Civilization is an advanced stage of human society, with people living comfortably and with a fair amount of organization. It includes a stable food supply and division of labor, which enables people to create art and think about important ideas. Civilization usually involves some level of government and is characterized by large cities. It also has a culture, or a set of beliefs about the gods and what happens in the world around us. It is sometimes used to mean Western civilization, but anthropologists and historians use the term more broadly.
Civilization first developed in river valleys where water was available for irrigation (growing crops). Early civilizations were agricultural, which meant they needed many more people to work on the farms than were possible in hunter-gatherer groups. To support these growing populations, city-like structures began to develop as people grew more and more skilled at the jobs of their choice. This led to people being ranked in terms of how valuable they were to society based on the types of jobs that they performed – farmers, weavers, priests and others. This sparked the development of governments that were able to keep track of these new ranks and rules.
One of the most interesting discoveries made by big historians is that simple states and civilizations emerged independently in many places at about the same time, if you look at the world on a global scale. Mesopotamia and Egypt were states, as was the Indus Valley, China’s Yellow River and Mesoamerica – as well as other places. Some states were much larger than others, and some had more complex cultures than others.
As these new societies developed, they developed a variety of things that we now recognize as part of civilization: writing systems for communicating with each other; organized trading patterns with other cities; and art and music that is considered quite advanced. They also developed a hierarchical system of power in which the elite took coerced tribute from the rest of the community. This gave the elite leaders a way to rule without having to worry about reducing their population.
Today, many people see civilization as an unsustainable and damaging concept. A key issue is the fact that a civilization requires importing food and other basic necessities from outside of its territory in order to maintain its high standard of living. Its leaders, critics argue, do this in ways that are harmful to the environment and humanity itself.
It may be that in the future the word “civilization” will be used less frequently, or at least with greater caution – it will be defined more carefully as a specific type of human community with some specific features. The question of why these features come together in certain places and not others is still open for exploration. The answer seems likely to be complex, and may involve both genetics and environmental factors.