L.I. Mechnikov (1838–1888) attempted to develop a “geographical theory of social progress.” An opponent of “geographical fatalism” and teleological views on the role of geographical environment in the growth of society, he tended to rely on strictly scientific facts, but he was unable to avoid mistakes that were quite natural for science’s level in his time. This also concerns his principal work published in Paris in 1889. It is not quite correct from either the geographical or historical viewpoint to consider the ancient civilizations that arose in the Nile (Egypt), Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia), and the Indus (Sind) valleys, on the one hand, and the basins of the Ganges and the rivers of eastern China, on the other, as referring to the same type. This paper is dedicated to historical-geographical analysis of these river civilizations. In the first part, we focus on the first three of these.