The Rose

You know, I don’t usually publish the essays I write in school (college), but I thought this one was especially relevant. Though I wrote this essay for World Civilizations (HIS 1510) class and received a grade, I encourage you to take note, because, just like Egypt and Sumer in this essay, we too are living in an “environmental civilization” today. It might just be that, since this is your time, you take the opportunity to influence your environment today, instead of letting it nonchalantly influence you. I hope you enjoy my musings on the subject. Here is the prompt:

“One popular theory of history is called Environmental Determinism:  namely that “Geography and environmental features tend to determine (shape) the patterns of early civilizations”.  Test this theory by considering the two first civilizations of Sumer (Mesopotamia) and Egypt by 3000 bce. Carefully describe the environmental features of EACH location (a thorough picture of resources, land mass, climate and the like). Decide if there is a “match” between how each society developed and their specific environments by describing the originalpolitical, economic and religious (view of life/afterlife) practices developed by each.  Do these practices seem environmentally determined? Explain.  Are you a product of your environment?  How so?”

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Response (by Jessica McLean):

Why did ancient civilizations develop the way they did? Though there are many possibilities, the theory of environmental determinism poses an answer to this question, by stating that “the environment (most notably its physical factors such as landforms and/or climate) determines the patterns of human culture and societal development” (Briney 1). Both river valley civilizations that developed into societies at around the same time, Egypt (4000- 30 B.C.E.) and Sumer (4000- 1500 B.C.E.) are excellent tests to see if this theory is true. And furthermore, since civilizations continue to exist in the present day, it’s important to turn this theory on ourselves, to judge its reliability. Thus, through focusing on, comparing and contrasting the early civilizations of Egypt and Sumer, as well as considering ourselves, we will not only examine the theory of environmental determinism, but we will also examine why primeval societies became what they were.

“Flow(ing) northwards through the centre of Egypt (and) bringing much needed water to an otherwise arid part of north-east Africa” (Tyldesley 2), “the Nile River was crucial to the development of Egyptian civilization” (Duiker and Spielvogel, 14). And, truly, without the Nile, Egypt might have been a very unlikely place to start a human society. Sitting square in the middle of a dry, hot, desert, in a climate that can reach up to 43 degrees Celsius in the summer (BBC- Cairo 1), being sustained by its timely flooding river, and drawing protection from its arid valley location, the oasis of Egypt was an easy place to live but a difficult place to invade. “Parallel to the Nile on both banks of the river runs the Black Land” (Tyldesley 3), a narrow strip of fertile soil running about 6 miles wide in each direction; “beyond the Black Land lies the inhospitable Red Land, the desert that once served (for Egyptians) as a vast cemetery” (3); “and beyond the Red Land are the cliffs that protected Egypt from unwelcome visitors” (3). Environmental determinism says that these geographical factors alone limited the Egyptian people’s capabilities of creating society systems, explaining Egyptian civilization as a product of its environment. Egyptian systems included a theocratic government, in which priests functioned as a bureaucracy to assist pharaoh, the Egyptian king, in his rule, and an economy, which revolved around agriculture in the Black Land, trade of natural resources like stone, timber, mud, metals, minerals, and ores, and a buzzing funeral business (which, based on Egyptian religious practice, involved mummifying the dead and building pyramids for the wealthy). Their views on life and the afterlife, which penetrated their society, were strictly based on their animistic and polytheistic religion, in which the chief god Re (Amen-Re), the sun god, ruled on earth in human form as pharaoh to bring peace to earth and to correct the flawed behavior of his subjects; however, unlike other religions, though they hold that a human is resurrected after death and sent to a place of rest or torture, there is no flood story.

To the east of Egypt, “in the southern part of what is now Iraq… the heartland of Sumer lay between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in what the Greeks later called Mesopotamia” (Sumerians 1). Though still a river valley civilization located in the desert, the ancient Sumerians did not enjoy the oasis- like environment of the Egyptians, or much of any form of natural protection from their surroundings, which left them vulnerable to invaders. “The region receives little rain, but… in the late spring, the Tigris and Euphrates overflow their banks and deposit their fertile silt” (Duiker and Spielvogel 9) in Mesopotamia; “but since this flooding depends on the melting of snows in the upland mountains where the rivers begin, it is irregular and sometimes catastrophic” (9). Again, environmental determinism says that these difficult conditions made Sumer the civilization that it was, ultimately shaping its societal systems entirely. Perhaps as a response to a lack of natural defense, Sumer was composed of several independent theocratic city-states ruled by “a king and his family” (British Museum- Mesopotamia: Early Dynastic Period 1) (and an assisting priesthood) and protected by strong militaries. Mostly because of their lack of natural resources, their economy was strongly agricultural, but also highly dependent on large scale irrigation systems for its consistency and its success; also, highly inventive, Sumerian city-states became centers of industry and trade with neighboring nations. Practicing polytheistic animism, “the people of Mesopotamia…believed that every aspect of their world was controlled by supernatural forces” (Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia 1) and that all human property, such as their city states, was owned by the gods/goddesses; although, no human was a god. The main god was Enlil, god of storms, who Sumerians believe, because of human imperfection, flooded their land at the beginning of time; one of their most sacred texts is the Epic of Gilgamesh.

