1. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources Third Edition
Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources Third Edition
CHAPTER 6
Commonalities and Variations:
Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania
500 B.C.E.–1200 C.E.
Copyright © 2016 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
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3. I. Continental Comparisons
A. Independent Agricultural Revolutions B. 250 million people, C.E. C. Differences between civilizations
Continental Comparisons
Independent Agricultural Revolutions: There are basic similarities in the development of human cultures everywhere. It was part of the great process of human migration. Agricultural Revolutions took place independently in several distinct areas, with a resultant development of civilizations.
250 million people, C.E.: The world’s population at the beginning of the Common Era was about 250 million people. It was unevenly distributed with over 80 percent in Eurasia.
Differences between civilizations: There were important differences between civilizations in different regions. The Americas lacked nearly all animals suitable for domestication, Africa imported previously domesticated sheep, goats, chickens, horses, camels. Metallurgy was less developed in the Americas. Writing was limited in the Americas to Mesoamerica; most highly developed among the Maya; in Africa, was confined to north and northeast. There were fewer and smaller classical civilizations in the Americas and Africa. Africa frequently interacted with Eurasia, while the Americas were completely cut off from both Eurasia and Africa. North Africa was fully integrated into a Mediterranean zone of interaction, Arabia was another important point of contact, and East Africa was an integral part of Indian Ocean trading networks.

4. II. Civilizations of Africa
A. Meroë: Continuing a Nile Valley Civilization 1. Nubian Civilization 2. Meroë 3. Urban crafts, rural farming 4. Long-distance trade (by Mediterranean or camel caravans) 5. Decline of Meroë after 100 C.E.
II. Civilizations of Africa
Meroë: Continuing a Nile Valley Civilization
Nubian civilization: Nubian Civilization was almost as old as Egyptian civilization. With constant interaction, it still remained a distinct civilization.
Meroë: With the decline of Egypt, Nubian civilization came to focus on Meroë, ruled by an all-powerful sacred monarch (sometimes female).
Urban crafts, rural farming: The city of Meroë had craft specialization, and rural areas had combination of herding and farming. They paid tribute to the ruler, and farming was based on rainfall, not irrigation. Therefore, population was less concentrated on the Nile, less directly controlled by the capital.
Long-distance trade: Major long-distance trade was the source of much of wealth and military power. They had contact with the Mediterranean, and also traded to east and west by means of camel caravans. There was less Egyptian influence than in earlier times.
Decline of Meroë after 100 c.e.: Too much wood in the iron industry led to deforestation. Conquest in 340s c.e. by Axum, penetration of Coptic Christianity; Christian dominance for 1,000 years, and penetration of Islam after about 1300 c.e.

8. II. Civilizations of Africa
B. Axum: The Making of a Christian Kingdom 1. Axum 2. Coptic Christianity 3. Imperial expansion 4. Paralleled Eurasian developments
II. Civilizations of Africa
B. Axum: The Making of a Christian Kingdom
Axum: Axum was located in present-day Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. The kingdom’s economic foundation was highly productive agriculture, with plow-based farming (not reliant on hoe or digging stick like most of Africa) and high production of wheat, barley, millet, teff. The substantial state emerged by about 50 c.e., stimulated by Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade (port of Adulis); commerce taxes were major source of state revenue. Capital city Axum (in the interior) was center of monumental building, with huge stone obelisks (probably marked royal graves). The town language was Ge’ez, written in South Arabian-derived script. Most of rural populace spoke Agaw, and the capital exerted loose control, mostly collection of tribute.
Coptic Christianity: Christianity arrived in fourth century c.e. King Ezana adopted Christianity about the time of Constantine; Coptic Christianity is still the religion of half the region.
Imperial expansion: In the fourth to sixth centuries c.e., there was an imperial expansion into Meroë and Yemen, reached gates of Mecca by 571 c.e., decline followed, revival of state several centuries later, but further south.
Both Meroë and Axum paralleled Eurasian developments and had direct contact with Mediterranean civilizations.

