GEOG 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Domestication, Smallpox, Mesoamerica
18 May 2018
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Lecture 13 – February 19th
Urbanism and Development
• How much of the WORLD is urban?
o A. 10-20%
o B. 20-40%
o C. 40-60%
o D. 60-80%
o E. 80-100%
• How much of CANADA is urban?
o A. 10-20%
o B. 20-40%
o C. 40-60%
o D. 60-80%
o E. 80-100%
• Urbanization – what is it?
o People becoming grouped in increasingly large settlements, allowing a
division of labour and increasing specialization in producing goods and
services
o UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ categories
▪ Fewer than 500,000
▪ 500,000 – 1 million
▪ 1 million – 5 million
▪ 5 million – 10 million
▪ 10 million +
o We must recognize these divisions are arbitrary, little homogeneity in
historical process
▪ Cultural differences in how one interprets urban
How did we Get Here?
• Human civilization
• Indigenous urbanization
o Indigenous urban settlements = developed without outside colonial
influences
o Necessary precondition = food surpluses (agriculture)
o Examples:
▪ Latin America: Maya urban areas (e.g. Tikal in Guatemala); Mexico city
▪ Africa: Yoruba civilization (Nigeria); Nile Valley
▪ Euro-Asia: largest number of pre-colonial indigenous urban
settlements
• Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Japan
• Why did Euro-Asia develop first/most?
o Guns, Germs, & Steel (Diamond, 1997) argues for the importance of
geography
▪ A. Surprisingly few animals and crops are domestic-able
• Animals:
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