Chapter – 1
Writing and City Life
In this post we have given the detailed notes of Class 11 History Chapter 1 (Writing and City Life) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in Class 11 board exams.
Board | CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, Bihar Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board |
Textbook | NCERT |
Class | Class 11 |
Subject | History |
Chapter no. | Chapter 1 |
Chapter Name | Writing and City Life |
Category | Class 11 History Notes in English |
Medium | English |
Explore the topics
- Chapter – 1
- Writing and City Life
-
Chapter 1: Writing and City Life
- Introduction to Early Societies
- Transition from Nomadic to Settled Life
- Trade, Mobility, and Growth of Communities
- Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Urban Civilization
- Geography of Mesopotamia
- The Emergence of Cities
- Development of Writing
- Urban Institutions: Temples and Kings
- Life in Mesopotamian Cities
- Mari: A Trading Hub
- Cultural Legacy
- Timeline of Key Events
Chapter 1: Writing and City Life
Introduction to Early Societies
- Overview: This chapter traces the evolution of human societies from their origins millions of years ago to the development of early cities, focusing on Mesopotamia as a key example.
- Human Origins:
- Humans first emerged in Africa millions of years ago (around 6 million years ago or 6 MYA, based on Australopithecus fossils).
- Archaeologists study this period using remains like bones and stone tools to reconstruct early life.
- Early Life Reconstruction:
- Archaeologists examine shelters (caves, temporary shelters), food sources (plant gathering, hunting), and expressions (cave paintings).
- Key developments include the use of fire (e.g., evidence from 1.4 MYA in Africa) and language, which marked significant progress in human society.
- Connection to Modern Hunter-Gatherers: The chapter raises the question of whether studying modern hunter-gatherer societies can help understand ancient ones, suggesting continuity in some lifestyles.
Transition from Nomadic to Settled Life
Shift to Agriculture:
- Date: Began around 10,000 years ago (circa 8000 BCE).
- Pre-Agricultural Life: Humans survived by gathering wild plants and hunting animals, a nomadic lifestyle with no fixed settlements.
- Agricultural Knowledge: Over time, people learned about plant growth cycles—where plants grew, when they bore fruit—leading to deliberate cultivation.
- West Asia: Wheat, barley, peas, and pulses.
- East/Southeast Asia: Millet and rice.
- Africa: Millet.
Domestication of Animals:
- Concurrent Development: Around 10,000 years ago, alongside agriculture, animals like sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and donkeys were domesticated for food, labour, and materials.
- Later Advances: By 5,000 years ago (circa 3000 BCE), domesticated animals (e.g., cattle, donkeys) were harnessed to ploughs and carts, enhancing agricultural productivity.
Settled Life:
- Reason: Growing crops required staying in one place until harvest, ending nomadic wandering.
- Result: People built permanent structures (mud houses, later brick homes), forming villages.
Technological Advances:
- Pottery: Earthen pots were crafted to store grains, cook food, and process produce, reflecting attention to food preparation.
- Stone Tools: Evolved from crude implements to polished tools through grinding:
- Mortars and Pestles: For grinding grain.
- Axes and Hoes: For clearing land and sowing seeds.
Metallurgy:
- Date: Around 5,000 years ago (circa 3000 BCE).
- Materials: Copper and tin ores were extracted and used, initially for their color (e.g., bluish-green copper), later alloyed into bronze for tools and jewelry.
- Significance: Marked the beginning of the Bronze Age, enhancing tool-making and trade.
Trade, Mobility, and Growth of Communities
Exchange of Resources:
- Goods: People became familiar with distant resources—wood, precious stones, metals, shells, and obsidian (volcanic glass).
- Mobility: This led to movement and trade, as communities sought materials unavailable locally.
Social Evolution:
- From Small Groups: Early humans lived in small, isolated bands of hunter-gatherers.
- To Larger Settlements: Trade and agriculture fostered the growth of villages, then towns, and eventually small states.
Urban Catalyst:
- The pace of change accelerated with the rise of the first cities (around 3000 BCE), driven by these developments over thousands of years.
Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Urban Civilization
Definition:
- Mesopotamia = “land between rivers” (Greek: mesos = middle, potamos = river), located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in modern-day Iraq.
Historical Significance:
- Renowned for prosperity, urban life, voluminous literature, mathematics, and astronomy.
- Its writing system and culture spread to regions like the eastern Mediterranean, northern Syria, Turkey, and Egypt after 2000 BCE.
Historical Naming:
- Early Period: Southern urbanized area called Sumer and Akkad.
