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English Pages 384 [388] Year 2011
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
PATRICIA S. DANIELS and STEI HEN G. HYSLOP foreword by DOUGLAS BRINKLEY
SECOND EDITION
U.S. $24.95/$27.95 CAN
ALMANAC OF
WO
D
HISTORY
F
eaturing more than 200 illustrations, maps, and time lines, as well as dozens of essays, articles, and sidebars, the National Geographic Almanac
of World History sweeps through the centuries with all the authority, vivid detail, and distinctive visual style that read¬ ers have come to expect from National Geographic. Its an extraordinary chronicle that spans thousands of years and explores every corner of Earth to tell the colorful, utterly engrossing story of how humankind evolved from a scat¬ tering of isolated tribes into the complex and increasingly globalized society we know today. The book opens with an introductory section on epochal milestones: the birth of agriculture, the invention of print, the slave trade, and much more, covered in ten lively essays providing a concise overview of the ideas, dis¬ coveries, and developments that have driven growth and change from prehistory to the present. Next, eight chapters explore the great ages from the earliest cities to the 21st century. Each presents a brief introduction to the period along with a global time line of events, followed by extensive subject sections focused on the cultures of particular significance or achievement in its era, with sidebars highlighting aspects or personages of special interest. Individual time lines note key dates for each important subject. A concluding spread offers a brief yet informative glimpse of what was happening elsewhere in the world. To complete this superb reference, the closing section presents listings of everything from dozens of wars and reli¬ gions to hundreds of outstanding figures in every sphere: leaders, artists, scientists, philosophers, and more—each entry encapsulating its significance. As comprehensive as it is accessible, as readable as it is revealing, this magnificent book unfolds a vast and fasci¬ nating panorama that spans thousands of years—offering an epic tale that stretches from the Neandertals to the nuclear age.
□
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
PATRICIA S. DANIETS
AND
STEPHEN G. HYSLOP
FOREWORD BY DOUGLAS BRINKLEY
SECOND EDITION national geographic WASHINGTON
D. C.
Contents Foreword .10 About This Book .12
MILESTONES The Rise of Agriculture & Complex Societies.16 The Evolution of Writing .18 The Classical Tradition .20 The Silk Road & the East-West Connection .22 Plagues & Peoples .24 Gutenberg & the Print Revolution.26 Slave Trade & Colonialism .28
file astrolabe, such as this brass one from the 1300s, was used for centuries to reckon the position of stars.
The Rise of Democracy .30 Technology Shrinks the World.32 The Search for World Order.34 MAJOR ERAS ANCIENT WORLD: Prehistory-500B.C.38 Human Evolution & Early Migration Prehistory-3000 B.C.40 Mesopotamian Civilizations 3500-500 B.C.44 The Lessons of Judaism. 49 Egyptian Civilization 3000-500 B.C.50 The Divine Right of Queens. 53 Indian Civilization 2500-500 B.C.56 The Multiplicity of Hinduism. 58 Chinese Civilization 2000-500 B.C.60 Mediterranean Civilizations 2000-500 B.C. 62 Olmec of Mesoamerica 1200-400 B.C.66 World Survey Prehistory-500 B.C.68 5
Opposite: King Tutankhcmun's gold funeral mask, 1323 s.c; his tomb was discovered in 1922. Preceding pages: The Hindenbvrg's transatlantic flight ended in flames when the dirigible tried to land at lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937.
CLASSICAL WORLD:
5 50 B.C.-A.D.
700 . .
Persia 550 b.c.-a.d. 651 . North American Cultures 500 B.C.-A.D. 400 Mesoamerican Cultures 500
B.C.-A.D. 700
South American Cultures 500 The Roman Empire 509
.
b.c.-a.d. 600
B.C.-A.D. 476
Hannibal of Carthage . . . :. The Roman Army . . ,v.. Greece 492-400 B.C. China’s Qin & Han Dynasties 403 B.C.-A.D. 220
.
90
Emperor Qin’s Tomb.93 Alexander the Great 336-323 B.C.94 India 327 B.C.-A.D. 550 . 96 Rise of Christianity A.D. 27-392 . 98 Marco Polo, the great 13th-cenfury
World Survey 550
b.c.-a.d.
700
.
100
traveler and writer, changed forever the way Europeans viewed the East.
AGE OF FAITH: 500-1150
. 102
Maya 500-1000 . 104 Watching the Heavens. 106 Anglo-Saxon England 500-1066 . 108 Byzantine Empire 527-1054 . 110 Muhammad & Islam 570-1000 . 114 The Koran . 117 China’s Sui & Tang Dynasties 581-907 . 118 Khmer Empire 600-1150 . 122 Charlemagne 768-814 . 124 Vikings 793-1042 . 126 Feudalism 800-1000 . 128 World Survey 500-1150 . 130 CRUSADES TO COLUMBUS: 960-1644 . 132 China’s Song Dynasty 960-1279 . 134 Holy Roman Empire 962-1648 . 136 Toltec & Aztec Empires 1000-1521 . 138 Rituals of Aztec Warfare. 142 Peru’s Chimu & Inca Empires 1000-1536 . 144 Mississippians & Anasazi 1000-1540 . 146 The High Middle Ages in Europe 1000-1453 . 150 The Crusades 1095-1291 . 152 Mongol Empire 1206-1368 . 154 Marco Polo . 159 Ottoman Empire 1299-1571 . 160 The Renaissance 1300-1600 . 162 Machiavelli. 164 China’s Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 . 168 The Admiral of the Western Ocean . 171 World Survey 960-1644 . 172
COLONIZING NEW WORLDS: 1455-1857 . 174 England 1455-1689 . 176 The Great Fire of London. 179 Spain & Portugal 1469-1640 . 180 The Spanish Inquisition. 182 Navigating the Globe 1492-1522 . 184 Spanish-American Empire 1492-1800 . 186 Spanish Mission System. 189 The Reformation 1517-1648 . 192 Mogul India 1523-1857 . 194 France’s North American Colonies 1534-1763 . 196 England’s North American Colonies 1584-1775 . 200 English Conquest of Canada. 203 Japan & the Shoguns 1588-1853 . 204 The Rise of Russia 1613-1796 ... 206 The Age of Enlightenment 1700-1800 .. 210 Europe’s Balance of Power 1702-1763 ...212 British Exploration of the Pacific 1760-1840 .. Australia’s Aborigines . American Revolution 1775-1789 . Rebellions in Other American Colonies . French Revolution 1789-1799 . Robespierre & the Reign of Terror. World Survey 1455-1857 .
214 217 218 220 222 224 226
AGE OF IMPERIALISM: 1750-1917 .. 228 European Imperialism 1750-1900 . 230 Queen Victoria . 233 India Under the British 1757-19 1 7 . 234 Napoleon 1769-1821 . 236 Europe’s Industrial Revolution 1769-1900 . 238 Urban Migration.
240
Ireland’s Potato Famine. 243 Imperialism in the Pacific 1800-1900 . 244 Maori of New Zealand . 247 Latin American Independence 1800-1830 . 248 Bolivar: Liberator or Dictator?. 250 U.S. Expansion 1800-1860 . 252 The California Gold Rush. 255 European Nationalism 1815-1871 . 256 China Ends Its Isolation 1820-1900 . 258 European Powers Colonize Africa 1830—1914 260 Livingstone & Stanley. 265 Japan & the West 1853-1905 . 266 U.S. Civil War & Reconstruction 1860-1877 . 268 The Battle of Gettysburg. 270 The U.S. Becomes a Great Power 1876-1900 . 272
A Roman gladiator's helmet; its ornate decoration suggests it may have been reserved for ceremonial use.
Rough Riders in Cuba.
275
World Survey 1750-1917 .
276
GLOBAL CONFLICT: 1900-1945 Revolution in Transit 1900-1930 . Mass Production Comes of Age , World War I 1914-1918 . . . The Russian Revolutidns of 1917 Boom & Bust 1920-1937 .. Mass Communication ...
Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein solves an equation at the Californio
278 280 283 284 287 290 293 294
Authoritarianism 1920-1938 ...... World War II 1939-1945
296
Development of the Atom Bomb World Survey 1900-1945 .
302
Institute of Technology in 1931.
TOWARD A NEW MILLENNIUM: 1945-Present Postwar Settlement & Cold War 1945-1991 Arab-Israeli Conflicts .. Vietnam War. Iran Revolution ...... Development of a “Third World” 1945-1991 Gandhi: India’s Peaceful Rebel. Frontiers of Science 1945-Present .. Globalization 1991-Present Terrorism. World Survey 1945-Present ..
300
304 306 309 311 313 316 319 322 326 329 332
AT A GLANCE
Major Wars . .. Major Religions .. Periods & Movements. Human Accomplishments. Leaders. Scientists, Inventors, &c Philosophers Explorers. Artists. Appendix. Index . Illustrations Credits
336 340 344 348 352 358 362 364 368 372 383
Opposite: Centuries-old giant stone statues stand sentry on Easter Island.
ED
FOREWORD
v and the United Nations Secretary-General U Thant.
OMETIMES IT SEEMS THAT WORLD HISTORY IS
one momentous swirl of disconnected events.
An engineer by training, Armstrong is not known to
How could the construction of the Great Pyra¬
wax philosophical. But when I asked him what sur¬
mid in Egypt have even a remote link to the
prised him about being on the moon he grew excited.
Ottomans taking over the Byzantine capital
“Just seeing Earth,” he said. “Its colors are working
of Constantinople? Is there really a connec¬
together. It was magnificent.” He spoke of seeing Green¬
tion between the Iroquois tribes of North America’s
land and Antarctica, of watching the sun’s rays glint
Great Lakes and the Minamoto clan of Japan? Do the
off central Africa’s Lake Chad. In 1994, on the occa¬
Aztec who seized control of the Valley of Mexico around
sion of the mission’s 25th anniversary, Armstrong
1400 have any similarities at all to the German Nazis
penned a simple statement encapsulating his deepest
A.D.
thoughts on the post-Apollo age: “Luna is once again
who bulldozed across Europe in the late 1930s? If we surveyed anthropologists or paleontologists at
isolated. Two decades have passed without footfalls on
the dawn of the third millennium we would get a defin¬
its dusty surface. No wheeled rovers patrol the lunar
itive “yes.” They would tell us of the abundant ways
highlands. Silent ramparts guard vast territories never
cultural mores transcend boundaries, of how seafaring
yet visited by man. Unseen vistas await the return of
societies and nomadic wanderers have long exchanged
explorers from Earth. And they will return.”
ideas across vast continental divides. Most employees
What is striking about Armstrong’s comment is the
of the United Nations would also immediately answer
notion that, from a “solar system perspective,” we cit¬
in the affirmative, pointing out that viruses, air pollu¬
izens of the world are a united entity. Every day we are
tion, and toxic waste know no borders. Popular culture
consumed with our differences—black versus white,
likewise offers a vision of shared heritage. John Lennon’s
Muslim versus Jew, developer versus environmental¬
song “Imagine,” for example, has long been considered
ist—but in truth we do share a common world history.
a grand peace poem that illuminates a dream world where unity transcends acrimony.
The problem is that it is impossible to get our hands
Perhaps the most compelling argument for the
cal family tree or who has labored to find out the pre¬
“oneness” of humankind, however, comes from look¬
cise architectural origins of a house, knows that scouring
ing at satellite photographs. Recently I interviewed
for records of our past is a taxing proposition. Histo¬
Neil Armstrong about his 1969 Apollo 11 mission,
rians have barely scratched the surface of what really
around it. Anyone who has tried to start a genealogi¬
when he became the first man to set foot on the moon.
happened when Jesus preached at Galilee or Marco Polo
Virtually every person alive at the time can still con¬
first journeyed to southern China. If James Joyce could
jure up the image of Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz”
write his 760-some-page Ulysses about one day in the
Aldrin bouncing across the lunar landscape in their
life of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold and Molly Bloom,
Michelin-man white spacesuits. The most stirring
then how can any human really be expected to master
moment came when they planted an American flag and
the billion forms of world history that, when stitched
left medals in memory of their fallen fellow astro¬
together, give us our multicultural world of today?
nauts Chaffee, Grissom, and White. Congratulatory
But as I read this lavishly illustrated, beautifully
messages poured in from leaders all over the world
written National Geographic book, a larger truth struck
including President Richard Nixon, Pope Paul VI,
me. Life is lived chronologically, so start at the 10
Commissioned
After careful consideration, I truly believe this World
by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, Istanbul's Hagio
Sophia originally served as a Christian church.
Almanac is one of the best places for a generalist to
beginning. I’ve never fully understood what consti¬
start. Its reader-friendly mission is to instruct, not intim¬
tutes civilization, but clearly it has something to do
idate. Back in 1977, NASA shot into space the so-called
with groups of people who leave behind clues as to
Voyager 1 and 2 time capsules to tell other solar sys¬
what their life was like through broken pottery, skele¬
tems what life on our planet was about. NASA included
tal remains, primitive art, or oral reminiscences. The
in the capsule such artifacts as a message from Presi¬
libraries of the world are bursting with millions of
dent Jimmy Carter, Mozart recordings, and Chuck
titles trying to piece together the contours of world
Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” After reading the National
history. It would be impossible for us to read them
Geographic Almanac of World History, however, I can
all. We can become trained specialists, mastering a
only wish we could open Voyager’s hatch and drop in
fragmentary aspect of history like the Boer War or
this almanac. For to my mind, the book is one of the
gender politics in the age of Eisenhower or the anti¬
most intelligent and gracefully rendered pictorial
apartheid movement in South Africa. But even the self-
almanacs that we humans have produced (or are likely
assured authority needs a general reference book to
to for quite some time). ■ —Douglas Brinkley
navigate unfamiliar historical terrain. li
ABOUT
THIS
BOOK
ISTORY IS AN EXCITING AND COMPLI-
of exploration. Each chapter ends with notable
cated affair. It is difficult to look
historical events that did not fall neatly into one of the
at events occurring in one location
chapter’s sections. It provides a close-up look at events
without considering those taking
that would otherwise go unnoticed.
place elsewhere at the same time.
The At a Glance section of the Almanac provides a
The Almanac of World History provides a chrono¬
quick summary of all the world’s major wars, religions,
logical and informative overview of concurrent
leaders, human accomplishments, artists, and more.
events. The arrangement, overlapping at times, shows
This reference section is meant to complement the infor¬
the wide variety of history occurring in different parts
mation found within the chapters.
of the world.
Photographs, artwork, and illustrations provide a
The Almanac begins with ten essays that focus on
beautiful and visual history of each era. They educate
milestone events or periods that had a profound impact
and inform while enhancing the reader’s understand¬
on the development and spread of world civilizations.
ing of history.
Next, the book is arranged in eight chapters, each
Charts of emperors, kings, dynasties, rulers, prime
focusing on a separate era. The sections within the
ministers, and presidents appear in the Appendix. A list
chapter cover major themes, movements, people, events,
of additional recommended reading and a comprehen¬
or civilizations. Dates for each section show the range
sive easy-to-use index round out the National Geo¬
of time under discussion. Maps provide context and
graphic Almanac of World History—a work that makes
clarify the spread of empires, major battles, and routes
history come alive. ■
Era Introduction Spread p..;...
Each era opens with a short essay that introduces
Crusades to Columbus
the themes, subjects, and
960-1644
B
oth the Old World and hie Net saw the rise and fall of great powers Dim¬ ing the first half of ihc second millennium. In the New World, military power and strongly centralized governments aided the rise of power of the Aztec and Inca in
Mexico and Peru. In the Old World, it was the last great age of the nomads: Mongols felled China's Song dynasty in 1279 and Ottoman Turks overwhelmed the long-established Byzan¬ tine Empire in 14S3, Although these forces were either overthrown or assimilated in their turn, the far-reaching networks of trade and communication they had established between Europe and Asia helped both regions prosper. In Europe, the economy and culture began to revive. Although Christian crusades against Islam largely failed, they succeeded in enrich¬ ing Europe with Islamic knowledge. Despite the devastation of plagues and the Hundred Years War, European states began to solidify as nations, shaking off the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church and abandoning the feudal system. Trade and commerce brought in riches, especially, at first, to Italian city-states such as Florence and Venice, where the Renaissance was born. The printing press spread classical and Renaissance learning rap¬ idly northward in a golden age of art and literature. Eager to expand, Europe looked out¬ ward and began to embark on an age of exploration that ■ -1- - * ■ - • • >• sv would change both Old and New Worlds forever.
"
major occurrences that mark the era. A time line highlights the era's ten most important events.
Thematic Spread Each thematic spread has a narrative that covers the people, events, and achievements of the period. A time line high¬ lights notable dates and events pertinent to the theme. Featured quotes or passages from a person, book, or document of the time offer a fascinating look at history. Maps illustrate history's ever changing nature.
World Survey Spread The world survey spread offers brief synopses of important historical events not otherwise covered within the Era chapter. Each event is located geographically on a world map, giving a sense of where concurrent events were taking place.
At a Glance Spread
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The Rise of Agriculture & Complex Societies HE TRANSITION FROM HUNTING AND GATHERING TO FARMING, WHICH MAY HAVE
begun around 10,000 B.C., was a great step forward for the human race. Ultimately, it allowed the emergence of civilization. Like all profound changes,
j
however, adapting to farming was difficult for those used to a different way of
life. Farming was harder than hunting and gathering, particularly when people first began to work the soil and lacked metal tools or draft animals to ease their labors. Working the land was so taxing that some regarded
he had no regard.” In jealousy, Cain killed Abel—thus
it as a curse on humanity—as expressed in the
committing the first crime of human against human—
biblical story of Adam and Eve. Cast out of the Gar¬
and went into exile.
den of Eden for disobeying God, they were condemned to harvest the earth at great pains. “Cursed is the
Ferment in the Fertile Crescent
ground because of you,” God told Adam. “In toil
The rivalry between Cain and Abel reflects a human
you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” The curse
drama played out over thousands of years in the region
also fell on Adam’s son, Cain. Cain “brought to the
that gave birth to the Bible. The ancient Israelites lived
Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground,” while
in the Fertile Crescent, an arc extending from Egypt’s
Abel, his brother and “a keeper of sheep,” offered
Nile Valley to Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and
“the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.”
Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq. This region
As recounted in the Book of Genesis, the Lord appre¬
was not as dry in ancient times as it is today, and land
ciated Abel’s offering, “but for Cain and his offering
unsuitable for farming could be used for grazing.
16
Domestication of cattle, along with sheep and goats,
which led to wheeled vehicles. The first plows, made
has been documented as taking place 8,000 years ago.
of wood and drawn by hand, barely scratched the
Humans had domesticated dogs, but the herding of
soil. But by 3000 b.c., Mesopotamian farmers used
sheep and goats was of greater consequence because,
cattle to pull plows whose bronze-tipped blades dug
as plentiful sources of wool, milk, and meat, they
deeply, greatly increasing harvest productivity.
provided much of what people needed for food and clothing. Over time, nomadic flock herders encoun¬
Feeding Complex Societies
tered people who had settled down as farmers: Ancient
Agriculture transformed human existence. Farmers
conflicts echoed in the biblical feud between Abel the
produced more food than their families and livestock
shepherd and Cain the farmer.
required. Potters, weavers, bakers, brewers, priests,
Once communities in the Middle East practiced both
and officials were able to pursue specialized work
skills, combining cultivation with the raising of
without starving. Specialization was crucial to the rise
animals, it marked the birth of agriculture. Domesti¬
of cities and civilization (a term derived from the Latin
cated animals like sheep and cattle eased work and
word for “city”). People put down roots, acquired
provided food. Now people had to produce grain to
possessions, and had time and energy for activities
support themselves and their livestock in times of
other than mere subsistence. They built prodigious
scarcity. They lived in one place all year round.
monuments like Stonehenge in Britain, dating from
Wild grains were domesticated according to each
about 2000 b.c. Even more impressive structures arose
region’s soil and climate. By 8000 b.c., strains of wheat
in bountiful areas. In Egypt, for example, rulers with
and barley were being grown in the Middle East, rice
vast reserves of grain and manpower built pyramids.
and millet in China and Southeast Asia. Einkorn, a
Most early civilizations arose near rivers—the Nile,
primitive form of wheat, was being grown in the Indus
the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus, and the Yellow
Valley of today’s Pakistan. Maize, or corn, was domes¬
River in China. Those rivers flooded regularly, deposit¬
ticated in the Americas around 3000 b.c. By that time,
ing silt that enriched the soil and raised crop yields.
people elsewhere were raising various crops and tend¬
Irrigation systems further increased production. It took
ing cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, and other livestock.
strong leadership to manage irrigation projects and
Agriculture spurred crafts. Farmers needed recep¬
distribute surplus grain. Powerful rulers arose, first
tacles to store grain. The potter’s wheel was invented,
presiding over city-states and ultimately over kingdoms and empires. Kings and emperors reaped the fruits of
Sumerians herd goats, sheep, and cattle in a mosaic from the royal cemetery at Ur, one of the first cities of Mesopotamia. Agriculture laid the foundations of Mesopotamian civilization.
civilization, but it was humble tillers of the soil like the accursed Cain who planted the seeds. ■
17
The Evolution of Writing A LONG WITH CITIES AND RULERS, WRITING DISTINGUISHED THE EARLIEST CIVILIZATIONS.
