GEOG 1HB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Neolithic Revolution, Division Of Labour, Agricultural Productivity
31 May 2018
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May 23, 2018- Lecture 6A
Urbanization: The Emergence of Urban Living
Post-Midterm
What are Cities?
- Greater and greater proportions of the population are living in urban areas each year
o Change over time: 10% to 50% in 200 years
o Spatial variation: from >75% to <40%
The Growth of Cities: A Brief History
- Emergence of cities:
o Region of first cities: Mesopotamia (around modern-day Iraq)
▪ Followed closely by several other areas: urban hearths
o Emergence of cities: approx. 3500 BCE
- What explains the emergence of cities?
o The Agricultural Surplus Theory
▪ A. Nomadic/ Hunter Gather Societies
• Millions/ hundreds of thousands of years
▪ B. Agricultural Societies: Neolithic Revolution ~12,000 YA
• Techological discoery: plat ad aial doesticatio
(learned how to keep animals constantly rather than having to
search for food)
• Key societal transformation: permanent settlements
• Further discoveries (i.e. irrigation, the plow, etc.) led to greater
harvests, and eventually a surplus of food
▪ C. Urban Societies: ~5,500 YA
• Surplus led to another key transformation, labour specialization
o Production (i.e. manufacturing)
o The need to constantly hunt for animals was eliminated
which meant people could specialize in other trades
• The principles of agglomeration economies; clustering of goods
and services
o The first cities: ~5500 YA
▪ Cities: between Mesopotamia (and other urban hearths) ~5500 years
ago, and the Industrial Revoluation (c.1700)
• Small and compact
• Local and regional trade, education, religion, and/or urbanization
(~10%), meaning most places were rural areas
o The Industrial Revolution:
▪ Late 1700s and 1800s
▪ Critical chages i ethods of productio ad societal ay of life:
explosive growth of cities
• Agricultural productivity via the green revolution
• Mass production
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