The Influence Of Western Civilization

Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India are some of the early civilizations, that helped to shape the world as we know it. Each ancient civilization had many contributions to society. Some would include irrigation, grid like house system, and written languages.

Think of a creative or descriptive name for this time period. For example, you might call the period before the development of agriculture “Life Before Farming” or “Hunting to Survive.” Make this name the title of your journal entry.

Egypt, Mesopotamia, Shang/Zhou dynasties/China, and the Indus Valley are all different ancient river valley civilizations. All have different aspects of civilizations. Some aspects of civilization include technology, writing/language, specialized jobs, government, etc. These decisions were made based on the climate and biome the civilization was located in. These things needed to be taken into account because certain aspects of civilization were not suitable for every civilization. A written language was key to creating a thriving civilization, helping many tasks become easier. Writing was composed of many things, but the most important include a government building, a library, and a written language.

``How often is the term "savages" incorrectly applied! None really deserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by travelers. They have discovered heathens and barbarians, whom by horrible cruelties they have exasperated into savages.`` (Typee 27) When thinking about the term civilization, most people do not seem to have difficulties in defining the meaning of this word, which initially appears to be quiet simple. According to the Oxford dictionaries civilization is `` the stage of human social development and organization which is considered the most advanced.`` (Oxford Dictionaries) But when thinking about how this term was used in history the definition of the term civilization is not as clear as it seemed before. In ``The Discourse of Civilization and Decolonization`` the author Prasenjit Duara claims that the

Technology may not seem like it made a huge impact on Western Expansion, but it in fact did. Without the creation and development of railroads, canals and bridges, expansion would have progressed a lot slower and not nearly as efficiently. Railroads allowed farmers to trade crops into the valley and passed the Appalachian’s which were previously off limits due to distance and terrain. Canals are water pathways connecting two bodies of water through a large piece of land. They allowed trade ships to have a shortcut for easier travel on trade voyages. Bridges did the exact opposite of canals, allowing land travel over two bodies of water. This gave traders the opportunity to cross over lakes and large bodies of water, instead of taking the extra

Every civilization throughout history has their ups and downs. What if these ups and downs could all be connected back to one main factor, to one influence? Throughout history, it can be noticed that the location of a civilization affects the shape of its culture, economy, trade, and security of its borders. It defines which societies rise to power and which lose power. Geography influences history in many ways, as can be seen in the Indus Valley, Greece, and Aksum civilizations. The Indus Valley built large mud walls and drainage systems to lessen the effects of massive flooding. In Greece, many wars occurred between city states due to the differences in culture caused by separation by mountain ranges. In Aksum, they utilized their access to different bodies of water to become the head of trade. Each of these civilizations utilized their geography and its advantages, but also eventually fell victim to its disadvantages.

Ancient Egypt was the most advance civilization of antiquity. They had fairly advance Medicine, Architecture, Religion, and were also wise in philosophy. Greek culture learned a lot from Egypt, and they constantly referred to them and sought to find their ancestors in Egypt. The Nile was a fundamental element for the flourishing of the civilization of ancient Egypt, most of the population of cities were in the Nile valley and the Delta. The Nile was vital to Egyptian culture from the stone age. Climate change, and desertification, dried the hunting and grazing lands of Egypt to form of Sahara Desert, around 8000 B.C; then the inhabitants emigrated and settled next to the river Nile, where they developed an agricultural economy and a centralized society.

The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization. Political elements like oligarchy versus democracy molded Western Civilization's political science and political philosophies.

Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were two early human civilizations that lived during the bronze age in harsh desert environments located not far from each other. Both civilizations were built around rivers that they depended on for survival. There is evidence that these rivers had great influence on both the societies politics and culture. Egypt was built around the very strong and reliable Nile River. Ancient Mesopotamia was established in the fertile crescent between the less reliable Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. During the bronze age both Ancient Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians developed forms of religion that highly reflected their habitat. They had many similarities in their politics even though they had completely different forms of government. Both societies were also known for their discoveries in art and technology. They developed their own forms of writing, different tools and architecture.

There are many similarities and differences between the early civilizations of the Middle East and India. The early Middle East civilizations will include Mesopotamia and Egypt. Mesopotamia was founded in 3300 BC, and Egypt was founded around 3000 BC. India was founded around 2500 BC. So these civilizations were founded all around the same time. There are many similarities and differences in their political characteristics, social/cultural characteristics, and economic characteristics.

In conclusion, the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome and China maintained a strict social hierarchy, which was important for running stable, progressive and well-culturally preserved societies. The key elements that played a role in achieving that were the well-defined social order, the substantial social and economic inequality and the distinctive social norms. In each of the three civilizations, the classes were visible and there was no room for chaos, because strict laws were in place. Inequality ensured the movement forward, but social norms provided order and kept the hierarchical pyramid in place. Without the vital feature of the social hierarchy, it would not be possible for the societies to preserve their traditions and ensure continuity

During 600 BCE and 600 CE, many countries was going through a drastic change. When analyzing early civilizations, it’s evident there is similarities and differences. The Middle East, China, and Africa were among few countries that advanced during this aeon. All of these empires within the countries have risen and fallen, developing these civilizations to what we know of today.

The ancient civilization of China gave us the paper we use today and spread many ideas throughout Asia. Although the Egyptians first invented the papyrus paper, it was the Chinese who first made paper out of trees, the paper we use today. They found this paper to be much easier to make. However, China did not make most of their income off of the new paper product; China obtained their wealth by selling silk. China is the only place where silkworms can be found naturally. China traded their scarce product all throughout Asia via a route known as the Silk Road. This route was widely used by many other people as well; this led to cultural diffusion, the spread of ideas among different people. Document six states, “Cultural diffusion led to advances in many societies throughout the world.” China traded their new inventions throughout Asia and gained wealth but, China gave the people across Asia something in return, a chance to learn, grow, and prosper.

When reflecting on the two fundamentally conflicting arguments -are foreigners better on their own or do they need our help? “American imperialism” comes to mind. This term denotes the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United States internationally. First propagated during the presidency of James K. Polk, the concept of empire-building in the America’s, developed throughout the late 1800th century. During this time, industrialization caused American capitalists to seek new global markets in which to sell their commodities. In addition, the increasing effect of social Darwinism led to the acceptance that America was superior to other countries and essentially responsible for bringing concepts such as industry, democracy, and Christianity to under-developed societies. The mixture of these attitudes along with other factors led the United States toward imperialism.

According to M.N.SRINIVAS westernisation in Indian terms refers to the effect of British culture in the Indian society. The westernisation effected many factors of Indian society including lifestyle, dressing, communication, religions, education, dressing , food and various habits. It is quite evident fact that India as a country has changed a lot after the colonisation era, some were beneficial changes like transportation which included trains, bringing an international language to the country. but in most of the cases the effects had a devastating effect on the countries economy, the country considered a golden bird before has turned out to an under developed nation at the end of colonisation. This paper of our aims at bringing in on how the colonisation has effected Indian society, by studying a few important factors effected.[1]