Rise and Fall of Civilizations
Chanelle Samuel
The Inevitable Progression of Complex Societies
Ancient civilizations and the civilizations of today all share a commonality. That commonality is that all civilizations seem to go through this pattern of rise and fall. The civilization will grow, prosper, accumulate wealth and power, but eventually due to a variety of factors including natural disasters, economic decline, invasion, and so on, the civilization will slowly lose power and land and relinquish any sort of ties that once held them together. This is clearly evident in most civilizations, and the civilizations that it is not clearly evident in are those that can technically be called civilizations today. But since they are still civilizations of today, the cycle or rise and fall may not be completer yet. This rise and fall of civilizations is an inevitable process that continues to be a factor in today’s world. For the purpose of this essay I would like to clarify 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 people gains power over their geography and environment, are unified in some way, and have the ability to not only sustain their power but have the potential to expand that power and influence outwards. Fall will be defined as when a group of people have no potential to expand, are losing their sustained power, and when there is no chance for them to rise again. A harder term to define is that of civilization, but for the purpose of this essay civilization will be defined as occupying a geographical area, the defining feature of how that civilization responds to the challenges from their location, maintain a social organization (that may change over time), a common religion, a form of communication, and an economic system (that changes over time). So form this point onwards these are the meanings of the terms I will be using. Form the beginnings of time humans have aggregated together, and lived within
The Inevitable Progression of Complex Societies
Ancient civilizations and the civilizations of today all share a commonality. That commonality is that all civilizations seem to go through this pattern of rise and fall. The civilization will grow, prosper, accumulate wealth and power, but eventually due to a variety of factors including natural disasters, economic decline, invasion, and so on, the civilization will slowly lose power and land and relinquish any sort of ties that once held them together. This is clearly evident in most civilizations, and the civilizations that it is not clearly evident in are those that can technically be called civilizations today. But since they are still civilizations of today, the cycle or rise and fall may not be completer yet. This rise and fall of civilizations is an inevitable process that continues to be a factor in today’s world. For the purpose of this essay I would like to clarify 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 people gains power over their geography and environment, are unified in some way, and have the ability to not only sustain their power but have the potential to expand that power and influence outwards. Fall will be defined as when a group of people have no potential to expand, are losing their sustained power, and when there is no chance for them to rise again. A harder term to define is that of civilization, but for the purpose of this essay civilization will be defined as occupying a geographical area, the defining feature of how that civilization responds to the challenges from their location, maintain a social organization (that may change over time), a common religion, a form of communication, and an economic system (that changes over time). So form this point onwards these are the meanings of the terms I will be using. Form the beginnings of time humans have aggregated together, and lived within