Humanity has improved itself with its inventions that will make life easier since prehistoric times and took the first steps of civilization. So what does civilization mean?
Although too many definitions have been made for civilization, the correct form is this; people’s dominance of nature, the development of the concept of society and the ability to act together and develop themselves as a result, such as scientific, technical and cultural.
In this way, it has had material and moral effects from one generation to the next. The oldest civilizations of the world emerged on the riverside. These wetlands developed civilizations in terms of agriculture and trade. Therefore, riverside has been considered the birthplace of civilizations.
The most important thing that affects the characteristics of civilizations is where they live. Those living in wetlands have engaged in agriculture and cultivated the soil. Those who were not engaged in agriculture were effective in mining and city formation.
While the beginning of civilization is named live in the cities, it actually started with the use of tools of the first people. The most important civilizations have very different experiences depending on their location.
There have been many civilizations that have emerged and lived on riversides, deserts, forest areas, seas and islands, therefore they have experienced very different developments but, they also have common characteristics in many ways, such as their way of life, their religious beliefs, the areas they are dealing with (agriculture, farming, trade).
In this essay the features of civilizations and why these features are common to all civilizations will be discussed.
First of all, the most prominent common features of civilizations are their establishment in places where climate and landforms are suitable, urbanization and Being affected by geographical conditions.
Civilizations in Mesopotamia emerged between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and had applications in agriculture such as building irrigation canals.
Mesopotamia and Egypt are both similar and different in many ways which made them unique. These two early civilizations began around the same time and both were very prosperous.
Mesopotamia and Egypt both had rivers that were the main geographic feature which allowed the civilizations to develop in these areas. They were both very fortunate and we can look back and still see this today.
Mesopotamia was known as the land between the two rivers or the fertile crescent. This area was also known as the cradle of civilization due to the fact that people were able to settle and sustain themselves without having to move from place to place in search of food. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded yearly creating a fertile area of land between them.
This allowed the people to grow an excess of food which in turn led to the creation of more villages and an increase in the population. The yearly flooding that left behind the rich soils for agriculture could also be very unpredictable and cause destruction. This destruction was thought to be acts of punishment toward the people by the gods.
This unpredictability caused the people of Mesopotamia to have a pessimistic outlook. After many years of success, climate change and poor soil quality from irrigating poorly drained land caused a wane in agriculture in the area.(Acrobatiq, 2017)
Egypt’s access to the Nile river led to the quick rise of civilization there. As areas around Africa began to dry up after the last ice age, it caused a natural migration toward the Nile River Valley. As humans settled this area, they learned to use the water from the Nile river as a source of irrigation for their crops.
The Nile river was dependable and predictable. Spring and summer rains from nearby mountains caused flooding which left behind rich volcanic silt. Since the floods were so predictable, they were able to plan for these floods resulting in the ability to grow a surplus of crops.(Acrobatiq, 2017)
In addition to using their rivers for agriculture, another similarity they had was the use of these rivers as trade routes. They were able to use the rivers for transportation to the neighboring towns and villages as well as exchange with other countries for things they needed due to the close proximity to one another. (Acrobatiq, 2017)
In conclusion, both Mesopotamia and Egypt were dependent on their rivers for trade and the flooding for agriculture. The difference between these two regions was the overall mindset. Mesopotamia’s outlook was dominated by pessimism due to the unpredictability of their rivers flooding and frequent destruction.
Egypt’s outlook was more optimistic due to the fact that they could depend on the seasonal flooding and were prepared for it resulting in very successful farming. This difference in mindset also resulted in a faster growing Egyptian civilization.
