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Agricultural Societies
The evolution of Government and Religion From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy
Text extracted from
Guns Germs and Steel
By Jared Diamond, 1997
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0393317552.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Government and Religion
• Descendents of those societies that earliest achieved – centralized government
– organized religion
• ended up dominating the modern world
http://www.historyofjihad.org/crusades2.jpg
Government and Religion
• 4 main forces of history:
• Resulting in the broadest patterns
– government & religion
– germs
– writing
– technology
Babylon
http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/image/tower-of-babel.jpg
Government and Religion
• How did government and religion arise?
• How did they become combined?
King Solomon
http://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/history_wing/antisemitism/arts/visual_arts.cfm
Levels of Social Organization
• Bands
• Tribes
• Chiefdoms
• States
China: early state society
http://www.travel-centre.co.uk/site-media/images/sections/great_wall_1.JPG
Bands
• Tiny Populations: typically 5-80 people
• Most are close relatives by birth or marriage
• All humans lived in bands until 40,000 years ago In recent history: – African Pygmies, Bushmen
– Australian Aborigines
– Eskimos
http://www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/images/bushman-hunter-gathere-rsa-xauslodge.jpg
Bushman
Bands
• Usually nomadic: – live in areas where food is scarce
• Land used by whole group
• No specialization: – all able-bodied individuals
forage for food
• Economic system: – Reciprocal Exchange
• No laws, police, or treaties to resolve conflicts: – But being closely related helps
Bands
• No stratification into classes
• Egalitarian leadership based on – personality
– strength
– intelligence
– fighting skill
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_history/Aboriginal%20Jimmy%20Walkabout_%20pitjantjara_tribe.jpg
Australian Aboriginal
Fayu in New Guinea
• Four clans totaling 400 people
• Normally live as single families scattered in swampy area
• Come together once or twice a year to negotiate brides
• Formerly numbered 2,000
• Population reduced by Fayu killing Fayu
• Lacked political and social mechanisms to resolve disputes
Tribes
• Society with hundreds of people, usually settled in many villages
• Few left today • Shared language and culture • More than one clan (kinship
group) • Land belongs to clans within
a tribe • Everyone knows everyone
else by name and relationship
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~lctodd/image1.gif
Tribes
• Conflicts still solved by being closely related
• If two New Guinea Tribesmen were both away from their villages and happened upon one another
• They would engage in a long discussion to determine possible family ties
• Otherwise, no reason not to kill one another
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/09/17/18W_PNG_narrowweb__300x334,0.jpg
Tribes
• Social System egalitarian • No upper or lower class • Each has debts and obligations to
many others • No one can become more wealthy • Government still egalitarian • Decisions are made in a group • “Big Man” would have limited power
– may look and live like everyone else
http://vervephoto.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/taitiana_brasil.jpg
Tribal chief, Brazil
Reciprocity
• Reciprocity was the Basis of Early Economic Systems
Reciprocity• Gift giving creates an obligation to
return similar gifts • Feasting improves relations, prevents
hostility, is an excellent way to “store” food
• Reciprocity leads to intermarriage • Villages are connected by multiple ties
of kinship • Reciprocity results in food security,
balances inequities • Political leadership is bestowed on those
that give the most
http://www.thorstenconsulting.com/Shaking%20hands.jpg
• Moalans live in 1200 scattered
villages in Fiji Pacific Islands • Kerekere is a formal request for a
good or service • Can only kerekere a relative, but
everyone are relatives • Are duty bound to honor a
kerekere if you have what is asked for
• This system evens out inequity • Prestige comes from giving more
than taking
Kerekere in Moala
http://www.gfmer.ch/Medical_search/Countries/images/Fiji_map.gif
Government
IdeologyEconomy
Hunting and Gathering Societies
Hunting & Gathering Nature Religions
Bands and Tribes
Reciprocal Exchange God and Goddess Worship
Egalitarian
Chiefdoms
• Population: several thousand to tens of thousands
• Arose about 7,500 years ago with rising populations
• In 1492, widespread in – N. and S. America
– Africa
– Polynesia
http://www.tngenweb.org/maps/eastribe.jpg
Chiefdoms
• No chiefdoms left in 20th century
• Prime land taken by larger state societies
• Chiefdoms consolidated into states
http://www.alohaislandtravel.com/maps/images/islands.gif
Chiefdoms
• Usually have Public Architecture – Temples
– Tombs
Easter Islands
http://www.mattnortham.com/blog/wp-content/images/2007/01/easter-island.jpg
Chiefdoms
• Most people unrelated to others
• People don’t know most others by name
• For first time in history,– people had to learn how to
encounter strangers regularly
– without attempting to kill them
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/De_Bry_Chief_Virginia.jpg/761px-De_Bry_Chief_Virginia.jpg
Chief
• Held monopoly on right to use force
