Why Do We Not Live Near Water

Water, it is the foundation of life. Every single person on this earth is comprised of over two-thirds water, and you should drink at least half of your body weight in ounces every day. These are a couple of little fun facts, but, very important ones. They drive the question of “why not live near water?” I mean, it is a part of our everyday life. We need it for sustenance. We need it for cleaning. We need it for a thousand other reasons, but still not everyone lives next to it. Why is that, you ask? It is because we have developed as a people enough that it is not absolutely necessary to live right beside it to gain access to it or the fruits of it. The same thing can be said of historical cultures, and this explains the difference in the before …show more content…
First of all, this effected the geologic location of their culture. They built entire cities around water and ensuring access to it. The first known civilization of the Indus Valley, the Harappan civilization, was built along the water and flourished the most from about 2500-2000 B.C.E . It is believed that this civilization collapsed internally, likely because of a decline in water-based trade or farming. No culture leaned more heavily on their water source than the Egyptians. It is easy to see why, as the Nile River is the longest river in the world. Their steady seasons made agriculture extremely easy and the Greek Historian Herodotus even referred to Egypt as “the gift of the Nile” . The first known Mesopotamian civilizations revolved around the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers around 3000 B.C.E. These people developed stone tools to assist in agriculture and thus brought about a new technological age, the Neolithic or “neio stone age” . All aspects of their life revolved around things directly or indirectly to water, like agriculture and trade. Mesopotamia birthed one of the great early achievements in governing, “Hammurabi’s Code”. It is one of the first clearly stated set of rules set out by any governing party or individual. The big focus of this set of rules was, in fact, agriculture. There were rules about canals and how they should be maintained, and the stiff punishment that …show more content…
This is better represented with “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” which states that people’s needs go in order from importance as physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization . This is why, throughout Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Persia, and Greece, once water was sustained, war, and fighting over various lands began. This birthed several Empires, one of the most known being the Greek Empire. Once they established security, they set laws in place to ensure their governing. The laws throughout Greece still gave the Greeks cities the feel of a modern day city. These cities were described by McKay as being cultural and economic centers, with extensive theaters, temples, marketplaces and libraries . Through this rule, the Greek civilization and culture spread throughout the entire empire, encompassing not only Greece, but also parts of what is known as the “Near-East” . This spread influenced everything from the trading of goods and currency, to the growth of the phonetic alphabet and Greek ideas. During this time of safety and water security, Greeks became the fathers of philosophy and even made great discoveries in science and geometry . These developments under a secure and stable civilization are not exclusive to the Greeks. Indian civilizations, once securing water usage, birthed three