Human history: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

m

Line 3:

==Paleolithic==

''[[Homo sapiens sapiens]]'' first arose on the [[Earth]] between 400 and 250 thousand years ago during the [[PaleolithicPalaeolithic]] period. This occurred after a long period of [[human evolution|evolution]]. Ancestors of humans, such as ''[[homo erectus]]'', had been using simple tools for many millennia, but as time progressed tools became far more refined and complex. At some point humans had begun using [[fire]] for [[heat]] and for [[cooking]]. Humans also developed language sometime during the Paleolithic, as well as a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. During this period all humans lived as [[hunter-gatherer]]s who were generally [[nomadic]].

Modern humans spread rapidly over the globe from [[Africa]] an the frost-free zones of [[Europe]] and [[Asia]]. The rapid expansion of humankind to [[North America]] and [[Oceania]] took place at the climax of the [[Ice Age]], when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonised nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago.

Line 9:

==Neolithic revolution==

A major change, described by the great prehistorian Gordon Childe as a "revolution", occurred around the [[9th millennium BCEBC]] with the adoption of [[agriculture]]. Although research has tended to concentrate on the [[Fertile Crescent]] area of the [[Middle East]], archaeology in the Americas, East Asia and Southeast Asia indicates that agricultural systems using different crops and animals may well have developed at similarly early dates. As might be expected, agriculture was particularly important in areas which became the cradles of early civilisations, such as the [[Yellow River]] valley in [[China]], the [[Nile River|Nile]] in [[Egypt]], and the [[Indus River|Indus Valley]]. Some peoples, such as [[Australian Aborigines|Aborigines]] of [[Australia]] and the [[Bushmen]] of southern Africa, did not use agriculture until relatively modern times.

Agriculture led to several major changes. It allowed far larger population densities. It also created, and allowed for, the storage of food surpluses that could support people not directly involved in food production. The development of agriculture allowed the creation of the first [[city|cities]]. The development of cities has led to what has been called [[civilizationcivilisation]]. First in the [[Sumeria|Sumerian]] civlisation of lower [[Mesopotamia]] ([[4th millennium BC|3500 BCEBC]]), then Egypt along the Nile ([[4th millennium BC|3000 BCEBC]]), the [[Harappan]] of the Indus ([[3rd millennium BC|2500 BCEBC]]), there is evidence of elaborate cities with higher levels of social and economic complexity. These civilisations were so different from each other that they must almostly certainly be thought of as independent in origin. At this same time developments such as [[writing]], [[currency]], and extensive [[trade]] were introduced.

The second[[2nd millennium BCEBC]] saw the emergence of complex state societies in [[Crete]], mainland [[Greece]] and central [[Turkey]]. In China, proto-urban socieites may have developed by [[3rd millennium BC|2500 BCEBC]], but the first dynasty to be identified by archaeology is that of the [[Shang Dynasty|Shang]]. In the Americas, civilisations such as the [[Maya]], the [[Moche]] and [[Nazca]] emerged in [[Mesoamerica]] and [[Peru]] at the end of the first[[1st millennium BCEBC]].

==Bronze and Iron ages==

Line 19:

The agricultural settlements had until this time been almost completely dependent on [[Rock (geology)|stone]] tools. In [[Eurasia]], [[copper]] and [[bronze]] tools, decorations, and weapons began to become commonplace around [[3000 BC]]. After bronze the Eastern [[Mediterranean]] region, [[Middle East]] and [[China]] saw the introduction of [[iron]] tools and weapons. Some areas of the world, including all of the Americas, never developed metal tools, however.

The diffusion of ironworking technology was at least partially responsible for the collapse of the [[Minoan]], [[Mycenaean]] and [[Hittite]] civilisations around [[12th century BC|1200 BCEBC]], as these advanced peoples lost their technological lead to their barbarian neigbours. These collapses inaugurated a period of confusion, after which two competing civilisations emerged in the west, the [[Greeks]] and [[Persians]]. Chinese civilisation too began to assume its familiar aspect during the first[[1st millennium BCEBC]]. The [[Zhou Dynasty]] produced a vast peasant workforce as well as a nobility in charge of organising government and conducting the worship of its ancestors.

A noted cultural development was the introduction of [[philosophy]] and [[religion]] in both east and west. Over time a great variety of religions developed around the world with [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]] in [[India]], [[Zoroastrianism]] in [[Persia]] being some of the earliest major faiths. In the east, three schools of thoughts were to dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were [[Daoism]], [[Legalism]] and [[Confucianism]]. The Confucian tradition, which would attain predominance, looked not to the force of law, but to the power and example of tradition for political morality. In the west, the Greek philosophical tradition, represented by the works of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]], were diffused throughout Europe and the Middle East by the conquests of [[Alexander of Macedon]] in the fourth[[4th century BCEBC]]. At [[Alexandria]], it mixed with [[Jewish]] culture to create the essential context for the appearance and early development of [[Christianity]].

