Paper Summary:

The paper examines water's importance in the history of the world, which can be clearly seen in early civilizations and their dependence upon the availability and location of water. The paper explores how early societies structured their city life, agricultural practices, sanitary systems, and even politics around their sources and uses of water. The paper further examines how the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, Hebrews, and the Phoenicians are all examples of "hydraulic" civilizations to varying degrees. The paper concludes that the importance of water can be clearly seen through the locations and achievements of early civilizations.

From the Paper:

"An interesting difference between the hydraulic civilizations of India and the hydraulic civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia is the absence of powerful kings and rulers. Whereas the kings and pharaohs of the other societies oversaw the creation of the hydraulic system and forced labor into the construction and maintenance of it, "it is very difficult to square this hypothesis with what is known about the Indus civilization. There is no evidence of kings, slaves, or forced mobilization of labor" (crystalinks)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hassan, Fekri A. "A River Runs Through Egypt: Nile Floods and Civilization." Geotimes, April, 2005.
• Hillel, Daniel. The Natural history of the Bible: an ecological reading of the scriptures.Oxford University Press: New York, 1999.
• "Indus Civilization." Accessed March 5, 2006 from www.crystalinks.com/indus.html
• Spielvogel, Jackson J. World History. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003.
• "Wittfogel on the Hydraulic Civilization." Adapted from on-line Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed March 5, 2006 from http://www.riseofthewest.net/thinkers/wittfogel05.htm

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