CONCLUSION

Over the fourth and third millennia BCE, the world’s social landscape changed in significant ways. In a few key locations, where giant rivers irrigated fertile lands, complex human cultures began to emerge. These areas experienced all the advantages and difficulties of expanding populations: occupational specialization; social hierarchy; rising standards of living; sophisticated systems of art and science; and centralized production and distribution of food, clothing, and other goods. Ceremonial sites and trading crossroads became cities that developed centralized religious and political systems. As scribes, priests, and rulers labored to keep complex societies together, social distinctions within the city (including the roles of men and women) and the differences between country folk and city dwellers sharpened.

Although the river-basin cultures shared basic features, each one’s evolution followed a distinctive path. Where there was a single river—the Nile or the Indus—the agrarian hinterlands that fed the cities lay along the banks of the mighty waterway. In these areas, cities were small; thus, the Egyptian and Harappan worlds enjoyed more political stability and less rivalry. In contrast, cities in the immense floodplain of the Tigris and Euphrates needed large hinterlands to sustain their populations. Because of their growing power and need for resources, Mesopotamian cities vied for preeminence, and their competition often became violent.

In most areas of the world, however, people still lived in simple, egalitarian societies based on hunting, gathering, and basic agriculture—as in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa. In Anatolia, Europe, and large parts of China, towns emerged and agriculture advanced—but not with the leaps and bounds and fast-paced momentum of the river-basin cultures. Some of them, as in the Aegean and Europe, forged warrior societies. Beyond these frontiers, farmers and nomads survived as they had for many centuries. Thriving trading networks connected many, but not all, of these regions to one another.

Changes in climate affected everyone and could slow or even reverse development. How—and whether—cultures adapted depended on local circumstances. As the next chapter will show, the human agents of change often came from the fringes of larger settlements and urban areas.

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TRACING THE GLOBAL STORYLINE

FOCUS ON: Comparing First Cities

Mesopotamia

• Peoples living along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers control floodwaters and refine irrigation techniques.
• Mesopotamians establish the world’s first large cities, featuring powerful rulers, social hierarchies, and temples (ziggurats) for worship of their gods.
• Mesopotamia is the birthplace of writing.

Egypt

• Peoples of Egypt use Nile River waters to irrigate their lands and create a bountiful agriculture.
• Egyptian kings unify their territory, establish a powerful state, and develop a vibrant economy.
• Egyptians build magnificent burial chambers (pyramids) and worship a pantheon of gods.

Indus Valley

• South Asian peoples harness the Indus River and create cities (like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro), as well as a form of writing called Indus Valley script.
• Harappan cities include residential housing and public structures (like baths) with excellent drainage.
• Indus Valley peoples export copper, shells, and carnelian (as well as lapis lazuli and turquoise, from nearby sources) to peoples of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

East Asia

• Peoples dwelling in the basins of the Yellow River and the Yangzi River control the waters’ flow and expand agriculture.
• These people develop elaborate cultures, which scholars later label Yangshao and Longshan.
• While agriculture in East Asia does not produce city-states in this period, Longshan peoples leave behind distinctive pottery and jade artifacts, suggesting evidence of regional trade.

KEY TERMS

• bronze p. 49
• city p. 54
• city-state p. 54
• river basins p. 49
• scribes p. 57
• social hierarchies p. 55
• urban-rural divide p. 49

THINKING ABOUT GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

• Thinking about River-Basin Societies and the Environment Human interaction with the environment—including climate, geography, the characteristics of the rivers, and the continued cultivation of crops and herds—played a significant role in shaping each early river-basin community. Describe ways that these environmental factors influenced the unique characteristics of each river-basin society.
• Thinking about Exchange Networks among Early River-Basin Societies Carnelian from the Indus region buried in elite tombs of Egypt; lapis lazuli from the region of modern-day Afghanistan on necklaces adorning Harappan necks; shell from the Indus floodplain inlaid on Mesopotamian grave goods—these examples provide evidence of how trade in raw materials bound river-basin societies together in the third millennium BCE. What routes might such goods have traveled? What does this exchange of commodities suggest about other types of exchange that may have been taking place between these river-basin societies?
• Thinking about Changing Power Relationships in River-Basin Societies From 3500 to 2000 BCE, as societies developed in the river basins of Mesopotamia, Egypt, South Asia, and East Asia, more intensive cultivation brought agricultural surpluses that ushered in a wide range of impacts. Explain, with examples from each of the river-basin societies, how food surpluses led to job specialization, wealth accumulation, and the resulting social hierarchies.

CHRONOLOGY