Rivers in History
Rivers in History

Author: Christof Mauch

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published: 2008-07-27

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0822973413

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Throughout history, rivers have run a wide course through human temporal and spiritual experience. They have demarcated mythological worlds, framed the cradle of Western civilization, and served as physical and psychological boundaries among nations. Rivers have become a crux of transportation, industry, and commerce. They have been loved as nurturing providers, nationalist symbols, and the source of romantic lore but also loathed as sites of conflict and natural disaster.Rivers in History presents one of the first comparative histories of rivers on the continents of Europe and North America in the modern age. The contributors examine the impact of rivers on humans and, conversely, the impact of humans on rivers. They view this dynamic relationship through political, cultural, industrial, social, and ecological perspectives in national and transnational settings. As integral sources of food and water, local and international transportation, recreation, and aesthetic beauty, rivers have dictated where cities have risen, and in times of flooding, drought, and war, where they've fallen. Modern Western civilizations have sought to control rivers by channeling them for irrigation, raising and lowering them in canal systems, and damming them for power generation. Contributors analyze the regional, national, and international politicization of rivers, the use and treatment of waterways in urban versus rural environments, and the increasing role of international commissions in ecological and commercial legislation for the protection of river resources. Case studies include the Seine in Paris, the Mississippi, the Volga, the Rhine, and the rivers of Pittsburgh. Rivers in History is a broad environmental history of waterways that makes a major contribution to the study, preservation, and continued sustainability of rivers as vital lifelines of Western culture.

Rivers of History
Rivers of History

Author: Harvey H. Jackson

Publisher: University of Alabama Press

Published: 1995-07-30

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0817307710

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"Jackson weaves a seamless tale stretching from the Native-American river settlements ... to the paper mills and hydroelectric plants of the late twentieth century". -- Southern Historian

Rivers, Memory, And Nation-building
Rivers, Memory, And Nation-building

Author: Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2014-11-01

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1782384324

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Rivers figure prominently in a nation’s historical memory, and the Volga and Mississippi have special importance in Russian and American cultures. Beginning in the pre-modern world, both rivers served as critical trade routes connecting cultures in an extensive exchange network, while also sustaining populations through their surrounding wetlands and bottomlands. In modern times, “Mother Volga” and the “Father of Waters” became integral parts of national identity, contributing to a sense of Russian and American exceptionalism. Furthermore, both rivers were drafted into service as the means to modernize the nation-state through hydropower and navigation. Despite being forced into submission for modern-day hydrological regimes, the Volga and Mississippi Rivers persist in the collective memory and continue to offer solace, recreation, and sustenance. Through their histories we derive a more nuanced view of human interaction with the environment, which adds another lens to our understanding of the past.

The Indus River
The Indus River

Author: Shane Mountjoy

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 117

ISBN-13: 1438120036

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Discusses the Indus River, which is the chief river of Pakistan.

Rivers
Rivers

Author: Peter Goes

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781776572168

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Looks at the major rivers around the world, describing the myths, events, popular culture, and historical figures associated with each.

Land of seven rivers
Land of seven rivers

Author: Sanjeev Sanyal

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2012-11-15

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 8184756712

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DID THE GREAT FLOOD OF INDIAN LEGEND ACTUALLY HAPPEN? WHY DID THE BUDDHA WALK TO SARNATH TO GIVE HIS FIRST SERMON? HOW DID THE EUROPEANS MAP INDIA? The history of any country begins with its geography. With sparkling wit and intelligence, Sanjeev Sanyal sets off to explore India and look at how the country’s history was shaped by, among other things, its rivers, mountains and cities. Traversing remote mountain passes, visiting ancient archaeological sites, crossing rivers in shaky boats and immersing himself in old records and manuscripts, he considers questions about Indian history that we rarely ask: Why do Indians call their country Bharat? How did the British build the railways across the subcontinent? Why was the world’s highest mountain named after George Everest? Moving from the geological beginnings of the subcontinent to present-day Gurgaon, Land of the Seven Rivers is riveting, wry and full of surprises. It is the most entertaining history of India you will ever read.

Rivers of Power
Rivers of Power

Author: Laurence C. Smith

Publisher: Little, Brown Spark

Published: 2020-04-21

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0316411981

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An "eye-opening, sometimes alarming, and ultimately inspiring" natural history of rivers and their complex and ancient relationship with human civilization (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction). Rivers, more than any road, technology, or political leader, have shaped the course of human civilization. They have opened frontiers, founded cities, settled borders, and fed billions. They promote life, forge peace, grant power, and can capriciously destroy everything in their path. Even today, rivers remain a powerful global force -- one that is more critical than ever to our future. In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it. Rivers are of course important in many practical ways (water supply, transportation, sanitation, etc). But the full breadth of their influence on the way we live is less obvious. Rivers define and transcend international borders, forcing cooperation between nations. Huge volumes of river water are used to produce energy, raw commodities, and food. Wars, politics, and demography are transformed by their devastating floods. The territorial claims of nations, their cultural and economic ties to each other, and the migrations and histories of their peoples trace back to rivers, river valleys, and the topographic divides they carve upon the world. And as climate change, technology, and cities transform our relationship with nature, new opportunities are arising to protect the waters that sustain us. Beautifully told and expansive in scope, Rivers of Power reveals how and why rivers have so profoundly influenced our civilization and examines the importance this vast, arterial power holds for the future of humanity. "As fascinating as it is beautifully written."---Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and Upheaval

Great Rivers History
Great Rivers History

Author: Environmental and Water Resources Institute (U.S.)

Publisher: Amer Society of Civil Engineers

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 9780784410325

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This volume contains 18 papers presented at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress and Great Rivers History Symposium held in Kansas City, Missouri, from May 17 to 21, 2009. Great Rivers History focuses on the great rivers of the world and the engineering challenges of balancing the urgency for development and growth with the environmental need for a sustainable future. This seminal collection offers a fascinating history of: · the Paris sewer system · the Turtle Creek Reservoir · the Missouri River channel project · Columbia River exploration and mapping · major U.S. dam failures · Darcy s Law This publication will be valuable to practitioners, professors, and students interested in environmental and water resources engineering history.

Between the Rivers
Between the Rivers

Author: Harry Turtledove

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2007-04-01

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1429914963

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At the sun-drenched dawn of human history, in the great plain between the two great rivers, are the cities of men. And each city is ruled by its god. But the god of the city of Gibil is lazy and has let the men of his city develop the habit of thinking for themselves. Now the men of Gibil have begun to devise arithmetic, and commerce, and are sending expeditions to trade with other lands. They're starting to think that perhaps men needn't always be subject to the whims of gods. This has the other god worried. And well they might be...because human cleverness, once awakened, isn't likely to be easily squelched.