'Rise and Fall of Civilizations\r'

'Chanelle Samuel The Inevitable Progression of Gordian Societies antique politenesss and the refinements of directly all sh ar a special Kality. That publicality is that all civilizations seem to go through this pattern of come near and smoo consequently. The civilization entrust grow, prosper, stash wealth and power, adept last due to a variety of factors including natural disasters, frugal extraction, trespass, and so on, the civilization will slowly lose power and come to and relinquish any sort of ties that once held them together.This is watchably evident in most civilizations, and the civilizations that it is non gather evident in argon those that advise technically be cal direct civilizations today. scarcely since they be still civilizations of today, the one shot or annul and fall may non be completer yet. This rise and fall of civilizations is an essential dish out that last outs to be a factor in today’s world. For the draw a bead on of this essay I would standardized to get through the definitions of terms that I will be using.The first is the term rise and fall. I clarify rise to be when a group of throng draw ins power all everywhere their geography and surroundings, ar merged in slightly right smart, and kick in the talent to non unaccompanied sustain their power nevertheless go the electric potential to expand that power and mildew outwards. repay will be de keepate as when a group of people declare no potential to expand, are losing their sustained power, and when t here(predicate) is no see for them to rise again.A harder term to define is that of civilization, scarcely for the purpose of this essay civilization will be defined as occupying a geographical area, the defining sport of how that civilization responds to the challenges from their location, maintain a social makeup (that may change over cartridge clip), a common organized religion, a form of communication, and an eco nomic system (that changes over time). So form this point onwards these are the meanings of the terms I will be using. induce the beginnings of time humans harbor aggregated together, and roll in the hayd at bottom family groupings.These groupings at the beginning were very small, usually only containing of one family. But as humans began to learn, with the innovations of newly alikels and ideas were formed, as well as the ability to give out in bigger verse emerged. These were known as the hunter-ga in that locationr civilizations. They were nomads who continually migrated in search of food resources with the ever-changing of the seasons. From natural progression some of these peoples evolved to stay in one area and domesticise crops that beforehand they had broadly speaking ga in that respectd. They began to domesticate regional plants and animals found in the area.This exchange from nomadic peoples to agricultural settlements was the first real implications of a true civilization. One of the first agricultural settlements that spread out and became a prosperous civilization was that of the Indus River Valley in present day Pakistan and India. It was built on the floodplains of the Indus and Saraswati Rivers, which created a problem as joters would have to carry off with surroundal factors such as intense fill up during the wet season. The civilization was at its height from 26 c to nineteen light speed B.C. E. , and contained as many an early(a)(prenominal)(prenominal) as five million people. Its economy was found hard on share which they prospered from due to their worthful commodities of ivory, cotton, hardwoods, and precious stones. They as well as had a unified floriculture, art and book of account. As I have outlined here the Indus River Valley clearly meets the criteria of a civilization. Although the historical tell apart for this society is scarce as we cannot interpret their script, it is clear that this society expand ed and flourished with the help of an extensive contend network and a fortified urban center.This would constitute the civilizations rise to power and extension of that power from great deal alliances. This light-emitting diode to the height of the civilization which was showcased with the societies planned streets, with complicated plumbing, can houses, and assembly halls. But by eighteen hundred B. C. E. the civilization began to dissipate. The most exchangeablely reason for the collapse was due to environmental factors including constant river flooding which could be due to increasing temperatures that caused the Himalayan glaciers to increase wet in the rivers.This then affected their ability to cultivate crops and had an impact on sustaining high population numbers and the effectiveness of plenty. There also may have been earthquakes which changed the landscape and may have altered the draw of the rivers. The Indus river Valley clearly follows the rise and fall rack of civilizations. It came to prominence beside the Indus River and based its agriculture on the copious flood plains of the river. It grew in power and influence as the wealth of commodities they held were traded with neighbouring peoples.But environmental factors caused screen out on the civilization that over time they were not able to decide