NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ANSWER BOOK FAST FACTS ABOUT OUR WORLD

WHAT WAS THE GREEN REVOLUTION?

During and shortly after World War II, the results were indisputable. In the rice productivity almost doubled, and 249
the Rockefeller Foundation led efforts I960s, these crops were introduced green revolution crops accounted for
to boost agricultural productivity in to such rapidly growing countries as most of the world's agricultural pro- »z
developing countries by applying sci- Mexico, India, the Philippines, Indo- ductivity gains in the I960s and 1970s
ence to the selective breeding of high- nesia, Bangladesh, and Egypt. Asian and for 80 percent in the I980s. Vl
yield, high-protein "miracle crops."
These efforts produced many new MASS PRODUCTION depends on top technology. Here an Iowa combine reaps 27,000 ~
strains of fast-growing rice and wheat. bushels-over 750 tons-of corn in one harvest.
Miracle crops often yielded two or m
three harvests per year, compared with
one for most traditional breeds, and ;;D
each crop was two to three times larg-
er; often they were more drought and ooOJ
disease resistant as well. Critics point-
ed out that the crops often required A
more water, fertilizer, pesticides, and
money than indigenous crops, increas- o3:
ing costs for small farmers. However,
o
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Aquaculture: The rearing of fish, shellfish, and some aquatic plants to supplement the natural supply. / Hybrid: From Latin ibrido, "mongrel."
Offspring of parents that differ in genetically determined traits; usually refers to animals or plants resulting from a cross between two races,
breeds, strains, or varieties of the same species accomplished by human intervention .

THE FUTURE OF FISH FARMING

One of the fastest-growing areas occurs in developing countries, with
of food production in the world is China accounting for a bit more than
aquaculture, or fish farming-the two-thirds of the world's total output.
controlled breeding, raising, and har- Aquaculture now produces 40 per-
vesting of fish and the cultivation of cent of the fish that people eat around
seaweed. Techniques for fish farming the world; experts project that by
date back some 4,000 years in China. 20 I0, fish farming may overtake cattle
ranching as a world food source.
About 90 percent of aquaculture

A CHINESE FISH FARMER stands proudly amid a swirl of catfish he has grown .

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE BIOLOGY & ANATOMY OF FISH see Fish, CHAPTER 4, PAGES 158·9

+

THE GROWING WORLD POPULATION see World Populotion, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 250·1

GUINEA-BISSAU / 7. 1 31
NIG ER / 7. 1 .!;1

EAST TIMOR / 7.0 l!l
AFGHANISTAN / 6.8
r~o
ANGOLA / 6.8
BURUNDI / 6.8 ::J

LIBERIA / 6.8 rr0oo.
SOMALIA / 6.8
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC V>
OF CONGO / 6.7
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MALI / 6.6
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a:: rom around 8000 B.C. to the mid-17th century, the in less developed countries: Sub-

w world's population grew slowly from 10 million to Saharan African countries such as

~

V)
z Mali, Niger, and Uganda have rates of
« 500 million. The human presence on Earth was lim- increase over 3 percent. In the more

ited by the planet's carrying capacity-its ability to developed world, by contrast, rates

sustain human life on the available land. Then, be- are typically low or even declining.
ginning In the 19th century, the industrial revolution, huge Russia and Germany, among others,
will see their populations drop over

Increases in agricultural productivity, and great strides in the coming decades.

health care brought about an explosion in human numbers. Country populations also grow

or shrink due to migration. Immigra-

From one billion people in the early The growth equation is simple: tion to industrialized countries has

1800s, the population expanded with Births minus deaths equals the rate been on the rise since the 1980s.

increasing speed, reaching 6.6 billion of natural increase. At a 2007 an- Canada's foreign-born population

in 2007. More than one-third of that nual rate of 1.2 percent, population is close to 20 percent, and immi-

total lives in two countries, China and growth worldwide translates by 2050 grants make up well over 10 percent

India, with populations of 1.3 billion to a total of 9.3 billion human beings. of populations in the United States

and 1.1 billion respectively. Much of that increase is taking place and Ireland. Small, wealthy countries

FAST FACT The total number of humans born since 50,000 B.C. is estimated at 105.7 billion.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

EARLY HUMAN MIGRATION see Human Migration. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 220·1

+

URBANIZATION IN RECENT TIMES see Cities. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 260-1

such as Qatar or Singapore draw 251
foreign workers in droves; poorer
nations in war-torn regions, such »z
as Botswana, swell with refugees as
well as job seekers. Ul

NEWBORNS ABOUND at the Xining ~
Children Hospital, Qinghai Province, China.
Chinese population experts predict a small m
baby boom in the coming years. Already
110,000,000 children under six live in China. ;;D

FAST FACT By 2050. India will be the world's most populous country, With 1.7 billion people. ooOJ

THOMAS MALTHUS I POLITICAL ECONOMIST A

Born into a society that believed in steady human progress, Englishman Thomas o~
Robert Malthus (1766-1834) took a dimmer view. A professor of history and politi-
;;D
cal economy, Malthus published An Essay on the Principles of Population as It Affects C-
the Future Improvement of Society in 1798, which notes that although the populations
O
tend to grow geometrically---exponentially-food supplies increase arithmetically, at
a constant absolute rate. Clearly, he said, the future holds famine, unless populations o-0
could be held in check by such means as war, disease, and abstinence. Malthus under-
standably failed to foresee the agricultural revolution or the advent of widespread -0
contraception. Nevertheless, his views continue to be influential among economists
and policymakers in a world beset by rapid population growth, war, and famine. C
c-

~

oz

" Population, when unchecked, Increases In a geometrical ratio. Subsistence "

increases only in an arithmetical ratio. - THOMAS MALTHUS, 1798

THE AGING WORLD

Although populations continue to grow, countries will face the problem of hav- POLISH ELDERS meet at a park in Krakow
fertility rates on average have dropped. ing a dwindling workforce supporting a and pass their time playing--or commenting
This, combined with improvements in populace in need of more health care, on- a game of cards.
health care and life expectancy, means even while countries at the other end
that the world's population is an aging of the spectrum will contend with many
one, particularly in industrialized coun- young mouths to feed and educate.
tries. By 2050, 26 percent of Europe's Every country, in the end, will face the
population will be over 65, as will be same challenge of nurturing a chang-
21 percent of North America's. These ing population with limited resources.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

WORLD HISTORY IN MALTHUS'S TIME see Revolutions 1600· 1800, Nationalism 1790- /900 & The Industrial Revolution 1765- /900, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 298-303

+

ADVANCES IN MEDICINE see Medical Science, CHAPTER 8, PAGES 338-45

oo~ ransportation shapes the world: Along with
communications, it forms a global net that con-
co nects each person to the next, one city to an-
n:: other, and every country to every other country.
Transportation routes, such as roads, waterways,
w and airways, as well as vehicles-feet, carts, steamships, jets-
are vital to the functioning and spread of every civilization.
~
A country's economy depends on The earliest way of traveling was
V) reliable transportation for its trade. undoubtedly by foot, and humans'
Cities spread out along roads, rivers. earliest means of transporting goods
z and rails. Information travels along was carrying loads on their back or
« CIRCA 3500 B.C. the same routes, as do armies, who head. By 4000 B.C., people were us-
depend on roads as much as they do ing domesticated animals for trans-
First known w heel. Mesopotamia weapons in their campaigns. Until port, a method greatly improved
the 20th century, these routes were in some parts of the world by the
3000 B.C. by land or water. With the invention invention of the wheel, which was
Egyptians bu ild sailing ships of powered flight, the air became an probably first developed in Mesopo-
open road as well. tamia around 3500 B.C.
A.D. 1769
Cugnot invents steam-propelled vehicle

1783
Montgolfier brothers fly hot-air balloon

1807
Fulto n operates successful steamboat

1885-1886
Daimler & Benz build gas-powered auto

1903
Wil bur and Orvi lle Wright fly airplane

FOR MORE FACTS ON

MAPS & THEIR ROLE IN HUMAN TRANSPORTATION see The History of Mopping & Mapmaking, CHAPTER I, PAGES 20-1, 24-9

+

ANIMAL MIGRATION see Migration, CHAPTER 4, PAGES 172-3

Until the 19th century, animals JET AIRCRAFT picked up speed rapidly during the Cold War era. The fastest supersonic craft 253
were the engines of land transpor- was the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (above), which logged 24 years of service with the Air Force. On
tation. But with the invention of the its final flight, in March 1990, the two-seat titanium Blackbird set a speed record by flying from Los »z
steam engine and the internal com- Angeles to Washington, D.C., in I hour, 4 minutes, 20 seconds-an average of 2,124 miles an hour.
bustion engine, railroads and automo- Vl
biles revolutionized travel and trade. Although the Montgolfier broth- spurred rapid technological advances,
More than 600 million cars and trucks ers and their successors took flight in including the advent of jet aircraft in ~
travel the world today. balloons in the 18th century, air travel 1939. In 1958, Pan American World
was not practical until the invention Airways began transatlantic passenger m
Water has always been a fast and of powered flight in 1903. Within service and air travel blossomed. Pas-
economical mode of travel, and even ten years, the commercial aviation senger volume worldwide is forecast ;;D
today it remains a primary mover of business had begun. Two world wars to reach 2.8 billion annually by 2018.
heavy goods. The importance of wa- ooOJ
terways to human civilization can be
seen on any map: Virtually all of the A
world's major cities are located on
coastlines or rivers. As early as 7000 -I
B.C., people were building dugout ca-
noes; long-distance sailing ships were z»;;D
common by about 3000 B.C. Steam
and internal combustion engines Vl
greatly boosted the speed and effi-
ciency of ships in the 19th and 20th o-u
centuries. Until the I950s, ships were
the chief means of overseas passen- ~
ger travel. Now most oceangoing ves-
sels are used to carry heavy cargo or oz
for military transport.

HOW DID HUMANS BUILD WITHOUT WHEELS?

Once ancient builders had the wheel, ramps, rolling logs, and brute force. had to drag the stones up ramps. The
they could transport heavy materials The 2.5-ton blocks of sandstone, mysterious folk who built Britain 's
to their building sites. Yet even be- granite, and other materials that built Neolithic monument Stonehenge may
fore the wheel, civilizations managed the pyramids could have been floated have used similar techniques. Some of
to build huge, heavy structures, such on barges down the Nile from their its massive stones were quarried in
as Egypt's pyramids or Britain's stone quarries-but on land they would Wales, 240 miles away. The builders
circles. How did they do it? have to have been dragged on sleds, may have used rafts, sledges, log roll-
perhaps over wooden rollers. Once ers, and serious muscle power to bring
Most theories involve a combi- at the building site, workers probably the stones to Salisbury Plain.
nation of water transport, sledges,

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

CITIES AS GATEWAYS OF TRADE & TRANSPORTATION see Cities. CHAPTER 6, PAGE 261

+

ENGINEERING ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANCIENT & MODERN see Physical Science: Engineering. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 332-3

NESTLE SA
Switzerland

KRAFT FOODS, INC.
USA (Il linois)

CONAGRA, INC.
USA (Nebraska)

PEPSICO, INC.
USA (New York)

UNILEVER PIC
UK & Netherlands

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND
USA (ill inois)

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a:: rade-the traffic in goods-has been a so- traded wools, gold, silver, glassware,
w
cial and economic institution since prehistoric olive oil, and wine.
~

V)
z The Vikings, better known as raid-
« times. In the form of gift, barter, or sale, trade ers, were traders as well. In the early

can take place between individuals, clans, com- Middle Ages they traveled along the
panies, or countries. It is closely linked to trans- coasts and rivers into what is now Rus-
portation, so the people who have dominated world trade sia. They carried furs, amber, jewelry,
and glass throughout northern Europe.

have typically dominated its trade routes as well. In the south, the Crusades opened up

the Near East and the Silk Road routes

Phoenicians were among the world's dynasty began to spread out across to Venetian traders, among them the

great early trade powers. From about overland caravan routes. Flourishing inimitable Polo family.

1200 B.C., Phoenician galleys domi- from 200 B.C. to A.D. 200 and again With the age of exploration and

nated shipping in the Mediterranean about I ,000 years later, these routes the opening of sea lanes to Asia, com-

for more than a thousand years. Their eventually linked Asia to Europe and merce and national power became even

wares, including bronze, gold, ivory came to be known as the Silk Road. more closely linked. In the 17th and

and glass artifacts, textiles, and furni- More than silk traveled these routes, 18th centuries, companies dedicated

ture, have been found from one end of however. Asian traders bought spices to trade with Asia were formed in

the Mediterranean to the other. like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to Europe, most notably the Dutch and

To the east, the Chinese of the Han Europeans; Mediterranean merchants the English East India Companies.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

EARLY MAPS FOR TRADE & TRAVEL see The World in Mops & The History of Mopping. CHAPTER I, PAGES 18·21

+

TRADE IN MEDIEVAL TIMES see Middle Ages 500-1500. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278-81

These organizations were practically insula, Ceylon, the Malabar Coast of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. New eco-
countries in their own right, exercis- India, Japan, and South Africa in the nomic theories, industrialization, and
ing sovereign powers, administering 1600s. In the 18th century the English revolutions in transportation and com-
colonies, and waging war. The Dutch East India Company established a mo- munications have begun to change the
East India Company exercised a trade nopoly in India and China, maintaining face, but not the underlying nature, of
monopoly in Indonesia, the Malay Pen- political control over most of India until world trade.

