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The focus of this essay is the power of water. Water is a necessity of life. Without water to sustain us, we cannot live. Because water is so vital to the survival of humans, settlements are usually located around a source. The development of urban societies depended on the management of the water resources around the settlements in order to produce food and supply this vital resource to its population.
The Indus civilization and civilizations like Dong Son are examples of the importance of water. The Indus civilization is situated around the Indus river valley. The Indus River flows from southern Tibet and comes down from the mountains and flows through to the semiarid Indus plains. (Scarre and Fagan 2016: 136) The silt left behind makes it easy to cultivate and grow things. The Indus and the Saraswati rivers and their yearly flooding were important to early Indus cities for their agriculture usually consisting of wheat and barley. The formative years of the Indus cities are difficult to discover due to the silt left behind that covers the cities. However, the development of the Indus culture into urban centers seems to have evolved in about two centuries which is very fast. It is believed that trade also played a role in the growth especially the sea trade along the coast of the Persian Gulf. They developed into larger hierarchy settlements that were over cities, towns, and villages. It is thought that the leaders were chieftains, priests, or kin leaders that intervened to the gods.
In Southeast Asia, rivers were also important. The main staple grown there was rice. Initially, rice was grown in small settlements and was called dry farming. But as larger populations increased and the chiefdoms appeared, the development of wet rice farming increased production. Plowing, moats and double cropping also helped when the populations increased. The Dong Son culture that developed in the Red River valley is a culture that used double cropping. This is where two crops of rice per year were harvested due to the amount of water in the area. (Scarre and Fagan 2016: 333) The Dong Son culture was ruled by chiefs, warriors, and keepers of the drums. The Chinese did not consider them to be very civilized, but warred and still traded with them for many years. Eventually, they were beaten by stronger forces of China.
Water is a vital part of life. While water may be used in different ways, it could be argued that societies would not have developed into large population centers without it. Water is a versatile and necessary amenity. It can be used for agriculture, ruling others, and defense/protection against enemies.
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