Comparing Mesopotamia And Mayan
China, Mesopotamia and Mayan
Over the course of history many powerful civilizations were around way before the Common Era. In these civilizations there are three that interest me the most; China, Mesopotamia and Mayan. These three civilizations were around the same time period. They share many similarities but each civilization is unique in their own way. That could be: Religion, Government, Social Structure etc.
Mesopotamia (The land between two rivers) is known as one of the oldest civilization ever found. It lay between two rivers; The Euphrates and the Tigris. These rivers flooded inconsistently causing fresh water to flow into their region. Sumer, located further southeast in Mesopotamia, was a very prospering city. It led to increase food supplies and that caused an increase in human population. Many Semitic (Arabs and Jewish) people migrated to Sumer, bringing with them their languages such as: Akkaidian, Aramaic, Hebrew and Phoenician. One of the first “Sumerian governments were probably assemblies of prominent men who made decisions on behalf of the whole community” (Bentley 28).
On the …show more content…
other side of Mesopotamia was northern part. There the Sargons of Akkad were forming. These empires emerged as Semitic peoples such as the Akkadians and the Babylonians and began to overshadow Sumerians. The Sagon of Akkad formed into an empire and represented a historical experiment. He travel from city to city in Mesopotamia and made the population provide food, lodging and financial support whenever Sargon and his forces descended upon them. At the high point of his power, he had control over all Mesopotamia and his armies explored as far as the Mediterranean.
As time went on his army weakened because of the rebellion of the city-states and also because of the invasion by people who wanted power.Hammurabi and the Baylonian Empire followed his example. He improved on Sargons administrative techniques by rely on taxes and bureaucracy. Hammurabi then developed a more efficient and predictable government that everyone must obey. With the developing of this new government, he also created laws; The Hammurabi’s Laws. They were meant for people to follow them and to pass on through generations. This code of laws was one of the most important moments in history because Hammurabi is basically organizing his people and his empire.
While all of this was going on in Mesopotamia, China was also working on its government and improving their food resources.
The Huang He River (Yellow River) was very unpredictable, such as the Tigris and the Euphrates of Mesopotamia the Yellow River was unpredictable and caused a lot of floods. This ruined farms and the villages that people made along the river. The yellow river has caused so much destruction that it s nicknames as “China’s Sorrow”. The three fundamental legends of ancient dynasties were the Xia, Shang, and the Zhou. They had control over large regions of land. All three dynasties were very close to the Yellow River for water and trade. The three dynasties were at war for more power; just like Mesopotamia when Sargon took over Mesopotamia because he wanted power, and when he had power he lost it because everybody else around him wanted
power.
The Zhou Dynasty developed bronze weapons by controlling the sources of copper and tin. They tried to keep the bronze sword in China and no one else to discover how to make it but that was impossible. As soon as it came out everyone got their hands on them. A small class of free artisans and craftsmen plied their trades in the cities of ancient China. China was very big on agriculture. They used prisoners as slaves and preserved cultural traditions on their families.
The Olmec (rubber people) were very religious. They were located in present day Mexico; Mesoamerica. There isn’t that much known about the Olmec, they sort of disappeared and the Maya took over. The Maya did not conquer the Olmec they just migrated the Olmec society when they were already fading away.
The Mayan people were very religious. The Maya were located in Southern Mexico, Guatemala. They specialized on terrace farming since the land was full of mountains. They used terrace farming to grow maize and cotton. Traded cacao and jewelry with the southern tribes scattered in Mesoamerica and South America. Tikal was the largest city and that’s where the biggest temple was found. The Mayan believed on a god of maize and that they were made of maize. They believed to cut themselves and spill blood to please the gods because they thought that the gods bled for them by giving them maize. Blood rituals were essential to them. They are different from China and Mesopotamian civilization because the other civilizations were religious but I think the Mayan take their religious too serious in comparison of other civilizations. The Mayan were also very smart in Mathematics. They invented the number zero.
These three civilizations are very different by their location, culture and way of living but they all bring something unique and if they would have never discovered each other and interacted/traded with other tribes then we wouldn’t have the things we have today.
