Evolution of Urbanization

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 Definition of Urbanization

Urbanization, the process by which large numbers of people become

permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities.

Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural

to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of
people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to
this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities
are formed and become larger as more people begin living and
working in central areas.

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Urbanization began in ancient Mesopotamia in the Uruk Period
(4300-3100 BCE). However, a particularly prosperous and efficient
village attracted the attention of other, less prosperous, tribes who
then attached themselves to the successful settlement.

More than half of the world’s population now live in urban areas,
compared to only a few percent just 200 years ago, increasingly in
highly-dense cities. However, urban settings are a relatively new
phenomenon in human history. This transition has transformed the
way we live, work, travel and build networks.

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The historian Lewis Mumford notes that:

“...though permanent villages date only from Neolithic

times, the habit of resorting to caves for the collective
performance of magical ceremonies seems to date back to
an earlier period…The outline of the city as both an
outward form and an inward pattern of life might be found
in such assemblages.”

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 The Rise of the City
The earliest city to rise in the region of Mesopotamia is considered by modern-day
scholars to be Uruk, around 4500 BCE, and then that of Ur around 3800 BCE, both
of which were then situated in proximity to the banks of the Euphrates River.

The structure of the city, and the security of urban living, seems to have attracted
the populace of the region to urban centres.

By the year 2600 BCE Ur was a

thriving metropolis and, by 2900
BCE, was a walled city with a
population of approximately
65,000.

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Uruk Ur

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 About 5,000 years ago, however, humans developed such innovations
as irrigation, metallurgy, and animal‐drawn plows. These developments
allowed farmers to produce an excess of food beyond their immediate
needs.

 The resulting surplus of food led some people to make their living in
other ways: for instance, by making pottery, weaving, and engaging in
other non-agricultural activities that they could sell or exchange with
others for the surplus food. As a result, people moved off the farms,
commerce developed, and cities began to form.

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 Urbanization & Overuse of Resources

The over-use of the land, combined with a mysterious shift in the

Euphrates which drew the waters away from the city, resulted in the
complex finally being abandoned around 500 BCE. Eridu, for perhaps
similar reasons, was abandoned in 600 BCE and Uruk in 650 BCE.

At the center of Ur, as with all of the cities in ancient Mesopotamia, was
the great temple which was the locale of ceremonial, commercial and
social functions. Religious activities, such as festivals, were the main
social gatherings of the time and these occasions were often used to
distribute surplus food and supplies to the populace of the city. The
priests of the temple, who were also the rulers of the city from about 3400
BCE, were responsible for this distribution and relied heavily on the
farmers of the region to supply such surplus as they needed.

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This excess production of the countryside not only supplied the
population of the city with food but also increased long-distance trade
with other cities along the Euphrates such as Tikrit and Eridu. As
urbanization continued, however, the need for more and yet more raw
materials depleted the natural resources of the region and, eventually,
led to a lack of necessary assets and the abandonment of the city.

Urbanization spread from Mesopotamia to Egypt and, from there, to

Greece and it seems, early on, that the lesson of the city of Ur, and
others, was heeded by later urban centres. In Egypt, especially, great
care was taken with the land to prevent the less desirable
consequences of urbanization from toppling the great cities of Pharaoh
so that focus could remain steady on cultural aspects such as the
development of writing, architecture, laws, administration, sanitation,
trade, and craftsmanship.
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As ancient Egyptian rulers, pharaohs were both the heads of state and the
religious leaders of their people. The word “Pharaoh” means “Great
House,” a reference to the palace where the pharaoh resides. While early
Egyptian rulers were called “kings,” over time, the name “pharaoh” stuck.

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 This cycle of rise and fall of cities is seen repeatedly in many
cultures around the world.

Why it happened so frequently in some regions, such as

Mesopotamia, and not in others, such as Greece, is a question still
debated by scholars and historians?

 Some assert it is simply a matter of over-population (as in the case

of the Maya) while others point to an overuse of the land (as at Ur
and other Mesopotamian cities). A lack of forethought among them,
which led to the destruction or abandonment of so many ancient
cities.

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  6500 BCE
Jericho is the first major walled city, with a population of about 2,500.

 4500 BCE
First walled cities. Uruk in Mesopotamia first city.
 4100 BCE - 2900 BCE
Uruk Period in Mesopotamia. First cities.
Timeline  4000 BCE
First settlement of Ur.

 3400 BCE
Priests become the rulers of Mesopotamian cities.
 2800 BCE - 1900 BCE
The rise of the great Indian cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

 1900 BCE -1500 BCE

Decline of the Harappan Culture in India. 13