1. Towns can be classified into three categories based on their time of origin: pre-historic towns, medieval towns, and modern towns. 2. Pre-historic towns developed near river valleys starting around 6000-3000 BC and included cities in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and other parts of the world. These early towns had temples, irrigation, and other social structures. 3. Medieval towns grew between the 5th-15th centuries AD, declining after the fall of the Roman Empire but then growing due to factors like Christianity, wars, trade, and population growth. Major medieval towns in Europe included Florence and Paris.

1. B.A. II Semester 4
Unit 4

2. According to time of origin towns can be
classified into three categories:
1. Pre-Historic Towns (Prachin Nagar)
2. Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)
3. Modern Towns (Aadhunik Nagar)

3. Pre-Historic Towns
23 ancient cities that have survived more than just time
Rome, Italy. ...
Istanbul, Turkey. ...
Tikal, Guatemala. ...
Cairo, Egypt. ...
Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe. ...
Timbuktu, Mali. ...
Athens, Greece. ...
Ellora, India.

4. Pre-Historic Towns
Human beings started coming out from caves and constructed huts with the
leaves and branches of trees in Paleolithic age(Purva Pashan Yug). Second
stage started in Neolithic age (Uttar Pashan Yug) when man started
agriculture practice and animal grazing and rearing. This resulted in origin
of permanent settlements in form of viilages.
According to Kingsley Davis the origin of towns took place during 6000 to
3000 B.C. Most of scholars are of the view that ancient towns and
civilizations were grown near river valleys.
Main Rivers: Nile, Euphrates, Tigris ,Indus, Ethens, Yellow
River etc

5. Nile river &Mesopotamia Civilization:
Advanced town with temples, irrigation facilities and social
structures, walled cities.
Mesopotamian Cities were grown in doabs of Euphrates and
Tigris rivers. Main cities were:-
Ur, Bebilon, jeruselam, Erech, Erdu, Kis, Musa
Nile River Civilization was mainly influenced by Egyptian rulers.
Main towns were:-
Hierconepolis, Effoditopolis, Kahun (for servants),Merphis etc.
These towns mainly have pyramids, boundary walls for flood
protection.
Pre-Historic Towns

6. Pre-Historic Towns
Indus Valley Civilization: Nearly 5000years ago this civilization was
flourishing in Punjab, Haryana, Gujrat, Rajasthan , West Uttar Pradesh of
India and Sindh, Baluchistan of Pakistan.
Main cities were Hadappa, Mohan-jo-daro, Chunhu-daro, Ropar, Kalibanga,
Lothal , Sur Kotada , Banawali
Mediterranean Towns : Nearly 4000 years ago Phylakopi commercial
town was developed on Milos island in Aegean sea. Other important towns
were Byblos, Hellespont, Knossos, Phaistios, Tyre,Sidon, Ugaret, Aleppo,
Damascus

7. Pre-Historic Towns
Ancient Indian Towns : with the arrival of Aryans river valleys of
Indus, Ganga were activated with trade, commerce, religion,
administration, defence. As a result cities like Kurukshetra, Mathura,
Dwarika, Haridwar, Indraprastha, Ayodhya, Hastinapur, Mithila, Kashi,
Prayag, Kannauj, Patliputra, Nalanda, Mahabalipuram, Madurai, Pushkar,
Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Sonipat, Pehowa, Loni, Agroha, Rohtak, Hansi,
Bhatinda,Ludhiana, Hisar
Ancient Roman Towns : Most of Roman towns were developed from
the defense point of view . Forts and roads were developed. Security was
first into consideration than to beautification. Aquillia , Samunto, Merida,
Cologne, Yark,Rome, Leons,Tyurin,Ostia, Puteoly, Carthago Nuova

8. Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)
This age is assumed 5th to 15th century A.D.
With the fall of Roman empire the growth trend declined. As a
result growth of town was affected negatively. But in 9th & 10th
century the growth of towns accelerated due to following reasons:
1. Christianity
2. Impact of wars
3. Trade and Transportation
4. Effect of muslims
5. Spread of Education
6. Population Growth

9. Florence And Paris were main medieval towns of Europe.
In India, medieval period started with the fall of Harshvardhan
empire (647 A.D.). Main cities of this period were Udaipur,
Jodhpur, Gwalior, Lalitpur, Bulandshahr, Muradabad, Hapur,
Amroha, Raibareli, Sohna, Hodal, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal,
Ballabhgarh, Cuttack
In India, from 1206 to 1707 the towns grown under muslim
influence and thereafter influence of Britishers was prominent.
Saharanpur, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Muradabad, VijayNagar,
Hyderabad, Nellore, Gulberga, Tutikorin, Vijaywada, Bellari,
Kakinada were some of towns of this period in India.
Medieval Towns (Madhyayugin Nagar)

10. Modern Towns
The towns of this period were effected by Colonies and Industrialization.
European countries were progressing due to rapid industrialization and
as a result process of urbanization was accelerated. Many European
countries have established their colonies all over the world which
resulted in growth of population and in turn towns and cities increased.
In India, Calcutta, Bombay, Pondicherry, Calicut, Mahe were grown as
Port towns. With spread of railway facility towns like Ahmadabad,
Nagpur, Sholapur, Bharuch, Kanpur were established. Britishers
developed towns like Dehradun, Shimla, Dalhousie, Nainital, Srinagar,
Darjeeling, Ranchi, Mahabaleshwar.

11. Modern Towns
Many towns were established by Britishers to exploit the vast mineral
Resources . Such towns were Ranchi, Daltonganj, Hazaribagh Lohagarh.
Banaras, Agra, Roorkee, Lucknow, Delhi, Aligarh, Madras, Calcutta
were educational towns.
Industial Towns :Jamshedpur, Durgapur , Bhilai, Raurkela, Bokaro,
Vishakhapatnam, Pimpri, Namrup, Faridabad, Yamunanagar, Modinagar,
Chitranjan, Nangal, Dalmianagar in India.
Impact of industrialization was eminent in Europe and rest of world.
Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Shanghai,
Pittsberg, Osaka, Nagasaki, Tula, Magnitogorsk, Kharkov are well known
towns of this modern world.
So, in this manner development of towns took place. This process is still
continue and will remain so and more fast with the advent of new
technology.