Tymesha Hankerson
Foster, 1B
August 26, 2012
Civilization Essay

Would you think people who are considered uncivilized help make the world what it is today? The definition of being civilized is to bring people to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development. Before we got to where we are today the Paleolithic Age was the first stage to go through; the Neolithic Age brought us to the Last Ice Age and agriculture was created. This also established into the different way civilization was interpreted between cultures.
From 2,500,000 B.C.E. to 10,000 B.C.E. human species were getting to know each other and finding ways to survive. The tools they used were made from natural findings such as stones, bones, and wood. Each person had a task to complete. Men had to hunt and women gathered things and kept the tribe or village in order. During this period there was no idea of living idle. Wherever the food went so did the human species. The maximum size for any group was 30, meaning the groups weren’t big. In between the time Paleolithic Age began and ended, the Last Ice Age came along. Quickly there was a change on the eating schedule. It went from hunting and gathering to strictly agriculture.
Agriculture has played an enormous part of the lifestyle we live today. Things such as job specialization, cities, writing, and the government have all came from the creation of agriculture. Humans learned to tame and control wild animals and taught themselves self-control as well. When agriculture surfaced, it created free time for the people which enlarged the population. Due to the number of people in the population the food source was reliable. Though this period didn’t last long it brought upon the gross, social, sexual, inequality, the diseases, and despotism that curse our existence, stated from the article, “The Worst Mistake” by Jared Diamond.
According to the article “The Idea of Civilization,” the word civilization is derived from the Latin word civilis , meaning “of the citizens “ The Romans different cultures, urban-based civilization and the “inferior” peoples who lived in the forests and deserts. This idea came from Greek who also separated were very similar to the Chinese, but they were called Chichimec’s of the 18th century stated in the “The Idea of Civilization.” Europeans categorized by color. White was on top and at the bottom was blacks. This led into the next century and caused a lot of disagreement.
The European thought that white were superior which changed the definition of civilization when in all actual reality wasn’t the way it was. Different countries took this idea and ran with it which caused the confusion in the early 1900s. Even today some people still believe this theory.