Writing was a skill originally confined to an elite group of officials, priests, and b* '' 4 scribes. “Writing for him who knows it is better than all other professions,”
J£L, declared an ancient Egyptian text, composed by a writing teacher to be copied out by scribes in training. “It pleases more than bread and beer, more than clothing and ointment. It is worth more than an inheritance in Egypt, more than a tomb in the west.” Writing pupils dutifully copied these sentiments on
of characters, numbering anywhere from several
papyrus—no easy task considering that their written
hundred, as in Egyptian, to several thousand, as in
language comprised some 700 hieroglyphs that could
Chinese. It could take years to master all those
be combined in countless ways. Scribes also studied
characters and combinations. The task was simplified
mathematics and astronomy, and the best of them
over time as characters inscribed on stone, clay, or
pursued careers as administrators or royal advisers. To
papyrus became less pictorial, more abstract, and
make students apply themselves, the teacher compared
easier to form.
the sufferings of illiterate Egyptians, forced to work
The development of writing enabled rulers to
hard as soldiers or peasants, with the life of relative
govern vast areas more effectively. Concerned about
ease promised a scribe. Learn writing, the teacher urged
the fate of their troops abroad or the state of their
his pupils, “and you will be protected from all kinds
treasury at home, kings requested reports from
of toil. You will become a worthy official.”
commanders or tax collectors. Written reports improved on oral reports, easily distorted by the
Symbolic Complexity
speaker’s memory lapses or misstatements. People
In Egypt as in other early civilizations, writing was not
subject to the decrees of rulers benefited as well when
simply a path to individual advancement. It was the
the laws of the land were written down. When King
means by which whole societies advanced to higher
Hammurabi of Babylon formulated his great code of
levels of complexity and achievement. Writing began
laws, he had the code inscribed on a monument, in¬
as pictographs representing objects or concepts. As
cluding these words: “Let the oppressed man who
cultures grew more complex, writing evolved into a
has a cause come into the presence of my statue and
more symbolic record of thoughts and actions, with
read carefully.” Hammurabi’s code prescribed harsh
versatile signs or characters that could be combined
penalties for some offenses. “If the wife of a man is
to convey various meanings. In the Sumerian language,
caught lying with another man,” it decreed, “they shall
for example, the sign for mouth combined with the
bind the two and cast them into the water.” With
sign for a bowl of food meant “to eat.”
laws expressed in writing, the Babylonian people had
Signs became phonetic indicators. The sign for a
some assurance that they would not face arbitrary
word like “cat,” for instance, could represent either
punishment from authorities making up rules as they
the animal itself or the sound “cat” in an unrelated
went along.
word like “catalogue.” This process of making one
Since most Babylonians could not read, they relied
sign serve different purposes allowed scribes to repre¬
on scribes or officials to interpret the laws for them.
sent their spoken languages in writing with a finite set
As long as written languages contained hundreds or 18
thousands of characters, they were well-kept secrets,
of the population. The very word “alphabet” is derived
known only by a privileged few whose parents or
from the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta. The
patrons could afford to pay for schooling. This
Greeks adapted their phonetic alphabet from the
remained the case for thousands of years in China,
Phoenicians and bequeathed it to the Romans. That
where mastery of the many intricate characters of its
Latin alphabet has been passed along in modified form
language was confined to the wealthy and to a few
to many modern languages, including English.
gifted commoners who advanced by merit to serve
The phonetic alphabet had far-reaching consequences
China’s rulers as scribes and civil servants.
for Western civilization. The Greek and Latin alphabets included just two dozen or so consonants
Spreading the Word
and vowels. Students of phonetic alphabets had far
In the Mediterranean world, by contrast—thanks to
fewer characters to master, and they quickly learned
the emergence of phonetic alphabets, with characters
to relate those characters to the spoken word. Literacy
representing the sounds of the spoken language—read¬
increased among groups who had been largely
ing and writing became accessible to large segments
illiterate in the past, including women and artisans. By 500 B.C., the spread of literacy and learning around
Egyptian hieroglyphs, such as these on the tomb of Ptahhotep, some 4,400 years old, were both a means of communication and an art form perfected by scribes who spent years mastering their craft.
the Mediterranean had set the stage for the towering intellectual achievements of the classical era. ■
'mm
19
The Classical Tradition HE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME ON WESTERN CULTURE IS UNMATCHED
by any other. The very words “classic” and “classical,” which literally refer to these ancient states, have also come to mean “the standard” or “the best.” Classi¬ cism—the reverence for Greek and Roman culture, especially literature, art, and architecture—is marked by a dedication to reason, restraint, elegance, harmony, and clarity, and has been a defining characteristic of Western culture throughout its history. After the Roman Empire fell to nomads in the
France and England
early Middle Ages, few Europeans had the education
When the Reformation swept Europe, the fervor for
or inclination to pursue the ancient wisdom of the
classical learning abated, although Greek and Roman
Greeks and Romans. Their work was never lost—
texts were by then firmly regarded as basic to educa¬
manuscripts had been stored in medieval libraries and
tion. Advances in astronomy, physics, and medicine
monasteries—but Renaissance thinkers acted as if
in the 1500s and 1600s knocked ancient scientists
they had discovered the classics. In Italy, the birthplace
down a peg, but classicism revived in 17th-century
of the Renaissance, scholars looked first to their
France as poets Francois de Malherbe, Nicolas
Roman ancestors: Livy, Ovid, Horace, Seneca, Pliny,
Boileau-Despreaux, and Jean de La Fontaine wrote
and others. The writings of Cicero, the Roman
cool, reasoned verse. La Lontaine also wrote his
statesman, became a model for Renaissance Italian
famous Fables, drawn primarily from the Greek
prose. Virgil, too, with his sonorous verse, became
stories of Aesop. Dramatists Pierre Corneille and
a literary hero. When Florentine poet Francesco
Jean Racine took style and content from the Greek
Petrarca became poet laureate in 1341, he gave a speech
classics. In Corneille’s Medee, Horace, and Polyeucte,
on Virgil in Latin.
tragic heroes and heroines subdue their emotions to
Renaissance architects, led by 15th-century thinker
duty. To Corneille’s dismay, his works were upstaged
Leon Battista Alberti, looked to the classical age for
by Racine’s, such as Andromaque and Phedre, which
inspiration. Alberti studied ancient buildings in Rome
also explored tragic characters from Greek myth.
before writing his influential Ten Books on Architec¬
This reverence for ancient forms was bound to cause
ture, which stressed proportion and harmony. In art,
a backlash. In 1687 the poet Charles Perrault (today
similar classical
the
most famous for his fairy tales) declared that modern
glorification of the human form—inspired the
writers were superior to the ancients. Lrench writers
sculptures of Michelangelo, the paintings of Raphael,
debated this “quarrel of ancients and moderns” for
and the work of many others.
seven years, and some of their arguments presage
ideals—harmony,
balance,
In the 15th century, Byzantine Greeks left Con¬
Enlightenment attitudes.
stantinople for Italy, bringing a knowledge of classic
In England, classicism often took the form of satire,
Greek texts. The Florentine banker Cosimo de’ Medici
particularly during the early 1700s, called the Augus¬
founded a Platonic academy, where scholar Marsilio
tan Age since writers emulated the ideals of Augustan
Ficino translated hundreds of Greek works into the
Rome. Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels and
more familiar Latin. Plato and Socrates came to rival
Alexander Pope wrote his epic poems, The Dunciad
the Christian saints in Renaissance thought.
and An Essay on Man, in the 1720s and 1730s. 20
Classical in content and composition, Renaissance painter Raphael's "School
in Italy and others in Greece, American architects began
of Athens" depicts Plato and Aristotle at center, surrounded by sages
to use Greco-Roman forms for their buildings. Thomas
including Socrates, Euclid, and Raphael himself, second from far right
Jefferson’s University of Virginia, Benjamin Latrobe’s
Classical Music
Bank of Pennsylvania, and other public and private
In Germany, classicism took the form of music. With
institutions built in this period were graced by columns
the death of Bach and Handel, the complex polyphony
and domes reminiscent of ancient Greece and Rome.
of the baroque and rococo styles gave way to
In the late 18th century, the pendulum swung toward
simplicity, balance, and restraint. Mozart, Haydn,
Romanticism, and Western artists took up the ideals
Gluck, and Beethoven (in his early works) wrote music
of passion, imagination, freedom, and rebellion rather
that emphasized a melodic line over a supporting
than restraint and moderation. Greek and Roman lan¬
harmony, with a wider range of dynamics. The piano
guage and learning still remained the bedrock of higher
was introduced during this era, as was the modern
education into the 20th century, though. As Harvard
symphony orchestra and the standardized sonata form.
scholar Charles Eliot Norton wrote in 1885, “I think
So influential was the music of this period that
that a knowledge of Greek thought and life, and of
the generic term for formal concert music today is
the arts in which the Greeks expressed their thought
“classical music.”
and sentiment, is essential to high culture. A man
In late 18th-century America, classical enthusiasts
may know everything else, but without this knowl¬
paid particular attention to architecture. Stimulated
edge he remains ignorant of the best intellectual and
by archaeological finds at Pompeii and Herculaneum
moral achievements of his own race.” ■
The Silk Road & the East-West Connection
I
n about
138
b.c. Han Wu
Ti,
the Emperor of China, faced a problem that
would ultimately plague China throughout much of its history: Nomadic people, the Xiongnu, were raiding the borders of his country from the north and west. To the west of the Xiongnu, however, were the Yuezhi, with whom the emperor might
make a profitable alliance. He learned that the Yuezhi disliked the Xiongnu, in part because the nomads had killed the Yuezhi king and used his skull as a drinking vessel. Han Wu Ti sent Zhang Chien, a palace attendant,
knowledge to set up routes for long-distance trade.
westward as an envoy to the Yuezhi. Captured while
Over time, those routes grew into the immense net¬
crossing nomad territory, Zhang Chien stayed in
work of east-west overland caravan passages known
comfortable captivity for ten years. He finally escaped
as the Silk Road.
and made his way to Bactria, northwest of India. There he met disappointment, though, for the Yuezhi king
The Routes
was not, after all, so disturbed about the murder of
Immensely important in the development of Eurasian
his father that he wanted to go to war.
culture, the Silk Road linked trading cities from China
Back to China trudged Zhang Chien. He had failed
to Europe. Originating in the east at the Han capital
to win an alliance, but he had succeeded in gathering
of Ch’ang-an, the main route cut west through
valuable information about the lands and customs west
Mongolia. Two branches split to skirt the desolate
of China. For instance, spotting Chinese goods for
Taklimakan Desert, north and south, then rejoined at
sale in Bactria, he had learned that they had traveled
Kashgar. From there, the road traversed Bactria, where
there via Bengal. Clearly, overland trade with the
another branch split off, south into India. The main
West was possible. Emperor Han Wu Ti used this new
route continued to the Caspian Sea and on to the Mediterranean, with a southern branch to the Persian Gulf. Few traders traveled the entire length of the route: They sold their wares to middlemen along the way. Silk Road trade was busiest from approximately 200 B.C. to A.D. 200, during China’s Han dynasty, then again about one thousand years later. Far more than silk traveled the Silk Road, but the precious fabric was an important Chinese commodity. The Chinese guarded the secret of its manufacture until the sixth century, when, according to the historian Pro¬ copius, two Byzantine monks smuggled silkworm eggs
A small wooden door found along Silk Road routes in present-day Xin¬ jiang depicts animals both real and legendary.
out of China inside hollow walking sticks. East Asian traders brought spices such as cinnamon, cloves,
nutmeg, and ginger to Euro¬ peans, who used them as fla¬ vorings, drugs, perfumes, and aphrodisiacs. India traded pep¬ per, pearls, sesame oil, textiles, coral, and ivory. Central Asian nations sent horses and jade back to China, while Mediter¬ ranean merchants traded wools, gold, silver, gems, glassware, olive oil, and wine.
More than Silk Buddhism,
Hinduism,
and
Christianity also traveled these routes. Many Indian merchants were Buddhists, and they spread their religion to the cities they visited—Samarkand, Kashgar,
Deerskin boots like those worn by this modern-day horseman have been found in ancient graves, suggesting that travelers along the Silk Road have worn such footwear for centuries.
Bukhara, and others—and on into China by the fifth century. Chinese Buddhists vis¬
become a Christian. It wasn’t until 1247 that the monk
ited India and brought back valuable knowledge about
made it back to Rome with Guyiik’s reply. In 1253-55,
the subcontinent. Christian missionaries spread the
William of Rubrouck made the difficult journey from
gospel through the Near East and North Africa.
Constantinople to the Crimea and on to the Great
Diseases started in the vast farming areas of China
Khan’s court, eating raw meat and drinking fermented
and spread along the road: Smallpox, measles, and
mare’s milk to survive. The new Khan, Mangu, was no
bubonic plague were among the worst. Both Han China
more interested in converting than his predecessor. Just
and Augustan Rome were stricken by epidemics in the
as God had created different fingers on one hand, he
second and third centuries. Smallpox, carried along
told Rubrouck, so he created different beliefs for dif¬
the Silk Road, killed millions of Romans during the
ferent peoples.
Plague of Antoninus in A.D. 165-180. The infamous
By the 15th century, sea routes across the Indian
Black Plague of the 1300s also moved by trade routes
Ocean began to supplant the more dangerous over¬
from China to Europe.
land passage, and trade along the Silk Road declined.
With the decline of the Han empire, trade along the
Not until the 19th and 20th centuries did these routes
unguarded Silk Road diminished until the Mongols
see much international traffic again, as European sol¬
swept through Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries and
diers and archaeologists followed the road. German
established the pax mongolica, which provided safe
archaeologist Albert von le Coq, for instance, found
passage. Merchants and craftsmen again plied the
Buddhist cave paintings along the routes, chiseled them
road—among them, the Venetian traders Niccolo, Maf-
out, and sent them to Berlin, explaining that he was
feo, and Marco Polo. European rulers also sent envoys
saving them from future vandalism.
east in search of allies against Islam. Some were remark¬
The future of the Silk Road may lie not in spices
ably intrepid. In 1245, Giovanni da Pian del Carpini,
but instead in oil and gas. Discoveries of these fuels
a Franciscan monk, carried a letter over 3,000 miles,
in Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and other
across Bohemia, Poland, the Ukraine, and the steppes
Eastern locales may bring new trade to the region,
of Russia, from the Pope to the Mongol Khan, Giiyiik.
and trucks may one day roll along the ancient routes
Giiyiik, however, declined the Pope’s invitation to
of camel caravans. ■
H
Plagues & Peoples ernAn Cortes and his
600
soldiers conquered the mighty Aztecs, not
just because the Spanish had guns, or horses, or literacy—although those things surely helped—but also because they carried germs. More lethal than any firearms, viruses and bacteria have accompanied soldiers and traders around the world,
and the epidemics they caused have changed the course of history. A few infectious diseases smallpox, bubonic plague, and AIDS—have ravaged populations throughout history. Many of the most deadly epidemics were born in
The New World
Old World agricultural communities, where people
Nowhere was the impact of Old World diseases—small¬
and animals lived closely together. The deadly
pox, measles, influenza, typhus, and others—more deadly
pathogens probably mutated from those afflicting
than in the Americas. Because relatively few animals were
livestock. Measles, smallpox, and tuberculosis may
domesticated in the New World—and with the excep¬
have evolved from cattle diseases. Influenza and per¬
tion of the Aztecs and Incas, populations were less dense
tussis probably began in pigs, ducks, and dogs.
and more isolated—few plagues originated there. Old
Bubonic plague thrives in the fleas found on rats, ubiq¬
World populations had built up some resistance to their
uitous in farming villages.
diseases, but Native Americans possessed none. When hit by European microorganisms, they died, as one 16th-
The Black Death
century Jesuit put it, in the “infinite thousands.”
Waves of smallpox epidemics periodically ravaged the
Within 40 years of Columbus’s arrival on Hispaniola,
globe, devastating Egypt as early as 1150 B.C., the Roman
the island’s eight million inhabitants were gone, mostly
Empire in A.D. 65, China in A.D. 250, France in the
killed off by introduced disease. The Mesoamerican pop¬
Middle Ages. By the late 18th century, when English
ulation dropped from 20 million to about 1.6 million in
surgeon Edward Jenner discovered a vaccine, it was
the century following Cortes’s invasion. North Ameri¬
killing a half million Europeans a year.
can tribes were also annihilated by the invisible pathogens.
The first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague
By some estimates, in fact, between 50 percent and 95
occurred in the 1300s, when the disease swept through
percent of all Native Americans may have died from Euro¬
China, halving its population. From there, the deadly
pean disease during the first 130 years after contact—the
contagion advanced west, arriving in Sicily by ship in
greatest demographic disaster in history.
1347. By 1348-49, it had spread through Italy into France, Germany, England, and Ireland. Victims died
Evolving Threats
within days, their lymph nodes swollen into charac¬
Twentieth-century public health programs—inoculations,
teristic “buboes” and their skin turned black. Entire
vaccinations, and especially antibiotics—have helped con¬
villages were wiped out by this “Black Death,” the bod¬
trol most epidemics. In one of the triumphs of modern
ies piled in streets while farm animals wandered
medicine, smallpox was declared eradicated in 1979.
untended. By 1351 about 24 million people, possibly
Mutating pathogens still remain a potent threat, however.
one-third of Europe’s population, had died of bubonic
Tuberculosis, for example, is proving newly resistant to
plague. Numerous outbreaks killed tens of thousands
antibiotics. Influenza presents bewildering varieties. In
more in the following centuries.
1918, the devastating “Spanish flu” epidemic killed an
SECOND PANDEMIC 1347-52 First epidemic in Europe and the Mediterranean region Plague route by sea European cities repeatedly hit by plague, 1347-1771; perhaps 50 million people die in all ST PANDEMIC A.D. 541-44 First epidemic A.D. 557-767 Fourteen successive epidemics
Plague from central Africa
Plague route
MOSCOW Brought by troops returning from a Russo-Turkish war in 1771, plague killed a reported 60,000 persons in Europe 's last major epidemic.
Trondheim
CHINA In the late 132Qs aplague epidemic bmmovt in central Asia and spread east to China. Records are vague but millions of people died by the century's end. Plague later spread west along caravan, routes, reaching the Black Sm by 1347.
1350 Moscow*
LONDON Plague was endemic in London beginning in 1348 and ending with the Great Plague of 1665 that claimed at least 68,000 lives.
1350 Erfurt
'
wa*
EUROPE •asbourg* a1349
*Nurnberg Munich Vienna* renice
Toulouse* 1348
M Lisbon
/
Barcelona*
'
'
f Crimea
1350
f Black j Sea j
Ancona Livorno*^ ‘ (Leghorn)
’
134!> ^rvalenciaVj
T
Balearic Islands
Rome' \ ★Naples^
1347
1347
Tunis*
Baghdad.
ISLAMIC WORLD SICILY Cairo
Starting with on epidemic in 1348, the population of the Muslim world suffered recurring plague outbreaks into the late 19th century.
Beginning in Asia and central Africa and traveling along trade routes, the
(severe acute respiratory syndrome), spreading to 37 coun¬
bubonic plague, also called the "Black Death," spread through Europe
tries and killing nearly a thousand people before being
and struck repeatedly from the early Middle Ages until the 1700s.
contained. The terrifying Ebola virus first appeared in
estimated 500 million people worldwide. That disaster
1976; it appears to be harbored in certain African bats.
might be repeated today should one of the deadly avian
The human immunodeficiency virus (HTV)—which causes
influenza viruses, endemic in poultry, ever cross into the
AIDS—lurks in chimpanzees. In the three decades since
human population. Yet the 2009-2010 global pandemic,
1981, when it was first recognized as an epidemic, AIDS
the first in more than 40 years, was caused by an unfa¬
has infected more than 60 million people worldwide,
miliar and unexpected influenza strain.
killing more than 25 million of them. In a crowded world where people interact constantly, conditions have never
More worrisome still are newly emergent pathogens.
been better for spawning fearsome new epidemics. ■
In 2002-03, a previously unknown virus caused SARS 25
Gutenberg & the Print Revolution SK MODERN SCHOLARS TO NAME HISTORY’S MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION, AND THE
answer is likely to be the printing press. Greatly facilitating the mass reproduction of written material, the printing press led to the rapid dissemination of ideas, trans¬ forming every aspect of modern culture. As early as 1700 B.C., Minoans in Crete were impressing characters representing syllables into clay. Nearly 2,000 years later the Chinese had invented pulp-based paper and applied it to inked marble pillars carved with characters. By the sixth century the Chinese were
He first devised a reliable method for making consis¬
working with carved wooden blocks instead, using them
tent pieces of metal type, fabricating molds for each let¬
to print the world’s oldest known book, a copy of the
ter, upper- and lowercase, into which he poured a molten
Buddhist Diamond Sutra, in 868.
alloy of tin, lead, and antimony.
In the 1040s, Chinese alchemist Pi Sheng invented
The resulting type was stored, letter by letter in a type
movable type, baking clay characters and placing them
case. When text needed to be composed, the printer picked
sequentially on wax-coated iron plates. Once heated,
letters one by one from the case and arranged them in
the wax gripped the characters in place. Suitably inked,
sentences in a composing stick, using small pieces of metal
the entire plate could then be pressed onto paper.
to separate words. When a full page of type was ready,
Korean typographers improved on this technology in
it was locked into a metal form; then the form was
the 1400s by casting their characters in bronze.
installed into the press, which Gutenberg may have
Nevertheless, the German metalsmith Johannes Guten¬
adapted from wine presses.
berg is held to be the father of printing, not because he
The form of type was attached to a movable surface,
invented the process or the concept of movable type, but
the platen, hanging directly above a fixed surface, called
because he greatly improved on both, making printing
the bed. The printer inked the type, laid paper on the bed,
truly practical for the first time. He was also lucky: The
screwed the platen down to meet and imprint the paper,
European alphabet, with its 26 standardized letters, is
removed it, and hung it up to dry. After printing as many
far easier to print than are Asian ideographs. And his
of a given page as needed, the printer would return the
contemporaries, the intellectuals of the Renaissance,
letters to the type case to be used again.
seized on the new technology to spread their ideas.
By about 1455 Gutenberg had printed multiple copies of the magnificent Bible now known by his name. Within
Gutenberg
ten years, the technique had spread to Italy. By 1475 William
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was born
Caxton had used a press to print a book in English, the
around 1397 in Mainz, Germany. The son of a patri¬
Recuyell of the History es ofTroye. He went on to print as
cian, he became a goldsmith and a metalworker before,
many as a hundred different titles in English, including
having experimented with stamping techniques, he
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. In Venice, meanwhile, printer
formed a partnership in 1450 with a wealthy business¬
Aldus Manutius produced simpler letterforms, including
man to print a Bible.
italic type. Printers began including woodcuts on the pages 26
of books, including beautiful illustrations by such artists
tortured, and burned at the stake. Religious leaders might
as Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein.
have seen the printed book as a threat, but for many others, it became almost a sacred object. “As good
The Spread of Printing
almost kill a man as kill a good book,” wrote English
By the beginning of the 1500s, more than a hundred
poet John Milton in 1644. “Who kills a man kills a rea¬
printing presses were operating throughout Europe, and
sonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a
they had produced some nine million copies of about
good book kills reason itself.”
40,000 different works. Most did not resemble the
Indeed, printed words—whether appearing in books,
Gutenberg Bible; many were instead scurrilous pam¬
newspapers, periodicals, reports, directories, even
phlets and political tracts.
menus—became the lifeblood of modern civilization.
Printing meant that new ideas could spread rapidly.
Schools rose on their foundations; libraries preserved
Martin Luther’s 95 theses first circulated in handwritten
their every appearance. Though the rise of today’s dig¬
versions, but soon printed copies were distributed, spread¬
ital technology is beginning to eclipse the printing press,
ing Luther’s reformist tenets. Literacy increased with the
new media is rather proving to be the heir of old, just as
spread of printing. People began to read silently to them¬
print inherited the labors of monks who painstakingly
selves, and written debates began to replace spoken ones.
copied manuscripts in medieval scriptoria.
The printed word wielded power, for good or ill. In
In fact, more books than ever before—nearly 280,000
1546 the Lrench printer Etienne Dolet, who had printed
in 2008—are being published annually in the United
both the New Testament and the Psalms—but also tracts
States, which does not include several hundred thousand
by religious dissenters—was found guilty of atheism,
additional titles that can now be printed on demand. Lor many people in today’s digital world, there is still noth¬
Johannes Gutenberg's accomplishment inspired the development of
ing quite so sacred as a book. ■
printing presses across Europe from the middle of the 15th century on.
27
Slave Trade & Colonialism in
he African slave trade had a profound impact on the development of
I
the New World. During the 18th century, at the peak of the slave trade, between
■
six and seven million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean under
mJKLm miserable conditions.
This huge forced migration was brutal and destructive—
many Africans died in transit—but it enriched the culture of the Americas and transformed the Caribbean and the vast country of Brazil into predominantly African-American regions. The slave trade was as old as civilization, and its
some 400,000 Africans had been exported to the
victims were by no means confined to Africa. So many
New World as slaves. About one in six died during the
Slavs were enslaved in Europe in early times that their
passage across the Atlantic. Those who survived
name came to express the very concept. The ancient
worked largely on sugar plantations in the Caribbean
Greeks turned from slaveholders to slaves when the
and the Portuguese colony of Brazil, where they raised
Romans overtook them in the second century B.C. The
cash crops like sugar and coffee. Tobacco and other
rise of Christianity in the Mediterranean world did little to undermine slavery, and as Muslims gained con¬ trol of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean in the seventh century A.D, they turned their captives into slaves. They also purchased slaves from distant parts of Europe and from sub-Saharan Africa. Africans captured in battle, punished for committing crimes, or irretrievably in debt became slaves to other Africans. Once merchants began visiting Africa from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, some Africans profited from the slave trade. Others suffered, or died. The European Impact In the 1400s Portuguese merchant ships explored the West African coast, at first seeking gold and ivory. By the 1500s, New World colonies raised other economic demands, and they looked to Africa for labor. The Native Americans on whom they had depended were falling victim to European-borne diseases. West Africa’s Gold Coast became the Slave Coast. By the early 1600s, Slaves in shackles are driven to market in Africa, where local slave traders sold captives to Europeans for transportation to colonies in the Americas.
28
agricultural products would travel from the United States, primarily from ports in New England, to be sold in England. There, manu¬ factured
goods
would
be purchased, exported to Africa,
and
exchanged
for slaves. This so-called “Golden Triangle” was one facet of a complex commercial
interchange
between Old and New Worlds that reinforced the slave trade. Other European nations entered the slave trade, and African slave dealers welcomed the competi¬ tion. By the mid-17th cen¬
Millions of Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic to toil in mines or labor on plantations where they raised tobacco, cotton, sugar, coffee, rice, and other crops under oppressive conditions.
tury the Dutch dominated the Atlantic slave trade. They in turn were challenged
The Legacy of Slavery
by the French and British in the 18th century. By the
A fateful link was forged between race and slavery in
1800s, more than ten million Africans had been trans¬
the New World, where nearly all those held in bondage
ported to the Caribbean, and South and Central Amer¬
were either African Americans or Native Americans.
ica. Over half of the slaves who worked in North
Through much of history, slavery had had little to do
America came from the Caribbean rather than directly
with skin color. Slaves released from bondage were less
from Africa.
stigmatized as a result, since nothing in their looks sug¬
Britain entered the slave trade in the mid-1600s,
gested that they had once been slaves. In Roman soci¬
when the first ships brought slaves from Africa to
ety, some who were born slaves won freedom and
British colonies in the Caribbean. By the early 1700s,
prospered as adults.
among all the Caribbean islands, Jamaica was highest
In the Americas, by contrast, skin color became a
in both the number of slaves and the volume of sugar
way of identifying slaves. Interracial partnerships and
produced. Bristol and Liverpool became prosperous
emancipation blurred such distinctions, but the link
slave ports. British ships crossed the Atlantic, carry¬
between race and slavery persisted. In the American
ing human cargo, and returned with sugar and money.
