The Birth of Human Civilization
In the modern world, our way of life is constantly changing. Every year there are new fashions in clothes, s and music, and hundreds of scientific discoveries. For most of the human history, however, change has been very slow.
Hunters and Gatherers
Until as recently as 11,000 years ago, all humans lived a way of life, which had developed over millions of years. People lived in small families, gathering wild plant foods and hunting wild animals. They never stayed in one place for long but moved constantly, in search of new food sources or following wild animals. In these early hunting and gathering people used the same kind of tools for very long periods of time.
Settling Down
The first fully modern human beings, who had exactly the same intelce and appearance as ourselves, evolved in tropical Africa about 100,000 years ago. They were much better at learning how to live in new environments than earlier species.
Growing Crops
These early humans quickly spread out of Africa and replaced earlier species, such as the Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia. Gradually, their numbers increased, until they could no longer survive just by hunting animals and gathering wild plants. People began to settle into a farming way of life. The first farmers settled in the Middle East about 11,000 years ago. A few thousand years later, farming began in Egypt, India and China. By Roman times (2,000 years ago), most people in Asia, Africa and Europe depended on farming for their food.
New Ways of Living
Farming led to huge changes in the way most people lived. It meant that they could live in one place all the time. They began to build long-lasting buildings of wood, brick and stone. People learned to bake clay to make pottery (陶器) jars for storing and cooling food. Later they learned to heat certain rocks to create metal, such as gold, silver and copper. Metal tools were better than stone ones. Population Explosion
Farming led to important social changes. Because they had better land or worked harder, some farmers were more successful than others and grew more food than they needed to support their families. These farmers could exchange their surplus food for luxuries, such as fine jewels and weapons, or they could use it to win power and influence over other people. As a result, inequalities of wealth and power began to develop among people in farming communities. Powerful individuals were able to become chiefs, ruling over other people and controlling their land. Because farming increased the food supply, the human population began to rise more and more quickly. When farming first began, there were only about 12 million people in the whole world. Today there are more than five billion people, most of whom still depend on farming for their food.
Cities, Kings and Civilization
The population rose fastest in the places which had the most fertile soils, such as on the plains of great rivers. These included the Nile in Egypt, the river Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, the Indus River in Pakistan and the Yellow River in China. The first civilizations of large communities with governments arose in these areas between 5,500 and 3,500 years ago. Chiefs were not powerful enough to control such large communities as cities, so a new kind of ruler emerged, the king. To strengthen their power, kings issued code of laws.
The Invention of Writing
Farmers brought their surplus food to the cities to the king as taxes. The king then used this food to support people who had full-time specialist )obs, such as administrators (行政官员), soldiers, builders and other craftsmen (工匠) and women. All of these specialist workers depended totally on the ability of farmers to grow surplus food to feed them. Ruling these large communities was a complicated business. Systems of writing were invented to help rulers and administrators remember everything that they needed to know to do their jobs properly. The First Nation
"the first civilization was founded by the Sumerians in the Middle East about 5,500 years ago. About 400 years later, a second civilization developed in Egypt. The ancient Egyptian civilization was one of the most successful in history. It lasted over 3,000 years. While the Sumerians lived in dozens of cities, each with its own king, the Egyptians were all united in a single kingdom. "They were the world’s first nation. Later, new civilizations arose in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
The Birth of European Civilization
The most important of these new civilizations was in Greece, across the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt. The ancient Greek civilization became one of the most inventive (有创造力的) in history. Ancient Greek states were the first to allow citizens to govern themselves. They called this democracy. The ancient Greeks had some of the first scientists, philosophers and historians (历史学家). They invented the theater. "Their art and building styles are still copied today.
Growth of an Empire
The ancient Greeks were great travelers and colonizers (). They founded cities all around the Mediterranean and throughout the East. The Romans of Italy were strongly influenced by the Greeks. By the time of Christ, they had built one of the largest empires in history. Both Greece and Egypt came under Roman rule. Even though the Roman Empire ended over 1,500 years ago, it still has an influence on our lives. Many modern languages are descended from Latin, the Roman language. Our alphabet was invented by the Romans. Germany and France have laws that are based on Roman laws. London and Paris were founded by the Romans.
The Birth of Human CivilizationHunters and GatherersSettling DownGrowing CropsNew Ways of LivingCities, Kings and CivilizationThe Invention of WritingThe Birth of European CivilizationGrowth of an EmpireThe Romans had built one of the largest empires in history by ______.