I’ve been on a bit of a human history journey here lately, basically just jumping around various dates and eras to see what we know about the people of the time.
What occurs to me and what I haven’t come across yet, is how do towns and cities even get started? If I have come across that, I didn’t rightly understand what I was reading.
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– Reliable, clean source of drinking water.
– Protection – escarpments, hillocks or cliffs with a good view of the surrounding country.
– Food – reliable hunting grounds.
Generally these are the reasons people choose to settle in a place – you need all three for a truly good settlement.
So some group of people who are nomadic or have been displaced find an ideal spot, with running water, forests nearby with game and some sort of protection against the elements and against warring raiding parties, such as height/rock formations. They decide to stop and see if they can eek out an existence and before long they are thriving, building walls and planting crops. The reliable agriculture provides enough for them and enough for storing as grain for the winter but also a surplus that they do not need – which they can sell for other things that will help them with their settlement.
Soon the settlement grows into a hamlet, then a village with multiple trades on site. A village might get larger and larger until it needs a perimeter wall to protect its most precious aspects such as a blacksmith, armorer, mill, grain stores etc. Soon, before you know it, you have a town.
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