10. II. Civilizations of Africa
C. Along the Niger River: Cities without States 1. Major urbanization, 300 B.C.E. – 900 C.E. 2. Jenne-jeno 3. Middle Niger cities stimulated by West African commerce
I. China and the Search for Order
C. Along the Niger River: Cities without States
Major urbanization: There was some major urbanization along the middle stretches of the Niger River between 300 b.c.e. and 900 c.e. Migration of peoples from the southern Sahara during long dry period, but no evidence of a state structure, either imperial or city-state. Archeologists have not found evidence of despotic power, widespread war, or deep social inequality (like Indus Valley civilization).
Jenne-jeno: Cities like Jenne-jeno were clusters of economically specialized settlements; iron smithing was earliest and most prestigious occupation. Villages of cotton weavers, potters, praise-singers (griots) grew around central towns; artisan communities became occupational castes, and rural populace also specialized (fishing, rice cultivation, etc.).
Middle Niger cities were stimulated by a network of West African commerce, and large-scale states emerged in West Africa in the second millennium c.e.

12. III. Civilizations of Mesoamerica
A. The Maya: Writing and Warfare 1. Maya ceremonial centers 2. Well-known cultural achievements: mathematical system, calendars, writing system, architecture 3. Maya Economy: Agriculture 4. Fragmented system of city-states and kingdoms 4. Rapid collapse
III. Civilizations of Mesoamerica
The Maya: Writing and Warfare
Maya ceremonial centers: Maya ceremonial centers developed as early as 2000 b.c.e. in present-day Guatemala and Yucatan.
Well-known cultural achievements: Maya civilization most well-known cultural achievements: 250–900 c.e.: Development of advanced mathematical system, elaborate calendars, creation of most elaborate writing system in the Americas, large amount of monumental architecture (temples, pyramids, palaces, public plazas).
Maya economy: agriculture had large-scale human engineering (swamp drainage, terracing, water management system), supported a substantial elite and artisan class.
Fragmented system of city-states and kingdoms: Political system of city-states and regional kingdoms was highly fragmented: frequent warfare; capture and sacrifice of prisoners, densely populated urban and ceremonial centers, and no city-state ever succeeded in creating a unified empire.
Rapid collapse: Rapid collapse in the century after a long-term drought began in 840 c.e., population dropped by at least 85 percent, elements of Maya culture survived, but not the great cities. Reasons posited for the collapse: extremely rapid population growth after 600 c.e. outstripped resources, political disunity and rivalry prevented a coordinated response to climatic catastrophe, and warfare became more frequent.

14. III. Civilizations of Mesoamerica
B. Teotihuacán: The Americas’ Greatest City
1. Much remains unknown
3. Deep influence on Mesoamerica
4. Mysterious collapse ca. 650 C.E.
5. “City of the gods”
III. Civilizations of Mesoamerica
B. Teotihuacán: The Americas’ Greatest City
City was begun ca. 150 b.c.e.. By 550 c.e., population was 100,000–200,000. Much about Teotihuacán is unknown. City was centrally planned on a gridlike pattern. Specialized artisans, little evidence of rulers or of tradition of public inscriptions.
Deep influence on Mesoamerica, especially in 300–600 c.e.: directly administered perhaps 10,000 square miles, influence of Teotihuacán armies spread as far as Mayan lands, apparently also had diplomatic connections with other areas, trade, copying of Teotihuacán art and architecture.
Mysterious collapse ca. 650 c.e.
Aztecs named the place Teotihuacán: “city of the gods”

16. IV. Civilizations of the Andes
A. Chavín: A Pan-Andean Religious Movement
1. Ceremonial centers, – B.C.E.
2. Chavín de Huántar
3. Widespread imitation across Peru and beyond
IV. Civilizations of the Andes
Chavín: A Pan-Andean Religious Movement
Ceremonial centers: Numerous ceremonial centers uncovered, dating to 2000–1000 b.c.e.
Chavín de Huántar: ca. 900 b.c.e., Chavín de Huántar became the focus of a religious movement. Chavín de Huántar was well located along trade routes, had an elaborate temple complex. Beliefs apparently drew on both desert region and rain forests, and people probably used hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus.
Widespread imitation across Peru and beyond, but did not become an empire, and faded by 200 b.c.e.