South, laws were passed that made it all but
By the late 18th century, Britain had shipped some
impossible for masters to free their slaves and for free
300,000 slaves across the Atlantic, and the slave trade
Black people to enter or live in slave states.
had become a major factor in the British economy. At
In 1808, the U.S Congress banned the importation
the same time, though, humanitarian interests grew
of slaves, which put an end to the shipment and sale
and abolitionist fervor swept the country. In 1807,
of African slaves in the United States. Slaves contin¬
the slave trade was abolished in British colonies,
ued to be bought and sold inside the country, how¬
making it illegal for a British ship to carry slaves. The
ever. An abolitionist movement, as in Britain strongly
abolitionist movement continued until Parliament
influenced by the Society of Friends, or the Quakers,
passed the 18 3 3 Abolition of Slavery Act, freeing slaves
campaigned against slavery from the 1830s until the
over four years and compensating their owners.
1863 Emancipation Proclamation. ■
The Rise of Democracy .**■
HE LEADERS OF THE AMERICAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS IN THE LATE 1700S
Vi
were inspired by the ideal of democracy, drawing mainly upon classical precedents. But even those who did not trace their ideas to ancient Athens knew that Thomas Jefferson drew on deep-seated aspirations when he asserted that rulers derive
their “just powers from the consent of the governed.” European history actually offered several models of democracy. Classical Greece and Rome, pioneers of representative government, devised different ways of translating the
constitutional monarchy in the 18th century. Since
will of the people into action. Greek democracy in the
1215, when barons prevailed on King John to endorse
city-state of Athens gave each male citizen, gathered
the Magna Carta, monarchs had been obliged to accept
in assembly, a vote. Roman republicanism provided
diminished royal power and to acknowledge the pre¬
similar assemblies for the plebeians, or common peo¬
rogatives of the House of Lords—an aristocratic body
ple, and for the citizenry as a whole; but those bodies
comparable to the Roman Senate—and the more rep¬
then contended with a powerful Senate composed of
resentative House of Commons.
influential aristocrats. Though the result was often an
Even so, American patriots denounced King George III
uneasy compromise, Roman government did provide
as a tyrant when they rebelled against him in 1776.
a way for common people to assert their interests with¬
But after winning independence, the framers of the
out resorting to class warfare.
Constitution concluded that they needed something like an elected constitutional monarch to head the gov¬
Restraining Democracy
ernment. They created a Presidency with powers so
With its limits on democratic representation, the Roman
broad that some condemned the office as an invitation
republican model influenced revolutionary thinking in
to tyranny. In 1787 Jefferson complained in a letter to
the 18th century. Few people then believed that a gov¬
John Adams that the chief executive envisioned by the
ernment based strictly on the principle of one man, one
Constitution seemed “like a bad edition of a Polish
vote could survive and prosper. The framers of the U.S.
king.” Indeed, George Washington, the nation’s first
Constitution thus created a Senate whose members were
President, was so popular that he might have retained
chosen by state legislatures and served for a term of six
the office for life. His decision to step down after two
years—an elite body compared with the House of Rep¬
terms reassured those who feared the chief executive
resentatives, whose members were elected by direct pop¬
had grown too mighty, but complaints about an “impe¬
ular vote and served for a term of two years. Like the
rial” Presidency would resurface periodically. In cre¬
Romans, the Americans balanced a broad-based dem¬
ating a strong head of state to offset the powers of the
ocratic assembly with a legislative body that was less
legislative branch, the nation’s Founding Fathers drew
susceptible to popular pressure. Too much democracy,
inspiration in part from the very constitutional monar¬
the framers had feared, could be a dangerous thing.
chy against which they had rebelled.
A third tradition that influenced the American dem¬ ocratic process came not from Greece or Rome but
Upheaval in France
from the mother country’s venerable parliamentary
France, by contrast, had nothing like the British
system. Great Britain was the world’s preeminent
parliamentary tradition to draw upon when, in 30
1789, crippling national debt and mounting social
until further revolutions wracked the nation did it
tensions brought on a national crisis. King Louis XVI
emerge decisively as a republic.
resurrected a long-defunct assembly called the
Nor had the United States resolved its own internal
Estates-General. Though the first two estates—
tensions. It took the Civil War of 1861-65 to settle
clergy and nobility—dominated that body, the Third
both the status of slavery in a democracy and the issue
Estate—the commoners—seized the initiative and
of states’ rights versus federal rights—at the cost of
sought to transform France overnight from an
600,000 lives.
absolute monarchy into a representative democracy. Their principles were enshrined in the assembly’s
The Long Road
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citi¬
The road to democracy has never been an easy one.
zen, which stated that “all men are born free and
Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, but
equal in rights.”
its new constitution was often ignored by those suc¬
This ambitious effort to legislate a revolution fal¬
ceeding to power, such as the opportunistic Antonio
tered when representatives proved unable to resolve
Lopez de Santa Anna, who went from being a demo¬
sharp differences between defenders of the old regime
cratic reformer to being a dictator. Simon Bolivar of
and radicals hoping to remake society. Tragically, the
Venezuela, called The Liberator, helped free a large
French Revolution turned violent, claiming the lives
part of South America from Spanish rule. Yet even he
of King Louis, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and thou¬
assumed dictatorial powers to safeguard the new state
sands of others. Even worse, the chaos it engendered
with which he hoped to replace it.
fostered the dictatorships of Napoleon Bonaparte and
In 1848 a wave of revolutionary fervor swept across
later emperors. For much of the 19th century, France
Europe, engulfing nearly every nation on the conti¬
was torn between imperial and democratic rule. Not
nent—only to be brutally suppressed by reactionary monarchies. In 1989 a similar ferment exploded throughout Eastern Europe, but instead of being crushed by Soviet tanks, those nations succeeded in winning their freedom. At the same time, however, mass demonstrations in favor of political reform in China, especially in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, were brutally extinguished by the People’s Liberation Army. In 1979 the Iranian revolution cast off the shah’s shackles only to have them replaced by those of a repressive theocracy. Thirty years later, in 2009, this Islamic republic was itself rocked by a failed popular uprising, hundreds of protesters being killed or injured and thousands imprisoned. That revolt had never¬ theless been sparked and sustained by social media networks, the most powerful weapon yet placed in the hands of citizens anywhere. They were put to spec¬ tacular use during the “Arab Spring” of 2011, when in countries from Morocco to the Persian Gulf democratic yearnings, harnessed through social media, erupted, toppling one autocratic government after another. ■ A classical figure representing Equality holds a tablet inscribed with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, approved by the National Assembly of France in 1789 on the eve of the French Revolution.
31
I
Technology Shrinks the World
T
**| ECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES CHANGED MANY ASPECTS
of human life—especially the speed of it. Engines and electricity revolutionized trans¬ portation and communications, making the world seem a smaller place. In the late 18th century, the world still depended on wind-powered ships and muscle—animal
or human—for both travel and communications. In 1755, the 320 miles from Philadelphia to Boston took a week to traverse by horseback. Longer journeys often took months. Information flowed at the same pace, augmented
servitude to wind and sail, were plying straight across
since earliest times by signal fires on hilltops or drums
the oceans. Instead of six weeks by sailing ship, it took
pounding out messages throughout the night. By 1734
just over two to ferry passengers, mail, and freight
post riders in Britain were carrying mail from town to
between New York and Liverpool. By the end of the
town, announcing their arrival with a blast on a trum¬
century it had been reduced to six days.
pet. Yet even after 1840, when the first adhesive stamp
The internal combustion engine, however, really
was issued, a British subject could expect a posted let¬
accelerated the speed of travel. In 1805 it was shown
ter to reach its destination safely, if only as fast as
in principle that fuel exploding inside a cylinder could
horses’ hooves could carry it.
generate motive power. By the 1860s engines could
Steam Power
within the cylinder before igniting it with a spark.
The industrial revolution also effected a revolution in
In 1883 German engineer Gottlieb Daimler created
transportation. James Watt’s improved steam engine
a portable engine that injected vaporized oil into a
of 1769 was too bulky to be portable, but by 1804
cylinder so that, once ignited, it could turn a crank¬
Englishman Richard Trevithick had built the first loco¬
shaft. Two years later his engine powered a “horse¬
motive, powered by a high-pressure steam engine. The
less carriage,” and the age of the automobile was
engine enabled the locomotive to haul ten tons of iron,
born. Within a century a car was parked in every
70 men, and five wagons over ten miles of rails—
American garage, and with paved highways to carry
though it took two hours to do so.
them, the drive from Philadelphia to Boston took
burn a mixture of coal gas and air, compressing it
Nevertheless, the railroad had been born, and soon
only seven hours.
improved locomotives were traveling upwards of 35
In 1892 another German, Rudolf Diesel, developed
miles an hour on straight tracks and level grades. By
an engine that created such high compression that
1830 England had 60 miles of railroad track. By 1870
fuel oil ignited in it even without a spark. The diesel
Europe as a whole had 65,000 miles of track and the
engine soon began replacing steam engines in facto¬
United States 53,000, including the transcontinental
ries and ships. Furthermore, internal combustion
railroad, completed in 1869. It took eight days to travel
engines also powered airplanes. By 1935 the China
from coast to coast.
Clipper could cover the 7,000 miles between San
By that time steamships, finally freed of the ancient
Francisco and Manila—nearly a quarter of Earth’s 32
message—What hath God wrought—by wire from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland. In 1860 the Pony Express, using relays of fast horses, began carrying mail from the end of the rail line at St. Joseph, Missouri, to the Pacific coast. But the gallop¬ ing ceased after 18 months because the overland telegraph put the fabled riders out of business. Soon telegraph lines snaked over North America, Eurasia, and in 1866, beneath the Atlantic, too. News and dispatches that once took several weeks to cross between the continents were now relayed in a matter of hours. It wasn’t long after 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the tele¬ phone, that those instruments were being found in every middle-class parlor. Telephone poles marched in step with telegraph ones across the United States and Europe. Wireless telegraphy joined the wired kind when Ital¬ ian physicist Guglielmo Marconi perfected the radio. The first transatlantic radio signals, between England and Newfoundland, were sent and received in 1901. Ordinary people soon huddled around radios, listen¬ ing to news broadcasts from distant places. Television, widely available by the 1950s, opened their eyes as well. Such sounds and images shrank the world with electromagnetic velocity. The digital revolution has only sent that speed into overdrive. Not widely known before the unveiling of the The crews that laid the fracks for America's transcontinental railroad in the mid-19th century numbered in the thousands and included American Indians and immigrants from Mexico, Ireland, and China.
World Wide Web in 1992, the Internet quickly blossomed
circumference—in a week. After the advent of jet air¬
world’s population—were online, visiting some 180 mil¬
craft, that flight took less than 24 hours.
lion websites and each day sending more than ten billion
into the largest communications network in history. By 2010 nearly two billion people—nearly a third of the
messages around the globe. The growth of mobile com¬ Communications
munications has managed to outpace that of the Inter¬
Speeding the intangible—information—was just
net. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s population had some
as important as transporting the physical. But the
access to mobile phone networks by 2010.
capacity to harness electricity would finally decouple
As a result, distance has all but been annihilated.
the speed of communications from that of trans¬
The explosive popularity of Internet social networks is bringing about a “global village” in which far-flung
portation. By the 1830s, inventors exploring electrical meth¬
people not only share common interests and concerns
ods for sending messages began perfecting the tele¬
but also eyewitness reports of crisis situations like nat¬
graph (Greek for “far writing”). In the 1830s
ural disasters or terrorist attacks—all in real time. They
Englishmen W. F. Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
also provide a powerful outlet for democratic yearn¬
invented the first commercially practical machine.
ings: Social networks largely toppled repressive regimes
American Samuel F. B. Morse devised a code
the
during the 2011 “Arab Spring.” For better or worse,
Morse code—for translating letters and words into
the world had become a much smaller, and much speed¬
electrical signals. In 1844 he sent the famous encoded
ier, place. ■ 33
T
The Search for World Order *^ HE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS WORLD ORDER IS AN ANCIENT
but elusive goal, as seemingly unattainable as Utopia or the earthly paradise. The Roman Empire tried to enforce a pax romana, or Roman peace, but it proved neither permanent nor global. Rebellions in its provinces and barbarian incur¬
sions at its fringes challenged the peace and shattered hopes that a single power could pacify so huge an area. Not until the 19th century, when the pax brittanica
and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”
ruled much of the globe, did the notion of a world
The League of Nations, duly established in 1919, was
order revive. But even the British Empire at its height
the first attempt to establish a truly international order
competed with those of France and Russia and such
that was not simply one empire’s hegemony. Unfortu¬
newcomers to the imperial game as Germany. These
nately, it led a brief and troubled existence. Deep-seated
great powers shared a common interest in world order,
European animosities undermined its efforts, and the
but the tensions between them threatened to lead to
U.S. Senate failed to approve American membership,
turmoil, instability, and global conflict instead.
fearing it would diminish national sovereignty. Lacking
The destructive potential of great power rivalries
both American participation and any means of impos¬
exploded in the First World War (1914-18), which
ing its collective will, the League of Nations was pow¬
claimed millions of lives and left much of Europe and
erless to respond to violations of its charter by Germany,
the Middle East in chaos. Diplomats at the 1919 Paris
Italy, and Japan in the 1930s, setting the stage for the
Peace Conference understandably sought ways of
calamitous Second World War (1939-1945), which cost
avoiding any repetition of that bloodbath. Many were
more than 50 million lives.
idealists, hopeful that the “war to end all wars” might
Appalled and exhausted, the victorious Allies sought
afford them the chance to remake the world. “We were
to build a worldwide alternative to the League of Nations.
preparing not Peace only, but eternal Peace,” recalled
Renouncing its previous isolationism, the United States
British diplomat Harold Nicolson, “we were bent on
both joined the new United Nations (UN) and offered
doing great, permanent, and noble things.”
to host it in New York City. Unlike its predecessor, the UN was chartered with the power both to deploy its own
A Powerless League
troops as peacekeepers and to authorize the use of force
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, whose reluctant deci¬
by member nations against aggressors.
sion to enter the war in 1917 had been instrumental
Yet Cold War tensions soon divided the new organ¬
in effecting Germany’s defeat, championed a League
ization. In 1950, after communist North Korea
of Nations as a way to avert future conflicts. He
attacked South Korea, the UN Security Council—
believed that “a general association of nations must
responsible for maintaining international peace—per¬
be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of
mitted the United States to use force to expel the
affording mutual guarantees of political independence
invaders. Both the People’s Republic of China and the
Soviet Union denounced that decision, but the PRC
In 2003, however, the Security Council refused to con¬
was not a council member, and the Soviets had missed
done U.S. and British plans to attack Iraq and remove its
the meeting. Therefore, the United States and its allies,
dictator, Saddam Hussein. UN inspectors simply found
under the auspices of the UN, fought the communists,
no firm evidence that Hussein was amassing weapons of
including 300,000 Chinese troops, in Korea. Instead
mass destruction, as the Americans had alleged. The United
of having its peace safeguarded, the world instead
States spearheaded a “coalition of the willing” and invaded,
teetered on the brink of a nuclear abyss.
despite international condemnation. Saddam was toppled and executed, but throughout an eight-year war, coali¬
The World Enters the 21st Century
tion forces failed to find any of the rumored weapons.
Subsequent decades saw UN peacekeepers deployed
In 2006 the Security Council acknowledged that the
on scores of missions to conflict regions around the
UN, haunted by its failures during the Rwandan and
globe. Meanwhile, in 1971, after the United States
Bosnian genocides, had a “responsibility to protect pop¬
dropped its opposition, the People’s Republic of China
ulations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing
became a permanent member of the Security Council.
and crimes against humanity.” That led to its muscular
The collapse of the Soviet bloc in the late 1980s then
response when, in March 2011, Libyan leader Muam-
led to increased UN cooperation between East and
mar Qaddafi threatened to massacre thousands of
West. In 1990, for instance, after Iraq invaded Kuwait,
antigovernment protesters. The Security Council passed
the council approved the use of force in response, and
a resolution sanctioning the use of “all means neces¬
the following year the United States spearheaded a
sary” to protect endangered civilians, and soon NATO
broad coalition that pushed back Iraqi forces.
aircraft were enforcing a no-fly zone over the country and bombing targets. The quest for a more peaceful
UN peacekeepers patrol Sarajevo in 1994 after the breakup of Yugoslavia ignited fierce fighting between the region's rival ethnic groups.
world continues to prove elusive. ■
35
1 Ancient
Worid | Prehistory-500 B.C. M
2
Classical World 550 b.C-a.d. 700
3 Age of Faith 500-1150 4
Crusades to Columbus 960-1644
*
Colonizing New Worlds 1455-1857
6 |
Age of Imperialism 1750-1917
ft ■>
I
Global Conflict 1900-1945
« Toward a ji New Millennium j \ 1945-Present I
Stonehenge, on assembly of clones on England's Salisbury Plain, probably dales to the Srarae Age,
ERA: ANCIENT
WORLD
O
Ancient World Prehistory-500 b.c. VER MILLIONS OL YEARS, HUMANS EVOLVED FROM A SPECIES THAT WAS LARGELY AT THE
mercy of nature to one that managed its environment and shaped its destiny.
People first learned to use tools, weapons, and fire to enhance their skills as hunters and gatherers and expand into new habitats. About 10,000 years ago they began to domes¬ ticate wild plants and animals and settle in villages. The earliest civilizations emerged around 5,000 years ago (3000 B.c.) in Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley, when villagers using irrigation techniques to increase the yields of those fertile floodplains coalesced into com¬ plex societies. The development of writing was one hallmark of civilization, along with the emergence of cities and the rise of powerful city-states, kingdoms, and empires. By 4,000 years ago (2000
B.C.),
civilizations had flowered in other fertile places around the world,
including the Indus River Valley in present-day Pakistan and the Yellow River Valley in China. In the Mediterranean region, meanwhile, complex societies arose that grew great primarily through trade and colonization. Some 3,000 years ago (1200 B.c.), civilization was emerging in the Americas in the form of monumental ceremonial centers where rulers functioning as high priests or godlike figures commanded the labor and devotion of their followers. Indeed, many of the world
S
first Civilizations were
ruled by kings who claimed kinship with the gods.
■ ca 100,000 B.C. Modern humans (Homo sapiens) begin spread¬ ing across the world.
Horses painted in Chauvetcave in southeastern age-old bond between humans and animals.
■ ca 10,000 b.c.
■ ca 5000 b.c.
■ ca 3500 b.c.
■ ca 3000 b.c.
Humans begin to domesticate plants and animals and settle in villages.
Villagers in
Agricultural surpluses feed the growth of towns in Egypt and cities in Mesopotamia.
Powerful city-states arise in Mesopotamia, and a kingdom emerges in Egypt.
Mesopotamia begin practicing irrigation.
38
■ ca 2550 b.c.
Pyramids are erected in Egypt, and cities take shape in the Indus River Valley.
■ ca 2200 b.c.
Civilizations arise on Crete in the Mediter¬ ranean and along the Yellow River in China.
■ ca 1500 b.c. The Iron Age begins.
■ ca 1000 b.c.
Phoenicians begin establishing colonies around the Mediter¬ ranean, and Olmec civilization strengthens in Mesoamerica.
■ ca 500 b.c. Greek city-states and colonies prosper in the Mediterranean, while Indian civilization flourishes in the Ganges River Valley.
ANCIENT
WORLD:
PREHISTORY-500
b.C.
and must have communicated with gestures and calls rather than with speech. Their long arms and curved
Human Evolution & Early Migration Prehistory-3000 B.C.
B
hands remained useful for climbing trees. They may have continued to seek shelter in wooded areas, which offered protection to mothers and infants, while others in the group foraged in open country, stalked by big cats and other predators. One adult female hominid who lived more than three million years
efore humans spread out
humans and remained apelike in
ago—nicknamed Lucy after her
across the world and came
appearance, with sloping fore¬
skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia
to dominate the planet, they
heads, flat noses, and large teeth.
in 1974—stood only three feet eight
underwent a lengthy process of
They had a brain roughly the size
inches tall. Males grew as tall as five
evolution in Africa. Although many
of a chimpanzee’s—or about a third
feet. Walking upright gave these
questions remain to be answered
the size of a modern human brain—
early hominids a good view of dan-
about that process, scientists have reconstructed the basic sequence of human evolution by studying the bones of early hominids—a family of primates including humans and related species that share the ability to walk upright. The first hominids evolved more than four million years ago in East Africa from apes that moved on all fours. Those apes were well adapted to climbing trees, but geological and climatic changes in the region greatly reduced their forest habitat and increased the amount of prairie or savanna. That development fa¬ vored the evolution of primates that could stand upright, look out over the grasslands, and walk long dis¬ tances on two feet in pursuit of food, which they could then retrieve with their hands. The
earliest
hominids
were
not as erect in posture as modern Hominids some 3.6 million years ago left haunt¬ ing tracks in volcanic ash that later hardened on Tanzania's laefdi Plain. Walking on two feet distinguished the first hominids from apes.
gers in the distance; they were agile
process—the emergence of a larger-
enough to shake sticks and throw
brained species known as Homo
stones when threatened. They lived
erectus (erect man). The mobility
mainly by gathering fruits, nuts,
of these humans combined with
and seeds, but they also may have
their capacity to adapt to new sur¬
scavenged animal carcasses.
roundings made them great explor¬
■ ca 3.5 million b.c.
ers and travelers. Around 1.8
Hominid "Lucy" dies in Ethiopia, where her skeleton was later found complete.
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 4.4 million b.c.
First hominids hove evolved in East Africa.
Out of Africa
million years ago, Homo erectus
Human evolution entered a major
began spreading out from Africa
■ ca 2.5 million b.c.
new phase with the emergence
across the Middle East, Asia, and
nearly 2.5 million years ago of
ultimately Europe. These early
the first species considered suffi¬
humans could live almost anywhere
First hominid species considered human—Homo habilis—evolves in Africa.
ciently advanced to bear the name
because they had learned to build
man: Homo babilis (handy man).
huts and were skilled hunters,
Equipped with a brain roughly
equipped with better tools and a
half as large as that of modern
larger physique than their hominid
■ ca 1.8 million b.c.
humans, these handy primates were
predecessors. Eventually, they dis¬
the first to craft tools. By chipping
covered how to make use of natu¬
away at stones, they formed sharp
rally occurring fires for cooking and
First human species to leave Africa— Homo erectus—begins migrating to Asia and later Europe.
edges useful for butchering large
warmth, which helped them adapt
animals whose carcasses they found.
to colder climates.
In addition to scavenging, they may
The art of making fire was mas¬
have hunted small animals. At one
tered
site in Tanzania, a group of Homo
known as Homo sapiens (wise
babilis piled up stones as a shelter
man), who may have descended
against the wind—a
sign that
from Homo erectus and possessed
humans were learning to shape their
an even larger brain. That evolu¬
environment in ways that would
tionary advance occurred about
allow them to move about freely
100,000 years ago, by which time
and occupy areas inhospitable to
Homo sapiens living in Africa,
earlier hominids.
where the species most likely origi¬
■ ca 2 million b.c.
The Ice Age begins.
■ ca 1.5 million b.c.
First evidence of the use of fire by humans, in Africa.
by the modern humans
That potential was fulfilled during
nated, were much the same as
the next stage in the evolutionary
humans living today. A distinct
■ ca 300,000 b.c. Various humans sharing characteristics of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens have appeared, now grouped loosely together as archaic sapiens. ■ ca 100,000 b.c.
Homo sapiens, or modern humans, are living in Africa and begin migrating to other parts of the world. ■ ca. 30,000 b.c.
Neandertals disappear, and Homo sapiens continue to spread across the Earth. ■ ca 20,000 b.c.
The Ice Age reaches its peak, exposing land bridge from Siberia to North America. ■ ca 11,000 b.c.
