Why is the19th century a unique high-yield period in the history of sociology?

The development history of world cities can be roughly divided into four stages: the emergence and early development stage of cities; Medieval stage, that is, pre-industrial society; Industrialization period; Contemporary or post-industrial society. For the convenience of analysis, this section only discusses the first three stages, and the urbanization process of the contemporary world will be discussed in the next section. I. appearance of city and development of early cities Between 3500 and 3000 BC, that first city appeared in the Nile valley, followed by the two river valley. Around 3000 BC, Egypt formed a unified kingdom, with Tinis as its capital, and later a new capital, Memphis. From 3000 BC to 2500 BC, Sumer region in the two river basins began the process of forming the initial state, and many city-states appeared, among which Elidu, Ur, uruk and lagache were the most important. These early city-states were formed by the combination of several areas around a central city. Under the influence of the civilizations of the Nile and the two river basins, around 2000 BC, cities began to appear in Hittite in Asia Minor and Phoenicia along the eastern Mediterranean. At the turn of BC 19 and BC 18, the Hittites built fortified cities, among which Kusa, Nisha and Chapa were the most important. Phoenicia, on the other hand, is similar to the two river basins, with many city-states, the most important of which are Ugarit, Avald, Bueble, Sidon and Tyre. Phoenician cities developed handicrafts and commerce, and had business contacts with Egypt, Crete and other places. At about the same time, urban civilization began to appear in Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. The Indus Valley is another cradle of human civilization. 1922, the ruins of the ancient city were first discovered in Mohenjodaro, Sindh province, and then in Harapa, West Punjab, collectively known as Harapa culture. The existence period of Harappa culture is estimated to be 2500- 1500 BC, but some people say that it was pushed to 3500 BC, thus making these two cities the earliest known cities in the world. During the Harappa period, residents were mainly engaged in agriculture, but handicrafts and commerce were also quite developed. The city has high and thick walls, occupying a considerable area. For example, Mohenjodaro covers an area of 260 hectares. Around 2000 BC, these two cities entered a period of prosperity, with an estimated population of about 20,000, making them one of the largest cities in the world at that time. China is also one of the birthplaces of urban civilization in the world. From about 2500 BC to 2000 BC, the prototype of the city appeared, and from 2000 BC to 1600 BC, we will introduce it in detail in the third section. America and Africa, as the birthplaces of the other two cities, appeared a little later. El Meredo, a Mayan city found in the tropical jungle of Guatemala, flourished in 300 BC, and it should have come into being earlier. Urban ruins have been found in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sudan and other places, some of which exist at least in 1 century. To sum up, 3000- 1500 BC is the main period of the emergence of cities in the world. Since then, urban civilization has flourished from west to east in Asia, Europe and Africa. Julia Julia child, a famous Australian historian, called the appearance of cities a revolution in human history. He also emphasized the importance of the irrigation process and the rise of extensive trade activities in the urban revolution on the flooded plains that produced ancient civilization. However, Montford, a famous American urbanist, thinks: "In the process of the evolution from a decentralized village economy to a highly organized urban economy, the most important parameter is the king, or the kingship system". This is because in Mesopotamian writing, the word "merchant" did not appear until the second century BC. Judging from the reasons for the rise of cities in Egypt, Sumer, China and other places, the monarchy did play an important role, but among the factors of the rise of cities in Phoenicia and Greece, commerce played a greater role. So the main factors of the origin of cities are different from place to place. From BC 1000 to the demise of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D., Europe produced splendid Greek and Roman culture, which was closely related to the development of cities. In China, the other end of the Eurasian continent, the culture of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, which can be compared with it, is also marked by the development of the city. During the 8th-6th century BC, social productive forces developed greatly in all parts of Greece. A leading factor in the development of productive forces is the exploitation of iron ore. Then, with the trade with Mediterranean countries, business has also developed greatly. These reasons ... underlay all > The Soviet Union promoted the development of slavery and class division in Greece, and city-states appeared one after another. Among the original Greek city-states, Miletus, Ephesus, Calsius and Corinth were the most prosperous. Athens and Sparta are the two largest city-states. In the development of the Greek city-state, the immigrant city-state was established outside Greece by immigrants, and