The paper is devoted to a historical-geographic analysis of the ancient civilizations of India and China. The following is discussed: the processes of the formation of geographic foci of civilizations, the expansion of their “living space” over the course of long-term development, and the effect of a territory’s landscape structure on the growth of the economic basis of civilization—agriculture, the role of the natural environment for the growth of spiritual culture, and the significane of foreign relations and geographic scope. An attempt is made to clarify the reasons for the stability of ancient traditions and the lag of civilizations behind global scientific, technical, and economic progress in the new age.