The Ancient Egyptian, Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations

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3. The Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Civilization Name: Egyptian civilization

Period: 3150 BC–30 BC

Original Location: Banks of the Nile

Current Location: Egypt

Major Highlights: Construction of pyramids

Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest and culturally rich civilizations on this list. The ancient Egyptian civilization, a majestic civilization from the banks of the Nile, is known for its prodigious culture, its pharaohs, the enduring pyramids, and the Sphinx.

The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. But this would not have been possible had there not already been settlers around the Nile valley in early 3500 BC.

The history of ancient Egypt can be divided into a series of stable kingdoms separated by periods of relative instability known as intermediate periods: The Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.

Ancient Egypt gave us the pyramids, the mummies that preserve the ancient pharaohs to this day, hieroglyphics, and much more. Ancient Egypt reached its pinnacle during the New Kingdom, when pharaohs like Ramesses the Great ruled with such authority that another contemporary civilization, the Nubians, also came under Egyptian rule.

2. The Indus Valley Civilization

Civilization Name: Indus Valley civilization

Period: 3300 BC–1900 BC

Original Location: Around the basin of the Indus river

Current Location: Northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India

Major Highlights: One of the most widespread civilizations, covering 1.25 million km

One of the oldest civilizations on this list, the Indus Valley civilization lies at the very heart of subsequent civilizations that arose in the region of the Indus Valley. This civilization flourished in areas extending from what is today northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of the ancient world, and of the three, it was the most widespread, covering an area of 1.25 million kilometers.

Entire populations were settled in the Indus river basin, one of the major rivers in Asia, and another river named Ghaggar-Hakra which once used to flow through northeast India and eastern Pakistan.

Also known as the Harappan civilization and the Mohenjo-Daro civilization, named after the excavation sites where the remains of the civilization were found, the peak phase of this civilization is said to have lasted from 2600 BC to around 1900 BC. A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley civilization making its capital the first urban center in the region.

The people of the Indus Valley civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time, and based on artifacts found in excavations, it is evident that the culture was rich in arts and crafts as well.

1. The Mesopotamian Civilization

Civilization Name: Mesopotamian civilization

Period: 3500 BC–500 BC

Original Location: Northeast by the Zagros mountains, southeast by the Arabian plateau

Current Location: Iraq, Syria, and Turkey

Meaning: Land between rivers (ancient Greek)

Major Highlights: First civilization in the world

And here it is, the first civilization to have ever emerged. The origin of Mesopotamia dates back so far that there is no known evidence of any other civilized society before them. The timeline of ancient Mesopotamia is usually held to be from around 3300 BC to 750 BC. Mesopotamia is generally credited as being the first place where civilized society truly began to take shape. It was somewhere around 8000 BC that people developed the idea of agriculture and slowly started to domesticate animals for both food and to assist in farming.

People had already been creating art well before the Mesopotamians, but this was part of human culture, not human civilization. It was the Mesopotamian civilization that refined this, adding to and formalizing all these systems, and combining them to create the first civilization. They prospered in the regions of modern-day Iraq, then known as Babylonia, Sumer, and the Assyria Highlands.’ (Source)

Jean-Luc is fascinated with all this information and he hopes that he can remember all of this to tell his brother, Philippe, when he gets back. But will he get back? 

Let’s continue - Migration

Start at the beginning – Jean-Luc travels through time