The Emergence of Cities and

StatesChapter 1.3

A. Introduction:1. Farming generated more complex societies

2. As settlements grew, people began to see themselves as part of communities larger than the family, clan, or tribe

3. With increasing surpluses and populations, villages grew into the first cities

4. Cities established foundation for the rise of states, trade networks, and writing

B. The Rise of New Technologies

1. Development of metallurgy for farming tools and weaponry helped shape the increasingly complex societies

2. Soft, easy to work copper was first metal used for tools and weapons

3. West Asian metal craftsman created bronze

4. Bronze and iron made better tools but also more deadly weapons

C. Urbanization and the First Cities

1. Settled life, grain, and cow’s milk shortened human birth intervals, increasing populations

2. Catal Huyuk grew into prosperous towns, centers of long-distance trade, and then cities- Central Turkey, mud-bricked buildings, plastered walls, bakery, brewery,

3. Greater wealth and size allowed cities to control adjacent farmlands that provided surplus needed to sustain city dwellers

4. As farming became more efficient, urbanization became the next great transition in human social organization-fostered networks of communication and trade

D. The Rise of States, Economies, and Record-

Keeping1. The need to control surplus-producing farmlands and to

govern urban populations created the first governments

2. Diverse urban societies generated enough wealth to permit substantial division of labor and social, cultural, and religious hierarchies-cities became extensive trade networks

3. Increased trade created the need for record-keeping, which led to the development of writing-literacy usually reserved for the privileged

4. Civilization- once used to describe urban-based societies1. Subjectivity of term limits its value in understanding WH

2. Misuse and abuse of term

E. The Rise of Pastoral Nomadism

1. PN is an economy based on breeding, rearing, and harvesting livestock

2. Trade and conflict between farmers and herders became common, and some PN exercised strong influence on societies with much greater populations

3. Mostly in grasslands and deserts- lived in small dispersed groups generally organized by tribes; had view possessions

4. Some pastoral societies maintained egalitarian social structures-women warriors, others headed by chiefs

5. Indo-European- various tribes who all spoke related languages deriving from original common tongue and who eventually settled Europe, Iran, and Northern India-spread their language and culture, imposed military power-profound changes across Eurasia