River Valley Civilization Dbq Essay

The River Valley Civilizations of ancient China, Egypt and Mesopotamia were crucial contributions to future civilizations. They invented new ways of writing, laws to help keep civilization and society just and controlled and developed trade routes to help spread cultural diffusion. In documents 1 & 4, they talk about the two different types of writing, cuneiform and hieroglyphics. Cuneiform was the world’s first written language, created over 5,000 years ago by Sumerians. It was used to keep track of business dealings because they traded with far way civilizations. They also used it to write down new ideas/ inventions and keep records. Hieroglyphics was another form of writing used by Egyptians, made my Egyptians. This system of writing, however, could also stand for sounds, unlike cuneiform. It was written on papyrus, the first paper developed by Egyptians which made it easier to keep records. They also carved into clay or stone tablets. Laws and codes are needed to help control and set justice in society. Documents 2 and 5 mention the early laws and codes society had to bide by. Hammurabi, mentioned in Document 2, was a great ruler in Mesopotamia. He is known for making Hammurabi's Code which was important because it helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people, no

New forms of writing such as cuneiform and hieroglyphics were used to keep records and write new ideas. There were also new laws and codes, such as Hammurabi’s Code and Confucianism. Both helped to govern its people in a fair and just manner. Lastly, there was trade. In China, the Chinese had the Silk Road which helped other civilizations connect, share and trade their inventions and this led to cultural diffusion. Thanks to new writing systems, trade, and new rules, the River Valley Civilizations gained many advances to help build in prosperity, ideas, government, and