Question

How did South Asia and the Mediterranean basin develop economically in the first millennium BCE? How did these economicdevelopments affect the growth of urban society and the emerging ideas of thinkers and philosophers in these societies?

Answer 1

1. South Asia and the Mediterranean regions were among the first places where civilizations spurred. These civilizations started to develop on the basis of agriculture, as the production of enough food was the most important. Once this problem was solved, the people started to specialize and engage into other activities. One of the first activities was to trade goods with the surrounding people. As these civilizations had at disposal certain goods that were highly demanded, they used this in their advantage, and through the trade they managed to gradually get lot of wealth, and that wealth was invested in further development of their societies.

2. Because the people in these two regions managed to obtain wealth through trade, they were able to invest in their societies. This resulted in the formation of larger settlements, cities, which were made in a highly organized and aesthetic manner. As the people had lot of free time in these cities, they were able to engage into other activities, such as the sciences and philosophy. The people started to think about life, the universe, the nature, how and why the things happen. Gradually this had given rise to the first thinkers and philosophers, and as the alphabets were developed, they started to write down their thoughts, thus leaving them for the future generations.