HISTORY, SCIENCE AND TRADE

BY SUSAN HINER

HISTORY 140

WHAT IS HISTORY?

History is the historical knowledge of the events or stories of our past. Due to the differences in people and their viewpoints, varying interpretations of the same fact almost always arises. Although, events like man going to the moon or the invention of electricity, the most important aspect of history is what it means to the individual.

Before reacting or interpreting an event, it’s important to verify the details including what, when, where, why and how. There are primary (eye witness) and secondary sources (written records). Obtaining the facts of an event is just informational, however knowing how to use the fact is real knowledge.

Historical stories can be carried to future generations with rituals, songs, paintings or written records.

Knowledge is power. If you know the facts of your enemy, you can destroy him. However, be careful, because your enemy may have the facts on you too.

WHAT IS HISTORY?HISTORY…MYSTERY...KNOWLEDGE

Decades ago, who would have thought that the facts we considered true then, would be proven incorrect today. With the advancement of technology, we can uncover the mysteries of the past. DNA testing can prove a prisoner innocent and with remote vehicles we can explore the depths of the sea to find past treasures or even the Titanic. Carbon dating can tell us how old a fossil really is and infrared technology can help us read the Dead Sea Scrolls. Computers are so fast, that research time spent on a project that could take months can be reduced drastically. Technology is advancing everyday and although there are still some mysteries and historical remains, someone may find the modern method to solve or find them.

We are what we know and the basic way we view our values and beliefs originates from the past. This is true today as it was for our ancestors. Our world is constantly changing because we keep changing. It seems we never stop asking questions! New discoveries alter our view and innovation changes our culture. In order to keep a value in our culture, we protect it by making it a ritual. Some cultures today still have the beliefs from generations before. We learn about ourselves from the decisions made in the past. We can change our future, which could change in an instant. Life is change. Twenty years from now more questions will be asked and more mysteries solved and we will learn from those and pass them on to the next generation as well.

JOURNEY OF MAN

Dr. Stephen Wells, a geneticist and archaeologist has found evidence on DNA in the Y-chromosome suggesting that we are all related to one man – Adam from Africa. The DNA is passed from father to son and the only change from generation to the next are random mutations that leave a marker. When a marker has been located, the geneticists can go back in time and trace it to the point at which it first occurred, which would be the most recent common ancestor. There are 2,000 generations between us all. The entire earth was inhabited by the 10,000 hominids living there.

60,000 years ago - The first wave of migration out of Africa occurred. 50,000 years ago – They followed the coastline to Asia, crossed the sea and

colonized Australia. The Aborigines are the descendants of the first wave of migration out of Africa.

45,000 years ago - A second wave of hominids left Africa and settled in the Middle East with smaller groups heading to India and China.

One theory why there was such a gap between waves of migration is that it took that long for our genes to mutate. With that improvement, our brain quality increased to produce the ability for language, as well as the ability to create better tools, which in turn made hunting more productive. Other reasons include an increase in population, change in diet and climate change.

40,000 years ago – With the Ice Age slowly departing, humans moved to Central Asia, where it was warm and green. The conditions were perfect for multiplying.

JOURNEY OF MAN

35,000 years ago - Small groups travelled to Europe and since it was colder there, they needed to adapt and therefore future generations were more pale and shorter.

20,000 years ago – Small group of Central Asians moved north to Siberia and the Arctic Circle. Again, they needed to adapt to the extreme cold, so over time, they physically became short and stout.

15,000 years ago – Another Ice Age diminishes and a small group of Arctic dwellers called the Chukchi, followed the reindeer over the Bering Strait land bridge into North America.

The ice melted and they were not able to go back, so they travelled from Alaska to the southwestern part of the U.S. where Indian tribes reside today.

In each major point of Dr. Well’s literal journey, he found the genetic marker from a man who was in a group or tribe.

There are still disagreements between archaeologists and other scientists regarding the age and location of our ancestors.

Given our leaps in technology, group discussion and time, we may find the answers to our origins and how we are related to one another.

CATASTROPHE!

A worldwide dramatic climatic change occurred 1,500 years ago that reduced sunlight, temperatures and rained red drops.

David Keyes, author and historian, researched the relationship between climatic changes and tree rings.

Due to frost and extreme cold, there was no summer. Reduced sunlight caused no growth in agriculture. Humanity had to endure cold, drought, massive floods, no water, not enough food, plague and death.

