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Hi, everyone. Welcome to Civilization.

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Actually, you've probably been living in a civilization for your entire life if you're watching this.

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So, what is it? Why have different peoples formed civilizations?

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There are traits that all civilizations have.

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To avoid any confusion, civilization discussed here is different than the modern idea of behaving in a civilized manner.

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So, it's not about queuing or standing in line, manners, or attending cultural performances.

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The first civilizations formed in Africa and Asia.

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Before civilization, people were often moving to find sources of food along rivers.

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And free Wi-Fi.

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Wait, there was no Wi-Fi back then.

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Fresh water, not Wi-Fi, was especially important as it was impossible to live without drinking.

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but it also provided food, transportation, and protection from enemies because rivers are harder

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to cross than land. People migrated from Africa through the Middle East and then throughout the

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world, settling near water in search of the best places to live. And so water was also important

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for another discovery that led to civilization, agriculture. Agriculture, you might call it

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farming, was discovered independently, and it was the start of the earliest civilizations in Africa,

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Asia, and the Americas. Successful civilizations provided food for everyone and stayed in the same

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place. After all, moving farmland isn't possible, and even now, moving is never fun. To protect the

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farms and the people, civilization built cities. Walls kept out enemies, and cities sheltered

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people. Cities were able to grow larger as farms fed more people. Civilization also created

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specialized jobs. Before, it was everyone's job to hunt and gather food, but farmers could just

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grow food for everyone, which allowed other people to do different jobs. Specialized jobs

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are another characteristic of civilization. When everyone made tools and hunted and gathered,

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technology advanced slowly. With people in specialized jobs, those that only made tools

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art, buildings, writings, and so on, became much better at them.

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Writing is another important characteristic of civilization. With writing, civilizations were

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able to pass down information to other generations to build upon. Writing was able to put laws in

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stone, but often in clay, so that these laws could be recorded for everyone to see.

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Laws in government also were a characteristic of civilization.

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They tried to make rules for cities that made life more peaceful.

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The Code of Hammurabi is the most famous set of these laws and is one of the oldest pieces

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of readable language on earth.

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The Code of Hammurabi has 282 laws about property, relationships, and work, with punishments

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depending on social status, slaves, or free people.

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Many ancient civilizations had slaves and they were often captured during wars with

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other cities.

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Within civilizations, there was a social structure that defined how people acted with each other.

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Slaves, farmers, merchants, artists, religious leaders, and royalty all had different roles

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and how to talk to each other, or if they could even talk to each other at all.

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People and civilizations shared common cultures.

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Culture is many things – people's language, dress, arts, food, manners, and beliefs – that

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are all common among the group.

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Cultures develop naturally, everything is built on what others have done before, and

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climate and environment also influence culture.

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create art by looking and learning from art and artists around them. Food choices come from what

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is available in the area, clothes are created to be practical in the weather, and social media if

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there was free Wi-Fi. Oh yeah, there was still no Wi-Fi. Belief systems were also created within

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civilizations. Beliefs about ideas like nature, seasons, flood, and drought were part of a

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civilization's culture, and these stories often were called myths. Myths told stories about how

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life on earth began, why the sun rises, and even what happens after death. These systems also tried

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to teach people about what was thought to be good behavior. Things like listening to your parents,

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cleaning up after yourself, and not stealing your neighbor's wi-fi. Well, more like not stealing in

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general. Belief systems created rituals for life events like birth, adulthood, marriage, and death,

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as well as rituals to create good fortune, better health, and even tried to make it rain.

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These belief systems were very powerful. They gave people feelings of being in control,

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a sense of purpose, and being part of something larger than themselves.

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These belief systems could also cause disharmony.

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They sometimes hurt people, and they didn't always tolerate new ideas.

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Civilization started when many people were able to grow their own food.

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So they stayed together in one place and then created ways to keep many people together peacefully.

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The traits of civilization once again are cities, specialized jobs, writing, laws and

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government, social structure, arts and culture, and a belief system or religion.

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Throughout the world, different groups have used these same ideas.

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Even where you live today has these six traits.

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Goodbye for now.

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Thanks for joining us.