Who gave the concept of Hydraulic Civilizations?
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The concept of "hydraulic civilizations" was introduced by the historian Karl August Wittfogel in his 1957 book "Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power." According to Wittfogel, hydraulic civilizations were societies in which the control of water, particularly through large-scale irrigation systems, was central to the exercise of political and social power. These civilizations typically emerged in regions with arid or semi-arid climates where agriculture depended heavily on irrigation, such as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. Wittfogel argued that the need to manage water resources led to the development of centralized bureaucracies and authoritarian governments in these societies.