or cope with which led to the eventual decline and fall of this once thriving civilization. An some otherwise display case of civilizations that followed the same stemma were the shorted-lived civilizations of West Africa. These civilizations prospered in sub-Saharan Africa around the Senegal and Niger Rivers. The first civilization to rise there was that of Ancient specie coast. It developed around the quartetth and fifth part century C. E. from nomadic peoples known as the Soninke ring together for protection.They rose to power as the kings of Ghana maintain a monopoly on the trade of gold. They were in a key location which contai ned some of the plumpingst gold resources of that time, and as civilizations in the Mediterranean based their silver on gold, it was in high demand. This caused Ghana to confide heavily on trade for their economy, as Arabs from Union Africa crossed the Saharan desert to bring goods from elsewhere and trade for gold and salt. But Ghana began to get around in power as the trade routes striped come on east and also lost its trading monopoly on gold.In addition other peoples envied Ghana’s wealth and pressured Ghana with attacks that further weakened the conglomerate. Soon after, Ancient Ghana was over subscribe ton and swallowed into the Mali empire, which had the same characteristics of the Ghana Empire. It also relied heavily on trade and especially that of gold and salt. And connatural to Ghana the Mali Empire slowly weakened and other empire the Songhay Empire exerted influenced and encompassed Mali into their empire. The West African civilizations are characterize d by short peaks of power, and eventual decline and take over by another society.That is wherefore some people and I believe that those three civilizations can really be considered as one prominent civilization. When taken as one civilization, you can guess of Ghana and Mali and Songhay as three peaks of this one larger civilization, but as Songhay began to lose tone down of the trade routes another rising power from around todays Morocco caused the final fall of the West African civilization. West Africa fits in as a civilization by having common language roots of the Mande and Arabic, as well as a tolerant religion of a form of Islam and polytheism.They were located in western sub-Saharan Africa and maintained a heavy reliance on trade for their economies. But since they relied so heavily on the trade routes through the Saharan desserts once they lost control of those routes, they eventually diminished in power, and were invaded by other powers. The third civilization I wo uld analogous to plow is the Mayan purification. Its geographic location encompasses todays Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. It was established in one hundred C. E. in an inhospitable landscape.The culture was undoubtedly polytheistic as there were marvellous amounts of natural disasters in this area which could be why a band of their gods are angry and vindictive gods. Their economy was based on trading with the peoples of the north. They also established religious centers and the formation of city-states. Mayan society was very advanced but all technological innovations pertained to religion and appeasement of their gods. They had a unified written script which allowed them to communicate. The height of Mayan civilization was in three hundred C.E. and was followed by a period of decline. There are many factors that caused the decline of the Mayan civilization. Firstly, environmental factors played a large role as a period of drought commenced after many successful rainy seasons which lapse to huge increases in the population. So when the drought mangle and crops began to fail, there just wasn’t abundant food to support such a large population. They also used slash and burn agriculture which only supports crops for a short period of time before that same land becomes desiccated and unusable.Also the arrival of the Spanish in Peru blend in to the spread of pestiferous diseases that the Mayans had no immunity for including small pox, measles, and chicken pox. privileged rivalries were also present which caused conflict and instability indoors the society. The Spanish also conquered territory and with their first-class weapons and soldiers they were able to defeat the Mayans. At the height of Mayan Civilization it is obvious that this civilization was strong and very advanced. But, like the other civilizations a variety of factors came close to that lead to the decline and further much(prenominal) fall of the Mayan Civilization.Howe ver there are still people of Mayan descent that I do believe protect the language and customs, but Mayan civilization no longer has its own economic base or power and influence over other peoples or on the environment. And lastly, I would like to look at papistic Civilization. The Roman Empire was founded in eight century B. C. E. , and was originally a small city-state ruled by a private king. However, in five hundred and nine B. C. E. the city’s aristocrats deposed the king and instituted a republic. When the republican ecesis was in place, Roman civilization really began to rise in prominence.Between the fourth and second centuries B. C. E. , the people