The development of the Teotihuacano civilization was made possible in part by the rich

agricultural land surrounding the city. As land was cultivated, fewer farmers could supply
more food staples, such as corn and beans, to more people. Trade also played a part in
Teotihuacan’s urban development. Much of the wealth and power of Teotihuacan was due to
excavating and trading the rich deposits of obsidian around the city. Obsidian is a
hard volcanic rock that was highly valued as a cutting tool. Teotihuacano merchants traded
(exported) obsidian to surrounding cultures in exchange for goods and services imported to
Teotihuacano settlements.

Monuments

All civilizations work to preserve their legacy by building large monuments and structures.
This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago. For example, the ancient monuments at
Great Zimbabwe are still consistently used as a symbol of political power in the modern
nation of Zimbabwe. Great Zimbabwe, constructed between 1100 and 1450, describes the
ruins of the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. At its peak, Great Zimbabwe was inhabited
by more than 10,000 people and was part of a trading network that extended from
the Maghreb, through the eastern coast of Africa, and as far east as India and China.

Great Zimbabwe is a testament to the sophistication and ingenuity of ancestors of the local
Shona people. Politicians like Robert Mugabe, the president who led Zimbabwe for nearly 40
years in the 20th and 21st centuries, built their entire political identities by associating
themselves with the ancient civilization’s monumental architecture. Buildings are not the
only monuments that define civilizations. The distinct artistic style of Great Zimbabwe
included representations of native animals carved in soapstone. The stylized stone sculptures
known as “Zimbabwe Birds”, for example, remain an emblem of Zimbabwe, appearing on
the nation’s flag, currency, and coats of arms.

Shared Communication

Shared communication is another element that all civilizations share. Shared communication
may include spoken language; alphabets; numeric systems; signs, ideas, and symbols; and
illustration and representation. Shared communication allows the infrastructure necessary
for technology, trade, cultural exchange, and government to be developed and shared
throughout the civilization. The Inca civilization, for example, had no written script that we
know of, but its complex khipu system of accounting allowed the government to
conduct censuses of its population and production across the vast stretch of the Andes. A
khipu is a recording device made of a series of strings knotted in particular patterns and
colors.

Written language in particular allows civilizations to record their own history and everyday
events—crucial for understanding ancient cultures. The world's oldest known written
language is Sumerian, which developed in Mesopotamia around 3100 B.C.E. The most
familiar form of early Sumerian writing was called cuneiform, and was made up of different
collections of wedge (triangle) shapes. The earliest Sumerian writing was record-keeping.
Just like written records of modern civilizations, Sumerian cuneiform kept track
of taxes, grocery bills, and laws for things like theft.

Written language was a key part of shared communication during the Islamic Golden Age,
which flourished in southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia from the seventh to
the 13th centuries. So-called “Arabic numerals” and the Arabic language were shared
communications that allowed diverse cultures across the Arabic world to contribute the
dazzling advances in mathematics, science, technology, and the arts.

Infrastructure and Administration

All civilizations rely on government administration—bureaucracy. Perhaps no civilization

better exemplifies this than ancient Rome. The word “civilization” itself comes from
the Latin word civis, meaning "citizen." Latin was the language of ancient Rome,
whose territory stretched from the Mediterranean basin all the way to parts of Great Britain in
the north and the Black Sea to the east. To rule an area that large, the Romans, based in what
is now central Italy, needed an effective system of government administration and
infrastructure. Romans used a variety of methods to administer their republic and,
later, empire.

Engineering, for instance, was a key part of Roman administration. Romans built a network
of roads so that communication between far-away territories was as efficient as possible.
Roads also made travel by the Roman military much easier. Romans built structures of their
civilization everywhere they went: aqueducts supplied freshwater to towns for
improved sanitation and hygiene, for example.

Language also played a part in Roman infrastructure. Romans spread the Latin language
throughout southern Europe. The so-called "Romance languages" (Spanish, French,
Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, and Italian) are called that because they all developed from
the Roman language: Latin. Having a similar language made communication and leadership
easier for Rome in its far-flung territories. Roman leaders relied on a series of legal codes for
administration. These codes helped structure laws between different parts of Roman territory,
as well as between rich and poor, men and women, slave and free. Roman laws included
restrictions on marriage, ownership of land, and access to professions such as priesthoods.