• .• 255

Commerce: The exchange of economic goods on a large scale. I Monopoly: The exclusive possession of a market by a supplier of a product »z

or service for which there is no substitute. Vl

WHAT IS CURRENCY? ~

In prehistoric times-and even in some with admiration the Chinese paper m
contemporary African SOCietles- money he encountered in the 13th cen-
cattle were used as currency. By I 200 tury; Europe did not use paper currency ;;D
B.C., the Chinese used cowrie shells; until the 17th century. China also expe-
200 years later, they began to circulate rienced the hazards of easily printed ooOJ
metal versions, the first coins. Round, currency early on: Medieval Mongol rul-
stamped coins of precious metals ap- ers printed so much that it became vir- A
peared in Turkey, Greece, and the tually valueless, a problem still plaguing
Roman Empire beginning in 500 B.C. many inflation-racked countries today. ()

In A.D. 806, China created the first o
paper money. Marco Polo described
3:
3:

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()

m

CURRENCY typically means metal coins and
paper money to modern users, but any agreed-
upon item, arbitrary and consistent, can suffice
as a symbol of monetary value.

LOCAL TRADE

Barter- a moneyless trading system
still prevalent in traditional socie-
ties- is the oldest form of commerce.
Almost anything can be bartered: la-
bor for food, cattle for sheep. But the
person doing the bartering must put
time and effort into finding a partner
willing to trade . Bartering exists today,
supported by the Internet (and taxed,
when possible, by the government) .

CHINESE FARMERS discuss the price of
a calf: Local economies continue despite the
growing prevalence of international commerce.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

HUMAN PREHISTORY see Human Migration, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 220-1

+

IMPERIALISM & TRADE see Imperialism: Middle East & Africa 1500-/900 & Imperialism: Asia & Pacific 1750-/900, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 304·7

WORLD TRADE TODAY

T256 he mercantilism of the 17th survive without trade with other occurs between the richest countries,o
and 18th centuries, in which countries, and for some, international demonstrating what economists call
-c-r-:' countries sought to accu- trade makes up more than half the na- the gravity equation: Like attraction

o
5 mulate wealth and territory through tional income. This exchange of goods between two masses, the volume of
«z dominance of trade, has given way and services benefits trading partners trade between two countries is pro-
L in recent years to an interdependent by allowing them to export the goods portional to the size of their econo-
:J

I web of associations in which countries that they are best at producing and mies and the distance between them.

w promote trade in order to build their import those that are best produced Richer countries typically ex-
I

I- economies. Few nations now could abroad. The greatest amount of trade change different varieties of similar

x manufactured goods, such as auto-

V) mobiles. When higher income regions

cr:
w trade with lower income regions, the

l-

n«.. richer countries usually provide more
I
U complex goods, such as electronic

equipment, while low-income coun-

oo~ tries provide primary goods such as
CO minerals. Smaller, poorer countries

cr: are more likely to be dependent on
w
5 exporting a single commodity, such as
V)
coffee or petroleum. In general, poor,
z
« labor-abundant countries tend to ex-

port labor-intensive goods, such as

textiles and shoes, and the countries

rich in arable land will export foods

such as grains.

Germany, the United States, and

China, with its rapidly growing econ-

omy, now lead the globe in the total

value of their merchandise exports.

In general, the value of a country's

imports is close to the value of its

exports. The exception is the United

States, which, driven by huge consumer

demand in the early 21 st century, im-

ported far more than it exported. The

CRUDE OIL OPTIONS TRADER at the New York Mercantile Exchange yells out a bid. Even result of such a trade imbalance has
the most sophisticated marketplaces still teem with human emotion. been a large trade deficit.

FOR MORE FACTS OJ\! .

THE INTERNET AS A FORCE FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS see The Internet. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 348-9

+

UNIONS, AGREEMENTS & ASSOCIATIONS AMONG COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD see Nations & Alliances. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 358-9

OUTSOURCING

Although outsourcing, or hiring out- CALL CENTER RESPONDENTS live and work in Mohali, Punjab, India, but they answer 257
side contractors to perform jobs service questions from American users of Quark software.
that could be done by employees, »z
has been much in the news in recent educated workers in countries such as developed countries, where local
years, it is nothing new to business. India. Outsourcing and offshoring con- workers feel they are losing jobs to Vl
tinue to be controversial topics in many foreign competitors.
In recent years outsourcing has ~
been increasingly linked to offshoring,
the use of contract labor from other m
countries. This form of outsourcing
is driven by differences in labor costs, ;;D
since workers in countries such as
China or India typically make a small ooOJ
percentage of the wages paid in the
most developed countries. A

Facilitated by the 24-hour con- o~
nections of the Internet, service jobs
such as customer call centers have ;;D
long been popular forms of interna- C-
tional outsourcing.
O
Increasingly, jobs in areas like fi - -I
nancial management and information
technology are also going to well- »;;D

o

m

o-I

o
2<

WHO INVENTED CONTAINERIZATION?

American businessman Malcolm slow and inefficient. He saw that car- vast networks compnslng merchant
McLean started out as a truck driver go could be packed and shipped far ships, rail, and road links. Standard -
hauling farm goods during the De- more easily if goods were packed into ized units whose shipping costs fall
pression, but he ultimately developed separate, detachable freight contain- as their payload increases, containers
a system that revolutionized world ers that could be hauled by trucks or have greatly reduced time and costs
trade: containerization. trains without being emptied. in shipping; a shipment from Hong
Kong to New York that took 50 days
McLean recognized that unload- Containerization soon broke in 1970 now takes just 17.
ing trucks and ships crate by crate was down transport barriers and created

FAST FACT The United States accounts for about one-fifth of the world·s imports of fuel.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE HISTORY & VARIETY OF MODES OF TRANSPORTATION see Transportation. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 252·3

+

THE ECONOMY OF HONG KONG see Asia. CHAPTER 9, PAGE 392

oo~ s they have done with other necessities of life,
humans have taken the need for shelter and
co turned it into a social statement and an art
n:: form. At its most basic, human shelter must
provide protection against the elements, a
w place to sleep, a location for a fire, access to the outside, and
a light source. Yet even cave dwellers more than 30,000 years
~ ago went so far as to decorate the walls of their caves with
exquisite images of bears, lions, mammoths, and humans.
V)
As civilizations grew up around cen- North America, or limestone in the
z ters of trade and agriculture, human Karst regions of China.
« shelters came to reflect a host of influ-
ences. They incorporated their envi- They also reflected social and
BURJ DUBAI / 3, I 17 FEET ronment in both their plans and their economic status. By the Middle Ages,
materials: mud bricks in the ancient wealthy landowners built themselves
D ubai, United Arab Emirates (and modern) Middle East, wood in large castles and palaces that served
the forested realms of Europe and as social centers, defensive fortifica-
TAIPEI 101 / 1,669 FEET tions, and visible exemplars of power,

Taipei , Taiwan

BUSAN LOTTE TOWER / 1,620 FEET

Busan, South Korea

SHANGHAI WORLD FINANCIAL
CENTER / 1,614 FEET

Shanghai, China

ABRAJ AL BAIT TOWERS / 1,591 FEET

Mecca, Saudi Arab ia

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE
CENTRE / 1,588 FEET

Hong Kong, China

FOR MORE FACTS ON

TREES & FORESTS see Trees. CHAPTER 4, PAGES 142·3, & Forests. CHAPTER 5, PAGES 196·203

+

THE MIDDLE AGES see Middle Ages 500-1500. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278-81

while peasants shared their single- and oriented toward local mountains spawned suburbs, with larger houses 259
room dwellings-built with straw and and streams according to the practice standing on more land. Technology
mud-with their animals. The social of feng shui, which seeks to maximize brought heating, lighting, and indoor »z
extremes of Europe in the 17th and nature's positive influences on the in- plumbing to the masses, while steel
18th centuries found their greatest habitants. Houses in China were typi- and elevators made tall apartment Vl
symbol in the palace of Versailles, the cally built around an inner courtyard, buildings possible.
French royal residence, a complex of without windows to the outside, to ~
extravagant buildings on 37,000 acres protect a family's privacy. Contemporary building tech-
that could house 5,000 inhabitants niques and materials have made hous- m
(mostly servants). In the Western world, the indus- ing more comfortable for much of the
trial revolution brought new technol- world, but the rules that governed the :;D
Grand palaces also formed VIS- ogies and an expanding middle class. ancient Romans still apply to 21 st-
ible displays of imperial power in Asia, These prospering workers built them- century dwellings: Wealth, occupa- ooOJ
but everyday houses exemplified the selves more standardized, comfort- tion, and social status still playa part
spiritual and social philosophies of the able, single-family houses, even while in shaping human shelters, from the A
average family. Chinese houses were the poor crowded into tenements. favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the Mc-
(and often still are) built facing south Improved transportation routes soon Mansions of the American suburb. Vl

I
m

~

m

:;D

•:

Feng shui: From the Chinese. "wind" + "water." A traditional Chinese method of arranging the human and social world in auspicious alignment

with the forces of the cosmos. / Tepee: From the Dakota. "to dwe ll." A tall conical tent dwelling used by the Plains Indians of North America.

I-lAVE YURT, WILL TRAVEL

Homes need not be anchored to the ground. Nomadic A HOUSE IN THE ROUND, the ger-still a common dwelling in
peoples around the world have perfected portable, practical Mongolia-is constructed of a wood frame and fabric covering.
dwellings that can be packed up and moved on short notice.
The nomads of Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, for instance, live in
ergonomic round structures of felt on wood lattices, called
yurts or geTS. These can be rapidly disassembled, packed into a
truck or onto a camel's back, and transported to a new place.
The camel-herding Tuareg of Niger also move frequently.
Their sturdy tents, supported on curved sticks, are built and
owned by the women of the community. Evenki reindeer
herders also live in canvas or deerskin-covered tepees that
they pack up and move as they follow their herds.

The simple, efficient construction of these kinds of
portable homes has changed little over the generations.

":OR MORE - ACTS ON

THE TREND TOWARD URBANIZATION The Industrial Revolution 1765- /900. CHAPTER 7, PAGE 303

+

URBAN LIFE see Cities. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 260-1

8000 B.C. / 10 million
A.D. 100 / 200 million

1000 / 265 million
1700 / 500 million

1800 / I billion
1927 /2 bi llion
1960 / 3 bi llion
1974 /4 billion
1987 / 5 bi llion
1999 / 6 bi llion
2008 / 6.7 billion
2025 (PROJECTED) / 7.9 billion
2050 (PROJECTED) / 9.3 billion

oo~
co

a:: alf of the world now lives in cities. Between globalization of the economy, the roles

w
1960 and 2007, city dwellers more than tripled of world cities are less about imperial
~

V)
z power and more about multinational
« in number, from I billion to 3.3 billion, while the corporate organization, international

world population roughly doubled, from just banking and finance, and the work of

over 3 billion to 6.6 billion. Analysts predict 6.4 international agencies.
billion urban dwellers by 2050-86 percent of the population in These influential cities do include

some of the largest in the world, in-

more developed countries and 67 percent in less developed na- cluding London, New York, and To-
tions. China and India will account for one-third of the increase. kyo. But they also include Brussels,
Chicago, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Paris,

Clearly, the world's cities are growing City size is not the only factor in Singapore, Zurich, and Washington,

in both size and number. deciding which areas become domi- D.C. These world cities are centers

In 1975 there were 174 urban ag- nant in the world. Ever since the ad- of authority, containing specialized

glomerations of I to 5 million people vent of merchant capitalism in the firms and expert professionals. They

and 17 urban areas of 5 to 10 mil- 15th century, certain cities, known as channel their nation's resources into

lion. Today there are approximately world cities, have played key roles in the global economy and transmit the

360 metropolitan areas of I to 5 mil- the world's economy. In earlier cen- impulses of globalization back to na-

lion and 30 metropolitan areas of 5 turies, these were such cities as Berlin, tional centers-pivotal points in the

to 10 million. Venice, and Lisbon. Today, with the reorganization of global space.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE RAPID EXPANSION OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION see World Population. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 250·1

+

THE GREAT CITIES OF AFRICA see Africa. CHAPTER 9, PAGE 371

YESTERDAY'S GATEWAY CITIES, TODAY'S HISTORY

Some of the world's biggest and de Janeiro in the Americas; Luanda istrative centers. Before long they 261
most prosperous urban centers arose and Cape Town in Africa; Aden in Ye- developed their own manufacturing
during the 17th century as gateway men; Goa and Colombo around the industries and commercial and finan- »z
cities- cities that because of their Indian Ocean; and Malacca, Manila, cial services. As colonies developed,
location served as links between one and Macau in East Asia. many gateways grew rapidly, becom- Vl
country or region and others. ing major population centers as well
Protected by fortifications and as important markets for imported ~
Gateway cities include Boston, European naval power, they began European goods.
Charleston, Savannah, Recife, and Rio as trading posts and colonial admin- m
•• • • •
SHANTYTOWNS ;;D

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The unprecedented rates of urban WITH HOUSES built right up to the water line, this favela, or shantytown, represents the
growth in developing regions have precarious edge of urban sprawl in Manaus, Brazil, a city of more than a million on the Amazon.
been driven by rural push- overpop-
ulation and the unemployment in the one million poor Cairenes to live in rent and do not own the land, but in
countryside-rather than by the pull "cities of the dead" among the tombs some cities they have developed a
of resources of towns and cities. Many of Cairo's cemeteries. Occupants in sense of community ties and a viable,
cities, particularly in developing coun- these ramshackle settlements pay no if difficult, way of life.
tries, have added more people than
they have jobs or housing. This overur-
banization creates instant slums, char-
acterized by shacks, open sewers, and
squatter settlements. Typically, well
over one-third of the population of
major cities in less developed countries
lives in these unofficial settlements.
The shantytown of Dharavi in Mum-
bai, India, contains 600,000 people in
tin shacks on just one square mile of
land- land said to be worth ten billion
dollars. The favelas of Rio de Janeiro,
over 500 squatter settlements on the
city's hillsides, have housed the poor
for generations. Housing shortages in
Cairo, Egypt, have driven as many as

FAST FACT More than 20,000 Chinese leave the countryside to settle in urban areas every day.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

HOUSING see Shelter. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 258-9

+

HISTORY OF THE 17TH CENTURY see Renaissance & Reformation 1500- /650 & A New World 1500-1775. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 294-7



263

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ANCIENT HISTORY
3500 B.C.- A.D. 500
From the rise of Sumer in
Mesopotamia and the beginning of
writing to the fall of Rome

MED IEVAL HISTO RY
A.D. 500- 1500

The Middle Ages, through the time Co-
lumbus and other European mariners
reached the Americas

MODERN HISTORY
I500-present

An era of expanding European empires
and then two world wars

co

a:: round 10,000 B.C. the Ice Age waned, the planet and in other such towns lived people in-

w

~ began warming, and humans had to adapt. volved in nonagricultural trades, includ-
They did so with great ingenuity. Many of the ing merchants and potters.
zV>
« By 6500 B.C., artisans at the town of

larger mammals on which people had relied <;atal Huyuk in Anatolia (modern-day

for food died out as a result of global warming Turkey) were hard-firing pots in kilns.

