Agricultural Societies The evolution of Government and Religion From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy

1
Agricultural Societies The evolution of
Government and Religion From Egalitarianism to
Kleptocracy

• Text extracted from
• Guns Germs and Steel
• By Jared Diamond, 1997

http//images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0393317552.03
.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
2
Government and Religion

• Descendents of those societies that earliest
  achieved
• centralized government
• organized religion
• ended up dominating the modern world

http//www.historyofjihad.org/crusades2.jpg
3
Government and Religion

• 4 main forces of history
• Resulting in the broadest patterns
• government religion
• germs
• writing
• technology

Babylon
http//web.njit.edu/turoff/image/tower-of-babel.j
pg
4
Government and Religion

• How did government and religion arise?
• How did they become combined?

King Solomon
http//www.flholocaustmuseum.org/history_wing/anti
semitism/arts/visual_arts.cfm
5
Levels of Social Organization

• Bands
• Tribes
• Chiefdoms
• States

China early state society
http//www.travel-centre.co.uk/site-media/images/s
ections/great_wall_1.JPG
6
Bands

• Tiny Populations typically 5-80 people
• Most are close relatives by birth or marriage
• All humans lived in bands until 40,000 years ago
  In recent history
• African Pygmies, Bushmen
• Australian Aborigines
• Eskimos

Bushman
http//www.south-africa-tours-and-travel.com/image
s/bushman-hunter-gathere-rsa-xauslodge.jpg
7
Bands

• Usually nomadic
• live in areas where food is scarce
• Land used by whole group
• No specialization
• all able-bodied individuals forage for food
• Economic system
• Reciprocal Exchange
• No laws, police, or treaties to resolve
  conflicts
• But being closely related helps

8
Bands

• No stratification into classes
• Egalitarian leadership based on
•  personality
•  strength
•  intelligence
•  fighting skill

Australian Aboriginal
http//www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_h
istory/Aboriginal20Jimmy20Walkabout_20pitjantja
ra_tribe.jpg
9
Fayu in New Guinea

• Four clans totaling 400 people
• Normally live as single families scattered in
  swampy area
• Come together once or twice a year to negotiate
  brides
• Formerly numbered 2,000
• Population reduced by Fayu killing Fayu
• Lacked political and social mechanisms to resolve
  disputes

10
Tribes

• Society with hundreds of people, usually settled
  in many villages
• Few left today
• Shared language and culture
• More than one clan (kinship group)
• Land belongs to clans within a tribe
• Everyone knows everyone else by name and
  relationship

http//lamar.colostate.edu/lctodd/image1.gif
11
Tribes

• Conflicts still solved by being closely related
• If two New Guinea Tribesmen were both away from
  their villages and happened upon one another
• They would engage in a long discussion to
  determine possible family ties
• Otherwise, no reason not to kill one another

http//www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/09/17/18W_P
NG_narrowweb__300x334,0.jpg
12
Tribes

• Social System egalitarian
• No upper or lower class
• Each has debts and obligations to many others
• No one can become more wealthy
• Government still egalitarian
• Decisions are made in a group
• Big Man would have limited power
• may look and live like everyone else

Tribal chief, Brazil
http//vervephoto.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/tait
iana_brasil.jpg
13
Reciprocity

• Reciprocity was the Basis of Early Economic
  Systems

14
Reciprocity

• Gift giving creates an obligation to return
  similar gifts
• Feasting improves relations, prevents hostility,
  is an excellent way to store food
• Reciprocity leads to intermarriage
• Villages are connected by multiple ties of
  kinship
• Reciprocity results in food security, balances
  inequities
• Political leadership is bestowed on those that
  give the most

http//www.thorstenconsulting.com/Shaking20hands.
jpg
15

Kerekere in Moala

• Moalans live in 1200 scattered villages in Fiji
  Pacific Islands
• Kerekere is a formal request for a good or
  service
• Can only kerekere a relative, but everyone  are
  relatives
• Are duty bound to honor a kerekere if you have
  what is asked for
• This system evens out inequity
• Prestige comes from giving more than taking   

http//www.gfmer.ch/Medical_search/Countries/image
s/Fiji_map.gif
16
Hunting and Gathering Societies
Government
Bands and Tribes
Egalitarian
Ideology
Economy
Hunting Gathering
Nature Religions
Reciprocal Exchange
God and Goddess Worship
17
Chiefdoms