One of Rome’s most lasting contributions to Western Civilization was the establishment of
legal culture itself. Roman law was largely public, and jurists created such formalities as legal
language and procedure that would define European law for centuries. In fact, “Roman law”
describes the legal system used throughout Western Europe through the 18th century.

Finally, Romans used local leaders, as well as Romans, to administer the law in their
territories. Residents were more familiar with their own leaders, and more likely to follow
their announcements. Israeli leaders worked with Roman authorities in the Roman territory of
Palestine, for example, while British leaders often worked with Romans on the island of
Great Britain. Some people born in Roman territories eventually became Roman emperors:
The emperor Constantine, for instance, was born in what is now Serbia; the emperor Hadrian
may have been born in what is now Spain. This interaction reduced conflict between Rome
and its territories.

Division of Labor

Civilizations are marked by complex divisions of labor. This means that different people
perform specialized tasks. In a purely agricultural society, members of the community are
largely self-sufficient, and can provide food, shelter, and clothing for themselves. In a
complex civilization, farmers may cultivate one type of crop and depend on other people for
other foods, clothing, shelter, and information. Civilizations that depend on trade are
specially marked by divisions of labor.

The city of Timbuktu, in what is now Mali, was an important trading center for several
African civilizations. Residents of Timbuktu specialized in trading such goods as gold, ivory,
or enslaved people. Other residents provided food or shelter for trade caravans traveling on
camels from the Sahara. The urban center of Timbuktu was also a center of learning. Its
division of labor included not only merchants, but doctors, religious leaders, and artists.

Class Structure

The last element that is key to the development of civilizations is the division of people into
classes. This is a complex idea that can be broken down into two parts: income and type of
work performed. Changing classes has traditionally been difficult and happens
over generations. Classes can mean groups of people divided by their income. This division is
sometimes characterized as “economic class.” Modern Western Civilization often divides
economic classes into wealthy, middle-class, and poor. In medieval civilizations of Europe,
there were fewer economic classes. Kings and queens had enormous amounts of money and
land. Serfs, or people who worked the land, had almost nothing. Eventually, a merchant
economic class developed.

Class can also refer to the type of work people perform. There are many divisions of social
class. Social class is often associated with economic class, but not strictly defined by it. In the
ancient civilization of China, there were four major types of social classes. Scholars and
political leaders (known as shi) were the most powerful social class. Farmers and agricultural
workers (nong) were the next most-powerful group. Artists (gong), who made everything
from horseshoes to silk robes, were the next order of social class. At the bottom of the social
classes were the merchants and traders, who bought and sold goods and services. Known
as shang, these merchants were often much wealthier than the other classes but had a lower
social status.

Development of Civilization

Civilizations expand through trade, conflict, and exploration. Usually, all three elements must
be present for a civilization to grow and remain stable for a long period of time. The physical
and human geography of Southeast Asia allowed these attributes to develop in the Khmer
civilization. The Khmer flourished in parts of what are now Cambodia, Thailand, Laos,
Vietnam, and Myanmar between 800 and 1400.

Trade

The Khmer maintained vibrant trading relationships throughout East Asia, the Indian
subcontinent, and even Europe and Africa through the Silk Road, a collection of both
overland and maritime trade routes. The Silk Road linked the spice and silk markets of Asia
with the merchants of Europe. Southeast Asia’s extensive network of
waterways facilitated trade, with the Khmer capital of Angkor being built on the shores of
Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, Tonle Sap. The outflowing Tonle Sap River is
a tributary of the mighty Mekong River, which connects Southeast Asia with the Tibetan
Plateau in the north and the South China Sea in the south. In addition to material goods, the
Khmer civilization facilitated a powerful trade in ideas. In particular, the Khmer
were instrumental in spreading the influence of Buddhist and Hindu cultures from the Indian
subcontinent to Southeast and East Asia.

Conflict

The primary conflicts of the Khmer civilization were waged with neighboring communities—
the Cham, the Vietnamese, and the Thai. The Cham were a collection of kingdoms in what is
today central and southern Vietnam, while the ancient Vietnamese influence extended
through what is today northern Vietnam. Thai kingdoms such as Sukothai and Ayutthaya
flourished in what are now Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. The Khmer civilization was
founded on the consistent resistance of political pressure from the Cham and Vietnamese, but
it ultimately could not withstand pressure from Thai civilizations. Thousands of Thai
peoples migrated from the north (what is now the Yunnan region of China), establishing
small kingdoms in the southwest of the Khmer Empire. Eventually, these kingdoms became
strong enough to annex Khmer territory, leading to Ayutthaya’s conquest of the Khmer
capital of Angkor in 1431.