• Held recognizable, hereditary office
• Wore distinguishing clothes: demanded respect
http://www.indianahumanities.org/Wethepeople/203/Indian_Chief_with_Head_Dress.jpg
Chief
• Was thought of as a god– or had a hotline to the gods
• Centralized authority: – Monopoly on information
– Levels of Bureaucrats work under Chief
– Many specialized jobs that can be done by slaves
Redistributive Economy
• Chief receives food from everyone, then
– Throws feast to redistribute
– Stores it for later redistribution
– Keeps much of it himself (tribute)
• Chief also claims labor for construction of public works: – Irrigation,
– Lavish Tombs
20,000 workers built the Taj Mahal
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/drube004/architecture/image/Taj%20Mahal.jpg
Redistribution
• Chief receives foodstuffs, goods from many – because he has power
• Chief has power because – he regularly directs a flow
of goods to his followers
• Early city-states operated on this principle
http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/acropolis-parthenon-athens-gr003.jpg
Traders
• Traders did not make a profit – were agents of
the empire
• Goods traded on a fixed-price basis
• Did not buy low and sell high
http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/camel_caravan.jpg
Luxury Goods
• Food surpluses generated by common people feed – Chief
– Bureaucrats & Priests
– Craft Specialists
• Luxury Goods reserved for Chiefs
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/1172894001_f8a4dc5f67.jpg?v=0
Contribution Enforced
• In Mesopotamia, police ensured that farmers contributed
• Impersonality of city life – ends feelings of obligation
of Chief to people
– or vice versa
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1073/577047551_3eae5c5653.jpg?v=0
Good Chiefdoms
• Good chiefdoms used tribute to provide important services to entire society – Irrigation
– Religion
– Defense
Roman Aqueducthttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/44052812_a0e766a843.jpg
Kleptocracies
• At worst, chiefdoms were kleptocracies
• Transferred net wealth from commoners to upper class
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_oZMEAvLIJ70/Rz6D4tvSEuI/AAAAAAAAAOo/upBtJBKnEIU/DSCN3213.JPG
Kleptocracies
• How do kleptocracies keep from being overthrown? – Disarm the populace
• arm the elite
– Redistribute tribute in popular ways
– Use monopoly of force to keep public order
– Construct an ideology or religion
• that justifies kleptocracy
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110901/imagesAll/emperor.jpg
State Religion
• Provides bond between people
– not based on kinship
– keeps them from killing each other
• Gives warriors a motive for sacrificing life in battle:
– now much more effective in conquest
http://attendingtheworld.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/crusades.jpg
States
• Populations of 50,000 to
1 Billion
• Usually literate elites
• sometimes literate population
• Arose 3,700 BC in Mesopotamia
• Later in Mesoamerica, China, Southeast Asia, Andes, West Africa Babylon
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg/795px-Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg
Earliest States
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html
States
• True cities, characterized by – Monumental public works
– Palaces of rulers
– Accumulation of capital from tribute or taxes
– Concentration of people other than food producers
http://www.evcal.org/sitebuilder/images/Luxor094KarnakStatue-373x496.jpg
States
• Early states: – hereditary leader equivalent to
a king
• Democracies today:– crucial knowledge still
available to only a few
• Central control, redistribution of tribute more far-reaching– Even farmers not self-
sufficient http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/egypt/images/harvest.jpg
Mesopotamia
• Food produced by 4 specialist groups – Cereal farmers
– Herders
– Fishermen
– Orchard and Garden growers
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/9/14160477_43e502cb7c.jpg
Mesopotamia
• State took produce from each farming group
• Redistributed necessary supplies – and the other foods not produced
• Exchanged wool by long distance trade – for other essential raw materials
• Paid food rations to laborers – who maintained irrigation
systems for farmers
http://www.edupic.net/Images/SocialStudies/mesopotamia_ashurnasirpal2.jpg
Slavery
• Many states adopted slavery on much larger scale than chiefdoms because
– More use for slave labor
– More economic specialization
– More mass production
– More public works
– Warfare on a larger scale • meant more captives available
Mesopotamian slaves
http://www.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universal/ACADIOS/slaves_stele.jpg
Bureaucracies
• More complex bureaucracies
• Formalized laws, judiciary, police
• Laws often written (by literate elite)
• Writing not developed until formation of state societies – Mesopotamia– Mesoamerica
Code of Hammurabi, Mesopotamia
http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/images/code-of-hammurabi.jpg
Religion
• Early: state religions– standardized temples
• Many kings divine • Kings often head of state
religion • Mesopotamian Temple was
center of – Religion– Economic redistribution– Writing– Crafts technology
Mesopotamian Temple
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r127/andrewidodo/600ziggurat.jpg
Expansion of Agricultural Societies
Small Group
Conquest Land Agriculture Slaves
Expanded Conquest Etc.
