1. Comparing Africa and the Americas in the Second Wave
Note: the classical period in Africa actually extends well into the Post- Classic in Eurasia. In the Americas all civilized eras, Pre-classical, Classical, and Post-Classical constitute one long era spanning roughly 200BCE to 1500 CE.

2. Similarities and Differences in Civilization in Africa and the Americas
Human cultural development is part of a long and great process of migration outward from Africa
As you will recall, the Neolithic Revolution (development of agriculture) took place independently around the globe
This resulted in the development of unique civilizations and Africa and the Americas were no exception to this

3. Population of World in 1CE: 250,000,000 80% in Eurasia
Differences between Classic African and American Civilizations
A. lack of domestic animals in the Americas-this inhibited trade, transport, and economic growth to some extent.
B. Africa was able to import domesticated species from Eurasia and had some of its own species to tame as well
C. Use of metals, bronze and iron, was less well developed in the Americas (American civilizations used metal but only decoratively)

4. D. Symbolic Language (writing): In Africa writing was confined to the north and northeast-where Egypt and the Roman Empire happened to be. Literacy did not extend far into mid or southern Africa. In the Americas, writing was only found in Mesoamerica (particularly among the peoples of Mexico and upper Central America). Of these groups, the Maya seem to have developed the most advanced writing system
MAYA ALPHABET

5. Civilization in the Americas in this era were smaller and more limited than in Eurasia. In Africa this was also the case
However, while the Americas had no communication with anyone outside (or so it is believed) Africa was frequently in contact with the larger Eurasian land mass
North Africa was an integral part of the Mediterranean world.
Arabia was an important point of contact for Africans with Asia across the Red Sea
East Africa was a necessary part of the vast Indian Ocean trading network.

6. Civilizations in Africa
Prior to modern times there was no “African” consciousness due to
A. environmental variations
B. the vast size of the continent (11,000,000 square miles)
C. the tropical nature of much of Africa- tropical soils are much less fertile and more fragile than others. The heat and humidity also made Africa much more vulnerable to disease carrying insects and parasites
D. scattered nature of settlement and separation
So, this reduced the areas that could most likely develop civilizations

7. Meroë
This civilization was located in the Nile River Valley south of Egypt. The area also known as Nubia was quite old, perhaps as old as that of Egypt. Despite constant contact between the two, Nubia remained distinctly its own.
Ruled by an all powerful monarch of either gender
City of Meroë became the most important in Nubia due to specialization and the development of herding and farming around the city. It was a tribute state and less centrally controlled than Egypt.

8. The major source of its economic and military power was the control over long distance trade up and down the Nile as well as across Africa and into Arabia
Contacts with the Mediterranean world, camel caravans traded to the east and west
After 100CE, Meroë declined in importance as a kingdom located farther south and in the mountainous regions began to dominate
Deforestation of environment
By 350CE, it was conquered by that kingdom called Axum.

9. Axum was located in present day Ethiopia.
Economic foundation was agricultural and highly productive. Plow based agriculture was more efficient than digging stick used in most of Africa. Much wheat, millet, barley, and teff(a local grain).
By 50CE a large state focused on Axum (which had large monumental buildings) had developed. Trade on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean gave Axum commercial revenue in the form of taxes. Quite wealthy from this.
A feature of Axum architecture was huge stone obelisks presumably marking grave of rulers or important persons (see above)

10. Around 325CE King Ezana of Axum adopted Christianity as the state religion. This form of Christianity survives today in the area and is known as Coptic Christianity (also survives in Egypt).
Expansion in the 4th to 6th centuries carried Axum’s influence and territories into Arabia and along the African Indian Ocean coast.
For reasons that remain unclear, a decline in the 6th century reduced Axum’s territory and power, although a revival of Axum a few centuries later presaged the rise of the Ethiopian kingdom.

11. JENNE-JENO

12. West African Civilization: Cities without States
For 1200 years ending around 900CE, major urban areas developed along the Niger River in West Africa.
No evidence has been found to indicate any states or kingdoms of dominant power in the region at this time. Archeological remains seem to indicate a fairly peaceful type of rule, little indication of war, and little evidence of social inequality. However, with no written records it is impossible to determine these things exactly.
Inhabitants probably migrated into the river valley during a long dry period from the southern Sahara

13. Cities of the Niger Valley
It appears that the cities were actually more like clusters of economic specialization.
Jenne-jeno (one of the best documented cities) shows evidence of specialization in iron working, artistic endeavors such as weaving cloth, potters, and a special class of praise-singers or rememberers known as “griots”. All of these specialists located themselves around a central core. Occupational castes developed over time particularly within the artisan classes. The rural population also appears to have specialized within itself- some fished, some farmed specific crops.

