Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter Seven, in Ways of the World, discusses the different civilizations during the Classical Era and compares each civilization with their counter parts on the other continents, but mainly focuses on Africa and the Americas.  The chapter starts off by giving the reader an idea about how many people lived in the world and how they were spread out on the different continents.  Eurasia from 400 B.C.E to 1000 C.E contained the majority of the population, ranging from 83% to 77% over those 1400 years, while the rest of the world made up the rest.  Africa over the same time varied from 11% to 15%, North America varied from 0.7% to 1%, Central and South America varied from 5% to 6%, and Australia/Oceania varied from 0.7% to 0.4%.  The total population over that same time period varied from 153 million to 253 million.    The book claims that this is the reason why most historians focus more attention on Eurasia then the Americas or Africa.  A big reason for the uneven population was access to domesticated animals and natural resources, like iron.  When historians refer to Africa, Eurasia, the Americas during the classical era they are speaking about the geographic location of the people, not a cultural identity.  Especially in Africa, where there were many different environmental variations that created differences between the societies living in Africa.  These environmental variations played a major role in the development of the societies that lived within them, for example, the area of Africa along the Equator, due to the extreme weather is a very poor location for growing crops and this climate is also known for its disease carrying insects and parasites, which is still a problem today.  This location of Africa was also in a good location for trade due to its close proximity to Eurasia.  The book then proceeds to give examples of different of civilizations in Africa, beginning with the Nubian civilization, a monarchal governed society, from 300 B.C.E to 100 C.E, in the Nile Valley near Egypt.  The Nubian both fought and traded with Egypt.  Next, was the Axum civilization, located in the Horn of Africa and thrived on a plow based farming system and a very successful port where it took part in Red Sea and Indian ocean commerce.  Christianity was introduced to this area by the merchants that came to trade, once introduced Christianity thrived; this happens right around the same time as the Roman Empire’s belief in Christianity took hold.  In West Africa, along the Niger River, from 300 B.C.E – 900 C.E, there was a great period for growth.  A dry spell, in the Southern Sahara, that lasted about five centuries after 500 B.C.E, forced people down to the more fertile areas along the river.  This people came with domesticated animals, agricultural skills, and knowledge of iron tools.  These groups of people formed a network of cites, that were ran independent of each other and no of them had a political structure.  The most important of these cites had to have been the city of Jenne-jeno, which was estimated to have held up to 40,000 people.  Civilizations of Mesoamerica came next.  Civilizations of Africa and Eurasia benefitted from geography that promoted trade and transfer of ideas, but because of the vast ocean between the two continents, the Americas would have to wait a longer time to learn from their counterparts.  The Maya, one of Mesoamerican major civilizations, has been traced back to 2000 B.C.E.  It was during the classical era that their most notable achievements happened.  During the time between 250 and 900 C.E the Maya developed a mathematical system, calendars, and predict planetary movements.  They also development the most advance writing system in the Americas as well as Architecture and advance landscaping technology.  Around the year 840, the Maya suffered from severe drought and lost about 85% of its population.  Just north of the Maya, in Mexico, there was the great city of Teotihuacan.  The city was started in 150 B.C.E and it is estimated that this city held 100,000 to 200,000 people around the year 500 C.E.  It was the largest city in the Americas by far.  It had an advance infrastructure with a grid like design.  The book then moves on to talk about the Civilizations of the Andes.   The most well know of the Andes civilizations is of course the Incas, but before them and one of the world’s first civilizations was the Norte Chico.  The Norte Chico dates back to around 3000 B.C.E.  The book focuses on the Classical Era, and on two civilizations specifically the Chavin and the Moche, these civilizations came before the Incas but after the Norte Chico.  The Chavin lived in the costal and mountainous regions of Peru between the years 2000 B.C.E and 1000 B.C.E.  As a society they were a violent and religious group.  Human heads were found were used as trophies.  By 750 B.C.E the Chavin had shrunk to a population of about 2,000 to 3000 people.  While the Chavin was slowly fading out the Moche civilization was flourishing between 100 and 800 C.E.  This civilization had an advance irrigation system that used run off from the Andes to water their crops.  This society was ruled by warrior-priests, which lived atop pyramids.  The people in the society were very advance craftsman.  The area they lived in was very vulnerable to extreme weather and scholars believe that this weather weakened them and this led to aggression from neighboring civilizations.  Moving, now to North America during the Classical Area, you would find two different cultures, The Ancestral Pueblo and the Mound Builders of the Eastern Woodlands.  The Pueblo people lived in the southwestern region of North America.  This area was very tough area to live and raise crop, so it took a while for the crops to adjust and it wasn’t until around 600 to 800 C.E did village life begin.  The different settlements or villages were linked together by trade.  As dependence on agriculture and population grew, these aboveground structures, known as pueblos, also grew.  The pueblos acted as hubs that linked settlements together on over 25,000 square miles.  But because of war, drought and internal conflict by 1200, these great houses had been abandoned and the people moved out to smaller communities.  The Mound Builders of the Eastern Woodlands lived in the area around the Mississippi Valley and were mainly hunters and gathers.  However by 2000 B.C.E, the people living here learned how to domesticate local crops, these crops were not sufficient enough to live off of but went nicely with the food they were already living on.  These people got their names from the very large and striking burial mounds and geometric earthwork.  Around 800 C.E this culture learned how to harvest corn which allowed for larger populations and more complex societies to emerge.  The dominant center was Cahokia and it was there that a pyramid the was 1,000 feet wide, 100 feet tall and 700 feet wide became a the largest structure north of Mexico and the focal point for a community in that numbered in the 10’s of thousands.