First Ancient Civilizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

First Ancient Civilizations - Essay Example Religion is of crucial importance to society since it facilitates the guarding of morals in society. The word Mesopotamia in the Greek language means ‘the land between two rivers’, because the civilization began between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It was in the Eastern Mediterranean, had the Zagros Mountains to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southeast, and corresponded to the present-day Iraq, most parts of Iran, Turkey and Syria. It was called Al Jazira by the Arabs and has been termed to as the Fertile Crescent. This civilization is the earliest in world history and, one which lasted for the longest time having begun around 3500 BC and ended in (Chadwick, 2005). It had much influence in western civilizations and most of these civilizations laid their foundations based on its example. Unlike other civilizations, Mesopotamia was a collection of various cultures, which were only bound together by their gods, writing and how they treated women. Mesopotamia is regarded as the cradle of civilization because it was the first to build cities, use the potter’s wheel, to develop writing, to organize armies, use large quantities of bronze and is called the place where history began. The yellow river civilization in china began in 4000 BC in China. Since water is known to play a critical role in the development of a civilization, the yellow river civilization owed its origin and development to the yellow river. The yellow river occupies a place of importance in china and has been known as the mother river of china. Just as the Egyptians credit their existence to the river Nile, the Chinese also attach great importance to the yellow river, referring to it as the cradle of Chinese civilization. The yellow river population was the centre of politics, economy and culture of the Chinese. It was also the center of science and technological advancement. It existed for 2000 years, covering the period