hydraulic civilization, according to the theories of the German-American historian Karl A. Wittfogel, any culture having an agricultural system that is dependent upon large-scale government-managed waterworks—productive (for irrigation) and protective (for flood control). Wittfogel advanced the term in his book Oriental Despotism
Despotism
Despotism is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot, as in an autocracy, but societies which limit respect and power to specific groups have also been called despotic.
What is the definition of hydraulic civilization?
See Article History. Hydraulic civilization, according to the theories of the German-American historian Karl A. Wittfogel, any culture having an agricultural system that is dependent upon large-scale government-managed waterworks—productive (for irrigation) and protective (for flood control).
What is hydraulic civilization according to Wittfogel?
Hydraulic civilization, according to the theories of the German-American historian Karl A. Wittfogel, any culture having an agricultural system that is dependent upon large-scale government-managed waterworks—productive (for irrigation) and protective (for flood control). Wittfogel advanced the term in his book Oriental Despotism (1957).
What is the hydraulic hypothesis?
The so called "Hydraulic Hypothesis" is an idea first fully characterized by the historian Karl Wittfogel. His original idea was part of a larger model for the origin of civilization that we see today as having several problematic aspects, but the key idea is still valid.
What is a hydraulic empire?
A hydraulic empire, also known as a hydraulic despotism, hydraulic society, hydraulic civilization, or water monopoly empire, is a social or government structure which maintains power and control through exclusive control over access to water.
What is the hydraulic hypothesis?
Steward's and Wittfogel's ideas are customarily referred to as the "hydraulic hypothesis." As sum- marized by Butzer (1976:111), the hypothesis is characterized by a strict linear causality: environ- mental or population stress in a context of water scarcity leads to development of an irrigation system, which in turn ...
What is the hydraulic theory of urbanization?
Theories of Urban Origins HYDRAULIC THEORY- importance of irrigation for urban development where the agricultural revolution took place in the middle east- Wittfogel (1957) need for large scale water management required centralised co-ordination and direction, which requires concentrated settlement.
What is the hydraulic theory for Karl wittfogel?
In a nutshell, Wittfogel with his 'hydraulic hypothesis' postulated that large-scale irrigation systems – under certain conditions – lead to centralised coordination and administrative bureaucracies, which, in turn, result in greater political integration.
Who proposed the hydraulic origin of the state?
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Karl Wittfogel's "hydraulic" theory strongly influenced an- thropological theories of state formation.
Why most of ancient civilizations were considered hydraulic civilizations?
Hydraulic Civilizations were described as places of agricultural systems that were dependent on the crucial government, directed water systems for irrigation and flood management. Wittfogel described Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Northern China, India, and pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru as Hydraulic civilizations.
Which of the following civilization was regarded as hydraulic Empire '?
According to Wittfogel, most of the first civilizations in history, such as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, are believed to have been hydraulic empires.
What is the primary problem with the hydraulic theory?
What is the primary problem with the hydraulic theory? Items such as utensils, figurines, and personal possessions, symbolically placed in the grave for the deceased person's use in the afterlife.
What is the hydraulic revolution?
The results of the hydraulic revolution – an interconnected system which in time would connect the rest of the country – became the object of attack by the Sendero Luminoso, the Maoist organization that declared an armed struggle against the state in 1980.
How are hydraulic empires usually destroyed?
Popular revolution in such a state was very difficult; a dynasty might die out or be overthrown by force, but the new regime would differ very little from the old one. Hydraulic empires were usually destroyed by foreign conquerors.
What is the hydraulic?
Hydraulics is a mechanical function that operates through the force of liquid pressure. In hydraulics-based systems, mechanical movement is produced by contained, pumped liquid, typically through hydraulic cylinders moving pistons.
Which civilization built hydraulics system with sophisticated waterways?
The GreeksThe Greeks developed complex systems of water and hydraulic power, including irrigation systems, canals and aqueducts.
What is hydraulic economy?
Hydraulic macroeconomics is, essentially, a study of the economy that treats money as a form of liquid that circulates through the economic plumbing. William Phillips, a famous economist and creator of the Phillips curve, invented the MONIAC, a hydraulic computer which simulated the British economy.
What is urban growth theory?
Urban Growth Theories explain the internal demographic, spatial, and economic growth of cities. These three features of a city's growth are not entirely separable, however. All three are interlinked.
What is early Urbanisation?
