: Mediterranean

Throughout all of the civilizations of the ancient world, geography played a significant role in determining the formation of those cultures. It impacted most aspects of life including the civilation’s economy, politics, technology and religion to form a set of diverse cultures.

1) Natural environments influence their formation and focus:
Mesopotamia:
The annual flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates created a stable water supply which allowed a surplus of crops.

Egypt:
The Nile River helped the empires develop both an agrarian and trade economy which benefitted both northern and southern Egypt.
Greece:
Having easy access to Mediterranean as well as having limited land led to an increase in trading. The mountainous terrain led to formation of diverse city-states.

India:
The unpredictable flooding of the Indus River was dangerous to human settlement, however it created very fertile soil for the river banks.
Rome:
Trading was important due to the nearby Mediterranean and size of empire.

China
The two rivers Yellow and Chang helped the Chinese civilizations flourish with farming. The mountainous terrains aided during invasions and kept invaders from crossing the boundary.

2) Geography and Political Structures
Greece:
Due to Greece’s mountain ranges, that served as barriers, a system of diverse city-states was formed.
Rome:
Rome developed imperialistic views as it ventured to gain as much land as possible ultimately leading the formation of an empire.

Egypt
1. The infertile empire gained from trading with the fertile empire while the fertile empire gained from the infertile “desert” empire by being protected from both sides and from precious metals. `

India:
India beared some of the most extreme weather conditions, however there were natural boundaries such as the Himalaya Mountains and the Indus River.

China Due to the fertility of the coast and the river areas, many provinces formed along those areas. The rivers, sea, and mountain ranges aided in weakening invaders or even stop them.

Mesopotamia:
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were bordered by hills which served as natural boundaries for the civilization.

3) Geography’s impact on Cultural Development
China
Along the rivers developed so many provinces that clans formed. These clans impacted the political structure as well forming aristocrats within each provinces.
Egypt:
The dependence on nature caused the Egyptians to confide in polytheism where their gods were based on nature. They lived in fear of the deity because the
Show More

Related Documents: History: Ancient Civilizations Essays

Beer In Ancient Societies: History And Civilization

first civilizations because before beer was discovered, people lived nomadic lifestyles. When they transitioned from being nomads to settled farmers, many grains were discovered. The farmers discovered that when the grains were either soaked in water or left to sit for a couple of days, a sweet, “pleasantly intoxicating” liquid was made. The discovery of beer represented the growth of the first civilizations because it demonstrated how the people were transforming into moderation. This history of beer…

Words 695 - Pages 3

What Are The Impacts Of Ancient Egypt Civilization

looking back in history, every civilization that exists in current day had to have started somewhere. Of course, some civilizations matter more than others, however during the First Wave, one of the most important civilization was the Ancient Egypt Civilization. It would soon become one of the most established civilizations in world history. Like every other civilization, it had an origin in which sparked the emergence, and its own form of government and economic system. However, the Ancient Egypt Civilization…

Words 858 - Pages 4

Ancient Rome: A Great Civilization?

Ancient Rome: A Great Civilization Arthur Erickson once said: “Roman civilization had achieved, within the bounds of its technology, relatively as great a mastery of time and space as we achieve today.” The saying “All roads lead to Rome” is true. When thinking about it, many of our everyday things, Rome created. For example, Romans constructed a sophisticated system of roads, the Senate in 503 BC, and aqueducts in 312 BC. The question being asked is Why is classical Rome remembered by history as…

Words 481 - Pages 2

Essay about History Midterm

Midterm Essay Examination The Rise of Early Civilizations from 3500 BCE to 600 BCE Throughout history many civilizations have risen to the top and then fallen. Analyzing several of these civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, American, Hebrew, and Iranian between the time period 3500 BCE to 600 BCE conclusions can be made of how they rose to the top during their existence. When analyzing several of these early cultures they can be broken up into regions or what would be known…

Words 2254 - Pages 10

Personal Journey Of African Americans

Americans to rivers, by location and the nature of these rivers, which have flowed since before history was recorded and will continue to flow. In the second stanza, ” I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.” The speaker seems to me to be implying that he, the speaker seems to be a man to me, has been on earth before human history and is ancient. “My soul has grown…

Words 354 - Pages 2

How Is Mesopotamia Similar

Many Ancient civilizations had a large amount of similarities and yet so many differences Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt While ancient Egypt was around from 3100 B.C. - 332 B.C. and Mesopotamia was around from the beginning of written history (3100 B.C.) to about 539 B.C., they were civilizations during the same time for the most part. From the outside, they look very similar, but once you get down to the details, they don’t relate much at all. While both of these ancient civilizations did a lot for…

Words 611 - Pages 3

Untitleddocument 8 Essay

Ancient Civilizations Social Hierarchy In the past each of the ancient civilizations of India, Egypt and Greece had an organized system of social hierarchy. Many of these countries suffered from a very wide wealth gap between their classes of people. While all of these three countries had many similarities, there also were many differences amongst them with the distribution of wealth and the way people were treated in their social class. In ancient India during the time of the Mauryan empire they had a system of…

Words 1524 - Pages 7

What Life Would Have Been Like Living In Ancient Greece

Anthropology we are provided great insight into the history of Ancient Greece; covering aspects such as politics, daily life, society, and culture. We are not only able to take a glance into its remarkable past but we are also able to assimilate their culture and customs into our own. Researchers have been excavating Greece for the last 200 years and have uncovered substantial evidence that answers questions regarding the rich history of Ancient Greece and the people that once lived there. Nonetheless…

Words 1077 - Pages 5

We Are Not Makers Of History By Martin Luther King

“We are not makers of history. We are made by history,” by Martin Luther King Jr. This quote connects to our learning about the ancient Greece because we as people create our own history based upon the choices we make. The ancient Greeks left legacies that we still use today. Three important legacies they gave us are:Math, Science and myth. First is Mathematics. You need math in life. The ancient Greeks developed mathematics such as pi and geometry. You need math for a job and a living. You…

Words 257 - Pages 2

King Minos Architecture

Ancient Architecture Analysis The Palace of King Minos of Crete The ancient architecture is part of our world history and ties with the core aspect of our history. The era of ancient Greek civilization was era of discovering culture, religion, beliefs, society, politics, inventions and most importantly architecture. There are many components and forms of architecture invented during the ancient Greek civilization and very well known about few buildings and monuments. Monuments such as Athena Parthenon…

Words 1099 - Pages 5