Civilizations first emerged near river because of water.

Water sustains life and those near it would naturally thrive. The most efficient way this happened was through the invention of water irrigation systems. The people who formed these civilizations were mostly farmers and had to be near a source of water so they could manually water their crops (Rise of the West 30). These sophisticated water ways made it so herders, fishers and farmers ended up in one central area. However, there were also people in other areas that did not join civilizations. Humans who did not live near rivers could choose if they wanted to be in a civilization because they had free access to their surrounding water source. Those who lived near a river or river valley had to submit to the authority that ruled the irrigation systems that surrounded that river. As time passed on, specifically in Mesopotamia various patterns of control were implemented in order to keep these civilizations thriving. First there was religious control: the priest controlled everything and kept the civilization running. He allocated land, calculated seasons, maintained borders, oversaw the laying of canals and saw over the harvest and storage of food. Because the priest did so much for the good of the civilization, his food was provided for him. In addition, he was the mediator between humans and gods so anything the gods told him to tell to the people was held in high regard and always carried out. A common order was the construction of statues to please the gods. The people were afraid that if they did not do what the priest had told them to do, the god would punish them (Rise of the West 33-34). Next, the Mesopotamian civilization was under political control through the means of kingship. A singular man was given supreme military and judicial authority over a civilization. Kings would sometimes even claim religious authority, which encroached on the priest and his responsibilities (Rise of the West 43). Despite their arrogance, kings did improve the local defenses with the construction of large city walls. They convinced the people that this wall

would protect them from enemy raids and the people built these walls, even though many of them died in the process or never saw the end result. The major fallback of kingships was when the king died, the old systems of war and diplomacy returned (Rise of the West 50). An example of this can be found in the Chinese civilization. After their first emperor died, the Chinese military continued to carry his dead body around in hopes that if the people believed he was still alive, they would continue to work. Military was another pattern of control seen in the Mesopotamian civilization. Soldiers were drafted by kings to oversee the areas that he himself could not. Also, the militaries kept the king and the cities safe from invasion. Another authority that came from the rise of military is the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy was originally developed to keep track of soldiers and their pay, but through time their job expanded to keeping all public records. Through the bureaucracy is also where written language was first developed (Rise of the West 32, 53). Finally, and often not thought about as a pattern of control is trade. Trade had always been in Mesopotamia simply because raw materials like timber, stone and metal had to be acquired from other places. No ruler could maintain his army and no statues could be built to the gods without these materials. The people put in charge of these acquisitions would then look to other citizens for tradable good. From this need, skills like pottery-making and basket-weaving became necessary crafts. Ultimately, trade was needed to keep the day-to-day activities of the Mesopotamian civilization working. Although each pattern of control had its own function and drawback, what made a lasting civilization was the successful combination of the four. If anyone was missing, it was almost guaranteed that the civilization would collapse.