How do Civilizations Rise?

How do Civilizations Rise?
By Jordan Willis

The Mayan Civilization, Egyptian Civilization, Mesopotamian Civilization, and Indus River Valley Civilization all rose in a similar way. They all rose through the same basic methods, and for the same basic reasons. The Four Factors of a Civilization are the explanation for how they rise. The Factors, in order based on importance, include Geography, Society, Economy, and Technology. Each play a key role in developing a Civilization, and in keeping it going.
Geography is the most important factor in the rise of a civilization. All four of the civilizations that we have studied were located right near a river. The Egyptians were on the Nile River, Mesopotamia was between the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, The Indus River Valley was on the Indus river, and the Mayans were surrounded by a bunch of different rivers. The reason Rivers are so important to a civilization is irrigation. Rivers help farmers to grow more crops more efficiently. Also, all civilizations have some sort of Natural Barrier. The Egyptians had a lot of desert, Mesopotamia had a desert and a mountain range, the Indus River Valley had both desert and mountain range, and the Mayans had a mountain range and a thick jungle. These Natural Barriers are important to keep enemies from attacking, and keep unknown diseases from making people sick. Also, when it rains, rivers are formed in the mountains as the water flows down the the people. That is why Geography is a key part to the rise and maintaining of a civilization.
Society is the second most important factor in the rise of a civilization. All four of the civilizations were able to create a certain culture. Since the rivers were helping farmers to grow more crops, other people were given more time to shape this culture. They had more time to learn a spoken and written language. That is important because then information and true stories of their lives could be written down and known today. They also had to communicate with one another. Art and Music was also created with this time. The people were given time to think about life, and how they could explain the natural occurrences of everyday life. They created their gods, mystical figures to explain death, life, and much more. They invented new recipes for cooking their meals. Society is important to keep a civilization running as well. Without it, the civilization would crash and burn.
Economy is another factor of a civilization that was important to its rise. Each civilization we have studied had an economy. Some did all trade, and some had a kind of money to purchase goods. Living on the river made it a lot easier to trade with other civilizations. They would trade anything they could for for anything they could. They used to trade food recipes to other cities or civilizations, and receive recipes from other places as well. They would make beautiful pottery just for the purpose of trading it for something else, things like pots and dishes. Some of the women would make amazing jewelry to trade with other women, or men for their women. Along the river, they would also exchange ideas, things like math and astronomy. As the people traveled to trade their goods, they learned some language from the other people, and they adopted some customs from them as well. They also sold stuff for money so they could buy something from someone who wasn’t willing to trade for you goods. Economy kept the people somewhat equal with one another. They trading and learning from other civilizations kept ideas fresh as the civilization thriving.
The fourth factor is Technology. All civilizations develop different things, but a lot of them are also the same inventions. People created tools like wheels, which were put under carts and pulled by animals. They also invented weapons out of different kinds of stone or metals. The Mesopotamians used bronze to construct weapons, which is much stronger than The Mayans’ Obsidian. The Indus River Valley designed a sewage system that kept people from throwing crap on the streets. The Indus people also had a very effective city planning style, they used a grid system showing that had great math skills. All of these ancients people were able to create a style of housing good enough to still be there, for the most part, today. They had time to create a language, written and spoken, for the other people to learn. Technology, though fourth out of four factor, was extremely important in the rise and maintaining of a civilization.
All four of the civilizations we studied shared those four factors in common. Geography, Society, Economy, and Technology. They each have a different role to play in the rise of a new civilization. Without even just one of them, the civilization would fail, crash and burn as I said before. So, to have a civilization, the four factors are are necessity. IIf one fails, they all fail. All people, all across the globe, have the same style of thinking. That is why four different civilizations, on all sides of the world, share so many commonalities with one another. That is because of man, all of mankind have the same brain, and all brains think of Geography, Society, Economy, and Technology. That is why these four factors are the four factors.