BHP Lesson 31: Expansion of Civilizations

Your civilization is growing in population and power, but it’s also running out of resources. As the leader, would you decide to tax your people or invade your neighbors? Today we’ll explore the question of why civilizations of the past chose to expand.

Driving Question: Why did civilizations expand?

  • Imagine you’re part of the ruling class of an agrarian civilization. Your civilization is running low on resources. As the leader, you must decide whether to raise taxes on your own citizens or conquer a neighboring civilization for their resources. What would you do? What are the benefits to your method of increasing revenue? What are the potential costs and dangers?
  • Early agrarian civilizations faced this same decision as their societies grew and gobbled up more resources. They needed food for growing populations. Their armies needed weapons and forts. Their cities required walls for protection. Decent roads kept trade networks open. This led many leaders to make the decision to expand their empires. 

Word of the Day: Innovation

  • Definition: The generation of a new idea, method, or product.  
  • Sustaining innovation is a challenge that all agrarian civilizations faced. Some of the most famous agrarian civilizations—the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, and the Mongol Empire—faced this challenge, and their solution was to expand. Conquest meant the addition of new territories, resources, and people. 

Lesson

  • Go to Khan Academy and watch the video, Why Did Civilizations Expand?
  • As you watch, keep track of all the reasons societies of the past decided to expand. Listen for the reasons that leaders chose conquest to pay their expenses rather than trying to raise money in land they already controlled. 

Historian’s Journal Prompt

  • Why do civilizations rarely expand by conquest today?
  • We live in an exponentially changing world. Global population is on the rise and many countries find themselves in need of resources to maintain their populations. However, today it’s hard to find examples of countries that meet these needs by conquering their neighbors. Why do you think this has changed?
Anonymous