Food Population Technology
Government
IdeologyEconomy
Agricultural Societies
Agriculture State Religions
Chiefdoms, States
Redistribution, Tribute
Male dominated
Kleptocracies, Elites
Conquest, Slavery
Kings = Gods
Central Temple
Agricultural Society Hierarchy
Elite
Conquered & Exploited: Peasants, Slaves, Workers
Wealth, Tribute
Conquest
Food, Resources
Wealth and Poverty
Elite
Conquered & Exploited: Peasants, Slaves, Workers
Wealth, Tribute
Food, Resources
Wealth:Own land, Well-fed Educated, Health care, Opportunities
Poverty:Landless, hungry, uneducated, unhealthy, no opportunities
Organization of States• States organized on
political and territorial lines: not kinship and tribe boundaries
• States and empires often are multiethnic and multilingual
• Bureaucrats selected more on ability than heredity
• Modern states have non-hereditary leadership Roman Empire
http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/corinthians/maps/empire2a.gif
Why Do States Arise?
• More complex societies usually conquer less complex ones
• Advantage of weapons, technology, numbers
• Centralized decision making more efficient in conquest
• Official religions, patriotic fervor – make troops willing to fight
suicidially: fanaticism
Arab Muslim Empire
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~helfgott/img/map-arab-empire.png
How Do Chiefdoms Become States?
• Aristotle:– States are the natural condition of
human society. • Knew only Greek Societies of
400 BC
• Rousseau: – States formed by a social contract– a rational decision of people based
on self interest.• Never happened this way • Small groups do not give up
their sovereignty willingly
http://www.empirecontact.com/magicstar/Aristotle.jpg
Aristotle
Irrigation Theory
• Major civilizations had large-scale irrigation: – Mesopotamia,
– Egypt
– China
– Mesoamerica
• Large-scale irrigation requires centralized bureaucracy for – Construction
– Maintenance
– Management
http://www.love-egypt.com/images/egypt-agriculture.jpg
Irrigation, Egypt
Irrigation Theory Disputed
• States formed to create irrigation systems? – But irrigation came
after states formed
• States did not always have centrally controlled irrigation
Hanging Gardens, Babylon
http://www.expandmywealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/hanging-gardens-of-babylon.jpg
Population Theory
• Strong correlation between size of population – and complexity of society
• Autocatalysis:– population growth leads to
social complexity
• Social complexity leads to intensified food production – and population growth
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/images/final-images/g-gpw-population-map.gif
Population density
Food Production Leads toSocial Complexity
• Requires seasonal labor. • After harvest, labor used for
– public works, – wars of conquest
• Stored surpluses permit economic specialization, social stratification: – feed chiefs, elite, scribes,
craftspeople, specialists, – feed farmers while they are working
on public works
http://www.realhistories.org.uk/uploads/images/Tomb_of_Nakht.jpg
Food Production Leads toSocial Complexity
• Sedentary living required for:– Possessions
– Technology
– Crafts
– public works
– control of people
Mayan Temples, Mexico http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=80461&rendTypeId=4
Large Populations Require Complex Social System
• Conflict resolution needed between unrelated people: – need laws and authority
• Communal decisions impossible: – need structure
• Reciprocal economy impossible: – Need redistributive
economy
• Density of population must be organized
Argebam, Iran
http://www.tcoletribalrugs.com/resources/Wertime/kerman2.jpg
Amalgamation of Smaller Units
• Occurs by merger under threat of external force: – 40 Cherokee chiefdoms
joined together,
– American colonies joined together
http://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/mslib/images/13colmap.gif
Amalgamation of Smaller Units
• Occurs by conquest among chiefdoms – Zulu state
– Hawaii, Tahiti
– Aztecs, Incas • before Spanish arrived
– Rome, Macedonian empire
– Etc.
Roman Expansionhttp://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=1040&rendTypeId=4
After Conquest
• Bands:– survivors can move
away
http://culturalsurvivaltrust.org/pix/bandiya_son.jpg
After Conquest
• Tribes:– Need the land
– Territory occupied.
– No need for slaves
– No need for survivors, • except women as wives
– Defeated men are killed
http://www.progressdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Yanomamo.jpg
After Conquest
• States and Chiefdoms – Defeated can be used as slaves
– Or defeated can be exploited • left in place to produce food, goods
– Deprived of political autonomy
– Made to pay taxes, tribute
– Amalgamate their society • into victorious state or chiefdom
http://www.euro-africsystemsenterprise.org.uk/captured_slaves.jpg
Aztec Tribute
• Aztec Empire received tribute from its subjects and had tribute lists
• Spanish wanted tribute from Mexico
• Interested in Aztec Empire’s tribute lists
http://www.reformation.org/aztec-empire-map.jpg
Aztec Tribute
• Each year Aztec subjects paid Aztecs: – 7,000 tons of corn – 4,000 tons of amaranth – 2,000,000 cotton cloaks – Huge quantities of
• Cacao beans• war costumes• Shields• feather headdresses• amber
Aztec tribute listhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Codex_Mendoza_folio_47r.jpg/408px-Codex_Mendoza_folio_47r.jpg