234 climate and geography: introduction John Collis, Oppida: Earliest Towns North of the Alps (Sheffield, U.K.: Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Sheffield, 1984) Graham Connah, African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective, 2nd ed (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2001) Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, The History of African Cities South of the Sahara: From the Origins to Colonization, trans Mary Baker (Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 2005) Barry Cunliffe and Simon Keay, eds., Social Complexity and the Development of Towns in Iberia: From the Copper Age to the Second Century ad (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1995) Denise Dersin, ed., What Life Was Like on the Banks of the Nile: Egypt 3050–30 bc (Alexandria, Va.: Time Life Books, 1996) William M Ferguson and Arthur H Rohn, Mesoamerica’s Ancient Cities (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1990) Ron Fisher, Norman Hammond, Ann Nottingham Kelsall, et al., Builders of the Ancient World: Marvels of Engineering (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1986) Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004) Richard J Harrison, Spain at the Dawn of History: Iberians, Phoenicians, and Greeks (London: Thames and Hudson, 1988) Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley (Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1998) Richard M Leventhal and Alan Kolata, eds., Civilization in the Ancient Americas: Essays in Honor of Gordon R Willey (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983) Gwendolyn Leick, Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City (London: Penguin, 2002) Thomas O’Neill, “Pompeii: City Sealed in Time.” Splendors of the Past: Lost Cities of the Ancient World (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1981) E J Owens, The City in the Greek and Roman World (New York: Routledge, 1992) Jeremy A Sabloff, The Cities of Ancient Mexico: Reconstructing a Lost World (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989) Chris Scarre, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (New York: Penguin Group, 1995) Thurstan Shaw, Paul Sinclair, Bassey Andah, et al., eds., The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals, and Towns (London: Routledge, 1993) Nancy S Steinhardt, Chinese Imperial City Planning (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990) Eric P Uphill, Egyptian Towns and Cities (Princes Risborough, U.K.: Shire Publications, 1988) Marc Van de Mieroop, The Ancient Mesopotamian City (Oxford U.K.: Clarendon, 1997) ▶ climate and geography introduction In modern life, technology enables people to adapt the environment to their needs If farm fields are dry, electric-powered or gas-powered pumps allow farmers to irrigate If the temperature is too high, electric air-conditioning cools the air in people’s homes and offices; if the temperature is too low, furnaces provide heat In contrast, ancient peoples had to adapt their needs to the environment Obviously, they could modify their environment in simple ways, such as by building a fire to provide warmth But overall much of the history of ancient peoples was determined by their physical environment and their efforts to adapt their lives to the physical conditions that surrounded them One major problem ancient peoples faced, however, was climatic change, which disrupted societies and sometimes forced the migration of people An area that was wet and fertile during one era could become dry and desertlike in a later era, as happened in parts of Mesoamerica, the region that comprises the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America Meteorological events in one part of the world could cause climatic change in another part of the world, raising or lowering temperatures, increasing or decreasing rainfall, or touching off violent storms Further, catastrophic events could wreak havoc with a people A volcanic eruption, for example, could not only wipe out a population but also change the physical environment for survivors and for those living in neighboring regions Similarly, earthquakes could destroy settlements and change the face of the earth for nearby settlers Drought could lead to famine and population depletion Africa, in particular, has been subject to climatic swings During parts of its ancient history, Africa was cool and dry, primarily as a result of the last ice age, when ice pushed southward and covered much of what is now Europe Later, Africa became much warmer and moister, leading to monsoon rains Later still, temperatures dropped again, and weather patterns dried out These changes, which were not unique to Africa, led to changes in vegetation, sometimes turning forests into deserts and deserts into forests After the advent of agriculture, such climatic shifts required Africans to adapt the crops and farming practices to the new conditions They also contributed to African history in major ways When the continent dried out, the Nile River became essentially the center of civilization It also led to conflict between nations as they struggled for resources to support their people Ancient peoples were driven by their need to find ways to adapt to their environment One of their primary needs, of course, was fresh water Accordingly, early peoples tended to form settlements along the banks of rivers or adjacent to lakes, but living in these types of regions posed special problems People in Asia and Oceania, where oceans were nearby, were subject to cyclones and tsunamis, and people in such places as ancient Egypt were dependent on the annual flooding of the Nile River along which they lived In time, people learned to harness at least some of the natural forces that surrounded them The ancient Egyptians, for example, developed a complex and highly sophisticated system of irrigation and water management, storing the floodwaters of the Nile for later use in irrigating their crops The ancient Romans, too, developed sophisticated plumbing systems, with canals, dikes, and the like to manage water flow