B.A. II Semester 4
Unit 4
According to time of origin towns can be classified into three categories:
1. Pre-Historic Towns (Prachin Nagar)
2. Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)
3. Modern Towns (Aadhunik Nagar)
Pre-Historic Towns
23 ancient cities that have survived more than just time Rome, Italy. ...
Istanbul, Turkey. ...
Tikal, Guatemala. ...
Cairo, Egypt. ...
Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe. ...
Timbuktu, Mali. ...
Athens, Greece. ...
Ellora, India.
Pre-Historic Towns
Human beings started coming out from caves and constructed huts with the leaves and branches of trees in Paleolithic age(Purva Pashan Yug). Second stage started in Neolithic age (Uttar Pashan Yug) when man started agriculture practice and animal grazing and rearing. This resulted in origin of permanent settlements in form of viilages.
According to Kingsley Davis the origin of towns took place during 6000 to 3000 B.C. Most of scholars are of the view that ancient towns and civilizations were grown near river valleys.
Main Rivers: Nile, Euphrates, Tigris ,Indus, Ethens, Yellow
River etc
Nile river &Mesopotamia Civilization:
Advanced town with temples, irrigation facilities and social structures, walled cities.
Mesopotamian Cities were grown in doabs of Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Main cities were:-
Ur, Bebilon, jeruselam, Erech, Erdu, Kis, Musa
Nile River Civilization was mainly influenced by Egyptian rulers.
Main towns were:-
Hierconepolis, Effoditopolis, Kahun (for servants),Merphis etc.
These towns mainly have pyramids, boundary walls for flood protection.
Pre-Historic Towns
Pre-Historic Towns
Indus Valley Civilization: Nearly 5000years ago this civilization was flourishing in Punjab, Haryana, Gujrat, Rajasthan , West Uttar Pradesh of India and Sindh, Baluchistan of Pakistan.
Main cities were Hadappa, Mohan-jo-daro, Chunhu-daro, Ropar, Kalibanga, Lothal , Sur Kotada , Banawali
Mediterranean Towns : Nearly 4000 years ago Phylakopi commercial town was developed on Milos island in Aegean sea. Other important towns were Byblos, Hellespont, Knossos, Phaistios, Tyre,Sidon, Ugaret, Aleppo, Damascus
Pre-Historic Towns
Ancient Indian Towns : with the arrival of Aryans river valleys of Indus, Ganga were activated with trade, commerce, religion,
administration, defence. As a result cities like Kurukshetra, Mathura, Dwarika, Haridwar, Indraprastha, Ayodhya, Hastinapur, Mithila, Kashi, Prayag, Kannauj, Patliputra, Nalanda, Mahabalipuram, Madurai, Pushkar, Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Sonipat, Pehowa, Loni, Agroha, Rohtak, Hansi,
Bhatinda,Ludhiana, Hisar
Ancient Roman Towns : Most of Roman towns were developed from the defense point of view . Forts and roads were developed. Security was first into consideration than to beautification. Aquillia , Samunto, Merida, Cologne, Yark,Rome, Leons,Tyurin,Ostia, Puteoly, Carthago Nuova
Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)
This age is assumed 5th to 15th century A.D.
With the fall of Roman empire the growth trend declined. As a result growth of town was affected negatively. But in 9th & 10th century the growth of towns accelerated due to following reasons:
1. Christianity 2. Impact of wars
3. Trade and Transportation 4. Effect of muslims
5. Spread of Education 6. Population Growth
Florence And Paris were main medieval towns of Europe.
In India, medieval period started with the fall of Harshvardhan empire (647 A.D.). Main cities of this period were Udaipur, Jodhpur, Gwalior, Lalitpur, Bulandshahr, Muradabad, Hapur, Amroha, Raibareli, Sohna, Hodal, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, Ballabhgarh, Cuttack
In India, from 1206 to 1707 the towns grown under muslim influence and thereafter influence of Britishers was prominent.
Saharanpur, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Muradabad, VijayNagar, Hyderabad, Nellore, Gulberga, Tutikorin, Vijaywada, Bellari, Kakinada were some of towns of this period in India.
Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)
Modern Towns
The towns of this period were effected by Colonies and Industrialization.
European countries were progressing due to rapid industrialization and as a result process of urbanization was accelerated. Many European countries have established their colonies all over the world which resulted in growth of population and in turn towns and cities increased.
In India, Calcutta, Bombay, Pondicherry, Calicut, Mahe were grown as Port towns. With spread of railway facility towns like Ahmadabad, Nagpur, Sholapur, Bharuch, Kanpur were established. Britishers developed towns like Dehradun, Shimla, Dalhousie, Nainital, Srinagar, Darjeeling, Ranchi, Mahabaleshwar.
Modern Towns
Many towns were established by Britishers to exploit the vast mineral Resources . Such towns were Ranchi, Daltonganj, Hazaribagh Lohagarh.
Banaras, Agra, Roorkee, Lucknow, Delhi, Aligarh, Madras, Calcutta were educational towns.
Industial Towns :Jamshedpur, Durgapur , Bhilai, Raurkela, Bokaro,
Vishakhapatnam, Pimpri, Namrup, Faridabad, Yamunanagar, Modinagar, Chitranjan, Nangal, Dalmianagar in India.
Impact of industrialization was eminent in Europe and rest of world.
Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Shanghai,
Pittsberg, Osaka, Nagasaki, Tula, Magnitogorsk, Kharkov are well known towns of this modern world.
So, in this manner development of towns took place. This process is still continue and will remain so and more fast with the advent of new technology.