The Worlds of The Fifteenth Century(13 Chapter)

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Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Patti Andrews

11/28/12

                                        The Worlds of The Fifteenth Century

            The world of the fifteenth century was much similar to the world of the past, but with an emphasis in the reality of the new era or the new times with more advances in thought around all places in the world. “Bands of hunters and gatherers, villages of agricultural peoples, newly emerging chiefdoms or small states, nomadic/pastoral communities, established civilizations and empires-all of these social or political forms would have been apparent to a widely traveled visitor in the fifteenth century”(365). Even though the world had changed and had more technological advantages during the 15^th century there were still people that lived nomadic lives or gathering hunting lives. Around the fifteenth century too happened something really interesting. The reality that people by the fifteenth century lived really close to larger civilizations. Although people lived in civilizations close to one another, people usually identified themselves with their smaller communities.

            Something else that was very interesting about reading the chapter was that during the fifteenth century there were competitions especially from china and the Europeans. The competitions were mostly about the maritime voyaging and conquering. What gave Spain (European country); an advantage over other countries was the conquest or the voyage to the Americas during 1492. After a while china seemed to give up on the voyaging and Europe took charge.  “The most striking difference in these two cases lay in the sharp contrast between China’s decisive ending of its voyages and the continuing, indeed escalading, European effort, which soon brought the world’s oceans and growing numbers of the world’s people under its control”(376). It seems that after Europe took control of the voyaging, Europe becomes the center of the world and a place that people yearned or aspired to go, visit, or make trade with.

            

Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage(Chapter 12).

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Patti Andrews

11/19/12

Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage(The Mongol Moment: 1200-1500).

         When thinking about great civilizations, I tend to think of the Romans and the Greeks. The Mongols like the other civilizations may not be thought of as important, or as one that has made change but it dd.  Pastoral societies different for agricultural societies were less productive economically (334), but were supporting “far smaller populations”(334). This probably meant that the communities in the pastoral were less urban and more rural. This pastoral communities organized themselves into kinship groups and “clans that claimed a common ancestry”(334).

         In a modern sense this communities must have been more conservative because of the values and rules they held. One idea that struck my thoughts while reading was the way that the Mongols thought about remarriage of widows. They did not think like the Chinese. The Mongols had no such rules to not marrying if women were widows.

         Something interesting about the Mongols was also their sense of brotherhood. “Pastoral nomads interacted with their agricultural neighbors not only economically and militarily but also culturally as ‘they became acquainted with and tried on for size all the world and universal religions”(337). It is said that at some points Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam were found with the nomadic people in inner Eurasia. I just think that society has not changed much form our past generations. Our life is simply making more history that one day will be remembered by many future generations. We are still living in terms of not necessarily having surplus, but creating livestock.

        

The Worlds of Islam(Chapter 11)

Jose Betancourt

World History

Dr. Andrews

11/14/12

             The Worlds of Islam (Afro-Eurasian Connections): 600-1500

            The Islam religion or group was born about the year 600 hundred AC.

In modernity Islam is one of the biggest religions in the world. There are three large monotheistic religions in the world. Islam is one of them. The beginnings of Islam are somewhat blurry. They are blurry beginnings not because of history, but because Arabs of the first century were slowly moving to either Judaism or Christianity (303). Later then in the 7^th century came the messenger Muhammad Obn Abdulla (570-632 C.E). Muhammad was born in Mecca. He was an orphan. “He was adopted by his uncle, became a widely traveled trader, and married a wealthy widow, khadija herself prosperous merchant, who provided him with financial and emotional support”(303).

            Muhammad was very spiritual person, and thus his inspiration and message was evident once he proclaimed it. The book of Islam is the Quran. The Quran has Gods law and the pillars of God. Allah is God and Muhammad is the messenger of God. First tenet of Islam is the belief in the one true God, the second tenet is prayer, the third pillar is the sharing of money with community, the fourth pillar is the month of fasting, and lastly the fifth one is the pilgrim to Mecca. (306). The most interesting Pillar to me is the “third pillar, requiring believers to generously give their wealth to maintain the community and to help the needy, reflected the Qurans repeated demands for social justice”(305-06). In that case one can realize that Islam was not only a religion for God, but for the people and for all those that wanted to be in the path to God, then one would admit and commit to God.