Exploration and Innovation

The Khmer civilization relied heavily on rice farming, and developed a

complex irrigation system to take advantage of the rivers and wetlands that dotted their
territory. An efficient series of irrigation canals and reservoirs, called barays, allowed fewer
farmers to produce more rice. This, in turn, allowed more people to pursue nonagricultural
lifestyles and migrate to great urban areas, such as Angkor. Angkor, the capital of the ancient
Khmer civilization, is home to one of the largest most distinctive religious monuments in the
world, Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat was originally constructed as a series of shrines to the Hindu god Vishnu in the
early 12th century, although it became a Buddhist temple complex less than a hundred years
later. Angkor Wat and its sister complex, Angkor Thom, are beautiful examples of classic
Khmer architecture. The towering, stepped pyramid towers of Angkor Wat are called “temple
mountains.” The towers are surrounded by open gallery walkways, and the entire structure is
enclosed by a wall and square moat. The thousands of square meters of wall space at Angkor
Wat and Angkor Thom are decorated by thousands of bas-reliefs and sculptures depicting
Hindu stories and characters. The Khmer monument at Angkor Wat helps define the modern
nation of Cambodia today. It is the nation’s primary tourist attraction, a World Heritage Site,
and even appears on the Cambodian flag.

Fall of Civilizations

Many civilizations have flourished and then failed or fell apart. There are many reasons for
this, but many historians point to three patterns in the fall of civilizations: internal change,
external pressure, and environmental collapse. The fall of civilizations is never the result of a
single event or pattern. Sometimes, civilizations seem to “disappear” entirely.

Internal Change

Population dynamics are the most pervasive forces of internal change to a civilization. A
sudden population shift or a shift in demographics may force a civilization’s infrastructure to
break down. Populations may grow, due to migration or a period of unusual health.
Populations may shrink, due to disease, extreme weather, or other environmental factors.
Finally, populations may redefine themselves. As civilizations grow, cities may grow larger
and become more culturally distinct from rural, agricultural areas. Large empires may extend
across such large regions that languages, cultures, and customs may dilute the identity of the
empire’s residents.

Internal changes contributed to the collapse of the Maya civilization, which had thrived in
Mesoamerica for more than a thousand years. The “Classic Maya” collapse happened
relatively quickly in the 800s. Diseases such as dysentery and lethal hemorrhagic
fevers killed and disabled thousands of Mayans. Millions more were forced to relocate from
cities to more rural areas. Such huge population shifts reduced the ability of the Maya to
communicate, administrate, and unite against outside forces and natural disasters (such
as drought).

External Pressure

The clearest example of external pressure on a civilization is

foreign invasion or sustained warfare. Protecting a civilization’s borders can be extremely
expensive and demand a strong military at the expense of developing or maintaining
other aspects of a civilization. External pressure can lead to the relatively abrupt end of a
civilization (and, often, the adoption of another). The fall of the Aztec Empire with the arrival
of European conquistadores is such an example.

External pressures can also lead to the gradual diminishing of a civilization. The “fall” of
what we often think of as Ancient Egypt is a good example of how external pressures can
redefine a civilization over hundreds of years. Egypt had faced
longstanding, intermittent conflict on its borders, with competing civilizations such as the
Nubians (to the south), the Assyrians (in the Middle East), and the Libyans (to the west).
Later, Egypt encountered the civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome, and eventually
became part of the Roman Empire. Ancient Egypt also faced external pressures not directly
associated with armed conflict. The powerful forces of Christianity and Islam influenced
the eradication of both hieroglyphics, the writing system of Ancient Egypt, and
its polytheistic religion.

Environmental Collapse

Some anthropologists think that both natural disasters and misuse of the environment
contributed to the decline of many civilizations. Natural hazards such as drought, floods,
and tsunamis, become natural disasters as they impact civilizations. Drought contributed to
the fall of civilizations such as the Maya and the Indus Valley or Harappan civilization.

