Agrarian Civilizations in Other Regions Lecture 31
The Nile was a wonderful river along which to trade. Trade winds heading south and river currents heading north made sailing up and down the river relatively easy. And we know that Egyptian rulers sent expeditions for ivory and gold, for example, to Nubia and Punt, in modern Ethiopia, and also to Lebanon for its famous cedars. We still have ¿ne illustrations of a Àeet that was sent by Hatshepsut—one of the few female pharaohs, who ruled soon after 1500 B.C.E.
Lecture 31: Agrarian Civilizations in Other Regions
H
ow typical was Sumer of Agrarian civilizations in general? Agrarian civilizations were constructed using the huge human and material resources generated in regions of Àourishing agriculture, so each civilization was shaped to some degree by the cultural traditions and ecology of the regions in which it emerged. This lecture brieÀy surveys six different areas in which Agrarian civilizations appeared early. The main exception to the general rule that agriculture generated civilizations is in tropical areas such as Papua New Guinea (and perhaps the Amazon basin). Here, agriculture may have appeared early, but it was based on root crops that could not be stored for long periods. As William McNeill argues, the lack of storable wealth may explain why these regions never supported Agrarian civilizations. Within the Afro-Eurasian world zone, Agrarian civilizations emerged along fertile river systems in four different regions. We have seen how Sumerian civilization arose in the Euphrates-Tigris basin, in the form of a cluster of competing city-states all dependent on irrigation. Nearby, in modern Sudan and Egypt, an Agrarian civilization appeared at about the same time, based on the remarkable natural irrigation system of the Nile River. The annual Àoods of the Nile, the world’s longest river, brought nutritious silts from the south. After about 5000 B.C.E., the Sahara desert became drier, and more people settled in the Nile Valley. As in Sumer, populations grew rapidly, but here most settled in a long ribbon of villages along the Nile. Wheat and barley, introduced from Mesopotamia around 5000 B.C.E., Àourished.
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