Naghma Ahmed

AP World History Period 4

September 8, 2010
Comparison Essay: Indus River Valley and Nile River Valley

The Indus River Valley and Nile River Valley Civilizations are similar in numerous

ways but there are many differences too. Archaeologists have roamed the Eastern

Hemisphere in search of the advanced civilizations located there and these are two of

the four civilizations found there. The people of these civilizations are alike in many

ways in there need to survive. I will compare these two civilizations and provide you

with a better understanding of there time periods. With these civilizations I will compare

the people’s agricultural ways, social classes and the religion.

The Indus River Valley and Nile River Valley have one thing in common among

other things and that is there rivers. They both use there rivers for agricultural success

and along with the rivers comes frequent flooding which these civilizations have to

control. Herodotus named Egypt “the gift of the Nile” because with out the Nile, Egypt

wouldn’t exist and the same has been said about Harappa, one of the major cities in

the Indus River Valley. The people of Egypt can predict when the Nile floods and use

this to plan their harvests while the Indus floods unpredictably. Both civilizations relied

heavily on agriculture and its agriculture surpluses fed many. The Indus River Valley

sowed their seeds in September and harvested in late spring when the floods receded

while the Nile River Valley relied on the annual floods and harvested according to that.

The ruling classes of these civilizations differ very much from each other. The

Indus River Valley had social classes called the Varna or caste system while the Nile

River Valley has pharaohs as divine royal beings and the families of these people nobles
 Naghma Ahmed
AP World History Period 4
September 8, 2010
Comparison Essay: Indus River Valley and Nile River Valley
and the rest are slaves and other lower classes of people. In the Indus River Valley the

social classes are hereditary and whatever your parents are born to you are the same.

In the caste system you may not marry out of your caste because it is believed that you

are put into it for either punishment or a reward for what you did in your previous lives.

The Nile River Valley has pharaohs as there rulers and they are known as divine beings.

The other classes include slaves, commoners, and domestic peoples and the pharaoh’s

family. The ruling classes are different but they are also the same in the way they are

treated with slaves being treated like untouchables from the caste system and

commoners are treated in the way any other normal person is treated.

In these two civilizations religion is an important part of their every day lives.

Most of the people around the Indus are Hindus while the Nile’s people worship several

different gods and at the same time they worship the Pharaohs. Egyptians believed that

there was an after life and so the practice of mummification was used to ensure that

they had a safe journey as they pass through this life. The Hinduism is a polytheistic

religion and so the people of the Indus River worship several different gods according

to what they want. Both peoples are believers of polytheistic religion and they

incorporate their religion in many things they do.

Both religions have a large amount of similarities but the differences define the

people in the civilizations. The four civilizations have made many accomplishments that

showed us different ways that we have done stuff in the past. The people used the

surrounding areas to their advantage and because of this they are advanced peoples.
 Naghma Ahmed
AP World History Period 4
September 8, 2010
Comparison Essay: Indus River Valley and Nile River Valley
Comparing the two shows that they are the same in their want to survive and to do this

they have used the natures different forces to make their lives easier. Their ways

enabled them to have a large population and allowed them to grow into larger

civilizations.