PowerPoint Presentation

School of Biology and Environmental Sciences Mbombela Campus Early Settlements.

The objectives of this lecture are to introduce you to: The early settlements; What cities are; How cities originated; Why cities developed where they did; and The evolution of cities..

You are expected at the end of this lecture to be able: To explain in brief the history of early settlements; To provide evidence: That you understand what a city is; On how cities originated; On why cities developed in the areas they are; and That can argue the evolution of cities..

Early settlements. Let us now rewind a few thousand years to how early settlements developed… not cities, but settlements! How does one describe a settlement? A settlement is a concentration of people, physical structures and infrastructure that function as an integrated system on a regular basis (daily). Ancient urban settlements where established out of necessity: For food and water; For defensive purposes; As a transportation hub; For political control; For commercial and trading purposes. At some point, people decided to establish permanent structures in groups and as such early settlements were established. Evidence suggests (through archaeological research) that early settlements originated to provide goods and services (such as pottery for cooking, tools for production, textiles and education for children)..

Early settlements. Some well-known early settlements include: Mesopotamia: Early urban centres developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers - 2300 BC. Typical characteristics = large and unplanned. Egypt: Early urban hearths were developed along the Nile River - 3300 BC Typical characteristics = walled cities, with two entry points. Major road down the center of town with smaller streets connections The Indus Valley: The early urban centers developed as early as 2500 BC. Typical characteristics = well organized, structured, modern plumbing and sewer, grid pattern layout The Yellow River: The early cities emerged in Northern China along the Huang He River - 1800 BC. Typical characteristics = well structured urban areas, with focus on agricultural activities Meso-America: The earliest cities in the New World appeared - 2000BC in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Typical characteristics = standardized layout with central courtyard, around courtyard were raised rooms, places of worship and homes..

Early settlements. snpul gueqs/e!X QI!N e!wnodoson rued eoyowvosor,l ppom meN.

What is a city?. What is a city? How can one describe a city? A city is a large, dense and permanent settlement that contains people and physical structures, with extensive infrastructure networks (such as water supply, electricity, sanitation, malls, retail centers or telecommunication networks) There are some characteristics that a city has that one needs to consider, for example: Concentration of people that reside there on a permanent basis; A specialization (or a number of) of services (dry cleaning, lawyers, governmental services, etc .); Physical structures; and Open spaces. There are many more!.

Origins of a city. The conventional view is that cities first formed with the spread of agricultural activities. With the spread of agricultural activities, the nomadic “hunter-gatherer” approach could be abandoned as there was plenty food being produced (of course this did not happen overnight – it was a gradual process) As civilisation evolved, so did their way of thinking about how they live and how they interact with the city..

Origins of a city. As mentioned in an earlier slide, urban settlements were established out a necessity of some sort. For food and water – like ancient Egypt where the Nile flooded annually and deposited fertile soil on the agricultural land that flanks the river. For defensive purposes – like Dubrovnik in Croatia that has a wall built around the city as a form of defence from invading armies (was featured in Game of Thrones too!) As a transportation hub – like old Dubai where ships arriving in the port sold off their cargo to merchants to take on camel backs to other settlements For political control – like ancient Greeks using the Acropolis as a political statement of power, status and wealth of the ruler! For commercial and trading purposes – like Timbuktu where nomadic traders met at a desert oasis to exchange and batter goods and so developed the permanent settlement. Religious purposes – like Varanasi in India where the city developed on a sacred river thousands of years ago..

Origins of a city. For food and water Nile in Flood.

Why cities developed as they did. We established that cities developed from a certain need as discussed in the previous slides. The creation and evolution of these cities allowed people in their permanent dwellings to grow, purchase and sell food supplies, and to manufacture goods from raw material, and minimize the costs of transport for goods and services by establishing centralized points of trade – like at the oasis in the desert where traders met and exchanged cargo. In other words, rather than agriculture being the center of activities, cities now were the marketplace in which to trade goods. As the source of food became more reliable, it meant that humans could stay in one place and settled to form a community. Cities often grew around key ports (or harbours) on the coastal regions (think of Cape Town) as shipping trade routes opened up From the ports and harbours, developed a rail network to transport goods to the interior parts of the country, where the rail lines intersected, a city developed. Where there was fertile soils (like the wineries in the Western Cape), cities developed to support the cultivation of grapes for wines..

Evolution of cities. As the need to forage for food rapidly decreased (owing to the availability of food in the cities), cities evolved quickly People from rural areas moved into the cities (urbanisation which we will cover in the next lecture), and cities had to cater for the influx of people by providing houses and employment. From the late 18 th century till today, cities grew rapidly and shifted focus to industrialization and transportation of goods So from harbours where goods were offloaded, the need for warehouses for storage of goods grew, then the need to transport the goods necessitated the development of rail and road network, then the need to employ people to build the warehouses, rail and road networks, so more people came to the city for employment and the need for houses development to accommodate the influx of people – and the cycle continues Of course there are more complex systems that aided the evolution of cities, but you will uncover those in your future modules in geography..

Early settlements – revision. In this lecture, we covered the broader terms of: The early settlements; What cities are; How cities originated; Why cities developed where they did; and The evolution of cities..

Urban geography – think Lego!. Remember my Lego city layout: Suggest ways in which to evolve this Lego city layout to incorporate discussion points you were introduced to. Should I include a defensive wall around my city to make it look like an ancient settlement? A harbour and a rail network, or Some form of public transport (a tram network) in the town center to help people move around perhaps?.

Pacione, M., 2009. Urban Geography: A global perspective, 3 rd ed. Routledge, London. Dutton, J.A., 2021. [Online]. Available at: Primary Civilizations , https://www.e-education.psu.edu/matse81/node/2079 (Accessed 2021,07,08).

Next lecture topic. For the next lecture, we will cover the following: Urbanisation; Causes of urbanisation; Effects of urbanisation; and Benefits of living in a city..