- After 2000 BCE: Babylonia, named after the rise of Babylon as a key city.
- After 1100 BCE: Assyria, as the northern Assyrian kingdom emerged.
Languages:
- Sumerian: Earliest known language, used until 2400 BCE, then gradually replaced.
- Akkadian: Dominant from 2400 BCE until the 1st century CE, with regional variations.
- Aramaic: Emerged around 1400 BCE, became widespread after 1000 BCE, similar to Hebrew, still spoken in parts of Iraq today.
Archaeological Exploration:
- Beginnings: Started in the 1840s, with long-term excavations at sites like Uruk and Mari.
- Sources: Hundreds of buildings, statues, tools, seals, and thousands of written tablets unearthed.
European Interest:
- Mesopotamia featured in the Old Testament (e.g., Sumer as “Shimar”), prompting early excavations to verify biblical accounts (e.g., the Flood story similar to Noah’s Ark and Mesopotamian Ziusudra/Utnapishtim).
Geography of Mesopotamia
Diverse Landscapes:
- Northeast: Green plains rising to tree-covered mountains with streams and rainfall, suitable for agriculture (began 7000-6000 BCE).
- North: Steppe (upland) ideal for animal herding (sheep, goats) after winter rains.
- East: Tigris tributaries linked to Iran’s mountains, aiding communication and trade.
- South: Desert, but fertile due to silt from Euphrates and Tigris floods, supporting cities.
Agricultural Advantage:
- Rivers carried silt, deposited during floods or channeled into fields via irrigation canals.
- Southern Mesopotamia’s agriculture was the most productive in ancient times, despite low rainfall.
Resources:
- Abundant food: Grain, meat, milk, wool, fish, and dates.
- Scarce minerals: Limited stone, wood, and metals, necessitating trade.
The Emergence of Cities
Timeline:
- Earliest cities appeared around 3000 BCE in southern Mesopotamia, marking the Bronze Age.
Role of Metals:
- Bronze: Alloy of copper and tin, sourced from distant regions.
- Uses: Tools for carpentry, bead-drilling, seal-carving, and weapons (e.g., spear tips).
Urbanism Defined:
- Cities were not just large populations but centers of diverse economic activities beyond food production—trade, manufacturing, and services.
- Interdependence: City dwellers relied on others (villagers or other city folk) for goods and services, ending self-sufficiency.
Social Organization:
- Division of Labour: Specialization emerged (e.g., seal carvers needed bronze tools and stones they couldn’t procure themselves).
- Trade and Storage: Organized systems managed the flow of resources (grain, fuel, metals) into cities.
- Hierarchy: Some gave commands, others obeyed, reflecting a structured society.
- Example – Warka Head:
- A marble sculpture from Uruk (pre-3000 BCE), imported stone, inlaid with lapis lazuli and shell, showing advanced craftsmanship and trade networks.
Development of Writing
Origins:
- Date: Around 3200 BCE in Uruk.
- Form: Picture-like signs and numbers on clay tablets, initially for recording transactions (e.g., oxen, fish, bread).
Cuneiform Script:
- Evolution: By 2600 BCE, signs became wedge-shaped (cuneiform from Latin cuneus = wedge, forma = shape).
- Method: Scribes pressed signs into wet clay with a reed, drying it into durable tablets.
Uses of Writing:
- Early: Lists of goods for temple distribution.
- Later: Legal documents, dictionaries, royal inscriptions, and law reforms.
Literacy:
- Rare skill; scribes learned hundreds of syllable-based signs (e.g., “put-“, “la-“), requiring years of training.
- Kings boasted of reading ability in inscriptions, but most communication was oral, read aloud by scribes.
Example – Enmerkar Epic:
- Enmerkar, an early Uruk ruler, organized trade for lapis lazuli and metals.
- When his messenger faltered, Enmerkar invented writing on clay tablets, symbolizing urban superiority and kingship.
Urban Institutions: Temples and Kings
Temples:
- Earliest: Small shrines of unbaked bricks around 5000 BCE.
- Evolution: By 3000 BCE, temples grew into large brick complexes with courtyards, distinct from ordinary houses by their in-and-out walls.
- Functions:
- Residences of gods (e.g., Moon God of Ur, Inanna of Love and War).
- Centers of production (oil pressing, weaving) and trade.
- Stored and distributed grain, fish, and other goods, keeping written records.
Kings:
- Origins: Emerged from successful war chiefs who distributed loot and enslaved captives.