== The Classical empires ==

By the last centuries BCEBC the Mediterranean, the [[Ganges]] and the Yellow River became the seats of empires which future rulers would strive to imitate. In China the [[Qin Dynasty|Qin]] and [[Han Dynasty|Han]] dynasties extended the rule of imperial government through political unity, improving communications and also notably the establishment of state monopolies by [[Emperor Wu of Han China|Emperor Wu]]. In India, the influence of the [[Gupta Empire|Guptas]] spread over much of the subcontinent via a network of tributaries and alliances. The ensuing stability contributed to herald the golden age of [[Hindu]] culture in the fourth[[4th century|4th]] and fifth[[5th century|5th]] centuries AD. In the west, the [[Romans]] began expanding their territory through conquest and colonisation from the beginning of the fifth[[5th century BCEBC]]. By the regin of [[Augustus]] around the birth of [[Christ]], Rome controlled all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean.

The great empires rested on the ability to exploit the process of military annexation and the formation of settlements to become agricultural centres. The relative peace they brought encouraged international trade and notably the growth of the [[Silk Road]]. They also faced common problems such as those associated with maintaining huge armies and the support of the bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the peasantry, whilst land-owning magnates were increasingly able to evade centralised control. The pressure of [[barbarians]] on the frontiers hastened the process of internal dissolution. The Han empire fell into civil war in 220 whilst its Roman counterpart became increasingly decentralised and divided around the same time.

Line 33:

Throughout the temperate zones of Eurasia and North Africa large empires continued to rise and fall. While the Roman Empire collapsed it was replaced a few centuries later by a number of powerful [[Catholic]] states. In China dynasties would similarly rise and fall. The most remarkable, if short lived, of these was the [[Mongol Empire]] which seized almost all of Eurasia's landmass, missing only western Europe and [[Japan]].

[[Islam]], which began in [[Arabia]] in the [[7th century]] AD, was also one of the most remarkable forces growing from only a few followers to become the basis of a series of large Empires in India, the Middle East, and North Africa.

This period was marked by slow, but steady, technological improvements with developments of extreme importance such as the [[stirrup]] and [[printing]] arriving every few centuries.

Line 49:

While the Americas were the first areas to fall to the Europeans soon they also had a technological advantage over the people of Asia as well. In the 19th century Britain gained control of the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Egypt]] and [[Malaysia]], the French took [[Indochina]] while the Dutch occupied [[Indonesia]]. The British also occupied several of the areas still populated by neolithic peoples including [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], and [[South Africa]], and as in the Americas large numbers of British colonists began to emigrate to these areas.

This era also saw the [[Industrial Revolution]] a major transformation of the world’s economies. It began in Britain and used new modes of production such as the [[factory]], [[mass production]], and [[mechanizationmechanisation]] to produce a wide array of materials faster and for less labour than previous methods. The world economy became based on [[coal]]. New methods of transport such as [[railways]] and [[steam ship]]s made the world a smaller place.

==Twentieth Century==

Line 58:

The century saw the rise of powerful ideologies. First with [[communism]] in the Soviet Union after [[1917]], which spread to [[Eastern Europe]] after [[1945]], and [[China]] in [[1949]], and scattered other nations in the [[Third World]] during the [[1950s]] and [[1960s]]. The [[1920s]] saw [[militarism|militaristic]] [[fascism|fascist]] dictatorships gain control of [[Germany]], [[Italy]], [[Japan]], and [[Spain]].

These transitions were evinced through wars of unparalleled scope and devastation. The [[First World War]] destroyed many of Europe's old monarchies, and weakened France and Britain. The [[Second World War]] saw most of the militaristic dictatorships in Europe destroyed and saw communism advance into Eastern Europe and Asia. This led to the [[Cold War]], a forty-year stand-off between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and theirs. Human civilizationcivilisation was put into jeopardy by the development of [[nuclear weapons]]. After out-spending the Soviet Union on weaponry, the US saw a collapse in the Soviet state, with fragmentation of the former republics, some re-joining Russia in a commonwealth, others reaching out toward Western Europe.

The same century saw vast progress in technology, and a large increase in life expectancy and standard of living for the majority of humanity. As the world economy switched from one based upon coal to one based on [[oil]], new communications and transportation technologies continued to make the world more united. These developments produced their own concerns, however, such as [[environmental degradation]].