Influence Of Geography On Civilizations

Improved Essays
Every civilization throughout history has their ups and downs. What if these ups and downs could all be connected back to one main factor, to one influence? Throughout history, it can be noticed that the location of a civilization or the environment in which the society is located affect the shape of their culture, economy, trade, protection, and many more. It defines which societies rise to power and which lose power. Geography influences history in many ways, as can be seen in the Indus Valley, Greece, and Aksum civilizations. The Indus Valley invented a sophisticated plumbing system. In Greece, they.. In Aksum, they utilized their access to different bodies of water to become the head of trade. They each utilized their geography, and …show more content…
Some of the main geographical features include a varied climate, mountains, and the Aegean Sea. One geographical feature of Greece was its climate: mild winters and hot summers. This type of climate allowed for Greece to have open aired houses, which conserved resources. This also allowed for a larger harvest time since crops could grow most of the year. Another geographical feature of Greece was the mountains scattered throughout. These mountains divided Greece into different city-states. These city-states all had different cultures, governments and values. This made Greece a powerful society since the many city-states specialized in different areas. For example, Athens was very booksmart, while Sparta was focused on military strength. Athens developed the idea of democracy, which is still in many societies today. The mountains were also a good defense system in times of war. Another impactful geographical feature was the Aegean Sea. The Aegean sea allowed for trade with other societies, which was crucial to Greeceā€™s economy. It was home to many Greek islands as well. The sea allowed for a means of contact with other civilizations, such as Egypt and Carthage, and provided fish to eat. The geographical features of Greece contributed to the culture of its society, which in turn impacted the whole world and the future civilizations to …show more content…
Every part of a civilization can be traced back to the mother of history: geography. The Indus Valley, Greece, and Aksum are great examples of how geography can cause many changes in a civilizations. Without the different varieties of geographical features, the world would be nothing like what we now know it as

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    1) Geography- Where were they located? What is the place called today? What effect did the geographic setting have on the civilization that grew there? Were they geographically isolated from other civilizations?…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mesopotamia Dbq Essay

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    From the beginning of the Mesopotamian civilization to the end of the Indus river, many inhabitants of the river valley civilizations adapted to their environment. In order for them to adapt to their environment, they had to adapt to by living in caves, made use of their natural resources, built walls to protect from enemy attack plus floods, and create irrigation systems to get water for their animals and crops. The lives of people in ancient times were shaped by the geography of their region by the rivers, the shelter they lived and the natural barriers that surrounded their region. The lives of people were shaped by the geography of their region because of the rivers.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The greatest achievements that the Greeks were proud of were the advances that they had in the philosophical and scientific thought. As the civilization of Greek evolved, there developments of city-states, that were known as Polis, that were popping up around the mainland of Greek. Their landscape helped in the development of these cities. Through their developed and independent and common governments, they built cultures, language, history, society and religion they build a civilized environment that was worth emulation. Due to the presence of great…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The countrys mountainous terrain, hidden valleys, and offshore islands inspired the Greeks to configure many local centers of power, instead of one all powerful capitol. These center of power were broke down into different cities and considered city-states. A few larger known city-states include Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. These city-states became progressively independent as they formed their own government generated armies, and collected taxes. Although these city-states worked for Greece it left them extremely vulnerable to attack not only neighbors such as Persia, but also themselves.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The earliest of civilizations consisted of core advancements that defined the communities that inhabited within it. These communities were driven by factors that would decide the overall outcome of the civilization. Ancient cultures had to overcome a variety of challenges to grow into civilization. Mesopotamian and Indian religion, technology and accomplishments, and women have all influenced methods and modern civilizations around the world. Both Mesopotamia and India have faced challenges, improvements, and concerns that have led their cultures in two completely different directions.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The vast classical civilizations of the Maya and Indians have paved the way for the current world. Despite residing in different time periods, their influence has resonated throughout the ages. While the classical civilizations of the Maya and Mauryan and Gupta India were alike in that they both had a clear cut social organization due to the specialization of occupations in their societies. They differed in the economic and political collapse of their civilizations due to the fact that the downfall of the Maya was mainly due to the effects of nature, which then caused conflicts between city-states and the downfall of Mauryan and Gupta India was a result of the weak successors, internal political conflicts, and foreign invasions and that the political geography of…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most significant factor that influenced the development of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia was the geography of the two regions, both regions had fertile land for agriculture which helped develop the cities, they were also located near rivers which encouraged trade for the cities allowing them to grow and prosper. The fertile land produced by the region's rivers helped develope cities through agriculture. The rivers running through the two regions also helped encourage trade allowing the cities to grow and prosper. Also, the geography of the two regions helped protect the citizens from outside invaders. The fertile land produced by the rivers of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia helped develope the cities through agriculture.…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The geography of China affected the development of early civilization because directly north of them was called the Gobi Desert. Directly west of them was the Himalayas mountain range and other mountains, too. Directly to the south was a body of water called the South China Sea, and to the east was the East China Sea. They also had around them the Yellow Sea.…