Urbanization is the process by which rural communities grow to form cities, or urban centers, and, by extension, the growth and expansion of those cities. Urbanization began in ancient Mesopotamia in the Uruk Period (4300-3100 BCE) for reasons scholars have not yet agreed on.
What exactly is hydraulic principle?
The hydraulic system is based on Pascal’s law, which states that pressure in an enclosed fluid is uniform in all directions. The smaller piston feels a smaller force because the pressure is the same in every direction, while the large piston feels a larger force.
What are the benefits of hydraulic systems?
The pump is used in hydraulic systems to push hydraulic fluid through the system and generate fluid power. The fluid passes through the valves before flowing to the cylinder, where the hydraulic energy is converted back into mechanical energy.
How do hydraulics be built?
Prepare your materials with a simple hydraulic system. Get a 20-ml syringe, a 100-ml syringe, rubber tubing, and vegetable oil.
What is the purpose of a hydraulic system?
A hydraulic fluid’s main function is to transmit energy through the system, allowing work and motion to be accomplished. Lubrication, heat transfer, and contamination control are all handled by hydraulic fluids.
How do you increase hydraulic flow?
Why should you use a system intensifier when there is low operating pressure? Use the existing power source that has been installed.
What exactly is a closed center hydraulic system?
Closed-Center Hydraulic System. When the oil isn’t required to operate a function, a pump can rest in this system. This means that in the center of the pump, a control valve is closed, stopping the oil flow.
What is the function of a closed-loop hydraulic system?
The system is known as a closed loop hydraulic system when hydraulic fluids flow between the pump and actuator (normally motor) without leaving the reservoir. A directional control valve is used in an open loop system to set the actuator’s movement direction.
What is a hydraulic used for?
With a variety of applications, hydraulic systems are used in all kinds of large and small industrial settings, as well as buildings, construction equipment, and vehicles. Paper mills, logging, manufacturing, robotics, and steel processing are leading users of hydraulic equipment.
What is a hydraulic system example?
Bulldozers, backhoes, log splitter, shovels, loaders, forklifts, and cranes are some machinery used. In backhoes and excavators, the movement of the arm is based on hydraulics. Bulldozers use a hydraulic system for the movement of blades. Dump truck lifts the box part of the truck using hydraulics.
Who discovered hydraulic system?
In 1738, a Swiss mathematician called Daniel Bernoulli put this theory into practice. He used pressurised water in mills and pumps. Then in 1975, an Englishman called Joseph Bramah patented the first hydraulic press.
Which civilization built hydraulics system with sophisticated waterways?
The Greeks developed complex systems of water and hydraulic power, including irrigation systems, canals and aqueducts.
What does China have in common with early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia?
A surplus of food led to more complex societies. One similarity in the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, ancient Indian (Harappan), and ancient Chinese civilizations was that they each developed… Irrigation systems.
What theory proposed by Karl Wittfogel explains the origin of the state by the bureaucratic needs of complex water management systems as are entailed in the use of canals?
In his most famous work, Oriental Despotism, Wittfogel (1957) created the controversial ‘hydraulic society’ thesis, in which he postulated that large-scale irrigation systems, composed of ever larger dams and increasingly elaborate canal networks, lead to centralized coordination and administrative bureaucracies.
What is the other name of hydraulic thesis?
A hydraulic empire, also known as a hydraulic despotism, hydraulic society, hydraulic civilization, or water monopoly empire, is a social or government structure which maintains power and control through exclusive control over access to water.
What was the Mauryan Empire?
The Mauryan Empire in India was classified by Wittfogel as a grandiose Hydraulic Economy. Kautilya while referring to the udakabhaga (water-cess, cess being a term used in India, Scotland and Ireland for an additional tax) lists various kinds of irrigation, viz., irrigated by manual labour, by carrying water on the shoulder, by water lifts, and by raising water from lakes, rivers etc. Some scholars believe, there is a clear reference to canals for irrigation in the Arthashastra, in a sutra which points out that water was set in motion by digging ( khatapravrittim) from a river-dam ( nandinibhandayatana) or a tank.
What is hydraulic civilization?
A developed hydraulic civilization maintains control over its population by means of controlling the supply of water. The term was coined by the German-American historian Karl August Wittfogel (1896–1988), in his book Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power (1957). Wittfogel asserted that such "hydraulic civilizations"—although they were neither all located in the Orient nor characteristic of all Oriental societies—were essentially different from those of the Western world. According to Wittfogel, most of the first civilizations in history, such as Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru, are believed to have been hydraulic empires. Most hydraulic empires existed in arid or desert regions, but imperial China also had some such characteristics, due to the exacting needs of rice cultivation.
