The History of Civilization

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The History of Civilization

• WELCOME!

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Important INFORMATION

• Attendance is essential!
• There will be two exams a mid-term and a final
  worth 50 each
• Class will be mostly in a lecture format although
  student participation is encouraged
• ASK questions
• You reading material is available from the copy
  room. Read p 17 - 36 on Egypt for next weeks
  class. The readings are essential!!!

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ANY HELP

• My office hours
• Wednesday 9-12
• Friday 9-12

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Why do we study History in IR?

• The purpose of this course is to develop an
  understanding of history so we can understand the
  world today
• Human civilization as we know it stretches back
  5000 years and has provided the foundation for
  the world we live in today.

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The building blocks of Civilization

• Pre-history

• Humanoid (humanlike) life has existed on earth
  for 3-4 million years
• Humans and their immediate ancestors appeared
  100,000-200,000 years ago

What continent is home to the people considered
to be the earths oldest surviving ethnic group?
AUSTRALIA
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Neolithic Revolution

• Around 10,000 years ago human societies became
  more advanced and civilizations started to
  evolve.
• Domesticate plants and animals
• Practiced agriculture
• Record keeping
• Made metal tools (not stone)
• Complex forms of political and social
  organization
• Sophisticated modes of economic exchange

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The Earliest Civilized societies

• Appearing between 4000 and 5000 years ago
• The Sumerian Babylonian civilization of
  Mesopotamia
• Egypt
• The Indus Valley
• Early China
• What important feature did they have in common?

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RIVERS- VITAL to early CIV

• Water transport easier and cheaper
• Food!
• Irrigation
• Drinkable water

• The Nile
• The Tigris and Euphrates
• The Indus and Ganges
• The Huang Ho (yellow river)

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Ancient River Valley CIVS
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What causes civilization evolve?

• Geography
• Environment
• Cooperation
• Danger
• Surplus food
• Water
• There are many factors that cause civilizaitons
  to rise up

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Best environment for CIVILIZATION

• One or more of the following
• No EXTREMES
• arable, fertile land
• Preferably flat
• Reliable source of water
• Topography easy movement
• Sea or a river

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Humanity and the environment

• Humans and their environment mutually influence
  each other geography is not the ONLY factor
  that shapes a society. But it does play a crucial
  role.
• Human beings have created societies in all but he
  most inhospitable places.

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Key Terms

• CIVILIZATION social organization of a higher
  order marked by advancements in the arts and
  sciences
• A Civilization must have art, science,
  writing, organization, cooperation, trade,
  government

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The Fertile Crescent
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What distinguishes a Civilized society from a
Barbaric or Primitive society?
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Barbarians Civilized

• Lives in village OR nomadic
• Illiterate

• Lives in cities
• Literate

BUT- usually the difference is we are civilized
they are Barbarians. The Ancient Greeks
believed anyone who was not Greek was a
Barbarian!
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Key Terms

• State
• Nation

• An organised society occupying a definite
  territory and possessing an authoritative
  government independent of external control. The
  essence of a state is sovereignty or the power
  to make or administer laws and to puniish people
  for breaking those laws (social order)
• Ethnic concept used to designate people bound
  together by language, customs, common memories,
  common destiny.

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Key Terms

• Theocracy
• Democracy
• Autocracy
• Hegemony

• A theocracy is a state where a god or deity is
  recognised as the supreme leader or the leader is
  seen as divine
• A government chosen by the people, the rule of
  the majority
• A government where one person possesses unlimited
  power
• Superior influence or power over others-
  domination