Civilization

A civilization is an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached (Dictionary). It is within this large group ofpeople that cooperative living and working together thrive. Civilizations are a specific type of human community. Communities begin as a town or village and sometimes grow into a city. Thesepeople populations rely upon a surplus of food to grow their numbers. Cities do not have the land to sustain large areas of food growth, so agriculture will thrive outside of the largerpopulation’s land. With the ability to supply more food, comes the result of more population.

A civilization will continue to thrive when there is cooperative work, specialization ofskills, and a social hierarchy. The building blocks of learning from one generation to another—accumulated knowledge—enable a civilization to advance in all areas of life.Civilizations—such as the Incas, Mayans, Roman Empire, and Olmecs—have risen and fallen due to various reasons in the past. A few reasons why civilizations fall are the lack of unity in government,foreign invasions, civil war, political quarrels, and religious divisions.

Some of these reasons are affected by the power of the rulers. For example, the rise and fall of the RomanEmpire is clearly seen by the strength and weaknesses in its authorities. At first, the rulers successfully expanded the empire with their armies and took over the surrounding areas. Afterseveral generations, the emperors and civilians became lazy and did not provide protection from foreign attacks as well as they had done before, leading to the empire’s demise.

Ascivilizations rise and fall, information, technology, and ideas are created and lost. Because of this, we are always learning new things and discovering the lost from the ancient civilizations.