14. The cities of the central Niger Valley were particularly well situated to benefit from inclusion in a West African trade network that we know extended across the Sahara and had links with the Mediterranean, Egypt, Axum, and Arabia
By the 1000’sCE, many of the cities had become centers for the formation of states that soon dominated the area

15. Civilization in Mesoamerica
TEOTIHUCAN

16. Compared to Eurasian civilizations American societies lacked extensive interactions with other major cultures
Developed without large domestic animals and without ironworking
Although everyone thinks of the Aztec and Inca as the ONLY American civilizations, a long line of earlier civilizations paved the way for them to flourish
Despite the diversity of American civilizations they did share similarities: all had intensive agricultural technology; all shared economics based on exchange; all had similar theologies/religions

17. PALENQUE

18. The Maya: Not the Kinder Gentler People
For many years, Maya were portrayed as a kind of counter-Aztec, a peaceful and quiet society and people. We now know this was a fantasy.
Maya Ceremonial centers probably date back 3500 years in present day Guatemala and Yucatan.
However, Maya civilization attained its greatest flowering from CE.

19. Maya Achievement
Developed an advanced mathematical system including the use of zero as a real number
Developed a set of elaborate calendars that incorporated the solar year and rituals through the use of a short, medium, and long range calendar
Created the most celebrated and elaborate writing system in the Americas
Created large monumental architecture such as temples, pyramids, palaces, public plazas

20. Maya Economics
Agriculture needed large scale human engineering to drain swamps, terrace hillsides, and manage water resources for crops as well as the urban areas
Supported a substantial elite and artisan class
Trade was mostly an affair of the elite, and could be seen as a means to grow and retain wealth.
Most Maya were farmers with a substratum of slaves. Peasants were expected to contribute taxes and work to benefit the nobles.

21. Maya Government
Political structures: city states and regional kingdoms political system that was never unified. No one city state could ever dominate the area
Frequent wars, prisoners of war often being sacrificed to the gods
Urban and ceremonial centers were often densely populated, but the majority of Maya lived outside of urban areas and farmed
Trade with surrounding areas was important to the power of the city states with each competing to gain from each other

22. Maya ruler celebrates victory over foes

23. Collapse of Maya Civilization
Around the middle of the 9th century climate pattern change resulted in a long period of drought in the area. Over time, the great cities were abandoned and the population dropped severely.
Much of Maya culture survived but most of the great urban centers did not. What was left of the urban culture created an echo of Maya greatness in Yucatan (Chichen Itza) that slowly faded away.
Why? Perhaps rapid population growth pushed the limits of the resource base. (Not enough food could be grown). Political disunity and rivalry may have been a factor. Warfare became more or less constant which could have also caused decline.

24. Teotihuacan: The Great Mystery City
While historians and archaeologists can understand some of the story of this city, much of what was Teotihuacan will never be known.
Founded c.150CE. By 550CE a major city with a population estimated at 200,000
Central grid plan. Specialized areas of the city held artisans and other specialists.
Not much evidence of how city was governed and few inscriptions that can be used to help determine this

25. Teotihuacan: the City of the Gods(Nahuatl)
Teotihuacan had great influence over successor states in Central Mexico
City most likely ruled an area of 10,000 square miles in the northeastern section of the valley of Mexico
Its armies spread it influence as far as the Maya lands in Central America-this is shown in frescos and stelae in the Maya areas
Diplomatic and trade connections with other areas as well
Teotihuacan’s art and architecture was copied by the Toltec and Aztec
City apparently collapsed around CE.

26. South American Pre-Inca Civilizations
The coast of Peru offers a rich marine environment suitable for the development of human cultures. Endless supplies of seafood and birds created the framework for a succession of Andean civilizations beginning at least 3000 years ago(1000BCE).
This area was home to one of the hearth civilizations (Norte Chico) and a wave of later cultures and civilizations.

