AP World History                                Civilization

Adapted from http://occ.awlonline.com/bookbind/pubbooks/stearns_awl/chapter2/deluxe.html

Definition of Civilization
All social organizations created by people have a coherent set of values, institutions, and practices.  As one form of human organization, historians agree that civilizations had economic surpluses, greater social stratification, and greater labor specialization.  Foraging and nomadic forms usually did not have these features.

Some historians add to the characteristics of civilizations:  formal states or governments, large cities whose urban populations were a minority of the total, and recording technologies.  Monumental architecture is an example of what a formal state was able to accomplish with its economic, political, and cultural leadership.

Compare the early civilizations in the chart.  What elements did civilizations share?  Which elements were unique?  How might the similarities and differences have shaped the distinctive cultures of the civilizations?
Characteristics of Early Civilizations China (Shang and Zhou Dynasties) Egypt (various dynasties, Hykkos, Kush, Axum) India (Harrapa, Indus Valley region) Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Phoenicians, Hebrews)
o economic (agricultural surpluses)
o greater social stratification
o greater labor specialization
o cities
o lasting governments (written law codes)
o recording systems (writing and numbers)		 o domestication of wheat, rice
o domestication of pigs, dogs, oxen, fowl
o emperors of centralized state (Mandate of Heaven)
o patriarchy
o pictographic writing
o polytheistic		 o wheat
o domestication of pigs, oxen, fowl 
o centralized rule (Pharoahs)
o patriarchy
o hieroglyphic writing
o polytheistic 		 o wheat, rice
o domestication of pigs, oxen and cows, fowl
o regional city states
o caste system
o patriarchy
o alphabet
o polytheistic
o Laws of Manu		 o barley, wheat
o domestication of pigs, cows, oxen, sheep, fowl
o regional city states
o patriarchy
o cuneiform, then alphabets
o law codes (Hammurabi, Torah)
o polytheistic and monotheistic

Problems Resulting From Civilizations
The emergence of civilizations involved both gains and losses.  Civilizations created greater social inequities based on perceived social status and gender.  Civilizations, because of their greater resources, often became more aggressive and violent.

Conclusion:  The Issue of Heritage
The ancient civilizations left a mixed heritage including regional diversity, monotheism, and distinctive monumental architecture.  Some lasting heritages were the ideas of writing, calendars, basic mathematics, improved technologies such as irrigation and iron, more productive grain seeds, the potter’s wheel, transportation wheel, money, and written law which diffused to many parts of the AfroEurasian world.

The differences in civilizations sometimes led to conflicts between them.  For example, some historians maintain that civilizations derived from the ancient Near East cultures (Mesopotamia) viewed nature as separate from humanity and largely antagonistic to it.  Such a viewpoint differed from early civilizations in Asia which saw a universal harmony of all life.
 
 
 
 

Summary Statement:  What do you think about the concept of ‘civilization’?
 
 
 
 

 

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