The Worlds of European Christendom (Connected and Divided) 500-1300

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

11/12/12

          The Worlds of European Christendom (Connected and Divided) 500-1300

            The time of the Christendom is mostly thought of happening in Europe. Christianity rose from a small Jewish community. With that said, one can conclude that Christianity has its roots from Jewish thought, and Jewish culture. One interesting fact that I thought about while reading the chapter was that at the same time that the Christendom happened and the ruptures or discontents happen in the Christian nations, Europe was going through a time of no innovations. While Asia, was really advanced in technology and science.

            In that case Christianity served as an ideal for most people of Eurasia. “During the postclassical era, Christianity provided a measure of cultural commonality for the societies of western Eurasia, much as Chinese civilization and Buddhism did for East Asia”(269).  Christianity brought what they could to society. They did not bring to Europe much of the sciences; all that people relied on was the scripts of the monks (Religion and Technology Class).  During the time of the chiefdoms there was also a trying to preserve of classical times form the part of the Byzantines. “Like Tang Dynasty china seeking to restore the glory of the Han era, Byzantium consciously sought to preserve the legacy of classical civilization and the Roman Empire”(271).  In that case we can see that Christianity was not a bad way of viewing life, but a way of giving society the best they could at the time. What bothers me though is the modern thinking of many scholars and professors who see Christianity as an oppressor of races and cultures because of the inquisitions and the American conquest. It bothers me because it totally diminishes the great contribution to the people that Christianity has done and still does for the world.

            Finally one other reality and truth was that Christianity has had many ruptures or breaking bonds. The church separated during the time of the Christendom. The west excommunicated east and vice versa. The reasons were theological, a and also cultural. The Christian orthodox still remains to be strong during our time, and the Catholic Church is still one of the largest institutions in the whole world. (272-273).

Pacific Islands and the Americas

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

11/07/12

                                                            Pacific Islands

            In class we talked about the different roads or networks in India china, and Europe. One other road or network that was important was the Kelp Highway in the Americas. It is said that maybe the way in which many Asians came after the ice age 11 thousand years ago was through the oceans to the Americas. “It now appears that the northwest coast route opened a millennium or two earlier than the ice-free corridor and that the diversity and richness of coastal ecosystems after the LGM nay have created a ‘kelp highway’ that facilitated a maritime migration from northeast Asia into the Americas”(11, PREHISTORY). It is evident that there is a theory that some people or many people came to the Americas from East Asia. In many ways it seems that the waterways and coming to America through water may have made traveling and arriving faster.

            It is also interesting how seafaring happened thousands of years ago. (120). I see how sophisticated the American people were even before they were supposedly conquered. Now the idea and theory that there was some navigation and seafaring happening is not simply a theory with out evidence. “Support for these ideas is drawn form evidence of late Pleistocene maritime migrations across temperate pacific waters to Australia and New Guinea approximately 50,000 years ago”(22). In that case this theories seem true, although there is not yet totally accepted that the Pleistocene cultures had the ability to be in water or had the skill of Watercraft. 

Commerce and Culture:Chapter 8

Jose Betancourt

World History 1 Blog

Dr. Andrews

11/05/12           

                                    Commerce and Culture:

            While reading this chapter, something interesting that I thought about was the Silk Road. I began to think how human’s brains seemed to be developing, not only biologically, but the ideas became truths and realities. “Silk Road trading prospered most when large and powerful states provided security for merchants and travelers”(220). The social building of this networks aided civilizations to prosper, in the sense that it provided border territory to exchange goods and also ideas. It s profoundly interesting how this Eurasian empires despite of their disagreements, they were or at least there was that “pull” to be with one another or needing from each other to finish a task or to make ones society and culture better. Silk was not only important to have culture meet in the borderlines but was also a form of currency. “In central Asia, silk was use as currency and as a means of accumulating wealth”(221). Silk was also a way to see who belong to the elite. Only the elite could wear silk clothes.