the urban civilization spread to the western Mediterranean and the Black Sea region. The newly established immigrant cities include Naples, Syracuse, Marseille in the south of Gaul, and Sinop on the south bank of the Black Sea. They are all important industrial and commercial centers. Athens is located in Attica Plain on the southeast coast of Greece, where there are fertile farmland, large areas of clay (used for making pottery), rich silver mines and winding coastline. This favorable geographical condition greatly developed the population, power and prestige of Athens. Athens has a population of over 400,000, and its trade reaches as far as Egypt, South Russia, Libya, Italy and the southern coastal areas of France. Ancient Greek cities are typical of early cities, which are characterized by: ① Most of them are located in places that are beneficial to agriculture, national defense and trade; ② Most of them are surrounded by city walls; ③ Religion plays a leading role in urban layout and social structure; ④ Most of them have central squares, surrounded by religious and government buildings; ⑤ The broad avenue radiates from the central square, and there are rich people living on both sides of the avenue in the city center; ⑥ The area extending from the periphery of the rich man's house to the city wall is where other people live; Businessmen and craftsmen live in the place where they work. This place is called a city. Cities dominate the surrounding agricultural land and get food from farmers. In return, the city protects farmers from infringement. When the Greek civilization gradually weakened, Rome on the Apennine Peninsula began to grow stronger. In A.D. 100, Rome controlled most of the Mediterranean and Western Europe. The rulers of Rome continued to conquer militarily and built a highway system for this purpose. It was this highway system that enabled the Romans to establish various markets, administrative centers and military bases in the interior of Europe. Today, some famous European cities, such as London, Paris, Cologne and Vienna, all started in this period. At its peak, Rome had a population of 800-1 10,000, covering an area of about 206k2. Rome's urban construction has also made great achievements. The drainage channels around the whole city are hundreds of miles long, and some buildings are as high as 35m, which is equivalent to 10 floor or1floor. Until now, Rome still preserves the remains of huge baths, Colosseum, palaces and temples. However, the other side of Rome's urban construction achievements is extremely luxurious and decadent. Rome was a parasitic city, which later developed into a morbid city. Monford said that the ancient Greek culture emphasized physical strength and mental health, while the ancient Roman culture was basically developed in limbs and simple in mind, emphasizing material desires and living a parasitic life by its own strength. In the 5th century, the urban civilization of Rome died with the fall of the Roman Empire. In the interior of Asia at that time, the Persian Empire was very powerful. It explored the East and the West and expanded its territory. Susa and Persepolis (near Shiraz, Iran), the capital of Persian Empire, were both famous capitals at that time. Second, the development of medieval cities The Middle Ages was the feudal period of European countries, which lasted 1000 years from the demise of the Roman Empire to the British bourgeois revolution in the17th century. According to the traditional view, the Middle Ages was a dark period in Europe, and urban civilization almost disappeared. Indeed, the demise of the Roman Empire caused serious damage to many cities, while the Germans who went south mainly relied on agricultural farming and were less dependent on cities. In addition, frequent wars cut off commercial routes, handicrafts and commerce were depressed, and people's focus of life shifted to the countryside. These factors led to the decline of many cities in Europe. For example, the population of Rome decreased from nearly one million to 40,000. However, the European urban tradition has not completely died out. In the second half of the Middle Ages, cities reappeared all over Europe after 1 1 century. Therefore, it is inaccurate to say that the Middle Ages were generally "dark ages". As early as the early 9th century, some new urban centers were formed in Europe, with 25,000 people in Paris, 6,543.8+6,000 in Có rdoba and 300,000 in Istanbul. In Italy, Rome has a population of 50,000 and Naples has a population of 30,000. In the 9th century, with the establishment of Charlemagne Empire, the urban lifestyle was revived in Europe. Charlemagne reorganized the political structure of Europe and reopened the trade routes through Venice, Naples, Genoa and other cities. /kloc-since the end of 0/0, the feudal personal attachment in Europe has been relatively loose, and agricultural production has also begun to resume. Serfs and craftsmen fled the manor of feudal lords in batches and went to places where products were easy to sell, such as passes, ferries, traffic arteries, temples and the old city of Rome, and their gathering places gradually formed cities. For example, in France, 420 out of 500 cities have risen in this way. It should also be pointed out that some feudal lords granted various privileges and benefits to craftsmen and businessmen who came to the city to settle