KAPLAN Ch. 2

"a community of substantial size and population density that shelters a variety of non-agricultural specialists, including a literate elite."1: indicates a settled community: (adoption of agriculture made permanent settlements more desirable; also indicates fixed infrastructure).2: threshold of size (population) and concentration (density): (a crowding of people functioning together as a social unit).3: relationship of city dwellers (w. differentiated occupations) and hinterland.4: city was ruled by a literate elite (crucial: written language).

-a fundamental precondition to the existence of cities.-"a complex sociocultural organization that contains formal institutions & organizes strangers into a cohesive community under control of central authority."

1: Ecological Settings: fertile areas, source of water, natural transportation features, mineral resources, building resources, defensive attributes, etc.
2: Technology: advances in agriculture, irrigation, storage/transit of food, building tech, etc.
3: Social Organization & Power: coordination of people to (a) get food from hinterland (b) build/maintain physical city (c) regulate activities of people within the city.

-early cities served as places where food surpluses were stored & distributed-economics of early city: extract from country, store in granaries, redistribute to urban population.

Seats of central power; centers of culture.

Wittfogel p. 26; the division of labor necessary to arise in order for the creation & upkeep of irrigation projects & distribution of surplus in early cities. (wide-scale social organization was necessary for irrigation success)

Wittfogel p. 26; a term used to describe how the beginnings of a hydraulic civilization were marked by the oppression of lower classes by upper; the use of term "oriental" relates to the fact that such civilizations arose in the East.

A theory that states that the environment is the principal factor in human development.

-A theory regarding the origins of civilization (1957, "Oriental Despotism").-States that civilization began in a semiarid environment near a source of water so that irrigation could be conducted; this indicates that a division of labor had to arise in order for irrigation projects to be conducted (hydraulic civilization).-Wittfogel terms the beginnings of a hydraulic civilization Oriental Despotism.-This theory does not apply to all societies (i.e. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt).

-the development of this lies at the heart of most theories of urban origins.-authority is necessary for the development of cities.

Voluntarily setting aside a fixed %age of the harvest to be gathered collectively.

System in which each farmer was forced to pay a percentage of their harvest to the government.

Practice which the government made individuals work towards grand public works (i.e. Egypt).

Came about due to the need to administer agricultural surplus.

A class of people concerned with explaining the supernatural and mediating between villagers and these forces.