Transcript Global History in a Nutshell (empires, colonization, cultural evolution)

World History in a Week:
The Big Picture
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When did Humans arrive on
the scene?
Age of hominids? 5-7 million years
Homo erectus? 2 million years
Homo sapiens? 250,000 years
Neanderthals? 140,000-50,000 y.a.
– Separate evolutionary line? First genocide?
• Cro-Magnon invasion of Europe? 40,000 y.a.
(fully modern anatomy)
Australopithecus afarensis
Homo erectus
Hominid Development?
Hunter-Gatherers
• Humanity’s only “economic” activity for at
least 90% of our existence.
• Low population densities (small groups of
40-60; 1 person/ mi2)
• Largely egalitarian - every person
performs essential functions.
Great Leap
Forward
Lascaux Caves, France
When?
present
50,000 years before
Emergence of modern
hunter-gatherer “toolbox”:
• Fish hooks, Arrows, Bows,
Needles, Engravers, Awls
• Art
• Jewelry (Beads at first)
• Navigation/Boating? (Australia
from New Guinea)
Proposed Causes:
• Voice box development /
language
• Brain organization change
Northern Australia
Human Expansion
Urbanization and increased efficiency lead to
population growth, which leads to need for
more space.
Human Expansion “Out of Africa”
Based on Archaeological and Fossil Evidence
Including Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis
Human Expansion:
based on mitochondrial DNA study of Homo sapiens
Pleistocene Overkill Hypothesis
• Large, slow, or tame animals become
extinct shortly after hunter-gatherer arrival
in New World, Polynesia, Australia / New
Guinea.
– Flightless birds, giant cave bear, ground sloth.
Giant Extinct Moa, New Zealand Skeleton of Giant Ground Sloth, Los Angeles
Agricultural
Revolution
Domestication of Plants
and Animals
• Seed Agriculture - Fertile
Crescent, western India,
northern China, Ethiopia,
southern Mexico (10,000 b.p.)
Rice, wheat, and corn account
for more than 50% of world
population's food calories
and were among the first
plants domesticated (along
with millet, sorghum wheat,
rye, barley).
Agricultural Revolution
Source: Goudie, Andrew. 2006. Human Impact on the Natural Environment.
Agricultural Revolution
Source: Goudie, Andrew. 2006. Human Impact on the Natural Environment.
Agricultural Revolution
Domestication of
Animals
 Dog was probably first.
 Early domesticated
animals: cattle, oxen,
pigs, sheep, goats,
guinea pigs, llama
• role in agricultural
production and success
 relationship to success of
particular cultures: IndoEuropean Horsemen
Agricultural Revolution
Primary effects:
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Urbanization
Social Stratification
Occupational Specialization
Increased population densities
Teotihuacan
Human Expansion
and Ancient Empires
Urbanization and increased efficiency lead to
population growth and increased density,
which leads to need for more space.
Ancient Examples:
 Aztecs, Maya
 Chinese Warlords / Dynasties
 Polynesians
 Roman Empire
 Muslim / Ottoman Empire
Human and environmental costs are inevitable.
The Roman Empire,
27 B.C. to 476 C.E.
Economic basis: farming of wheat, olives, & grapes, mining, fishing, raiding,
and trading
Lasting influences: language, architecture, engineering, law, politics, values
(duty, piety, justice, gravitas, brutality), spread of Christianity after 313 AD.
The Decline of the Roman Empire (400-500 AD)
Germanic mercenaries revolt and others invade Roman Empire.
Lasting Influences / Geographic Effects?
Agricultural and Industrial
Societies Accelerate Extinctions
• Flightless birds, whales, otters
• U.S. Passenger Pigeon
Mauritius, Indian Ocean
Dodo Bird discovered in 1598,
extinct by 1681.
Dodo Bird, Mauritius, Indian Ocean
The “Middle Ages” or “Dark Ages”
• Feudalism
• Roman Catholic
Christianity Dominant
in Europe
• The Spanish
Inquisition (1478)
Jews and Muslims
Expelled/Tortured
The Crusades (1095 – 1272)
Franks and Holy Roman
Empire attempt to retake
Jerusalem from Muslims.
Muhammad and the Rise of Islam
Islamic World circa A.D. 1500
Lasting Influences / Geographic Effects?
Slave trade, Trade Routes, Spread of Islam, Growth of Cities, Mathematics,
Engineering (e.g., waterwheel)
Ottoman Empire (1299-1923)
• One of the longest
lasting empires in history
• Islam, Jihad and state
power intertwined in one
man, the Sultan, as
“protector of Islam”
• State-run education, law,
and judicial system
Lasting influences: Armenian Genocide (1915) one of first modern, systematic
genocides, Islamic architecture, Turkic language, food
The Mongol Empire, 1260
Economic basis: shepherding goats & sheep, horse-based raiding and trading
Lasting influences: religious tolerance, reestablished trade routes like Silk Road,
horse-based warfare, diplomatic immunity, free trade, and paper currency
Age of European Discovery,
Exploration, and Colonization
1492 - 1771:
 Bartholomew Dias (Portugal), 1488 - rounds Cape of
Good Hope
 Columbus, 1492 (Spanish/Italian) - first of four
voyages to “New World”
 Vasco De Gama (Portugal), 1498 - reaches India
 Magellan (Portugal), 1519 - First Circumnavigation
 James Cook (England), 1768-1771 - voyages in
Pacific / Polynesia; end of era of Discovery
The geographical knowledge acquired was
crucial to the expansion of European political
and economic power in the 16th Century.
The Spanish Empire, 1770
Economic basis: naval technology, resource extraction, religion
Lasting influences: language, law, Roman Catholicism, land
distribution in Latin America
Lasting Influences / Geographic Effects?
European Colonization Affected Huge
Swaths of the World (1492-20th Century)
1936
Cultural Imperialism
• Systematic eradication of native culture
• Imposition of Western culture
– Reference group behavior
• Self-Westernization
– Japan, China, Turkey
• Internal colonialism
Industrial Revolution
(The Atlantic-industrial Era)
Belt of industrial cities form an economic
core based on fossil fuel consumption.
1733, First Cotton Mill opens in England
1793, Eli Whitney invents cotton ‘gin
1800, steam engines become common (steamboats,
locomotives)
1837, Morse (and two Brits, independent of Morse ) invent
telegraph
1877, Bell invents telephone
1908, Henry Ford delivers first Model T
Geographic Effects?
• Energy Consumption
• Natural Resources
• Land Use
Global Communications and
Transportation Revolution
Technology:
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Containerization of Cargo (1950s)
Nuclear Energy (Fission)
Television (1950s)
Inexpensive International Air Transport
(1960s - present)
 Internet and earlier Arpanet (1960s)
 Personal Computer (1980s)
 Satellite Communications (1990s)
Lasting Influences / Geographic Effects?
Today’s Technological
Revolution
What emerging technologies will change
the world?
Which parts of the world stand poised to
capitalize on them?
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Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Artificial Intelligence
Robotics and micro-robotics
Nanotechnology
Economic Globalization
Lasting Influences / Geographic Effects?
25 Largest
Multinational
Corporations, 2007
Source: Global Policy Forum
(www.globalpolicy.org)
Globalization
Nearly everything
moves farther and
more quickly today:
Innovations, Diseases,
People, Ideologies,
Financial Crises,
Information.
Human Population Growth
Source: Data from U.S. Census Bureau
World
Population
Clock
(click)
Human Impact on the Planet, 2002
Red represents roads, power lines, major landscape change (e.g.
agriculture), pipelines, and urbanized areas.
Source: UNEP, 2002
End of
Slides