America vs Everybody Else

Differences.        

Throughout the first couple of weeks we learned that Egypt and Mesopotamia were the most preserved urban civilizations. Since Mesopotamia prospered so much they influenced other around the world to follow their lead including India, China, and the Americas.

            Many similar cities appeared in these “complex societies” such as India, China and the Americas. Their rich land comes from mostly trade and culture rather than their “god like” kings. China had more of a society like Mesopotamia and Egypt from its culture and politics.

            Compared to the other urban civilizations we studied the Americas was the latest one to develop, mostly due to the fact that humans arrived in America late. Unlike India, China and Mesopotamia trading between the Americas was rarely done causing little cultural contact between them.  Americas also lacked bronze and beast to haul them around but they still served as “magnets of trade and luxury and beacons of law and spirituality”

Similarities

            One of the first urban cities to develop in Mesoamerica was the Olmec.  The Olmec just like every other culture had a writing language. But just like the Harrapans in the Indus valley their writing couldn’t be deciphered and we had to rely on secondary sources such as archeological findings to discover who they were. Archeologists have even discovered Mexico cities similar to those in Eurasia.

Another similarity with the Americas is religion. All the cities were polytheist everything on earth was represented by a different god. The Americas practiced blood-letting and possibly human sacrifice, which is just the same as the Chinese societies. Just like all the other civilizations The Americas grew their own crops such as: maize, squash and beans which was unknown to Eurasia. They also use the slash and burn method to help cultivate their crops.  They also had irrigation systems similar to that of Mesopotamia and Egypt.