            Silk was very important, like the author says, “Silk roads, trade were a conduct for culture”(229). Different civilizations influenced not only the people in terms of culture, but also in terms of religion. Buddhism for example aided Buddhism to help in the understanding of what Buddhism was and more people were more interested and maybe wanted to join. Another way of traveling or networking in the past r the times of commerce, were the salt roads. The salt roads “enriched west Africa”(232). During the postclassical era west Africa assimilated to other cultures due to its form of doing commerce and trading. 

China and The World(Chapter 9)

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr Andrews

11/02/12

                                    China and The World

            The period of time for chapter nine and china and the world is from the year 500 to 1300. During this time china was a “powerful civilization”(241). The way in which the Chinese were unified by their emperor was through the system of the canals. (242). In that one can see that the canals was not the only way to have an economical stable state but to stretch the borders of china and work for the betterment of the society and the looking to prosperity as an important ideal for the peoples. For the first centuries after the fall of the Han dynasty (220 C.E), the Chinese civilization seemed to have some sort of unity. “But the ruthlessness of Sui emperors and a futile military campaign to conquer Korea exhausted the states resources, alienated many people, and prompted the overthrow of the dynasty”(243). Although the dynasty was overthrown, china did not sufferer any disintegration. After the Sui dynasty the Tang (618-907), and the song (960-1279) were two dynasties that kept unity amongst the peoples, amongst the governments and within the political world.

            The economy and unity of china happened though the help of people, but most importantly through the help of the canal system. “ Supplying these cities with food was made possible by an immense network of internal waterways-canals, rivers, and lakes-stretching perhaps 30,000 miles”(245). In that case one can clearly see that water was an important way of contributing to the civilization in china but the system of unity was what reinforced this great economy they had and the great nation they still are in modern times. 

Classical Era Variations(Chapter 7)

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

10/31/12

                                      Classical Era Variations: Africa and The                                                                                     Americas (500B.C.E.-1200 C.E).

            The chapter begins by talking with some basic truths about the governments of the past, especially in Mexico and how the Mayan people were exploded and not well taught of their own culture, religion and society. The Mayan people after tee conquest was not a culture to look up to. The conquistadors made sure to make the Spanish culture the ideal, and demonized the Mayans to the point, to where many Mayas were probably not happy to be who they were.

            Furthermore, another civilization this chapter talks bout is the Meroe civilization that was close to the Egyptian civilization and ‘fought’ them even though they were later over thought and beaten by neighboring tribes. The Nubian people were from Meroe. “Politically, the kingdom of Meroe was governed by an all-powerful and sacred monarch, apposition occasionally conferred on women”(185). And the dead were buried with “sacrificial victims”. Iron was also a very important tool for the Nubian peoples. The Nubian peoples were also the warrior type, “The wealth and military power of Meroe derived in part from extensive long distance trading connections, to the north via the Nile and to the east and west by means of camel servants”(186). This makes the life of the Nubians one of war and trade. If there was no war than the trade and weapons made could not be used and sold to other neighboring tribes. In class we learned that a lot of the civilizations like the Aegean’s or the Teotihuacán people that preceded the Mayas and the Greeks. The people that came before the great civilizations were usually not thought of. It is therefore important to understand peoples of the past as people with culture, art, religion and also civilizations. 

Eurasia Social Hierarchies:Chapter Six(6)

Jose Betancourt

World History

10/26/12

Dr. Andrews

                                                Eurasia Social Hierarchies:

                                                     500 B.C.E-500 C.E

        During this time civilizations were becoming more stable and the same civilizations, which were becoming more stable, were having strict rules and laws that were there to aid them in control of their surplus. One other interesting fact that was becoming a reality of the ancient times and the hierarchies were the idea of education. “Emperor Wu Di established an imperial academy where potential officials were trained as scholars and immersed in Chinese classical texts dealing with history, literature, art and mathematics, with an emphasis on Confucian teachings”(WOTW.156). This is simply the most interesting fact of the time in my own view of the reading. To want and to desire knowing about the past, understanding the present rules was probably a desire that rose in the minds of the ancients because people were not constantly working anymore. There was more time to think, to understand, and to study certain aspects of reality.