27. Chavin Culture: C.1000BCE to 200BCE
Located in the desert and coastal mountain areas of present day Peru
Ceremonial centers from 2000BCE have been found in many places
By 900BCE Chavin de Huańar became center of a new religious movement that spread over the region
The city was located on trade routes but did not become a political empire though its religious system became the basis for most cultures that followed
Elaborate temple was built in Chavin de Huańtar

28. Chavin Culture
Religious beliefs appear to have been a mixture of desert and rain forest cultures. Use hallucinogenic cactus in ceremonies and rituals
The Chavin culture was widely imitated across Peru and the region
Although Chavin itself diminished by 200BCE the influence of its culture on the area for the next 1500 years should not be underestimated.

29. Moche: A Coastal Civilization (100-800CE)
Unlike most Andean cultures, the Moche did not inhabit or take over mountainous areas, living instead along the coast of Peru in the desert areas.
Moche civilization was based on a complex system of irrigated agriculture
Also relied on fishing.
Examination has revealed the cultivation of a species of cotton that was used for fishing nets as well as a trade good

30. Moche Government and Religion
Current knowledge reveals that Moche was ruled by a caste of warrior-priests who may have lived on top of huge pyramids
Rituals were used by these rulers to mediate between men and the gods including use of hallucinogenic drugs and human sacrifice.
Aptly, the burial sites of the rulers appear to have been elaborate and expensive
Some time after 600CE, some type of ecological destabilization appears to have occurred which slowly brought this culture to an end

31. Mountain Empires: Wari and Tiwanaku
Wari and Tiwanaku were neighboring states in the highland areas just off the coast of Peru from approximately CE.
Centered on large urban capitals with monumental architecture and populations estimated in the tens of thousands.
Areas of control, the eastern and western slopes of the Andes as well as the altiplano between.
Empires internally linked by trade routes and by the influence of the capital city as a religious and cultural center and the spread of this culture over a wider region.

32. TIWANAKU

33. Wari and Tiwanaku
Wari cities seemed to have been built to a common plan and linked by highways while Tiwanaku cities are less homogenous. This suggests a tighter form of political control in Wari although there are no written records
Wari used terraced agriculture to grow its crops while Tiwanaku used a system of raised fields. Each of these will allow for crops to grow at higher altitudes and in more arid conditions than would normally be preferred.
Though they bordered each other does not seem to have been warfare between them or even much mingling. Inca are the heirs of these two kingdoms

34. TERRACE FARMING

35. Cultures of Africa and America: alternatives to civilization
Bantu Culture In Africa
Bantu (language) speaking peoples migrated across a vast swath of Africa beginning around 3000BCE and continuing through the modern era. This migration was unplanned and not “conquest”.
From Nigeria and the Cameroons, Bantu peoples spread eastward and then southward across Africa.
By 100CE Bantu speakers/farmers had occupied much of the forest regions of equatorial Africa and perhaps reached the Indian Ocean.

36. Bantu Cultures
Over time at least 400 Bantu languages developed distinct from each other.
Bantu migration did interact with established peoples. Significant encounters mainly with hunter gatherers whom the Bantu were able to outcompete for resources due to:
A. numbers of people-more food equals more people
B. disease-Bantu brought disease that the people they met were not immune to
C. iron-the use of iron tools and weapons was a great advantage
D. the hunter gatherers were at best absorbed or displaced, at worst eliminated

38. Bantu Cultures
The Batwa (pygmy) peoples interacted with Bantu but became marginalized and became “specialists” in tropical forest living
Bantu culture adapted to new situations and environments over time as they encountered new peoples/
Crops and animals new to the Bantu were adopted as they moved east and south
Bantu culture and skills were spread throughout eastern and southern Africa (ironworking, languages)

39. Society and Religion in Bantu Cultures
Bantu culture split into many distinct societies by 1500CE-including those of Kenya (decision making by age and kinship structures), Zimbabwe and Lake Victoria region: larger more structured kingdoms, East African Coast- developed rival city states
What type of society developed depended on several factors:
Geography, opportunity, and necessity
Many Bantu communities were less patriarchal than urban communities

