Pastoral and Nomadic vs. Urban-Based Societies
Pastoral and Nomadic VS Urban-based societies
The earliest societies of humans came in two basic types: pastoral and nomadic societies and urban-based river civilizations. Between these two types of society, there were large differences in economic development, political structure, and even to some extent gender relations. The fates of these two types of societies were also very different. The nomadic society began hundreds of thousands of years ago and still consists of the same fundamental lifestyle, but the urban civilizations, which came relatively recently, rapidly outpaced these nomadic societies. In addition, people in pastoral societies used to look down upon urban life as too luxurious, while people in urban societies thought pastoral societies were dirty and rough. Altogether, urban-based civilizations differed greatly from pastoral and nomadic societies. Economic development was a major difference between urban people and nomadic, pastoral people. One of the reasons that urban civilizations are the main players in most of the important events of history is that by their nature, these civilizations encourage economic development. Take, for example, early Mesopotamians. Like most early urban societies, they developed economically very quickly. They were quick to invent writing, in the form of cuneiform, to build markets where craftsmen sold their goods, and to establish important trade routes to other urban-based river civilizations, such as Egypt and the Indus Valley people, which enabled a sharing of ideas, and ultimately, further development. On the other hand, nomadic pastoral societies did not advance much economically; they did not make any significant progress throughout the centuries. This is demonstrated by the Native American tribes who lived by hunting and gathering, and who were leading very different lives from the Europeans who found them in the Age of Exploration. Thus, economic development was a major difference between urban-based river
The earliest societies of humans came in two basic types: pastoral and nomadic societies and urban-based river civilizations. Between these two types of society, there were large differences in economic development, political structure, and even to some extent gender relations. The fates of these two types of societies were also very different. The nomadic society began hundreds of thousands of years ago and still consists of the same fundamental lifestyle, but the urban civilizations, which came relatively recently, rapidly outpaced these nomadic societies. In addition, people in pastoral societies used to look down upon urban life as too luxurious, while people in urban societies thought pastoral societies were dirty and rough. Altogether, urban-based civilizations differed greatly from pastoral and nomadic societies. Economic development was a major difference between urban people and nomadic, pastoral people. One of the reasons that urban civilizations are the main players in most of the important events of history is that by their nature, these civilizations encourage economic development. Take, for example, early Mesopotamians. Like most early urban societies, they developed economically very quickly. They were quick to invent writing, in the form of cuneiform, to build markets where craftsmen sold their goods, and to establish important trade routes to other urban-based river civilizations, such as Egypt and the Indus Valley people, which enabled a sharing of ideas, and ultimately, further development. On the other hand, nomadic pastoral societies did not advance much economically; they did not make any significant progress throughout the centuries. This is demonstrated by the Native American tribes who lived by hunting and gathering, and who were leading very different lives from the Europeans who found them in the Age of Exploration. Thus, economic development was a major difference between urban-based river