• Population several thousand to tens of thousands
  
• Arose about 7,500 years ago with rising
  populations
• In 1492, widespread in
•  N. and S. America
•  Africa
•  Polynesia

http//www.tngenweb.org/maps/eastribe.jpg
18
Chiefdoms

• No chiefdoms left in 20th century
• Prime land taken by larger state societies
• Chiefdoms consolidated into states

http//www.alohaislandtravel.com/maps/images/islan
ds.gif
19
Chiefdoms

• Usually have Public Architecture
• Temples
• Tombs

Easter Islands
http//www.mattnortham.com/blog/wp-content/images/
2007/01/easter-island.jpg
20
Chiefdoms

• Most people unrelated to others
• People dont know most others by name
• For first time in history,
• people had to learn how to encounter strangers
  regularly
• without attempting to kill them  

http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum
b/d/d7/De_Bry_Chief_Virginia.jpg/761px-De_Bry_Chie
f_Virginia.jpg
21
Chief

• Held monopoly on right to use force
• Held recognizable, hereditary office
• Wore distinguishing clothes demanded respect

http//www.indianahumanities.org/Wethepeople/203/I
ndian_Chief_with_Head_Dress.jpg
22
Chief

• Was thought of as a god
• or had a hotline to the gods
• Centralized authority
• Monopoly on information
• Levels of Bureaucrats work under Chief
• Many specialized jobs that can be done by slaves
  

23
Redistributive Economy

• Chief receives food from everyone, then
• Throws feast to redistribute
• Stores it for later redistribution
• Keeps much of it himself (tribute)
• Chief also claims labor for construction of
  public works
• Irrigation,
• Lavish Tombs

20,000 workers built the Taj Mahal
http//blog.lib.umn.edu/drube004/architecture/imag
e/Taj20Mahal.jpg
24
Redistribution

• Chief receives foodstuffs, goods from many
• because he has power
• Chief has power because
• he regularly directs a flow of goods to his
  followers
• Early city-states operated on this principle

http//www.planetware.com/i/photo/acropolis-parthe
non-athens-gr003.jpg
25
Traders

• Traders did not make a profit
• were agents of the empire
• Goods traded on a fixed-price basis
• Did not buy low and sell high

http//www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/camel_caravan.jpg
26
Luxury Goods

• Food surpluses generated by common people feed
• Chief
• Bureaucrats Priests
• Craft Specialists
• Luxury Goods reserved for Chiefs

http//farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/1172894001_f8a
4dc5f67.jpg?v0
27
Contribution Enforced

• In Mesopotamia, police ensured that farmers
  contributed
• Impersonality of city life
• ends feelings of obligation of Chief to people
• or vice versa

http//farm2.static.flickr.com/1073/577047551_3eae
5c5653.jpg?v0
28
Good Chiefdoms

• Good chiefdoms used tribute to provide important
  services to entire society
• Irrigation
• Religion
• Defense

Roman Aqueduct
http//farm1.static.flickr.com/30/44052812_a0e766a
843.jpg
29
Kleptocracies

• At worst, chiefdoms were kleptocracies
• Transferred net wealth from commoners to upper
  class

http//lh3.ggpht.com/_oZMEAvLIJ70/Rz6D4tvSEuI/AAAA
AAAAAOo/upBtJBKnEIU/DSCN3213.JPG
30
Kleptocracies

• How do kleptocracies keep from being overthrown?
• Disarm the populace
• arm the elite
• Redistribute tribute in popular ways
• Use monopoly of force to keep public order
• Construct an ideology or religion
• that justifies kleptocracy

http//library.thinkquest.org/C0110901/imagesAll/e
mperor.jpg
31
State Religion

• Provides bond between people
• not based on kinship
• keeps them from killing each other
• Gives warriors a motive for sacrificing life in
  battle
• now much more effective in conquest

http//attendingtheworld.files.wordpress.com/2007/
08/crusades.jpg
32
States

• Populations of 50,000 to
• 1 Billion
• Usually literate elites
• sometimes literate population
• Arose 3,700 BC in Mesopotamia
• Later in Mesoamerica, China, Southeast Asia,
  Andes, West Africa

