A civilization is a highly advanced human society that shows a high degree of cultural and technological development. Civilizations vary widely, from the sedentary farming people of Mesopotamia and Egypt to the nomadic hunter-gatherers of the steppe, but they all share certain characteristics: a developed city life, a complex division of labor, a wide variety of art forms, and a sophisticated organized religion. Civilization is also a social system with a complex hierarchy of political leaders and bureaucrats, laws, and social norms.
The word civilization derives from the Greek word civitas, meaning “city.” Historians and anthropologists generally define civilization as a culture that both leads to and emerges from the growth of cities. It is the development of a permanent urban population with the capacity to produce food in sufficient quantities to allow a division of labor and a range of specializations (such as pottery making and metal work). Once this stage is reached, other advances, including writing, mathematics, and organized religion, follow.
Historians and anthropologists tend to agree on the broad outlines of what makes up a civilization, but they differ on how much detail is needed to make a determination of whether or not a society qualifies. For example, whether a system of astronomical observation is considered part of a civilization depends on the extent to which it was used by a particular culture.
Generally speaking, the first civilizations are thought to have emerged in river valleys in what is now Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and Mexico. This is probably because the water supply was important for sustaining life, and people were able to settle around rivers and grow crops that would give them a regular source of nourishment.
As these early communities grew and expanded, they created larger and more elaborate cities. They also began to specialize in different types of work, enabling them to make enough artifacts to trade with other societies. This led to the emergence of money as a means of keeping track of the value of goods and services and the development of contractual and tort-based legal systems.
The specialized workers were grouped into what is known as classes, with the upper classes comprising royalty and warriors and the lower classes consisting of servants and artisans. These classes were subdivided into groups devoted to the various religious beliefs of the culture, and each group held its own ceremonies, including rituals and festivals.
The development of civilizations brought new opportunities for peace and prosperity. But it is important to remember that these advantages were the result of the accumulation of power by a few people at the top of the social hierarchy. The wealth generated by the economy and warfare that accompanied the development of civilizations may have helped to alleviate hunger in some areas, but it also caused a great deal of social inequality. Moreover, it is now clear that a world based on the use of fossil fuels cannot sustain civilization. The ecological damage done by these civilizations has been massive, and many experts are predicting that humanity will have to move back into the wilder realms of nature in order to survive.