Class 11 History NCERT

City life began in Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the Republic of Iraq. Mesopotamian civilisation is known for its prosperity, city life, its voluminous and rich literature and its mathematics and astronomy.

Over the two millennia that followed the establishment of empires in Mesopotamia, various attempts at empire-building took place across the region and in the area to the west and east of it.

The term 'nomadic empires' can appear contradictory: nomads are arguably quintessential wanderers, organised in family assemblies with a relatively undifferentiated economic life and rudimentary systems of political organisation.

We have seen how, by the ninth century, large parts of Asia and America witnessed the growth and expansion of great empires - some nomadic, some based on well-developed cities and trading networks that centred on them.

From the fourteenth to the end of the seventeenth century, towns were growing in many countries of Europe. A distinct 'urban culture' also developed. Townspeople began to think of themselves as more 'civilised' than rural people. Towns - particularly Florence, Venice and Rome - became centres of art and learning.

THIS chapter recounts some aspects of the histories of the native peoples of America and Australia. Theme 8 described the history of the Spanish and Portuguese colonisation of
South America.

East Asia at the beginning of the nineteenth century was dominated by China. The Qing dynasty, heir to a long tradition, seemed secure in its power, while Japan, a small island country, seemed to be locked in isolation. Yet, within a few decades China was thrown into turmoil unable to face the colonial challenge.