a city of palaces. Aft er Luoyang, all Chinese capitals would
have only one palace area. Moreover, beginning with the
Eastern Han capital of Luoyang, all palace sectors would be
positioned along a central north-south axis. Both Chang’an
and Luoyang would be the locations of China’s most impor-
tant imperial cities for nearly a millennium following the fall
of the Han in 220 c.e.
A strong economy and commerce throughout the coun-
try gave rise to important cities outside the capitals in Han
China. Some of them, such as Linzi and Handan, had their
roots in cities of the Zhou Dynasty. Others, also with earlier
building periods, such as Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Hefei
in Anhui, and Chengdu in Sichuan, have remained important
Chinese cities since the time of the Han Dynasty. Han mili-
tary commands spread across the empire, beyond China’s
borders, and some cities built strong walls and defense sys-
tems that resembled castle towns of medieval Europe.
ANCIENT CITIES OF SOUTH AND
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Aft er China, remains of the most signifi cant urban activity
in Asia or the Pacifi c in ancient times can be found in South
Asia, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Baluch-
istan, Afghanistan, at the site of Mehrgarh, there is evidence
of settlement in the seventh millennium b.c.e. Domestication
of animals occurred in the sixth millennium, and within the
next 2,500 years pottery and objects of stone and metal were
produced. Th ese developments set the stage for the Indus Val-
ley’s fi rst true cities, represented by the largest ones, Mohenjo
Daro and Harappa. In India the city of Dholavira, in Gujarat,
developed at the same time.
Both Mohenjo Daro and Harappa have been known since
excavations of the 1920s. More recently, Kalibangan, about 87
miles southeast of Harappa, has emerged as an important ur-
ban center. All three cities fl ourished during the period from
about 2600 b.c.e. to 1099 b.c.e. Th e most striking feature of
the cities was the orthogonal arrangement of streets. In other
words, major streets were oriented on a grid that ran north-
south or east-west. It is believed that builders fi rst studied the
movements of the sun and stars and then designed their cities
based on them. Th ere is evidence of massive walls and gates
at both Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, but the cities are better
known for high, wall-enclosed mounds on which buildings
were raised. Th e highest mound, at Mohenjo Daro, rose 39
feet. Unlike the main streets, the mounds were not oriented
to the four cardinal directions. Main streets were as wide as
236 feet, with narrower lanes dividing the spaces between
the main streets into quadrilaterals. Both Mohenjo Daro and
Harappa were situated beside rivers, the former near the In-
dus and the latter near a tributary of the Indus, a waterway
called Ravi. Indus Valley cities had sophisticated drainage,
bathing, and sanitation systems, including wells, reservoirs,
and cisterns (a receptacle for holding liquids, such as rainwa-
ter. Th e bathing areas were separated from lavatories. Many
houses had private wells, but there were also public wells in the
cities. Mohenjo Daro and Harappa were each approximately
3 miles in circumference, Mohenjo Daro slightly larger.
Harappa was marked by a large central depression, be-
lieved to have been a tank or reservoir. If this was a public
space, it was not the only one. Indus Valley cities had large
public buildings and great baths. Southwest of the great bath
of Mohenjo Daro, beyond the outer city wall, was a large
building elevated on a mound. It has been identifi ed either as
a great hall, perhaps for ritual use, or a granary. About 98 feet
south of Harappa was a mound with its own houses, drainage
system, and baths. Th is may have been a rest stop for travelers.
Mud brick was the main construction material of Indus Val-
ley cities, with wood being the next most common building
material. It is believed that artisans who specialized in one
material or the other worked together in city construction.
Ban Chiang, in northeastern Th ailand, is the most im-
portant Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement in Southeast
Asia. It is dated to about 3600 b.c.e. to 200 c.e. Bronze pro-
duction in Ban Chiang is believed to have occurred by the
mid-second millennium b.c.e., consistent with that of China
but more than a thousand years before evidence of a Bronze
Age in the rest of Th ailand.URBANISM IN NORTHEAST ASIA
Although Korea and Japan enjoyed long Paleolithic and Neo-
lithic periods, urbanism was not part of them. Th ere is no
evidence of cities during either Japan’s or Korea’s Bronze Age.
Korea’s earliest walled cities may have been constructed as
military commands of Han Dynasty China. In Japan, where
the Bronze Age fl ourished well into the Common Era, there is
little evidence of urbanism through the fi rst several centuries
c.e. It is probable that cities came about in Japan as a result
of infl uences from continental East Asia, either from Korea
or China, and that cities were fi rst constructed as late as the
sixth century c.e. City walls were built even later in Japan.
Still, by the end of ancient times, cities fl ourished in every
part of Asia. Soon thereaft er, cities reached the Japanese is-
lands in the Pacifi c.EUROPE
BY JOHN COLLIS
Between 58 and 51 b.c.e. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul
(modern France, Belgium, and parts of Holland, Germany,
and Switzerland). In his detailed account of the Gallic Wars
he talks about large defended sites that on occasion he had
to attack; indeed, he spent a winter at one of them, Bibracte,
composing his memoirs. Th ough he sometimes uses the word
urbs (city) to describe these places, the term he normally uses
is oppidum, meaning “defended place” or simply “town.”
Among the sites he lists are some that are still towns today:
Geneva, Besançon, Paris, Bourges, Orléans. Others are now
deserted hilltops like Bibracte (Mont Beuvray, in Burgundy),
which was abandoned a couple of generations aft er the con-
quest for the more accessible Augustodunum (Autun).218 cities: Europe