Human evolution did not proceed in a straight line; one species sometimes overlapped with another. Early hominids were still living on Earth after the evolution of the first human species, Homo babilis. 41
The Ice Age ends and the planet begins to warm, setting the stage for the devel¬ opment of agriculture and complex human societies.
people called Neandertals—classi¬
out—or were assimilated into the
The Ice Age was marked by peri¬
fied alternately as a subspecies of
dominant population of Homo sapi¬
ods of extreme cold, punctuated by
Homo sapiens or a separate species
ens—some 32,000 years ago.
milder intervals. When the planet was at its coldest, huge quantities
descended from Homo erectus— found a niche in the cold climate of
Profiting from the Ice Age
of water were locked in ice packs,
Europe by hunting mammoths and
The human evolutionary drama
lowering the seas by hundreds of
other big game and working the
unfolded against the chilling back¬
feet. As a result, narrow bodies of
hides of animals into clothing.
drop of the Ice Age, Which began
water between landmasses dried up,
The Neandertal brain was similar
roughly two million years ago and
creating so-called land bridges that
in size to that of modern humans but
reached its peak not long after
humans could cross on foot.
may not have been as well developed
Neandertals vanished from the
for speech and the social skills
In this way humans migrated
scene. Fortunately, humans were by
from Southeast Asia to Australia
dependent on speech. That lack could
then so highly evolved that cir¬
some 50,000 years ago. Along the
have hampered Neandertals in com¬
cumstances that could have been
way, at the extreme edge of Indone¬
peting with linguistically adept Homo
catastrophic for a less adaptable
sia where the island of Flores stands
sapiens who entered Europe around
species instead presented them with
now, they might have encountered
40,000 years ago. Neandertals died
vast new worlds of opportunity.
the small Homo floresiensis, barely
— SCANDINAVIA Settled by modern Homo sapiens starting some 12,000 years ago
SIBERIA Peopled perhaps 30,000 years ago by modern Homo sapiens
Malta, RUSSIA Modern Homo sapiens Bilzingsleben, GERMANY Homo erectus 400,000 a EUROPE Atapuerca, SPAIN IT.,V ■j ’ Ceprano, ITALY H",o£.
'oO-BOO.OOO.
Mladec, CZECH REPUBLIC Modern Homo sapiens 33,000 Dmanisi, GEORGIA Earliest Homo species m 1.5-1.6 million years ago
Qafzeh, ISRAEL Modern Homo sapiens 92,000 (?)
Ubeidiya, ISRAEL Homo erectus 1.400,000
Tighenif, ALGERIA Homo erectus 700,000
Lake Turkana, KENYA Homo erectus sites 1,800,000,
Zhoukoudian, CHINA Homo erectus 460,000
Lantian, CHINA Homo erectus 1,000,000-700,000
JAPAN Peopled by modern Homo sapiens some 30,000 years ago
Narmada, INDIA Homo (?) erectus 500,000 (?)
PEOPLING OF EURASIA Some 1.8 million years ago an early Homo species became the first hominid to leave Africa—ultimately reaching Europe and eastern Asia.
Diuktai Cave, RUSSIA Modem Homo sapiens 14,000
Liujiang, CHINA Modern Homo sapiens 15,000 Mariana Islands Tabon Cave, PHILIPPINES B MocBrn Homo sapiens
Lake Baringo, KENYA Earliest hominid fossils 4,500,000 Laetoli, TANZANIA / Evidence of hominids walking upright 3,600,000
Makapansgat, SOUTH AFRICA Evidence of hominids in southern Africa 2,700,000 ■ Klasies River Mouth, SOUTH AFRICA Modern Homo sapiens
Border Cave, 1 SOUTH AFRICA Modern Homo sapiens 100,000 (?)
Samoa Islands
Sangiran. INDONESIA Homo erectus 1.7-1.0 million years ago
MADAGASCAR Peopled about 1,500 years ago
PEOPLING OF AUSTRALIA Modern Homo sapiens reached Australia some 50,000 years age from Asia, possibly using simple rafts and a forested land bridge with New Guinea. Upper 38,000
100,000
Peopling Of The Earth
42
Fiji Islands Tonga'' Islands
NEW ZEALAND Peopled by Polynesians about f.OOO years ago
taller than a yardstick—whose
migration began remains a matter of
continents to habitation but also
skeletal remains, found in 2004,
debate. Hunting bands certainly
created new conditions and chal¬
might represent either a diminutive
made the journey when the land
lenges that prompted humans to
version of Homo sapiens, a survival
beneath
evolve socially and culturally. The
of Homo erectus, or a new species
exposed some 14,000 years ago.
altogether.
the
Bering
Strait
was
hunting of mammoths and other big
People then moved southward
game that flourished during the Ice
The most far-reaching migration
into the interior of the continent
Age required close cooperation and
made possible by the lowering of sea
when the climate moderated and
strengthened social bonds. The
levels during the Ice Age took place
glaciers covering North America
practice of burying the dead with
when Eurasian hunters traveling
melted, opening paths to Central
weapons, tools, or food became
in pursuit of game crossed a land
America
America.
widespread during the last phase of
bridge called Beringia from Siberia
Some sites of ancient human habi¬
the Ice Age, indicating that people
to North America. How long ago this
tation in South America hint that
believed in some sort of afterlife.
Humans spread out from Africa across the Earth, reaching the Americas at the end of the Ice Age. Dates for Hie first-appearance of humans in a region are approximate and subject to change.
and
South
migrations from Siberia may have
The end of the Ice Age, roughly
begun during an earlier phase of the
10,000 years ago, did not mark the
Ice Age, 20,000 years ago or more.
end of human migrations or social
The Ice Age not only opened new
evolution. Many islands of the Pacific remained uninhabited until Polynesians reached them by boat
!GH ARCTIC iopled about >00 years ago
Greenland
within the past 2,000 years. Long before that, however, people else¬ where had settled and were taking advantage of the milder climate,
PEOPLING OF THE AMERICAS From Siberia across Beringia came modern Homo sapiens into the New World. Most experts believe humans had moved into North America by 14,000 years ago, but some isolated sites hint at peopling 20,000 years ago and earlier.
■ Sites show earliest evidence of peopling by early hominids, Homo erectus, and modern Homo sapiens
NORTH AMERICA
( Meadowcroft, U.S. ' 16,000 (?)
Site date in years before present (?) Date or species identification questioned
" Black water Draw, U.S. 11,000
which favored the transition from hunting and gathering to farming. Neolithic towns, whose inhabitants employed agricultural techniques and domesticated animals, had arisen by 8,000 years ago in the Fer¬
^WAIIAN ISLANDS Peopled about 1,600 years ago
tile Crescent, the semicircle of fer¬ tile land that stretches from the
\
Taima-Taima, VENEZUELA
PEOPLING OF THE PACIFIC Modern Homo sapiens came to islands near New Guinea perhaps 32,000 years ago. But the rest of Melanesia—and all of Micronesia and Polynesia—were peopled much later, from 4,000 to 1,000 years ago
southeastern coast of the Mediter¬ ranean around the Syrian Desert. At Jericho inhabitants built a pro¬ tective wall that became legendary; (Atal Hiiyiik, in today’s Turkey, was
Marquesas Islands
a market for copper and obsidian. The transition to a more settled
Society Islands
'A
way of life culminated about 5,000 EASTER ISLAND Peopled about 1,600 years ago
years ago, or 3000 B.C., when agri¬ cultural surpluses fed the growth of civilizations in the Fertile Cres¬ cent. With the rise of civilization Toldos Cave, ARGENTINA
came the emergence of writing (see pp. 18-19). Humans had reached the dawn of recorded history. ■
" Fell’s Cave, CHILE 11,000
43
ANCIENT
WORLD:
PREHISTQRY-500 B.c.
in temples, where priests guarded them and distributed or traded them. To keep track of goods
Mesopotamian Civilizations
ian scribes first used pictographs of common objects such as sheaves of grain to record their transac¬ tions. Over time, those pictographs evolved into abstract wedge-shaped characters called cuneiform that
3500 -500 b.c.
C
received and exchanged, Sumer¬
were inscribed in clay with a pointed stick called a stylus.
IVILIZATION ORIGINATED
to bring water from the rivers to
Sumerian temples, known as
at the southern end of
the parched soil. Constructing and
ziggurats, had several levels, each
Mesopotamia, near the Per¬
maintaining that irrigation system
narrower than the one below, giv¬
sian Gulf, where the Tigris and
required strong leadership and the
ing the buildings a stepped pro¬
Euphrates Rivers converged to form
labor of many people.
file. Cities grew up around the
a floodplain of exceptional fertility.
Among the earliest leaders of
ziggurats, and priests exercised
This bountiful country was home to
Sumerian society were priests, who
great influence over the populace.
the Sumerians, who built the world’s
served as intermediaries between
In addition to distributing and
first cities around 3500 B.C.
the people and the gods they
exchanging food surpluses, they
Their civilization arose when the
thanked for their bounty and feared
owned land and supervised large
Sumerians began working together
as the cause of ruinous floods and
temple staffs that included cooks,
to produce agricultural surpluses.
other calamities. Irrigation efforts
weavers, and musicians.
Fertile though the soil was, it dried
ensured that there was usually
out after the spring floods because
plenty of food to feed those priests
little rain fell during the summer.
and others not directly involved in
Farmers in Sumer had to dig canals
raising crops. Surpluses were stored
44
The Assyrians lovecf sport, as this frieze from Nineveh illustrates. Nineveh replaced Dur Sharrukin as Assyria's capital during the reign of Sennacherib (704-681 b.c.).
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 3500 b.c.
Sumerians develop a complex society featuring urban areas built around tem¬ ple complexes presided over by priests. ■ ca 3300 b.c.
Sumerians begin to develop a writing system. ■ ca 2900 b.c.
Powerful city-states ruled by dynasties emerge in Sumer. ■ ca 2500 B.c.
Royal burials at Sumerian city-state of Ur include human sacrifices. ■ 2334 b.c. The great ziggurat at Ur, built of sunbaked bricks, was dedicated fa the moon god, Norma, whose statue stood ot the summit of the temple and was washed, clothed, and fed by priests.
Among the strongest of the Sumerian city-states were Ur and
King Sargon of Akkad conquers Sumer and goes on fa forge a Mesopotamian empire.
Uruk. Ur was situated near the Per¬ sian Gulf and profited from mar¬
Big Men Take Control
itime trade with civilizations to the
Priests were not the only authority
east. The city itself, surrounded by
figures in these emerging cities.
a massive defensive wall of mud
Leaders of wealthy families formed
brick, contained more than 30,000
councils of elders. In times of crisis
people—a
the council appointed a chief called
ancient times. Uruk had more than
a lugal, big man, or ensi, great
50,000 inhabitants. Near the cen¬
man. By 3000 B.C., Sumerian cities
ter of Ur stood a lofty temple ded¬
were fast expanding into city-states
icated to the moon god, Nanna.
■ 1792 b.c.
Hammurapi takes power in Babylon and embarks on conquests, establishing the first Babylonian Empire and compil¬ ing a collection of laws known as the Code of Hammurapi.
large population in ■ 1595 b.c.
Hittites sack Babylon and end Babylon¬ ian dynasty. ■ ca 1200 b.c.
Hittite homeland in Anatolia (Turkey) is overrun by invaders, ending the Hittite Empire.
that took control of surrounding
Rulers of Ur believed that they
villages, thus ensuring a steady
were godlike and looked forward
flow of food from the country. This
to a glorious afterlife. In a series of
expansion brought neighboring
royal burials that occurred there
city-states into competition for land
around 2500 B.C., the deceased
and water, resulting in warfare. Big
were honored with offerings that
men who led city-states into battle
included model boats of copper and
against their rivals and achieved
silver, game boards inlaid with
great victories remained in power
ivory, beautifully crafted lyres, and
and became kings. Those kings then
chariots pulled by oxen. Palace
enhanced their authority by build¬
retainers of both sexes were put to
■ 539 b.c.
ing palaces near the temples and
death during the burial and accom¬
claiming support from priests and
panied the rulers to the afterworld
Cyrus the Great of Persia conquers the Babylonian Empire.
the gods they represented.
to serve them. 45
■ ca 900 B.c. Assyrians in northern Mesopotamia begin imperial expansion. ■ 612 b.c.
Babylonians defeat Assyrians and seize control of their empire.
Such was the price Sumerians and others in the ancient world paid for civilization, which placed unprecedented power in the hands
Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers," occupies the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent (inset). It gave rise to Earth's cities and empires, providing seed and soil for literature, law, and science; slavery, sacrifice, and despotism.
Halaf
of rulers. The gap between those at the highest level of society and
Sumerians, weakened by bloody
those at the bottom—slaves—was
rivalries between city-states, fell to
immense. The Sumerian word for
a conqueror named Sargon from
slave meant “foreigner,” suggesting
the land of Akkad, north of Sumer.
that most were outsiders, seized in
Sargon forged an empire that
battle or in slave raids. But some
reached all the way from the Per¬
Sumerians sold themselves or mem¬
sian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
bers of their family into slavery to
The imperial dynasty of Sargon
escape poverty or debt.
and his descendents lasted less than
While some people suffered, oth¬
a century, but many ambitious
ers benefited from the rise of pow¬
Mesopotamian rulers later tried to
erful city-states. Many specialized
emulate Sargon and take control of
occupations emerged to fill the
the entire region.
needs of kings, priests, and the
Among the shrewdest of those
masses who lived within the city
conquerors was Hammurapi, from
walls. Among those who profited
the city of Babylon, situated in
were scribes, merchants, wood¬
Akkad near the Euphrates River.
workers, coppersmiths, bakers,
Hammurapi’s Babylonian Empire
and
fermented
embraced all of Mesopotamia. His
mashed barley into ale, the Sume¬
greatest legacy was to build on the
rians’ favorite beverage.
legal foundations of the Sumerians
brewers—who
Laws set down in writing by
and compile a list of laws known as
Sumerian rulers offered people
the Code of Hammurapi. Among
some assurance that their rights and
the statutes was one of the earliest
property would not be taken away
malpractice laws on record, stat¬
from them arbitrarily. Even slaves
ing that if a physician was found
had certain rights. If a slave mar¬
guilty of performing reckless sur¬
Zenobia ▲ Archaeological gold mine, a 260-room palace here has yielded more than 20,000 cuneiform tablets. A Mesopotamian trading hub, Mari was ruled by Semitic-speakingdcings
Dura Eitropus^ ,
Palmyra
Mari* • For a thousand years or more, the desert metropolis of Palmyra—a cultural synthesis of East and West—was an entrepot for caravans between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates.
S
Y
k Mui
R
J&RDAN |
irt// LEBANON,
SYRIA ,,
Medit. Sea A ISRAELI! Gaza
i|j|
'-V'bey Stripj, fT
ried a free person, for example, any
gery that killed or blinded a man,
children they had were born free.
the authorities should cut off his
Women could own property and
hand. Such laws were enforced by
testify in court, but their husbands
leading figures in the community.
could divorce them if they bore no
Their verdicts could be appealed
children. Sumerians were the first
to Hammurapi himself.
to record in writing both their laws
EGYPT
Fertile Crescent: Richer in human potential than in soil, the cradle of , Western civilization—an arc reaching from Mesopotamia to Egypt—arose by the third millennium B.C. To the east a similar florescence occurred in the Indus ind Yellow River Valleys.
The system of justice Hammu¬
and their legends. One legend told
rapi
of an epic hero who survived a flood
Mesopotamia, but later Babylon¬
for warlike peoples from sur¬
that ravaged the world.
ian rulers had difficulty holding the
rounding areas. In 1595 B.C., fear¬
empire together. The fertile land
some invaders called the Hittites
Land of Conquerors
between the Tigris and Euphrates,
swept down from the north and
In 2334 B.c. Mesopotamia entered
with its rich harvests and wealthy
sacked Babylon. The warriors rode
a new phase in its history when the
cities, offered an irresistible target
to battle in two-wheeled chariots
imposed
helped
46
unite
iot pulled by sacred bulls. Hittite
X.
TWjltm
i N;N r jA ? '
-< V-
Oldest and long the most important city of Assyria, Nineveh replaced Dur Sharrukin as capital under the reign of Sennacherib {704-681 B.C.), who razed Babylon and ravaged the land of Judea.
Shanidar CaveA t
SharrukinAATeP« Gav,*a
AIMawf!!*
a Nineveh-
•
'
AlXaWa* ArM (Mosul) * „ ^-AfBela HassunaAfJ^fW ^ JiCJaiah,
:raA
KarkQk
NaJiA.ower claimed by Sumerian and Akkadian kings. Like Nippur, Erech dates from the Ubaid culture. Its walls, according to legend, were built by \ Gilgamesh, epic figure of \NMesopotamian literature.
bull to draw the wagon.”
Mesopotamia.The Assyrians, who
T
An
right hand. Team up with me as a
warlike Assyrians of northern
~9 Tan Lmsxt. Q
AKish
strength: “Save my life. Walk on my
other conquerors, including the
^Ba%ubah
Ar Rama* «Dur *arigalzuA
Bufyayrat ar Razazah T ^
rulers prayed to Teshub for aid and
& Diwanryah
that gained strength as they came in contact with more advanced
Sh
O
cultures in the Middle East and acquired their technology.
A yp*
EreefcA (Orukf, Tel! el ObeidA .Or (Ubaid) Eridu*
W\
Advent of the Iron Age
C H A I DE A 'AX
p
T
'O'
'fe,
One factor that destabilized the Middle East after the fall of the Hit¬
Traditional birthplace of Abraham,/ , the royal city of Ur was abandoned in the fourth century B.C., possibly after the Ephrates changed course, leaving Ur enclosed by desert. , Artifacts execuvated at Eridu date x from before 5000 B.C., fixing it \as Mesopotamia’s oldest city.
tites was the new technology of iron¬ working. Previously, the strongest tools and weapons had been made of bronze—an alloy of copper and
Archaeological site
tin—which was scarce and expen¬
g / # Modern city / capital
sive. Only large and wealthy king¬ 50
50
doms could afford to equip entire
100 km
armies with bronze helmets, swords,
100 mi
and spears. Compared with tin, iron ore was relatively plentiful, and once that were far swifter and more
in what is now Turkey, where they
smiths had mastered the art of heat¬
maneuverable than the traditional
ruled an empire that extended
ing and hammering it in forges,
four-wheeled Mesopotamian war
from northern Mesopotamia to the
sturdy iron weapons with a harder
wagons. After plundering Babylon,
Mediterranean. Hittites worshiped
edge than bronze weapons became
the Hittites retreated with their
a storm god named Teshub, who
widely available. The advent of the
booty to their rugged homeland
hurled lightning and rode in a char-
Iron Age gave rising kingdoms such
--
47
-
as Israel—established around 1000
were later overthrown by another
pagan splendors of a city restored
B.C. by Hebrews of nomadic ori¬
son, who restored order, rebuilt
to its former glory by Nebuchad¬
gin—a fighting chance. It did not,
Babylon, and proclaimed himself
nezzar. Among its glittering monu¬
however, alter the balance of power
“king of the world.”
ments were the Ishtar Gate, devoted to the war goddess Ishtar and dec¬
in the Middle East. As always, the military advantage lay with larger,
Rebirth at Babylon
orated with the images of lions and
wealthier kingdoms such as Assyria,
Before long, Babylonians were
bulls; and the Temple of Marduk,
whose rulers amassed huge armies
vying with Assyrians £or control of
the chief Babylonian god, wor¬
of as many as 200,000 men.
that world. In 612 B.C., they cap¬
shiped in the form of a 20-foot-high
tured Nineveh and took control of
golden statue.
The Assyrians were just emerg¬ ing as a major power when the
The Hanging Gardens of Baby¬
Hittites collapsed. In the chaotic
lon entered legend as one of the
aftermath, the Assyrians beat back challenges from nomadic groups
I
Boastful Rulers
may have resembled the royal
across the Fertile Crescent into
cut their throats like sheep. My prancing steeds plunged into their welling blood as into a river; the wheels of my battle chariot were bespattered with blood and filth."
Egypt. To discourage opposition,
—An Assyrian conqueror on the carnage
and became fearsome conquerors. Beginning around 900 B.C., they forged an empire that reached
they subjected defeated enemies to horrible punishment. One Assyrian conqueror warned his foes: “Know ye not what I do to my enemies, how I flay some, burn others alive. ... How I deal with captives, cut¬ ting off noses, ears, and fingers, put¬ ting out their eyes? Submit then, before it is too late!” Those who submitted meekly to such threats had to pay tribute to overbearing rulers like Sennacherib, who reigned at the peak of Assyr¬ ian power around 700 B.C. He used
Seven Wonders of the World; they
he inflicted on his enemies
Modesty was no virtue among Mesopotamian kings. Many rulers had exaggerated accounts of their con¬ quests inscribed on monuments— chronicles in which they took personal credit for victories achieved by their generals and troops. None surpassed the Assyrians when it came to boasting of their prowess. One Assyrian victor told of how he cap¬ tured his Babylonian rival and trod "upon his royal neck as though it were a footstool."Such taunts were meant to impress the rulers loyal followers—and intimidate any foes who might be tempted to rebel.
wealth extracted from subject peo¬
gardens in Nineveh, irrigated by screw pumps that raised water to high points from which streams and cascades poured down through lush greenery. Babylon’s
brief
return
to
brilliance marked the end of a long and triumphant epoch for Mesopotamia. Since the rise of the Sumerian city-states more than 2,300
years
earlier,
the
land
between the rivers not only had nur¬ tured great conquerors but also had inspired lawgivers, artists, archi¬ tects, poets, and scientists. Baby¬ lonian
astronomers
succeeded
in predicting lunar eclipses, and Babylonian mathematicians devised a system of computation based on the number 60 that provided the
ples to build a “palace without a
the vast empire the Assyrians had
basis for the 60-second minute,
rival” at his capital of Nineveh.
built. Like Sennacherib, the Baby¬
the60-minute hour, and the 360-
Constant demands for tribute to
lonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II was
degree circle.
support such projects led some peo¬
merciless to subjects who refused
Mesopotamia bequeathed an
ple to rise up against the Assyrians.
to pay him tribute. He destroyed
enduring legacy to the civilized
Faced with a rebellion in Babylon,
the rebellious city of Jerusalem in
world, but Mesopotamians would
Sennacherib sacked that proud old
Judea, which was all that remained
no longer rule that world. In the late
city, shocking Assyrians close to the
of the kingdom of Israel after ear¬
sixth century B.C., they were con¬
king who revered Babylonian cul¬
lier Assyrian conquests. Many in
quered by Persians from present-
ture and worshiped its gods. Amid
Jerusalem were killed, and others
day Iran. Mesopotamians ceased
the uproar, Sennacherib was assas¬
were enslaved and carried off to
to be masters of the universe and
sinated by two of his sons. They
Babylon, where they toiled amid the
became subjects. ■
48
The Lessons of Judaism HIS WHOLE LAND SHALL BECOME A RUIN
to Canaan, they fought to establish the kingdom of
and a waste,” warned the biblical prophet
Israel, which emerged triumphant around 1000 B.C.
Jeremiah, “and these nations shall serve the
under three celebrated rulers—Saul, David, and
king of Babylon seventy years.” In proph¬
Solomon. After Solomon died, the kingdom split in
esying the defeat and captivity of his people by the
two. Israel, in the north, fell to the Assyrians in 721
Babylonians, Jeremiah was affirming one of the core
B.C.; Judea, including the capital city of Jerusalem in
beliefs of Judaism—that God controls history and sees
the south, succumbed later to the Babylonians in the
to it that virtue is rewarded and wickedness is pun¬ ished. Their devotion to a single supreme God set the Jews apart from other people and placed them under a heavy obligation. The fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. was divine punishment for those who sinned and wor¬ shiped false idols, Jeremiah insisted, but God would deliver them from captivity if they repented: “The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground,” he assured. The promise of redemption runs throughout the Bible. According to the Book of Genesis, God sent a great flood to punish humanity for its sins but spared Noah and made a covenant with him, pledging never again to deluge the Earth. That story and others in Genesis—including those of the creation and the Garden of Eden—resemble Mesopotamian legends, suggesting that the ancient Hebrews (meaning “wan¬ derers”) may have come in contact with Sumerians or Babylonians early in their history. The Hebrews traced their origins to the biblical patriarch Abraham, who left Ur in Mesopotamia and migrated to the land of Canaan, near Egypt. Abraham and his kin were nomadic herders when they entered Canaan, but they longed for a country of their own and believed God Standing on holy ground, Moses removes his sandals beside the burning bush and receives God's blessing as the savior of his people.
had promised them a homeland. “I will make of you a great nation,” God assured Abraham. That nation was known as Israel, a title given to Abraham’s grand¬
disaster lamented by Jeremiah. All this was seen by
son Jacob after God appeared to him as an angel and
the prophets as a lesson for those who took God’s
blessed him.
blessings for granted.