In order to determine the cause, David consulted over 40 scientific disciplines including astronomers, physicists, climatologist, historians, experts on cosmic collisions, volcanoes, epidemics and ancient wars. Astrophysicists, glaciologist, biologists, Asian studies, chronologists, archaeologists, paleo-ecologists, the CDC and the ecology and animal science group were referred to as well.

Was it a comet, asteroid or volcano? Scientists ruled out a comet or asteroid because they could not account for a large hole and the affects would not have been worldwide.

CATASTROPHE!

Studies indicated that a volcano eruption could have released a dense flow of ash in the atmosphere in order to block out the sun worldwide. Studies indicate that the volcano Krakatoa erupted in 535 AD.

With the cooler temperatures, the rat population increased and with that, the plague and death. Once the rat dies, the fleas would spread the disease to humans.

Due to the Ivory trade, the roman ships brought the plague to Britain in 547 AD. Kind Arthur died and Britain turned to a wasteland.

Disease has had a tremendous affect on us including killing thousands with the plague, and almost wiping out the Native Americans in the U.S.

We should learn from the past and listen to the warnings from the Yellowstone caldera in Wyoming and the caldera on the north side of Naples, Italy. If we are not prepared for the possibility of a volcanic eruption, we will experience, loss of heat, food and communication. Aircraft travel may be suspended and we will experience the consequences of disease and death.

CHANGING INTERPRETATIONOF AMERICA’S PAST

The natives of the Americas were people who lived thousands of years before the Spaniards, Portuguese and French arrived.

Before the Mayflower landed in New England, the Patuxent Indians were exposed to disease of epidemic proportions and it took years to exhaust itself and may have killed 90 percent of the people in coastal New England. It made a huge difference to American history.

The Indians in Peru had faced plagues as soon as the conquistadors arrived. However, smallpox arrived in 1525, seven years ahead of them, brought to Mexico apparently by one sick Spaniard. The disease went south and eliminated more than half the population of the Incan empire. Other diseases including influenza, diphtheria and measles all wiped out the remains of the Incan culture. In 1491 more people lived in the Americas than in Europe.

It is estimated that in the first 130 years of contact approximately 95 percent of the inhabitants in the Americas died, which was the worst demographic calamity in recorded history.

Our history is marked by two groups who changed our world with their inventions: the Middle East and central Mexico, where Indian groups independently created nearly all of the Neolithic innovations, writing included.

CHANGING INTERPRETATIONOF AMERICA’S PAST

Maize, as corn is called in the rest of the world, was successful with global implications. Indians developed an extraordinary number of maize varieties for different growing conditions.

When the Spaniards arrived at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which was bigger than Paris, they were amazed at the wide streets, ornately carved buildings, and markets with goods from hundreds of miles away. They had never before seen a city with botanical gardens, because none existed in Europe.

Marajó is an island located in the mouth of the Amazon, and was said to be one of the outstanding indigenous cultural achievements of the New World. Amazonian Indians literally created the ground beneath their feet with a fertile black soil whose formula is still a secret today.

They were in the process of terraforming the Amazon when Columbus showed up and ruined everything.

Charles Kay, a wildlife ecologist suggests that in ecological terms, the Indians were the ‘keystone species’ in North America and that is the reason for the buffalo’s sudden appearance. When disease wiped out the Indians from the land, the ecological system fell. A population increase among the buffalo occurred, which until then was kept down in numbers due to Indian hunting. The buffalo extended their range and more than sextupled their numbers. Native Americans managed the continent very well back in the 1500’s. If we would like to live as they did we are going to have to grow a lot of corn and have a great big garden.

THE WORLD & TRADE1492 AND COLUMBUS

The people of Columbus’s world before 1492 had limited knowledge of the world, other continents, societies and cultures in. His voyage to the Americas in 1492 had astounding consequences that forever changed the Americas and Europe. Although the Norse voyage to the Western Hemisphere preceded Columbus centuries earlier, their impact on the inhabitants did not leave a lasting impression.

Italy and Spain united forces and went to war with Portugal to take over the Atlantic Islands. Therefore, Portugal’s exploration efforts were postponed and the Spanish rulers put their program of exploration into action with the help of Italian finances. Spain and Portugal’s visit to Rome initiated an act to separate the globe into sections to be dominated. The ruler of Russia broke away from the Mongol rulers and the czar of Muscovy began his expansion efforts. Sweden, Denmark and Norway united and expanded their territory and Hungary fought the Turks, who had great power.