18. IV. Civilizations of the Andes
B. Moche: A Civilization of the Coast
– 800 C.E.
2. Complex irrigation system
3. Ruled by warrior-priests
4. Superb craftsmanship of elite objects
5. Ecological disruption in sixth century C.E.
IV. Civilizations of the Andes
B. Moche: A Civilization of the Coast
100 – 800 C.E.: Flourished between about 100 and 800 c.e. along 250 miles of Peru’s north coast.
Complex irrigation system: Agriculture was based on a complex irrigation system, and they also relied on fishing.
Ruled by warrior-priests: Some lived on top of huge pyramids; rituals mediated between humans and gods. Use of hallucinogenic drugs, and of human sacrifice. Rulers had elaborate burials.
Superb craftsmanship of elite objects.
Ecological disruption in sixth century c.e. undermined the civilization.

19. IV. Civilizations of the Andes
C. Wari and Tiwanaku: Empires of the Interior
– 1000 C.E.
2. Large urban capitals
3. Caravan trade
4. Agricultural differences
5. Little overt conflict or warfare
6. Collapsed after 1000 C.E.; influenced Incas
IV. Civilizations of the Andes
C. Wari and Tiwanaku: Empires of the Interior
400 – 1000 C.E.: States flourished between 400 and 1000 c.e. in Andean highlands.
Urban capitals: Centered on large urban capitals. Monumental architecture, populations in the tens of thousands.
Caravan trade: Empires included lower elevations of eastern and western Andean slopes and the highlands. Linked by caravan trade, influence of capital city as cultural and religious center also tied together. Cultural influence spread beyond the state.
Agricultural differences: Wari used terraced agriculture, Tiwanaku raised field systems. Wari cities built to common plan and linked by highways suggests tighter political control
Warfare: Little overt conflict or warfare between them; despite the border they apparently did not mingle much.
Collapsed: Both collapsed around 1000 c.e. A series of smaller kingdoms followed; Inca drew on earlier states to build empire.

22. V. Alternatives to Civilization
A. Bantu Africa: Cultural Encounters and Social Variation 1. Movement of Bantu-speaking peoples 3000 B.C.E. 2. Bantu agriculturalists in forest regions of equatorial Africa 3. Bantu advantages 4. Survival of gathering and hunting peoples
V. Alternatives to Civilization
Bantu Africa: Cultural Encounters and Social Variation
Movement of Bantu-speaking peoples into Africa south of equator began around 3000 b.c.e. from southeastern Nigeria and the Cameroons. Over time, 400 distinct Bantu languages developed.
By the first century c.e., Bantu agriculturalists occupied forest regions of equatorial Africa; some had probably reached East African coast. Spread to most of eastern and southern Africa. The movement wasn’t a conquest or self-conscious migration. Significant interaction between agricultural Bantu and gathering and hunting peoples was part of long-term global phenomenon in which farmers largely replaced foragers as dominant people on the planet.
Bantu advantages: numbers (agriculture supports more people), disease (Bantu brought new diseases to people with little immunity), iron, gathering and hunting peoples were largely displaced, absorbed, eliminated.
Survival of a few gathering and hunting peoples. The Batwa (Pygmy) people became “forest specialists” and interacted with the Bantu.

23. V. Alternatives to Civilization
A. Bantu Africa: Cultural Encounters and Social Variation 5. Bantu culture changed 6. Creation of distinct societies C.E. 7. Religion: ancestral or nature spirits
V. Alternatives to Civilization
Bantu Africa: Cultural Encounters and Social Variation
5. Bantu culture changed because of encounter with different peoples. Adopted new crops and animals in East Africa. Bantu peoples spread their skills and culture through eastern and southern Africa.
6. Creation of many distinct societies and cultures in 500–1500 c.e.: Kenya (decision making by kinship and age structures), Zimbabwe and Lake Victoria region (larger kingdoms), East African coast after 1000 c.e. (rival city-states), development depended on large number of factors. Many Bantu communities less patriarchal than urban civilizations.
7. Religion placed less emphasis on a remote high god and more on ancestral or nature spirits: sacrifices (especially cattle) to access power of dead ancestors, power of charms was activated by proper rituals, widespread belief in witches, diviners could access world of the supernatural, based on the notion of “continuous revelation”: new messages still come from the world beyond, no missionary impulse.

