What Is a Civilization How Civilization Spreads

Congratulations! You and group of your friends are playing new game called "Create Civilization". The premise is simple. You are group stranded in the wild. Hunters and gatherers who are trying to survive as part of the game. As part of the game, the group must elect leader and they elect you. What would you do first to help transform your group into civilization? Take moment to respond. Your team is counting on you. We'll check your decisions as leader in just moment. Our objectives today are to: Define and explain six characteristics of civilization, describe how those characteristics may be interconnected and shape civilization's identity, and explain how those characteristics can be shared through cultural diffusion. Are you ready historians? We actually provided you with some clues about civilizations in our earlier lesson on Cultural hearths. We cited three necessities for those hearts. Remember those? Cultural hearths needed in organized government, access to resources, and large populations. You'll see some advanced versions of those on this list, and maybe some from your list too. The first characteristic of civilization is political structure. This provides an effective system of government and way to get things done. Hey, your group elected you leader remember? That's an important step. Second, is an urban area, which means city with infrastructure. Which our facilities to serve those people, such as buildings and roads. People who live outside these urban centers are also part of the civilization. Technology is needed in civilization too. This helps manage resources to provide stable food supply. Early advancements, such as irrigation and the plow, were important in doing that for civilizations. Fourth on the list, is shared communication. All early civilizations developed spoken language to communicate. Most also came up with written language of some sort to preserve their records over time. Social structure also was present in early civilizations. This is complex idea that can be broken down into simple concept. People were usually grouped by the work they did and what they earned from that job. The sixth characteristic of civilization is monuments which, relates to art and architecture civilizations, sought to express their unique identity and preserve their legacy through these works. Although, not always considered characteristic of civilization, all that we will study, developed religion. In many, heads of government were seen as link to the gods and served as religious leaders as well. You were selected as the leader of your group. Got all that in place yet? Remember how the five themes of geography were connected to one another? Well, the characteristics of civilization are that way too. Technology is related to- well everything else. Many argue that technology is the primary characteristic of civilization that allows all others to develop. Think of it this way- If everyone had to worry about always finding enough food, there would be no cities, no monuments, no trade, no writing, no government, none of it. In Mesopotamia, advancements in agriculture allowed individuals to work in other jobs. Such as pottery, scribing, and metal works. Which then, led to trade and strong economic base. Shared communication allows people to discuss ideas for the development of infrastructure, technology, trade, and government. The Inca, for example, had no written language that we know of but they had system of accounting called the 'Kipu' that allowed its government to conduct population counts and monitor production of goods. It's considered by many to be type of language. Monuments are designed by civilizations to celebrate achievements. Most honor gods and leaders which, ties art and architecture to governments and religion. The pyramids in Egypt were built to honor the gods and served as burial chambers for kings. Political structure of civilizations was usually tied to everything else. Leaders determined courses of action on many different topics. In Mesopotamia, for example, leaders determined laws, led religious rituals, and ordered the creation of monuments to honor the gods. Even the infrastructure of cities, which includes sanitation and sewage, is determined by government leaders. It takes both money and labor to complete those projects. In Rome, it took more than century to build aqueducts that brought clean water to the region. This supplied water for drinking and bathing but also for public fountains and baths and to power mills. Characteristics of civilizations are shared through... you guessed it! Cultural diffusion. As we move forward in this course, you'll see multiple examples of cultural diffusion through trade. The Silk Road comes to mind. It's trade route that connected cultures in Africa, Europe, and West Asia to the Far East, specifically China. You will also see multiple examples of cultural traits of civilizations being spread through travel. great example comes from Africa, where multiple early civilizations developed around the continent with each mimicking several traits from Egyptian culture. And cultural diffusion from early civilizations repeatedly occurred, as result of war. Alexander the Great conquered massive empire. This resulted in Greek cultural traits being fanned out across three continents. Each of the civilizations, that you'll be investigating, built and maintained strong governments and were centers of economic activity and trade. Along the way, they developed various cultural characteristics that were often spread to other civilizations. So, did you come out winner in the civilization game? There's certainly lot to consider Civilizations have specific characteristics that are interrelated and greatly influence one another. Both in the past and even today, those characteristics were shared by cultural diffusion and spread to new regions both near and far to create the world we live in today. Next time, we break out our tools and begin using them to learn more about the first civilization. Until then historians, keep uncovering the past and looking to the future and remember to always be clever!