Beginnings of Ancient Civilizations

In ancient times there were many ancient civilizations. But they all had one thing in common. This one thing was access to water. Whether it is a river or an ocean. The water did many things for these ancient civilizations.

Some ancient civilizations that relied on a water source are, the Egyptians and the people of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means "Land between two rivers." These rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.

The Egyptians had a very unique way of farming. They relied on the Nile river. The Nile river floods once every year. And when it does this, the water from the river waters the crops. These floods also brought silt.

Mesopotamia was quite similar, in that the rivers nearby also flooded annually. The difference between the Egyptians and Mesopotamians is that the people of Mesopotamia had no way of knowing when the river was going to flood. It was totally unpredictable. Mesopotamia was also connected to something that Egypt was not. This thing is called The Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent was an area of good rich soil. The Fertile Crescent stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.

Egypt also traded a lot. It was easy for them to trade because they had something that connected many countries. This thing was the Mediterranean Sea. It helped connect countries so they could just drive a boat to a different country and trade and go home.

Now you know that most ancient civilizations had something in common and that thing is that they were near a water source.