Itisgenerallyagreedthatthefirsttruecitiesappearedabout5,000yearsagointhefood-producingcommunitiesoftheMiddleEast．ThecitiesofSumeria,EgyptandtheIndusValleypossessedanumberofcharacteristicsthatdistinguishedthemastrulyurban．Thecitieswereverymuchlargerandmoredenselypopulatedthananyprevioussettlement,andtheirfunctionwasclearlydifferentiatedfromthatofthesurroundingvillages．Inthecitiestheoldpatternsofkinshiprelationswerereplacedbyacomplexhierarchyofsocialclassesbasedonthespecializationof labor．Moreover,theneedtokeeprecordsledtothedevelopmentofwritingandarithmetic,andtheincreasedsophisticationofurbansocietygaveanewimpetustoartisticexpressionofeverykind． WhenthebasisofcitylifewasestablishedinEuropetheurbantraditionwasdrawnfromtheancientcitiesoftheMiddleEast,viathecivilizationofGreeceandRome．WecantracethreemainphasesinthegrowthoftheWestEuropeancity．Thefirstoftheseisthemedievalphasewhichextendsfromthebeginningofthe1lthcentury A． D．toabout1,500tothebeginningofthe19thcentury．Thethirdisthemodernphaseextendingfromtheearly19thcenturytothepresentday． Everymedievalcitybeganasasmallsettlement,whichgrewuproundageographicalorculturalfocalpoint．Thiswouldbeapermanentstructuresuchasastronghold,acathedraloralargechurch．Indistrictswheretravelandtradewerewellestablished,itmightbeamarket,arivercrossing,oraplacewheretwoormoretraderoutesmet,instudiesofurbangeographytheoldestpartoftownisreferredtoasthenuclearsettlement．TherearemanysmalltownsinEuropewhereitisstillpossibletotracetheoutlineoftheoriginalnuclearsettlement．Itis,ofcourse, muchmoredifficulttodothisinthecaseifalargemoderncitywhichhasgrowntomanytimesitsoriginalsize． Itiseasiertolocateitsoriginalnuclearsettlementofasmalltown__________．
A.because it began as a small settlement
B.because it is less developed
C.because of its small size
D.because of its location
正确答案是C