- Role: Gained authority by enhancing community welfare—building temples, fetching resources, and managing labour.
- Example: Enmerkar’s trade expeditions and temple beautification.
Uruk:
- Growth: Expanded to 250 hectares by 3000 BCE, twice the size of later Mohenjo-daro.
- Features: Defensive walls, bronze tools, potter’s wheel, and colorful clay cone mosaics in temples.
- Labour: Temples and rulers compelled work (e.g., 1,500 men built a temple over 5 years), paid with rations.
Life in Mesopotamian Cities
Social Hierarchy:
- Elite: Kings and queens buried with riches (gold jewelry, daggers) at Ur.
- Ordinary People: Lived simpler lives, revealed through legal texts and excavations.
Family Structure:
- Nuclear Family: Man, wife, and children; married sons often lived with parents.
- Marriage: Involved parental consent, gifts from groom to bride’s family, and temple offerings.
- Inheritance: Sons inherited property; daughters received a share at marriage.
Ur Excavations (1930s):
- Layout: Narrow, winding streets (no carts), irregular house plots, no town planning or street drains like Mohenjo-daro.
- Houses: Rainwater drained into courtyard sumps via clay pipes; light from doorways ensured privacy.
- Daily Life: Refuse swept into streets, raising levels; thresholds raised to prevent flooding.
- Superstitions: Raised thresholds brought wealth; outward-opening doors meant a troublesome wife.
Seals:
- Cylindrical stone seals rolled on clay to mark ownership or authenticity (e.g., on packages, letters).
- Carved with writing (owner’s name, god) by skilled craftsmen.
Mari: A Trading Hub
Location:
- On the Euphrates, upstream from southern plains, flourished after 2000 BCE.
Economy:
- Prospered through trade (wood, copper, tin, oil, wine) rather than agriculture.
- Taxed boats (10% of goods); handled bronze trade (copper from Cyprus).
Society:
- Mixed farmers and pastoralists (sheep, goats); pastoralists exchanged goods but could conflict with farmers.
- Ruled by Amorite kings (e.g., Zimrilim, 1810-1760 BCE), who blended Mesopotamian and steppe cultures.
Palace of Zimrilim:
- Size: 260 rooms, 2.4 hectares.
- Features: One entrance, paved courtyards, throne room with wall paintings, storerooms, and a kitchen (identified by food preparation areas).
- Role: Royal residence, administrative hub, and production center (e.g., metal ornaments).
Cultural Legacy
City Pride:
- Gilgamesh Epic: Gilgamesh, a legendary Uruk ruler, finds solace in the city’s brick walls after failing to gain immortality, reflecting urban pride.
Scientific Achievements:
- Math (1800 BCE): Tablets with multiplication, division, square roots (e.g., √2 ≈ 1.41421296), and interest calculations.
- Timekeeping: 12-month year, 4-week month, 24-hour day, 60-minute hour—adopted globally via successors like Alexander.
- Astronomy: Recorded eclipses, star positions.
Libraries:
- Assurbanipal (668-627 BCE): Collected 30,000 tablets at Nineveh on history, epics, astrology, etc., cataloged by subject.
Early Archaeology:
- Nabonidus (last Babylonian king): Restored ancient traditions (e.g., priestess role from 1150 BCE, Sargon’s statue from 2370 BCE) based on historical evidence.
Timeline of Key Events
- 7000-6000 BCE: Agriculture begins in northern Mesopotamia.
- 5000 BCE: Earliest temples in southern Mesopotamia.
- 3200 BCE: Writing begins in Uruk.
- 3000 BCE: Uruk expands; bronze tools widespread.
- 2600 BCE: Cuneiform script develops.
- 2400 BCE: Akkadian replaces Sumerian.
- 2370 BCE: Sargon of Akkad rules.
- 2000 BCE: Mari and Babylon emerge.
- 1800 BCE: Mathematical texts; Sumerian no longer spoken.
- 1100 BCE: Assyrian kingdom founded.
- 1000 BCE: Aramaic widespread.
- 720-610 BCE: Assyrian empire peaks.
- 668-627 BCE: Assurbanipal’s rule.
- 331 BCE: Alexander conquers Babylon.
- 1st century CE: Akkadian and cuneiform fade.
Definitions
- Cuneiform: Wedge-shaped script on clay tablets, representing syllables.
- Urbanism: Growth of cities with economies based on trade, crafts, and services, not just food production.
- Division of Labour: Specialization where individuals rely on others for specific goods/services.
- Nuclear Family: A household of parents and children.
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