Write a short note on River Valley civilisations. 

The progress in the techniques of systematic cultivation resulted in the rise of the most ancient river valley civilisations of the Neolithic age. The river valley civilisations grew in four regions of the world. Those regions were Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian Subcontinent, and China.

(a) The valley of Euphrates and Tigris – Mesopotamia: Mesopotamia is the Greek name of the region between the two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Mesos means the ‘middle one’. Potamos means ‘river’. The region between the two rivers is ‘Mesopotamia’. The Mesolithic people began to stay in this region for longer times because of the availability of ample water. Ancient Mesopotamia included modern Iraq, Syria as well as the western regions of Iran and southeastern regions of Turkey. The camps of Mesolithic people developed into the first settled neolithic villages. These .first villages are dated to 10000 years B.C.E.

(b) The valley of Nile – Egypt: Napoleon Bonaparte had taken along many scholars from various fields during his invasion of Egypt in 1798. They studied the ancient remains in Egypt and published it. These studies received momentum because of the decipherment of the Rosetta inscriptions. The first neolithic villages in Egypt came into being at about 6000 B.C.E. The beginning of agriculture in Egypt coincides with the same time.

(c) The valley of Huang He – China: The valley of Huang He River is considered to be the v region of origin of the Chinese culture. The Chinese culture evolved here. Agriculture in the neolithic villages of China began at about 7000 B.C.E. Wheat, foxtail millet, and rice was grown by the farmers in these villages.

(d) The valleys of Sindhu (Indus) and Saraswati – Indian subcontinent: The region of the valleys of Sindhu and Saraswati is now divided between India and Pakistan. The archaeological excavations at Harappa on the banks of Ravi in Punjab and Mohenjo Daro on the banks of Sindhu in Sindh indicate the existence of a fully developed civilisation in the Indian subcontinent which was dated to circa 3000 B.C.E. It proves that there were well-settled villages in the Indian subcontinent as early as 8000 B.C.E. There is a general consensus among the scholars that the Harappan cities evolved from these early villages.