Korey Neal
Dr. Eric Mayer
World History to 1500-51337
February 24, 2015

Rise of Civilizations

Egypt and Mesopotamia were two civilizations existing during the time period of 2000-1200 BCE. These civilizations were shaped by their environment, involved with trade, and faced changes in government after the 100 year drought; however, they differed in that Egypt was shaped by the Nile, traded goods for goods and changed their outlook on the pharaoh who was ruler of all; whereas, Mesopotamia was shaped by the Tigris and Euphrates, traded money for goods, and had a ruler over rulers. It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability …show more content…

The rivers were higher than the surrounding plain because of built up silt in the river beds, so water for irrigation flowed into the fields by gravity. Once the water was on the fields, it could not readily drain away because the fields were lower than the river. As the water evaporated, it not left its dissolved mineral salts behind, but also drew salts upward from lower levels of the soil. Over time, the soil became toxic and would no longer support crop. By about 2300 B.C. agriculture production in Mesopotamia was reduced to a tiny fraction of what it had been. Many fields were abandoned as essentially useless, which was the leading cause of the collapsing. Egyptian civilization developed in a different manner and remained, for the most part, optimistic in its long history. Geographically, the Nile River unified the region and made agriculture possible while the desert afforded the protection from nomadic invaders necessary for the evolution of centralized political authority. Pharaonic authority was reflected in the pyramids of the Old Kingdom and the imperialism of New Kingdom dynasties. This empire kept out nomadic barbarians on the frontier to permit the civilized Middle East to at least maintain its advancements in the various areas. The Assyrian Empire fell because of internal revolutions and a defeat by the Neo-Babylonians in 612 B.C.E. Indian civilization