Alex Hummel World Civilization 1 Midterm Paper Civilization is a word that cannot be used too loosely. How then, is civilization defined? It is difficult to define in one word or phrase because a complex society or “civilization” depends on many different aspects. There are characteristics of a civilization that are more essential than others, some of which may be more important to one group than to another. However, a definition for civilization can be narrowed down to a few fundamental aspects that are necessary for one to exist.
For a complex society to exist, it must have means to provide for a growing population. Acquiring resources is vital for a civilization to flourish. Next, the earliest civilizations all seemed to have a need for an organized administration system. In a society with a growing population and expanding territories, we can see the need for a hierarchical government to keep them operating. By comparing the earliest civilized societies, we can determine which features set them apart from so called “barbarian societies” and why the need to become civilized arose.
The birth of primary urbanization happened first in Mesopotamia. It makes sense to look for characteristics from Sumerian society because they are considered the “cradle of civilization. ” Mesopotamia lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide the life giving water that helped transform simple villages to complex cities. The most basic unit in any society is the people and people need to eat. The development of agriculture was the major key for promoting civilized life.
The previous methods of hunting and gathering became inefficient to support a large number of individuals. We now see the importance of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, not only for the water they carry but also for the influence that they had on the people. The unpredictability of the floods forced Sumerians to develop an extensive network of irrigation ditches to survive. Irrigation expanded the size of total farmland and promoted settlement on once uninhabitable regions. As the settlements increased in size, the need for organization and administration arise.
People began to work together on these public works projects and a sense of citizenship based on geographical location was created. Cities grew and the state followed in its wake. The change from an agricultural village to complex city-state required organization between the regions of Mesopotamia. Aristocratic councils in conjunction with religious leaders first exercised leadership. However, in times of war with other cities, the council would appoint a single leader. Over time these men assumed their roles as king but still relied heavily on temple priests.
These priests were at the top of the hierarchical tree and the citizens relied on them because they believed that their survival was based on the will of the gods. The city priests built huge temples call ziggurats. Ziggurats were massive central temples that dominated over the cities. The priests would control city functions from ziggurats. These temples employed and fed many people, which was necessary for the citizens to have continued faith in their priests. Without this organization and administration, the cities of Mesopotamia may have fallen apart.
However, Mesopotamian city-states were constantly at war with each other and this created considerable stress between the states. In approximately 2350 BCE, Sargon, king of Akkad brought the cities of Sumer together. He united the cities under one ruler. Eventually they became independent once again by the third dynasty of Ur, which ultimately weakened Mesopotamia due to the lack of unification between the warring city-states. Mesopotamia is a great civilization to consider first because of the fact that it is the “cradle of civilization. We know that agriculture and government administration were essential but many other characteristics of Mesopotamia were important but perhaps not essential for every civilization. However, the invention of writing is too important not to mention. The Sumerians invented writing. Writing allowed for better business transactions and influenced a better economy. People could now communicate in a new way, which was responsible for influencing many aspects of society. Some of these included religion, administration, and most importantly, history.
Without writing historians could have never interpreted the recorded events and ideas used in this paper. Now that we know what characterized Mesopotamia as a society, let us see how other early civilizations compare. While Mesopotamia was thriving on the Tigris and Euphrates, just southwest in a similar fashion, Egypt was using the Nile River to fuel their civilization. Just as in Mesopotamia, civilization began on the banks of a flowing river. Like Mesopotamia, Egyptians built intricate canals and irrigation systems.
One minor difference between the settlements of Mesopotamia and Egypt was the way the cities were organized. While Mesopotamia had large central temples surrounding farms, Egyptian settlements tended to follow the Nile River. This is important to note because as the villages became more numerous and spread out, the need for administration along the way came into existence. The centers or “nomes” boosted the towns in which they were located. Some responsibilities for these nomes were to control irrigation and agriculture, just as the ziggurats of Mesopotamia had.
The unification of these nomes happened in a similar way to those of the city-states in Mesopotamia. Religion had a major influence on the people and the politics of Egypt. Kings considered themselves as gods and took the position to create justice and order. As stated earlier, writing may not be essential for civilization but it defiantly gives us evidence of a civilization by providing a written record. Egypt too created and independent writing system called hieroglyphics. It is similar to Mesopotamian cuneiform but it is unique enough to be considered independent.
Some scholars believe that hieroglyphics may even predate cuneiform. Egypt and Mesopotamia possess similar characteristics for civilization and it is amazing how different the two cultures are. To contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, we take a look at West Africa and the Niger River Valley. The Niger River Valley may have become civilized much later than Mesopotamia and Egypt. Because of this the first cities of West Africa were thought to be trade centers. Archeologists once thought that trade had originally brought cities to West Africa and outsiders had introduced city building.
However, upon further investigation, this viewpoint is challenged. Technology was much more advanced by the time African cities were constructed. Iron smelting had been developed and introduced to the people of the region. The Bantu people of lower Niger had begun giving up nomadic herding and are responsible for spreading their knowledge of agriculture to the tip of South Africa. It appears that the Bantu people had not built cities but someone must have. The city of Jenne-jeno began as a small collection of huts in 250 BCE and by 400 BCE it had grown to urbanized size.
Little is known about the origin of the cities but archeological evidence tells us that the people of Jenne-jeno ate fish and rice from their fields. Agriculture had been introduced and encouraged population growth to about fifty thousand by 1000 CE. One contrasting point to Egypt and Mesopotamia civilization is the creation of a state. Urbanization may have occurred in Jenne-jeno without the need for a strong centralized government. The clusters of settlements appear to have operated independently from another rather than being united under one ruler.
Trade could have been the major influence for society in Jenne-jeno rather than competition between neighboring states. Perhaps Jenne-jeno had not existed long enough to create centralized administration centers. It appears that they had no written language either so we see an example of civilization without the need for writing. So perhaps a strong central government is not an essential aspect for every civilization to exist. But Jenne-jeno appears to be the only exception to this “master narrative” or the pattern of historical transformation.
Because both Mesopotamia and Egypt had a written language, we know much more about these civilizations and it is much easier to see what characterized them as complex societies. By comparing the earliest civilizations, we saw the need to become to become civilized as populations increased and as hunting and gathering techniques became inefficient. Most of the earliest civilizations started on the banks of rivers or a near a large body of water which influenced agriculture. However, there are a few exceptions. Agriculture was the single most important change for civilized societies.
To keep food supplies high, administration centers became important to keep the cities running smoothly. Without the development of centralized unification, the first civilizations may have not existed. Agriculture not only increased food supplies but also promoted occupational specialization, the need for a centralized government, expansion of economic status, and most importantly, provided the sustenance for the cities to grow. While many of these characteristics exist in a civilization, the most essential appear to be the development of agriculture and the formation of the state.
