Compare and Contrast Between the Ancient River Valley Civilizations
The earliest forms of civilizations were said to be located on the three river valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia, the Nile River in ancient Egypt and the Huang He and Indus River in ancient India and China. These three river valley civilizations had many differences yet still lived common life styles. Although the civilizations are located on different continents, they share similar social, political, and economic beliefs from their intellectual developments to types of government to religious beliefs and trading systems.
When the civilizations were first invented, there was a lot of chaos and confusion. This led to the invention of the different forms of writing. Each civilization had a form of writing for their people. However, only a minority of the people were literate. However, this minute problem didn’t stop the civilizations from wanting to further advance themselves in life; the complex skills were left to those who had time to master it. The Mesopotamians were the first to invent their own style of writing called Cuneiform. The Cuneiform used different pictures to represent various objects but soon shifted to the use of geometric shapes to symbolize spoken sound. The Egyptians were the first to invent the numbering system through a style called hieroglyphics. Their knowledge in math was able to define the twenty-four hour time period in a day and they influenced the development of later Mediterranean cultures. The Phoenicians then came along and shortened the alphabet with twenty-two letters and better the Egyptian numbering system. On the other hand, the Indians and Chinese were big advocates for science. They had remarkable achievements in astronomy which led to the creation of the calendar in which we still use today. They also had remarkable achievements in bronze work which helped create many tools used for farming and agriculture. Each intellectual development throughout the three civilizations has contributed to better
When the civilizations were first invented, there was a lot of chaos and confusion. This led to the invention of the different forms of writing. Each civilization had a form of writing for their people. However, only a minority of the people were literate. However, this minute problem didn’t stop the civilizations from wanting to further advance themselves in life; the complex skills were left to those who had time to master it. The Mesopotamians were the first to invent their own style of writing called Cuneiform. The Cuneiform used different pictures to represent various objects but soon shifted to the use of geometric shapes to symbolize spoken sound. The Egyptians were the first to invent the numbering system through a style called hieroglyphics. Their knowledge in math was able to define the twenty-four hour time period in a day and they influenced the development of later Mediterranean cultures. The Phoenicians then came along and shortened the alphabet with twenty-two letters and better the Egyptian numbering system. On the other hand, the Indians and Chinese were big advocates for science. They had remarkable achievements in astronomy which led to the creation of the calendar in which we still use today. They also had remarkable achievements in bronze work which helped create many tools used for farming and agriculture. Each intellectual development throughout the three civilizations has contributed to better