As God’s Chosen People, the Israelites had their
Might did not make right, the prophets warned,
faith tested repeatedly, beginning with their enslave¬
and those whom God raised up would be laid low if
ment in Egypt. After delivering them from bondage,
they broke his laws. In the words of Jeremiah: “Let
God renewed his covenant with the Israelites by
not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
revealing his laws to their leader Moses. Returning
rich man glory in his riches.” ■
49
A
ANCIENT
WORLD:
PREHISTORY-500 b.c.
B.C.
was a land of villages. The Nile
served as an artery of communica¬ tion between those settlements,
Egyptian Civilization
however, and helped unify the coun¬ try. The first area to be united under one ruler was Upper Egypt, the land along the upper Nile (the Nile Delta downstream to the north consti¬ tuted Lower Egypt). Villages in Upper Egypt were all located within
3000-500 b.c.
T
a narrow floodplain near the river hemmed in by cliffs and desert. Irri¬
he Nile Valley was one of
tling along the river and cultivating
gation efforts provided water for
the most fertile places in the
wheat and barley. Other resources
the crops during the dry season that
ancient world. Each sum¬
of the region included fish, fowl,
followed the annual flood. This
mer, monsoon rains in the highlands
and papyrus—a reed that grew in
bountiful and easily navigated cor¬
of East Africa, far to the south,
marshy areas and was used first to
ridor was readily commanded by
swelled the Nile and flooded the
build rafts and later to make paper
surrounding countryside, leaving a
for writing.
The Sphinx and the pyramid of Pharaoh Khafre
rich layer of silt that replenished the
Unlike Mesopotamia, with its
fields. By 6000 B.C., people were set¬
fast-growing cities, Egypt in 3000
60
were just two of the monuments erected at Giza by the rulers of Egypt's Old Kingdom, who iden¬ tified themselves with the sun god Re.
ambitious rulers, who claimed a
ing their power. It took three cen¬
portion of the harvest to support
turies for rulers of the 1st and 2nd
their troops and retainers.
dynasties to bind Egypt into a polit¬
Around 3000 B.C., a king named
ical unit strong enough to support
Narmer from Upper Egypt led
such massive undertakings as the
forces north into the Nile Delta and
building of the pyramids. Two fac¬
conquered Lower Egypt. That
tors that helped pharaohs expand
swampy country was less suitable
their authority and command obe¬
for farming than the land to the
dience were religion and record¬
south, but in centuries to come
keeping. Scribes used characters
Egyptians would drain marshes
called hieroglyphs to write down
there and transform the delta into
royal pronouncements, and to keep
a populous and productive region.
track of official businesses such as
Narmer’s successors made their
the collection of taxes—paid in the
capital at Memphis, at the south¬
form of grain—and the drafting of
ern end of the delta, where Lower
troops and laborers for military
Egypt abutted Upper Egypt.
campaigns and public projects.
The unification of Egypt by
Such demands placed a heavy
Narmer ushered in the first of more
burden on villagers,
but they
than 30 dynasties that would rule
regarded the pharaoh as a super¬
the country for the next 3,000
natural figure who communed with
years. The long succession of dynas¬
the gods and ensured that the Nile
ties was not always smooth. Three
would continue to rise and fall and
great eras of strength and stability
that Egypt would remain fertile.
known as the Old Kingdom (ca
Egypt’s earliest kings identified
2575-2150 B.C.), the Middle King¬
with the falcon god Horus. Later,
dom (ca 1975-1640 B.C.), and the
the cult of Horus was merged
New Kingdom (ca 1539-1075 B.C.)
with that of the sun god Re—a
were interspersed with eras of con¬
higher and mightier figure with
fusion and unrest known as inter¬
which pharaohs identified. With the
mediate periods.
rise of the Old Kingdom around
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 3000 b.c.
King Narmer from Upper Egypt conquers Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta), unifying the country, and establishes its capital at Memphis. ■ ca 2550 b.c.
Pharaoh Khufu orders construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza. ■ ca 2150 B.c.
Drought disrupts the seasonal flooding of the Nile, destabilizing the Old King¬ dom and leading to a century of unrest known as the First Intermediate Period. ■ ca 1975 B.c.
Egypt is reunified by rulers from Thebes, ushering in the Middle Kingdom. ■ ca 1960 b.c.
Troops invade Nubia, extending Egypt's frontier south from the First Cataract of the Nile to the Second Cataract. ■ ca 1630 b.c.
Hyksos invaders take over the Nile Delta, ending the Middle Kingdom and inaugurating the Second Inter¬ mediate Period. ■ ca 1550 b.c.
Theban kings launch a campaign against the Hyksos, leading to the reuni¬ fication of Egypt and the rise of the New Kingdom, with its capital at Thebes.
After the collapse of the New
2700 B.C., rulers of the 3rd dynasty
Kingdom, Egypt was often ruled by
began building lofty tombs in
foreigners, including black Africans
the hope that their spirits would
from Nubia, or Kush. But those out¬
ascend to heaven after death. The
siders honored Egyptian traditions
earliest of these monuments were
and were recognized as pharaohs—
step pyramids, resembling ziggu-
a term meaning “great house” and
rats. During the 4th dynasty, royal
used to refer both to the king and
architects refined the design by
■ 1070 b.c.
his palace. For thousands of years,
erecting gigantic smooth-sided pyr¬
while other civilizations rose and
amids. The supreme example is the
fell, Egypt endured.
482-foot-high Great Pyramid at
New Kingdom ends and Egyptian power declines; rulers of foreign origin often control all or part of the country.
Builders of the Pyramids
reigned around 2550 B.C. An epic
The first Egyptian kings were
project that took nearly 20 years
largely concerned with consolidat¬
to complete, the Great Pyramid was
Giza built by Pharaoh Khufu, who
--
■ ca 1500 b.c.
Pharaoh Thutmose I forges an Egyptian empire extending from the Fourth Cataract in Nubia to present-day Syria.
I ca 730 b.c.
Nubians conquer Egypt and rule the country for several decades until Assyrians take control.
constructed by peasants conscripted
am lord of eternity in the crossing
of towering authority could have
for labor during the Nile flood sea¬
of the sky.” Egyptians also mum¬
commanded the efforts of so many
son, when work in the fields ceased.
mified animals and buried them as
people for so long. Over the next
Toiling in gangs, the builders hauled
offerings to beloved deities such as
few centuries, that authority grad¬
massive limestone blocks weighing
the cat goddess, Bastet, and the
ually eroded, and the power of local
two and a half tons each that had
crocodile god, Sobek.
governors increased. So long as Egypt remained prosperous and the
been quarried upriver and floated down the Nile on barges. More
Descent into Chaos
fields offered up their bounty, those
than 2,300,000 of those blocks
The construction of the Great
governors did not mind if the king
went into the building of the Great
Pyramid marked the high point of
took his share in taxes. But by 2150
Pyramid. Later, Khufu’s successors
Egypt’s Old Kingdom. Only a ruler
B.C., the region was in the midst of
built smaller pyramids nearby for themselves and their wives. Guard¬ ing the entire complex was the cat¬ like Sphinx, bearing the face of Khufu’s son Khafre. The stunning monuments at Giza reflected an obsession with the afterlife that characterized Egypt¬ ian culture through the centuries. Mummification—the removal of a corpse’s perishable internal organs and preservation of the rest of the body—was originally confined to royalty. Poor Egyptians had to con¬ tent themselves with burying their dead in the sand, which inhibited decay. Underlying such efforts to keep the body intact was the fear that the wandering soul might be lost if it had no body to return to. Over time, mummification and other techniques for ensuring spir¬ itual immortality became available to many Egyptians, whose pre¬ served corpses were wrapped in linen and buried in coffins on which spells were inscribed to ward off evil and ensure a glorious afterlife. “I shall sail rightly in my bark,” reads one such verse intended to launch the spirit on a heavenly journey. “I Inscribed columns shaped like reeds mimic the emergence of life from the primordial swamp at a temple in Edfu dedicated to the falcon god Horus, divine patron of Egypt's first kings.
a long and severe drought. “The Nile was empty and men crossed over on foot,” related an Egyptian account. As harvests dwindled, the pharaoh lost prestige and power. Public order gave way to civil strife. “I show you the land in turmoil,” lamented one chronicler. “What should not be has come to pass.” This time of famine and up¬ heaval, known as the First Inter¬ mediate Period, ended around 1975 B.C., when a ruler named Men-
tuhotep II from the town of Thebes took control of Upper Egypt and went on to conquer Lower Egypt, thus reuniting the country and inaugurating the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep’s
successors
were
mindful of the problems that destroyed the Old Kingdom and worked to reduce the power of local governors and increase Egypt’s grain reserves by expanding the amount of land under cultivation. A massive irrigation project trans¬ formed the oasis of Faiyum, south¬ west of Memphis, into a great breadbasket for the
kingdom;
E
The Divine Right of Queens gyptian queens, like their royal husbands, claimed kinship
with the gods and goddesses who brought Egypt power and plenty. Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses II, was portrayed 'wearing a vulture headdress and cobra earring that identified
her with the vulture goddess, Nekhbet, of Upper Egypt and the cobra goddess, Wadjyt, of Lower Egypt. Adorned with these accoutrements, she represented the unified kingdom and its guardian spir¬ its. As the king’s principal wife and guardian of his heir, the queen of Egypt held the future of the country in her hands. Despite her exalted status, Nefertari had to share her hus¬ band. Ramses II had many sec¬ ondary wives, including sev¬ eral princesses from foreign lands and his own sister. (Inces¬ tuous marriages were common within the Egyptian royal fam¬ ily.) Secondary wives some¬ times lived together with their children in households called harems and performed useful tasks such as weaving.
watered by a 300-foot-wide canal
The various consorts of
from the Nile, Faiyum covered hun¬
Ramses II bore the king more
dreds of square miles.
than a hundred children dur¬
With the return of stability, Egypt
ing his long reign. Sons of the
began flexing its muscles abroad.
chief queen, however, had
The
between
the strongest claim to succeed
Egypt and Nubia was the First
the pharaoh. If he died before
Cataract of the Nile (submerged in
his heir reached maturity, the
recent times by the Aswan Dam).
queen served as regent until the boy grew up. One Egyptian queen who
Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom had
outlived her husband and became regent, Hatshepsut, defied tradition
launched ventures south of that
by remaining in power long after the rightful heir, Thutmose III, came
border in search of gold and other
of age. To secure her legitimacy in a society that assigned proper rule
riches. Shortly after 2000 B.C.,
to males, she even took the title king and had herself portrayed as
troops of Pharaoh Amenemhet I
pharaoh. Eventually, Hatshepsut died or was overthrown, and Thut¬
embarked on the first in a series of
mose III emerged from her shadow. A tomb inscription offered her ten¬
conquests that brought much of
der tribute: “Possessor of charm, sweetness, and love.” ■
original
frontier
Nubia under Egyptian control. 53
Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses II.
The Nile connected Egypt with Nubia, or Kush, known for its gold and its trade with the African interior. To control that commerce, Egyptians pressed south info Kush, reaching the Fourth Cataract by
Alexandria | SUEZ CANAL
LOWER EG"
IORDAN
NUBIA
1500 b.c.
the Hittites swept down into
Uneasy neighbors on the Nile
Mesopotamia
El Faiyum* Beni Suef •
SAUDI
Western
1j
sacked
Babylon, mysterious intrud¬
PmiARABIA
ers called the Hyksos seized
ll
power in Eower Egypt and
ENLARGED
AFRICA
and
UPPER EGYPT
demanded tribute from Upper
Asyut*^
Egypt. The Hyksos intro¬
Desert
Eastern %
duced new technology, in¬
Cultivated area
cluding the battle chariot. In
Desert
time
Luxor (Thebes)
Egyptians
mastered
those innovations and turned
EXTENT OF EGYPTIAN
them against their Hyksos TERRITORY OF KUSHm EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT 724-660 B.C.
overlords. Once again, the
Aswan First Cataract, (submerged)
.ASWAN ■HIGH DAM
impetus
LOWER NUBIA
7 //
//
r
(submerged/:;
reunification
came from Thebes, where a prince named Kamose gath¬
Caravan route
Abu Simbel.\
for
ered forces around 1550 B.C. and attacked the Hyksos in
Wadi Haifa
the delta. His brother Ahmose
UPPER
completed the conquest and
'Seddenga
\\ Karima
Nuri&
inaugurated the New King¬
Soleb-
\\
dom, which brought Egypt¬ Kerma
JEBtL BARKAL
M 'v
BARKAL
r,
-
"Every God Is in Him"
SEE i: INSET MAP
m
ATLEPp
Much like the Old Kingdom
Merowe 0 San am
A
#Tangasi
Originally an Egyptian customs post, Napata rose at the crossroads of the Nile and caravan routes to the hinterland. Its sacred moun¬ tain, Jebel Barkal, made it a cult center of the god Amun. After 750 B.C. Napata prospered as the capital of Egyptianized Nubia.
pharaohs, who built pyramids
Atbara
Napata El Kurm
ian civilization to its peak.
Abu Hamed
to join the sun god Re in
Meroe
TRADITIONAL HEARTLAND OF KINGDOM OFKUSH
heaven and achieve immor¬
Shendi
WadBanNaga^
:
v
tality, rulers of the New King¬
Sixth Cataract^ NagaS Musawwarat jes~Sufra /
SUDAN
.^Khartoum W
& Royal Kushite tombs ° Major Kushite ruins
-
dom enhanced their worldly
/
^
y
^
^
,
ipokm
** Major Egyptian ruins in Nubia
authority by claiming to be one with the greatest of gods. The patron deity of Thebes was Amun, sometimes por¬
Neither gold from Nubia nor
changes in climate that altered the
trayed as a ram. When rulers from
bounty from the Faiyum could
flow of the Nile. Meanwhile, for¬
Thebes defeated the Hyksos and
keep Egypt from lapsing into
eigners were surging into the Nile
reunited Egypt, they elevated Amun
renewed turmoil around 1630 B.C.
Delta from the east—an incursion
to the status of Egypt’s ruling deity.
This Second Intermediate Period,
that was part of a larger upheaval
He was sometimes worshiped in the
like the first, was caused in part by
in the Middle East. Not long before
form of Amun-Re, representing a
54
merger of the new and the old. In
and its gold mines and sending
the eldest daughter of the Hittite
the words of one text, he could
armies into Canaan, Syria, and
king. Ramses prayed to the gods to
transform himself “into an infinity
Libya. Among the greatest of
see her safely to Egypt: “May you
of forms—every god is in him.”
Egypt’s conqueror-kings was Thut-
not send rain, icy blast or snow,
Pharaoh Akhenaten later broke
mose III, who crushed the Canaan-
until the marvel you have decreed
with tradition by rejecting Amun-
ites at the Battle of Megiddo in 1483
for me shall reach me!”
Re and other gods and dedicating
B.C. “I carried off all their citizens
After the death of Ramses II, who
himself
Aten—
to Egypt and their property like¬
reigned 67 years and fathered more
another solar deity, who took the
wise,” boasted Thutmose. Tribute
than a hundred children, the New
form of the sun disk—but Akhen-
from lands he conquered helped fill
Kingdom lost its luster. Imperial
exclusively
to
expansion into Nubia, Syria, and
aten’s successors denounced him
Libya backfired in the long run as
and reinstated the old cults. Under
royal
patronage,
the
priesthood of Amun-Re grew rich and powerful. Temples devoted
The “Sun King”
S
plendid you rise in heaven's lightland, O living Aten, creator of
the people they subjugated adopted Egyptian ways and weapons and outdid the conquerors at their own
to the god were self-sustaining
life.... Your rays embrace the
game. Nubians, for example, served
communities, ruled by priests who
lands to the limits of all that you made."
as valued troops in the Egyptian
collected rent in grain from sur¬
—from the Hymn to Aten,
army, worshiped Egyptian gods,
rounding peasants and supervised
attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten
and built pyramids to entomb rulers of the kingdom of Kush, which
workshops that produced bread,
Aten, the shining sun disk, was por¬
beer, and linen clothing. The New
trayed as the lord of heaven and mas¬
arose in Nubia as the New King¬
Kingdom capital of Thebes became
ter of the universe. In a society where
dom declined.
the site of a majestic ceremonial cen¬ ter called Karnak, where every year
rulers and their subjects bowed to tra¬ dition and were slow to change their customs and beliefs, Akhenaten was
By 1000 B.C., Egypt was again in turmoil. Libyans invaded the Nile
after the Nile flooded the pharaoh
a truly revolutionary figure. Soon after
Delta, and rulers at Thebes formed
took part in the joyous Opet cele¬
taking power in 1353
a breakaway kingdom to the south.
bration and communed with an
the cults of Amun and other gods and
Egypt
made Aten Egypt's supreme deity. His
the late eighth century B.C., when
image of Amun in his temple.
B.C.,
he rejected
motives were partly political, for he
remained
divided
until
Nubians, or Kushites, reunited the
Across from Karnak, along the
wanted to undermine the powerful
western rim of the Nile Valley, kings
priesthood of Amun and set himself
country by peacefully occupying
and queens were buried in deep
up as the revered leader of a new cult.
Thebes—where they were wel¬
But this controversial "Sun King" was
comed as champions—before going
tomb chambers excavated in the
also a sincere religious reformer,
cliffs. Housed at that necropolis was a talented community of masons,
whose exclusive devotion to one god resembled the monotheism of Judaism.
on to defeat the Libyans in the Delta. Pharaohs of Nubian origin ruled Egypt wisely and well until
sculptors, and painters who spent
Assyrians seized it in 667 B.C.
their lives building, decorating, and
the coffers of his successors, but
furnishing the royal tombs. Trea¬
they were less concerned with
Thereafter, Egypt was subject
sures buried with the 19-year-old
expanding the Egyptian empire
to one foreign power after another,
pharaoh Tutankhamun were later
than with fending off rival powers
including the Persians, the Mace¬
uncovered by archaeologists and
such as the Hittites.
donians
under
Alexander
the
Great, and finally the Romans
offered posterity a dazzling look at
Pharaoh Ramses II, after battling
the riches Egyptian royalty carried
the Hittites at Kadesh in Syria in
under
to the grave.
1285 B.C. and returning to Egypt
ousted Queen Cleopatra—the last
Pharaohs of the New Kingdom
with little to show for it, made
ruler to bear the title pharaoh—
maintained their wealth and power
peace with the Hittites by agreeing
and annexed once mighty Egypt as
by tightening their hold on Nubia
to take as one of his many wives
a province. ■
-
55
-
Augustus
Caesar,
who
A ANCIENT
WORLD:
P R E H I S T O R Y - 5 0 0 B.c.
ers—an important contribution to public health in cities that contained as many as 40,000 people. Such
Indian Civilization
urban planning reflected a complex society whose leaders could com¬ mand the efforts of thousands of laborers, guided by engineers and officials. Bricks used for construc¬ tion were all of the same mold, and the public buildings included gran¬
2500-500b.c.
I
aries filled with surpluses that fed the leadership, the bureaucracy, and
NDIAN CIVILIZATION DEVELOPED
potamia were developing along
the many artisans who produced
first in the Indus River Valley of
the Indus River and its tributaries.
trade items such as necklaces made
present-day Pakistan and later
The most important of those cities
from stone beads, each of which
in the Ganges Valley. Both were fer¬
were Mohenjo Daro, on the lower
took hours to shape and drill.
tile areas watered by snowmelt
Indus River, and Harappa, on the
Trade was the glue of Harappan
from mountains, but the broad
Ravi River near the upper end of
civilization, binding one city to
floodplain of the Indus allowed for
the Indus Valley. Harappa gave its
another and the region as a whole
extensive irrigation, which hastened
name to this Indus Valley culture—
to Mesopotamia and other distant
the development of a well-organized
the Harappan civilization. Both
lands. Among the goods exported
society fed by agricultural surpluses.
cities were built on a similar plan,
were cotton, spices, ivory, and
The Indus Valley was also closer to
with a gridwork of streets, stan¬
handcrafts such as jewelry. Ships
the Middle East and profited from
dardized housing for the common
hugged the coast of the Arabian Sea,
trade with Mesopotamia.
people and larger residences for the
bearing Harappan merchants and
By 2500 B.C., cities that rivaled
elite, and a sanitation system that
their wares to Ur and other Sumer¬
the great urban centers of Meso¬
included bathrooms linked to sew¬
ian cities. Some of those traders set¬ tled in Mesopotamia. Harappan merchants carried stone seals used to stamp their distinctive insignia or trademark on clay tags and label their goods. Portrayed on those seals were animals native to India, including the elephant and the rhi¬ noceros. Seals were also inscribed with pictographs or abstract sym¬ bols that most likely identified the owner by name or family. Seal inscriptions are the only Harappan writing that has survived. Like other river valleys that fos¬ tered ancient civilizations, the Indus The image of a waterbird adorns a clay pot crafted about 3000 B.c. in the Indus Valley, where a complex urban society known as Harappan civilization later emerged.
56
The Indus Valley m
□
Pre-Harappan early farming settlement
1
NOTABLE DATES
,, , ,
Mundigak
AFGHANISTAN
P^cian^Ghundai
Ropar Jalipur,
Major city of Harappan civilization
Kile Gud Mohammad *
Harappan heartland 2500 b.c. to 1800 b.c.
*Rana Ghundai
Damb Sadaat®
.Haraf^a
■ ca 2500 b.c.
#Vain:wal
Debar Kot
Harappan civilization develops in the Indus River Valley as trade flourishes and cities emerge.
• Kalibangen
p'Mehrgarh Nowsharo PAKISTAN
■ Nal Mohenjo Daro* Lohumjo Daro* i Pandi Wahi ■
IRAN
Amri*
■ ca 2000 b.c.
.KoWur ^C... ^
Harappan civilization declines and cities are abandoned.
INDIA
•Chanhubaro
_ *Karchat •Ba]akot Allahdino* *■
Gu jo
Arabian
■ ca 1500 b.c.
J? D, . 2#Ghara Bhiro,
_y -
Aryans infiltrate the Indus Valley from the north and take control of the region, imposing a class system in which Aryan chieftains and priests occupy the tap rank.
Desalpur
Sea OMAN Present-day country boundaries and names shown in gray
Harappan civilization derived its name from the ancient city of Harappa, situated in the upper reaches of die Indus Valley. By 2500 B.C. irri¬ gation efforts had transformed the region.
iots into battle and were organized into rival tribes. Linguistically, they
■ ca 1000 b.c.
were Indo-Europeans: They spoke
Aryan chieftains expand their domain from the Indus Valley into the Ganges River Valley.
one of a large family of languages region was subject to seasonal
that originated on the steppes of
flooding that helped nourish the
Eurasia. Groups emanating from
■ ca 700 b.c.
fields but was sometimes cata¬
that region spread out across a
strophic. The city of Mohenjo Daro
vast area from India to Europe and
had to be rebuilt at least nine
interacted linguistically with other
Indian teachers reinterpret Aryan beliefs in scriptures called the Upanishads, which form the basis of Hinduism.
times; ruinous floods may have con¬
people to produce many related
tributed to the decline of Harappan
Indo-European languages, includ¬
civilization after 2000 B.C. The area
ing Sanskrit —the classical language
remained populous and productive,
of India—Persian,
but the cities were abandoned and
Latin. Aryans reached the Indus
long-distance trade withered.
Valley not long after the Hittites,
Greek,
and
another Indo-European people who
Coming of the Aryans
fought from chariots, swept into
Around 1500 B.C., the Indus Valley
Mesopotamia.
was taken over by nomadic intrud¬
Siddhartha Gautama, known to followers as the Buddha, is born in the foothills of the Himalaya east of the Ganges. ■ ca 520 b.c.
Persians conquer the Indus Valley. ■ ca 500 b.c.
