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Introduction; The Natural Environment; The People of Asia; Patterns of Economic Development; History
While Africa is thought to be the birthplace of the human species, Asia is considered the cradle of civilization. There never has been a single Asian civilization, however, because the continent’s vast size caused several different civilizations to arise, each independent of the others. This article examines the interactions and successions of these civilizations. Additional information on the countries or regions mentioned is in the history sections of articles on the individual Asian countries.
Fossil remains show that ancestors of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, lived in Asia thousands of years ago. The fossils of Peking Man were found near Beijing, China, and Java Man was discovered at Sangiaran, Indonesia, on Java Island. These fossils, estimated to be about 500,000 years old, are of Homo erectus, an ancestor of Homo sapiens. Other fossil evidence from China points to Homo erectus arriving in Asia about 1 million years ago. Homo erectus likely disappeared from Java about 150,000 years ago, and Homo sapiens did not resettle the island until the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, when the polar ice caps receded to their present extent. The record of human habitation in China is considerably longer. There, fossils of Homo sapiens thought to be 150,000 to 200,000 years old have been found. By 20,000 years ago, modern humans probably lived throughout China.
The earliest known civilizations arose in the great river valleys of southwest Asia, northwest India, and northern China. Despite differences, these cultures had some similar characteristics. All were agricultural societies that depended on advanced social and political structures to maintain irrigation and flood control systems. Raids by nomadic herders forced farmers to live in walled cities for defense and to entrust their protection to aristocratic leaders. The invention of the plow about 3000 bc increased farm productivity and reduced the need for farm labor, freeing workers to become artisans. An increased agricultural yield and the work of the artisans provided trade goods that could be exchanged with people from other cultures.
Mesopotamia, an ancient region located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq and eastern Syria, is often called the cradle of civilization. By 3000 bc the ancient country of Sumer was the center of a sophisticated culture. The Sumerians irrigated their fields from precisely measured canals, used bronze and polished stone tools, made textiles and wheel-turned pottery, built temples and palaces, and traveled in wheeled carts and sailing ships. Their accurate calendars predicted seasons and their writing, known as cuneiform, was an international script. They worshiped a sun god and they lived by written laws. The Akkadian dynasty gained control of the entire country in the 24th century bc, and the land became known as Sumer and Akkad. Although the region fell to northern invaders about 2200 bc, Mesopotamia remained the center of western Asian civilization until the 6th century bc. Most important of the later countries was Babylonia, which was ruled as Chaldea from the 7th to the 6th century bc. Nebuchadnezzer II, the Chaldean dynasty’s most powerful ruler, conquered Jerusalem and deported the Jews in 586 bc, beginning an important period in Jewish history known as the Babylonian Captivity. From the 9th to the 7th century bc, Babylonia’s northern neighbor, Assyria, amassed significant territory under the rule of Ashirnasirpur II and his successors. Assyria’s attempt to conquer Babylonia in the 7th century bc failed, and the region was absorbed into Babylonia. During the 6th century bc the entire region fell to Iranian invaders, becoming part of Persia.
By 2300 bc an advanced civilization located in the Indus Valley of northwest India and southern Pakistan traded its cotton and textiles with Mesopotamia. As in Mesopotamia, irrigation produced crop surpluses and required an advanced social and political system. The two major cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappā, had straight streets lined with large, two-story homes equipped with plumbing. The Indus peoples used wheeled carts, designed creative jewelry and toys, and had written languages. From 1500 to 1200 bc waves of people from Central Asia, transported on horse-drawn chariots, swept into the Indus Valley. They destroyed the cities they encountered, settling finally in the Ganges Valley of northeast India. They spoke a language of the Old Indo-Aryan family (see Sanskrit Language). The oldest preserved forms of their language, Hindi religious texts called Vedas, are in Vedic Sanskrit, spoken from about 1500 to 200 bc. From 900 to 500 bc the invaders established city-states under absolute monarchs and depended on irrigated farming, including rice culture that was possibly imported from Southeast Asia. Their Hindu religion created an elaborate caste system that stratified society.
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