Babylon
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum
b/e/e1/Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg/795px-Brueghel-
tower-of-babel.jpg
33
Earliest States
http//www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a
.html
34
States

• True cities, characterized by
• Monumental public works
• Palaces of rulers
• Accumulation of capital from tribute or taxes
• Concentration of people other than food producers
  

http//www.evcal.org/sitebuilder/images/Luxor094Ka
rnakStatue-373x496.jpg
35
States

• Early states
• hereditary leader equivalent to a king
• Democracies today
• crucial knowledge still available to only a few
• Central control, redistribution of tribute more
  far-reaching
• Even farmers not self-sufficient

http//www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/e
gypt/images/harvest.jpg
36
Mesopotamia

• Food produced by 4 specialist groups
• Cereal farmers
• Herders
• Fishermen
• Orchard and Garden growers

http//farm1.static.flickr.com/9/14160477_43e502cb
7c.jpg
37
Mesopotamia

• State took produce from each farming group
• Redistributed necessary supplies
• and the other foods not produced
• Exchanged wool by long distance trade
• for other essential raw materials
• Paid food rations to laborers
• who maintained irrigation systems for farmers

http//www.edupic.net/Images/SocialStudies/mesopot
amia_ashurnasirpal2.jpg
38
Slavery

• Many states adopted slavery on much larger scale
  than chiefdoms because
• More use for slave labor
• More economic specialization
• More mass production
• More public works
• Warfare on a larger scale
• meant more captives available

Mesopotamian slaves
http//www.uned.es/geo-1-historia-antigua-universa
l/ACADIOS/slaves_stele.jpg
39
Bureaucracies

• More complex bureaucracies
• Formalized laws, judiciary, police
• Laws often written (by literate elite)
• Writing not developed until formation of state
  societies
• Mesopotamia
• Mesoamerica

Code of Hammurabi, Mesopotamia
http//www.allaboutarchaeology.org/images/code-of-
hammurabi.jpg
40
Religion

• Early state religions
• standardized temples
• Many kings divine
• Kings often head of state religion
• Mesopotamian Temple was center of
• Religion
• Economic redistribution
• Writing
• Crafts technology

Mesopotamian Temple
http//i143.photobucket.com/albums/r127/andrewidod
o/600ziggurat.jpg
41
Expansion of Agricultural Societies
Expanded Conquest
Conquest
Land Agriculture Slaves
Food Population Technology
Small Group
Etc.
42
Agricultural Societies
Government
Chiefdoms, States
Kleptocracies, Elites
Kings Gods
Ideology
Economy
Agriculture
State Religions
Redistribution, Tribute
Central Temple
Male dominated
Conquest, Slavery
43
Agricultural Society Hierarchy
Elite
Conquest
Wealth, Tribute
Food, Resources
Conquered Exploited Peasants, Slaves,
Workers
44
Wealth and Poverty
Wealth
Elite
Own land, Well-fed Educated, Health care,
Opportunities
Poverty
Wealth, Tribute
Food, Resources
Landless, hungry, uneducated, unhealthy, no
opportunities
Conquered Exploited Peasants, Slaves,
Workers
45
Organization of States

• States organized on political and territorial
  lines not kinship and tribe boundaries
• States and empires often are multiethnic and
  multilingual
• Bureaucrats selected more on ability than
  heredity
• Modern states have non-hereditary leadership

Roman Empire
http//gbgm-umc.org/UMW/corinthians/maps/empire2a.
gif
46
Why Do States Arise?

• More complex societies usually conquer less
  complex ones
• Advantage of weapons, technology, numbers
• Centralized decision making more efficient in
  conquest
• Official religions, patriotic fervor
• make troops willing to fight suicidially
  fanaticism

Arab Muslim Empire
http//www.ac.wwu.edu/helfgott/img/map-arab-empir
e.png
47
How Do Chiefdoms Become States?