What did Wittfogel argue about climate?
Wittfogel argues that climate caused some parts of the world to develop higher levels of civilization than others. He is known for claiming that climate in the Orient led to despotic rule. This environmental determinism comes to bear when considering that in those societies where the most control was exhibited, this was commonly the case due to the central role of the resource in economic processes and its environmentally limited, or constrained nature. This made controlling supply and demand easier and allowed a more complete monopoly to be established, as well as preventing the use of alternative resources to compensate.
What gave rise to the established permanent institution of impersonal government?
Though tribal societies had structures that were usually personal in nature, exercised by a patriarch over a tribal group related by various degrees of kinship, hydraulic hierarchies gave rise to the established permanent institution of impersonal government.
What is the typical hydraulic empire government?
The typical hydraulic empire government, in Wittfogel's thesis, is extremely centralized, with no trace of an independent aristocracy – in contrast to the decentralized feudalism of medieval Europe.
What is hydraulic empire?
A hydraulic empire (also known as a hydraulic despotism, or water monopoly empire) is a social or government structure which maintains power and control through exclusive control over access to water. It arises through the need for flood control and irrigation, ...
Which of the three areas that Wittfogel cites as exemplifying his "hydraulic?
Archeological evidence now makes it appear that in at least three of the areas that Wittfogel cites as exemplifying his "hydraulic hypothesis"—Mesopotamia, China , and Mexico —full-fledged states developed well before large-scale irrigation".
What happens if you give me 1000 calories of eggs?
When you give me 1000 calories of eggs, you are giving me perhaps a million liters of water, virtually. If you are farming in a water rich region and I'm farming in a water poor region, that makes sense and it may even be the reason I grow wheat and you grow egg chickens.
What are the environmental factors that affect the Syrian conflict?
key environmental factors include both direct and indirect consequences of water shortages, ineffective watershed management, and the impacts of climate variability and change on regional hydrology. Severe multiyear drought beginning in the mid-2000s, combined with inefficient and often unmodernized irrigation systems and water abstractions by other parties in the eastern Mediterranean, including especially Syria, contributed to the displacement of large populations from rural to urban centers, food insecurity for more than a million people, and increased unemployment—with subsequent effects on political stability. There is some evidence that the recent drought is an early indicator of the climatic changes that are expected for the region, including higher temperature, decreased basin rainfall and runoff, and increased water scarcity. Absent any efforts to address population growth rates, these water-related factors are likely to produce even greater risks of local and regional political instability, unless other mechanisms for reducing water insecurity can be identified and implemented.
What would happen if Vulcans ran the Earth?
If Vulcans ran the Earth, the Syrian farmers would have been, logically, put on some sort of dole and eventually retasked, and there would not have been a civil war.
What are the two key graphics from Gleick's paper?
Two key graphics from Gleick's paper demonstrate the role of climate change. First, the drop in available water due to decreased rainfall and, probably , increased evaporation: Second, the decrease in annual average discharge of a key river in the region:
How does systems integration help sustainability?
Systems integration—holistic approaches to integrating various components of coupled human and natural systems —is critical to understand socioeconomic and environmental interconnections and to create sustainability solutions. Recent advances include the development and quantification of integrated frameworks that incorporate ecosystem services, environmental footprints, planetary boundaries, human-nature nexuses, and telecoupling. Although systems integration has led to fundamental discoveries and practical applications, further efforts are needed to incorporate more human and natural components simultaneously, quantify spillover systems and feedbacks, integrate multiple spatial and temporal scales, develop new tools, and translate findings into policy and practice. Such efforts can help address important knowledge gaps, link seemingly unconnected challenges, and inform policy and management decisions.
Why did ISIS emerge?
It is generally thought that ISIS emerged in large part because of the quasi-failure of Syria. Syria transited from being a run of the mill Middle Eastern Kingdom with some powerful connections to a quasi-failed state for a number of reasons, but one of the big factors turns out to be water. Or, really, lack thereof.
How does the hydraulic hypothesis bookend civilization?
So this is how the Hydraulic Hypothesis bookends civilization. Cultural technological management of limited or badly timed natural water were adaptations to semi-arid climate conditions and contributed to the development of what we call civilization. As climate conditions shift to the point where these adaptations become unreliable, the system fails. And, the failure is in part because of prior success. As a highly integrated but organic system it is unable to manage deep and causative change. If Vulcans ran the Earth, the Syrian farmers would have been, logically, put on some sort of dole and eventually retasked, and there would not have been a civil war. But since we rely so much on organic system evolution (which includes in part the much vaunted "free market") that is not what happened.