A major Great Lakes port city on the Detroit River in Michigan, in the Midwest Region of the United States, the city of Detroit is a major industrial and traditional automotive center overlooking the Canadian border. And, of course, according to environmental determinism, Detroit inhabitants should only be shaped by their environment! From Egypt and Sumer we can infer that, to some extent, the environment has an affect on us humans by placing limitations on our capabilities, which then curbs the choices we can make in that environment; however, whether or not it can also be reasoned that humans are strictly responders to this stimulus has yet to be seen. The theory of “environmental possiblism was set forth by the French geographer Paul Vidal de la Blanch and stated that the environment sets limitations for cultural development but does not completely define culture” (Briney 2); instead, culture is “defined by the opportunities and decisions that humans make in response to dealing with such limitations” (2).  And, in 1924, Caul Sauer, a cultural geographer, critiqued environmental determinism by saying that it “led to premature generalizations about an area’s culture (because it states that “individual decisions and/or social condition have virtually no impact on cultural development” [1]), and did not allow for results based on direct observation or other research” (2). Like Egypt utilized the desert/Red Land to build pyramids, and like Sumer overcame the uncertain flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates through ingenious inventing and industrious trading, so humans today also have the free will to make choices to answer to their environment. And perhaps, just as there are Buckeye fans in Ann Arbor, individuals, or members of any civilization, in the present, past, and future, also have the ability to shape their environment, just as the environment shapes them.

Thus, after carefully examining the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Sumer, as well as inspecting ourselves in the present day, it’s safe to say that though the theory of environmental determinism is mostly true, it’s not reliable. Though it’s true that similarities can be seen between how Egypt and Sumer developed and their specific environments, these practices cannot be environmentally determined because, according to environmental possiblism, humans are also capable of molding their environment, just as their environment is capable of molding them. Therefore, it stands to be reasoned that no human or civilization, past, present, or future, can be a complete and total product of their environment. And, if that’s the case, then ancient civilizations (like Egypt and Sumer) developed the way they did, not because they were environmentally determined, but in response to the opportunities set before them by the limitations their environment presented to them. Even today, the relationship between the environment and humans themselves continues to exist; and, like ancient civilizations, what becomes of that relationship is only a matter of how we humans test it.

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Works Cited:

“BBC – History – Ancient History in depth: Ancient Egypt and the Modern World.” BBC – Homepage. Web. 17 Feb. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/egypt_importance_01.shtml&gt;.

“BBC – Weather Centre – World Weather – Average Conditions – Baghdad.” BBC – Homepage. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT002400&gt;.

“BBC – Weather Centre – World Weather – Average Conditions – Cairo.” BBC – Homepage. 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT000180&gt;.

“British Museum – Ancient Egypt.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/world_cultures/africa/ancient_egypt.aspx&gt;.

“British Museum – Ancient Mesopotamia.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/primary/ancient_mesopotamia.aspx#onlineres&gt;.

“British Museum – Mesopotamia: Early Dynastic Period.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 20 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/m/mesopotamia_early_dynastic_pe.aspx&gt;.

“British Museum – Sumerians.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/world_cultures/middle_east/sumerians.aspx&gt;.

“British Museum – Women in ancient Mesopotamia.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/women_in_ancient_mesopotamia.aspx&gt;.

Cruickshank, Dan. “BBC – History – The Lost Palaces of Iraq.” BBC – Homepage. 16 Feb. 2003. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/iraq/iraq_lost_cities_07.shtml&gt;.

“Egypt Unwrapped | National Geographic Channel.” National Geographic Channel – Animals, Science, Exploration Television Shows. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. <http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/egypt-unwrapped/all/Overview#tab-Overview&gt;.

“Environmental Determinism – The Controversy of Environmental Determinism.” Geography Home Page – Geography at About.com. Web. 16 Feb. 2010. <http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/envdeterminism.htm&gt;.

“Environmental determinism Sociology.” LuMriX XML Solutions for Enterprises. Web. 20 Feb. 2010. <http://www.lumrix.net/medical/sociology/environmental_determinism.html&gt;.

“Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia.” British Museum – Welcome to the British Museum. Web. 19 Feb. 2010. <http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/r/religion_in_ancient_mesopotamia.aspx&gt;.

“Sumer.” Minnesota State University, Mankato. Web. 20 Feb. 2010. <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/middle_east/middle_east.html&gt;.

William, Duiker J., and Spielvogel J. Jackson. The Essential World History. 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2006. Print.

Copyright of Jessica Anne McLean, 2010. All rights reserved.