• Aristotle
• States are  the natural condition of human
  society.
• Knew only Greek Societies of  400 BC
• Rousseau
• States formed by a social contract
• a rational decision of people based on self
  interest.
• Never happened this way
• Small groups do not give up their sovereignty
  willingly

Aristotle
http//www.empirecontact.com/magicstar/Aristotle.j
pg
48
Irrigation Theory

• Major civilizations had large-scale irrigation
• Mesopotamia,
• Egypt
• China
• Mesoamerica
• Large-scale irrigation requires centralized
  bureaucracy for
• Construction
• Maintenance
• Management

Irrigation, Egypt
http//www.love-egypt.com/images/egypt-agriculture
.jpg
49
Irrigation Theory Disputed

• States formed to create irrigation systems?
• But irrigation came after states formed
• States did not always have centrally controlled
  irrigation

Hanging Gardens, Babylon
http//www.expandmywealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2
008/02/hanging-gardens-of-babylon.jpg
50
Population Theory

• Strong correlation between size of population
• and complexity of society
• Autocatalysis
• population growth leads to social complexity
• Social complexity leads to intensified food
  production
• and population growth

Population density
http//www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/ima
ges/final-images/g-gpw-population-map.gif
51
Food Production Leads toSocial Complexity

• Requires seasonal labor. 
• After harvest, labor used for
• public works,
• wars of conquest
• Stored surpluses permit economic specialization,
  social stratification
• feed chiefs, elite, scribes, craftspeople,
  specialists,
• feed farmers while they are working on public
  works

http//www.realhistories.org.uk/uploads/images/Tom
b_of_Nakht.jpg
52
Food Production Leads toSocial Complexity

• Sedentary living required for
• Possessions
• Technology
• Crafts
• public works
• control of people

Mayan Temples, Mexico
http//cache.eb.com/eb/image?id80461rendTypeId4
53
Large Populations Require Complex Social System

• Conflict resolution needed between unrelated
  people 
• need laws and authority
• Communal decisions impossible 
• need structure
• Reciprocal economy impossible 
• Need redistributive economy
• Density of population must be organized

Argebam, Iran
http//www.tcoletribalrugs.com/resources/Wertime/k
erman2.jpg
54
Amalgamation of Smaller Units

• Occurs by merger under threat of external force
• 40 Cherokee chiefdoms joined together,
• American colonies joined together

http//www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/mslib/images
/13colmap.gif
55
Amalgamation of Smaller Units

• Occurs by conquest among chiefdoms
• Zulu state
• Hawaii, Tahiti
• Aztecs, Incas
• before Spanish arrived
• Rome, Macedonian empire
• Etc.

Roman Expansion
http//cache.eb.com/eb/image?id1040rendTypeId4
56
After Conquest

• Bands
• survivors can move away

http//culturalsurvivaltrust.org/pix/bandiya_son.j
pg
57
After Conquest

• Tribes
• Need the land
• Territory occupied.
• No need for slaves
• No need for survivors,
• except women as wives
• Defeated men are killed

http//www.progressdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/20
07/07/Yanomamo.jpg
58
After Conquest

• States and Chiefdoms
• Defeated can be used as slaves
• Or defeated can be exploited
• left in place to produce food, goods
• Deprived of political autonomy
• Made to pay taxes, tribute
• Amalgamate their society
• into victorious state or chiefdom

http//www.euro-africsystemsenterprise.org.uk/capt
ured_slaves.jpg
59
Aztec Tribute

• Aztec Empire received tribute from its subjects
  and had tribute lists
• Spanish wanted tribute from Mexico
• Interested in Aztec Empires tribute lists

http//www.reformation.org/aztec-empire-map.jpg
60
Aztec Tribute

• Each year Aztec subjects paid Aztecs
• 7,000 tons of corn
• 4,000 tons of amaranth
• 2,000,000 cotton cloaks
• Huge quantities of
• Cacao beans
• war costumes
• Shields
• feather headdresses
• amber

Aztec tribute list
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum
b/c/c1/Codex_Mendoza_folio_47r.jpg/408px-Codex_Men
doza_folio_47r.jpg