Comparing River Valley Civilizations

In history there has been some pretty smart civilizations, one of those type of civilizations are river valley civilizations. Four of those civilizations were located in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, and China. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting three different parts of these civilizations, the three different aspects I will be discussing are their government, the geography, and lastly their belief systems. So now since we have a little background information let’s get started. First we can begin with their similarities and differences in their Geography. In Mesopotamia there was two different civilizations to rule at some point there, first it was the Sumerians but they were eventually conquered by the Babylonian empire.

Just like the other civilizations once these rivers would flood they would leave rich and fertile soil for the farmers to plant their crops. Some of the things that made this area different from the others is there is few natural resources and the land doesn’t offer any barriers to invasion. In Egypt there was also a river which is a similarity to the civilizations in Mesopotamia and the name of that river is the Nile, this river is unpredictable with its flooding. The Nile is an environmental challenge the Egyptians have to struggle with, the flooding can destroy crops or even someone’s property. In the Indus Valley there was two rivers where they began with their civilizations which is how they are similar to the rest of the other civilizations. The names of the rivers in the Indus Valley are the Indus and the Ganges, the Indus river can flood at any moment making it harder to plant their crops. In this valley there is something that makes this area special and that is there is mountains on two different sides of it that protects it from

In Egyptian culture they believed in many different gods. Egyptians believed that the gods and goddesses controlled everything in the universe. They would also worship and pray to the gods and goddesses for help. Gods weren’t the only thing the Egyptians worshiped they also worshipped deities, which were all powerful and humanlike at the same time. Deities often had several forms, all in which were in human or animal form. The Egyptians also believed in the Book of the Dead. This book stated that once someone died they would be judged by Osiris. Osiris would then weight their heart against a feather. If their heart was heavier than the feather they would die another death. But if it was lighter than the feather they would become blessed spirits. In China they believed that the god Shang Ti was the head god and he ruled the other gods. Most people would make sacrifices so that the gods would be pleased with them. They also worshipped their ancestors and asked for advice. In Mesopotamia, each town and city was believed to be protected by a god. Then Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. At first, many religious events were held at the temple but later as priesthood developed, the temple became the center of both religion and learning for the entire community. The gods in Sumerian were called dingir. They believed their gods and goddesses had supernatural powers.