Still other studies attribute their downfall to a divisive religious crisis that caused many of the Puebloans to migrate south to follow a new evangelical faith.įrom population to religion, a number of factors play into the subsistence of civilization. Historians point to numerous factors in their decline, including warfare and cooler temperatures in A.D. They built elaborate cliff dwellings yet eventually abandoned them. They practiced agriculture and astronomy. The ancient Anasazi, or Pueblo, people of North America pose yet another interesting model for civilization collapse. Meanwhile, Rome's rulers debased the currency through oppressive taxation and inflation. Less conquest eventually meant fewer cheap slaves, which in turn meant fewer human resources to keep the wheels of industry, agriculture and infrastructure turning. The Roman economic engine depended on conquest and slavery, which proved unsustainable in the long run. It's impossible to put a finger on a single reason that the Roman Empire fell, but discussion often leads scholars to discussions of outer attrition by barbarians tribes and inner decay. ![]() Other collapses elude easy categorization and entail various factors playing out over centuries. Scientists also cite drought as the reason for the fall of Cambodia's Khmer civilization between the 9th and 14th centuries. Archaeologists believe a 300-year drought decimated the Akkadian empire (also in Mesopotamia) between 2200 B.C. This pattern exists throughout recorded history, dating back even to the earliest known civilization of Sumer, in Mesopotamia, which collapsed under the strain of recurring invasions in the second millennium B.C.Įnvironmental changes can also wipe out a civilization, especially if they impact the food supply. The Mayan population was severely diminished, and what was left changed under the rule of its conquerors. The Mayan civilization, for instance, faded from prominence after the 16th century Spanish invasion brought warfare, disease and a foreign culture intent on spreading its own systems of faith and governance. ![]() Such a blow might come in the form of genocidal warfare, epidemic disease or geological upheaval. Naturally, any harm to that large, centralized population can potentially lead to a civilization's collapse. This list hardly covers everything, but it should give you an idea of the various glues holding a civilization together, as well as what can go wrong.
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