Although all may seem perfect and ideal, the world that people lived in from 500 BCE to 500 CE was also a world in which people suffered a lot due mostly to lack of knowledge regarding the making of laws and being able to change the laws because of ones status. The other reason that surely affected the people during the Eurasian empires and the inventions of the hierarchies were the natural catastrophes. “Towards the end of the second century C.E., wandering bands of peasants began to join together as floods along the yellow river and resulting epidemics compounded the misery of landlessness and poverty”(159). It is simply clear that during this time the reason to join a group and create families were because been alone would cause either death or hunger in the case of those who chose to live an individual life (not having support was probably not an option for those who lacked the basic resources).

Some other idea that prevailed during the Eurasian Social Hierarchies was the Caste system. Where people and humans were organized into hierarchies decided usually by the birth. In modern understanding, those ideas are atrocious. In the past the reasons of having those hierarchies were to control and to have few amounts of people on top of the hierarchy.  Sort of like a kingdom. In this case how much money or property parents left for their children divide the classes. Even though the caste system seems like some atrocious way of doing hierarchy, there were some reasons to have the caste system. One of the main reasons that it is very interesting of why the Indian hierarchies had a caste system is because the “Caste represented a means of accommodating the many migrating or invading peoples who entered the subcontinent”(164). The caste system in these terms was different for the Chinese. For the Chinese, “The Process of assimilation was quite different in china, however; incorporation into Chinese cavitations meant becoming Chinese ethnically, linguistically, and culturally”(164). This means that the caste system had reasons at least in the past. That does not mean that the caste system is justified. At least in the present there is no need for India or china to have a caste system, although some countries may still hold those ‘religious” beliefs, that honestly harm the psychological state of the women and children of the countries in which the caste system is practiced.            

Lastly, The Eurasian hierarchies of were also characterized by religious, philosophical, and political ideals that somehow shaped the society and culture of the times. 

The “Superior Man”

Jose Betancourt

World History

Dr. Andrews

10/11/12

                                                The “Superior Man”

            It is precisely the idea that man is above all and above many other created creatures that makes one wonder. The wonder that I talk about is where did that idea of been more or superior than other creatures come from.  In the reading about the “superior man” one sees another kind of idea of what a great man would do. The superior man in the writings about the superior man is a person who holds virtues and practices them above all. “The superior man in everything considers righteousness to be essential. He performs it according to the rules of propriety. He brings it forth in humility. He competes it with sincerity”(The Analects of Confucius. XV.17). A man who is superior exalts his righteousness, he looks to be virtues and rise above all that could be egotistic. “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions”(XIV.29). IT is clear that the west and east have different conceptions of what the superior man is or should be.

            One other truth about the east and their idea about the superior man enlightened me when I read a piece of Confucius work. The superior man according to Confucius is also that one who does not really want power or to get known for what he does. He rather work to improve his life just for that fact that it is virtuous to do good for ones own life. “The superior man is distressed by his ability. He is not distressed by men knowing of him”(XV.18).  IN this case one could clearly see that the virtuous man is simple that who tried to become good for the sake of been good, and becomes righteous because doing the right thing is the ultimate goal of ones life. Therefore the superior man is that who encompasses all those characteristics.

           

Eurasian Cultural Traditions (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

Jose Betancourt

Dr. Andrews

World History 1

10/09/12

                                    Eurasian Cultural Traditions (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E.

            China from the beginning has been a place of diverse ideas. China is one powerful civilization. China was one of the first civilizations. Reading the chapter about the Chinese empire has increased my knowledge on how great the Chinese civilization was and how it was a place of search. Te Chinese were always looking for order. Usually order of states and empires. One philosophical thought that enlightened my understanding of what kind of feeling was part of their world was the idea of ‘the mandate of heaven”. The Mandate of heaven was a way of trying to unite the states and let them understand morality from a more naturalistic point of view and very similar to the idea of humanism. The Chinese states had many quarrels. There was also a time of war and was. That times called the Warring times by the historians. That epoch took place from 403 to 221 BCE (128). The idea that order should happened probably made some rulers want to conquer other states and become better or try to conquer places that they desired to gain more power.

