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Geography plays an important role in the development of a civilization. The impact of geography can either make or break a civilization. Early civilizations inhabited features such as river valleys, deserts, rainforests, plateaus and other geographical structures. One important geographically defining structure are river valleys . River valleys had a significant impact on one particular civilization, Mesopotamia.
The civilization of Mesopotamia strived off of the fertile crescent ( also known as the Tigris and Euphrates river). The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were ideal for growing crops. The rivers gave fertile soil to begin farming which was the first step in starting a civilization, essentially obtaining a food source. The river
Geographical location affects on ancient civilizations is one of the main factors in their development. Several different factors are responsible for the evolutionary divergence of ancient civilizations, but none so impactful as the circumstances of geographical location, and that which causes divergences in culture. Such examples include climate change, migration, and technological advancement.
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 of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt began to develop circa 3,000 B.C. Located near rivers, the lands offered fertile soil and an excess of crops that drew in many people. As more people arrived, the small settlements flourished into large, thriving civilizations. Many aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, such as their cities, their strongly organized government, and their religion, greatly contributed to the success of these two civilizations.
Before the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia and Egypt are important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, which was around 3000 B.C., and all other countries evolved from it. Mesopotamia emerged from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The soil was rich and agriculture was plentiful. The Semitic nomads occupied the land around Akkad. The Sumerians established the city-states. Villages became urban centers. Because of the formation of the city-states everything flourished. However, Mesopotamian agriculture lacked stones; therefore mud brick became their major building block. Their diet consisted of fish from the rivers. The rivers were flooded frequently destroyed the cities. Mesopotamians made their living from crops and pottery.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
Although, Mesopotamia is a specific region, which prospered, it possessed numerous city-states, which were self-governed and encountered many tribulations, making Mesopotamia less centralized. Egypt, however, emphasized a strong central authority, as the bureaucrat’s kept track of land and they imposed taxes in order to support construction and the army. Likewise to Mesopotamia, Egypt also portrayed the king as a god sent to earth in order to maintain property for the civilization. Mesopotamia considered merchants within their society to be essentially imperative in order to trade widely with foreign regions. On the other hand, Egypt’s foreign policy was essentially isolationist; therefore they identified any foreigners to be as enemies, but they still valued foreign resources. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia possessed resources, which they traded extensively, which was bronze and papyrus, as this was highly demanded throughout foreign nations. Moreover, the Mesopotamians viewed their gods negatively based upon the obstacles they encountered because of their environment, as they believed that their gods were associated with forces of nature. In spite of this, Egypt also believed that their gods were associated with the forces of nature, however, the outlook towards their gods was positive as their environment was reliable. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia resulted in frequent floods and droughts, while the Nile River regularly flooded the crops of Egypt. Nonetheless, the Mesopotamians and Egyptians significantly valued their religious practices and beliefs, which was depicted in their art and architecture. Thus, even though the Mesopotamians and Egyptians settled during the River Valley civilizations period, they both possess distinct aspects, as well as certain
Geography has an impact on people and landscape. Geography can have an impact on weather. Witters use geography to change characters in ways that the world may not be able to. Like the characters in, “The Crucible” they change based on the geography on where they live. The real world with geography may have an impact on some people but not others. Geography can change a whole culture in literature and in the real world.
Mesopotamia Essay How did the physical environment affect Mesopotamia? Well, the thing is that agriculture/farming, clothing and cities are 3 out of many things that affects the physical environment of Mesopotamia. And today I will be talking about these three things, agriculture/farming, clothing and cities that affect the physical environment of Mesopotamia. Firstly, agriculture and farming was a major problem in Mesopotamia because it was mostly desert.
Millions of years ago the procreant low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris was probably the home of some animal life, but no great civilizations. However, things change over time, and just a few thousand years ago the same fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris became the home of a very rich and complex society. This first high society of man was located in what some still call "Mesopotamia". The word "Mesopotamia" is in origin a Greek name meaning "land between the rivers." The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, this alluvial plain was called the land of Sumer and Akkad. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest to each other. This first high, Mesopotamian society arose as a combined result of various historical, institutional, and religious factors. The reality of these factors occurring at a specific place within the fabric of space / time indeed established the basis for this first high civilization. Items like irrigation, topography, and bronze-age technical innovations played a big part along with the advent of writing and the practice of social conditioning (through the use of organized religion) in this relatively early achievement of man.
Territorial States were boundaries set either geographically or by demographic limits. They had one ruler, and order was established by shared values and legal codes. They originally occurred when nomadic people began to arrive in Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE.
Though different concepts may seem to have the same philosophy, the threshold between foreign interventions are essentially a different ideology dependent on the fact of the matter. Joseph Conrad, author of The Heart of Darkness, Demonstrated the treachery committed in the Congo through by the Belgian regime torturous acts of using the natives as pawns in their plan to gain utter control of the Congo. France and Algeria once fought a bloody war to declare the ownership of Algeria, all of which was documented in the article “French-Algerian truce” conveying the frantic state of the country. Another event was the Iraqi Freedom, an operation to eliminate the Iraq threat by preventing them from cause mass destruction set by former President George
Considering the environment as everything around us, nature probably has the biggest impact on life in recent time as well as in Mesopotamia. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates river provided sources of life in an otherwise desolate area of the world. The people would use the tough reeds to build many things, ranging from boats to houses. The fertile silt from the rivers' flooding provided land that was very good for agriculture, which led to many thriving empires. Those are definitely the most prominent and easy to explain interactions between humankind and nature in ancient Mesopotamia.
Now you know was how geography affected many ancient civilizations and how those civilizations use them. The climate was a big role in the geography because it would depend if they were able to grow their crops. The rivers and mountains would offend help them grow their crops and protect them from other civilizations or invasions. Every civilization would use their geography that was around them the way that would most benefit them.
Geography is the foundation of how civilizations and societies develop. Based on location, geography determines the amount of water available, temperature, available resources, and a variety of essentials. To form a civilization, the geography gives insight into whether a community can sustain, and how people need to adapt to continue growing. Ancient civilizations had to take many factors into account, and learn to adapt to the environment to become as advanced as they were. General geographical features which have an essential role in shaping societies include rivers, seas, and the flora of what the natural environment provides.
Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.