The potter's wheel, developed later,

and overhunting. At the same time, edible plants flourished in may have inspired wheeled vehicles.

places that had once been too cold or dry to support them. Artisans in Anatolia and Mesopota-

mia also pioneered the craft of smelting

By 8000 B.C., people in some parts of Some of the earliest settlements copper. This led to the development of

the world had moved beyond gathering arose in a region called the Fertile Cres- bronze and ushered in a new techno-

plants to cultivating them. They domes- cent, extending from Mesopotamia to logical era, the Bronze Age, which suc-

ticated animals, too. Eventually, people the eastern Mediterranean coast. By ceeded the Stone Age. By 3500 B.C.,

who practiced agriculture in fertile areas 7000 B.C., about 2,000 inhabitants- advances in agriculture, metallurgy, and

raised enough food to support special- more than ten times as many as found other crafts had laid the foundation in

ists involved in various trades, fostering in a typical hunter-gatherer band-lived Mesopotamia for the emergence of

the growth of complex societies. in Jericho, near the Jordan River. There cities and the rise of civilization.

FAST FACT The cultivation of rice began In Southeast Asia around 7000 B.C.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

MIGRATION TRENDS & CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EARLIEST HUMANS see Human Migration. CHAPTER 6. PAGES 220·1

+

CROP DOMESTICATION & THE EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURE see Agriculture. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 246· 7

WHAT DO B.C. AND A.D. MEAN?

B.C. stands for "before Christ" and A.D. Some historians preferc.E. and B.C.E. 265

stands for anno Domini, Latin for "in the ("Common Era" and "before the Com- »z
mon Era") . Dates in the two systems are
year of the Lord." Both terms origi- Vl
nated when scholars took the year in identical, and B.C. and A.D. are still widely
which they thought Jesus Christ was used, including in this book. ~
born as the basis for dating events.
But if, as the Gospel of Matthew in- THIS CUNEIFORM TABLET from Iraq, m
dicates, Jesus was an infant when King seventh century B.C., tells of a great flood in the
Herod the Great of Judea died, then ;;D
he was born just before 4 B.C. EPic of Gilgamesh.
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THE THREE AGES OF HUMAN PREHISTORY
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In Greek mythology, the ages of man were stages of decline for humanity, beginning with the idyllic Golden Age of old
and continuing through the violent Bronze Age to the corrupt Iron Age. Today, historians use similar terms, but they have
a different way of defining the ages of human prehistory, based on technological advances.

THE STONE AGE was the first phase in hu- THE BRONZE AGE followed , a period de- THE IRON AGE, which began around 1200
man technological development. It is divided into lineated by the developing technique of metal- B.C. in Europe and 600 B.C. in China, was distin-
three periods: the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, smithing: mixing molten copper with tin or other guished by iron tools and weapons, more durable
and the Neolithic, each period representing new alloys to produce metal tools. In Greece and and widely available because iron ore was more
advances in tool manufacture. The Neolithic, China, the Bronze Age dates from about 3000 plentiful than the tin needed to produce bronze.
or New Stone Age, began around 10,000 years B.C.; in the British Isles, it did not occur until Production of iron tools and weapons seems to
ago and witnessed the production of better about 1900 B.C. Distinctive inventions of the have been accompanied by increased patterns
stone implements and the introduction oftools Bronze Age include the wheel and ox-drawn of permanent settlement, and the great cities
and weapons made of copper and other metals. plow, greatly increasing agricultural potential. of the ancient world date back to this period.

•;

Domestication: The process of adapting wild animals and plants to make them more useful to people. I Metallurgy: Art and science of

extracting metals from their ores and modifying the metals for use.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

LANGUAGE AMONG EARLY HUMANS see Language. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 228-31

+

MODERN TECHNOLOGY see Physicol Science: Engineering. Medicol Science: Surgery & Nanotechnology. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 332·3, 342-3,350·1

CIRCA 3500 B.C.
Sumerians develop cities

266 CIRCA 2900 B.C.
Powerfu l city-states emerge in Sumer
1;::
2334 B.C.
o King Sargon of Akkad conquers Sumer

l- 1792 B.C.
Hammurabi establishes
V>
Babylonian Empire
I
CIRCA 900 B.C.
o Assyrians expand in
northe rn Mesopotamia
oa--:-:'
539 B.C.
~ Cyrus the Great of Persia

z conquers Babylonians

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a:: arking the dawn of human civilization, in temples, and scribes kept accounts
by drawing pictographs of common
w objects such as sheaves of grain. Over
time, those pictographs evolved into
~ abstract characters known as cunei-
zV> ancient cultures built impressive cities or form, inscribed in clay with a stylus. Su-
« ceremonial centers adorned with fine works merian scribes used this form of writ-
ing not just for bookkeeping but also
of art and architecture. All had strong rul- to inscribe on clay tablets their laws
and legends, thus preserving a record
ers capable of commanding the services of their civilization for posterity.

of thousands for public projects or military campaigns. Most By 2900 B.C., Sumerian cities were
expanding into city-states that con-
used writing to keep records, codify laws, and preserve wis- trolled surrounding villages. Warfare
between rival city-states such as Ur
dom and lore in the form of literature. and Uruk, which had more than 50,000
inhabitants, took its toll. In 2334 B.C.
The world's first civilization arose in Building and maintaining that irriga-
southern Mesopotamia, where the tion system required strong leadership
Tigris and Euphrates converged to and yielded agricultural surpluses that
form a fertile floodplain. Here the Su- fed people in emerging Sumerian cities,
merians dug canals to bring river wa- where merchants and artisans pursued
ter to their fields in the dry season. their trades. Surplus grain was stored

FAST FACT Assynan armies numbered up to 200.000 men and were divided Into several diviSions: cavalry, light

Infantry armed With bows, and heavy Infantry armed With swords and spears.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE IMPORTANCE OF CITIES IN HUMAN CULTURE see Cities, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 260·1

+

MATHEMATICAL ADVANCES MADE BY THE ANCIENT BABYLONIANS see Counting & Measurement. CHAPTER 8, PAGE 323

the Sumerians were conquered by T u RK Cas p ian
Sargon of Akkad, a land to their north, HETH Sea.
who forged an empire reaching from
the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. 4, ME DIA
His dynasty was short-lived, but later
Mesopotamian rulers followed. Among E", ~ .r ASSYRIA
them was Hammurabi, from Babylon,
who united Mesopotamia under his ,01.;. 0 267
authority and codified the laws of his
realm. The Babylonian Empire he fos- , .0 oli-11i I RAN »z
tered was shattered in 1595 B.C. by the
Hittites, invaders from the northwest. M edi.te r ranean S YRIAN AKKAD.>-so-'':to~ Vl
Their collapse around 1200 B.C. left a DESERT
void in the region that was later filled Sea fCANAAN Babylon,~ -1 ~
by the Assyrians, who wielded iron ISRAE "-so'
weapons and ruled with an iron first. -l Jerusalem-, I ~ m
·- o~ IRA Erech.SUMERIA
In 612 B.C., Babylonians overthrew I:qWER ;;D
the Assyrians and regained power. EG PT ELAM
Storming Jerusalem, they carried cap- ooOJ
tive Jews off to Babylon but yielded to fertile Crescent Ur' PARSA
superior force in 539 B.C. when Per- A
sians led by Cyrus the Great overran ,IEGYPT ...., 0';.......m,i "-==~~4~0, 0 KUWAIl (PERSIA)
the region and went on to forge the 11
largest empire the world had yet wit- 0 km 400 Persian
nessed-from northern India to Egypt.
Gulf

THE MIDDLE EAST, or Near East, extends from the southern and eastern Mediterranean to
Iraq, once called Mesopotamia. Centers of civilization clustered in this fertile land in ancient times.

WHAT IS THE MIDDLE EAST?

Because the Middle East straddles two Christianity. In medieval times, it gave
continents, armies, migrants, mer- rise to Islam .
chants, and ideas have long moved
steadily through the region. In recent times, the discovery of
vast oil reserves and the establishment
In ancient times, this was the Fer- of Israel in this largely Muslim region
tile Crescent, the cradle of civilization, have made the Middle East one of the
and the birthplace of Judaism and world's most hotly contested areas.

FAST FACT Some Sumenans sold themselves or members of their family Into slavery to escape poverty or debt.

WHAT WAS HAMMURABI'S CODE?

IMPRESSIONS IN CLAY evolved into the Hammurabi's Code is a collection of the two and cast them into the wa-
first system of writing, such as those shown in laws written during the reign of Ham- ter. " Yet the very act of putting laws
this transcription of Hammurabi 's Code. murabi in the 18th century B.C. and in writing protected people from ar-
recorded on a stela, a stone marker, bitrary punishment. If defendants felt
in the temple of the Babylonian god they had not received justice under
Marduk. It was discovered in 190 I. the law, they could appeal to Hammu-
rabi, who included as part of his legal
By modern standards, the laws code, inscribed on the stela, these
set forth by Hammurabi seem harsh. words: "Let the oppressed man who
"If the wife of a man is caught lying has a cause come into the presence of
with another man, " Hammurabi's my statue and read carefully."
Code decreed, authorities "shall bind

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

MEDICAL PRACTICES CITED IN HAMMURABI'S CODE see Medical Science: Surgery, CHAPTER 8, PAGE 342

+

COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY see Asia. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 380·3

co gypt's Nile Valley was one of the most fertile places
a:: in the ancient world. Each summer, monsoon rains
w swelled the Nile and flooded surrounding fields,
depositing a rich layer of silt. In prehistoric times,
~ people settled along the river and began cultivating
wheat and barley and building rafts of papyrus. Around 3000
zV> B.C., a king from Upper Egypt led forces into the Nile Delta and
« CIRC A 3000 B.C. conquered Lower Egypt, founding the first of more than 30
dynasties that would rule this land over the next 3,000 years.
King Narmer unifies Upper and Lower
Egypt (the N ile De lta) Rulers from Thebes (today's Luxor) (ca ISSO B.c.-1070 B.C.). when Egypt
inaugurated the Middle Kingdom reached the height of its power. New
CIRCA 2700 B.C. / OLD KINGDOM around 20S0 B.c.-a time of expansion Kingdom rulers such as Ramses II sent
Egyptian pharaohs begi n when Egyptian troops conquered much armies against the Hittites and other
of Nubia (Sudan). Lords of Thebes Middle Eastern rivals. By 1000 B.C..
constructing huge pyramids also repelled an invasion by warriors however. Egypt was losing strength. In
called Hyksos around 1630 B.C. Thebes centuries to come, it fell subject to one
CIRCA 2550 B.C. emerged as capital of the New Kingdom foreign power after another.
Pharaoh orders Great Pyramid at Giza

CIRCA 2050 B.C. / MIDDLE KINGDOM
After drought and famine. order
is restored

CIRCA 1630 B.C.
Hyksos invade Nile Delta

CI RCA 1550 B.C. / NEW KINGDOM
Theban ru le begins

FOR MORE FACTS ON

EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY AS THE BASIS FOR TODAY'S CALENDAR see Telling Time. CHAPTER 8, PAGE 325

+

THE COUNTRY OF EGYPT TODAY see Africa. CHAPTER 9. PAGE 364

WHO WERE THE PHARAOHS?

Along the Nile River, irrigation al- and laborers for military campaigns completed around 2500 B.C. Pyramids 269
lowed Egyptian farmers to increase and public projects. Over time, the symbolized the soaring ambitions of »z
the amount of land under cultivation term " pharaoh" came to mean both pharaohs, who identified with the
and to produce enough food to sup- the king and his palace. sun god Re. One text written in hi- Ul
port people involved in other pursuits, eroglyphs by a royal scribe promised
including priests and rulers. Powerful Around 2700 B.C., Egypt entered its that the pharaoh's spirit would rise up ~
men called pharaohs- a term mean- first great age of power and prosperity, from the pyramid and "ascend to
ing "great house"- collected taxes in known as the Old Kingdom, marked heaven as the eye of Re"- inspiring m
the form of grain and drafted troops by the construction of massive royal the image on the American dollar bill.
tombs like the Great Pyramid at Giza, ;;D
THE MUMMY of Ramses II, who reigned in
WHAT'S A MUMMY? Egypt for 67 years, from 1279 to 1213 B.C., ooOJ
now lies on display in the Cairo Museum.
Egyptians sought to preserve the body In later times, however, many Egyp- A
after death, fearing that the wandering tians were mummified and buried in
soul might be lost if it had no corpse coffins on which spells were inscribed m
to return to. Mummification, prepar- to ward off evil and launch the spirit Cl
ing the body of the dead by removing safely on its heavenly journey. " I shall
perishable internal organs and em- sail rightly in my bark, " reads one such -<
balming the remains, was a practice verse. "I am lord of eternity in the
originally confined to royalty. Poor crossing of the sky." Mummified ani- "lJ
people buried their dead in the sand, mals were buried as offerings to dei-
which inhibited decay. ties such as the cat goddess, Bastet. --I

RAMSES III PHARAOH OF EGYPT

It was not uncommon for Egyptian kings to have numerous wives and offspring,
but Ramses II went to extremes by fathering more than 100 children during his
long reign. His principal wife, Queen Nefertari, had to share him with many sec-
ondary wives, including his sister. (Incestuous unions were common within the
royal family.) Secondary wives sometimes lived together with their children in
households called harems and performed useful tasks such as weaving. After bat-
tling Hittites at Kadesh in Syria in 1285 B.C., Ramses made peace with the Hittite
king by engaging to wed his eldest daughter. He then prayed to the gods to see
her safely to Egypt: "May you not send rain, icy blast or snow, until the marvel you
have decreed for me shall reach me!"