            Finally one philosophy of the Chinese states that made me understand how human they were the Daoism philosophy which was opposite of the Confucius ideas. The Daoism followers “encourage behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural”(131). They were not looking for order like the Confucians. The Daoism were looking for power in an egotistic way. Similar to modern day world. The governments of the world strive to become the ones with better ideals. They want to show the world that they are better individually and not working together. I would be able to conclude by saying that many of the egoistic ideas of Daoism are still at work in our modern society. 

Herodotus/Class Discussion

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

10/05/12

                                                Herodotus/Class Discussion

            It is amazing and so interesting how much effort and honor Greeks of the past have given to society and the world. Their Hubris and humanism was certain and real in the History of Herodotus. While reading the passage I read, “Spartans were preparing to do or die manfully”(The History of Herodotus Reading). Greeks were people of pride, but people who were also very human. Humanism as discussed in class its not simply having some feelings or emotions about certain aspects of reality. Humanism is hard to explain, but Humanism is in simply terms explaining the world from a human-centric understanding. Humans are in essence the most important. Reality, culture, eating, drinking, relating etc, are acts of humans and one should concentrate all efforts to think of humans all the time are humanism ideals.  Lastly to outline the Greeks humanism as well, as discussed in class, here is an example, “I incline to think that Leonidas gave the order, because he perceived the allies to be out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own mind was made up”(Herodotus Reading). The real and truth about the Greeks is that they had a heart while Persians did not (according to the historian Herodotus). 

Eurasian Empires (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E)

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

10/04/12

                                  Eurasian Empires (500 B.C.E.-500 C.E)

            Empires, kingdoms, and states are usually highlighted with an understanding of people coming together with similar or different political ideas. One reality that made me see culture in a different way after reading the chapter was that people before the 20^th century have lived in empires (Ways of the World. A Brief Global History. Rovbert W. Strayer. 98). The living in empires “brought together people of. Different traditions and religions and… stimulated the exchange of ideas, cultures, and values”(98,99).  The fact that empires co-existed and lived near one another made it easier for many people to have similar thoughts and even maybe formulate similar political structures.

            Many empires of the past have made me see reality in a different way. Looking and reading about empires like the Chinese or Greek empire make me understand why in modern day we act the way we do.  One of the empires that startled me was the Greek empire. They are like the fathers of many modern day values and beliefs. For example Plato the author of the republic was Greek. Greeks are the ones who somehow came out with the idea of citizenship (103), “of free people running the affairs of the state, of equality for all citizens before the law”(103).  It is so interesting on how the Greeks dealt with modern day issues in the past. Greeks wanted to know if people should be able to govern others without been directly involved in the political realm (103).  As it is Greek culture has shaped politics and culture for many centuries in the past. In the same way Greek culture has shaped ideas (specially philosophical ideas of past and present).  Finally, one connection that I found about the Greeks connecting to pre modern slavery thinking is the idea of owning slaves. Although owning slaves was a reality for Greeks, it was not the same way that slaves were owned here in the Americas in the times of Columbus and slavery here in America. Slavery in the Greco-Roman culture was not a way of signaling people because of the color of their skin, but slaves were those who either owed money or lost battles (Religion and Technology Class Notes). Greeks (Spartans) “conquered people who lived in slave like conditions”(103). Modern day slavery was due to the fact that people were of different color. Therefore, my conclusion is that people in the passed seemed to be more civilized than our current world.

