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Where and Why Did the First Cities and States Appear? (10:45)

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.

Key Ideas

Think about the following questions as you watch the video


  1. 00:55 Why does David Christian claim that increasing complexity depends on agriculture?
  2. 02:00 What was the “secondary products revolution” and why was it so important to the spread of agriculture and the growth of cities and states?
  3. 03:34 What is an agrarian civilization?
  4. 03:50 Where did the first agrarian societies develop?
  5. 05:02 Why does David Christian say that "surpluses" are the key to cities?
  6. 05:30 Why does Christian argue that cities needed a "coordinating mechanism"?
  7. 07:22 What are the characteristics that all agrarian civilizations share?
  8. 08:05 Why does David Christian make the claim that writing accelerated collective learning? Do you agree with him?