The Aryans were of lighter com¬ than
■ ca 560 b.c.
ers from the north called Aryans,
plexion
the
people
they
who entered the region through
encountered in the Indus Valley and
mountain passes from what is now
referred to them as dasas, or dark
Afghanistan and Iran (named for
ones. Whether through conquest
the Aryans). Aryans told of their
or through peaceful infiltration,
beliefs and traditions in verses that
Aryans gained control of the region
were first transmitted orally and
and imposed a class system that
later written in scriptures called
placed them high above those dark
Vedas, or books of knowledge.
ones. Aryan meant “noble,” and the
According to the Vedas, the
Aryan nobility was divided into two
Aryans were hard-fighting herders
ranks: priests and warriors. In the¬
and horse breeders who rode char¬
ory, priests were superior because 57
Kingdom of Magadha, led by Rimbisara, emerges as the leading state in the Ganges Valley, now the center of Indian civilization.
they communed with the gods
underclass of dasas who served as
to some extent. But the Aryan aris¬
through animal sacrifices and other
laborers and peasants.
tocracy maintained its identity and
This class system was not as rigid
its privileges for centuries. Like the
In practice, the warrior class
as the caste system that later pre¬
gods they worshiped—including
sacred ceremonies.
included proud tribal chieftains
vailed in India, where social status
the conqueror Indra, who hurled
who considered themselves inferior
was hereditary. Peasants in Aryan
thunderbolts and resembled the
to no one. The Aryans as a group
society could rise to become land¬
Greek god Zeus—Aryans were fiery
lorded it over the common class of
holders, for example, and inter¬
and quick to take offense. Tribal
merchants and landholders and the
marriage blurred racial distinctions
chieftains constantly sought to
H
The Multiplicity of Hinduism 'induism combined sacred teachings
declared in an Indian epic, “even they go to the
of the Aryans who took control of the
highest goal.”
Indus Valley around 1500 B.C. with the
Anyone could aspire to that goal, but it was not
. beliefs of the local people Aryans inter¬
easily reached. Indian society remained highly strat¬
acted with over the centuries as they expanded their
ified, and Hindus believed that some people were
domain to the Ganges Valley and other parts of the
closer to salvation than others. Those who were lowly
Indian subcontinent.
and unholy could rise to a higher level by perform¬
From the beginning, Hindus worshiped many
ing good deeds that improved their karma—or
gods, some of them Aryan in origin and others
the consequences of their actions in the next life,
native to India. Their principal gods
when their soul would be reincarnated
were Brahma, the creator who
in another body. Even animals
embodied the universal spirit
had souls, and the soul of an
called Brahman; Vishnu, who
animal might be reborn in
watched over the world from
human
heaven and preserved life;
form
and
ulti¬
mately reach salvation.
and Shiva, the destroyer of
Some animals in par¬
evil. These gods could take
ticular were regarded
different forms. Hindus
by Hindus as precious
believed that the Bud¬
or sacred. Cows, for
dha, or Enlightened One,
example,
was one incarnation of
longer sacrificed to the
Vishnu. Another incarna¬
gods as in Aryan times,
tion was a beloved god
but were protected from
named Krishna, meaning
were
no
harm. Respect for all crea¬
“black.” Krishna offered sal¬
tures—beast or human—
vation to people of all classes,
was
including those known as dasas, or dark ones, whose status was so low
the
golden
rule
of
Hinduism,
which
remains
India’s dominant faith. ■
that the proud Aryan priesthood would The Hindu god Shiva, the destroyer of evil, holds the drum of creation in one hand and the flame of destruction in another.
have little to do with them. “Even those who may be of base origin,” Krishna
58
enlarge their domains and often did
A Religious Awakening
verses. The Upanishads offered an
so at the expense of their neighbors.
By the sixth century B.C., India was
individual of any rank the hope of
In one ritual, a chieftain set a white
in the midst of a great religious fer¬
attaining holiness and salvation by
stallion free to. roam and claimed as
ment that produced three faiths:
freeing his soul and allowing him
his own all the ground the horse
Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
to become one with Brahman.
covered over the course of a year.
That ferment began when Indian
Hinduism grew out of the Upan¬
Afterward, priests sacrificed the
teachers questioned Aryan beliefs
ishads and combined the worship
stallion—and the chieftain and his
and reinterpreted them in sacred
of various gods with the quest for
warriors did battle with anyone
texts called the Upanishads, which
salvation—a journey that could
who contested their claim.
challenged the idea that only priests
take the soul many lifetimes as it traveled from one body to another through reincarnation. Jainism
Into the Ganges Gradually, the Aryans expanded from the Indus Valley into the lush
The Upanishads
was inspired by the teachings of a holy man named Mahavira, born
'll ¥7" That do you see?" the father
in India around 540 B.C. Mahavira
Ganges Valley, which provided
\\ /asked. "Nothing," his son
them not only with abundant
V Vreplied. "What you do not
was known to his followers as Jina,
harvests of rice and other crops but
see is the essence of the banyan tree,"
or the Conqueror, because he freed
his father explained. "In that essence
his soul by practicing self-denial
also with large deposits of iron ore for the manufacture of tools
the mighty banyan tree exists. The essence is the unseen spirit which per¬
and weapons. Profiting from such
vades everywhere. It is the Self of all
opportunities, Aryan chieftains rose
things. And you are that Self."
to the status of rajas, or kings.
—from an Upanishadic parable
B.C.,
Indian
teachers known as gurus composed scriptures called the Upanishads,
Ganges Valleys. Their leaders had
meaning "to sit down near," as students
remained
divided
politically.
who harmed other souls would not achieve salvation. His followers
Beginning around 700
of them within the Indus and much in common culturally but
body. He believed that all living things had souls and that those
By 700 B.C., there were 16 Aryan states or kingdoms in India, most
and conquering the cravings of the
practiced nonviolence, refused to eat meat, and would not even har¬ vest crops.
did before those teachers. Unlike
Buddhism was inspired by the
Aryan priests of old, who served as
life and teachings of Siddhartha
intermediaries between the people
Gautama, born to a ruling family
Kingdoms along the Ganges were
and a pantheon of remote and fear¬
shielded from invasion by the tow¬
some gods, gurus taught that every¬
in the foothills of the Himalaya
ering Himalaya to their east, but
one had a soul that could commune
around 560 B.C. and known to his
with the universal spirit called Brah¬
followers as the Buddha, or the
man. That spirit was invisible; gurus
Enlightened One. After seeking sal¬
those along the Indus were vulner¬ able to intruders from the north. Around 520 B.C., Persians con¬
could describe it only through such parables as the one of the banyan.
vation through extreme acts of selfdenial like Mahavira, he chose a
quered the Indus Valley and made it a province of their empire. In the
through their sacrifices could com¬
path called the Middle Way, involv¬
Ganges Valley, meanwhile, the iron-
mune with the gods. Everyone had
ing good conduct and moderation
rich kingdom of Magadha was
a soul capable of achieving union
in all things. Ultimately, Buddha
gaining power under a forceful ruler
with Brahman—the supreme spirit
achieved a state of enlightenment
named Bimbisara. Kings of Maga¬
that pervaded the universe. Brah¬
called nirvana—the release from
dha would later build an empire in
man was a title Aryan priests had
earthly desires and longings. Bud¬
the Ganges Valley that would give
reserved for themselves because
dhism rejected as illusions the gods
rise to a classical Indian civilization
they alone were considered holy
many Indians held dear and found
combining Aryan culture with the
enough to recite sacred verses. Peo¬
a larger following in other Asian
traditions of people native to the
ple of the underclass were consid¬
countries, where it evolved into a
Indian subcontinent.
ered too unholy even to hear those
formal religion. ■
- 59 ~
~
together under strong leadership to dig ditches and drainage canals for irrigation and flood control.
Chinese Civilization
Chinese annals later credited a leg¬ endary ruler named Yu the Great with taming the floodplain around 2200 B.c. Just when a kingdom first arose in China remains uncertain, but by 1750 B.c. rulers of the Shang
2200-500 B.c.
dynasty had asserted control over much of the Yellow River Valley.
of great value to the Chinese over
Chieftains loyal to the Shang ruled
/ where were interacting
the centuries was silk, unraveled in
the kingdom’s provinces with an
T through trade or warfare,
threads from the cocoons of cater¬
iron hand and paid their ruler trib¬
the Chinese remained isolated
pillars that fed on mulberry leaves
ute in the form of troops and taxes.
by mountains, deserts, and oceans
and woven into lustrous cloth.
'W~¥7'Thile civilizations else-
\
V
and built a distinctive society of
One of the few innovations to reach China from the outside world
their own. They called their realm
Taming the Floodplain
in early times was the chariot, intro¬
the Middle Kingdom—a
Politically,
Yangtze Valley
duced from the northwest about
lagged behind the Yellow River
1300 B.c. Battles between chieftains
region, where people living
in chariots accompanied by foot
in the floodplain down¬
soldiers often cost hundreds of
river from the first
lives. To guard against attack, cities
settlements
were surrounded by walls up to 35
world of order and sta¬ bility surrounded by wilderness and chaos. Although that king¬ dom did not take shape until about 2200 B.C., the seeds of Chinese civilization were planted thousands of years earlier along the Yellow River, so called for the yellow loess deposited along its banks by winds from the Gobi. Loess provided fertile soil for the cultivation of millet. By 5000 B.C., people were living in villages along the middle Yellow River and its tributaries and farming on terraces. In the wetlands along the Yangtze to the south, villagers began culti¬ vating rice. Another natural resource Kui and agre mask designs decorate this bronze Shang dynasty zun (wine vessel). A crouching tiger and a phoenix adorn the tip of the ele¬ phant's upraised trunk.
the
feet thick made of earth rammed
and tortured his opponents. That
between a frame of timbers.
was the story put out by usurpers from a province in western China
Blood Offerings to the King
who led a rebellion against the Shang
In China, as in Mesopotamia, rulers
about 1100 B.C. and founded the
claimed kinship with the gods and
Zhou dynasty. The Zhou rulers
were offered human sacrifices when
claimed they had a mandate from
they died. In one royal burial at the
heaven to govern China as long as
last Shang capital, Anyang, along
they did so wisely and justly.
the Huan River, a tributary of the Yellow, more than 60 bound cap¬
The Kingdom Unravels
tives were put to death. Among the
For more than two centuries, the
burial treasures were carved objects
Zhou dynasty seemed to enjoy
of jade, which had religious signif¬
heaven’s blessing. The kingdom
icance for the Chinese and was
expanded to cover a vast area, from
more precious than gold.
well north of the Yellow River to
Shang kings had large retinues
south of the Yangtze. Under the
that included dozens of wives and
feudal system the Zhou inherited
scribes versed in a complex written
from the Shang, however, powerful
language containing thousands of
provincial rulers held sway over
characters. The only surviving Chi¬
their own fiefdoms. Many of those
nese writings from this period were
Chinese rulers possessed more land
inscribed on bronze vessels or ora¬
than the king, who controlled a
cle bones such as tortoiseshells. A
small district around his capital.
diviner inscribed questions on the
The weakness of the king became
bone and then scorched the object,
clear in 771 B.C., when attacks by
producing cracks in the surface
nomads forced the Zhou to aban¬
interpreted as answers from ances¬
don their capital in western China
tral spirits. Rulers built temples to
and establish a new capital at
their ancestors and consecrated
Luoyang, to the east.
those buildings with human sacri¬ fices as they did their tombs.
The Eastern Zhou rulers had even less authority over the local rulers
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 2200 b.c.
Chinese civilization begins to emerge along the Yellow River. ■ ca 1750 b.c.
Shang dynasty takes control of a kingdom centered on the Yellow River; the Yangtze River Valley to the south comes under the cultural influence of the Shang rulers but remains outside their kingdom. ■ ca 1300 b.c.
Shang rulers move their capital to Anyang on a tributary of the Yellow River, where kings are buried with dozens of victims sacrificed for the occasion. ■ ca 1100 b.c.
Dt Xin, last ruler of Shang dynasty, is overthrown by challengers from western China who found the Zhou dynasty; under the Zhou, the Chinese kingdom expands to embrace the Yangtze River Valley. ■ 771 b.c. Attacks by nomads force the Zhou to move their capital from western China eastward to Luoyang, marking the divide between the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou, whose rulers exercise little authority over chiefs of the king¬ dom's many provinces or states.
During the Shang dynasty, Chi¬
than their Western Zhou predeces¬
nese cities grew larger and more elab¬
sors. As the kingdom slowly frag¬
■ ca 550 b.c.
orate. Anyang extended for more
mented into rival states, some people
Philosopher Confucius is bom in an era of increasing strife between China's states.
than three miles. Villages and work¬
longed for the return of strong rulers
shops for artisans and other com¬
who would govern China wisely
moners surrounded the royal district.
with a mandate from heaven. That
Chinese chroniclers later portrayed
philosophy was the outlook of the
the last Shang kings who reigned at
philosopher named Confucius, born
Anyang as careless rulers who sought
around 550 B.C. He had little impact
“nothing but excessive pleasure.”
on his own time, but his ideas were
The dynasty reportedly came to a
later embraced by ambitious Chi¬
dismal end with the reign of a des¬
nese leaders and their advisers, who
pot named Di Xin, who hiked taxes
reunited the Middle Kingdom and
to support his extravagant lifestyle
expanded it into an empire. ■
-
61
-
ANCIENT
WORLD:
P R E H I S TO RY- 500
tant Minoan assets were timber and
b.c.
the know-how to craft that timber into seaworthy vessels. All ancient
Mediterranean Civilizations 2000-500
b.c.
"
civilizations had boats of one kind or another, but most were built to move along rivers or hug coasts. Minoans had to cross open ocean to trade their goods, and they designed ships with deep keels for stability and high prows that cut through waves. Those ships made them masters
A ROUND 2000 B.C., LONG AFTER
according to legend, kept a beast
of the Aegean and the eastern
/ \ cities and kingdoms arose in
called the Minotaur—half man and
Mediterranean. Among their trad¬
JL the Middle East, the first
half bull—penned up in a labyrinth
ing partners were not only Greeks
European civilization emerged on
at his palace and fed the monster
but also Egyptians, from whom
the island of Crete—a prosperous
youths sent as tribute from the
they obtained ivory, gems, linens,
society based on maritime trade
Greek city of Athens.
and Nubian gold. Trade stimulated
JL
that established the pattern for later
The far-ranging Minoans once
Minoan crafts, which included
civilizations on the Greek mainland
dominated the Greeks economically
finely decorated pottery, colorful
and
the
and received payment from them in
Mediterranean. The people who
goods, if not in blood. Minoans
settled Crete may have reached the
owed their strength and prosperity
A fresco from the island of Thi'ra shows' a fleet of ships much like those built by Minoans on nearby Crete, which was devastated by a vol¬ canic eruption on Thira in the 17th century B.c.
island from the north or the east.
in part to the natural resources of
Whatever their origins, they were
their homeland. The lush plains and
wool textiles, and gold and silver
seafarers who acquired great wealth
hillsides of Crete yielded wool from
drinking vessels and daggers. There
and influence through their mastery
sheep and wine from grapes along
were several kingdoms on Crete,
of ships and navigation. Today we
with olive oil and grain—all in such
and
know them as Minoans for a fabled
abundance that there was plenty left
acquired through trade to build lav¬
Cretan king named Minos who,
over for export. The most impor-
ish palaces connected with paved
other
places
around
62
their
rulers
used
wealth
roads. Scribes at those palaces
at Knossos thought he had discov¬
recorded in writing official business
ered the palace of the fabled King
such as goods collected in taxes.
Minos. According to legend, the
This rich and well-ordered soci¬
brutal exploitation of the Greeks by
ety was disrupted by one or more
Minos and his man-eating beast
violent upheavals
leveled
came to an end when the hero The¬
palaces on the island in the 17th
seus penetrated the labyrinth and
century B.C. A massive volcanic
killed the monster. That part of
eruption on the nearby island of
the story had a kernel of truth, for
Thira devastated Crete with earth¬
Greeks overran Crete around 1450
quakes and ashfalls. Palaces were
B.C. and inherited what remained of
rebuilt after that calamity, and
Minoan civilization. Those Greek
one of them, at Knossos, reached
intruders were known as Myce-
magnificent proportions. Spread
naeans, and like the Minoans they
over five acres, the palace contained
inspired legends.
that
1,500 rooms, including apartments and
workshops
for
artisans,
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 2000 b.c. Minoan civilization emerges on Crete as rulers accumulate wealth through maritime trade and build palaces. ■ ca 1700 b.c. Massive volcanic eruption on Thira causes earthquakes and ashfalls on Crete and disrupts Minoan civilization. ■ ca 1600 b.c. Mycenaean civilization arises at the southern end of the Greek mainland, where rulers construct hilltop fortresses and are buried with treasure acquired through trade.
Realms of Gold
kitchens, storehouses, bathrooms
The Mycenaeans were a warlike
with toilets, ceremonial chambers,
people who swept down from the
and subterranean passages.
Balkans and occupied the Greek peninsula around 1600 B.C. Their culture was simple compared with that of the Minoans, and when the two groups first came in con¬ tact through trade, Minoans were
■ ca 1450 b.c. Mycenaeans take control of Crete, bringing Minoan civilization to an end. ■ ca 1250 b.c. Walled city of Troy destroyed, possibly by Mycenaeans. ■ ca 1150 b.c. Mycenaean civilization declines.
the masters and Mycenaeans were the pupils. In time, Mycenaeans adopted Minoan script and Minoan artistic traditions. Some Mycenaeans came to rival the Minoans as seafarers and traders, enriching their homeland with imported gold and other treas¬ ures. Others remained tied to the land and clung to the warriorlike traditions of their ancestors. To strangers from foreign lands,
The Mycenaeans were organized
this mazelike palace complex would
into many small kingdoms, each of
have been a veritable labyrinth, and
which had its own hilltop fortress
bulls portrayed on the walls may
commanding surrounding farm¬
have contributed further to the leg¬
lands. The most impressive of those
end of the Minotaur. In one fresco,
strongholds was Mycenae, from
a Minoan athlete grasps a bull by
which the civilization takes its
the horns and leaps over the ani¬
name. Girded by a stone wall 40
mal. Understandably, the archaeol¬
feet high and more than 26 feet
ogist who excavated the remains
thick, the fortress was virtually
-
63
-
■ ca 1000 b.c. Wealthy Phoenician city-states along the eastern rim of the Mediterranean send out merchant fleets and establish trad¬ ing posts that evolve into colonies. ■ ca 750 b.c. Phoenician colony of Carthage, on the North African coast, develops, emerging as the hub of its own trading empire in the western Mediterranean. ■ ca 700 b.c. Greek colonists settle on the coasts of Sicily and southern Italy, while Etruscan civilization develops in northern Italy. ■ ca 550 b.c. Athens and other city-states on the Greek mainland become centers of learning and artistry and undergo political ferment.
impregnable. The only entrance
Drought, civil war, or invasions may
Egyptians. But the decline of Egypt
was a gate beneath two magnifi¬
have caused this collapse. A dark
and the collapse of the Mycenaeans
cently carved stone lions. Like
age descended on the Aegean world,
allowed the Phoenicians to expand.
Knossos, Mycenae may have been
and seafarers from elsewhere in the
Their port cities became independ¬
the seat of an overlord to whom
Mediterranean took the lead in
ent city-states and prospered by
other rulers deferred.
trade and colonization.
sending out merchant fleets of
Mycenaean
fortresses
broad-beamed cargo ships filled
were
with oil, wine, grain, lumber, and
smaller than Minoan palaces but
The Far-Ranging Phoenicians
resembled them in other respects.
About 1000 B.C., Phoenicians liv¬
Egyptian papyrus, among other
ing along the coast of what is now
goods. The biblical prophet Isaiah
Within the stone walls were work¬ shops for potters, weavers, gold¬
referred to Tyre as “the crowning
smiths, bronzeworkers, and other
city, whose merchants are princes.”
artisans. The king presided over ceremonies in a magnificent hall
Ancient Rivals
T
here came a certain Phoeni¬
To defend against piracy, Phoeni¬ cian merchant ships were escorted
cian, a cunning rascal, who
by sleek war galleys with hull-
painted pillars, decorative wall fres¬
had already committed all
puncturing
coes, and a central hearth. The
sorts of villany.... he set me on board
called a megaron, with brightly
tombs of Mycenaean royalty—deep stone chambers shaped like bee¬
a ship bound for Libya, on a pretence that I was to take a cargo along with him to that place, but really that he
rams
jutting
from
their prows. The first Phoenician colonies were little more than trading posts,
hives—were filled with so many
might sell me as a slave and take the
where a small number of mer¬
precious objects that they were
money I fetched."
chants, artisans, and soldiers lived
known as treasuries. Among the
—Ulysses, in Homers Odyssey
riches that accompanied kings to the grave were necklaces, crowns, breastplates, and golden masks.
year-round and exchanged goods with the local population, refitted
Greeks and Phoenicians traded in slaves and engaged in piracy at times.
ships, and guarded the port. Over
Greek resentments were fueled by
time, the trading posts grew into
One such burial hoard, uncov¬
their fears that the Phoenician mar¬
thriving communities. Most were
ered at Mycenae, was mistakenly
itime empire based at Carthage
located in the western Mediter¬
identified by an archaeologist as the tomb of Agamemnon, a legendary
would shut them out of the western Mediterranean. In 540
B.C.,
Greeks
ranean, on the coasts of Sicily, Sar¬
tried to defend their new colony on
dinia, Spain, and North Africa.
the island of Corsica by fighting a sea
Chief among the North African
wealth who organized the siege of
battle against the Carthaginians and
colonies was Carthage, across from
Troy, the city in Asia Minor immor¬
their Etruscan allies. The Greeks won
Sicily. Phoenicians flocked there
king of enormous power and
talized in Homer’s Iliad. In fact,
the Battle of Aleria but lost the war, suffering such heavy losses that they
the tomb at Mycenae held the
had to abandon the colony.
remains of a king who died in the
in the eighth century B.C., when Assyrian conquerors overran their homeland. Soon Carthage was the
16th century B.c.—or roughly three
Lebanon embarked on a remark¬
leading Phoenician colony in the
centuries before the destruction of
able phase of expansion across
western Mediterranean and began
Troy. Nonetheless, seafaring Myce-
the Mediterranean. Phoenicians
planting colonies of its own on the
naeans could have been responsible
were related to the Canaanites and
Balearic Islands, off the east coast
for Troy’s downfall. By 1450 B.c.,
spoke a Semitic language akin to
of Spain.
they had occupied Crete and were
that of the Canaanites and the
Carthage emerged as the capital
raiding and trading throughout the
rival Israelites. The Phoenicians
of a great maritime trading empire,
eastern Mediterranean.
were never a great power militar¬
whose
By 1200 B.C., Mycenaean civi¬
shipping
lanes
reached
ily. Their principal cities of Tyre,
beyond the Strait of Gibraltar and
lization was in decline, and the
Sidon, and Byblos often fell under
extended up the Atlantic coast as
fortresses were reduced to rubble.
the sway of conquerors such as the
far as Britain.
-
64
-
The Phoenicians were not the
with Greek colonists who began
invention of the Greek alphabet—
only power in the Mediterranean
fanning out across the Mediter¬
derived from a similar phonetic
during this period. In northern Italy
ranean from their homeland as it
alphabet spread by the Phoenicians
resourceful people called the Etrus¬
slowly returned to prosperity fol¬
and easily mastered because it
cans were building their own city-
lowing the collapse of the Myce-
contained only two dozen charac¬
states and sending out merchant
naeans. The Greek recovery began
ters—many Greeks were able to
fleets. Their relations with Phoeni¬
in earnest around 800 B.C., when
read and write. For all the differ¬
cians were friendly, but one village
agriculture and renewed trade pro¬
ences between their city-states, the
in Italy that grew up under Etruscan
moted the growth of powerful city-
Greeks shared a cultural legacy that
rule—Rome—won independence
states such as Athens, Corinth, and
included the Homeric epic. By 700
around 500 B.C. and evolved into a
Sparta. Economic advances there
B.C. the Greeks were exporting
mighty city-state that would chal¬
were matched by cultural achieve¬
that legacy to dozens of distant
lenge Carthage for control of the
ments, as Greek artists developed
colonies—around the Aegean and
Mediterranean.
distinctive styles of pottery, sculp¬
the Black Sea, in southern Italy, and
ture, and architecture and produced
across from the Greek mainland in
Greek Revival
great literature in the form of the
North Africa. Colonists were some¬
Long before the rise of Rome, how¬
Iliad and Odyssey, epics attributed
times chosen by lot, and the city-
ever, Phoenicians had to contend
to a blind bard named Homer and
states they founded were politically
set down in writing in the eighth
independent of the homeland—an
century B.C.
early sign of the quest for freedom
Minoans then Mycenaeans dominated Mediter¬ ranean trade routes (inset}. Then Phoenicians took control and colonized the Mediterranean until challenged by Greek colonists.
that led to the birth of democracy
Literature could flourish only in
in Athens around 500 B.C. ■
a literate society. Thanks to the
4A Lesbos
Crete and the Greek Mainland Leucas
Scvros ANATOLIA
GREECE Orchomenos
Euboea "Gla
■ Mycenaean settlement ■ Minoan settlement Cephalonia
Ionian
Chios
" ”
■ Thebes
Aegean
m Athens
Sea
Mycena® Zante
o
Sea An*0S
■Tiryns
Samos
Tenos
Ikaria
MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
PELOPONNESE
(ca. 1550-1100 b.c.) Grotta
Pylos
Black Sea
'*3X05
■
Paros
Menelaion Arriorgos
THRACIANS
Melos
■■Philakopi
gliari
H1TTITES
>
Thera
■ Akrotiri
Cythera Thapsosj
Kastri1
MYCENAEANS
Sea of Crete
Sicily Rhodes
4*
MINOAN CIVILIZATION
4t—■ Crete
(ca. 2000-1450 B.c.)