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE PLACE OF MYTH IN HUMAN HISTORY see Language. CHAPTER 6, PAGE 229

+

THE PYRAMIDS & OTHER WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD see Engineering. CHAPTER 8, PAGE 333

CIRCA 2500 B.C.
Harappan civilization develops

CIRCA 700 B.C.
Upanishads, Hindu scripture, composed

270 C IRCA 560 B.C.
Siddhartha Gautama, founder
1;:: of Buddhism, is born in India

o 327 B.C.

l- Alexander the Great invades India

V) 321 B.C.

I Maurya dynasty is founded

o

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5

z AD. 320

w
>w Gupta dynasty is founded

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n India, as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, civilization arose Gautama, known to his followers as
'oo" in a fertile floodplain-in this case, the Indus River Valley. the Buddha, or Enlightened One, and
co the teachers who composed the Upa-
nishads.
a:: Abundant harvests from irrigated fields there fed the growth
w Around 520 B.C., Persians con-
quered the Indus Valley and made it
5 of cities such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, which gave a province of their empire. Two cen-
turies later, Alexander the Great took
V) control here but withdrew after his
z troops rebelled.
« its name to the Harappan civilization that emerged around
Alexander's departure left be-
2500 B.C. Those cities were laid out on plans with standardized hind a power vacuum that was soon
housing for the common people, larger residences for the elite, filled by Chandragupta Maurya, who
came from the wealthy kingdom of
and a sanitation system with bathrooms linked to sewers. Magadha in the Ganges Valley. He and
his descendants forged an empire that
Seasonal flooding helped nourish the mountain passes from Afghanistan and covered all of the Indian subcontinent
fields but was sometimes catastrophic. Iran (named for the Aryans). Gradu- except its southern tip. That empire
Mohenjo Daro had to be rebuilt at ally, Aryan rulers called rajas expand- reached its peak with the conquests
least nine times. Ruinous floods may ed from the Indus Valley into the lush of Ashoka, who, after establishing his
have contributed to the decline of Ganges Valley and formed more than
Harappan civilization after 2000 B.C., a dozen states or kingdoms across
when the cities were abandoned. northern India. Aryan doctrines were
questioned and reinterpreted by In-
Around 1500 B.C., invaders called dian philosophers such as Siddhartha
Aryans entered the valley through

FAST FACT Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language still used by Hindu scholars, IS related to Greek, Latin, German, and

English-all belonging to the Indo-European language family.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

EARLY RELIGIONS OF INDIA see Hinduism & Buddhism CHAPTER 6, PAGES 234·5

+

CITIES IN HUMAN CULTURE see Cities. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 260·1

expanded reign, renounced violence )'PrRham~n rA
and embraced Buddhism. The Indus \Valley FGHAN ISTAN 1 Dheri", .~-~ l #

Ashoka died around 235 B.C., and • Pre- ~arappan earl y • Mundigak ;-/'vl q,n.ab ~ V' j:' .
India fractured into competing king-
doms. In the fourth century A.D. anoth- (' Pe r ia n Oll
er ruler from Magadha, called Chan- r - -Ghundai Ja lipu~
dra Gupta in honor of Chandragupta farming settlement / Ropar
Maurya, begin reunifying India. Under . . Kile Gud . • va~' n•iwHaalrappa
the Gupta dynasty, trade, crafts, sci- • Major City ~f . . . Mohamm ad. . Rana Ghundal _
ence, medicine, and the arts flourished. l JHarappan Ci Vilization ~ Damb--S-a"daa~
By now, Hinduism was the dominant ~To_ g_a_u· • Debar Kt S . • Kah.bangen
faith. Doctrines such as reincarnation Harappan heartland •• Mehrgarh • KudwaIa
were enshrined in sacred texts like 2500 s.c t o 1800 B,C. 0
the Bhagavad Gita. The Gupta dynasty Nowsha ro • • Lurewala Ther
declined around A.D. 450 as nomads
from Central Asia invaded India. ~A ~~mi' ~~200 PAKISTAN Trekoe )

o km 200 • Nal _ Kotas0r-· 271

Mohenjo Daroe. ... »z

IRAN ~ ~Lohum~' 0 Daroe Kat Dljl INDIA Ul
• Chanhu Da ra
Sut kagen .So Pandi Wahi- I ~
Do r. Amri.
m
• ~ • .Ka~h~
;;D
:I-Sot ka Koh
Balakot ooOJ
A ll ahdi~~~ Ghara Bhi 0
A
A r ab i an --.; .De: a lpur iurkotada .
S ea ",of' z
Kotada
OMAN o
"Ra ngpur. • Lotha l »
Present-day country boundaries and names shown in gray.

THE RICH INDUS RIVER VALLEY in today's Pakistan and northwestern India
cradled a remarkably sophisticated society in the third and second millennium B.C. Remains
of ancient cities suggest an organized economy, social hierarchy, and civic infrastructure.

WHAT'S THE CASTE SYSTEM?

India's caste system had its origins in and landowners, and an underclass of to social status. Children were to take
the class system of the Aryans, who laborers and peasants. The lowest of up the work of their parents and to
invaded India around 1500 B.C. and the low were so-called untouchables, marry within their caste. Although
long dominated the country. who performed tasks considered individuals had little opportunity to
unclean such as butchering animals. advance socially, the caste to which
At the top of the Aryan social they belonged sometimes rose in
hierarchy were priests known as Over time an elaborate caste status as its members gained wealth
Brahmans, followed by a ruling warrior system evolved, with hundreds of and political power.
class, commoners such as merchants occupational groups ranked according

ASHOKA I PROMOTER OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

Like the Roman emperor Constantine, whose conversion spread Christianity
through the Mediterranean world, the Indian emperor Ashoka (ca 265 B.c.-235 B.C.)
embraced Buddhism and promoted its teachings across Asia. Ashoka underwent
his conversion after a brutal campaign of conquest in which his troops claimed tens
of thousands of lives. Renouncing violence, he devoted himself to peaceful pursuits,
including founding hospitals and building roads and inns to promote travel and trade.
He preached religiOUS tolerance and stressed principles such as mercy, compassion,
and kindness to animals, appealing to Indians of various sects, who believed that all
creatures had souls. By supporting Buddhist monasteries and missionaries, he helped
the faith he espoused advance beyond India to Tibet, Southeast Asia, and China.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

INDIA'S CASTE SYSTEM see Race. Class & Gender, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 226·7

+

GEOGRAPHY & NATIONAL PRODUCTS OF INDIA TODAY see Asia, CHAPTER 9, PAGE 386

co hina's first kings came to power along the
a:: Yellow River, so called for the yellow soil along
w its banks. That rich soil was fertile, but it clogged
the river and caused floods. Chinese chronicles
~ credit a king named Yu with taming the river's
floods and founding the Xia dynasty. Rulers mobilized laborers
zV> for flood-control projects and grew stronger in the process.
« CIRCA 2200 B.C.
Beginning around 1750 B.C., the Shang surrounded the royal district. Like
Civi lization emerges along Yellow River dynasty succeeded the Xia and ex- other ancient civilizations, the Chinese
panded beyond the Yellow River became highly stratified, with great
CIRCA 1750 B.C. Valley. Around their cities, the Chi- gaps in wealth and status between rul-
Shang dynasty begins nese built defensive walls up to 35 ers or nobles, peasants or slaves.
feet thick, made of earth rammed
CIRCA 1100 B.C. between a frame of timbers. At the Around I 100 B.C., challengers
Z ho u dynasty begi ns and expands south Shang capital, Anyang, from about from western China overthrew the
1300 B.C., villages and workshops Shang and founded the Zhou dynasty,
CIRCA 550 B.C. for bronze smiths and other artisans whose rulers claimed they had a man-
Philosopher Confucius is born date from heaven to govern China as

403 B.C.
Period of the Warring States

221-206 B.C.
Q in Shi Huangdi is emperor of China

AD. 220
H an dynasty collapses

FOR MORE FACTS ON

SOIL CLASSIFICATIONS & ELEMENTS THAT MAKE SOIL FERTILE see Soil, CHAPTER 3, PAGES 96·7

+

THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF THE WORLD' S RIVERS see Rivers, CHAPTER 3, PAGES 116-7

long as they did so wisely and justly. dynasty in 206 B.C., which lasted more BRONZE EFFIGIES of ancestral spirits al- 273
Their kingdom reached southward than four centuries. lowed veneration of ancestors, an ancient
to the fertile Yangtze River Valley, tradition in China. Confucius urged his follow- »z
where rice was cultivated. To rule Han emperors governed China with ers to revere their parents and honor them
that vast domain, they relied on local the help of officials schooled in the after death. Many Chinese did so by making Vl
lords, who had their own troops and teachings of Confucius, a philosopher offerings of food and wine to ancestral spirits.
equipped them with iron weapons. By born around 550 B.C. who urged rulers ~
the fifth century B.C., Zhou rulers had to lead by moral example. "Approach China fractured into rival kingdoms and
lost control of those lords, and their your duties with reverence and be was menaced by invaders from Central m
kingdom was splitting into rival states. trustworthy," Confucius advised; "em- Asia, who were advancing on several
ploy the labor of the common people fronts and threatening other empires ;;D
After nearly 200 years of strife, only in the right seasons." Han rulers around the world.
known as the Period of the Warring did not always follow that advice. Peas- ooOJ
States, the ruler of the strongest state, ants remained desperately poor and
Qin, unified China and took the title were often conscripted to serve on A
Qin Shi Huangdi (First Emperor). The the empire's expanding frontiers, from
heavy demands he placed on the pop- Vietnam to the Korean peninsula. Late ()
ulace led to a rebellion after the First Han emperors faced uprisings, and in
Emperor's death, ushering in the Han A.D. 220 the dynasty came to an end. I

»Z

FAST FACT Emperor Qin Shl Huangdl wanted to link defensive barriers In northern China into one wall that measured

10,000 II- roughly 3,000 mileS- In length. Ultimately, the Great Wall was expanded to a total of more than 4,000 miles.

WHO WAS CHINA'S FIRST EMPEROR?

Many of history's great empire-builders were more
feared than admired. Qin Shi Huangdi, the man who laid
the foundation for imperial China, was no exception. He
executed his critics, burned their writings, and forced millions
to work on public projects, including the defensive barrier
that became the Great Wall of China. He also built roads,
standardized laws and coinage, and instituted a common
script that allowed Chinese ethnic groups who spoke many
different languages to communicate in writing.

When this accomplished and dreaded ruler died in 210
B.C., he was buried in an immense tomb surrounded by the
bodies of slaves sacrificed for the occasion. Arrayed within
the tomb were also thousands of lifelike soldiers molded of
clay with great artistry, an army that would never tire.

A FIERCE WARRIOR, one among an estimated 8,000, stands guard
in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi near Xi'an, China. The entire
underground terra-cotta army was not discovered until the I970s.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE IMPORTANCE OF ANCESTORS, FAMILY & KINSHIP see The Human Family. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 222-3

+ '.c..METALLURGY DURING THE BRONZE AGE see Prehistory 10.000 '.c.-3500 CHAPTER 7, PAGE 265

co n 500 B.C., Greeks living along the eastern shore of the
a:: Aegean Sea rebelled against their Persian masters, setting
w at odds two of the world's most accomplished societies.
Greek civilization went back more than a thousand years
~ to the time when Mycenaeans swept down from the north
and occupied mainland Greece and islands such as Crete, home
zV> to the Minoans, maritime traders who built splendid palaces.
«
Heirs to Mycenaean and Minoan tra- the Indus River to the Nile and the
CIRCA 1600 B.C. ditions, Greeks established powerful Black Sea. Emperor Darius, who took
Mycenaeans occupy Crete city-states like Athens and Sparta and power in 522 B.C., divided this realm
planted colonies on distant shores. into provinces and appointed men to
558 S.c. govern and collect taxes, which paid for
Cyrus becomes king of Persia The Persians rose to glory under a grand capital at Persepolis and a road
Cyrus the Great and his successors, to Ephesus on the Aegean Sea.
480-479 S.c. who forged an immense empire from
Greeks defeat Persians;
Greco-Persian Wars end FAST FACT In the Athenian democracy, only free adult males born in Athens

404 S.c. voted. Neither women, nor slaves, nor foreigners could vote.
Sparta defeats Athens;
Pelo ponnesian War ends

336 S.c.
Alexander takes power

323 S.c.
Death of Al exander the Great

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE COUNTRIES OF GREECE & IRAN TODAY see Europe, CHAPTER 9, PAGE 405, & Asia, CHAPTER 9, PAGE 386

+

HOW THE ANCIENT GREEKS MEASURED THE EARTH see Dividing Unes, CHAPTER I, PAGE 31

When Greek cities rebelled against O"""",:::ii:jm§jiiii:= -_3 0 0 THRACIANS Black. Sea
Darius, Athens came to their aid and HITTITES
repulsed Persian forces at Marathon o km 300 275
in 490 B.C. Darius's successor, Xerxes,
then raised a huge army, but Athenians, .c~~./'1> ;·'~· »z
united with Spartans and other Greeks,
shattered the Persian fleet in 480 and Thapsos. Ul
defeated Xerxes' army a year later-
the end of Persian expansion and the Sicily ~
dawn of a golden age for Greece. Ath-
ens fostered democracy by granting all Mediterranean •l>-~aS''s m
adult male citizens the right to vote, and Sea
the works of its artists, playwrights, po- EG'i\,'1:1f\N'P ;;D
ets, and philosophers formed the basis ---t~~ Minoan and
of classical Western culture. Mycenaean ooOJ
trade routes
Macedonians led by King Philip II A
conquered Greece in 338 B.C. and
went on to attack Persia under the C'I
king's ambitious son, Alexander the
Great. Schooled in Greek like other ;;D
noble Macedonians, Alexander made
the Persian Empire his own. m
m
After his death at age 32, Alex-
ander's empire was divided among ()
his top generals, and Greek learning
m

