Was the Agricultural Revolution Good for Humanity? 10,000 years ago, humans underwent a dramatic shift in lifestyle. For the majority of their existence, humans were hunter-gatherers. As defined by Carol Ember, professor of history at Yale University, hunter-gatherers were nomadic foragers who hunt and gather food rather than farm it (Ember 2). Even today, hunter-gatherer societies still exist.
They were amongst the countries to colonize the newfound America. Like many other European countries they entered a foreign country and claimed it as theirs with no regards of the people already living there. When we talk about the British Empire, we actually have two different Empires. The first Empire was from 1450-1800, and the main focus was on America. The colonies were then seen as places to trade, not as markets which produced raw materials.
By the end of the century, most northern and western African countries had totalitarian or undemocratic regimes and legacies of violence. In South Asia, specifically India, multi party democracies were established after independencies from European colonists. Although India had one national party called the Congress Party, this political group included several parties with different ideologies and interests that people could choose from democratically. There was few civil discord, since the division of India and Pakistan eliminated any cultural differences capable of creating political issues. Ever since its independence, India acquired a Western form of political government, allowing elections, civil rights, and political order.
Each culture dies and becomes a civilization, until it disappears. It is all a cycle. In fact, each of the cultures he talks about, follow a precise life circle, which starts from the birth, followed by the growth, later the decline and in conclusion with the death and a destiny. In his book, Spengler interest goes more on the west and the classical culture, finding
Imperialism was an age where countries expanded into new continents and territories for military, economic and religious purposes. The idea of Social Darwinism spread which was originally introduced by Charles Darwin. However, Europeans interpreted his theory of natural selection as an idea that they had to civilize the uncivilized, which turned out to be Africa and Asia. They formed three types of governing bodies in different areas, colonies, protectorates, and spheres of influence, each doing something slightly different but all with the same idea, civilize the uncivilized. In Africa, it was viewed that the natives were uncivilized people; how they ate and spoke were signs to the Europeans that the African people were uneducated.
The World on the Turtle’s Back is a work by the Iroquois native Americans that was from around 2000 bc. It was passed on orally from generation to generation and expressed how the Iroquois tribe thought the world was created. They believed that the world was created by a group of gods. This story also shows that during this time most Native American literature was probably passed down orally, which is very different from how we usually pass on our stories today. John Edward’s Sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a piece of literature from colonial times.
Decolonization refers to the process by which colonies became independent and were allowed to govern themselves; from a state of ‘colony’ to that of ‘Republic’. Presently, there are 16 remaining non self-governing territories (Decolonization, 2015). It took different forms with different countries. For some, it was gradual and peaceful while others were violent and characterized by native rebellions who were fired up by nationalism. There were various factors that led to decolonization in Africa particularly after the Second World War (WWII) when European countries generally lacked the wealth and political support necessary to suppress revolts in the colonies (Decolonization, 2015).
She is bringing up the term of the “global village phenomenon”, stating that “the invention and spread of agriculture, the rise of colonialism, later the Industrial Revolution, and today globalization, electronic technology, etc., have created the global village phenomenon”. She continues by saying that European and Asian languages have somehow conquered the world and that Africa and China are gradually being put in the same state; proving that the global village phenomenon has not shown its spectrum yet. On the other hand, it seems interesting too to mention one more different, sociolinguistic approach, which is adopted by Mekacha (1993). Mekacha raises the issue of the “dominant/minority dichotomy”. Seen under the sociolinguistic perspective, he suggests that the dominant language will be the one spoken by the “dominating social group”, in contrast to the minority language, which will be spoken by the “dominated social groups”.
At the time prior to its full-fledged globalization, The Americas were thought to be completely isolated from the Eastern Hemisphere. It served as the origins for the Amerindian Peoples and as a place for ethnolinguistic diversity. Essentially, The Americas were a cultural contact zone for both the indigenous people and the outsiders to simultaneously experience cultural synthesis. Providing some background on how these concepts come into play with the phases of globalization, a contact zone can be defined as, “social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (Pratt/Lecture, 2018).
The process which led the United States gaining independence, in the beginning, was around the 18th century were the eras of decolonisation which was the period after second world war. As the native nationalist movement required numerous Europeans to leave Asia. Middle East and Africa. The united states have always acted as an empire in this propensity to addition new people and territories. However, it set itself separately towards classic example of European colonial imperialism.
Chapter Review (pg. 6-29) A: Human migration across the globe was the complete spread of the human species over much of the earth’s surface. The species began in eastern Africa; most types of humans come from this region, in the present day countries of Tazmania, Kenya, and Uganda. Main discoveries, especially fire and the use of animal skins for clothing-both of which allowed people to live in colder climates-facilitated the spread of Paleolithic groups. The first people moved out of Africa about 750,000 years ago.
The term “Columbian Exchange” is used to describe the period of time in the fifteenth and sixteenth century following Christopher Columbus’ arrival to America (Crosby, 1972). This event kicked of a series of events that resulted in agricultural products, cattle, microbes, and ideas all being exchanged between America, also known as “The New World”, and Afro-Eurasian, also known as “The Old World”. These events would transform the entire world forever. Even though this term describes what took place starting in 1492, it was not until Alfred Crosby wrote “The Columbian Exchange” in 1972 that the term became widely accepted and used by most historians. Many of these ideas that were exchanged such as a written alphabet and new farming capabilities
Neandertals contributed to the genetic pool of today’s population leaving behind their adaptive legacy with the modern human. This contribution of DNA is a shared 1-4% of the Neandertal nuclear DNA which is an indication of a small but significant admixture. Given that Africans share no nuclear DNA with Neandertals it is clear that the genetic contribution of Neandertals to todays modern society happened between early modern Europeans and Neandertals after the H. sapiens left Africa. People outside of Africa today most likely have DNA that originated from
The Kingdom of Kush was the Empire to the south of the Egypt. Their leader did not rule,their leader suggested and led discussion. Kush’s social structure was similar to Egypt’s. Kush were minor changes and levels. The main order is the Pharoahs on top,nobles,craftsmen,and artisans,and farmers,laborers and slaves at bottom.
For the period 500 BCE to 1200 CE, the societies of Africa and the societies of Americas both developed primarily in isolation. The geography of these regions and environmental variations created great distance between the emerging civilizations within the two continents. For example, In Africa the civilization of Axum, located on the horn of Africa, emerged with ties to Arabia. The proximity to the Red Sea linked Axum with Egypt and subsequently Christianity.