CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

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 Contents of the Lecture
 Defining
 Urban
 History
 Urban History

 What is the Importance of History

 The Concept of Civilization
 Different meanings of Civilization
 Views about Civilization

 Highlights on Human History

 Settlement History
 Functional Specialization theory
 Areas of City Origin
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 Urban History
 Urban History Defined

 No universally accepted definition about what the word

“Urban” denotes.

 Instead different countries uses different parameters to

define it.

 Population density

 Occupation- should be non-agricultural activities.

 Provisions of infrastructure and facilities

 All or some at the same time
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 Urban History
 History- is the study of cultural, political ,
economical, social, urban planning, architecture
…etc events of certain society, which took place in
certain period of time.
 Urban History is the study of the origin of
urbanization, urban planning practices, and their
influences on urban areas.
 It is also a study of significant and relevant cultural
and political events, and human and physical
geography.
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 Urban History

 Urbanization- it is a process by which a

population becomes concentrated in cities/urban
areas.

 It takes place in either of two distinct ways.

 Increase in the number of urban places

 Increase in the size of the population which are

actually engaged in non-agricultural activities.

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 Time and Place In History

 Chronological order:
 Something happened before other things.
 We can not talk about industrial revolution before
plant and animal domestication in early civilization.

 The value of Geographical Locations

 Something only happened in certain places.
 Industrialization revolution first takes place in
Europe (England, London)

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 What is the Importance of History

 When we study about what has happened in the

past , we always look at figures, important events,
important groups, ideas, and movements.
 One basic importance of history is to know enough
to do well because your knowledge of it is tested.

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 What is the Importance of History

 It is also important to know about world history

because you can then educate others who do not
know as much.
 In addition understanding what has happened in
the past and the current situation of today, we can
better understand what can happen in the future.

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 The Concept of Civilization

 Civilization = townsman
 It was derived from a Latin word Civilis- which is
also derived from the Civis which mean town.
 To be civilized somebody should be from town and

he referred as townsman.
 In such cases people in town are governed by

constitution and the legal framework of the

community.
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 The Concept of Civilization

Literal and Technical Meaning of Civilization

 Literal meaning of Civilization= complex society

 Technically it can refer to tribal societies that live in

small settlement ( Anthropologist point of view)

= exclusive term as it focus on a particular segment
of the society.

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 The Concept of Civilization
 In Broader sense- it refers to any distinct society,
whether complex and city dwellers or simple and
tribal.
 In this sense, it nearly synonymous with culture
 Civilization=standard behavior ≠barbaric or crude
behavior
 In this sense, civilization implies sophistication
and refinement
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 What Characterizes Civilization

 A civilization is a complex society, as

distinguished from a simpler society.
 Everyone lives in a society and a culture, but not
everyone lives in a civilization!

Point for Discussions!

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 Views about Civilization
 Positive Views
 Negative Views
 Critics,

 Civilization brings a mixture of good and bad effects ,

and usually the bad outweigh the good.

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 Views about Civilization
 Opponents of Civilization
 Hermits, and religious ascetics – try to avoid it and

be concentrated on Spiritual matters

 Transcendentalists – consider civilization as

shallow and materialistic

 Environmentalists

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 Views about Civilization

 Civilization have shown an inclination towards

conquest and expansion.
 When civilization formed, more food was produced and

the society’s material possessions increased, but wealth

also become concentrated in the hands of the powerful.
 Many environmentalists criticizes civilizations for their

exploitation of the environment through intensive

agriculture and urban growth.
 Only traditional society live in harmony with nature!
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 Human History

 Factors affecting social organization during

prehistory : CLIMATE !!!
 Paleolithic Period- early stone age
 Chipped stone tools
 Humans lived as nomads
 No permanent settlements
 No food surplus= instead lived day-to-day

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 Human History

 Mesolithic – Middle age

 Population density grow- depletion of Natural
Resources
 Changing climate contributed to emergence of
new plants and animals
 Semi permanent settlements
 Development of fertile crescent (Currently where
Israel, Lebanon Jordan Syria and Northern Iraq
are located)
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 Human History
 Bronze and Iron Age
 It succeeded the stone age and was

characterized by the use of tools made of bronze

and iron.
 Division of labor more complex and hierarchal
with some form of administrative leadership.
 Agricultural revolution- new technologies
(RELATIVE!!!)

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 Settlement History
 To analyze and understand factors which contributed to the
present patterns of urban growth and structures = we have
to trace back some historical perspectives.
 Development of first villages
 A number of pre-conditions which had to be met before

the emergence of permanent village settlements are:

 There should be a physical environment that should
support plant and animal life. To boost agricultural surplus!!
 The development of relatively advanced technology in
agriculture. E.g. Large irrigation works
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 Settlement History

The Theory of The Origin of Cities

 Many theories ! The most prominent of these

theories is the Functional Specialization theory.

 This theory mainly attempts to synthesis the
commercial conditions which lead to the rise of
cities.

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 Functional Specialization theory
 The theory emphasizes three conditions which must
be present before cities can emerge in any regions .
 These are:
1. There must be a surplus of food production.
2. There must be a small group of people who are able

to exercise the power over the group of the producers.

3. There must be a class of traders and merchants

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 Functional Specialization theory
 The importance of the conditions
 1st Condition= to feed for those who are not
engaged in agriculture.
 2nd Condition = to have an administrative and
political group that exercise control over specialist
producers.
 3rd condition= stress the importance of exchange
of specialization

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 Areas of City Origin

 No agreement at present among scholars as

whether urban areas originated in single place with
subsequent dispersal to other areas or there was an
independent origin in different areas.
 There are two points of argument regarding the
areas of city origin and dispersal of urban life.

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 Areas of City Origin
 The first argument is that cities originated in fertile
crescent of Mesopotamia and that the concept of
city formation was diffuse from this area to other
places.
 Basis of the argument:
 A number of deities, great temples
 A central authority and division of labor
 The beginning of writing and calendar
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 Areas of City Origin… cont’d

 The second argument takes the opposite view.

 It argues that cities originated independently in
different regions without external influence.
 Basis of this argument
 Communication and transportation between

various areas- migration among cities were

impossible.

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 Areas of City Origin… cont’d

 So, according to this argument the first cities

were originated in:
 MESOPOTAMIA
 EGYPT
 INDUS VALLEY
 HAWANG HO VALLEY
 MESOAMERICA

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