FROM GREECE AND NEARBY ISLANDS, passages of trade and conquest spread out in all
directions. First the Minoans and then the Mycenaeans dominated Mediterranean trade routes.
Eventually the Phoenicians, living on the coast of today's Lebanon, gained dominance in the region.

became part of the cultural heritage of in the fifth century A.D., leaving the
the Middle East. That legacy outlasted Byzantine Empire in control around
the Roman Empire, which crumbled the eastern Mediterranean.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT I HERO OF ANCIENT GREECE

Tutored in his youth by the philosopher Aristotle, Alexander the Great (356 B.c.-323
B.C.) loved Greek culture and considered himself a Greek hero, claiming descent from
the Homeric hero Achilles, legendary leader of the assault on Troy. Some Greeks,
however, viewed the Macedonian-born Alexander as a foreign despot. Soon after he
took the throne, he faced a rebellion from the Greek city of Thebes and razed it to
the ground, slaughtering thousands and enslaving others. Not until he waged war on
the Persians, archenemies of the Greeks, did he become their champion. Greeks liv-
ing under Persian rule hailed him as a liberator. After conquering the Persian Empire,
he founded cities on the Greek model. Chief among them was Alexandria, in Egypt.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

EARLY METHODS OF MAPMAKING & NAVIGATION see NaVigation, CHAPTER I, PAGES 38·9

+

CULTURAL CENTERS IN THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST see Mesopotamia 3500 B.c.-500 B.C., CHAPTER 7, PAGE 267

509 S.c. no
Rome establishes repub lic
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o'o" uilt on hills above the Tiber River, Rome began its the general Hannibal, Carthage was

co phenomenal ascent to power in 509 S.c. when it ultimately defeated. After burning the

city to the ground in 146 B.C., Romans

a:: won independence from the Etruscans, who had reportedly plowed its ashes under

w

5 long dominated the area. After ousting their Etruscan with salt so that nothing would grow

V)

«z king, Romans created a republic in which aristocrats there again. By 100 B.C., the Romans
had conquered Greece and were

called patricians elected two consuls to lead them for a year. masters of the Mediterranean.

The wealth and prestige Roman gen-

Consuls were guided by aristocrats in were eyeing Sicily. Opponents who erals gained through conquest allowed

the senate, leaving the common people, submitted to their authority were them to defy the senate and impose

called plebeians, powerless. Plebeians treated generously, and some became their will politically. After defeating the

eventually won the right to elect Roman citizens. Those who remained Gauls in France, julius Caesar returned

tribunes and one of the two consuls. defiant were crushed. to Rome in 49 B.C., seized power, and

Although social tensions persisted, No rival proved more defiant than ruled as dictator. His assassination in 44

plebeians now had a stake in Rome's Carthage, a North African city of B.C. by conspirators who hoped to pre-

success, and so they served dutifully in Phoenician origin that controlled Spain serve the republic triggered a bloody

Roman legions, often receiving land in and other lands around the west- civil war. This struggle ended in 3 I B.C.

areas they conquered. ern Mediterranean and clashed with when Caesar's nephew Gaius Octa-

By 265 B.C., Romans had gained Rome over Sicily in the first of three vius defeated Mark Antony and his ally,

control of the Italian peninsula and Punic Wars. Despite heroic efforts by Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, and took

FAST FACT At its height, Rome had a population of more than one million, making It the largest city In the ancient world.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE CALENDAR USED IN ANCIENT ROME see Telling Time. CHAPTER 8, PAGE 324

+

THE GEOGRAPHY & ECONOMICS OF ITALY TODAY see Europe. CHAPTER 9, PAGE 404

the title Augustus ("revered one"). As ROMULUS AND 277
Rome's first emperor, he wielded ab- REMUS, fabled
solute power. His successors likewise founders of the city »z
expanded the empire, which by the of Rome, were said
second century A.D. stretched from to have been raised Vl
Mesopotamia to Britain. by a she-wolf.
~
This huge realm came under stress JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND ROME
in the third century as invaders began m
pouring across Roman frontiers. As Duringthefirstcentury A.D.,Jews inJudea, aRoman province, chafed under Roman
the crisis deepened, Christianity- rule. The emperor was hailed as a god, but Jews, who worshipped one supreme ;;D
whose adherents rejected the cult of God, were forbidden to serve idols. Some hoped for a messiah, or savior, to free
the divine emperor and worshipped a them from Roman rule. Jesus of Nazareth offered no resistance to Rome but ooOJ
higher authority-won greater accep- foretold a kingdom of God surpassing any empire on earth. After his death, both
tance. When the emperorConstantine Christians, who believed he was the Messiah, and Jews faced persecution. After A
embraced Christianity and moved his a Jewish revolt, Romans sacked Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and destroyed its temple.
capital in A.D. 330 to Constantinople, o;;D
a more defensible place, Rome lost its •
aura of invincibility. In the fifth century, ::5:
Huns advancing from Central Asia
into eastern Europe displaced Vandals, m
Visigoths, and other Germanic tribes,
who then overwhelmed Italy. Rome
fell in 476, leaving what remained of
the Roman world to Constantinople
and the Byzantine Empire.

, No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected. "
'
- JULIUS CAESAR, CIRCA 55 B.C.

JULIUS CAESAR I ROMAN GENERAL & DICTATOR

Julius Caesar (100 B.c.-44 B.C.) rose to power by subduing the Gauls, a Celtic people
living on either side of the Alps. Celtic culture originated around 1000 B.C. along the
upper Danube Riverand spread across France to northern Italy and Spain and the Brit-
ish Isles. Celts mastered ironworking and were formidable warriors but lacked unity.
Caesar recruited Gauls in northern Italy to bolster his legions, and then he crushed
defiant Gauls in France led by Vercingetorix, who was hauled off to Rome in chains
and eventually executed. Caesar captured an estimated one million Gauls and sold
them as slaves, amassing a huge fortune, which he used to purchase the loyalty of
troops and maintain power. From Gaul, he went on to military victories in Britain
and Egypt. He became dictator in 46 B.C. but was assassinated two years later.

":OR MORE""ACTS ON

JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY see Religion: Monotheism. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 236·7

+

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AFTER THE FALL OF ROME see Middle Ages 500-1000. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278-9

.'M"

:cc::lr

278 he Middle Ages began with the collapse of the
Roman Empire around 500 and ended around
1;:: 1500 with exploration of the New World . The
early Middle Ages have been called the Dark
o Ages-an era when Germanic tribes overran
Roman provinces, leaving few written records to shed light on
l- events. The Byzantine Empire, however, based in Constan-
tinople, flourished and expanded under Emperor Justinian.
V)
His realm nearly encircled the Medi- Byzantine patriarch as their spiritual
I terranean by the time he died in 565. father, or pope-and lost ground to
Thereafter, Byzantine power slowly Muslim rulers who were forging their
o declined as his successors lost control own empire.
of Italy-where Christians recognized
oc--r-:' the bishop of Rome rather than the Islam arose in Mecca, where the
5 Arab prophet Muhammad was born

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630

Muhammad and followers take Mecca

661

A li ki lled; Umayyad dynasty founded

732
Martel defeats Muslims at Battle of Tours

750
Abbasid dynast y founded in Baghdad

800

Charlemagne crowned emperor in Rome

962

Otto I becomes Holy Roman Emperor

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE ANCIENT CITY OF ROME & THE ROMAN EMPIRE see Rome 500 6.C.·A.D. 500, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 276-7

+

ROMAN & BYZANTINE ART & LITERATURE IN THE RENAISSANCE see Rena;ssance & Reformat;on 1500·1650. CHAPTER 7, PAGE 294

around 570. Traveling widely as a mer- By the eighth century, the Islamic domain beyond France and Germany 279
chant, he came in contact with Jews world extended across North Africa to Italy and northern Spain, where
and Christians. When he was around to Spain. In 750, Abu ai-Abbas over- Roman Catholic Franks halted the »z
40, he experienced a revelation in threw the Umayyad dynasty, whose advance of Islam. Charlemagne was
which he recognized Allah (God) caliphs ruled from Damascus, and crowned emperor in Rome in 800 by Vl
as supreme and all-encompassing founded the Abbasid dynasty, based Pope Leo III, but his empire fractured
and embraced Islam, which means in Baghdad. Scholars flocked there after he died. Europe remained a feu- ~
submission to Allah. "There is no God from many lands to study the Koran dal society in which serfs owed du-
but Allah," Muslims declared ever af- as well as classical works by Persian, ties to their lords, who in turn served m
ter, "and Muhammad is his prophet." Greek, and Indian sages, including as vassals to higher nobility. In some
In 630, he and his followers returned treatises on medicine and mathemat- places, kings arose: For example, Al- ;;D
from exile and conquered Mecca, ics. Arabic numerals and algebra were fred of Wessex reclaimed part of Brit-
whose holiest shrine, the Kaaba, be- among the gifts of Muslim scholars to ain from invading Vikings-adventur- ooOJ
came the required pilgrimage of de- modern science. ers from Scandinavia who ranged far
vout Muslims. in their longships, raiding, trading, and A
Western Europe was divided among colonizing places such as Iceland and
After Muhammad died in 632, various Germanic tribes until the rise Normandy, named for the Norsemen 3:
rulers called caliphs united Arabia of Charlemagne, who became king of who settled there.
under Islam and spread their faith the Franks in 768 and extended his o
through conquest and conversion.
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~~';:_'...7,r"}">J . - J'~,~"J:'1&_.:..~;,U\I~", •J• SHIITE AND SUNNI MUSLIMS

After the death of Muhammad, disputes arose among his followers as to who
should become the leader of the religion of Islam. Some supported his cousin
and son-in-law, Ali , as caliph, or religiOUS leader. Others-including Aisha,
Muhammad's last wife-favored other candidates.

Ali became the fourth caliph in 656 and ruled the Islamic world until he
was assassinated in 661. Muslims known as Shiites (from shiat-u-Afi, the party
of Ali) believed that only a descendant of Ali should be caliph and opposed the
Umayyad dynasty that took power after he died .

Sunni Muslims- named for the sunnah, or practice, of Muhammad himself
-accepted as legitimate caliphs those who were just and devout, whether or
not they descended from Muhammad. The two groups differed in ritual and
doctrine and perpetuated a lasting division within the world of Islam.

MOSES AND MUHAMMAD converse with the archangel Gabriel in this 16th-century Turkish
illuminated manuscript. Muhammad, the rightmost of the central three figures, wears a veil over his
face. According to Islamic law, no portrayal may reveal the face of the Prophet Muhammad.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE HISTORY & BELIEFS OF ISLAM see Religion: Monotheism. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 236-7

+

VIKING EXPEDITIONS TO THE NEW WORLD see World Navigation 1492-1522. CHAPTER 7, PAGE 293

sacred to Christians as well as Muslims.

1000-1500 In 1095, he called for a crusade against
the Turks. The turmoil in the Middle
East had made it unsafe for Christians

to make pilgrimages there, and many

Catholics blamed the Turks and an-
D280 uring the late Middle Ages, capturing Syria and Palestine from the swered the pope's call.
1;:: Christian Europeans clashed Fatimids-a rival Muslim dynasty- The First Crusade began badly when
o
with Muslims in the Middle and advancing into Anatolia (Turkey), a zealot named Peter the Hermit led an
l-
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I East. The Crusades that led to war in where they defeated Byzantine forces. undisciplined army to a disastrous de-

o the Holy Land resulted from divisions In response, the Byzantine emperor feat. Meanwhile, nobles in France were

oc--r:' within both worlds. sought help from western Europe. The assembling a stronger fighting force that

5 By 1000, Seljuk Turks from Central Eastern Orthodox Church had recent- succeeded in capturing Jerusalem in

Asia were pouring into the Middle ly broken with the Roman Catholic 1099. Bands of crusaders then carved

z East and converting to Islam. In 1055, Church, and Pope Urban II in Rome out states along the eastern Mediterra-

w
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cr: tan (chieftain) in Baghdad. He and his ern Mediterranean by securing Jerusa- Turks prompted the Second Crusade
w
I- successors embarked on conquests, lem and other sites in the Holy Land in I 147, which made no gains. In I 171

"«- the sultan Saladin wrested Egypt from
I

u the Fatimids and went on to reclaim

Jerusalem for Muslims in I 187. Later

o'o" Catholic crusaders were unable to win
the Holy Land back and turned against
CO

cr: Orthodox Christians in Constantino-

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«z ing the Byzantine Empire vulnerable to
future assaults by Turks.

Although the Crusades failed militar-

ily, they introduced Europeans to allur-

ing goods from Asia and opened trade

routes. Italian city-states such as Venice

and Florence prospered through trade

with Asia, and Marco Polo and other

merchants journeyed to China.

In 1453, Ottoman Turks conquered

Constantinople and tightened their grip

on overland trade with Asia. Seeking

maritime routes to the Far East, Euro-

THIRTEENTH-CENTURY CRUSADERS, shown crossing the Bosporus in this painting, peans sailed around Africa and crossed

believed that they were fighting a holy war in their quest to conquer the Islamic Middle East. the Atlantic to the New World.

FAST FACT By the time the Crusades began in 1095. Muslim conquests in the Middle East. North Africa. and Spain

had reduced the scope of the Christian world by two-thirds.

FOR MORE FACTS ON

MAPMAKING IN THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES see The History of Mapping, CHAPTER I, PAGES 20-1

+

THE EARLY PERIOD OF THE MIDDLE AGES see Middle Ages 500-1000, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278-9

WHAT WAS THE BUBONIC PLAGUE?

