Compare and Contrast essay on China and Mesopotamia

Around 5,000 years ago early civilizations settled near rivers. Ancient China civilizations established on the Huang-He River Valley, while early Mesopotamian civilizations settled near the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley. While both Huang-He River Valley and Mesopotamia have similar politics they also differed in the interactions with the environment and economics. China and Mesopotamia had several ways of interacting with the environment. China`s type of farming differed from Mesopotamian`s farming style. China used terrace farming while Mesopotamian`s still used a little of hunting a gathering.Chinese people used terraces to adapt to the environment, Mesopotamian`s also used hunting and gathering to adapt to the habitat. Terraces were used because terrace fields decreased erosions;hunting and gathering was used because the river valley flooded often. While China had the Huang-He River Valley, Mesopotamia had the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley which both had to make people adapt to them. In China people had to built complex flood control systems and Mesopotamia had to build bridges.The flood control systems helped by guiding the water when it flooded, the bridges helped people cross the rivers. Trading was an important characteristic from Ancient China and Mesopotamia. China used the Silkroad while, Mesopotamians used different trading roots. This both helped the societies in agricultural growth.Keeping record of money or monetary issues was a major thing in ancient times. Mesopotamia had a written record meanwhile, China only had the language they spoke.China and Mesopotamia both used Barter Systems. Politics and laws in the Huang-He river valley and Mesopotamia had several similarities and differences. The law code from Mesopotamia was Hammurabi's Code; made by its king, Hammurabi, meanwhile in China it was the Mandate of heaven. The Hammurabi's Code helped keep order in the society, on the other hand, the mandate of heaven gave the king absolute power. One thing that these civilizations had in common was that they both used decentralized ruling. Mesopotamia used city-states while China used Central Government. In conclusion, China`s Huang-He river valley and Mesopotamia have several similarities and differences in Interactions with the environment, political issues and economically. They both settled near the rivers; Huang-He river, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers.