Civilization
The term civilization (or civilisation) - from the Latin civis meaning 'city'/'state' - has been used in various ways at different times.
From a naive European Christian ethnocentric viewpoint human history is the history of "progress" leading to development of the achievement of "civilization" represented by European Christian culture. This attitude was associated with European colonialism and with the relation of Europeans and Americans with indigenous peoples such as the Native Americans. More sophisticated thought holds that there are and have been many advanced civilizations in human history and that no one culture is inherently superior.
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2 A standard of behavior 3 A cultural phenomenon 4 25 major civilizations in Human History |
A stage of technical or political development
Sometimes examples are given of the earliest civilisations, such as China, ancient Egypt, Indus Valley Civilisation and Sumer. The features of these groups that are seen as distinguising them from earlier settlements such as neolithic Jericho and Catalhuyuk:
- urban settlements where people followed specialised occupations,
- some kind or organisation of an area larger than a single settlement.
- extensive trade
- the
use of writing, developed to keep track of it all.
A standard of behavior
Encompassing concepts such as chivalry, barbarian. The concept of civilisation has at time formed part of the justification by which some groups have exerted control over others, e.g., during European colonization of the Americas or British India. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi's famous response to the question "What do you think of Western civilisation?" - his reply: "I think it would be a good idea."
A cultural phenomenon
One school of thought says that civilisation is a cultural identity which represents the broadest level of identification in which an invididual intensely identifies, broader than family, tribe, hometown, nation, or region. Civilizations are usually tied to religion or some other belief system.
The concept of civilization is central to the historical theories of Arnold J. Toynbee who described history as the process of the rise and decline of civilizations, of which he identified 26. It is also central to the political beliefs of Samuel P. Huntington who argues that the defining characteristic of the 21st century will be the interaction and conflict between civilizations.
The concept of empire overlaps with that of "civilisation", so the empirical description of the 500-year old Western empire by Noam Chomsky and the more theoretical analysis by Negri and Hardt constitute other contemporary analyses of civilisations.
25 major civilizations in Human History
| Civilization | Main Empire |
|---|---|
| Sumerian | Sumerian Empire |
| Egyptian | Middle Empire |
| Indian | - |
| Minoan | Minoan Empire |
| Hittite | Hittite Empire |
| Chinese | Qin Empire |
| Austronesian | - |
| Babylonian | Babylonian Empire |
| Inuit | - |
| Greek and Roman | Roman Empire |
| Central American | Maya civilization |
| Syrian | - |
| Spartan | Spartan Empire |
| Mongol | Mongol Empire |
| Khmer | - |
| Islam | Arabian Empire |
| Japanese | Tokugawa Shogunate |
| Western | British Empire, French Empire and Spanish Empire |
| Orthodox Christian | Byzantine Empire |
| Hindu | Mugal Raj |
| Russian | Russian Empire |
| Zimbabwe | Trading Entrepot |
| Ottoman | Ottoman Empire |
| Andean | Inca Empire |
| Communist | Soviet Union |