40. Religion
Bantu religion was focused on ancestors and nature spirits rather than on a specific main god.
A. sacrifice of cattle to access power of dead ancestors
B. charms were used to access power of spirits using proper rituals
C. widespread belief in witches (of either sex)
D. Access to the supernatural could be obtained through diviners (people who can see or hear the spirits)
E. Always alert for “new” messages from beyond. Not a missionary religion

41. Alternative Culture: North America
North of Mexico, no true “civilizations” were ever founded. However, highly developed sedentary and semi-sedentary cultures were.
The Ancestral Pueblo (the forebears of the southwest desert Native Americans): Developed maize (corn) agricultural base around 2000BCE
Settled into agricultural villages around 700CE.
Adapted maize to their desert environment
Most lived in “pit houses”, homes dug into the desert and covered. Later developed ceremonial structures known as “kivas”

42. KIVAS AND PUEBLO

43. Ancestral Pueblans
Traded locally as well as long distance. Evidence exists (obsidian blades, jade trinkets) of trade with the Toltec and Aztec areas
As larger settlements grew up, started to build with adobe brick, large contiguous houses. These are known as “Pueblos”
Chaco Canyon in NW New Mexico is the most spectacular
Largest found is “Pueblo Bonito” which has over 600 rooms and stands 5 stories high
Chaco Canyon is in the center of a large radial network of roads, perhaps it served as a ceremonial center or gathering point.

44. CHACO CANYON

45. Ancestral Pueblans Society was composed of an elite and a commons
Many of the elite specialized in certain duties, among the most unusual were the astronomers. Many indications of the use of astronomic information for ritual purposes. Chaco was a center for producing turquoise
As climate worsened in 12th century CE, warfare increased over failing resources. By 1200CE, all the “great houses”(large pueblos) were abandoned.
Others later revived the same way of living, but not on as grand a scale. (Hopi, Zuni, Isleta to name some)

46. Eastern North America: Mound Builders and the Children of the Sun
In the eastern part of what is now the United States two active cultures developed between 2000BCE and 1500CE.
Mound Builder culture developed along the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys.
Characterized by large earthen mounds used for burial and other ceremonial rituals.
Around 2000BCE first agriculture developed but it wasn’t until 200BCE that the first large scale mound towns developed, most likely because that was when maize was introduced on a widespread basis

47. Mound Builders and the Children of the Sun
The most elaborate of these cultures is known as the Hopewell from 200BCE to around 400 CE.
Large geometric mounds for burial. Geometric earthworks whose significance is not known.
Many artefacts have been found in the mounds, indicated an extensive trading network between various mound towns as well as Mesoamerica
Evidence that the mounds were laid out on specific astronomical lines indicating a developed understanding of spatial orientation

48. Later Mound Builder Culture
Much later, around 900CE and lasting to 1200CE, a much more extensive mound building society rose in Illinois just across from where St. Louis, Missouri is now located.
This center, Cahokia, is the largest mound complex found in North America.
Reasons for the development of this large mound culture:
A. introduction of maize allowed for population growth and sedentary living.
B. in a good location for trade and resources

49. Cahokia
Cahokia contained a central mound that was a terraced pyramid with four levels. This may indicate some contact with Mesoamerican civilizations.
Consisted of around 10,000 people
Had widespread trade contacts across the continent.
Apparently had a stratified social hierarchy and class system
Cahokia was abandoned rather abruptly around 1200CE for reasons that are unknown although many archaeologists believe it ran out of resources and there was some change in climate as well.

50. HOPEWELL MOUNDS IN OHIO

51. CAHOKIA, ILLINOIS

52. Children of the Sun: the Natchez
In present day southwestern Mississippi and presumably over a more extensive area, the Natchez culture flourished c. 1500CE.
These chiefdoms (first encountered by Europeans in the mid 1500”s) were similar to Cahokia.
Earthen pyramids stood in the center of villages.
The paramount chiefs (Great Suns) lived a life of luxury and a clear social elite was present.
Maize based agriculture staple for population
Upper class had to marry into lower class
Significant development of warrior class and military capacity

53. NATCHEZ CULTURE VILLAGE

54. Balance in World History
Teachers, writers, and students of world history often have to decide what to include in world history in order to balance the story of humanity.
Some possible standards:
Durability
Change
Population
Influence
Historian or learners location and audience
There is no agreement on what is “proper” balance in examining world history.