Characteristics of River Valley Civilizations

Question

1. Which statement identifies the shared economic characteristics of the river valley civilizations?

A. The river valley civilizations traded on the Silk Road, which fostered all trade, across regions.

B. The river valley civilizations had similar geography, trade, and goods across regions.

C. The river valley civilizations all had interregional trade, pastoral groups, and isolated territories.

D. The river valley civilizations all used sailboat travel, pastoral groups, and international trade.

Answer 1

So let's break this down a little:

A. We can eliminate this answer because the Silk Road came way after the river calley civilizations, so it's really unlikely they were able to trade that way.

B. This is mostly correct. The Rrver valley civilizations, like those of the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia), the Nile (Egypt), the Indus (Indus Valley), and the Yellow River (China), developed in regions with fertile lands due to the river's sediment deposits (so they all share geography because they were located next to fertile rivers). This allowed for agriculture, which in turn supported larger populations and the growth of cities. The river systems also provided a means for transportation and trade. While the specifics of each civilization's trade goods and cultural achievements varied, their geographic and economic foundations were similar.

C. This option would be incorrect because while interregional trade was present in some river valley civilizations, not all of them had significant interactions with pastoral groups or were isolated territories.

D. This would also not be a good choice because not all river valley civilizations used sailboats for travel, and international trade as we understand it today was not a characteristic common to all these civilizations (these were early civilizations early in their development, and not "nations" like we have today).