HST 140 WA/4
WA2 Geography Influenced Civilization
Geography influenced civilization that arose in china, in so many ways. One way was the yellow river in which ancient china basically grew out of. All of the earliest civilizations arose on flood plains of major rivers because these lands provided the fertile land required to support their civilization. The yellow river was used to contribute to china’s civilization by also being as a highway to unify and control. There was also the warring states period which came about when the steppe cavalries became a serious threat to china in northern region, which ended when Qin Kingdom conquered the rest. During this period though, there were fights among seven major kingdoms that were independent and they were fighting to gain power and to become superior to all other in authority. Geography comes in with the help of the mountains and hills that contributed toward the sturdy walls that were built by the three northern states to keep raids from happening with the nomads and also to defend their villages. (Lui, pp. 22-23, Unit 4 Module; Politics in State Power in Great River Valley Societies). The Land, soil and river provide resources for the farming and contributed toward the ranking and freedom of certain people. “Those who devoted themselves to the fundamental enterprise and through their farming and weaving contributed much grain and cloth would be freed from tax and corvee.” (Rielly, 2010, p. 129). Also farmers served as soldiers, and because of this the portion of agriculture provided the lifeblood of the state. Food was also produced and any of the farmer-soldiers that did not produce such food for everyone in the state this would lead to them playing less of a role inside the society. It is also bee allegedly stated that with the help of agricultural land, the Qin removed the grid paths, footpaths were opened up and boundaries were set. This also led to the thought of historians which thought