What are the positives and/or negatives of living near the four river valleys?
Directions: Start by putting your name in one of the group boxes below. Then, read your assigned text
underneath your name:
Group Member 1: Neel Group Member 2: Type Group Member 3: Type Group Member 4: Type
Bhaskar Name Here Name Here Name Here
Assigned Reading 1 Assigned Reading 2 Assigned Reading 3 Assigned Reading 4
Take notes on the positives and negatives of living near your assigned river valley in the box below:
Mesopotamia: Mesopotamia loosely translates to “land between two rivers”, which is located in the Fertile Crescent.
The two rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates, which were sourced from the Taurus Mountains near the Caucasus
Mountain Range.
Positives:
- Tigris and Euphrates Rivers deposited silt downstream, enriching the soil for farming purposes.
- This drew in settlers, who built many cities in Lower Mesopotamia to try and exploit the benefits the rivers
provided.
- Tigris and Euphrates Rivers provided crucial freshwater to the Mesopotamian civilization, especially important
as the Fertile Crescent received little and irregular rainfall.
- These rivers also helped progress trade in the region, allowing traders to import resources from Anatolia,
Assyria, Levant, and other surrounding regions. Mesopotamian trade even acquired goods from the Indian
subcontinent!
Negatives:
- Floods originating from the rivers were unpredictable and washed away entire settlements.
- Although Lower Mesopotamia did have agricultural promise, they lacked significant natural resources such as
wood and stone.
- Outside of Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers), there are sometimes long spells of rainfall followed by
long droughts. This unpredictable climate is very destructive to the population, and forced settlers to move to
the banks of the rivers.
- The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers also changed course frequently, forcing settlers to either chase after the river
and settle there or irrigate the river’s water supply to their location.
Egypt: Egypt was a civilization located in Africa, fueled by the Nile River valley. It is surrounded by major geographic
features which isolated the civilization, including the Sinai Peninsula, the Mediterranean Sea, and the
Western/Eastern Deserts.
Positives:
- Religions and Ideologies promoted obedience of the law, which allowed for progression of the social order.
- Connections with other powers introduced developments in agriculture, such as growing wheat and barley.
These processes acted like currency and fueled the actions of Pharaohs.
- The Nile River Valley also had animal domestication, which made agriculture a lot easier.
- The Nile River’s flow allowed for trade between northern and southern parts of Egypt. This allowed for a quick
transfer of resources.
- The Nile also allowed for labor specialization, meaning that people with a specific skill set could get jobs.
Negatives:
- Environmental Change often dried out areas far from the river, and eventually restricted agricultural
opportunity to just the Nile River itself.
- Floods occurred in the area, which likely resulted in significant death.
Indus: The Indus River Valley civilization was a settlement depending on monsoon rainfall and rivers originating from
the Himalayas (Ganges, Brahmaputra). Geographic Features within the valley were the Ghats, which bordered India’s
southern coastline, the peninsula coastal plains, as well as the westerly mountain ranges offering protection.
Positives:
- The Indus River Valley had a local trading partner in Sri Lanka, which facilitated trade within the Indian region.
- The Ganges River served as a heartland for the early Indian populations as they could support large numbers of
people. This led to the foundation for early Indian states.
- The Ghats on India’s southern coastline created a 4600 mile coastal plain, which India used for fishing in order
to explode their trade all across Afro-Eurasia. (Africa, Europe, Asia [technically a huge supercontinent])
-
Negatives:
- The Monsoons were the primary source of water. This was unreliable, as it depended on the seasonal climate.
- The surrounding Thar Desert and the northerly Himalayan Mountains isolated Indian trade outside of their
coastline, forcing the Indians to trade through the seas.
- Western mountain ranges such as the Suleiman and the Kirthar seem to offer protection to the Indian
subcontinent, however they can be penetrated through passes in narrow valleys. As a result, this likely created a
false sense of protection within the Indian society.
China: China was a civilization which was located in eastern Asia. Bordered by the Yellow Sea to the east, it relied on
two fundamental rivers in order to become a bolstering world power: the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Some
notable geographic features within this region were the rivers, surrounding Japanese islands, and coastal plains.
Positives:
- The Yellow River deposited silt into the northern plains of China, creating a stable environment where
agriculture could be conducted.
- The Yangtze River also provided sediment and silt into a basin longing for agriculture, however it was more
southerly than the Yellow, resulting in a warmer climate. This attracted many settlers into China for access to
both rivers, and an empire was eventually formed.
Negatives:
- Land fertile for agriculture often was surrounded by desert and mountains, which likely made it difficult to farm
in these areas. The conditions were likely too demanding.
- In the East Asian area, Japan was a country with a similar climate to China’s. Due to its rugged terrain and
difficult conditions, however, Japan only has 15% of arable land.
- Furthermore, Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes
and typhoons.
Next, take turns sharing what you learned at your table group. Complete the chart below (make sure you are
including information from ALL of the river valleys; refer back to the sources to help you)
Positives Negatives
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