Geography Influenced Civilization

Sakija Wilkinson HST 140 WA/4 WA2 Geography Influenced Civilization Geography influenced civilization that arose in china, in so many ways. One way was the yellow river in which ancient china basically grew out of. All of the earliest civilizations arose on flood plains of major rivers because these lands provided the fertile land required to support their civilization. The yellow river was used to contribute to china’s civilization by also being as a highway to unify and control.
There was also the warring states period which came about when the steppe cavalries became a serious threat to china in northern region, which ended when Qin Kingdom conquered the rest. During this period though, there were fights among seven major kingdoms that were independent and they were fighting to gain power and to become superior to all other in authority.
Geography comes in with the help of the mountains and hills that contributed toward the sturdy walls that were built by the three northern states to keep raids from happening with the nomads and also to defend their villages. Lui, pp. 22-23, Unit 4 Module; Politics in State Power in Great River Valley Societies). The Land, soil and river provide resources for the farming and contributed toward the ranking and freedom of certain people. “Those who devoted themselves to the fundamental enterprise and through their farming and weaving contributed much grain and cloth would be freed from tax and corvee. ” (Rielly, 2010, p. 129). Also farmers served as soldiers, and because of this the portion of agriculture provided the lifeblood of the state.

Food was also produced and any of the farmer-soldiers that did not produce such food for everyone in the state this would lead to them playing less of a role inside the society. It is also bee allegedly stated that with the help of agricultural land, the Qin removed the grid paths, footpaths were opened up and boundaries were set. This also led to the thought of historians which thought that these changes that were made contributed to the sale of land and made it able to be done. Rielly 4/1). There are some differences among China and Mesopotamia and there were also some similarities when it came to the civilization and geography. As it is true that the early societies and states including Mesopotamia and China all arouse along large rivers, and they were also the earliest states to become established on the earth. Many people in both civilizations, China and Mesopotamia were farmers providing crops and food for others.
Since they both were river civilizations they each had its own advantages of trade routes, transportation, food, and plenty of water for drinking and also for crops at one point. China was located in eastern Asia where mountains helps a lot of their civilization and was common. These mountains cause china to be protected due to the walls that were built, and also helped out with trade which provide an upper hand for china. As for Mesopotamia its locations was in western Asia where the lands were flat and them not being able to have much protection.
Mesopotamia was big in armies and military because of their flat open land which caused them to be more advanced in military defense than china. They also had similarities in problems which seem to be something like a global pattern when it came to war, rituals and oracles being gamblers means of power. Geography played much part in civilization of the passed also when it came to similarities and differences of certain regions, and it will continue to play a part in the future as well. (Armesto pp. 89-90. Unit 4 module; The Influence of Geography on the Development of Societies and States)