MEDIEVAL PHYSICIANS wore protective The bubonic plague is a fatal disease some places, Christians blamed Jews 281
clothing to try to save their own health while carried by fleas that infested rodents. for the plague and attacked them.
treating victims of the plague. In 1347, it reached Europe from Asia »z
and wreaked havoc. The characteristic In the long run, Europe proved
symptom was swelling of the lymph remarkably resilient. Those who sur- Vl
nodes, also called buboes (hence the vived the Black Death lived to seek a
name). The disease was also known better existence. The primary method ~
as the "black death," referring to the of treatment for the plague was isola-
dark sores that covered the bodies of tion, and these measures that evolved m
victims before they died . into higher quality hospitals and medi-
cal treatments. The ensuing labor ;;D
The Black Death of Europe, one shortage meant workers could com-
of the most widespread outbreaks mand higher wages, and their standard ooOJ
of plague in history, decimated popu- of living rose. By 1450, kingdoms such
lations during the 14th century. This as France, England, and Spain- where A
fearful pandemic killed more than 20 Islam gave way to Christianity- were
million people in Europe and reduced gaining strength politically and eco- 3:
the population there by at least one- nomically and would soon wield power
fourth . Outbreaks caused hysteria. In around the globe. o

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Pandemic: Fro m Greek pan + demos, "all people." A disease affecting a wide area and a large percentage of that area's population.

I Chivalry: From French cheval, " horse." The knightly class of feudal times; knights or fully armed and mounted fighting men, hence the

gallantry and honor expected of knights.

" To sacrifice what you are and to live without belief-that is a fate more"

terrible than dying. - JOAN OF ARC, 1431

JOAN OF ARC I MYSTIC, MILITARY HERO & MARTYR

No hero loomed larger during the Hundred Years' War than the young woman
known as Joan of Arc (1412-1431), a farmer's daughter who inspired French re-
sistance to English forces occupying northern France in the early 1400s. A mystic
who heard the voices of saints, she sometimes wore men's clothing and believed
that God had ordered her to expel the English from France. She urged on French
troops, who defeated the English at Orleans in 1429, advancing the cause of young
King Charles VII. A year later she was captured at Compiegne, in northern France,
while leading troops against the Duke of Burgundy, a French ally of the English, and
was tried as a heretic. In 1431, at the age of 19, she was burned at the stake. She
remained a hero to foes of the English, who were ultimately forced out of France.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY & ISLAM see Monotheism. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 236·7

+

THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE & ITS BATTLE AGAINST DISEASE see Medicol Science. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 338·9

CIRCA 800
Muslim caravans cross Sahara

CIRCA 900
Muslims reach Mogadishu in East Africa

282 1235
Mali ruler Sundiata starts empire in
1;::
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1324
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o from W est Africa

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o'o" frica underwent rapid economic and political crafting masks and other ritual objects

co development during the Middle Ages as trade honoring those spirits.

Contact with the Islamic world

a:: developed by caravan between the Mediter- brought prosperityand powerto Ghana,

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«z tween lands around the Indian Ocean and East attack by nomads sweeping down from
the Sahara around 1200. Those disrup-

Africa. By 750, Egypt and other North African countries that tive raids allowed the Mali Empire to

were once part of the Roman or Byzantine Empires had come absorb Ghana and surrounding areas.

under Muslim rule. Some people there adhered to other faiths, The Mali emperor Mansa Musa, who

took power in I3 I2 and reigned for a

notably Ethiopians in isolated areas who remained Christian. quarter century, was a devout Muslim

and helped make his capital, Timbuktu,

By the ninth century, Muslim mer- in exchange for gold, ivory, and a great center of Islamic culture. In the

chants were crossing the Sahara by slaves. (Africa was just one source of mid-1400s, Mali was in turn absorbed

camel from the Mediterranean coast slaves-a word derived from Slavs, by the Songhai Empire, which domi-

to trade with people living in West Af- many of whom were seized in eastern nated West Africa for more than a

rica along the Senegal and Niger Riv- Europe and enslaved.) The rulers of century before suffering a devastating

ers, a fertile area that gave rise to pow- Ghana converted to Islam but were defeat by troops from Morocco and

erful states. That trade benefited the slow to abandon such traditional re- collapsing.

emerging kingdom of Ghana, which ligious practices as praying to images In East Africa, Muslim merchants ar-

obtained cloth, salt, weapons, and of ancestral spirits or nature gods. riving by sea at ports like Mogadishu

other goods from Muslim merchants Great artistry and devotion went into and Mombasa encountered Swahilis, or

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA see Africa. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 360·1

+

THE COUNTRIES OF AFRICA TODAY, INCLUDING GHANA see Africa. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 362·77

"coasters," who embraced Islam and Some inland kingdoms flourished But the slave trade did not become 283
incorporated Arabic and Persian words as a result, notably Zimbabwe, whose a consuming and catastrophic business
into their language as their prosper- imposing capital, Great Zimbabwe, in Africa until Europeans began ship- »z
ous towns grew into city-states. Swa- was graced with impressive stone ar- ping black Africans across the Atlantic.
hili merchants served as middlemen, chitecture and home to nearly 20,000 By the late 1400s, Portuguese traders Vl
trading to merchants from abroad people. Like kingdoms in West Africa, were exporting a few thousand slaves
goods they obtained from Africans in Zimbabwe flourished by selling slaves each year-a mere trickle compared ~
the interior. as well as gold and ivory. with the massive transports to come.
m
WHAT IS SWAHILI? CLAY STATUETTES found by archaeol-
ogists at Jenne-jeno, an Iron Age city of Mali in ;;D
The Swahili language is the most Swahili, an amalgam of many different West Africa, may represent ancestral spirits.
widely spoken language in Africa languages. ooOJ
today, where it is a first or second
language for millions living in East In Swahili, for example, the A
and central Africa. It evolved on the numbers six (sita) , seven (saba), and
so-called Swahili coast of Africa- the nine (tisa) are borrowed from Arabic,
eastern coastline, edging the Indian whereas the other numbers from
Ocean, from Tanzania to Kenya. one through ten are of Bantu origin.
The Swahili word for tea (chai) is of
Along this coast, native Bantu Persian origin . Other terms have been
speakers came into contact with acquired from Europeans, including
merchants or colonists from Arabia, the words meaning table (meza, from
Persia, and other lands. They absorbed Portuguese), bus (basi, from English),
words from foreigners and created and school (shu/e, from German).

MANSA MUSA I EMPEROR, TRAVELER & TRADER

The Mali emperor Mansa Musa became a legendary figure in the Islamic world
when he made a spectacular pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, taking with him more
than 1,000 followers and 100 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold. Accord-
ing to one Arab chronicler, he disbursed so much gold in Egypt that he caused the
value of that precious metal to plummet. He greatly impressed the Arabs, but
their culture made an even deeper impression on him. Returning to his capital
Timbuktu, he brought with him an Arabic library and an Arab architect, who built
a mosque and palace there. Under Mansa Musa, Timbuktu became to Africa what
Baghdad was to the Middle East-a haven for Muslim scholars, artists, and poets.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD see Language. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 228-31

+

TRADE & COMMERCE AS AN ELEMENT OF HUMAN SOCIETY see Commerce. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 254-7

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a:: n Asia as in Europe and other regions, faith loomed large
during the Middle Ages, but Asian societies held diverse
w beliefs. Most people in India, for example, were Hindus,
but the Indus Valley region to the north was ruled in the
~ early seventh century by a devout Buddhist, King Harsha,
zV> and was later conquered by Muslims, who eventually con-
« 606 verted much of what is now Pakistan to Islam.

Buddhist King H arsha ru les in India

618

C hina's Tang dynasty begins

794

Japanese imperial court at H eian (Kyoto)

960 Indian merchants brought various there, including the great 12th-century
goods, customs, and beliefs to South- Hindu shrine, Angkor Wat.
China's Song dynasty arises east Asia. Rulers of Funan, in south-
ern Indochina, called themselves rajas, In China, Buddhism coexisted with
1113 worshipped Hindu deities, and ad- Confucianism. Following the short-
opted Sanskrit. After Funan collapsed, lived Sui dynasty, emperors of the
Khmer king begins Angkor W at Khmers took power in Cambodia and Tang dynasty endorsed Confucian
embraced Hinduism and later Bud- ideals and required office-seekers to
1279 dhism. Beginning around 900, Khmer show knowledge of Confucian texts in
rulers built monuments to both faiths civil service examinations. China flour-
Kublai Khan ends Ch ina's Song dynasty ished under the Tang dynasty and the

1368

Mongol ru le ends in China;
M ing dynasty begi ns

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN THE INDUS RIVER VALLEY see Ind;a 2500 B.C.-A.D. 500, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 270·1

+

THE GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA see As;a, CHAPTER 9, PAGES 378-9

Song dynasty that succeeded it. Chi- A turbulent new age dawned in Asia THE TALE OF GENJI, written in the 11th 285
nese inventors devised the magnetic when Mongols united under Genghis century by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady of the Jap-
compass, gunpowder, and porcelain, Khan in 1206, conquering northern anese court, chronicles romantic adventures. »z
the country's most prized export. China and lands to the west. Khan's
grandson Kublai Khan completed the Vl
Korea resisted subjugation by China conquest of China but failed to take
but was greatly influenced by Chinese japan. Mongols overran Russia and ~
culture, as was japan. Literature and much of the Middle East before the
the arts flourished at japan's imperial Black Death ravaged their realm in the m
court at Heian (Kyoto) in the tenth 14th century. In China, Mongol rule
century. In later centuries, a feudal gave way to the Ming dynasty. In the ;;D
system developed in which samurai Middle East, Turks regained control,
warriors served as vassals to provincial first under the conqueror Tamerlane ooOJ
lords, who in turn served as vassals to and then under the Ottomans.
a military governor called the shogun. A

»

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HOW DID JAPANESE WRITING EVOLVE?

The japanese had no written language be acquired without lengthy schooling Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and the Pillow
when they first came under China's and was learned by women as well Book of Sei Shonagon-represent the
influence, and they readily adopted as men. Used first for private diaries starting point for japanese fiction.
the Chinese script. japanese scribes or love notes, kana soon became The authors used their own language
and scholars spent years mastering its the preferred language for japanese to describe the society they lived in.
complexities by studying and copying poetry and prose. Their artistic efforts helped create
Chinese texts. a new literary form in the japanese
Two remarkable works written by language: the novel.
In the ninth century, however, a
much simpler phonetic japanese script women around A.D. IOOO- The Tale of
called kana was introduced. It could

GENGHIS KHAN I MONGOL CONQUEROR

The man known as Genghis Khan-or Universal Ruler-was the son of a Mongol
chieftain who was poisoned by a rival band, leaving the boy he named Temujin
to fend for himself. Mongols led a hard life, moving frequently on horseback. As
Temujin grew up, he continued to be harried by his father's enemies. In time, he
crushed that hostile band by killing all the males taller than a cart axle, so it was said,
and enslaving the women and children. He united the many Mongol tribes under his
authority, killing his own brother for opposing him. In forging an empire, he com-
bined terror with diplomacy, killing those who resisted him but sparing foes who
yielded without a fight and welcoming to his court talented men of various faiths.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE VARIETIES OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD TODAY see Language: Writing. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 230-1

+

THE COUNTRIES OF ASIA TODAY INCLUDING KOREA, CHINA & JAPAN see Asia. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 380-93

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CIRCA 700 ong before European navigators fanned out around
Polynesians settle New Zealand the globe in about 1500, societies had developed
in lands unknown to people of the Old World
CIRCA 800 and had achieved significant accomplishments of
Hohokam culture develops, knowledge and culture. Between 15,000 and 20,000
years ago, people crossed from Siberia to Alaska on a land
American Southwest bridge that formed as sea levels lowered during the Ice Age.

CIRCA 1000 By 9000 B.C., humans had reached complex societies whose chiefs were
Norse reach Newfoundland; the southern tip of South America. buried surrounded by treasure in
Mississippian culture emerges, Throughout the Americas, small bands huge mounds. The first such cultures,
of people subsisted by hunting and the Adena and Hopewell, developed
North American Midwest gathering until around 3000 B.C., when in the Ohio River Valley between
maize, or corn, was domesticated. 500 and 100 B.C., but the greatest of
CIRCA 1100 the mound builders were the Missis-
Anasazi cu ltu re peaks, The cultivation of corn, beans, sippians, who flourished in the Mis-
American Southwest squash, and other crops spread north- sissippi River Valley and parts of the
ward over time, allowing some tribes Southeast from around 1000 to 1300.
CIRCA 1200 in the present United States to develop
Polynesian society, Easter Island

CIRCA 1300
Anasazi abandon cliff dwellings;

Mississippian culture declines

PAlHW AYS OF HUMAN MIGRATION ,ee Human Migration. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 220·1
THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN EARLY HUMAN HISTORY ,eeAgriculture. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 246· 7

Their most imposing settlement was drought may have caused the ancient The Rapa Nui people on Easter Island 287
Cahokia, near modern-day St. Louis. Puebloans to abandon this area and raised huge stone monoliths repre-
At its peak, as many as 20,000 peo- move first to cliff dwellings at higher senting gods and godlike chiefs. »z
pie lived there around massive burial and wetter areas like Mesa Verde and
mounds. Like the rulers of other an- later to permanent water sources like ANCIENT CLIFF DWELLINGS in the Vl
cient civilizations, chiefs here were the Rio Grande, where Pueblo society North American Southwest only hint at the
honored at death like gods. One ruler arose in the 14th century. sophisticated society of the Puebloan people. ~
received a majestic grave offering of
20,000 shell beads and was buried The most isolated societies were m
with at least 60 other people, some of those of the Polynesians, whose an-
whom were evidently sacrificed. cestors left Australia and New Guinea ;;D
around 2000 B.C. and began colonizing
Mississippian society declined at distant Pacific islands such as Samoa ooOJ
about the same time that Native and Tahiti. Intrepid seafarers who
Americans called Puebloan or Ana- migrated in outrigger canoes, taking A
sazi (ancient ones) abandoned their with them dogs and pigs and crops
home sites in the Southwest. They like yams and breadfruit, they reached o
left behind other remarkable monu- Hawaii around 100 B.C. and may have
ments, including an urban complex of reached Easter Island as early as 500 ()
multistory dwellings and kivas (under- B.C., although recent evidence sug-
ground ceremonial chambers) in New gests a date later by centuries. Poly- m»z
Mexico's Chaco Canyon. Prolonged nesians were led by hereditary chiefs. »