25. V. Alternatives to Civilization
B. North America: Ancestral Pueblo and Mound Builders
1. Village-based societies in eastern woodlands
2. The Ancestral Pueblo
3. Permanent villages, pith houses
4. Pueblos: Chaco canyon
5. Great houses abandoned, 1200 C.E.
V. Alternatives to Civilization
B. North America: Ancestral Pueblo and Mound Builders
Village-based societies were established in the eastern woodlands of North America, Central America, the Caribbean islands, and the Amazon basin.
The Ancestral Pueblo: Pit Houses and Great Houses. Southwestern North America began maize cultivation in second millennium b.c.e., only became the basis of settled agriculture ca. 600–800 c.e., gradual adaptation of maize to desert environment.
Permanent villages: Establishment of permanent villages, pith houses in small settlements. By 900 c.e., many villages also had larger ceremonial structures (kivas).
Pueblos: Local trading networks linked settlements; sometimes wider webs of exchange. Development of larger settlements (pueblos). Most spectacular pueblo was in Chaco canyon, largest “great house” or town (Pueblo Bonito) was five stories high with over 600 rooms. Hundreds of roads radiated out from Chaco (were perhaps a sacred landscape). Chaco was a center for turquoise production and the elite included highly skilled astronomers.
Abandoned: Warfare increased with extended drought after 1130 c.e., Great houses abandoned by 1200 c.e.

26. V. Alternatives to Civilization
B. North America: Ancestral Pueblo and Mound Builders
6. Mississippi River Valley: Agricultural Revolution
7. Hopewell Culture
8. Cahokia: Between 900 and 1250 C.E.
9. The Natchez: Sixteenth century
V. Alternatives to Civilization
B. North America: Ancestral Pueblo and Mound Builders
6. Mississippi River valley: Agricultural Revolution by 2000 b.c.e. Crops weren't productive enough for fully settled agriculture until later.
7. Hopewell Culture: Creation of societies marked by large earthen mounds , earliest built ca b.c.e.. Most elaborate of mound-building cultures (Hopewell culture) was established between 200 b.c.e. and 400 c.e. Hopewell: large burial mounds and geometric earthworks, with many artifacts found in them—evidence of extensive trade. Careful astronomical orientation.
8. Cahokia (near present-day St. Louis, Missouri) flourished between 900 and 1250 c.e.. Introduction of maize agriculture allowed larger population. Central mound: terraced pyramid of four levels, community of about 10,000 people, widespread trade network, apparently had stratified class system.
9. The Natchez: Sixteenth-century Europeans encountered similar chiefdom among the Natchez in southwestern Mississippi, with paramount chiefs (“Great Suns”) who lived in luxury, a clear social elite (though upper-class people were required to marry commoners), and a significant military capacity.

28. V. Alternatives to Civilization
C. Pacific Oceania: Peoples of the Sea
1. Environmental impact of human settlement
2. Social complexity in Pohnpei and Tonga
3. Pan-Pacific Similarities
4. Religious life
5. Trade networks
V. Alternatives to Civilization
C. Pacific Oceania: Peoples of the Sea
Environmental impact of human settlement in the Pacific: Moa extinct in New Zealand, diverse threats to the environment in Hawaii.
Social complexity in Pohnpei and Tonga: Saudeleur dynasty ruled for centuries, “Venice of the Pacific”: due to sea walls, Tu’i Tonga: powerful military leaders.
Pan-Pacific similarities: Austronesian language group, Tatau body art, the ocean was a major source of food, but peoples of Oceania also farmed and raised animals, chiefdoms of various types, views of women as polluting, yet examples of women exercising power in Hawaii.
Religious life: Practical rituals to avoid harm, Mana: spiritual force in successful individuals, Tapu: sacredness or protected places or items.
Trade networks: Lapita pottery spread between 1400 and 800 b.c.e., obsidian from New Guinea spread 4,000 miles from Borneo to Fiji, yap (tribute trade to establish protection in times of trouble), Polynesian trade in woven mats links Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji, voyagers brought South American sweet potatoes and bottle gourds to Rapa Nui, Hawaii, and New Zealand.