Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
80 °
INDUS RIVER VALLEY URBAN HEARTH
0
200
400 Kilometers
0
100
200
300 Miles
Rupar
Harappa
30 °
30
°
Kalibhangan
Dabar Kot
Alamgirpur
Judeirjo-
Daro
Mohenjo-Daro
Kot Diji
Ali Murad
Lohri
Amri
Chanhu-Daro
Allahdino
Desert
Wetlands
Desalpar
Lothal
Rangpur
Arabian Sea
FEET
METERS
Mehgam
8,200
3,280
660
0
2500
1000
200
0
Telod
Bhagatrav
Somnath
Figure 9.7
Indus River Valley Urban Hearth.
© H. J. de Blij, P. O. Muller, and John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
20 °
Longitude East of Greenwich
70 °
Chavín built cities in Peru dating to 900
. The larg-
est settlement, Chavín, was sited at an elevation of 10,530
feet in the Andean highlands.
bce
had between 10,000 and 15,000 inhabitants after nearly
2000 years of growth and development. That, scholars
conclude, is about the maximum sustainable size based
on existing systems of food production, gathering, dis-
tribution, and social organization, These urban places
were geographical exceptions in an overwhelmingly rural
world. The modern city we know today did not emerge
until several thousand years later.
The Role of the Ancient City in Society
Ancient cities not only were centers of religion and
power, but also served as economic nodes. Cities were
the chief marketplaces and bases from which wealthy
merchants, land and livestock owners, and traders oper-
ated. As educational centers, residents of cities included
teachers and philosophers. They also had handicraft
industries that attracted the best craftspeople and inven-
tors. In all of these roles, ancient cities were the anchors
of culture and society, the focal points of power, author-
ity, and change.
How large were the ancient cities? We have only
estimates because it is impossible to judge from excavated
ruins the dimensions of a city at its height or the number
of people who might have occupied each residential unit.
By modern standards, the ancient cities were not large.
The cities of Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley may have
Diffusion of Urbanization
Urbanization diffused from Mesopotamia in several direc-
tions. Populations in Mesopotamia grew with the steady
food supply and a sedentary lifestyle. People migrated out
from the hearth, diffusing their knowledge of agriculture
and urbanization. Diffusion from Mesopotamia happened
early, even before agriculture developed independently in
some other hearths. In fact, urbanization diffused to the
Mediterranean from Mesopotamia (and perhaps the Nile
River Valley) more than 3500 years ago, at about the same
time cities were developing in the hearth of the Huang
He and long before cities originated in Mesoamerica.
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