What Makes A City?

The nature of World cities is one of dominance and influence rather than just size. They are powerful centres of economic and cultural authority within their region and on the global stage. They are

•    Discuss the changes and continuities that occurred in the roles and functions of cities in major societies from the Neolithic Revolution to 1450.

When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.

There are two civilizations that were established in “Before Christ” (B.C.) out of many, they were Greece and China. Greece was established around 2000 B.C. by the Mycenaean and China was established around the 21st century B.C. which was the Xia Dynasty. Each of these civilizations have their similarities and differences. Three of the major similarities each of these cities have are government, army, and culture, even though they have that in common when you go into full detail they have a lot of differences too. In this paper you will have a better understanding on how these two civilizations are alike and unlike.

geographers C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman, ?a city is a complex structure that includes more than

1. What are some similarities and differences among the cities and city-states that developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley?

- The development of a state structure which balanced power between military and civilian officials was very effective and lasted for a thousand years.

The variety of people inside the city and the complication of city life required new and general way of communicating. People in villages knew one another, but in cities, since you have a variety of people, you often had people that could not speak the same language. This is where writing comes into play. Writing was one city invention that made more general communications possible. Along with writing, money was another invention. Money made it possible to deal with anyone just as an agreed upon public language

Long, long ago, before the invention of TV, the radio, and phones, people lived in ways that are very questionable and thought provoking to us today. Their traditions, customs , and culture are very different than ours. Many questions have arisen, and many have been answered. But, as always, the are those few questions that were never given an answer. Today we will be looking at many questions, yet there is one question that we will be thinking about throughout this entire essay. How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia? This question and much more will be answered within this text, And who knows? Maybe you'll find a question of your own to answer!

To begin with, it is important to understand the city states did not outline the division of politics, society, religion, and economy as clearly as modern day western societies do or even

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.

The first civilizations and the rise of empires began with small groups or villages existing with the use of hunting, fishing, and foraging. (William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, vol. 1, 1) Within a few thousand years, people learned how to cultivate food crops and this led to an increase in population. Increased food production resulted in larger communities. The cities began to expand their cultural and religious developments leading to the beginnings of civilization. (Duiker, World History, 1) The first civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E and had various components in common. Each of these civilizations was established in a river valley so they were able to provide and produce the agricultural resources needed to survive and uphold the population. (Duiker, World History, 1) Mesopotamia developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates River known as “the land between the rivers.” These rivers provided irregular and catastrophic flooding for the city-state. They created an intensive irrigation system to improve their agriculture. The first people to create Mesopotamian civilization were known as the Sumerians. These people were the first city builders and created the major city’s named Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. These cities were built with surrounding walls and defense towers. A six-mile-long wall enclosed the city of Uruk. Mesopotamia lacked

Throughout history, the evolution of communities and societies has been influenced by the local and global economy. Large cities emerged from vibrant business activity and flow of products and services. For the most part

Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even

In this essay I will be considering only but one of the many questions that archaeologists analyse when researching the human past. As the title suggests, did civilization, or, a term preferably used by scholars; social complexity, arise from a conflicted band of nomadic people or from a mutual consensus among them? As well as my own thought’s, I will be discussing the ideologies of a number of professionals, both in archaeology and social anthropology, focusing mainly on the early development of the archaic Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican civilisations.