Civilization : A World Without Civilization

Civilization is the stage of human social development. Civilizations have improved over the years. The ancient River Valley Civilizations have created a foundation for future human developments. The ancient River Valley Civilization all made key contributions for future societies. The Civilization from Mesopotamia and China had a massive influence for future civilizations.

The first civilizations, the foundations for future empires, were all founded and created between 3500 B.C.E. and 500 B.C.E. by groups of nomadic peoples who decided to settle in an area for certain group specific reasons. Some of the main states of the first civilization were Mesopotamia, Norte Chico, Egypt, Indus Valley, China, and Olmec. The second wave civilizations, built between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E., included the Persians, the Greeks, Romans, Chinese (Qin and Han), and India (Mauryan and Gupta). The first wave civilizations were sparked by the agricultural movement that led to the settlement of large groups of people in areas that became the cities and states that formed these first civilizations. The rise of civilization led to

The start of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution led directly to the beginning of civilization. The Neolithic Revolution, which happened 10,000 years ago, was the shift from hunter-gathers to a food-producing culture meaning humans started to farm and domesticate animals. This was the catalyst to help create civilizations. We know now how to distinguish groups of humans from actual civilization if those groups have certain characteristics. Those characteristics are complex institutions, record keeping, advanced cities, specialized workers, and advanced technology. A result of the Neolithic Revolution is that more people were able to thrive since there was a surplus of food. These early civilizations were able to take advantage of the rivers and create irrigation systems to water their crops.

Civilization. The word “civilization” comes from the Latin term for “city.” The first civilizations were the river-valley civilizations, so-called because they all developed alongside major rivers to secure an adequate water supply for agricultural production. 2 of the greatest river-valley civilizations were Mesopotamia and Egypt. All though they both supported having a patriarchal leader or king, Egypt had a strong, centralized government, whereas Mesopotamia was decentralized, and built based on small city-states operating independently.

Many factors contribute to civilization, one being job specialization. Job specialization is a job given based on strengths. Many people abandoned farming completely to make tools and prepare the produce. This not only let people strive in what they do best at, but also provided other people with instruments they needed to execute their personal jobs. Additionally, this instituted trade. It states in Document 2, “they gave them [tools and other goods] food in exchange.” This exchange, hence, started trade. They can vend what they make for food and visa-versa. Document 4 explains, how they “all work together and help one another.” To do this, individuals take on a specific task and participate in a series of exchanges to make the civilization work smoothly. During the Paleolithic Era, they could not trade, merely because they did not have a civilization. Everyone hunted and there was nothing to trade or job to do because it wasn’t

1B: The first civilizations formed at around 10,000 BCE, when humans settled around the Fertile Crescent to plant crops like wheat, barley and cereal. Cereal’s property of sweetening when soaked in water, and fermenting over time were discovered, making it a significant grain that led to permanent settlements, and eventually, the development of civilizations.

The Latin root of the word, civilization, derives from civ, meaning citizens. The figurative root of civilization is also the development and advancement of the citizens. The three ancient civilizations that were the most advanced were Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India. However, Egypt presented itself as the most civilized society because of their geography, government, and architecture.

Philosophers Sigmund Freud and Eric Hobsbawm present two explanations of the origins of civilization in their books Civilization and its Discontent and Nations and Nationalism since 1780, respectively. In doing so, each philosopher establish a distinct, and somewhat similar, definition of civilization. According to Freud, “’civilization’ describes the whole sum of the achievements and the regulations which distinguish our lives from those of our animal ancestors.” (Freud, 63) There are distinct features of a civilization, such as beauty, the “encouragement of man’s higher mental activities – his intellectual, scientific and artistic achievements” (Freud, 69) and the social relations between men. While Freud refers to this union of a group

The evolution of civilization happened from many reason. Early humans living near rivers were available to water mostly. The storage of grains helped the first civilization. The surplus demand for wine and beer played a role in the evolution of civilization.

A Civilization improves people’s lives in comparison to the Neolithic Society as it shows an advanced step into a social development and human society. The Neolithic Age which began around 8,000 B.C.E could be possibly describe as the greatest single change in human history, this is probably because everything really revolves around it in our society now. As said by William Howells, Back of History, Doubleay Co. “It was dramatic, but long after, in its consequences, because everything else we have achieved flowed out of this as a beginning…” During the time of the Neolithic Revolution, people had to set up temporary camps to live there for a while until the food begin to dwindle as starvation was one step away with the weather changes and the animal migration! With the time passing by, they were able to develop agriculture and with that people were able to farm instead of hunting and gathering which lead to population expansion thus this is when a Civilization begin. With a Civilization, the people within the society sets forth a form of government standard and a writing language.

What can our contemporary society learn from 1750 CE to the Present about “civilization?” Contemporary society refers to a modern society, at the time being, and features innovations that help the society evolve. It is characterized by increasing human interconnection, the evolution of the humane ways of life, and the ecological/anthropological transformation. A civilization is the process by which a society reaches social organization and development. Most civilizations consist of a community of humans who have some sort of government or leaders to keep everything in order.

A civilization refers to “a particular and distinctive type of human society” (Strayer, pg. 90). Civilizations aren’t always different from one another nor are they the exact same. Each civilization has some form of a unique characteristic that differentiates itself from the rest. For example, the Ancient Egyptians and the Hindus from Ancient India. They both have a permanent arrangement of societal roles, yet they aren’t constructed or operated in the same manner. These two locations are the main topics of this discussion/comparison.

According to archaeologist in order to be defined as a civilization certain criteria must be met. Early archaeologists believed in order to be considered a civilization a society must have cultural superiority, which meant they must have the ability to read and write. If this was the sole criteria used to judge if a society was labeled a civilization, then you could say the Inca of South America, who constructed cities on top of mountains and had a complex system of irrigation canals, were not one because they did not have a system for reading or writing. Modern archaeologists now think of civilization as not better but different. The modern definition of civilization consists of the development of cities,

Civilization is the period in which humans develop and organize their community in an advanced form in different aspects. As time was fleeting the ancient Greek civilization was starting to shape and adopt many alterations which started to center a more stable community. Just as the Greeks there were other civilizations developing some similar to the Greeks attributes and some differing them in different aspects.

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