History glossary
Specialization
when people focus on particular jobs instead of everyone doing the same basic work.
- Category
- Social and economic concept
What it means
Specialization happens when surplus food and organized exchange allow some people to become potters, metalworkers, scribes, priests, soldiers, merchants, or administrators. It is a key feature of urban societies because different workers depend on one another.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution transformed how humans understand the world, replacing tradition with observation, experimentation and mathematical laws that still shape modern science.
Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was one of the birthplaces of urban civilisation. In this Tigris and Euphrates civilization, communities built some of the first cities, developed cuneiform writing, organised law codes, and created early empires. From Sumer and Akkad to Babylon and Assyria, this history of Mesopotamia shows how farming, irrigation, temples, kingship, trade, and record-keeping helped create the structures of complex society. It also works as a Mesopotamia timeline and Mesopotamia civilization overview, with clear Mesopotamia facts tracing how Mesopotamian civilization grew from villages into states and empires.
The Renaissance
From Petrarch to printing, from Florence to northern Europe, the Renaissance transformed learning, art, politics, religion, and science while linking medieval inheritance to modern change.
The United States After 9/11
After 9/11, the United States launched the War on Terror, invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, expanded surveillance and homeland security, and entered a long era of costly war and deep political division.