Creation Stories: Genesis and Popol Vuh(09/20/12)

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Pan Andrews

09/25/12

                                         Creation Stories: Genesis and Popol Vuh

God has been an idea and a reality for many through out human History. In ancient civilizations, there were those who viewed God in nature during the Paleolithic era. Then God moved to the sky when the invention of agriculture came to be (Religion and Technology Notes). Furthermore, in comparing to older creation stories, it makes one see how the society f the Popel who wrote about the stories grew together and lived and interacted. In the stories of genesis, there is a God who is creating animals, plants, and all the other sea creatures, and birds in the sky (38). Different form the account of Popul Vuh. Pupol Vuh has a creation, but there is a silent world. It can make one think on how the society lived and maybe that they were a society who were very peaceful. It seemed that the creation accounts of Popol Vuh slowly began to create different types of live, “then out of nowhere the mountains and valleys were formed”(39). The sense that things come out of nothing is very similar to the accounts of genesis, and how the God of Israel makes and creates as he Wishes. “God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky”(33).

            Popol Vuh is much more simple it seems. They are quieter. The notion of quietness changes towards the end of the story. “Like the mist, like a cloud, and like a cloud of dust was the creation, when the mountains appeared from the water; and instantly the mountains grew”((39).  The society of the people of the Popul  Vuh is one that appreciates peace, and that also requires humility. “There shall be neither glory nor grandeur in our creation”(39). People in that society cared a lot about mutual respect and not becoming egocentric. In comparison to the people of Genesis, which their God tells them that they could in a subversive way use animals for their own good and not limiting their actions against the animals. Further more, the Popol vuh community had a sense of respect that was not common in many agricultural communities. The Mesopotamians made laws as well as other civilizations, but most of the laws were favoring the elite, or men. It Popol vuh there is much more of a respect for the common people. It also seems that the community of the Popol Vouch had some sense of remaking things if they made mistakes, or people who had a lost connection with their creator (they might have gone through hardships with their crops). The story tells the story of the Gods making humans out of mud at first and was very fragile. Then the second time they made them with wood, but now the problem was that the humans did not remember the God and did not venerate them.  The complexity of the story shows the Popol Vuh people acting in natural human ways. IF we do not get what we want we tend to reject all that exists and try to tell the rest of the world that we are right and they are wrong. So, if there was no rain in a season, the Popul Vuh people lost their crops and probably lost their faith on the God of the sky.

           

Chapter 3: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies (3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E)

Jose Betancourt

First Civilizations

Pan Andrews

09/19/12

                            Cities, States, and Unequal Societies (3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E)

            After the Paleolithic and Neolithic times, there is an encounter with a new way of thinking for humans: A new paradigm, or shift of understanding of the world. Around the year 3500 BCE, there are some historical records to show that civilizations begun to rise. There were three civilizations that rose around 3000 BCE and 500 BCE. One of them was the ‘cradle’ of the middle eastern civilization, expressed in the may and competing city-states of summer, and southern Mesopotamia”(56).  The Mesopotamian civilization is modern day Iraq. Written language was first known as coming from the Sumerian civilization. The language used was used to “record the good received by various temples”(56). The second civilization was growing through out the Nile River. The second civilization was the Egyptian civilization. The Egyptians are known for their pharos and their triangular pyramids. Finally, the third civilization was the Peruvian civilization, which could have risen around d the years 3,000 BCE through 1,800 BCE. “Norte Chico was distinctive in many ways. Its cities were smaller than those of Mesopotamia and show less evidence of economic specialization”(57). Therefore, one could say that these civilizations were very smart and innovative. They were able to move out from the forests, create cities, invent city tools, and in may ways create a new reality for the future humans.

            Furthermore, it is vital to know and to at least think about the question of how all this civilizations came to exist. Some speculate that the reason for the rise of civilizations were the warfare and trade. A scholar argues that, a growing density of population, producing more congested and competitive societies, was a fundamental motor of change”(62).  To add more, “such settings provided incentives for innovations, such as irrigation or plows that could produce more food, because opportunities for territorial expansion were not readily available”(62). Therefore, the competitiveness of who had more of a specific plant, vegetable, animal, were reasons to grow in culture, grow in understanding as ones culture to be better than the other one, and either creating war, or making the neighboring city slaves. In addition, it is interesting how now, humanity looks at the past and thinks that maybe they were not thinking, and that all that happened were random guessed and speculations, but it seems when analyzing the data, and information’s, that they knew what they were doing, and understood what actions could give them power and which actions gave them glory to overcome hunger, but also manipulate people. Ancient people also had developed ways of doing economy in a city-state. “All of them were highly productive agricultural economies”(62), and “Various forms of irrigation, drainage… enabled early civilizations to tap the food-producing potential of their regions”(62). In that case, people could see that ancients did know what they were doing, and knew that if they could control floods, and if they could maintain stability in their region, they would be able to produce a lot and store more, either to ale, or have power over neighboring peoples.