of capital of Italy transformed their city from a small indefensible city-state to the center of an enormous empire. In early Rome, polytheism was common, which was their effect in many Roman gods, but as they conquered lands new religions were brought into the empire including Judaism and Christianity. They consolida ted their power in the Italian peninsula, and expanded outwards to conquer lands. They cloaked the land they conquered and allowed those peoples to govern their own internal affairs, and if they wanted, to gain Roman citizenship.This expansion brought wealth and power to Rome, but also increased class tensions where the disparity amongst the poor and the wealthy, and also administering to all the conquered lands began to strain resources. The Roman Empire was based on trade, and since they had such a large territory there was a lot of specialization that allowed them to trade in many goods. But with the over reach of the Roman Empire and the strain on resources, the Roman Empire was just too large to control and maintain. Internal tensions and attacks from outsiders also led to the fall of Rome.I have just outlined four cases that come from completely different areas of the world in which civilizations have risen, reached some sort of peak, and then declined and eventually diminis hed altogether. There are many more congressmans of civilizations throughout history that have also followed this pattern, but does outlining the instances in which these civilizations became established and then subsequent fall really explains why rise and fall is inevitable in all civilizations? I do not believe it explains the inevitability part that I have mentioned.I think in order to really understand why civilizations are bound to repeat this transition lies within the human psyche. Humans are essentially the most complex species on the planet. It is our brain and the ability to make tools that sets us apart from all other species and has allowed us to grow and develop in the way that we have. But humans also have another side which is not as bright. It is our consumerism, greed, and the notion that our species is the superior species and therefore we have the right to do what we will.This belief in high quality and greed has led to an developing where we do not take in to account the environment and the land that gives us sustenance and the ability to fleet clean air. This dominance over the environment and superiority has directed many civilizations to their downfall due to overconfidence, overextension of their power, and overharvesting of their resources. An example I have already spoken about is Rome. The need to conquer more land, and their greed in gaining wealth and power by taking other’s resources only amounted in weakening the empire to a state that leftfield them vulnerable to invasion and collapse.In Mesoamerica civilizations like the Mayans, used the slash and burn proficiency in agriculture which had devastating effects on the land. The destruction of forests for agricultural land releases a large amount of stored carbon that will all be released in the atmosphere. It also extinguishes nutrient cycling by creating crop land since no decomposition of constitutional matters occur, the soils then become very poor and arid and makes way for soil erosion, and can also lead to desertification. The biosphere actually has a carrying capableness for each environment.A carrying capacity is the amount of individuals that can live off the environment in a certain area. Once that tableland is reached there will be no more food, water, or shelter for those excess people. The earth cannot just contain an infinite amount of organisms. It has a limit to the amount it can supply. Once that plateau is hit there is no possibility of growth or extension of power and influence unless people get word a way to live sustainably. The progression of civilizations will not overcome the rise and fall course of development unless humans make a shift in their thought processes.As presented in this essay the turn out of rise and fall within a civilization is sound. From past civilizations the overexpansion, internal dissent, invasion, or environmental factors have been the cause of decline in all those civilizations. In the civi lizations that still exist today; the human beliefs are still the same. There is still this want to expand, to butt on a greater power or influence over others, and to gain in wealth. This consumer way of liveness is the mindset that leads to declines of civilizations. The exploitation of the environment including agriculture, fishing, metals, oil, nd enter is causing a degradation of the environment and could lead to the collapse of the last remaining civilizations. Unless there is a switch to sustainable living in which the environment can recuperate and replenish, there will be nothing left to consume and nothing left to form the basis of today’s spherical economic society. Therefore all civilizations need to live and grow with the thought that natural resources are not infinite but in fact are running out very fast. If humans continue to live as greed-filled, corporation based unsustainable societies then it is inevitable that they will all fall.\r\n'