Most Important and Influential River in Human History?

[Farnhamia]

Doesn't even exist.

Wait, what? Please explain.

Spell check is your friend.

[Scholencia]

That is the Neil, unfirtunately since the Arabs conquer it its importance fell.

[Nazis in Space]

That's a seriously random thread.

I'm also randomly introducing the Rubicon. While it never had anywhere near the influence of other, greater rivers on the way humans live, and on how civilisation progressed, it has nonetheless managed to ingrain itself in our languages, becoming part of a near-global figure of speech.

[Farnhamia]

I've always been fond of the Idigna, the Tigris, it's a much livelier river than the slow, muddy Buranuna, the Euphrates. That writing was invented between the two makes them deserving of the highest marks. And they gave the Black-Headed People the mud on which to write, too, which is nothing to sniff at. I am fond of the Nile, the Iteru, though. Lived by her side for nigh on a millennium. Egyptian wine always gave me a headache, though.

[Scholencia]

I've always been fond of the Idigna, the Tigris, it's a much livelier river than the slow, muddy Buranuna, the Euphrates. That writing was invented between the two makes them deserving of the highest marks. And they gave the Black-Headed People the mud on which to write, too, which is nothing to sniff at. I am fond of the Nile, the Iteru, though. Lived by her side for nigh on a millennium. Egyptian wine always gave me a headache, though.

The only worth rivers are where the Roman and European civilisation was created, all others are rivers of savage tribes and primitive cultures.

[Farnhamia]

I've always been fond of the Idigna, the Tigris, it's a much livelier river than the slow, muddy Buranuna, the Euphrates. That writing was invented between the two makes them deserving of the highest marks. And they gave the Black-Headed People the mud on which to write, too, which is nothing to sniff at. I am fond of the Nile, the Iteru, though. Lived by her side for nigh on a millennium. Egyptian wine always gave me a headache, though.

The only worth rivers are where the Roman and European civilisation was created, all others are rivers of savage tribes and primitive cultures.

Not true in the least. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Without Mesopotamia or Egypt, there is no Greece and there is no Rome.

[Ponyfornia]

Most Important? Euphrates.
Most Influential? Ganges.

[Scholencia]

The only worth rivers are where the Roman and European civilisation was created, all others are rivers of savage tribes and primitive cultures.

Not true in the least. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Without Mesopotamia or Egypt, there is no Greece and there is no Rome.

Egypt is part of the Roman civilisation (at least its last phase). Except few inventions that the Greeks got from the Phonecians there is nothing significant coming from the middle eastern people.

There would be a Rome or Greece, maybe in a diferent form.

[Farnhamia]

Not true in the least. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Without Mesopotamia or Egypt, there is no Greece and there is no Rome.

Egypt is part of the Roman civilisation (at least its last phase). Except few inventions that the Greeks got from the Phonecians there is nothing significant coming from the middle eastern people.

Bullshit. A few inventions, like the alphabet, indeed, the entire idea of writing? The concept of zero in mathematics is not a western invention (it does come from farther east than what we call the Middle East). And Egypt had a long and rich history before the Ptolemies and Caesar Augustus. Really, you cannot dismiss entire civilizations like that. It's silly and flies in the face of history.

[Free Sahara]

Euphrates/Tigris is biblically important. Some rivers are culturally important , but I don't think that is so important, if it doesn't affect humanity and man's ability as a whole. I bet it has to be an ancient one, since agriculture surely is very important.
A river, which might have been an import factor in a revolutionary agricultural crop -- such as wheat or rice -- might be very important if not the most important. However, I don't think there is enough historical evidence to show us which one this would be if one was to be important for the origin of wheat -- probably somewhere in the fertile crescent.

Other guesses are Yellow River/Huang He or Yangtze. A big maybe to Nile, too.

I don't think rivers such as Amazon were important for the technical development of the human being.

[The Serbian Empire]

That's a seriously random thread.

I'm also randomly introducing the Rubicon. While it never had anywhere near the influence of other, greater rivers on the way humans live, and on how civilisation progressed, it has nonetheless managed to ingrain itself in our languages, becoming part of a near-global figure of speech.

Indeed, don't cross the River Rubicon.

[Nevanmaa]

Rhine or Mississippi.

[Divair]

Euphrates or Tigris for sure.

[Farnhamia]

That's a seriously random thread.

I'm also randomly introducing the Rubicon. While it never had anywhere near the influence of other, greater rivers on the way humans live, and on how civilisation progressed, it has nonetheless managed to ingrain itself in our languages, becoming part of a near-global figure of speech.

Indeed, don't cross the River Rubicon.

I imagine there is a bridge or two. And a good thing, too, for Wiki sayeth, "Today there is very little evidence of Caesar’s historical passage. Savignano sul Rubicone is an industrial town and the river has become one of the most polluted in the Emilia-Romagna region. Exploitation of underground waters along the upper course of the Rubicon has reduced its flow—it was a minor river even during Roman times ('parvi Rubiconis ad undas' as Lucan said, roughly translated 'to the waves of [the] tiny Rubicon')—and has since lost its natural route, except in its upper course between low and woody hills."

[The Genoese Cromanatum]

I say the Tiber.

