The Nile River is described as the lifeblood of Egypt because everybody needed the river. They grew crops, took baths, and cleaned clothes in the river. The number one reason the river was needed was for crops. The sand and dirt away from the river was not fertile and dry, so crops weren’t able to be grown.

How did the flooding of major rivers affect both the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians? The flooding of their rivers affected them by leaving silt, or fertile soil, behind when water levels go back to normal.

As the flood waters receded, sowing and ploughing began, using primitive wooden ploughs. Since rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, the floods provided the only source of moisture needed to sustain crops. Irrigation canals were used to control the water, particularly during dry spells.

The Nile River in Egypt is the lifeblood of this ancient civilization. The ancient Egyptians prospered because of it, modern Egypt is dependent upon it. The Nile River in Egypt flows through desert more than it does through any other landscape. Annual flooding deposits a rich layer of soil near the banks of the Nile.

The Nile

The combination of the two crowns into one represented the rule of the pharaoh over his united kingdom. Animal representations were fastened to the front of the crowns, with a cobra in attack position for Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet and a vulture head for the goddess Nekhbet of Upper Egypt.

This can be confusing when we look at a map, because Lower Egypt is at the top of the map, while Upper Egypt is at the bottom. This is because the Nile River flows from the high land in the south to the low land in the north.

Politically, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler, but Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh, while Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king. Socially, both civilizations were patriarchal, but Egypt was more lenient towards women while Mesopotamia was stricter.

The religions in both Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt were polytheistic, meaning they believed in multiple gods and goddesses, and were based on nature. Both civilizations had gods of the sky, earth, freshwater, and the sun, as well as gods devoted to human emotions and the underworld.

Both societies practiced religious tolerance. Both organized around major rivers. Both were monotheistic societies.

Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican society were similar in regards to order of development, but developed at different rates. Agricultural villages were common in Mesopotamia and Southwest Asia around 6000 BCE, and in Mesoamerica by 2000 BCE.

Mesoamerican was split up between nobles, commoners, serfs, and slaves. Nobles were rulers and government officials. Mesopotamia was made up of land owners, people who were free but did not own land, and slaves. The most privileged had the highest responsibility and if committed a crime would have longer sentence.

The Olmec were similar to the Indus River society in that they were united more by culture than by government. In Mesopotamia, each city-state had its own god. Also, the Olmec were similar to the Sumerians, Chinese and Egyptians in their beliefs that their leaders needed to be provided with things for the after-life.

In the organization of its kingdoms and empires, the sophistication of its monuments and cities, and the extent and refinement of its intellectual accomplishments, the Mesoamerican civilization, along with the comparable Andean civilization farther south, constitutes a New World counterpart to those of ancient Egypt.

The difference between the civilizations is the the Maya was classic, while the Toltec was postclassic. The Maya established city-states, united by a common culture but not unified by a common political or military system. Their achievements were artistic, agricultural, and architectural.