All civilizations depend on available water, but not all depend on rivers. Rivers also provided ancient societies with access to trade -- not only of products, but ideas, including language, writing, and technology. River-based irrigation permitted communities to specialize and develop, even in areas lacking adequate rainfall. For those cultures that depended on them, rivers were the life blood. A river civilization or river culture is an agricultural nation or civilization at a river. River civilizations are civilizations based around rivers. Some common examples are Ancient Egypt (Nile), the fertile crescent (Tigris/Euphrates), Ancient China (Yellow River) and Ancient India (Indus). Rivers provide a steady supply of drinking water. It also makes the land fertile for growing crops. Moreover, goods and people could be transported easily, and the people in these civilizations could hunt the animals that came to drink water. Also, they could catch fish in the rivers. In additi...