MINOANS Khania
Knossosg
a Malta
CRETE GourniaB Zakros
Phaistos ■
Mersa Matruh Minoan and Mycenaean trade routes
f¥TTITH THE END OF THE GREAT CLASSICAL EMPIRES OF GREECE AND ROME, MUCH
4 W
,
of the world was thrown into disarray. Beset by invaders on several frontiers, ▼ Europe entered a period of turmoil and cultural stagnation known as the Dark
Ages. Farther east, Persia, China, and India dissolved into struggling kingdoms. In this political power vacuum the unifying force became faith: Christianity in the West, Islam in the Near East, and Buddhism and Hinduism in the Far East. Christianity helped hold the Byzantine Empire firm while others failed. It supported Charlemagne’s rise to power, kept learning alive in monasteries, and even reached into Russia to convert the rulers of Kiev. In Arabia, Islam was born and grew rapidly to dominate lands from Spain to India. Bud¬ dhism reached China over the Silk Road, winning popular support even as China’s rulers put Confucian principles to work in their vast bureaucracies. Hinduism traveled from India into Southeast Asia and took physical form in the great temples of Angkor. Outside Europe, the Dark Ages were not so gloomy. Byzantine scholars kept Greek learning alive; Islamic ones developed algebra and compiled the Thousand and One Nights; in China, the Tang dynasty gave birth to block printing, delicate porcelain, and poetry. As the millennium ended, the world was turning a corner, leaving the Dark Ages
The House of the Governor and the more dis-
.
tant Pyramid of the Magician still stand in the ancient Maya city of Uxmai.
behind and looking forward to an era of vitality and progress,
■ 527-565 Emperor Justinian, who expanded and organ¬ ized the Byzantine Empire, reigns.
■ ca 570 Muhammad, the founder of Islam, is born.
■ 581-618 The Sui dynasty re¬ establishes a strong central government in China.
- 102 -
■ ca 600-800 Tikal—one of several Maya city-states flour¬ ishing in and around Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula—reaches the peak of its power.
■ 618-907 The Tang dynasty exerts a strong central¬ ized control over China and ushers in an age of learning and art.
■ 738 Revolution in Copan results in the execution of its ruler by one of his vassals.
■ 768-814 Charlemagne, who briefly created a European empire, rules.
■ ca 900 Environmental stresses and increased conflict contribute to the col¬ lapse of Maya civiliza¬ tion, resulting in the destruction or aban¬ donment of most urban areas. - 103 -
■ ca 987 Prince Vladimir of Kiev converts to Christianity and fosters Byzantine learning in Russia.
■ 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, defeats the Saxon King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and takes control of England as William 1 (the Conqueror).
AGE
OF
FAITH:
bark paper or deerskin.
500-1150
Only
recently did linguists succeed in deciphering their writings, which were thought to be related to astro¬ nomical observations or the Maya calendar. The jottings of these pre¬
Maya
sumably peaceful stargazers proved to be quite different—the proud declarations of warlike rulers who offered up their own blood and that
500-1000
M
of their enemies to the gods.
aya civilization, which
not only pyramids and palaces, but
A Deadly Ball Game
reached its peak about
also a coherent written record.
Chief among the Maya deities
600, was more than
Others in the area had used writing
was the maize god, who according
a thousand years in the making.
sparingly to record names, dates,
to legend died in a contest with
During that long ascent, the Maya
or other details; the Maya chroni¬
demonic lords of the underworld
were influenced by the neighboring
cled the rise and fall of their rulers—
and was reborn in the form of a cornstalk, the staple of the Maya.
A.D.
Olmec and by the city-state of Teoti-
the first historical figures to emerge
huacan in the Valley of Mexico. The
in any detail from the cryptic annals
Maya achieved something unique
of ancient America.
as a culture: They were the first
The Maya inscribed hieroglyphs
Americans to bequeath to posterity
on pots, stone monuments, and
104
In a Maya court scene at Bonampak, perform¬ ers wearing elaborate costumes and playing ceramic trumpets and other instruments regale their ruler with music and dance.
The ritual ball game they played
ferences through marriage alliances,
symbolized that mythic contest and
but tensions often persisted until
had a similar outcome. The losers
one side conquered the other. Van¬
were sacrificed in the belief that
quished rulers were not always exe¬
their blood would nourish the earth
cuted, but they had to recognize the
and help renew the blessings of the
victor as their overlord.
maize god and other deities.
One of the leading Maya city-
This fateful contest was played
states was Tikal, which arose in the
in stone courtyards with a solid rub¬
jungle of Peten near the ruins of ear¬
ber sphere about the size of a human
lier Maya ceremonial centers. By
head. (In legend, the lords of the
A.D. 800, through conquests and
underworld used a skull as their
alliances, the city of Tikal covered
ball.) A rubber ball that size could
an area some 50 miles square with
injure contestants, and they wore
more than 50,000 inhabitants.
protective gear around the midriff,
One measure of Tikal’s strength
arms, and knees.. Depictions show
and stability was that a single
two players on each side, striking
dynasty held sway there for more
the ball with their hips or shoulders
than 600 years. When a king died
rather than with their feet or hands.
without a male heir, the succession
In some courts, hoops projected
passed through his daughter to her
from walls on either side of the play¬
husband or consort. That happened
ing surface, and the object may have
early in the sixth century, when a
been to propel the ball through the
child queen known as the Lady
opposing side’s hoop.
of Tikal wed a prominent general
The ball game was just one of
who served with her as co-ruler.
many forms of blood sacrifice the
Bringing a general into the royal
Maya engaged in for religious pur¬
family made sense in a society
poses. Royalty sometimes drew
where city-states faced constant
their own blood in sufficient quan¬
threats from rivals or rebellious sub¬
tities to grow delirious and experi¬
jects, who looked to the movements
ence visions. They also took part
of stars to determine when to stage
in ritualized combat with rival
their attacks. One such “star war”
groups aimed at collecting prison¬
brought calamity to Tikal in A.D.
ers for sacrifice. The most prized
562; it suffered a defeat so devas¬
captives were opposing royalty,
tating that it did not fully recover
whose blood was considered espe¬
for more than a century.
cially appealing to the gods.
The perpetrator of that attack may have been the ruler of Calak-
Dueling City-States
mul, a rising power that menaced
The Maya waged war not only to
other city-states around this time.
corral sacrificial victims but also to
In A.D. 599, troops from Calakmul
expand their territory. Like the
ventured to Palenque—some 150
ancient Greeks, they shared a com¬
miles away at the western fringe of
mon language and culture but were
the Maya realm—and inflicted a
divided into competing city-states.
stinging defeat on Palenque’s queen,
Rivals sometimes resolved their dif¬
Lady Yohl Ik’nal, one of the few - 105-
NOTABLE DATES ■ 562 Tikal—one of several Maya city-states flourishing in and around Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula—is devastated in a "star wars" attack timed to coincide with movements of the planet Venus. ■ 599 Lady Yohl Ik'nal, ruler of Palenque, suf¬ fers a humiliating defeat by the rival city-state of Calakmul. ■ ca 600-800 Tikal reaches the peak of its power. ■ 683 Pacal, ruler of Palenque, dies at the age of 80 after a productive reign of 68 years and is buried with great ceremony in a pyramid he had built for the occasion. ■ 738 Revolution in Copan results in the execu¬ tion of its ruler by one of his vassals. ■ 749 Smoke Shell takes power in Copan and restores the city-state to splendor by constructing a great temple and other monuments. ■ ca 900 Environmental stresses and increased conflict contribute to the collapse of Maya civilization, resulting in the destruction or abandonment of most urban areas.
women to rule a Maya city-state on
T
her own. The attackers toppled
Watching the Heavens
images of the city’s patron deities, and the humiliation cast a long
"^he Maya were keen astronomers who charted the move-
ments of the sun, moon, and stars for reasons both practical and spiritual. Keeping track of equinoxes and other astronomical events was useful for determining when to plant crops, but the
overriding purpose of the activity was to allow the Maya to synchro¬ nize their rituals and activities with the movements of heavenly bodies that they revered and believed could determine their fate. Venus, for example, was thought to govern warfare, and rulers planned battles according to its movements. Maya scribes devised a hieroglyph to represent such wars—a star showering the Earth with droplets represent¬ ing water or blood. It was used to denote great conquests that toppled rulers and subjugated
monuments were
sometimes aligned so as to
however, by a remarkable king named Pacal, or “Sun Shield,” who came to power in A.D. 615 at the age of 12 and rilled for 68 years. He reached out to the forlorn rulers of Tikal and offered them protec¬ tion against menacing Calakmul. And he enhanced the grandeur of Palenque by building a lavish palace, pyramid, and temple. Deep within the pyramid lay Pacal’s tomb chamber, where his body was laid to rest in 683, painted bright red and adorned in jade.
every Maya ruler’s dream. The worst nightmare was the fate that
astro¬
befell the king of the city-state
At Tikal,
of Copan in 738, when he was
Venus and Jupiter aligned
captured by a rebellious underling
directly over the tip of a pyra¬
and beheaded.
highlight nomical
From this observatory at Chichen tea astronomers sought information to guide Maya activities*
Palenque’s prestige was restored,
Pacal’s majestic send-off was
their people. Maya
shadow over the queen’s successors.
important events.
mid. At Chichen Itza, a temple
Copan soon revived under a
was aligned so that at the
shrewd king named Smoke Shell,
spring and fall equinox, a ser¬
who
pentlike shadow seemed to
Palenque, which was far enough
slither toward the head of a
away to pose little threat. A great
snake chiseled in stone.
builder like Pacal, Smoke Shell and
Recording the movements Qf heaVenlv bodies enabled the
his successors constructed a soar¬
: Maya to construct an elabo¬
rate calendar consisting of two cycles—a solar year of 365 days and a
married a
princess
from
ing complex of pyramids and tem¬ ples known as the Copan Acropolis, one of the last great Maya feats.
ceremonial year of 260 days, each of which was devoted to its own deity. Once every 52 years, these cycles aligned so that the first day of
Success Bred Failure
the solar year coincided with the first day of the ceremonial year. This
The soil of the Maya was not very
was an event of great ceremony and significance for the Maya.
fertile, and by the ninth century it
To keep track of longer spans of time, the Maya devised their
could no longer support population
so-called Long Count, which extended back to the creation of
densities as high as 500 people per
the universe, an event to which they gave a date corresponding to
square mile in some places. Rulers
3114 B.C. ■
and their troops had to range ever farther afield to collect enough food 106
Never a
single
empire, »he Moya established dozens of ceremonial centers and powerful city-states between around 600 B.C. and
a.d.
900.
to support the teeming urban cen¬
dents inhabit the region to this
the Aztec in the Valley of Mexico.
ters, and the demands they made on
day. But most Maya cities were
Once the center of power in
outlying areas kindled resentments
destroyed or abandoned, with the
Mesoamerica, that fertile valley to
that grew into fiery rebellions.
notable exception of Chichen Itza,
the north regained its prominence
The collapse of Maya civilization
which may have endured in part
as the exhausted fields of the
around A.D. 900 did not bring
because it came under the influence
Yucatan reverted to jungle and the
an end to the Maya, whose descen-
of the Toltec, the predecessors of
lost cities of the Maya crumbled. ■
107
Various invading groups carved their own territories in Britain. At one time there were seven king¬
Anglo-Saxon England
doms: three ruled by Saxons, three by Angles, and one by Jutes. Vying for supremacy over all Britain, they fought each other frequently. A revival of sorts came in the seventh century, when much of England converted to Christianity.
500-1066
Led by Augustine in 597, Christ¬ ian missionaries began to convert dominance over the Britons. Many
the British and establish centers
of the
Celts were
of learning in Canterbury, Malmes¬
A-fourth and fifth centuries,
pushed into Wales and Ireland; oth¬
bury, and Northumbria. Scholars
the island became a battleground of
ers were probably absorbed into the
from Ireland and the Continent
competing invaders from Germany,
society of the victors. The West
brought
France, and Scandinavia. Pushed
Saxon code of 694 provides for
by Huns from the east, Germanic
“Welshmen” as substantial land-
After Roman forces with-
Z_Adrew from Britain in the
JL
Romanized
tribes of Angles and Saxons moved
owners and those who performed
in. By A.D. 600 they had established
errands for the Saxon king.
in
books,
assembled
In this section of the Boyeux Tapestry, carpen¬ ters build the ships that will carry William, Duke of Normandy, to England, where he will triumph over Saxon King Harold.
libraries,
and
began
to
write
histories of the island. Not all liter¬
more major battle would determine a new set of rulers.
ature of the period was Christian,
In the 11th century Edward
however; the great poem Beowulf,
the Confessor was the Saxon king
based on Germanic legend, is
of .England. Related through his
thought to date from the seventh or
mother to the Normans across the
eighth centuries.
channel, he was pro-Norman.
Under the reign of two kings of
When a powerful Saxon earl named
Mercia—Aethelbald and Offa—
Godwin revolted unsuccessfully,
England knew a period of stability.
Edward banished him and named
Monastic learning flourished in
William of Normandy as his heir to
this time, and Offa became so well
the throne. Godwin’s son Harold
known that France’s Charlemagne
returned to England and rose in
tried to arrange a marriage between
power but, according to chroni¬
his son and Offa’s daughter (which
clers, acknowledged William’s even¬
Offa refused). Offa also managed
tual right to the kingship.
to build a dike to protect his bor¬
When Edward died in 1066,
der with Wales. He could not, how¬
however,
ever, protect the kingdom against
himself crowned king of England.
its next great threat—the Vikings.
Now there
Harold were
quickly three
had
laying
claim to the throne: William, Duke
Raiders from the North
of Normandy, the original heir;
Seafarers from Scandinavia, mostly
Harold, the Saxon son of Godwin,
Denmark, had been raiding Britain’s
already crowned; and King Harald
shores for years, but by the early
Hardraada of Norway, who took
ninth century they were a serious
the opportunity of Edward’s death
menace (see pp. 126-27). English
to invade northern England.
King Alfred the Great was able to
Harold sped to the north and
contain them through the late ninth
defeated the Norwegian, then raced
century, holding on to Wessex when
south again to meet William, who
much of the rest of England had
had invaded across the channel.
fallen. Although warlike, most of
Wearied by battle and travel, the
the invaders were farmers who
Anglo-Saxon, or English, forces of
sought fertile valleys on which to
Harold fell to the Normans at the
grow crops and graze their animals.
Battle of Hastings in 1066. On
By the late ninth century the
Christmas Day, William became
fierce Saxons had prevailed, absorb¬
King William I of England, also
ing the Angles and Jutes and
known as William the Conqueror.
restricting the Vikings to an area
Saxon nobility was shattered,
called the Danelaw in northeastern
Norman barons were awarded
England. Even that was eventually
large estates, and French was spo¬
won from the Vikings, and after
ken in court. But the Anglo-Saxon
954 England was one kingdom.
population dominated, and even¬
Even so, it was a compromise, with
tually so did the English language,
Danish and Saxon kings alternat¬
which became a rich amalgam of
ing into the new millennium. One
Anglo-Saxon and French. ■
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 550 After being fought back by native Britons, Germanic tribes once again begin to invade England, driving Britons west into Cornwall and the Welsh Marches. ■ 597 Augustine converts the kingdom of Kent to Christianity. ■ ca 673-735 The Venerable Bede, a Benedictine monk who chronicles the history of England and is considered one of the most learned men in Europe, lives. ■ 757-796 Offa, King of Mercia, one of the most powerful of the early English kings, rules. ■ ca 790s-880s A major wave of Viking invasions occurs, in which the seaborne raiders attack Ireland, Scotland, and England, eventually controlling most of England except for the southwest. ■ 871-899 Alfred of Wessex, also known as Alfred the Great, reigns. Alfred holds the kingdom of Wessex against the Danes and promotes legal reforms and education. ■ 954 Upon the death of Erik Bloodaxe, King of Northumbria, all English king¬ doms are united under the Saxons. ■ 1066 Norman forces under William, Duke of Normandy, invade England and defeat the Saxon rulers at the Battle of Hastings.
AGE
OF
FAITH:
increase its influence at a time when
500-1150
people were drifting back to a reliance on custom and tradition. Justinian carried on a city rebuild¬ ing program begun by Constantine, raising
even
more
Christian
Byzantine Empire
churches and decorating them lav¬
527-1054
Holy Wisdom), the empire’s great¬
L
ishly—including
the
elaborate
Hagia Sophia (the Church of the
:
est building. He maintained a shaky peace with Persia and recaptured
ong after the fall of the
some of the Roman territory lost
North Africa, much of Italy, south¬
western Roman Empire in
in preceding centuries. A strong
ern Spain, and the islands of the
the fifth century, the eastern
ruler who relied on his beautiful
western Mediterranean. But shortly
portion centered in Constantinople
actress wife, Theodora, for advice,
after Justinian’s death, the jugger¬
retained its Roman identity. The
Justinian codified Roman law to
naut of Muslim armies pushed the
eastern empire remained prosper¬ ous, lying advantageously along both land and sea trade routes. It continued to battle a longtime adversary, Persia, and it fought to keep the invaders at bay. The Roman emperor, Constan¬ tine, had taken for his capital a thousand-year-old
Greek town
called Byzantium, renaming it Con¬ stantinople. Located on a peninsula between the Black Sea and the Aegean and possessing a great natural harbor called the Golden Horn, Constantinople could con¬ trol much of the traffic between Europe and the East. To secure it against enemies, Constantine quickly built walls. To Romanize it he constructed Christian churches and public buildings and commis¬ sioned works of art. Under Justinian, who reigned from 527 to 565, the Byzantine Empire expanded and reclaimed A masterpiece of Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia was originally built by Emperor Justin¬ ian as a Christian church. It was converted to a mosque in the 15th century.
for all classes. Its large stadium, NOTABLE DATES
Actress to Empress
the Hippodrome, rivaled Rome’s Coliseum. Chariot races were par¬
■ 527-565
As [future empress Theodora]
ticularly popular, and two clubs
JlA arrived at the age of youth ...
of racing fans, the Blues and the
Reign of Emperor Justinian, who codifies Roman law and builds or rebuilds much of Constantinople, including the church Hagia Sophia.
JL
A. her mother put her on the
stage.... For she was very funny and a good mimic, and immediately became
Greens, became so powerful that they turned into political parties.
popular in this art. There was no shame
The empire, strategically located
in the girl, and no one ever saw her dis¬
along major east-west trade routes,
mayed: no role was too scandalous for
soon became the wealthiest and best
her to accept without a blush.... When she came back to Constantinople,
governed realm in Christendom.
■ 550s
Silk production begins in Constantinople after Christian emissaries bring silk¬ worms back from China.
In rural provinces around Con¬
■ 673
At first he kept her only as a mistress,
stantinople a loyal peasantry and
though he raised her to patrician rank.
work force, which doubled as an
Byzantine warriors use "Greek fire" for the first time against Arab attackers.
Through him Theodora was able
army when needed, produced crops
Justinian fell violently in love with her.
immediately to acquire an unholy power and exceedingly great riches."
and trade goods—olives, wine, and skillfully worked gold. These were
—Procopius, Secret History. Procopius, a sixth J , Pearls, silks, I -I /medicines,
\
KORYO
,
\
te ^ > Sf
" V
AN KINGDOMS
f
Io Japan
JAPAN
Hl,ai
r
V-
-
art,books
j
'
•mm To China —Gold, mercury,. l* pearls, wood
f
RAQZHOU
iern Song empire 1127-1279 \ it of Jin empire ca 1141
■ 1130-1200 The philosopher Zhu Xi lives; he helps establish o form of Confucianism mixed with Buddhism known as neo-Confucianism.
V
lorn of the Western Xia 1038-1227
Guangzhou4 lpP®v
|oI heartland ca 1200 |oI military incursions (dated)
To China
: with populations over lillion (ca 1100-1279)
Cotton, spices, luxury goods
AN N AM
ication/Wall i route
//
ZHENLA
«Siig GRE
gold, silver, textiles
Although rich, urbanized, and populous, the Song state could not withstand waves of nomadic invaders. After the Jurchen took over the north in 1127, the Chinese retreated south and established a new capital at Linan (Hangzhou)—only to lose that land as well to the Mongols.
Marco Polo \ 1271 1295 .
locx) mi 1000 km
issue the world’s first governmentbacked paper money. As Europe during this time was still in a period of stagnation, China was perhaps the world’s greatest power and its culture the most splendid.
The Song as a Sea Power
■ 1215 The Mongols move into northern China.
Route'or
To Southeast Asia
ft Chinese copper cash,
al (date of capital status) inq people
■ 1127 Jurchen nomads seize northern China.
\ / -SUZHOU T„
'{Jiaiigzbou) Tea, rice porcelain-, textiles, books
■ ca 1100 The magnetic compass is invented.
Chinese copper cash,
★BlANllNG iKaifenq) / (1215-1234^
,
NOTABLE DATES
A.D. 960 - 1279
The country’s very prosperity,
Because trade with western lands
and its inward-looking, nonmili-
was curtailed by loss of control over
taristic policies finally led to the
the northern land routes, the Song
Song dynasty’s collapse. Landed
turned into a maritime power, trad¬
gentry, made fat by good times,
ing along rivers and by sea with
acquired large estates and then
southeastern Asia, Indonesia, India,
rented land to peasants at high
and the Persian Gulf. Merchants
rates. They reaped peasant rebel¬
became immensely wealthy and set
lion. Bureaucrats who, like the gen¬
up complex commercial systems
try, had been made complacent by
that included banks and credit sys¬
economic success, neglected the mil¬
tems. So populous and rich was the
itary even as nomadic armies gained
empire that it could no longer trade
control of northern China. By 1279,
just in coins, which now numbered
Mongol forces overran the coun¬
in the billions. Officials began to
try and ended the Song dynasty. ■ 135
■ 1279 Mongols take over China and end die Song dynasty.
CRUSADES
TO
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
Empire. Conquering Bohemia, Aus¬ tria, and northern Italy, Otto con¬ trolled a large area. It was made up
Holy Roman Empire
of many small duchies, counties, and districts governing themselves, but owing allegiance to the emperor. Through their alliance with the emperor, the popes saw this empire as a means of helping them rule over Christendom. In fact, however, the
962—1648
popes and the Holy Roman Emper¬ ors were often at odds, each strug¬ gling for power over the other.
4 LTHOUGH THE POPE NAMED
In the mid-tenth century the ruler
L\ Charlemagne Holy Roman
of one such kingdom, Otto I of Ger¬
In the middle of the 11th century,
Emperor in 800, his realm
many, embarked on a series of cam¬
Emperor Henry IV clashed with
was held together largely by the
paigns in eastern Europe and
Pope Gregory VII over the right to
force of his personality. After his
northern Italy. In exchange for his
appoint church officials. Excom¬
death, France and Germany became
aid to the church in Italy, Pope John
municated and facing revolt by his
separate countries, and much of
XII crowned him Emperor “Augus¬
own princes, in 1077 he was forced
Europe dissolved into a patchwork
tus” in 962, inaugurating an 846-
to beg forgiveness from the pope
of feudal kingdoms.
year term of the Holy Roman
while kneeling in the snow outside
JL
the pope’s residence. The battle for authority continued for many more years, however, until settled by the Concordat of Worms in 1122. In the meantime, monarchies of France and England were growing more powerful and independent. The popes were forced to negoti¬ ate with them to counter the power of another
powerful
emperor,
Frederick I (known as Frederick Barbarossa, or “Red Beard”) of Germany. After Frederick invaded northern Italy, the papacy enlisted the aid of these other European states to drive him back.
