- Published: September 13, 2022
- Updated: September 13, 2022
- University / College: University of Cambridge
- Language: English
- Downloads: 20
Dating way back to the BCE era arefour main civilizations. All of which were river valley centered. Mesopotamiacovered the land between the Tiger and Euphrates, Egypt had the Nile river, Indus river belonged to India, and China had the Yellow River. While there area number of topics that can be discussed between these four civilizations, China and Egypt’s geography are both similar and different in a number of ways.
The following contents will give insight into just how. When it comes to China and Egypt, their geography helped form their civilizations. Both relied heavily on theirrivers as a source of irrigation for their crops.
Because the soil was fertilein both civilizations, crops were abundant. In those crops, they both grew wheatand barley. They flourished for as long as they could live off the land. AlthoughChina was a little more isolated than Egypt, they were both somewhat isolatedand protected by natural barriers such as seas, deserts, and mountains. Egypt, because it was located mostly in the desert, enemies hardly crossed to fightthe Egyptians. China being near a desert had the same issue, but the mountainsis what made it the most difficult.
When it came to the rivers, both flooded, but one was more predictable than the other. The Nile was predictable when itcame to its behavior and the people could map out when the flood was going to happen. The reliable weather made it so that long lasting and unified kingdoms couldthrive. The Yellow river on the other hand was unpredictable.
It wasunpredictable to the point of being dangerous. The flooding was so extreme thatindividuals were known to have been killed, alongside farm animals. Althoughthe soil in both areas were good for a while, eventually China lost manyagriculture resources because of these floods. This made it harder for China tosustain their crops compared to Egypt’s long-lasting crops. Egypt could alsouse the Nile river for transportation while that was harder for them to do inChina. The geography of the ancient Chineseand Egyptians were both similar and different, yet both come down to this. Thegeography of these two areas, played a huge role in their establishment and success.
Although both had their differences, both ultimately relied on their rivers inmore ways than one. Having ample food source with rich soil brought in peopleand their civilizations continued to grow and flourish.