The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization in what is now Pakistan, India,
and Afghanistan. The Indus Valley Civilization depended on seasonal monsoon rains to
supply water for drinking, hygiene, and irrigation. Climate change made monsoons much
more unpredictable and seasonal flooding less reliable. Harappans suffered from water-
borne diseases and were unable to effectively irrigate their crops. The collapse of Minoan
civilization, a major influence on Ancient Greece, is often associated with
a catastrophic eruption of the Thera volcano on the island of what is now Santorini. The
eruption caused a massive tsunami that reduced the population, trading capabilities, and
influence of the Minoans.
Human activity can also strain the environment to the point of a civilization’s collapse. One
of several factors contributing to the collapse of the Viking outpost in Greenland, for
instance, was the failure of European settlers to adapt to Greenland’s climate and soil.
Farming methods that were successful in the rich, loamy soils of Northern Europe were ill-
suited to Greenland’s colder, thinner soil and shorter growing seasons. The land could not
support the crops necessary to sustain Viking livestock, including goats, cattle, and sheep. In
addition, the land itself was harvested for peat, the outpost’s primary construction material.
The Vikings in Greenland also faced internal pressures, such as a weak trading system with
Europe, and external pressures, such as a hostile relationship with their Inuit neighbors.

‘Lost Civilizations’

History and myth are rich with “lost civilizations,” entire ways of life that seemed to flourish
and then disappear from the historical record. The disappearance of the
Ancestral Puebloan civilization is one such mystery. Ancestral Puebloan civilization thrived
in what is now the Four Corners region of the United States: the states of Utah, Colorado,
New Mexico, and Arizona.

Ancestral Puebloan civilization developed around 1200 B.C.E. and thrived for more than a
thousand years. Ancestral Puebloan civilization was marked by monumental architecture in
the form of apartment-like cliff dwellings and large urban areas known as pueblos. Culturally
diverse Ancestral Puebloans were connected by a complex road system, a standard style of
religious worship, and a unique art style evidenced by pottery and petroglyphs.

Ancestral Puebloans seem to have abandoned their urban areas around 1300 C.E. The
disappearance of this civilization remains a mystery, although most scientists say Ancestral
Puebloans engaged in warfare with their Navajo neighbors, internal groups competed for land
and resources, and sustained droughts reduced Ancestral Puebloan ability to irrigate crops in
the arid Southwest. The Pueblo people never disappeared, of course: Diverse groups
developed their own, competing civilizations after the Ancestral Puebloans migrated or fell
apart. These groups include the Zuni and Hopi civilizations.

FAST FACT

Cradle of Civilization
The southern part of the modern country of Iraq is called the "Cradle of Civilization." The
worlds first cities, writing systems, and large-scale government developed there.

FAST FACT

World Powers
The so-called "Group of 7" (G7) is an organization of the seven wealthiest democracies in the
world. Seven of the eight countries are part of Western civilization: the United States,
Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy. The only G7 member from outside
Western civilization is Japan. Japan is usually considered its own civilization.

Representatives from the G7 usually meet once a year, and discuss international issues,
including the spread of disease, economic development, terrorism, and climate change.

Articles & Profiles

Ancient History Encyclopedia: MesopotamiaAncient History Encyclopedia: Ancient
ChinaThe Met: Timeline of Art History—TeotihuacanKhan Academy: The Golden Age of
IslamAncient History Encyclopedia: Khmer EmpireScience: Why did Greenland’s Vikings
Disappear?

Open Educational Resource

National Geographic: How to Use a Monument to Build a LegacyNational Geographic:

When Stories Were Woven

Reference

National Center for Biotechnology Information: Drought, epidemic disease, and the fall of
classic period cultures in Mesoamerica (AD 750-950). Hemorrhagic fevers as a cause of
massive population loss.American Southwest Virtual Museum: Ancestral Puebloan

website

UNESCO: Silk Road—Cambodia

abandon
Verb
to desert or leave entirely.

abrupt
Adjective
sudden or quickly changing.

administer
Verb
to oversee, manage, or be in charge of.

administration
Noun
responsibilities and policies of the executive branch of the United
States government, led by a president, his or her cabinet, and his or
her advisers.

agriculture
Noun
the art and science of cultivating land for growing crops (farming) or
raising livestock (ranching).

alphabet
Noun
system of writing in which each symbol ideally represents one
sound unit in the spoken language.

ancestor
Noun
organism from whom one is descended.

ancient
Adjective
very old.

ancient Rome
Noun
civilization founded on the Mediterranean Sea, lasting from the 8th
century BCE to about 476 CE.

annex
Verb
to add or incorporate land into an existing parcel, state, or nation.

anthropologist
Noun
person who studies cultures and characteristics of communities and
civilizations.

aqueduct
Noun
a pipe or passage used for carrying water from a distance.