[Arumdaum]

The Rhine; meeting point of two vastly different civilisation and culture types of the same large oikumene (Catholic/Protestant ; Germanic/Romance), place of origin of any modern notions of capitalism, finances, and banking (The Netherlands happen to be located here), a major artery of communication, transportation, and exchange smack in the middle of Europe, connecting the world's largest harbour with the interior of the largest common market in the world, the highest population density in Europe, the major concentration of industry on this planet, a connector for the major cities and institutions of the EU, with sassy Straßburg sitting right there in the middle, and the wine is really good, regardless on which side of the river you happen to be.

As far as I know, wine and currency is what human history has always been about, so...

Danube would be a close second, but nowadays we have the Rhine-Main-Danube canal connecting the extreme west with the extreme east of the continent, with the Rhine being the more dominant part of this waterway.

Why not the other ones? Well, because all the other rivers are part of larger monocultures - Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia, i.e. all the historic versions of what is now Iraq, inc.), Nile (Egypt only), Yangtze/Yellow (China only), Indus/Ganges (India only). Not wanting to diminish their improtance on their part of history, but they are specific to one culture and mostly one ethnolinguistic group, none of which managed to "export" their values beyond their immediate area, unlike the Rhine (and connected rivers) which bring many different values and ideas together to form a greater whole, while exporting many of the values which did originate in that area. Capitalism and those lovely World Wars proved to be quite the global fad, didn't they?

Rhine has vastly different civilizations and cultures, Mesopotamia/China/India are all so similar

sure

keep on thinking that

[Partybus]

The freakin' Chahlse Rivah, in Bahstin, 'cuz you can pahk the cah next to it when you go up the downs...

But seriously, I think the Nile is right up there

[Arumdaum]

I've always been fond of the Idigna, the Tigris, it's a much livelier river than the slow, muddy Buranuna, the Euphrates. That writing was invented between the two makes them deserving of the highest marks. And they gave the Black-Headed People the mud on which to write, too, which is nothing to sniff at. I am fond of the Nile, the Iteru, though. Lived by her side for nigh on a millennium. Egyptian wine always gave me a headache, though.

The only worth rivers are where the Roman and European civilisation was created, all others are rivers of savage tribes and primitive cultures.

dafuq

[Arumdaum]

Most Important? Euphrates.
Most Influential? Ganges.

What makes you think that?

[Farnhamia]

The only worth rivers are where the Roman and European civilisation was created, all others are rivers of savage tribes and primitive cultures.

dafuq

No, the Dafuq River is much too small and no one lives near it, anyway, it smells bad.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Depends on the culture, its history and where said culture is located geographically speaking. I'm sure the Tiber was incredibly influential to the peoples of Italy, while the Orinoco was a lifeline to the Amazonian tribes. The Nile gave life to the Egyptians while the Boyne provided for the Celts of Ireland.

[Arumdaum]

Not true in the least. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Without Mesopotamia or Egypt, there is no Greece and there is no Rome.

Egypt is part of the Roman civilisation (at least its last phase). Except few inventions that the Greeks got from the Phonecians there is nothing significant coming from the middle eastern people.

There would be a Rome or Greece, maybe in a diferent form.

Because, like, y'know, agriculture and civilization aren't important or anything, sure.

[Scholencia]

Egypt is part of the Roman civilisation (at least its last phase). Except few inventions that the Greeks got from the Phonecians there is nothing significant coming from the middle eastern people.

Bullshit. A few inventions, like the alphabet, indeed, the entire idea of writing? The concept of zero in mathematics is not a western invention (it does come from farther east than what we call the Middle East). And Egypt had a long and rich history before the Ptolemies and Caesar Augustus. Really, you cannot dismiss entire civilizations like that. It's silly and flies in the face of history.

The Phoenecians invented the fonetic alphabet, the Sumerans invented only the pictogram. The two cultures had nothing in common. The first are the one who influenced the Greeks. In later years, the Phonecians adopted the Greek culture since it was superior to them.

Rome was establish in 753BC and it would still exist regard of the Middle Eastern civilisations.

[Farnhamia]

Bullshit. A few inventions, like the alphabet, indeed, the entire idea of writing? The concept of zero in mathematics is not a western invention (it does come from farther east than what we call the Middle East). And Egypt had a long and rich history before the Ptolemies and Caesar Augustus. Really, you cannot dismiss entire civilizations like that. It's silly and flies in the face of history.

The Phoenecians invented the fonetic alphabet, the Sumerans invented only the pictogram. The two cultures had nothing in common. The first are the one who influenced the Greeks. In later years, the Phonecians adopted the Greek culture since it was superior to them.

Rome was establish in 753BC and it would still exist regard of the Middle Eastern civilisations.

Rome did not grow up in a vacuum and neither did Greece. Without the Middle Eastern civilizations neither would have achieved the heights they rose to.

[Shofercia]

Yes, it's a bit random, but it's NSG. So, what was it? The most important and influential river to homo sapiens' history, development and everything about them. Consider all factors; environmental, scientific, war, etc. However, only consider fairly direct effects; no pulling some prehistoric river out of your ass saying without it reptiles and therefore humans would never have been, or something like that.

Here's a list of rivers which I'm fairly sure will make it to the top:

Tigris
Euphrates
Rhine
Danube
Nile
Yangtze
Yellow
Ganges
Indus

I won't be choosing one, merely discussing, by the way. Poll will be up after there's an idea of the main candidates, which I am guessing will be those 9, plus an "Other" option, because the Po or the Rhone or the Mississippi and the Amazon probably aren't quite as important.

Why no Volga or Don or Yenisei?