Geographic and Environmental Influences on Developing Civilizations, Essay Example

The geography and environment influenced the development of early civilizations in a great way; this was evidenced in the way the beliefs, the cultures and the practices were coined. Geography and environment influenced the internal characters and perceptions of man during the ancient periods. Elements such as political power, religious belief and economic sustainability during those days were mainly derived from the environmental facets and geographic elements. It is in the light of the above facts that this study highlights how geography and environment influenced human thoughts, societal settings, religious beliefs and politics. The study takes a comparative stance by looking at various regions such as Egypt, India, China, Greece, Western Asia and Rome (Heinrich von Treitschke, 225).

Geography claims to own scientific thoughts that were cultivated by the ancient people in the above mentioned regions, take a case scenario of climatic difficulties in Egypt due to the desert where the scientific solution available to the Ancient Egyptians was the invention of water irrigations methods that saw them harness water from River Nile for agricultural and domestic purposes. The Egyptian case highlights the advent of hydraulic civilization which was mainly influenced by the environment and climatic conditions.

In India geographic and climatic patterns affected the not only their settlements but also the rise of political kingdoms and emperors. Climatic elements such as monsoons winds and rainfall patterns around the Himalayan Mountains had a great impact on the peoples believes. The ancient Indians believed that little rainfall was due to their failure to obey their laws of their gods. The geographic vastness of the Indian region can also be attributed to the collapse of early political powers such as Harrapan civilizations which were founded in Mohenjo Dero, historians believe that the collapse of these civilizations was due to poor organization of political power due to the vastness of the region.

Geographical remoteness during the ancient periods calls for the question of geographical proximity, take the case scenario of Greek peninsula and the Greeks located in such regions. The conquest of peninsula by the Turkish influenced the culture of the Greeks who lived in those areas; this therefore explains sources of Greek culture in some Asiatic and Turkish settings. The element of political rivalry in the ancient times was vested on the natural environmental resources and geographical proximity. This is also manifested in the advancement of the Roman Empire into areas of central Europe. The Roman Empire had strong political powers that were consolidated by the rich natural resources and favorable climatic conditions. Heinrich von Treitschke, 225).

The influence of geography and environment on the development of ancient civilizations was also evidence in the development of art and craft of the ancient periods, take the case scenario of ancient Greek where art was used to communicate the feelings of the people towards the rulers and the climatic changes. Egypt takes a lead in the development as regards to the issue of arts; Pyramids were built to honor the pharaohs where they kept after passing a way with a lot of food preservations(Geraham. Chisholm, 342).

Hydraulic civilization is better placed to explain the advent and development of ancient China, for instance history shows that early settlements in China started in the along the Yellow River also known as Huang He. The people depended on the river for their livelihoods, natural features such as hills and mountains were believed to be the homes of the gods.

Works cited

Heinrich von Treitschke, Politik,. Leipzig,. This whole chapter on Land und Leute is suggestive. Vol. 1, p. 225. 2009.

Geraham. Chisholm, The Relativity of Geographic Advantages, Scottish Geog. Mag., Vol. XIII, No. 9, Sept. 2010.