permanently, thus protecting the emerging merchant class. If a serf can live in a legal town for one year and one day continuously, his serfdom and obligations will be exempted. Therefore, medieval cities became a very competitive environment, attracting a large number of people from rural areas with more pioneering spirit and skills. Although the political needs of towns in the Middle Ages were earlier than the economic needs, and military considerations were the first, with the rise of the merchant class and the prosperity of commerce, the "city" color of some cities has become more and more intense recently, which is a significant difference between medieval cities and early cities. With the revival of trade, the monarch of the castle became more and more dependent on businessmen in order to obtain luxury goods from them. As a result, the strength of merchants increased, and they were allowed to build walls outside the castle to protect themselves. Due to the existence of the city wall and the monarch's dependence on the luxury goods of businessmen, the local autonomy of the city appeared, and the degree of autonomy became greater and greater, and finally an "autonomous city" was formed. The core of the development of new cities in Europe is "autonomous cities" or "free cities" and "imperial cities". In fact, an autonomous city centers on the city and governs the political system of the surrounding countryside. Different from the ancient Greek polis, it was a feudal system of * * * and the government. 12- 13 century, Venice, Florence, Genoa and Siena in Italy, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck and Cologne in Germany all belong to this kind of city-state. However, the power of municipal authorities does not lead to complete local autonomy, that is, it is not subject to any external interference, so some municipal authorities form alliances to protect their political and commercial interests. Among these alliances, the most famous is the Hanseatic League. The word Hansa means office and guild hall in German. At first, only Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen and other cities in northern Germany joined forces to maintain maritime traffic safety, and later formally formed an alliance. There are at most 160 participating cities, led by Lubeck. From the14th century to the17th century, the Hanseatic League has been an active factor in the political structure of northern Europe, and the autonomy of these cities has flourished until the Bismarck era in the middle of19th century. Up to now, Hamburg and Bremen still have huge free port areas. Taking the city as a unit, forming a political alliance, and taking the city as the center to form political objects such as polis, free city and imperial city all illustrate the position of the city in the regional political and economic structure, which is also a prominent feature of the development of European medieval cities. The development of European cities promoted the development of European culture and became an important stage for European Renaissance and bourgeois revolution in the future. Generally speaking, the population size of European cities in the Middle Ages was still very small. It is estimated that in 1400, the population of Paris alone will reach 275,000, that of Bruges and Venice will exceed 65,438+million, and that of London, Rome, Naples, Cologne, Florence and Ghent will be between 40,000 and 50,000. Compared with cities in western Europe, the population of Istanbul in Turkey and Beijing in China reached 700,000, while the population of Osaka, Tokyo, Kyoto and Cairo in Egypt reached 300,000 to 400,000, showing a high level of urban development. Three. At the end of the Middle Ages, urbanization in the industrial society, that is,15-1at the beginning of the 7th century, capitalism began to develop in some European countries. At that time, two major events took place in Europe, one was the Renaissance, and the other was the opening of a new air route. The opening of the new sea route has shifted the center of capitalist development from Italy to countries along the North Sea, such as the Netherlands and Britain, and many new industrial and commercial cities have gradually emerged in these countries. /kloc-after the 0/7th century, Europe began to produce modern countries. The establishment of monarchies had a far-reaching impact on the development of the capital, and they soon reached a scale never reached in the Middle Ages. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, the population of London, Naples, Milan and Paris reached 200,000, the population of Palermo, Rome and Lisbon reached 65,438+10,000, and cities such as Seville, Antwerp and Amsterdam also developed rapidly. