How Civilization Changes Throughout History

Early farmers in Europe and elsewhere practiced shifting cultivation, also known as swidden agriculture.Although the lands around the Mediterranean seem to have shared a complex of crops and farming techniques, geographical barriers blocked the spread elsewhere. Rainfall patterns south of the Sahara favored locally domesticated grains—sorghums, millets, and (in Ethiopia) teff—over wheat and barley. In the Americas a decline of game animals in the Tehuacán° Valley of Mexico after 8000 B.C.E. increased people’s dependence on wild plants. Agriculture based on maize (corn) developed there about 3000 B.C.E. and gradually spread. The first domesticated animal, the dog, may have helped hunters track game well before the Neolithic period. Later, animals initially provided meat but eventually supplied milk, wool, and energy as well.Meat eating did not decline during the revolution.

Jared Diamond discusses the reasons why geographical and environmental factors lead to a more rapid progression of certain civilizations throughout history. The book Guns, Germs and Steel portrays an argument that due to some societies’ access to an area witch contains sufficient amounts of wildlife and climates that are easily inhabitable, these societies developed into more advanced ways of living much easier and also earlier than societies who lacked these geographical attributes. These beneficial geographical attributes promoted the growth of technological improvements in weapons, religion, and farming.

There are many civilizations built on rivers. These civilizations experience many advantages, and disadvantages because they live along rivers. Rivers give the natural resource of water. Throughout history many great countries thrived on rivers, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, to name a few. Water from a river can be useful and therefore some civilizations thrived on their rivers, and for other communities the river was their doom.

Throughout Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the importance of geography in the ways ancient civilizations grew and spread and how some areas were more advanced than others. He began his research when he was asked a question by a Papua New Guinea residence, Yali. Yali had asked Diamond “[w]hy you white man have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little?” At that point Diamond had no answer and he was curious to find out why Eurasia had a head start in civilizing people meanwhile the other continents were behind. As a result, several differences were made between countries that did not have the same resources as those who were advanced. Some of the developing countries were poor and they had to rely on whatever was given to them through nature. When Diamond went to Papua New Guinea, he discovered that the residences of the island had the same routine as those in the ancient civilizations of Eurasia. They would often hunt for animals and used stone weapons instead of metal.

According to Violatti (2014), civilization was commonly used to refer human societies with high level of cultural and technological development. Although its meaning had changed several times in a course of time, the definition of it was subjective and some of its assumptions were no longer accepted by the modern scholars about how the human society had changed over the history.

In Greece, the geography affected early settlements in positive ways. An example is Mount Olympus, since it was so high up and covered by clouds, Greeks believed Gods lived there. Document 2 states, ”According to the ancient Greeks, their gods controlled every part of daily life--the weather, crops, money, love, and business, phases of the moon, earthquakes, and even whether a loaf of bread burned in the oven.” This proves that ancient Greeks not being able to see the top of the mountain, made them believe the gods were up there, and it gave them an explanation to everything. Another one is, how hot and dry climates were great for growing olive trees. In document 4 it states, ”Olive oil was as good as money to the ancient Greeks, since they could trade it for other land not available

(doc 1) The cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful The cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful civilizations because they built lot’s and they tried to survive for as long as they could. To begin, the Egyptians used any source or form of water that they could find. Like when the Egyptian Civilization was set up next to the Nile river, they depended on it for many things. Like, when the Nile overflowed and it helped them make good farming soil for their crops.

Many ancient civilizations have changed the way we live today. Sumerians invented the first language, Hammurabi invented the first set of laws, Egyptians created pyramids, and so many other ways that ancient people made the building blocks of the way our society lives today. It amazes me how God gave us brains to figure out ways to make life so much easier!

Since the beginning of time, water has played a key role in societies all over the world. The earliest recorded civilizations have all been found along large river valleys, such as, the Indus River in India and the Yellow River in China. Water is an essential part of life; it does not just sustain the life of all human beings around the globe, but also sustains the life of every living thing known to this Earth. All of the major cities that we know today are surrounded by large river systems that supply its people with the means to survive in that region. These rivers also link our different communities together and allow us to prosper, but these rivers are being taken advantage of. Our once great rivers are falling victim to pollution and

Water is both beautiful and extremely useful for life to go on. It is a means of transportation, a power source, and necessary for all life on earth. For centuries water has been a means of transportation. It has provided humans with a never ending power source. It also makes things grow and sustains life on earth.

Since the beginning philosophers had been trying to figure out what everything was made of. Thales of Miletus, the first natural philosopher, said that everything was made of water and was the first to introduce the meaning of change. He believed there were two types of change, qualitative change and quantitative change. From there philosophers theorized how things changed over time. Anaximander, a student of Thales, believed that everything in the universe came from an aperion (a boundless and intermediate realm). Next came Anaximenes who said that everything came from air. In which the quantity of air would determine the type of object formed, the colder the tighter and the looser the warmer. Next, Pythagoras believed that everything was

Living on a planet covered by 71% water makes it easy to be unappreciative of such a valuable resource. Humanity hasn’t just relied on water to live, but also to make advances to society. Overtime, humans have progressively learned how to use water more and more efficiently to fit their needs. Water has had an immense impact on human history, religion, and science. Water has been crucial to human history.

Geography played an important role in the development of ancient civilizations because of their need for water, the shape of the land, and the vegetation. To begin with, the development of the ancient civilizations was affected by the water because they needed the water for many reasons. They could use the water for drinking, bathing, cleaning, and cooking. Also, the water could be used for food because they could hunt the animals that drank from the water and the fish that live in it. The water could be used as transportation, either for fun or to trade with other people, and the water could be used in irrigation systems that benefit the people of the community.

Water is considered as an essential for human existence. We all can survive without food for some day but no one can live without water at least two days. Human body consists of 70% percent of water and our globe is covered by 69.9% percent of water. But unfortunately the useable fresh water is just 2.5% out of it. Water is a social good, water is an economic good, water has ecological value and water has religious, moral and cultural value.

The first humans lived near rivers because they were the main source of food and travel. Many fish lived in the waters. Humans used to travel and explore long distances on water. Ships traveling the waterways is still a huge part of our lives today. This is how a lot of people travel and how many products that we need and use everyday get to the stores, and eventually to us. Because water is required for so many of the things that humans do regularly, such as drinking and cleaning, without it, our lives as we know them would be impossible. (Ashley Wong) http://ezinarticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Water&id=326117