    • 64 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many ancient civilizations had a unique geography that would help shape and influence their cultures. Ancient Egypt and ancient Greece were approximately 1,500 miles apart from cross the Mediterranean Sea and had a different geographical makeup. Even though both these ancient cultures are different geographically, they both are similar in the way that they are influenced by their geography. The landscape of ancient Egypt and Greece played a huge role in influencing their culture, values, politics, and perspectives; as well as affected the connection between these civilizations and their neighbors. The landscape of Greece and Egypt were very different from one another.…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The mountains and the seas were the landforms of Greece that played a significant role in why Greece became such a power house. Greece was composed of an immense amount of tiny city-states which was secluded by mountains. The mountains had caused the communities to become very independent. After a period of time, the Greek communities became so willing to fight to gain advantage over another. The rivalries between the communities led to pestilential warfare that would eventually destroyed the Greek society.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Geography has played an important role in the development of early and advanced civilizations. Many prosperous civilizations formed along the banks of flood plains in river valleys where the conditions were suitable for agriculture. In spite of that, not all civilizations started out this way; in fact, some advanced civilizations formed in areas where there were poor soil and no flood plains. Even with their differences, all of these civilizations prospered by the impact of their geography. Three notable civilizations that geography impacted where located in the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and in Greece.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Persian War Essay

    • 1039 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The city of Athens played a key role in ancient Greece. They were known for being one of the first city-states in Greece and their democracy. Even though they fought in many wars and had many different rulers, they eventually became successful. We have discussed the growth, evolution, and emergence of ancient Greece as a major power in the Mediterranean world. We have analyzed at least two interpretations of ancient Greece.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From starvation due to a bad harvest all the way to warfare, early civilizations had much to deal with to try to survive. When it comes down to it, geography determines the success of an early…

    • 1459 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Trade Routes in the Ancient World Ancient civilizations paved way for the ideas, values, and commodities that people still use to this day and are accustomed to using in their daily lives. As each civilization flourished, they had distinct characteristics which made them unique, nevertheless they had similarities with other civilizations that related on not only a geographical level but a cultural and developmental level as well. For all the civilizations to flourish as a whole, products that were only cultivated in certain areas had to be able to move from civilization to civilization. That is where trade routes became the most important. Trade routes were in charge of exporting and importing products from other civilizations, therefore increasing…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dyana Postelle Many times the best way to understand civilizations is in reference to another civilization or civilizations in the same time period, or by comparing advancements in language, size, and trade, or by comparing city-state and territorial-state perameters. In this essay I will discuss the Indus Valley Civilizations, and more specifically Mohenjo-daro with regards to its similarities and differences to Mesopotamian, and Egyptian civilizations, and its status as a city-sate or territorial-state. Although the Indus Valley Civilizations were bigger than Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, they are the least known about.…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays