Role of Geography in Formation of Character of Civilizations Case Studies: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley

Abstract

When human race began its activities on Earth, it faced severe challenges of survival. The pursuit of basic necessities like food and shelter advanced them from hunting, to cultivation and food processing. The initiation of agriculture brought qualitative changes in the average human life, following the establishment of permanent settlements, cultures and civilizations. At the beginning of the age of tilling, settlers preferred locations which offered unrestrained water, fertile land and comfortable climate. Every location had its own geographical characteristics, which played a fundamental role in formation of the character and architecture of civilizations. The major early contemporary civilizations include the Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Indus Valley. The natural barren boundaries across the River Nile in Egypt enabled Pharaohs to form a strict slave system. The area accommodating two ancient rivers; Tigris and Euphrates, resulted in a settlement now known as the Mesopotamian civilization. The five rivers of Punjab and Ganges River provided people of the Indus Valley with a large piece of very fertile land. They cultivated land from Himalayan peaks in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south, expanding their civilization and architecture vastly. This paper studies these three civilizations, with reference to their geography, highlighting its effects on the development pattern and architecture. The research will give the apparent picture of how the geography effects the overall growth of civilizations, and also the similarities and dissimilarities from one location to the other.