Compare And Contrast Egypt And Mesopotamia

Egypt and Mesopotamia vary drastically in land and geographic features due to its location. They had more differences than similarities which was a cause for the uniquely different cultures of each.
In Southwest Asia, also commonly known as the Middle East, it is known mostly for its dry desert climate, except for in the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where the flat plain known as Mesopotamia is located. This region’s shape and the richness of its soil leads is also the reason it is called the Fertile Crescent. The rivers flood once a year leaving a thick bed of mud called silt. This rich soil silt attracted its first settlers to this region the Sumerians. Even though this rich soil drew people to the region there were
also disadvantages to this region. Being located between two rivers means that unpredictable flooding could occur after heavy rains which also meant there was no natural barrier for protection from the flooding water. Villages located in this region were defenseless against drastic variations between flooding and the dry summer months which was hard to harvest during. Another drawback on the location of Mesopotamia is that there was limited natural resources of stone, wood and metal.
The settlers of Mesopotamia had to find solutions to disadvantages of being located in between two rivers. They built irrigation ditches to prevent flooding, built city walls with mud bricks to protect the villages and learned to trade with people around them for the products they lacked.
Although different in location Egypt is not completely the opposite of Mesopotamia.
Egypt was created with a settlement along a narrow strip of land that was also made fertile by the Nile river. Flooding also occurred but unlike Mesopotamia it was very predictable flooding and create a regular cycle of flooding then planting and lastly harvesting which kept repeating itself with every flood. The settlement had an intricate network of irrigation ditches. Egypt was mostly known for the lower region that focused around the Nile delta which flows directly into the Mediterranean Sea. Another benefit of Egypt’s location was the reliable transportation that the Nile provided the Egyptian settlements.
Egypt and Mesopotamia had more differences than similarities, mainly being the predictable versus the unpredictable flooding of its nearby rivers and the isolation of Egypt due to the deserts located on both sides of the Nile River. While the deserts provided natural protection against invaders it also reduced interaction with other people. The desert protection would cause Egypt to develop mostly in isolation and therefore a very unique culture formed whereas in Mesopotamia the Sumerian innovations in achieving civilization set examples that other cultures would
follow.