Comparing Mesopotamia, Egypt And India

762 Words2 Pages

The foremost civilizations that began in Mesopotamia, Egypt and India all share the basic characteristics of what defines a civilization. All three were river civilizations, thus there very survival was contingent on their specific neighboring rivers. Each of these civilizations developed a system of writing, irrigation, and their own complex governments founded on their respective religions. However, the differences between these three civilizations are more eminent than their similarities.
Even though the Nile River valley, Mesopotamian and the Indus Valley civilizations all surrounded bodies of water, they each had individual geographic characteristics which largely contributed to their development. The Sumerian people of Mesopotamia developed complex irrigation systems in order to control the flow of rivers, due to unpredictable flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into the regions soil (Duiker and Spielvogel 9). The Sumerians …show more content…

Similarly, the Egyptians largely depended on the Nile river (Duiker and Spielvogel 15). However, the Nile River was not only a source of life but a natural barrier to invasion; one that the Mesopotamians did not have. The rivers of the Mesopotamian civilization provided no protection thus making it more susceptible to invasion. The annual flooding of the Nile river was also more predictable than the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Overall the conditions for agriculture exceeded that of the Mesopotamians. This stability and sense of security gave the Egyptians a more positive outlook on life than the Sumerians (Duiker and Spielvogel 17). Divided into three major zones; the geographic structure of the Indus Valley civilization was far more complex

Open Document