Welcome back
to school! Now even though human geo is only a semester class, we still have
one more unit. I think that is stupid. But anyways today we started a new unit
called Urban Geography our test for our final unit will be January 15. The notes
from today’s class are;
· Key question;
o
When
and why did people start living in cities?
· City – a conglomeration of people and
buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and
economics.
· Urban – the buildup of the central
city and the suburban realm – the city and the surrounding environs connected
to the city.
· * There are more people living in
urban than rural areas. (first time in forever) (over ½ of the population)
· The modern process of urbanization –
a rural area can become urbanized quite quickly in the modern world (Shenzhen,
China)
· Agricultural villages – a relatively
small, egalitarian village, where most of the people were involved in ag. About
10,000 years ago people began living in ag. villages.
· Two components enable the formation
of cities;
o
1.
A food surplus
o
2.
Social stratification (a leadership class)
· Five hearths of urbanization;
o
Mesopotamia
– 3500 BCE
o
Mile
River Valley – 3200 BCE
o
Indus
River Valley – 2200 BCE
o
Huang
He and Wei River Valleys – 1500 BCE
o
Mesoamerica
– 200 BCE
§ In each of these hearths, an ag. Surplus
and social stratification created the conditions necessary for cities to form
and be maintained
· Harappa and Mohenjo – Daro were 2 of
the first cities of the Indus River
o
Intricately
planned
o
Houses
equal sizes
o
No
palaces
o
No
monuments
