Cities, Societies, and Empires
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: How did complex societies develop and how did they impact humans inside and outside these communities?
Once people started producing food through agriculture instead of foraging, human communities began to transform from small bands of a few hundred to complex societies of thousands and millions. Villages, cities, and empires all emerged thanks to the surplus food and larger populations produced by agriculture. But did this type of progress improve humanity, or did it just make a lot more humans? Our frames enable us to see how some communities grew into states, and some states became empires. Case studies from around the world reveal different pathways for early agrarian societies. We’ll also look at how these states developed methods of production and distribution, and how networks allowed belief systems to become portable and spread to different regions.
- Investigate the development of agrarian societies and examine their effects on both the inhabitants within these communities and the broader human context.
- Use close-reading skills to evaluate and analyze the historical narrative about the formation of complex human societies.
Early Agrarian Societies (6000 BCE to 100 CE): Unit 3 Overview
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- Why does this video begin with a letter Iddin-Sin?
- How did agriculture change human societies in this period?
- How did urbanization help create long-distance trade routes?
- What are states, and why were they important to early agrarian societies?
After you watch
- This video features a letter written by a boy almost four thousand years ago. Do you think we should take his letter seriously as historical evidence? Why or why not?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why is so much history focused on societies that had states and cities?
- What drove innovation and adaptation in early agrarian societies?
- What were some reasons that cities were built and why did they usually only develop in agricultural communities.
- Why was the development of wealthy elites important to the rise of states?
Evaluate
- Do you think states or cities could have developed without the rise of agriculture? What would a city built by foragers look like? What purposes might it have served?
Frames in Unit 3
Key Ideas
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Before you watch the video, it’s a good idea to open and skim the video transcript. And always read the questions below so you know what to look and listen for as you watch!
While you watch
- How do village-based societies differ from earlier forms of community?
- Why did cities need even more governance?
- What is a state?
- What do these changes look like when viewed through the lens of the networks frame?
After you watch
- The video ends by stating that the increasing size of networks and larger communities meant that people had access to more goods and services. Then it asks, “was this true for everyone?” How would you go about finding evidence to answer that question?