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/9th century, the cities with a population of over 200,000 were Moscow, Vienna, St. Petersburg and Lisbon, and the cities with a population of over100,000 were Warsaw, Berlin and Copenhagen. Paris has a population of 547,000, Naples has a population of 430,000, and London has a population of 866,5438+0,000, making it the largest city in Europe after ancient Rome. But at that time, some industrial and commercial cities were still small, and the population of industrial cities like Leeds and Manchester was less than 50 thousand. /kloc-the industrial revolution that began in the middle of the 0/8th century opened a brand-new period in the history of urban development. In the wave of industrial revolution, cities have developed faster and changed more dramatically than ever before. The industrial revolution ended the production form of workshop handicraft industry in the city and replaced it with the production form of machine industry, which made the socialization of economic activities and the specialization of production in the city develop to a wider range. In order to seek cooperative benefits and enhance competitiveness, factories and enterprises are often relatively concentrated in this area. This tendency directly affects the internal expansion form and regional distribution pattern of modern cities. Inside the city, the invention of the steam engine led to the appearance of railways and trains in the city. In the Middle Ages, compact cities tended to develop to the suburbs, and patches of industrial areas and workers' residential areas began to appear. On a regional scale, with the rapid concentration of capital, factories and population in cities, some areas with superior geographical conditions have concentrated population and high density. Industries, especially coal fields and coastal areas, such as Lancashire in Britain, Ruhr in Germany, Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes in the United States, all formed urban dense areas during the industrial revolution, resulting in a serious imbalance in urban spatial distribution. In a word, industrialization drives urbanization, which is an important feature of modern urban development. The industrial revolution began in Britain, so Britain is also the first country in the world to start modern urbanization. Driven by the industrial revolution, the urbanization process in Britain was very rapid in the19th century, and a large number of industrial cities such as Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle grew rapidly. In the half century from 180 1 to 185 1, the number of towns with more than 5,000 people in Britain has increased from 106 to 265. The proportion of urban population rose from 26% to 45% and from 1900 to 75%, making it the first urbanized country in the world. Since the19th century, France, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries have also started the industrial revolution, and the urbanization process has been greatly spread in western countries. For example, in the United States, the urban population only accounted for 6. 1% of the total population in 1800, but it rose to 35. 1% in 1890, and the number of cities and towns also surged from 33 to 1384. It must be pointed out that the large-scale migration from Europe to South and North America since 19 century is an indispensable factor in the process of urbanization in the United States. From 1846 to 1939, there were 51590,000 European immigrants (about one million in the first half of the 9th century), most of them were in America, and some of them went to Oceania and other parts of the world. These immigrants first landed in coastal ports, and then pushed inland, so many famous coastal port cities were formed, such as new york, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Melbourne and Sydney. Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, the United States and other countries began to colonize and plunder the backward Asian and African continent through the gunboat policy while carrying out the industrial revolution. Many coastal cities in Asia and Africa were chosen as the bridgehead of aggression by colonists, while some regional centers in the interior were chosen as plunder bases. Stimulated by colonialism, these cities began to prosper abnormally. Such as Accra, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Lagos in Africa, Karachi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Colombo in South Asia, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and Manila in Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian and Qingdao in China. Although these cities are in a colonial or semi-colonial state, the imported modern industry and commerce have had a certain impact on their feudal economy, produced a new bourgeoisie and proletariat, and accelerated the pace of social differentiation and social change. Due to the rise of these cities, many countries in Asia and Africa have also begun the process of modern urbanization, and the unitary feudal urban system has been transformed into a dual structure in which feudal cities and modern cities coexist. This is another feature of urbanization in the modern world. With the expansion of capital, the world political and economic system began to be established, and the world urban system gradually formed. Due to the central position of capitalist countries in the world political and economic system, their cities are also in the position of monopoly center in the world urban system. From 65438 to 0900, London, Paris, new york, Berlin and Amsterdam were the centers of international commerce and finance, as well as the important centers of political and economic decision-making. The emergence of the world city system has become the third feature of urbanization in the modern world. However, due to the unbalanced competition and development among capitalist countries, the development of the first batch of cities is different, which further affects the scale distribution of the world's largest cities. & lt packaging