Over the course of history many powerful civilizations were around way before the Common Era. In these civilizations there are three that interest me the most; China, Mesopotamia and Mayan. These three civilizations were around the same time period. They share many similarities but each civilization is unique in their own way. That could be: Religion, Government, Social Structure etc.
Mesopotamia (The land between two rivers) is known as one of the oldest civilization ever found. It lay between two rivers; The Euphrates and the Tigris. These rivers flooded inconsistently causing fresh water to flow into their region. Sumer, located further southeast in Mesopotamia, was a very prospering city. It led to increase food supplies and that caused an increase in human population. Many Semitic (Arabs and Jewish) people migrated to Sumer, bringing with them their languages such as: Akkaidian, Aramaic, Hebrew and Phoenician. One of the first “Sumerian governments were probably assemblies of prominent men who made decisions on behalf of the whole community” (Bentley 28).
On the …show more content…
other side of Mesopotamia was northern part. There the Sargons of Akkad were forming. These empires emerged as Semitic peoples such as the Akkadians and the Babylonians and began to overshadow Sumerians. The Sagon of Akkad formed into an empire and represented a historical experiment. He travel from city to city in Mesopotamia and made the population provide food, lodging and financial support whenever Sargon and his forces descended upon them. At the high point of his power, he had control over all Mesopotamia and his armies explored as far as the Mediterranean.
As time went on his army weakened because of the rebellion of the city-states and also because of the invasion by people who wanted power.Hammurabi and the Baylonian Empire followed his example. He improved on Sargons administrative techniques by rely on taxes and bureaucracy. Hammurabi then developed a more efficient and predictable government that everyone must obey. With the developing of this new government, he also created laws; The Hammurabi’s Laws. They were meant for people to follow them and to pass on through generations. This code of laws was one of the most important moments in history because Hammurabi is basically organizing his people and his empire.
While all of this was going on in Mesopotamia, China was also working on its government and improving their food resources.
The Huang He River (Yellow River) was very unpredictable, such as the Tigris and the Euphrates of Mesopotamia the Yellow River was unpredictable and caused a lot of floods. This ruined farms and the villages that people made along the river. The yellow river has caused so much destruction that it s nicknames as “China’s Sorrow”. The three fundamental legends of ancient dynasties were the Xia, Shang, and the Zhou. They had control over large regions of land. All three dynasties were very close to the Yellow River for water and trade. The three dynasties were at war for more power; just like Mesopotamia when Sargon took over Mesopotamia because he wanted power, and when he had power he lost it because everybody else around him wanted
power.
The Zhou Dynasty developed bronze weapons by controlling the sources of copper and tin. They tried to keep the bronze sword in China and no one else to discover how to make it but that was impossible. As soon as it came out everyone got their hands on them. A small class of free artisans and craftsmen plied their trades in the cities of ancient China. China was very big on agriculture. They used prisoners as slaves and preserved cultural traditions on their families.
The Olmec (rubber people) were very religious. They were located in present day Mexico; Mesoamerica. There isn’t that much known about the Olmec, they sort of disappeared and the Maya took over. The Maya did not conquer the Olmec they just migrated the Olmec society when they were already fading away.
The Mayan people were very religious. The Maya were located in Southern Mexico, Guatemala. They specialized on terrace farming since the land was full of mountains. They used terrace farming to grow maize and cotton. Traded cacao and jewelry with the southern tribes scattered in Mesoamerica and South America. Tikal was the largest city and that’s where the biggest temple was found. The Mayan believed on a god of maize and that they were made of maize. They believed to cut themselves and spill blood to please the gods because they thought that the gods bled for them by giving them maize. Blood rituals were essential to them. They are different from China and Mesopotamian civilization because the other civilizations were religious but I think the Mayan take their religious too serious in comparison of other civilizations. The Mayan were also very smart in Mathematics. They invented the number zero.
These three civilizations are very different by their location, culture and way of living but they all bring something unique and if they would have never discovered each other and interacted/traded with other tribes then we wouldn’t have the things we have today.