            Finally, it is also interesting how the hierarchies of classes were born, and ho they have impacted society to this present time. “At the bottom of the social hierarchies everywhere were slaves”, and it seems that, “Slavery and civilization, in fact emerged together”(65). It is odd and uncertain how the idea of slavery came to be, but it is true that maybe it could have risen because cities who controlled large amounts of stored produced foods and merchandise needed working people, and in the lack of ways of making people work, they went around making war, and criminalizing people, and to make people who owed them something their slaves, to work hard and produce more, to become “wealthier”(65).

Friday Notes: Paleolithic and Neolithic Era

Jose Betancourt

World History 1

Dr. Andrews

09/18/12

                                    Friday Notes: Paleolithic and Neolithic Era

1.)   It was about 20,000 thousand years ago we, the homosapiens evolved. According to some scholars about 10,000 thousand years later the last ice age occurred. Towards the end of the ice age many ice bridges formed (Bering strait). Through ice bridges is that many of our ancestors crossed to the new land. Their basic food were sea animals, which was the basic nutrition they had. Similarly there were other band of humans migrating to Asia, Australia, and the pacific islands. It also said that Homo sapiens out competed all other species. Like the homfabilis, Homo erectus and many others. The main reason we outcompeted them was because we had a bigger brain and we could stand on two legs and use the two hands to aid us.

2.)   After that we developed basic stone tools to aid us for hunting. During the Neolithic era there were advanced tools. Different types of knives, some to cut raw meat, and others o hunt. Some others to protect the band fro other bands.

3.)   On the Paleolithic era there were people who lived in bands, moving form one place to another, surviving and learning how to be more productive. Late on during the Neolithic times, there were agricultural communities formed. The agricultural communities are said to be formed maybe after the last ice age. The reason for that idea is that the ground was probably more fertile after the ice melted completely. The rain also aided the land and now one knows what happened to change the paradigm.

Chapter 2: First Farmers

Jose Betancourt

First Farmers

09/11/12

                            (The Revolutions of Agriculture): 10,000 B.C.E. -3000B.C.E.

          On this chapter there is a focus on the so-called agricultural revolution. It is interesting how now humans, both men and women were not only using nature but were changing what they found through technology. "They were consciously 'directing' the process of evolution. The actions of farmers n America, for example, transformed corn from a plant with cob of an inch or so to one measuring about six inches by 1500"(Ways of The World, A Brief Global History, Robert W. Strayer, 36). Innovation is what strikes my thoughts when I read about how ancient peoples were very innovative and how they were in some aspect changing moving or accelerating the processes of evolution. 

         Some historians suggest that towards the end of the ice age about 11,000 years ago, agriculture rose. "The end of the last Ice Age, However, Coincided with the migration of homo sapiens across the planet and created new conditions that made agriculture possible"(37). Once again, it reminds me of my first post about the innovative Homo sapiens reality. What I mean by that, is that ancient peoples were very innovative and figured out to understand agriculture, with the most basic technology. Some scholars also say that when humans found wetter, and more humid grounds, it made it possible for humans to grow different plants. It seemed that the evolution of the world, was paving the road for future humans and future generations. Furthermore, in different places around the world, people grew different plants or just a different variety of vegetables. For example in Mexico, corn was part of their daily diet.