Constantinople was a strategic center of wealth. Turks and other Islamic peoples dominated a majority of the land from the south of Spain across North Africa and into Africa. Columbus brought Christianity to the Americas. Much of India was under Muslim rule. Southeast Asian people were open to other religions. The Portuguese and the Spanish competed with Islam for the Spice Islands, including Malacca, a large trading port.

China explored countries in the Indian Ocean and brought back gifts and prisoners. China was rich and powerful and had no desire to force their religion on others. Due to the cost of expeditions, and no threats by sea, they decided to cease expeditions and instead finished the Great Wall. Japan was independent, with a failing government and overstated wealth.

The Aztecs in Mexico built magnificent cities and did not explore other countries. The Mayan’s had an artistic society and a complex trading network. The Incas expanded over 2,000 miles and created a system of roads to tie the empires. One expedition to a nearby island was unsuccessful and the Peruvians, Mayas and Aztecs never crossed the Atlantic.

Populations multiplied and the staples in western Eurasia, wheat, eastern Eurasia, rice and corn in the Americas influenced how their societies developed.

Islam, South Asia, China and Europe all had their own government structures and societies. Australia, Americas, Africa interior, Pacific Islands and Arctic coast contained agriculture tribes. Southeast Asia and African civilizations with their temples and peasant villages changed for many reasons.

Europeans improved their shipping and gained an advantage due to commerce, contact with other societies and war.

THE WORLD & TRADEEUROPEAN VOYAGES & WORLD CHANGE

The Asia centered world economy had an Islamic rule and trade increased between Europe, China, Turkey and Africa. Trading of all faiths was accepted as long as tribute was paid. Islamic trade groups brought rice to Egypt, cotton to Iraq, paper-making from China to Europe which allowed the spread of cultures and knowledge. Portuguese redirected trade by force, however by the 1540s the Red Sea trade routes were opened and soon after, the Europe-centered world economy began.

Historically, drugs were considered goods that were consumed, sniffed or smoked and were a valuable commodity for world trade. They included coffee, tea, cocoa, tobacco and sugar. Empires were built from this trade and taxes were imposed as a source of revenue. Their use changed from spiritual food to an everyday staple for workers. Culture, social practices and slavery spread to keep up with production levels. They became a cultural foundation that was also harmful.

Global trade of Mesoamerica was far reaching, and they had their own specialized system based on tribute goods to the empire. Once the Spanish arrived, they conquered the Aztec and Mayan political and trade systems, and destroyed cities, all of which ended the successful Indian trade and economy.

Maize and the potato were grown in the Americas and then sent to Europe. The potato served as famine relief, especially in Ireland. It was a nutritious substitute for bread, food for the poor, food for armies in war time and was widely consumed in Europe, more so than in the Americas.

Although sugar made Haiti rich 2,000 years ago, later the French turned it into a plantation and slave prison. Sugar spread to China, Japan, Middle East and Europe. The Portuguese and Italians revolutionized the production of sugar and enslaved the resident Africans. Portuguese also brought sugar to Brazil, making the sugar crop world wide. Eventually, the revenue from sugar and slave trade financed the industrial revolution in Europe.

The tobacco trade brought slavery to the Africans again and was important to the Europeans. The Indians of the Americas smoked, cooked and ate tobacco. The European sailors visited the Americas, tried it too and brought it to China, Japan, India, Europe and the ME. The Spanish controlled the tobacco crop in Brazil which supplied London. In the 1600’s , Virginia’s tobacco sales exceeded London’s, however civil war and environmental destruction were by-products.

Coffee was an Arabian monopoly and an expensive controlled trade. The acquisition of coffee from Mocca was slow in addition to the two year shipping route to Constantinople. Eventually, the coffee seedlings from Mocca were planted in the Americas and sent to Europe, ending the Arab control which could not match the colonial production.

In 1498 of Columbus’s third voyage, he brought horses and cattle to Trinidad and then to the tip of South America. Horses are the center of Crow Indian culture. Cattle ranching began in the Caribbean then reached Argentina.

Indian’s buffalo resource was depleted and replaced by the wheat that Columbus imported.