Essay/Term paper: Civilization paper

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

Civilization is a term used in many different ways. It can

be defined as; people who eat the same kind of foods,

People who live together, people who speak the same

language, and so on. Yet each way that it is defined relates

towards the same topic; Humans and their existence on the

planet. Civilization is known greatly as a group of humans or

animals that live generally together and practice the same

habits.

Civilization, according to some historians, first came into

play in the year 3000 BCE. These historians look at

civilization as people who have the same dietary needs and

habits, who practice these habits regularly in order to

survive. A couple of years before 3000 BCE, the world

went through what historians call the Agricultural revolution.

They feel that because of this revolution, groups of people

started to come together to practice their farming ways.

Because of all the new food supplies that came about

through the agricultural revolution, the population started to

grow into little villages, which eventually turned into city

states. This caused people to look further beyond their little

villages in search of more land to hold their growing

populations. This caused groups of people to break off and

form their own little towns or civilizations. After a while the

people learned that by being in different places their farming

encountered different weather and growing conditions.

Forcing them to grow products that will grow more

sufficiently in their new conditions. This adaptation formed

new ways of living causing the people to become different

then the people back where they came from. These changes

have led to more numbers of civilizations.

With of all the new little civilizations popping up, and all

the different conditions, and not everyone being able to grow

what they need to survive. The people had to resort to trade.

Trade helps civilizations grow to be more populated and

stronger. Trade also encourages travel, which eventually

leads to exploration. And by people exploring they find

either more civilizations to trade with, or more land to

expand onto.

The Mesopotamians are one of the first major civilizations

to come into existence. They were able to do this because of

the agricultural revolution. The Mesopotamian region was

like a "big dust bowl" and much of the time was very hot.

Yet there was also times when there was too much water,

and the rain flooded all of the peoples crops, and turned the

water into swamp like conditions which were unsafe to

drink. In order to fix this and make their civilization strive

and survive, the people had to make canals, dams and

irrigation systems. These things helped the crops grow

greatly. Because of the great success of their produce, they

were able to trade with other cultures for livestock, and

other kinds of food and goods necessary to live and survive.

Once in a while a culture will find something that they are

really good at making, or something that they can make and

others cannot because of their geography and environment.

Some things that some cultures could make are pottery and

dyes for clothing. Some of the civilizations lived in areas that

contained soil that wasn't good for farming because it was all

clay. But with the clay they could make magnificent pottery.

This pottery was wanted by everyone, so they traded for it.

Giving the pottery civilization who couldn't grow vegetables,

vegetables and the farmers got the pottery. Another example

of this is clothing dye. The dye was made from fruits and

berries. Most all of the ancient civilizations dressed in

garments that were very dull, earthy tone colors. All that is

except for one culture who used juices from the purple

berries in their towns, to die their clothing. This civilization

traded their dyed clothing for other products, helping them

survive as a civilization.

There are many factors that need to happen in order for a

culture to strive and become successful. Trading and the

environment effect this process greatly. Without trade no

civilization would be able to survive because of the different

environmental factors. And without the differences in the

environments their would be only one huge civilization,

because everyone would be exactly alike and their would be

no need for different languages, growing techniques. without

these things there would be no civilizations and most likely

no human race.