WHAT DO WE KNOW OF EARLY AMERICANS? Qo

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MARBLE FIGURES found by archaeologists at Etowah, a Mississippian North of present-day Mexico, no great empires developed.
site in present-day Georgia, came from mounds that formed part of a Tribes subsisted by hunting buffalo or other game, best
burial complex with stairs, walkways, and a plaza. accomplished by small and highly mobile bands whose chiefs
had little authority beyond their immediate camp circles.
Settled groups like the MiSSissippians living in fertile areas,
however, developed a political system resembling feudalism.
Local chiefs in outlying villages recognized the ruler at
ceremonial centers like Cahokia as their overlord, to whom
they owed duties in the form of crops, labor, or military
service. Those required to labor on the great burial mounds
at Cahokia may have considered it a sacred obligation, for
Mississippian rulers were earthly representatives of the
sun god-the paramount force on which all life depended.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

POTTERY & OTHER EARLY ART FORMS see Art. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 238·9

+

OCEANIA & NORTH AMERICA TODAY see Australia & Oceania. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 408·33, & North America. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 414·23

CIRCA 600 Q
Maya civilization reaches peak 3

288 683 n'"
Maya ruler Pacal buried at Palenque
1;:: 8'"
CIRCA 900
o Maya civi lization col lapses :J

l- CIRCA 1170 '":::r
Mexico's To ltec Empire ends P.'",--
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uring Europe's Middle Ages, several powerful appealing to the gods, and Maya rul-
ers sometimes drew their own blood
'oo" Native American societies with similar beliefs as offerings. High population densities
in Maya cities strained the resources
co of outlying areas and caused resent-
ments and rebellions that contributed
a:: and customs flourished in Mesoamerica, a to the collapse of this civilization
around 900.
w
Among the trading partners of the
5 region extending from the Valley of Mexico, Maya were merchants from Teotihua-
can in the fertile Valley of Mexico. By
V) the sixth century, this great urban cen-
ter was home to more than 150,000
z people, many of them artisans who
« embracing what is now Mexico City, to north produced goods for export. Like
Maya city-states, populous Teotihua-
of the Isthmus of Panama. The cultural foundation for those can strained the resources of the sur-
rounding area and eventually collapsed,
societies was laid in ancient times by the Olmec people_ coming to a fiery end around 700.

The Olmec lived in southern Mexico Maya living around the Yucatan Penin- The Valley of Mexico was later
near the Gulf Coast and built great sula. Maya civilization reached its peak dominated by the warlike Toltecs,
ceremonial centers at San Lorenzo around A.D. 600 as rival city-states like who sacrificed captives in droves at
and La Venta featuring earthen pyra- Palenque, Copan, and Tikal expanded their capital, Tula, and made demands
mids, stone temples, and ball courts and vied for supremacy, much as Ath-
where a game of ritual significance ens and Sparta did in ancient Greece.
was played. Massive stone heads
thought to represent Olmec rulers Maya kings and queens looked to
were erected there and inscribed with the movements of stars to determine
cryptic pictographs called glyphs. when to attack rivals. Captives taken
in such "star wars" were often sacri-
Olmec culture died out with the ficed to honor gods whom the Maya
destruction of La Venta around 400 credited for their success. The blood
B.C., but it strongly influenced the of royalty was considered especially

FOR MORE FACTS ON

THE MIDDLE AGES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD see Midd/eAges 500- /500. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278-81

+

TODAY'S MESOAMERICA see North America & South America. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 414-23 & 424-9

for tribute that grew onerous for their MEXICO Gulf of Present-day country boundaries
subjects when drought struck the area Mexico and names shown in gray.
in the 12th century. Around I 170, reb-
els destroyed Tula and brought down Tenochtitlan . ..._ _- .. ........ BELIZE 289
the Toltec Empire.
Villa Rica »z
Following in the Toltec path were (Veracruz)
the mighty Aztec, who entered the Vl
Valley of Mexico from the north and • Monte Alban
forged their own empire in the 15th ~
century based at Tenochtitlan, a ma- Extent of the EL SALVADO
jestic capital built where Mexico C ity Aztec World m
now stands. Like the Maya, Aztec Pacific
studied the heavens, kept intricate Azt ec Empire Ocean ;;D
calendars, and preserved their lore in
writing. Kings celebrated their coro- Route of Cortes ooOJ
nations by waging war and taking 151 8-19
captives, who were sacrificed by the A
thousands atop the Great Pyramid in
Tenochtitlan to seek divine blessings. 3:
Some Aztec rivals became trusted m
allies, but other groups were forced
to pay heavy tribute, fueling resent- oVl
ments that Spanish invaders would
later exploit to divide and conquer »
the Aztec Empire.
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THE AZTEC EMPIRE covered much of central and southern Mexico when the Spanish
conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived. Cortes sailed from Cuba south through the Gulf of
Mexico and reached Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, in 1519. He and his soldiers remained
there and finally conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521.

THE MAYA BALL GAME

Great ball courts take center stage the earth and renew the bleSSings of
in the remains of Maya cities such the maize god and other Maya deities.
as Tikal, Copan, and Chichen Itza.
Teams of two men each played
A ritual ball game played by the game, using a solid rubber sphere
the Maya people in these ball about the size of a human head. (In
courts evoked a mythic contest legend, the lords of the underworld
in which lords of the underworld used a skull as their ball.) Wearing
defeated and killed the maize god, protective gear, players struck the
who returned to life as a cornstalk, ball with their hips and shoulders.
offering people sustenance. Losers in The object may have been to propel
the ball game were sacrificed in the the ball through a hoop on the
belief that their blood would nourish opposing team's side.

CARVED STONE DISK portraying a Maya ..-• • . .
ball player and dated A.D. 591 was found among
the ruins of Chinkultic, a minor Maya city.

":OR MORE ACTS ON

EARLY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS & PRACTICES see Religion, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 232·3

+

THE ERA OF EXPLORATION INCLUDING THE CONQUISTADORES see World Navigation 1492-1522, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 292·3

co he most significant historical developments in
a:: South America in ancient and medieval times
w occurred in what is now Peru. By 500 B.C., the
ceremonial center of Chavfn de Huantar, high
~ in the Peruvian Andes, attracted pilgrims from a
wide area, who worshipped at shrines to the jaguar god and the
zV> spirits of other rain forest animals. Most likely, the Chavfn cult
« leaders came from the rain forest and found a following among
people living along the western slopes, for whom water flowing
CIRCA 500 down from the mountains was a source of wonder and fertility.
In Peru, Moche reach peak of power and
By A.D. 500, a well-organized state aristocratic elite. Gifted artists pro-
Nasca create line drawi ngs had emerged along the Moche River duced glittering masks of gold and
in northern Peru, where massive irri- copper that were buried with Moche
CIRCA 1400 gation projects increased the amount warlords along with captives sacrificed
Inca begin fo rging an em pire of land under cultivation and fed the forthe occasion. Moche potters crafted
growth of a complex society with an decorative clay vessels that offered
1438
Inca ruler Pachacuti expands em pire

through reforms and conquests

1471
Pachacuti abdicates in favor of his son,
who com pl etes conquest of the C hi mu

CIRCA 1500
Inca Empire reaches
its greatest extent

FOR MORE FACTS ON

EARLY RELIGIONS & MAGICAL THINKING see Religion. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 232·3

+

THE COUNTRIES OF SOUTH AMERICA TODAY see South America. CHAPTER 9, PAGES 424·9

a vivid tableau of their society, includ- above and may have been intended for success to the dynamic ruler Pachacuti, 291
ing scenes of helmeted warriors club- spirits in heaven. or He Who Transforms the Earth. The
bing their enemies. Pyramids made of Inca had no script but kept meticulous »z
millions of adobe bricks and decorated Around 1000, the promising Moche records by tying knots on strings. All
with splendid wall paintings suggest that River Valley gave birth to another ac- people had to serve the state periodi- Vl
Moche society was approaching the complished society, the Chimu, whose cally as soldiers, farmers, or laborers,
grandeur of Mesoamerican civilizations capital of Chan Chan had nearly 30,000 working on projects like the remark- ~
before it declined around 600, perhaps inhabitants. Around 1300, Chimu rulers able Inca highway system, which had
because of drought, floods, or other embarked on conquests that brought two main arteries, one along the coast m
natural causes. A similar fate befell the more than 600 miles of the Peruvian and another along the Andes, with way
Nasca, who lived south of the Moche coast under their control before they stations a day's journey apart. By 1500, ;;D
in an arid region made fruitful by irri- fell to a superior power-the Inca. the well-organized Inca Empire ex-
gation. They left behind monumental Those conquerors began their imperial tended for 2,500 miles from present- ooOJ
line drawings in the desert that could quest around 1400 when they outgrew day Ecuador southward to Chile and
be viewed in their entirety only from the confines of the Cusco Valley high in embraced nearly 100 ethnic groups. A
the Andes. They owed much of their
oVl
WHO DID THE INCA SACRIFICE?
C
On rare occasions, such as a king's female deities, including Earth -I
inauguration, the Inca sacrificed as Mother and Moon Mother, I
many as 200 young people to their wife of the sun god. Devo-
gods. More often, they sacrificed lla- tees known as Chosen Women »
mas or made offerings of food . Every lived in seclusion at shrines and
day Inca priests offered cornmeal to temples and wove richly embroi- 3:
honor the sun god. " Eat this, Lord dered fabrics. m
Sun," they proclaimed, "so that you
will know that we are your children." AFTERLIFE RICHES like this gold and cop- ;;D
The Inca also worshipped several per mask filled three Moche tombs found at Dos
Cabezas, Peru, inhabited from A.D. 150 to 500. n»

WHO BUILT MACHU PICCHU?

When Pachacuti came to power in the idea that the ruler was immortal. It groups to resettle near the Inca
1438, the Inca were quickly expanding, also forced each new ruler to make his homeland, where they were closely
but he did much to enhance and con- own fortune and reputation through watched . Loyal subjects were sent to
solidate their empire. All the wealth he conquest. When Pachacuti abdicated colonize newly conquered territory.
and future kings acquired during their in favor of his son in 1471, the young Before stepping down as emperor, he
reigns, he decreed, would be devoted king did just that, completing the con- built Machu Picchu, a majestic moun-
to housing and caring for their mummi- quest of the Chimu begun by his fa- taintop retreat and ceremonial center
fied remains. This practice reinforced ther. Pachacuti forced some defeated near the Inca capital , Cusco.

FAST FACT Many Nasca geoglyphs- shapes etched In the dry pampa rock- measure more than 1,000 feet tall.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE MANY VARIETIES OF BUILDINGS & SHELTER see Shelter, CHAPTER 6, PAGES 258·9

+

GEOGRAPHY & ECONOMY OF PERU TODAY see South America, CHAPTER 9, PAGE 427

1492 3:

Co lumbus reaches Caribbean from Spain .(\)

1497 ri

Cabot explores Newfoundland .8..,

292 1498 ::l
0.
1;:: D a Gama pioneers ocean route to Asia
0-
o 1502
0o.
l- Columbus takes fourth and final voyage
n
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C
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nami ng New W orld '"
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w Magellan 's crew reaches Spain:
first circumnavigation
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he world entered the modern era around I 500 coast. Portuguese mariners traded for
slaves and gold there and continued
'oo" as Europeans sailed around the globe and began around Africa to India, first reached by
sea from Portugal by Vasco da Gama in
co 1498. This proved to be the best route
between Europe and the Far East, but
a:: colonizing newly discovered lands. They made efforts to find a shorter path by cross-
ing the Atlantic revealed new lands.
w
In 1492, Italian Christopher Colum-
5 this leap by applying lessons learned during the bus, backed by Spain's King Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella, reached the Ca-
V) ribbean, which he believed was the
Indies. Another Italian explOring for
z Spain, Amerigo Vespucci, concluded
« late Middle Ages, when trade with the Middle a decade later that what lay across
the Atlantic was in fact a New World,
East and Far East gave them incentives to venture abroad eventually called America in his honor.
Earth's extent became clear when
and improve their navigational techniques. the expedition launched by Ferdinand
Magellan in 15 19--and completed after
Before 1500, most accomplished Western Europeans, however, could his death--rounded South America,
mariners were non-Europeans, such obtain those commodities directly only crossed the Pacific, and reached Europe
as Zheng He, a Chinese admiral who by pursuing uncharted paths. That in 1522, circumnavigating the globe.
in the early 1400s took seven voyages profit motive and the desire to spread
that ranged as far as Africa and the Per- Chrisitianity led rulers to encourage
sian Gulf. China's rulers grew isolation- maritime exploration, fostering the
ist, though, and their navy dwindled. growth of vast European empires.

