According to Jared Diamond, “‘History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of differences among people themselves’” (25). Throughout his novel, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond traveled 13,000 years into the past in order to masterfully explain the history of the world. Questions such as, “How did the world become so unequal?” and “What factors contributed to the development of the world?” are answered through the means of guns, germs, and steel.
During 600 BCE and 600 CE, many countries was going through a drastic change. When analyzing early civilizations, it’s evident there is similarities and differences. The Middle East, China, and Africa were among few countries that advanced during this aeon. All of these empires within the countries have risen and fallen, developing these civilizations to what we know of today.
Western Expansion Western expansion is the populating of the western part of the United States. This event took place in the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, and it was the western area of the United states expanding to the pacific area of America. This event took place in result of the Manifest destiny, gold rush of 1849, the homestead act, and railroads.
Two of the biggest civilizations were the Aztecs and the Incas. Apparently, both of these great civilizations were conquered by the Spanish. The Aztecs and the Incas were not taken down by just the Spanish though. They had their downfalls, because of weak government, lacking of the proper technology and disease. Another major reason for their downfall is because they were not ready for their enemies attack.
One of the differences was that the Mayans were the best civilization out of the other two with a population of 60 million people and lasted the longest, over 3,000 years in existence and started around 2600 B.C. they were conquered by the spanish but came back and eventually slowly died out. (Griffin, pa.2). The Aztecs were the youngest civilization with a population of 20 million citizens and fell in 1521. Aztec society was very complex (meaning that their way of life had many different parts) and stratified (meaning organized and arranged a certain way). The Incas was the largest civilization and it arose during the 13th century, with a population of 16 million people.
Introduction The Western Europe Empire and the Russian Empire were two of the most powerful empires in history. Although both empires made a significant impact on the world, I will be arguing that the Western Europe Empire had a greater impact on the world than the Russian Empire, specifically in terms of art and literature, and military power. Art and Literature The Renaissance was a time of great artistic and cultural growth in Europe, and the Western Europe Empire was at the forefront of this movement.
For anyone with a cultural bone in their body, Greece does not fail to inspire. The culture of Greece has developed from 2100 BC, when the first Greeks settled in their soon to be empire. They started the rich history of Greece. Not only is there rich history, there are also monumental temples, churches, and libraries. In addition, there are also a plethora of intricate handmade pottery, folk music, and statues of gold built by groups of hardworking people who were steadfast in the idea of building the base of society.
The culture of ancient Greece left a lasting influence on the development of Western Civilization and can be attributed with the birth of western philosophy and the concepts of politics. It was also a culture that had an interest in understanding the world around it, creating the study of science, and considering the study of science as valuable as the study of religion. The fact that science is considered highly along with religion is rather interesting considering how religious organizations in later centuries would often seek to demean the results of scientific studies. This apparent coexistence between religion, science, and philosophy in Greek culture is due to how religion was handled in ancient Greece in relation to government and society. How did a mutual coexistence start?
Technology may not seem like it made a huge impact on Western Expansion, but it in fact did. Without the creation and development of railroads, canals and bridges, expansion would have progressed a lot slower and not nearly as efficiently. Railroads allowed farmers to trade crops into the valley and passed the Appalachian’s which were previously off limits due to distance and terrain. Canals are water pathways connecting two bodies of water through a large piece of land. They allowed trade ships to have a shortcut for easier travel on trade voyages.
When reflecting on the two fundamentally conflicting arguments -are foreigners better on their own or do they need our help? “American imperialism” comes to mind. This term denotes the economic, military, and cultural influence of the United States internationally. First propagated during the presidency of James K. Polk, the concept of empire-building in the America’s, developed throughout the late 1800th century. During this time, industrialization caused American capitalists to seek new global markets in which to sell their commodities.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were two early human civilizations that lived during the bronze age in harsh desert environments located not far from each other. Both civilizations were built around rivers that they depended on for survival. There is evidence that these rivers had great influence on both the societies politics and culture. Egypt was built around the very strong and reliable Nile River. Ancient Mesopotamia was established in the fertile crescent between the less reliable Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Christianity is arguably one of the the most influential and important aspects that originated in western civilization. The religion started out as a small sect of Judaism and a man named Jesus spreading his word with a few followers. For centuries, Christians in Rome endured persecution and secret worship. With the appeal of eternal salvation and the hierarchy of the church, Christianity gradually spread, began to rise, and eventually became the prominent religion in Rome. Today, Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world.
`` (Typee 27) When thinking about the term civilization, most people do not seem to have difficulties in defining the meaning of this word, which initially appears to be quiet simple. According to the Oxford dictionaries civilization is `` the stage of human social development and organization which is considered the most advanced. `` (Oxford Dictionaries) But when thinking about how this term was used in history the definition of the term civilization is not as clear as it seemed before. In ``The Discourse of Civilization and Decolonization`` the author Prasenjit Duara claims that the
Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.
The essay will discuss a paper written by anthropologist Gregory Possehl – Sociocultural complexity without the state: the Indus Civilization. It will first present the usual classification when approaching ancient civilisations and briefly summarise Possehl’s main argument. The essay will then dig more deeply into the Indus case, relying on archaeological findings, to see how far Possehl’s position can be supported. Archaeologists and anthropologists are usually classifying social groups considering their social organisation and material culture – one widely accepted classification recognizes four levels of development: (1) the band, a hunter-gather, kinship-based group, (2) the tribe, an organised collection of bands, (3) the chiefdom, a centrally organised kinship-based group with hierarchy and single leader, and (4) the state, a complex, hierarchical, centrally organised, non-kinship-based social organisation (Young 2014:19). Such a classification has stirred debates among scholars, as it conveys the preconceived idea that social groups ‘progress’ following this linear trajectory – furthermore, it is difficult to define the moment and the circumstances associated to a change of status (when does a band become a tribe?)
