CITB02H3 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Kingsley Davis, Urban History, Friedrich Engels
Document Summary
Demographics of the urbanization process are the foundation of all urban history. Kingsley davis pioneered the study of historical urban demography and was particularly fascinated by the history of world urbanization; the increase over time of the proportion of the total human population that is urban as opposed to rural. The following selection synthesizes da(cid:448)is"s (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)lusio(cid:374)s a(cid:271)out ho(cid:449) (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)lusio(cid:374)s a(cid:271)out ho(cid:449) urbanization has occurred throughout the world during all of human history. He raises fundamental issues and lays out a clear framework for understanding population dynamics and urban growth. Davis careful distinctions of possible sources of urbanization are fundamental. Urbanizationn is primarily caused by rural-urban migration not because of other possible factors such as differential birth and mortality rates. Davis extraordinary data on how tiny european urban settlements were after the fall of rome, and how slowly they grew throughout the middle ages and early modern period, provides the demographic backdrop for the historic growth of european urbanization.
