Nika Medilishi

13th October, 2017

Ms. Kilian

World History

River Valley Civilizations around 3500 BC

Around the time of 3500 B.C civilizations started to develop and grow around the world.

Especially in southwestern Asia the first of the River Valley Civilizations began to spring up.

Even though every civilization made an impact to the modern World, there were civilizations

who had the most influence on future civilizations. The ancient River Civilizations of Egypt,

China, and Mesopotamia all made key contributions to future societies. Every civilization has a

purpose and its way to change something for better. Each civilization made a different but

important changes of how we live today and we would not live in a World we live in today

without those contributions and changes.

Ancient Egypt has made a lot of key contributions to future societies, such as setting up

government, creating an art of writing, making a calendar and move forward in science, and

taking mathematics and medicine to a whole new level. Ancient Egypt is also known for

Pyramids which was used as houses or tombs for the dead kings. Even though Ancient Egypt

made a lot of contributions; there are two of them which helped the future societies the most.

Creating an art of writing and Medical Science knowledge really made key contributions to help

the civilizations. Writing was a way To express the thinking of their mind, the Egyptians

invented art of writing. Although from the very beginning they were not acquainted with the

alphabets, still then they were able to express their idea through different pictures.
So, their writing was popularly known as ‘Hieroglyphs’. At first, the Egyptians used pictures and

then they used around 2000 pictographic signs. In due course of time their number was reduced

and limited to 700 only. At last they invented 24 alphabets. They engraved those alphabets on

stone. They also created paper which was called papyrus. These ideas and contributions helped

to communicate with each other easier and faster. The second most important contribution the

Ancient Egypt made was discovering and exploring medicine, which was very difficult due to

their conditions and time period. They managed to learn and explore deep in medical science.

Many ancient books prove that Egyptians knew about different diseases and also knew how to

cure them. They had ideas regarding surgery. They could also preserve dead bodies by applying

chemicals. The physicians of Egypt also knew the use of castor oil. It will not be wrong if the

Egyptians are termed as the ‘Father of Medical science’. These improvements in Medicine

helped us to know more and understand more in human anatomy due to their achievements and

contributions.

Probably the most significant contribution of the ancient China was the fine variety of silk

that goes by the name of Chinese silk, which was very valuable. The ancient Chinese were the

one who taught the rest of the world how to harvest silk from silk worms. They only lost control

of their secret when monks from Europe got their hands on silkworm eggs and took them back to

west. One of the most significant contributions of the ancient China a philosophy by Confucius.

The philosophy explained how people should live their lives. Confucianism teaches that each

person should accept his or her role in society. The relationships and teachings of Confucius

were also studies for “civil service” exams. These exams helped Chinese citizens to get a higher

paying job and live a better life if they scored well on them. This kind of contributions in ancient
China can be related to the modern life educational systems. We use that kind of system and

teachings to exam students and see how well they do on it; if they do well and continue their

academic performance then they will have a successful career and a good paying job.

Mesopotamian agriculture is the region's most lasting legacy because, without it, all other

advances would not have been possible.Mesopotamia's greatest influence on future civilizations

was the spread of agriculture. The region, located in the fertile area between the Tigris and

Euphrates Rivers, was excellent for farming. Once irrigation was developed, the long growing

season here could be properly utilized. Thanks to agriculture, populations grew due to the

abundance of food. This led to a need for more laws and governance in order to ensure that

society did not break down. People could now stay in one place—instead of putting their

energies into migration, they could develop architecture. The people living in this region

developed city walls and ceremonial ziggurats. People could also save part of the harvest for

future planting. These people did not know it at the time, but they were selecting crops for future

use based on genetics; this is something that farmers do even today. Mesopotamian agriculture is

the region's most lasting legacy because, without it, all other advances would not have been

possible. They also created the most complete set of laws that has survived. It is important

because it created a set of rules that helped to govern a civilization while trying to protect people

even if they had little political power. This is a major contribution as well because it shows the

beginning of equality in some form growing.

All these civilizations made key contributions to the World we live in today. All of them had

a very important and specific contribution that has helped generations to live better and safer.