Geographical needs: Lowland river valleys in dry climates required complex, large-scale irrigation systems that then led to the creation of centralized…
Early civilizations often had many similarities in their politics, economies, and social norms. The civilizations of Mesopotamia, or the Fertile Crescent (3000 BCE), and the Nile River Valley (3000 BCE) are prime examples of this, but with different geography, leaders, and resources many differences divided the two nations. Both the Nile River Valley and the Fertile Crescent had authoritarian governments and mainly agricultural economies, but the Nile River Valley was much more unified, while Mesopotamia’s city-states were constantly battling. Even though both nations were dynasties, they found their leaders in different ways.…
In a period of complete change beknownst to us as the Neolithic Revolution, some groups of nomads deserted their “normal” way of life and began to settle down in villages and use agrarian methods to make a living for themselves. Two examples would be the Chumash of Southern California and the San of South Africa. Although the Chumash and the San both led a gathering and hunting way of life, they are ultimately two completely different civilizations, embodying unique political organizations, social structures and hierarchies, distinct economic foundations and individual sets of differing values.…
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt developed into successful civilizations because they effectively utilized their surroundings. Rivers being the main geographic feature that led to successful development. From there on they went on to make many innovations to their traditional technology and techniques. These ancient cultures were also able to develop effective ways of governing their civilizations. Religion through cultural diffusion, brought together the city-states and empires created in Mesopotamia and Egypt. This essay will provide the facts that support the success of these ancient cultures.…
Thesis: During the second-wave civilizations, women were originally restricted from doing things that most men did during this time period. At last, women were allowed to participate in many activities in society and all around and it finally was not that patriarchal dominated. Women were able to do many things and the influence and power ranged heavily in these societies. There were many roles that women had in society, the major two were housewives and the influence that they participated in. From this, we can infer that the roles of women defined their positions during the second-wave civilizations.…
The emergence of second-wave empires in 500 BCE coincides with the decline of earlier river societies, also known as first-wave civilizations, which were present from approximately 3500 BCE to 500 BCE. River valley societies were, as its name suggests, situated near rivers as a source of water for irrigation and everyday use. In comparison, second-wave empires adopted many traits from earlier civilizations and elaborated on them or completely changed them. Despite bearing some minor similarities, the differences in political organization, innovations, and social inequality between first and second wave civilizations are more noteworthy.…
The ancient civilizations had a tendency of starting along rivers such as the Nile, Indus, Huang He, and the Tigris and Euphrates. I can see the importance of the rivers and why this has been a common factor through history having land bordering rivers. Different outcomes occur along the river such as poverty or riches. There are also a large amount of advantages and disadvantages of living next to a river.…
2. Compare and contrast Buddhism and Hinduism for their views on gender, social hierarchy, and inequalities. (Or an Indian belief with a Chinese philosophy)…
The ancient river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt share many similarities in their social, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural aspects, however, at the same time; both are very separate from one another. Mesopotamia developed first as a civilization without influence, while Egypt built off of the latter to create their own society, hence the shared traits of their educational system, government, religion, and social structure. But, the variable of location also takes place; once the basis of the civilizations were built, they branched off and continued to progress according to their own specific needs, which explains why the differences of the two lay in detail to the economy, intellect, government, and religion.…
Complex societies are a relatively recent socio-political development. For the vast majority of its history, the human race has lived in hunter-gatherer groups and not in state-level civilizations. In order for a civilization to be recognized as a state level society, it must meet certain criteria. There must be centralized political power, social classes based on access to resources, occupational specialization, coercive military or police force, multiple levels of decision making, writing or complex record keeping, and urban centers controlling periphery.1 There are a variety of competing theories of the origins of state level societies. In “A Theory of the Origin of the State,” Robert Carneiro argues that warfare is the prime mechanism for the development of the state level society while it must take place under certain conditions. In “Generalized Coercion and Inequality: The Basis of State Power in the Early Civilization,” on the other hand, Bruce Trigger argues for generalized coercion where people give up their autonomy to adopt and obey a hierarchical structure. Lastly, in “Hydraulic Civilization,” Karl Wittfogel proposes a voluntaristic theory where leaders coordinate projects for obtaining water and people have to give up their individual sovereignty so that the large-scale irrigation system can be carried out. I will argue in this essay that Robert Carneiro’s warfare theory is the most applicable and fits the most evidence of the archeological and historical records of early civilizations. Let us now turn to Robert Carneiro’s ideas of environmental circumscription, social circumscription and resource concentration.…
Although Egypt and Mesopotamia were both early agricultural societies built upon the water provided by the major rivers which sustained them, they exhibited important differences as a consequence of the different physical environments in which they developed. In this paper I will first focus on what I consider to be the major aspects of these differences in environment and then explore the consequences of these differences in their religious beliefs, political organization and commercial practices.…
During the early dynastic period, the early River Civilizations had just come to be. Egypt and The Fertile Crescent were 2 of the civilizations. Different civilizations were developing different things as well as living two different ways of life. In social and intellectual ways, these two civilizations handled themselves in very similar as well as many different ways to function the way they did and remain stable while they could.…
Was the development of gender inequality natural or was it created by early humans? That is a question that scholars studying global history are still asking today. Although gender in global history has been explored recently, it is clear that woman’s political and social status was usually inferior in most literate civilization of the classical period as we know from Hughes essay. But the question is, was gender inequality a natural occurrence or was it developed in early literate civilizations? That is a question that even prominent scholars cannot answer.…
Over the span of this time period, civilizations faced many of the same issues resulting in the development of common ideas and patterns. For example, leaders were often considered divine, omnipotent beings or at least possessed a considerable amount of power. This extreme reverence for kings was a concept held by most civilizations. Another pattern was the institutions of a social hierarchy. This appeared as the caste system in India and in China with a substantial divide between aristocrats, laborers, and the “mean people”. Another issue that early civilizations faced was the invasion of hostile nomadic people, especially the Huns. Development of weapons helped people defend their community.…
Depending on each tribe 's cultural orientations, the status and roles varied between men and women. Matrilneal and Matrilocal societies, women had a lot more power. Property, land,…