Ancient Civilization Essay
Ancient Civilizations Essay: Understanding Geography and History
Amanda
Honors World History Period 2
Mrs. Ocasio
October 15th, 2012
People. Mountains. People. Culture. People. Water. Ever wonder why history and geography very often studied together? Well it is because geography has a lot of influence on the worlds’ overall history and how it all connects together. Learning geography is also important in understanding history because people need to know where and how were the locations are and why the civilizations formed there. To continue, all civilizations are connected in some way, from trading to religious beliefs or wars to traditions; some of the civilizations that are going to compared are very similar. That is why the understanding of geography is crucial to the understanding of history because it impacted the development of city-states, caused isolation, and allowed cultural diffusion between the civilizations. To begin, geography impacted the development of many city-states. India and the Nile River Valley had been majorly impacted by the Earths geography in early civilizations. Many rivers flowed through India, which included the Indus and the Ganges Rivers. Most Indian city- states were close to these rivers because the people wanted to be near water making it easier to get excess to it. It was also important for Indians to be near the Ganges River because that river was sacred to them and “…one Indian name for “river”: lok-mata, or “mother of the people.” (World History Book, page 52). Now the Nile River Valley was very fertile, which made “…farmers take advantage of the fertile land of the Nile Valley to grow wheat and flax, a plant whose fivers were used for clothing.” and have excess to water in the dry Egyptian heat. The “Black Land” was the rich and irrigated area of the Nile Valley and “no more than 10 miles wide, lay the ‘Red Land,’ a sun-baked desert that stretches across North Africa.” (24). All these physical features impacted
Amanda
Honors World History Period 2
Mrs. Ocasio
October 15th, 2012
People. Mountains. People. Culture. People. Water. Ever wonder why history and geography very often studied together? Well it is because geography has a lot of influence on the worlds’ overall history and how it all connects together. Learning geography is also important in understanding history because people need to know where and how were the locations are and why the civilizations formed there. To continue, all civilizations are connected in some way, from trading to religious beliefs or wars to traditions; some of the civilizations that are going to compared are very similar. That is why the understanding of geography is crucial to the understanding of history because it impacted the development of city-states, caused isolation, and allowed cultural diffusion between the civilizations. To begin, geography impacted the development of many city-states. India and the Nile River Valley had been majorly impacted by the Earths geography in early civilizations. Many rivers flowed through India, which included the Indus and the Ganges Rivers. Most Indian city- states were close to these rivers because the people wanted to be near water making it easier to get excess to it. It was also important for Indians to be near the Ganges River because that river was sacred to them and “…one Indian name for “river”: lok-mata, or “mother of the people.” (World History Book, page 52). Now the Nile River Valley was very fertile, which made “…farmers take advantage of the fertile land of the Nile Valley to grow wheat and flax, a plant whose fivers were used for clothing.” and have excess to water in the dry Egyptian heat. The “Black Land” was the rich and irrigated area of the Nile Valley and “no more than 10 miles wide, lay the ‘Red Land,’ a sun-baked desert that stretches across North Africa.” (24). All these physical features impacted