            Furthermore, although agriculture was a great new innovation, it also brought a lot of health issues. The reason for that it’s because farming asked for more workers and for people to work harder than the usual work one did during the Paleolithic times. “The remains of early agricultural people show some deterioration in health-more tooth decay and anemia”(47).  It is just so interesting to know how agriculture was a good innovation, but also one that totally changed the lives of all humans. It in many ways forced them to stay in one place (now they have to simply feel satisfied without moving, and disregard their desire of moving). Lastly, the reality about agriculture also brought another question. That question was of whom would lead the people or what rules must be followed. Some agriculture in Mesopotamia used the rule of chiefdoms. The chiefs would be generous people, or were supposed to be generous people. Chiefs would have to be kind to the people. For example some temple priests 6000 BCE, would set and organize irrigation systems and they controlled the trade between societies (51). Finally chiefdoms begun to come about in other places around the world, but it seemed that chiefdoms and many ways and forms were the primal way of doing law or having rules.

Chapter 1: First peoples Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

Chapter 1: First peoples

Populating the Planet to 10,000 B.C.E

• Humans adapted to different environments?
• Instead of using metal tools (Page 12), they used stone and that is why they are called the Stone Age or Paleolithic peoples.
• Many historians disregard the Paleolithic era because there was no writing.
• The 150,000 first years were African adventure, the first human’s steps of humans began and that helped to relate and create a new culture.
• 250,000 years ago is when Homo sapiens first came to be.
• (13) 100,00 years ago is when the first humans started to move out of Africa into Eurasia, Australia and Americas, sometime later they also moved to the pacific.
• Ice age 20,000 years ago.  Created bridges for humans to cross to different places. Humans did this entire long journey with stone tools and some hunting technology to help them survive.

Into Eurasia:

First humans and the first migration happened and that was into the middle east (16). Then westward to Europe about some 40,000 years ago and also east into Asia. Some evidence also shows that the ice age climates around “20,000 years ago pushed north Europeans to the south t warmer climates. There is where they increased their hunting skills”.

Into Australia:

Over ten thousand years all these people have developed many skills, including speaking about 250 languages, collected roots, seeds, fish, and other Marine life.

A drug that guides them through their circles in the fire with songs, dances and stories helped them ritualize or have rituals. That drug altered the state and usually shaman like humans will be in that altered state.

Into the Americas:

There is a Debate. Historians say that the move was, between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago through the Bering Strait, or by sea, downs the west coast of North America.  The first culture found is the Clovis culture, 12,000 thousand years ago to 11,000 years ago.  This is the people who according to archeologist were hunting the big animals, like the mammoth and basin. It’s interesting how the single killing of a mammoth could provide food for weeks for a small community. The thing is that later on in about 10,900 years ago the Clovis people begin to disappear because of the extinctions of mammoths and other species. There is still a debate over what happened but some call it the mega faunal extinction.  Although hunters on the plains kept hunting the basin and others learned how to live on the dessert. The Clovis people still somehow disappeared.

Into the Pacific: The last human migration happened in the Pacific Ocean. Some say that it happened about 3,500 years ago near Bismarck. It was a water migration on canoes. Different from other migratory this people were agricultural smarts and carried plants, and animals in their canoes. Therefore everywhere they went they generated a new way of thinking or developments were created. One was “the creation of highly satisfied societies to chiefdoms, of which ancient Hawaiian society is a prime example”(19).  The other development was the impact that the migrations made to these new environments with their domesticated animals and their new plants. Many animals became extinct and “especially the large flightless birds”(20).

I am just amazed about how intelligent all this Paleolithic people were. What is also interesting is how they thought of carrying plants, fish, and other things with them while traveling to use in their ne place.

          We often have the kind of thinking that our ancestors were superstitious people that were vague and did not know how to deal with problems. It is interesting how innovative many of the tribes were. Some of them like the Chumash (29) had their own currency and own way of making business. It is very interesting on how the San from South Africa who were in someway living some utopia dream. They were very equal. One example that makes me realize how great it would have been to live with the San during that time was the fact that they did not let anyone feel better than others. One way that I will always remember them is because; when the young would go hunting and than would hunt a big animal the San elders will demonize the animal to make the young boy realize that he is not better than them, to humble him and to make him a simple person. I wonder how they got that idea. That also makes me understand that maybe that’s why we, even now, have those principles of morality and prudence (how to be humble and why it is important to be humble). I believe that instead of criticizing our ancestors, we should thank them because it is through them that we are who we are.

Nice:) done with it