The Ottoman Empire profited from Leading the way were Portugal and
the maritime skill and naval resources Spain, assisted by Italy. In the mid-
of the Arab world, but Middle Eastern- 1400s Prince Henry the NaVigator of
ers already had access to the Far East Portugal founded a school devoted to
by land and sea and did not need new improving navigation and sponsoring
routes to acquire prized goods. expeditions along the West African

FOR MORE FACTS ON

MAPS & INSTRUMENTS USED BY EARLY NAVIGATORS see The History of Mapping & Mapmaking. CHAPTER I, PAGES 20·1,24·5

+

THE CHALLENGES OF EARLY NAVIGATION see Navigation. CHAPTER I, PAGES 38·9

ADVANCES IN NAVIGATION

In navigating the globe, European mari- that remained to be answered in his mated how far one would have to
ners drew on technology and know- day was just how extensive the globe travel west to reach Asia-an error
how from other regions and earlier was. Columbus grossly underesti- that led him to great discoveries.
times. The magnetic compass and the
stern-post rudder, for example, first COLUMBUS'S FLEET, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, reached the Caribbean from 293
appeared in medieval China and prob- Spain in nine weeks. Expecting to reach Asia, they named their destination the "West Indies:'
ably reached Europe through the »z
Middle East, although such inventions
sometimes arose independently in var- Vl
ious parts of the world. The astrolabe
and other devices used to calculate lati- ~
tude by measuring the angle of the sun
above the horizon at noon were of an- m
cient origin and were refined by Arab
navigators, from whom Portuguese ;;D
mariners acquired the technology.
ooOJ
Astute sailors and scholars reck-
oned that the Earth was round long A
before Christopher Columbus acted
on that principle. The crucial question o~

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" Oct. I I, course to west and southwest. Heavier sea than they had known.... "
At two hours after midnight land appeared. - CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, 1492

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS I EXPLORER & COLONIZER

Columbus (1451-1506) made landfall on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the
Dominican Republic) in 1492, and launched global European expansion by colonizing
the Caribbean. Returning to Hispaniola in 1493, Columbus found sailors he had left
behind there dead and the fort they occupied destroyed. Undeterred, he settled the
island in earnest and subjugated the Taino Indians who lived there. Tainos who re-
fused to pay tribute to Spanish colonists were killed or captured. In 1496 Columbus
shipped nearly 500 captives to Spain, where those who survived the voyage were
sold as slaves in violation of a royal edict. He and his colonists found little gold in the
Caribbean, but their efforts led to further New World conquests that brought enor-
mous wealth to Spain and made it the world's greatest power in the 16th century.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

CHANGING WORLDVIEWS BASED ON CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE see Scientific Worldviews, CHAPTER 8, PAGES 326-7

+

COUNTRIES IN THE AMERICAS TODAY see North America & South America, CHAPTER 9, PAGES 414·29

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15 17 he Renaissance had its origins in the late Middle
Ages. Merchants in 14th-century Florence and
Martin Luther issues 95 theses other thriving Italian city-states served as patrons
of artists and poets, who drew inspiration from
1534 the past. They took inspiration from classical
Greek and Roman literature preserved in Catholic monas-
Henry VI II establishes Church of England teries and in the libraries of Byzantium and the Islamic world.

1536 Among those nurtured in Florence Humanists shared the conviction
were poet Dante Alighieri, painter that nothing was too mysterious or
Calvin begins ministry in Switzerland Giotto di Bondone, and scholar Pe- sacred to be grasped by the human
trarch. Their works served as a bridge intellect and imagination. Renaissance
1543 between Europe's age of faith and the scientists questioned ideas such as the
humanism of the Renaissance, which cosmology in which Earth was the cen-
Copernicus claims Earth orbits the sun reached its peak in the 1500s with the ter of the universe. This marked the
achievements of artist Michelangelo beginning of a scientific revolution that
1558 and Leonardo da Vinci-painter, inven- would ultimately refute basic articles of
tor, and scientist. faith, like the biblical story of creation.
Elizabeth I crowned queen of England

1588

Spanish Armada launched

1648

T hirty Years' W ar ends;
Protestants gain freedom of worship

THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES see Middle Ages, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 278·81
CHANGING VIEWS OF THE UNIVERSE & EARTH'S POSITION IN IT see Scientific Worldviews. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 326-7

WHAT WAS THE REFORMATION?

The Protestant Reformation began English poet and playwright William LONDON'S GLOBE THEATRE, built in 295
in 1517 when Martin Luther, a Ger- Shakespeare. 1598 and home to Shakespeare, burned down
man monk, protested practices such in 1613, set afire by a staged cannon shot. »z
as the sale of indulgences, pardoning Protestantism flourished in urban
people for their sins. Rejecting the areas in northern Europe, where Vl
authority of the pope and the priest- many literate people questioned
hood, Protestants ordained ministers Catholic doctrine based on their ~
who lived much like their parish- reading of the Bible. Conflict ensued
ioners and who preached in their between Catholic Spain and north- m
own tongue-instead of Latin- ern Protestant countries. In 1618
using Bibles published on printing German Protestants rebelled against ;;D
presses like that devised by Johannes the Habsburg dynasty that ruled both
Gutenberg of Germany in the 15th Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. ooOJ
century. Printing and the use of na- Their actions launched the Thirty
tive languages also fostered the work Years' War, which ended when the A
of great Renaissance writers like the Habsburgs granted religious freedom
to their German subjects. ;;D

• !; m

Classical: From the Latin clossicus, "of the highest class, superior." Pertaining to ancient Greece and Rome. 1Puritanism: Movement in the late 16th »Z

and 17th centuries that sought to "purify" the Church of England, leading to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in North America. Vl

, To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is , , V»zl

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pleasure to them that bear it. - QUEEN ELIZABETH I, 1601

'

ELIZABETH II QUEEN OF ENGLAND

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), who ruled England from 1558 until her death,
was a product of the Reformation. Her father, King Henry VIII, had broken with
Rome in 1533 because he desperately wanted a male heir and the pope would
not let him divorce his queen, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn, who
later gave birth to Elizabeth. As queen, Elizabeth steered a middle course between
Catholicism and Puritanism and upheld a moderate form of Protestantism. Known
as the Virgin Queen, she preserved England's sovereignty by rejecting foreign suit-
ors, including King Philip II of Spain, who later sent an armada in the hopes of
conquering England and restoring Catholic rule. By repelling that fleet, England
emerged as a major power, capable of competing with the mighty Spanish Empire.

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

THE ORIGINS & HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY see Religion: Monotheism. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 236-7

+

THE ROLE OF ART IN HUMAN CULTURE see Art. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 238-9

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a:: pain took the lead in colonizing the New World, bring-
ing vast areas under its authority. Colonization of the
w Caribbean, begun by Columbus, devastated Indians
there, who were all but wiped out by smallpox and
~ other imported diseases. When there was no more
zV> gold to extract, colonists took to raising sugarcane, bringing
« 154 1 in so many slaves that the population became largely African.

Cartier founds Quebec

1565

Spanish colonists found St. Augustine

1607

English colonists found Jamestown

1620 Spanish conquistadores enriched both co City in its place. Francisco Pizarro
themselves and the crown by defeat- used similar tactics in Peru to conquer
English Pilgrims found Plymouth ing and plundering the Aztec and Inca the Inca and seize their capital, Cusco,
Empires. After helping to colonize in 1533. Vast amounts of silver poured
1664 Cuba, Hernan Cortes sailed for Mex- into Spanish coffers from South Amer-
ico in 1519 with 600 men and turned ica and Mexico, but conquistadores
English seize port at New Amsterdam, Indians against the Aztec. Attacking who ventured north of Mexico found
renaming it New York Tenochtitlan in 1521 during a smallpox no great wealth or native empires.
epidemic, Cortes sacked and burned Colonization there was left to Span-
1682 the Aztec capital and founded Mexi- ish monks and settlers who founded

La Salle claims Louisiana for France

1763

France surrenders North American
ter ritories to Britain

FOR MORE FACTS ON

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS & HIS NEW WORLD VOYAGES see World Novigation 1492· 1522. CHAPTER 7, PAGE 293

+

COUNTRIES IN THE AMERICAS TODAY see North America & South America, CHAPTER 9, PAGES 414·29

isolated missions and towns. In 1680, GREENLAND ERIC THE RED
Pueblo Indians in New Mexico drove 982
the Spaniards out. When colonists
returned, they reached an accom- .Godthab
modation with Pueblos, who served
with them in expeditions against hos- UNEXPLORED HUDSON CABOT 297
tile tribes. Throughout the Spanish- + Mt. St. Elias 1610-11 1497
American Empire, colonists lived »z
closely among Indians and depended 5489 STUART LEIF ERICSON CARTIER
on their labor. ca 1000 1634--36 Vl
UNEXPLORED
A different pattern prevailed in 1715 RUPERT'S LAND ~
England's North American colonies.
In Virginia, where the first permanent (HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY) m
settlement was founded at James-
town in 1607, colonists clashed with H udson ;;D
Algonquian Indians and held them off.
Rather than using Indian laborers to KELSEY \ork Bay SL ooOJ
raise crops like tobacco, colonists used 1690-92 • Factory
indentured servants from England or Lawrence A
slaves from Africa. The Puritans who • Louisbourg
settled Massachusetts also displaced »
Indians and encroached on their land, LA VERENDRYE 'iuebee z
triggering a fiery uprising in 1675 in
which warriors killed some 600 colo- PACIFIC 1731-43 • -Halifax m
nists before the English defeated them OCEAN
with the help of the powerful Iroquois • Montreal ~
tribe. In time, the Iroquois too would JOLIET &
lose out to Anglo-American settlers. N.H. MASS. o~
'. Boston ,;;D
Colonists arrived in such large MARQUETTE . N.Y. BRITISH
numbers from England that they sup- R.1. o
planted not only Indians but also other
Europeans, including the Dutch who UNEXPLORED 1673 PA.. N.J. CONN.
settled New York before the English
took control there in 1664. Their N EW FRANCE WA LKER MD PhHadelph;a ATLANTIC
chief rivals in North America were the 1748- 50 . OCEAN
French, who began colonizing Canada DEL.
in earnest in 1608.
• MALLET ; Cahok;a \ VA. COLONIES
French settlers were relatively few 1738-41 ..
in number, but they forged alliances Santa Fe Kaskask ia ..... N.C. VERRA2ANO
with Indians that gave France a vast .9: S.C. 1524
.. .
".~ GA. • Charleston
~~ New
Europe Claims CORONADO .St. Augustine COLUMBUS
North America • 1540-42 San Antonio
Circa 1750
de Bexar " .. Orleans 1492-93
land Claims and Exploration Chih~ahua .:.. LA SALLE DE SOH)
1682 1539-42 ...
.-Denmark (Vikings)
Great Britain VICEROYALTY Gulf of Havana. •Santo
OF NEW Mexico
France SPAIN Santiag~ Domingo
Russia CORTES
Spain 1518-19
Disputed area
Spanish fort or presidio •Veracruz Caribbean

-Acapulco Sea

o mi 800 .Cartagena
o km 800
VICEROYALTY
OF NEW

GRENADA

EUROPEAN COLONIAL POWERS carved up the New World, claiming land and vying for
wealth, resources, and control. Their legacies live on in regional customs and national languages.

area of influence extending from in 1709-before surrendering its re-
Canada down the Mississippi River to maining claims in North America to
New Orleans. the British at the conclusion of the
French and Indian War in 1763. For
In 1713 France lost Newfound- all its might, Britain could not prevent
land, Nova Scotia, and other terri- its American colonies from rebelling in
tory to Great Britain-as England was 1775 and winning independence.
known after its union with Scotland

• • •• •

":OR MORE -ACTS ON

NATIVE CULTURES OF MESOAMERICA & SOUTH AMERICA see Mesoamerica Preshi,ory- ISOO & South America Preshi,ory- ISOO, CHAPTER 7, PAGES 288-91

+

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION see Revolution 1600-1800. CHAPTER 7, PAGES 298-9

oCP
:o4

::l

1649

Charles I executed, English Civil War

1688

England's Glorious Revolution ;
monarch now subject to Parliament

298 1689

1;:: Locke publishes theory of natural rights

o 1762
Rousseau publishes Social Contract
l-
1776
V)
American colonies declare independence;
I
Adam Smith publishes Wealth of Nations
o

...J

oa::
5

z 1789
>ww
French Revolution begins

V)

aw:: h-________________________
~~

I-

«0..

I
U

he Enlightenment, an intellectual movement, abuses of serfs, while Prussia's Freder-
ick the Great promoted religious toler-
o'o" grew out of the Renaissance and favored rational ance and established a civil service. But
such enlightened despots were as in-
co tent on maintaining power as absolute
monarchs like France's King Louis XIV,
a:: inquiry over established dogma. Enlightenment who died after reigning for 71 years.

w The rival monarchies of Europe
clashed frequently during the 18th cen-
5 thinkers took their cue from the French phi- tury, setting British troops and colonists
in North America against the French
V) and their Indian allies. To help pay for
that costly war, the British imposed the
«z losopher and mathematician Rene Descartes, Stamp Act on colonists, one of several
measures that led Americans to defY
who wrote in 1637 that his first rule was "never to accept a King George III and declare indepen-
dence in 1776. Similar resentments in
thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt." France against King Louis XVI and taxes
he imposed to cover debts incurred in
The idea of testing hypotheses was es- panies) harmed society. John Locke of past wars triggered a bloody revolu-
sential to the scientific method, refined England argued that people owe loyalty tion there and gave birth to a republic
in the late I 600s by English physicist to their government only as long as based on the Enlightenment ideals of
Isaac Newton. The Enlightenment also their rights are protected. French phi- liberty, equality, and fraternity.
spawned political revolutions as free- losopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, au-
thinkers toppled old regimes.
thor of The Social Contract, argued that
Political philosophers of the Enlight-
enment analyzed how society worked. only a republic could preserve liberty.
Adam Smith of Scotland concluded Despite the threat such ideas posed
that self-interest benefited society by
fostering economic competition and to the established order, some Euro-
that restricting competition (for exam- pean monarchs tried to rule in enlight-
ple, granting royal monopolies to com- ened fashion. Catherine the Great of
Russia improved education among
nobility and ended some of the worst

FOR MORE FACTS ON

SCIENCE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT see Physical Science & Chemistry. CHAPTER 8, PAGES 328·9, 334·5

+

TRADE & ECONOMIC COMPETITION IN THE 2 1ST CENTURY see World Trade Today. CHAPTER 6, PAGES 256·7