Compare And Contrast Ancient Egypt And Mesopotamia

Geological features can positively and negatively effect the development of a nation or a region. Ancient civilizations such as ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia drastically relied on the resources rivers provided for them. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamian both had similar and different reasons and benefits for using the rivers. Firstly, the Nile River is located in Egypt. Egypt is divided into “Upper Egypt” and “Lower Egypt”. The Nile delta region (a marshy area of land that deposits silt at the mouth of the river) begins in upper Egypt and the Nile delta region extended 100 miles into the Mediterranean Sea from lower Egypt. The nile river flooded yearly, and left behind silt (mud/soil) and water. This was excellent for farming and allowed plants to thrive. As well as yearly flooding, irrigation ditches were used to help water plants. Food and water
Mesopotamia lies between these two rivers. In greek, Mesopotamia is known as “land between the rivers”. These rivers were a huge essential need to the survival of the Mesopotamian civilization. Once a year, these rivers would flood. Floods are usually thought of as bad, but in this case they allowed for farming to thrive. When these rivers flooded, silt (mud/soil) was carried by them, which resulted in rich soil being placed all over the land. This allowed farmers to plant and harvest large amounts of wheat and barley. The rivers also provided food, water, and protection. As obviously sated throughout, the rivers were used for very similar things in different places. They both also portrayed positive and negative affects to the development to these civilizations. Positive aspects included protection, food, water, transportation, and trade. A negative affect of this was the possibility of easy access to be taken over by another civilization. But overall, rivers were a positive asset for a