What did Wittfogel believe about the hydraulic system?
He believed that wherever irrigation required substantial and centralized control, government representatives monopolized political power and dominated the economy, resulting in an absolutist managerial state. In addition, there was a close identification of these officials with the dominant religion and an atrophy of other centres of power. The forced labour for irrigation projects was directed by the bureaucratic network. Among these hydraulic civilizations, Wittfogel listed ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China and pre-Columbian Mexico and Peru.
What were the civilizations that depended on water for irrigation and flood control called?
Civilizations whose agriculture was dependent upon large-scale waterworks for irrigation and flood control were called "hydraulic civilizations" by the German-American historian Karl A. Wittfogel in his book Oriental Despotism(1957).
How did irrigation affect the economy?
Irrigation increased the food supply, allowing larger numbers of people to agglomerate into towns and cities. Because farmers were vulnerable to attack, armies were needed, with the implication of an officer class. Town specialization of labour brought the emergence of potters, weavers, metalworkers, scribes, lawyers, and physicians, while the new surpluses also created the basis for commerce. The more complex economy required records, so writing, of which the first examples come from the bookkeeping records of the storehouses in ancient Mesopotamia, was born.
What are the factors that influence Wittfogel's theory?
In their view, several factors, including geographic features, natural-resource distribution, climate, kinds of crops and animals raised, and relations with neighbouring peoples, entered into the response to the environment. These scholars might be said to apply a "systems" approach to the interpretation of the origins of organized societies.
What did Wittfogel believe about irrigation?from britannica.com
Wittfogel believed that wherever irrigationrequired substantial and centralized control, government representatives monopolized political power and dominated the economy, resulting in an absolutist managerial state. In addition, there was a close identification of these officials with the dominant religion and an atrophy of other centres of power. The forced labourfor irrigation projects was directed by the bureaucraticnetwork. Among these hydraulic civilizations, Wittfogel listed ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India and pre-Columbian Mexicoand Peru.
What are the functions of monarchy?from britannica.com
The monarchs also had to prove themselves as state-builders.…. Irrigation and drainage.
What is the Oriental Institute?from britannica.com
The Oriental Institute - Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt
What is irrigation and drainage?from britannica.com
Irrigation and drainage, artificial application of water to land and artificial removal of excess water from land, respectively. Some land requires irrigation or drainage before it is possible to use it for any agricultural production; other land profits from either practice to increase production.….
When was Saudi Arabia founded?from quizlet.com
the founding of the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932
What is an encyclopedia editor?from britannica.com
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ...
Who was the first to describe hydraulic civilization?from britannica.com
hydraulic civilization, according to the theories of the German-American historian Karl A. Wittfogel, any culturehaving an agricultural system that is dependent upon large-scale government-managed waterworks—productive (for irrigation) and protective (for floodcontrol). Wittfogel advanced the term in his book Oriental Despotism(1957). He believed that such civilizations—although neither all in the Orient nor characteristic of all Oriental societies—were quite different from those of the West.
Who Invented Hydraulics?
It is tough to say exactly who invented hydraulics or when hydraulic systems were invented. Hydraulic systems have been created from the work of great minds like Blaise Pascal, Joseph Bramah, Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei. Hydraulics eventually found their place in the modern world with wide-reaching and powerful applications.
Ancient Hydraulics in Greece and Rome
Though ancient hydraulic systems have existed across cultures, our word “hydraulic” has its roots in the Greek language. The Greeks developed complex systems of water and hydraulic power, including irrigation systems, canals and aqueducts.
How Our Understanding of Hydraulics Changed in the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries
At the start of the 17th century, the study of hydraulics advanced with Simon Stevin’s discovery of the hydrostatic paradox and the study of non-moving water, and Galileo Galilei’s observations on gravity . Galileo studied gravitational acceleration, which played into the movement of water.
Modern-Day Applications of Hydraulics
As the 20th century washed in, so did new, varied uses for hydraulics. Hydraulics are popular systems because they are adaptable, offering flexible hoses and small tubing, along with many different actuator types. The high-power density doesn’t hurt either.
Hydraulic Repair and Information
Hydropower is one of the most widely used and oldest forms of energy. Its applications range from irrigation to construction equipment and heavy machinery. It is so widespread that you probably have some type of hydraulic equipment in your home or office building.
