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Geography 340: Urban Systems

Day 2 – A Brief History of Cities

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Cities have existed for at least 5500-9000 years.• In addition to studying cities, geographers are

concerned with urban systems – the functional territories with which cities are interrelated.

• How would you define a city, what distinguishes urban from rural?

• As they note, there were 5 hearths for the emergence of cities (I would say 6) – see p. 23 – and Tenochtitlán in Mexico was, at the time of the Spanish conquest, far more imposing and populous than contemporary European cities (only Paris and Constantinople were bigger).

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• After the collapse of the Roman Empire, cities largely

disappeared in Europe for a period of about 500 years, when they began to slowly re-establish themselves especially under the impetus of growth of trade.

• Under the feudal system and the growing centralized monarchies, cities were able to carve out varying degrees of autonomy, and there was an expression that “city air makes one free.” Serfs who managed to hide out in a city for more than a year were declared freemen.

• Cities also created alliances for economic gain, such as the Hanseatic League.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• As the authors point out, cities presuppose agricultural

societies capable of generating a surplus. This required favourable environmental conditions, which in turn were often enhanced by irrigation and other technological breakthroughs.

• There are different theories as to why people turned to agriculture. Some suggest that it was the result of experiments in plant and animal domestication; others that climate change drove hunters and gatherers to find alternative ways of surviving. If population pressure helped drive the creation of agriculture, it is also the case that a reliable source of food greatly facilitated population growth.

• However it happened, the net result was that people became sedentary and eventually started producing a surplus – a precondition for cities and civilizations, which are closely linked (civitas is the Latin word for city).

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Mesopotamia is probably home to the earliest cities

(and civilizations) such Ur, Uruk, Enkidu, Sumer, and Babylon.

Artist’s conception of Babylon:Maurice Bardon

Ruins of City of Ur in Iraq: Wikipedia

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• A minority of authors believe that cities emerged from the

necessity of having nodes from which long-distance trading could be conducted. Certainly, trade was facilitated.

• But whatever was the reason, cities (and civilizations) came to be, they led to an increasingly sophisticated division of labour, with mental workers (rulers, priests, accountants, scribes, and proto-scientists), and menial workers (peasants, construction workers, soldiers, craftsmen), with soldiers and craftsmen probably occupying a status somewhat above that of the peasants and builders.

• This hierarchical structure of civilization seems to be universal – in the New World and in the Old – with the possible exception of Çatalhöyük (for location, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk).

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Cities also served a defense

purpose, but they also often became the launching point for aggressive empires.

• Cities became sites for major temples and religious festivals and ceremonies, and this contributed to their prestige and that of their rulers. Religion also helped reinforce the status quo by suggesting that it was divinely ordained (rulers were often seen as gods or close to the gods).

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• In addition to Mesopotamia, cities emerged in Egypt,

modern-day India/ Pakistan (Harappa/ Mohenjo-Daro), in northern China, and later in Mexico, the Yucatan, and Peru.

• At a later date, cities developed in places like Khmer (Cambodia), and the Mediterranean (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Greece).• Some had an organic layout, others a gridiron. Some had walls and some did not.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• With the rise of empires (Persian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman,

and European), cities were established with varying models in other parts of the world.

• Cities also emerged along trade routes (the Silk Road).

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Cities were to some degree dependent on their resource

basis. If they overextended themselves, as the Mayan cities were thought to have done, they collapsed.

• The alternative was to establish empires which, in essence, forced other regions to pay tribute and provide resources through a network of colonial cities and territories.

• Greek cities, with the exception of Athens at its peak, were quite small. Rome started out small but eventually attained a million people, with the most sophisticated infrastructure that had existed to that point.

• The Roman empire, in turn, founded many of what we now know as modern European cities – London, Brussels, Paris, Cologne, Vienna, Sofia, and Belgrade.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• After the fall of the Roman empire, cities in Europe went

into decline, and torch of urbanity and civilization passed to the Muslim world, who founded Teheran, Basra, Mosul, Karbala, Cairo, and Tangiers, in addition to revitalizing Mecca, Medina, Baghdad and Damascus. The Arabs also founded cities in Saharan or sub-Saharan Africa: Timbucto, Kano, and Mombasa.

• Muslim-influenced cities and architecture/ culture also flourished in Spain. As the eastern capital of post-Roman Christianity, Constantinople also survived and thrived for a time.

• Such towns as remained in Europe tended to be ecclesiastical, university-related, or for defense-purposes.

• Nonetheless, out of these unpromising beginnings, the future of European global domination began.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Gradually, merchant capitalism began

to supplant feudalism, which had been based on largely self-sufficient manors. Economic activity quickened. It began to be in the interest of barons and kings to encourage settlement in planned new towns because of the revenues generated through market tolls, rents, and court fines.

• Most cities in Europe to this day share certain common elements.The cathedral and the town hall tend to be at the centre, and this is where daily or weekly markets were and are held.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• At the end of 13th century, Europe had approxi-

mately 3000 cities, containing about 15-20% of the total population, but most had less than 2000 people. Paris was the largest with about 275,000.

• Trade in and between Hanseatic League cities (see page 38) greatly expanded the economy, the wealth of the merchant class, and provided the impetus for overseas exploration and conquest.

• With the rise of the absolute monarchies, centralized nation-states began to replace the loose network of principalities in at least some European countries, and gave capitals an added purpose of serving an administrative function for kings.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• During the Age of Exploration (“Conquest”), wealth

poured into Europe and European cities from the slave trade, and staple production (sugar, cotton, tea, and tobacco production, mining for precious metals, and collection of spices).

• The next big game changer, funded by this wealth, was the Industrial Revolution, with Manchester, England, as the poster child for the new order. Fossil fuels, steam engines, huge factories, and subject workers became the order of the day. William Blake referred to the new factories as “dark satanic mills.” (See the image on p. 41.)

• Here’s Friederich Engels on Manchester.

Chapter 2: The Origin and Growth of Cities• Higher productivity, through the introduction of

machinery, and enclosure of lands in the rural areas, released large numbers of former peasants to become potential members of the working class, much as is occurring today in many developing countries.

• The Industrial Revolution in the UK Midlands soon spread to other parts of Europe. Poor wages and inability to rent decent housing led to overcrowding and slum living conditions, including in North America, at a great cost to health.

• Soon, the urban population of Europe shifted from being 3-5% in 1800 to 16% in 1850, with 900 cities of more than 100,000 people.