by Michael Fassbender

Created on: August 02, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Egypt. Sumeria. The Indus Valley. Shang Dynasty China. The Olmecs. These are the oldest civilizations in each of their areas of the world, pioneers in the creation of states and tutors to the civilizations that arose later. Not coincidentally, each of them emerged in important river valleys: the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus and Saraswati, the Yellow River (or Huang Ho), and the Coatzacoalcos and San Juan. In fact, of the earliest civilizations, the only one that did not arise in a river valley was that of the Minoans on Crete. Clearly, river valleys had a powerful effect on the early formation of civilizations.

The simplest suggestions would be that any population needs access to fresh water, and that rivers aid in agriculture. Both are true and relevant, but far from sufficient. It is worth observing that the construction of the earliest towns, as well as the most important work in the domestication of crops and of animals, were accomplished neither in Egypt nor in Mesopotamia, but rather in Syria and Canaan between them, and in southern Turkey just to the north. It was there that wheat and barley and other grains became crops suitable for intensive farming; there that cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were bred for human use; and there that early towns like Jericho and Catal Huyuk were founded. Much of that work was done while the Nile was still far too high to support any kind of population (in essence, there was a Nile without a Nile Valley), while the southern stretches of the Tigris and Euphrates were unable to sustain significant populations because of the capricious, flood-or-famine nature of the rivers.

In these early settlements, rivers were often available, especially in southern Turkey and northern Syria. Even where these settlements did not cling to a stretch of river, water could still be obtained. In much of the Fertile Crescent, rainfall is sufficient to support farming. These towns did not grow into cities, however, and clusters of culturally-related towns did not expand into powerful unitary states. Those developments would happen later, in low-lying regions dominated by one or two major rivers. Again, it is clear that the latter areas offered something new to the development of civilization.

It would be a mistake to think of the historical development of civilizations as an inevitable and obvious step in human affairs, only waiting for the right combination of factors to coincide. The people who built these civilizations

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