chaeologists learn about prehistoric ways of life by studying
stone tools, artifacts, and middens (trash piles) that survive
from these ancient settlements.
Aft er the advent of agriculture in roughly 8000 b.c.e.
people began to form more permanent settlements. Gener-
ally, they favored areas that provided fertile soil, a moderate
climate, and water for irrigating crops. Accordingly, settle-
ments in the ancient world were most oft en formed on the
banks of lakes and rivers and along ocean coastlines. Major
civilizations such as those of the ancient Mesopotamians and
Egyptians grew up along rivers, where fertile soil was left be-
hind aft er annual fl ooding. By this time the basic unit of set-
tlement was the village and hamlet, where clusters of houses
were built by farmers who tended the land and their herds
of livestock. In time, some of these villages grew into towns,
which served as administrative centers and places where
farmers could sell their crops. Some of these towns evolved
into cities, becoming the seats of kings and emperors.
Patterns of settlement could change as a result of chang-
ing climatic conditions. As glacial ice receded at the end of
the ice age in about 11,000 b.c.e., people moved northward
into such regions as Europe, including Scandinavia. Some-
times, though, climatic conditions took a turn for the worse.
Parts of ancient Egypt that were (and are) desert were once
fertile and green, but climate changes forced people to aban-
don their settlements to cluster in the fertile Nile River Valley.
A similar fate awaited some of the peoples of Mesoamerica,
whose fertile land turned into desert, forcing many of them
into cities.
Settlement could be infl uenced by changes in the face
of the earth. A good example is provided by Japan, which
consists of about 3,000 islands, about 600 of them inhabited.
Th roughout most of its history, Japan was cut off from Asia
and thus remained home to a Stone Age culture long aft er
the rest of Asia had progressed. But Japan was not always an
island nation. Sometimes around 30,000 b.c.e. people moved
from the Korean Peninsula across a land bridge that con-
nected Japan to Asia; at the same time, many of Japan’s islands
were connected until rising ocean levels separated them. For
thousands of years the Neolithic Jomon culture dominated
Japan, but this domination came to an end in about the third
century b.c.e. when northern China experienced an extended
drought that turned the region into desert. Th e northern
Chinese, in search of more hospitable ground, streamed into
Korea, in turn forcing Koreans into Japan. Th ese types of mi-
gration patterns, brought about by changing conditions, were
commonplace in the ancient world.AFRICA
BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
Settlement patterns in ancient Africa were largely a function
of geography and climate. Because Africa is a large conti-
nent—about 4,600 miles from east to west and approximately
5,000 miles from nor t h to sout h—and is bisected by t he equa-tor, it contains a wide range of terrains and climate zones.
Much of the continent is covered either by savanna (broad,
open plains covered with grasses) or desert. Additionally, the
cont i nent i nclude s fore sted lowla nd s a s wel l a s h ig h mou nt a i n
peaks, such as Mount Kilimanjaro (in Tanzania) and Mount
Kenya. Th e continent also features fi ve major river systems,
including the Nile, the Congo, the Zambezi (where Victoria
Falls, the world’s largest waterfall, is found), the Volta, and
the Niger.
Human history began on the plains of east Africa. Dur-
ing the Stone Age people migrated from these plains to other
regions of the continent. Th ey were able to do so because the
human species became more intelligent and thus able to de-
velop tools that enabled them to survive in new environments.
Central to this history was the search for resources. Among
the earliest Africans, the chief resource was food sought by
nomadic bands of hunters and gatherers. In time, Africans
searched for fertile land where there was suffi cient water and
a temperate climate for growing crops. Others settled along
lakes, rivers, and the coasts, where bodies of water provided
fi sh and seafood. Additionally, this search for resources in-
cluded materials for building shelters and making household
goods and, in time, resources that could be traded for other,
scarcer resources provided by people in the ancient Near
East, around the Mediterranean Sea, and from other regions
within Africa.
Th e climate zones of Africa had a profound impact on
settlement patterns. Th ese climate zones diff ered by tempera-
ture and rainfall. In the lowlands along the equator, rainfall
was frequent in lush forests. Th e heavy forests made farm-
ing diffi cult, and herding was not practicable because of the
prevalence of disease in livestock. For this reason, the people
who settled in the equatorial regions of Africa relied on hunt-
ing and gathering, fi shing, and trade and exchange for their
livelihood.
Farther from the equator the forests thinned out, and the
climate was somewhat dryer. To the north and south were
the savannas with seasonal rains (rather than the nearly daily
rains of the tropical forests), longer dry seasons, and warm
days but cool nights. Although the quality of the soil was
poorer than in the forest regions, the open land, combined
with suffi cient rainfall and moderate temperatures, made
these regions attractive to farmers and herders. Historically,
the savannas were home of Africa’s breadbaskets, where peo-
ple settled to grow fruits, palm oil, peas, yams, sorghum, mil-
let, and other crops. Incidentally, much of the modern Sahara
was savanna until about 3000 b.c.e. Climate change at this
time forced people to adopt new settlement patterns.
It was in the savannas and the border regions between
the savannas and the forests that the major civilizations of
ancient Africa emerged—for the simple reason that these re-
gions provided the most resources combined with the most
hospitable climate. Historians have identifi ed at least eight
such civ ilizations in a band from east to west. To t he east were
the ancestral lands of the Bantu-speaking peoples. Next was962 settlement patterns: Africa0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i962 962 10/10/07 2:30:34 PM