River Valley Civilizations DBQ Essay

River Valley Civilizations River Valley Civilizations were the first elements of civilizations. They were the first civilizations that influenced our society today. Two of the world’s first river valley civilizations were the Nile River Valley in Egypt, and the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley in Mesopotamia. These river valley civilizations survived because they had the characteristics that demonstrate what a civilization is, and how the people survived. Both civilization achieved, and contributed greatly to humankind. Writing was first created in Mesopotamia. The writing is called Cuneiform. Cuneiforms consisted of pictographs and is written on clay tablets. “Mesopotamia developed world’s first known writing, Cuneiform.” Such evidence is found in document 1. The world’s first written laws were created in Mesopotamia by the king, Hammurabi. These sets of laws were called the Code of Hammurabi. The covered everything that affected the civilization of Mesopotamia. In document 2, it states that “If a man destroys another man’s eye, then his eye shall be destroyed. If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand. If two people have a disagreement, both will go before a judge for decision.” Most of our laws today can be traced back to those times. Farming became more popular in ancient Egypt. Farmers developed a system of watering the field, called irrigation. Irrigation allowed the Egyptians to use the Nile’s water for a variety of purposes. In document 3, it states that “farmers built dams, ditches or canals to move the water into their fields.” On a whole the ancient Egyptians seemed to have been accomplished farming. Pyramids were first sited in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian Pyramids are the most well-known pyramid structures. Most of these pyramids were built as tombs for the Pharaohs. Pyramids were built by slaves and others of low social classes. “Pyramids were built as a final resting place for the Ka, or spirit of the Pharaoh.” Such evidence