'
Eventually, the Holy Roman Empire began to break free from its papal ties. The emperor was selected by a group of seven elec¬ tors within the emperor’s holdings Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, a Habsburg, surveys the family that was to play an important part in extending the empire through marital alliances.
Habsburgs. His son Philip II took
Barbarossa’s Law
I
f any one, within the term fixed
over Spain and the Netherlands, and his brother Ferdinand ruled Germany and also Austria.
for the peace, shall slay a man, he shall be sentenced to death, un¬
less by wager of battle he can prove this, that he slew him in defending his
The Decline of Empire Into this emerging Europe—with
own life.
the Holy Roman Empire generally
■ If any one wound another after the
opposed by England and France—
proclamation of the peace, unless he
the religious differences of the
prove by wager of battle that he did
Reformation further complicated
this while defending his life, his hand shall be amputated. ■ If any one shall have stolen 5 shillings, or its equivalent, he shall be
alliances. The western half of the continent became a patchwork of Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans,
hung with a rope; if less he shall
and many other shades of Protes¬
be flayed with whips, and his hair
tantism. Catholic leaders, recog¬
pulled out with a pincers." —Selected laws established by Frederick Barbarossa between 1152 and 1157 to "indicate a peace ... throughout all parts of our kingdom."
nizing that excesses had contributed to the rise of Protestantism, tried to correct their mistakes through counterreforms in the Council of Trent. It was not enough. From
and was no longer crowned by the
1618 to 1648 Catholics and Protes¬
pope. Indeed, during a 23-year
tants fought the Thirty Years’ War.
period known as the “great inter¬
Though nearly all Europe was
regnum” during the 13 th century,
involved in the conflict, the war was
there was no emperor at all and
fought primarily on German soil,
nobles ruled themselves. In 1273 Rudolf, a member of a
NOTABLE DATES ■ 800-1806 Duration of the Holy Roman Empire; however, between 814 and 962, no one ruled as emperor. ■ 962 The pope crowns Otto i of Germany Holy Roman Emperor. ■ 1056-1106 Emperor Henry IV reigns. ■ 1073-1085 Pope Gregory VII rules. ■ 1076-1122 The "Investiture Controversy" pits the Holy Roman Emperors against the papacy in a dispute over the relative authority of church and emperor. ■ 1152-1190 Frederick I of Germany (Frederick Bar¬ barossa) rules as Holy Roman Emperor. ■ 1250-1273 The "great interregnum"; no Holy Roman Emperor holds the throne.
devastating its population, agricul¬ ture, commerce, and industry.
Austrian Habsburg family that had
The Treaty of Westphalia, an
many land holdings, was chosen as
important step toward religious tol¬
emperor. A Habsburg would hold
eration, brought peace; Catholics
the title of emperor almost contin¬
and Protestants recognized the right
uously for the next 500 years, pass¬
of the others to exist in their own
ing it down through marriages of
states. Yet the Thirty Years’ War
expediency and subsequent inheri¬
fragmented
tances. In the late 15th century, for
Empire into some 300 increasingly
example, Emperor Maximilian I
nationally organized states, a strik¬
the
Holy
Roman
married his son Philip of Burgundy
ing contrast to broad patterns of
to Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand
political development in East Asia
and Isabella of Spain. Their son
and the Middle East and one that
Charles V eventually inherited lands
would greatly influence European
that made him the Holy Roman
economic and social change. Hab¬
Emperor of Spain, Austria, Ger¬
sburg
many, the Netherlands, and Italy.
although the empire lasted until
When Charles V retired in 1556 his
1806, it remained a shell, never
realm was divided among other
regaining its former glory. ■
greatness
137
declined,
and
■ 1273 Rudolf I becomes Holy Roman Emperor, beginning a long line of Habsburg rulers, ■ 1519-1556 Charles V, who controls Germany, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy, rules the Holy Roman Empire. ■ 1618-1648 The Thirty Years' War pits Catholic against Protestant forces.
CRUSADES
TO
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
The Toltec rose to power in the tenth century and built an impres¬ sive capital at Tula, just north of the
Toltec & Aztec Empires 1000-1521
T
Valley of Mexico. By 1000, Tula had a population of at least 30,000. It was laid out on a grid and con¬ tained pyramids, temples, and ball courts much like those found in earlier Mesoamerican cities. Tow¬ ering stone images of warriors and sculpted scenes of conquest and human sacrifice adorned the
velous.” In truth, the Toltec had
city, indicating that the Toltec were
trol of the Valley of Mexico
much the same strengths and weak¬
merciless to their enemies. An
in the early 15th century,
nesses as the Aztec. Both were ener¬
altar near one of the ball courts was
modeled themselves after the Toltec,
getic city-builders and empire-
found
who controlled the same area sev¬
builders who ruthlessly exploited
human skulls.
eral centuries earlier. By one Aztec
the people they conquered and were
Toltec warriors belonged to mil¬
account, the deeds of the Toltec
overthrown after dominating the
itary orders associated with preda¬
were “all good, all perfect, all mar-
region for a century or two.
tory animals such as the jaguar and
he Aztec, who seized con-
covered
with
shattered
the eagle. Their rulers took the names of gods such as Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) and Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent). According to legend, the ruler named Quetzal¬ coatl—later revered by the Aztec as a god-king—was ousted by a rival and fled eastward with his follow¬ ers, eventually reaching the Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya told a similar tale about a conqueror named Feathered Serpent who invaded their homeland shortly before 1000. There could be something to these stories, for the Yucatan city of Chichen Itza, which endured long after other Maya urban centers col¬ lapsed, closely resembled Tula and may have come under Toltec influ¬ ence or control. The Toltec grew rich through conquest. Quetzalcoatl, while he reigned at Tula, reportedly had Stone warriors with feather headdresses guard fee ruins of Tula, capital of the Toltec, who dom¬ inated the Valley of Mexico before the Aztec.
north in the 13th century and set¬
NOTABLE DATES
tled on a marshy island at the west¬ ern edge of Lake Texcoco, near what is now Mexico City. By their own account, they were living a meager
existence
when
they
reached their new home, hunting with bows and arrows and fishing with nets, but they knew how to plant corn, beans, and other crops
■ ca1000 Toltec capital of Tula emerges as the center of an empire covering much of central Mexico, with its influence extending southward to the Yucatan. ■ ca 1170 Tul a is sacked and burned, and the Toltec Empire crumbles.
and recognized the fertile potential of the lake and its marshlands. Others were drawn to the same The bearded figure emerging from the jaws of a Toltec effigy represents the ruler Quefzalcoatl.
area; Aztecs faced competition for
■ 1325 Aztec found Tenochtitlbn, destined to become the capital of their empire and one of the greatest cities in the world.
its resources. According to legend,
separate houses- where he stored
their
gold and silver, turquoise, coral,
pochtli—later deified by the Aztec—
fabled
leader
Huitzilo-
shells, exotic feathers, and other
assured them that they had nothing
treasures. Some of the precious
to fear from their rivals and were
objects the Toltec amassed and
destined for greatness. “We shall
crafted into works of art were
proceed to establish ourselves and
acquired through trade, but the rest
settle down,” he proclaimed post¬
were extracted from conquered
humously through priestly seers,
people, who preferred giving trib¬
“and we shall conquer the peoples
ute in the form of goods or crops
of the universe.”
to offering their lives. At its height
The Aztec set out on the path to
in the 11th century, the Toltec
conquest in the 14th century by
domain covered much of central
serving as warriors for powerful
Mexico, but an empire dependent
neighbors who eventually recog¬
on tribute could not survive long
nized them as equals. In 1428 they
when its subjects had little left to
turned on those allies and over¬
give. A drought in the 12th century
threw them in a campaign led by
weakened the Toltec, and around
Itzcoatl, founder of the Aztec
1170 Tula was sacked and burned.
Empire. With ruthless determina¬ tion, Itzcoatl and his successors
Rise of the Aztec
expanded their domain by force of
The downfall of the Toltec occurred
arms until it reached across the con¬
amid tumultuous migrations of
tinent from the Gulf of Mexico to
people from arid outlying areas into
the Pacific.
the Valley of Mexico, whose lakes
Theirs was the greatest empire
and marshes made it an oasis in
yet seen in the Americas, covering
times of drought. Among those
80,000 square miles and embrac¬
intruders were the Aztec, also
ing as many as six million people.
known as the Mexica, a name they
Fueling this phenomenal expansion
bequeathed to the Mexican people.
was the Aztec belief that conquest
They arrived in the valley from the
was a sacred duty, a means of
-139-
■ 1428 The Aztec ruler Itzcoatl gains control of the Valley of Mexico and goes on to expand the Aztec Empire through fur¬ ther conquests. ■ 1487 King Ahuizotl takes power and inaugu¬ rates his reign by seizing some 20,000 captives in battle and sacrificing them atop the Great Pyramid in Tenochtitlan. ■ 1502 King Mocfezuma II succeeds Ahuizotl. ■ 1519 The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes reaches Tenochtitlan and confronts Mocfezuma II. ■ 1521 Cortes, aided by Mesoamerican allies, defeats the Aztec and shatters their empire.
obtaining thousands of sacrificial
enough to support buildings. This
another marshy island nearby. The
victims for gods who required
was the same technique used to cre¬
land between the two islands had
blood offerings if their blessings
ate raised fields called chinampas
been
were to be sustained. Others in the
that provided people living around
remained a separate district within
Americas shared such beliefs, but
the lake with fertile farmland.
the capital, home to a great mar¬
the Aztec practiced human sacrifice
Founded in 1325, Tenochtitlan
ketplace brimming with goods
on a phenomenal scale, as if the very
grew quickly, emerging within a
from throughout Mesoamerica,
magnitude of their success called for
century or so as a magnificent city
including precious metals and
bloodlettings beyond compare.
of nearly 200,000 inhabitants. It
stones, embroidered cotton fabric,
was laced with canals and linked by
sandals, pottery, bark paper, dyes
causeways to the mainland.
and inks, firewood soaked in pitch,
There was much more to Aztec culture than blood and gore, how¬
filled
in,
but Tlatelolco
ever. Like the Toltec, they
axes of copper and tin, gourds
exacted tribute from people
for dipping, cocoa, salt, spices,
they conquered in the form of
baked goods, fruit, fish, fowl,
gold, silver, jade, and coveted
and animal pelts of every
ceremonial objects such as bird
description. Here as in the
feathers. Those articles, and
Old World, merchants offered
other items acquired through
slaves
trade with lands beyond the
women captured in battles or
bounds of the empire, made the
raids and driven to the market
Aztec as rich as they were
in shackles. Goose quills filled
powerful. Rulers, merchants,
with gold served traders as a
priests, and others in privileged
medium of exchange. City
positions lived in high style
officials inspected the mer¬
and oversaw a well-disciplined society. The wealth and complexity of the Aztec Empire dazzled Span¬ ish conquistador Hernan Cortes
The Aztec Empire covered much of central and southern Mexico when the Spanish conquista¬ Hernan Cortes arrived at the capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519.
dor
for
sale—men
and
chandise to ensure that no one was cheated, and disputes were set¬ tled by magistrates in a nearby courthouse.
and his followers, who arrived
The city was divided into four
in 1519 and were welcomed by
quadrants, with a ceremonial plaza
swarmed through the plaza and
King Moctezuma II before their
at its hub dominated by the Great
its
hostile intentions became clear.
Pyramid, which had twin temples at
few public disturbances of the sort
Spanish accounts added greatly to
the summit dedicated to the war god
that marred similar gatherings in
our knowledge of this remarkable
Huitzilopochtli and the rain god
Europe.
Native American civilization, which
Tlaloc. The Spaniards who first saw
“When we arrived at the great
would not long survive its first con¬
that structure and other monuments
market place...,” wrote Bernal
tact with Europeans.
looming above the lake could hardly
Diaz, “we were astounded at the
believe their eyes. The “buildings
number of people and the quantity
An Island City
rising from the water, all made of
of merchandise that it contained,
At the heart of the Aztec Empire lay
stone, seemed like an enchanted
and at the good order and control
the capital of Tenochtitlan, rising
vision,” wrote Bernal Diaz del
that was maintained, for we had
miraculously from the marshes of
Castillo. “Indeed some of our sol¬
never seen such a thing before.”
As
many as
surrounding
60,000 arcades
people with
Lake Texcoco. Before building a
diers asked if it was not all a dream.”
The wealthiest and most presti¬
city there, Aztecs first had to reclaim
By that time, Tenochtitlan had
gious Aztec merchants were those
land by digging drainage canals and
expanded to include the neigh¬
who engaged in long-distance trade.
piling up earth to form terraces firm
boring city of Tlatelolco, built on
Some ranged far to the south in
140
search of macaw feathers, jaguar
Diaz. “Everything was made in
his election was a mere formality.
pelts, and other prized items from
masonry and well cemented, baths
But he then had to prove his fitness
the tropics. Aztec merchants some¬
and walks and closets, and apart¬
to serve by demonstrating his might
times entered hostile territory in dis¬
ments like summer houses where
in battle. Soon after his corona¬
guise and served as spies, collecting
they danced and sang.”
tion—a stirring ceremony in which
intelligence that might be used
When Aztec dignitaries appeared
he was carried in a litter to the
against the people with whom they
before King Moctezuma II—who
summit of the Great Pyramid in
traded. Merchants paid part of their
came to power in his 30s in 1502
Tenochtitlan and offered some of
earnings in taxes to Aztec rulers,
and was 53 years old when the
his own blood to the sun god by cut¬
and some served as royal advisers
Spaniards encountered him—they
ting his ears and legs with a jaguar’s
and administrators.
went barefoot, wore humble cloth¬
claw—the new king embarked on
ing, and kept their eyes downcast,
a coronation war.
Life at the Palace
addressing him as “Lord, my Lord,
Victory would bring him cap¬
Aztec kings lived in lavish sur¬
my Great Lord.” He dined behind
tives, who would then be sacrificed
roundings that rivaled the courts
a screen so that no one would see
atop the Great Pyramid during his
of European monarchs. The palace
him eat, attended by serving ladies,
confirmation ceremony.
complex in Tenochtitlan consisted
advisers, and dwarfs who acted as
Most Aztec rulers were victori¬
of 300 rooms, including many
jesters. He had two wives and many
ous in battle because they com¬
storehouses, workshops for royal
mistresses. When he went out in
manded the services of large and
artisans,
for
public, attendants swept the ground
well-motivated armies. Each ward
accountants, and an aviary and zoo
before him and covered him with a
or neighborhood in the capital had
whose denizens included eagles,
canopy of green feathers.
to contribute 400 men to military
libraries,
offices
jaguars, birds, and rattlesnakes. The
When an Aztec king died, his suc¬
service if called upon. The city con¬
well-tended palace grounds con¬
cessor was selected from among his
tained nearly 80 wards, meaning
tained baths, fountains, fruit trees,
surviving male relatives by the
that it could furnish roughly 30,000
and gardens. “It was a wonder to
nation’s supreme military council.
see, and to take care of it there were
Typically, the successor was already
many gardeners,” wrote Bernal
serving as head of that council and
An Aztec artist used wood, turquoise, and shell to craft this double-headed serpent symboliz¬ ing fertility and regeneration.
men to the army. Although wards
their communities and perpetuat¬
in 1481 and embarked on a coro¬
were required to provide troops,
ing the empire.
nation war against enemies in mountainous country where the ter¬
taxes, and labor to the king, they had their own governing councils,
Royal Bloodbaths
rain made it difficult for him to take
schools, and temples and owned
Despite the dedicated troops at their
advantage of his numerical superi¬
land communally. In effect, the
disposal, Aztec rulers sometimes
ority. Tizoc barely avoided defeat
fighting men recruited from such
suffered defeats or disappointments
and returned to the capital with
neighborhoods were citizen-soldiers
in battle. One such setback occurred
only 40 captives—a meager haul
to King Tizoc, who came to power
when compared with the thousands
with a strong interest in protecting
Rituals of Aztec Warfare "V "W T ~Y AGING WAR WAS A SERIOUS BUSINESS FOR %
/ Aztec rulers, who amassed armies of
%/% / as many as 200,000 men for campaigns ▼
right to dine at the palace and wear cotton clothing and sandals—status symbols that distinguished them from the ordinary Aztec, who went barefoot and
▼ of conquest. But it was also a ceremony,
wore rough clothing woven of maguey fiber. Mili¬
with stirring rituals and regalia. Like the Toltec, the
tary service thus served as an avenue to advancement
Aztec had warrior societies devoted to the jaguar
in Aztec society.
and eagle, each of which had a distinctive cos¬
When an army was ready to march, heralds
tume. Eagle warriors wore an eagle headdress
blew conch shells. Scouts led, followed by
and a cloak and leggings representing the
warrior-priests bearing images of gods and
bird’s wings and talons. Members
honored warriors of the military societies.
of the society gathered in a lodge known as the eagle house, where youngsters listened to war stories related by their elders and leaned how to han¬ dle weapons.
Then came masses of regular fighting men from Tenochtitlan, followed by recruits from
allied
city-states.
Bringing up the rear were soldiers supplied as trib¬
Simply gaining admission
ute by subject peoples.
to one of these societies was
Each successful war of
a privilege, but greater hon¬ ors awaited those who per¬
conquest enlarged tribute to Tenochtitlan in the form
formed feats in battle. Warriors
of troops, laborers, or goods. But not all cam¬
who captured enemies—which was consid¬
paigns were aimed at conquering territory.
ered far better than killing them since cap¬
Some were so-called flower wars whose sole
tives could be sacrificed to the gods—wore
purpose was to capture prisoners for sacri¬
special outfits depending on the number of
fice. Like the Maya, the Aztec placed a pre¬
prisoners they claimed. The leading Aztec
mium on capturing enemies of high rank,
warriors were often from high-ranking fam¬
who were considered well suited for a
ilies, but commoners could distinguish them¬
“flowery death”—one in which choice vic¬
selves as well by capturing four enemies, which
tims were put to death with great ceremony
entitled them to membership in one of the war¬
to honor the gods. ■
rior societies. Commoners could also earn the
An Aztec eagle warrior was rendered in clay.
of prisoners seized and sacrificed by
a year as an exalted figure. Shortly
52-year-cycle was a time fraught
other Aztec kings.
before he died, he wed four priest¬
with danger. On the last night of the
It was an unpromising debut,
esses who lived with him as god¬
cycle, to ward off evil and regener¬
and Tizoc later faced rebellions
desses. When his time came, he
ate the world, all fires were extin¬
from subjects who doubted his
went to the sacrificial altar volun¬
guished in the capital and priests at
resolve and no longer wished to pay
tarily and died in glory. Other Aztec
the summit of an extinct volcano
him tribute. In 1486, after five dis¬
rites were less inspiring for the vic¬
near the city kindled a new fire on
mal years in office, he was poi¬
tims. Priests devoted to Xipe Totec,
the chest of a sacrificial victim.
soned—perhaps by his brother
the god of springtime and renewal,
Torches were then dipped in that
Ahuizotl, who inaugurated his own
sacrificed captives in the spring and
fire and carried to Tenochtitlan to
triumphant reign with a bloodbath
illuminate the city and consecrate
of unprecedented proportions. After a highly successful corona¬ tion war, Ahuizotl herded some 20,000 captives back to Tenochti¬
Moctezuma’s Reply
I
the New Year. Such rituals helped unite Aztec
f I had known thatyou would have
society, which offered many bene¬
said such defamatory things I
fits to its members, including the
tlan and sacrificed them atop the
would not have shown you my
opportunity for honored warriors
Great Pyramid, which he had
gods, we consider them to be very
rebuilt for this gruesome confir¬
good, for they give us health and rains and good seed times and seasons and
of common origins to join the ranks of the elite. But Aztec rulers made
mation ceremony. Guards con¬
as many victories as we desire, and
little effort to share those benefits
ducted a seemingly endless stream
we are obliged to worship them and
with
of bound victims to the summit,
make sacrifices, and i pray you not to
conquered people into their soci¬
where priests wielding razor-sharp
say another word to their dishonour."
knives cut open their chests and ripped out their hearts, which they
—King Moctezuma It's response to Cortes, who told the king that gods who
outsiders
by
integrating
ety as the Romans did by granting citizenship to foreign subjects.
demanded human blood must be devils.
Aztecs recognized some neighbor¬
offered to the gods along with the
Cortes had seen the hearts of sacrificial
ing groups as allies, but they
victims’ blood. Afterward, the life¬
victims that had been burned as offerings at the summit of the Great Pyramid
less bodies were rolled down the
in Tenochtitlan.
steps and beheaded. Their skulls
remained sharply at odds with tribes they subjugated and milked them for tribute and sacrificial vic¬
were displayed on a giant rack,
flayed them. Priests wore the vic¬
tims. This aroused fear and resent¬
offering grim testimony to the
tims’ skins for 20 days, Bernal Diaz
ment and provided ready recruits
bloodlust that consumed Aztec
del Castillo reported, and “smelled
for any challenger bold enough to
rulers and the gods they worshiped.
like dead dogs.”
defy the oppressors.
Priests willingly took part in the
Aztec priests performed many
As it turned out, the assault that
slaughter because they believed that
useful functions when they were
shattered the Aztec world in 1521
the gods had sacrificed themselves
not conducting sacrifices. Like the
was led by Hernan Cortes and his
to make the earth fruitful and might
monks of medieval Europe, they
fellow Spaniards, assisted by rebel¬
lose their power to do good if they
were well educated and served as
lious tribes. But the empire might
were not constantly sustained by
scribes, artists, and guardians of
soon have fallen even without
blood offerings. Some victims were
knowledge. Like Maya priests, they
European interference, as had hap¬
honored and even worshiped before
watched the heavens for important
pened before in Mesoamerica to the
death because they were reenacting
astronomical events and kept track
Toltec and to other conquerors.
sacrifices made by the gods for the
of a complex calendar consisting of
In their relentless pursuit of
good of the people. A young man
two cycles—a 260-day ceremonial
blood and treasure, the Aztec vir¬
without any faults or blemishes was
year and a 365-day solar year—
tually ensured the destruction of
chosen to play the part of the Aztec
which coincided once every 52
their regime by native foes or rivals
war god, for example, and lived for
years. For the Aztec, the end of that
from abroad. ■
ft
CRUSADES
TO
COLUMBUS:
960-1644
tal of Chan Chan, which had nearly 30,000 inhabitants. Around 1300, Chimu rulers embarked on con¬
Peru’s Chimu & Inca Empires
600 miles of the Peruvian coast under their control by 1470. It soon fell to the Inca, who organized their fast-expanding empire along Chimu lines and incorporated their roads and water works.
1000-1536
L
quests that brought more than
The Rise of Empire
ike the Aztec in Meso-
Moche River Valley, where the
The Inca began their imperial quest
america, the Inca created a
once-formidable Moche kingdom
around 1400 when they outgrew
vast empire in South Amer¬
had collapsed in the seventh cen¬
the confines of their native Cuzco
tury (see pp. 78-79).
Valley high in the Andes. The soil
ica in the 15 th century by building on the foundations of older civi¬
Irrigation had long been prac¬
there was fertile, and terraced hill¬
lizations. The Inca of the Peruvian
ticed here, but the Chimu expanded
sides helped preserve moisture, but
highlands drew lessons from the
on the engineering feats of their
Chimu, who had long dominated
predecessors and built reservoirs.
the coast. The Chimu began their
One canal snaked through 50 miles
ascent to power around 1000 in the
of dunes to feed water to the capi¬
In the Andes near the Inca capital of Cuzco, Machu Picchu was built in the 1460s by the Inca ruler Pachacuti as a ceremonial center and con¬ tained temples and other public buildings.
rainfall was scant and yields were
sisting of two main arteries, one
insufficient for a growing popula¬
along the coast and another along
tion. The yearning for more and
the Andes. Way stations were
better land may well have set Inca
located a day’s journey apart, and
rulers on the path to conquest, but
footbridges carried pedestrians and
expansion soon became an end in
pack-llamas across rivers. The Inca
itself—a way for each successive
had no writing system but kept
king to prove his worth.
meticulous records by tying knots
The ruler who did most to forge
on strings. Inspectors visited homes
this empire came to power in 1438
regularly to see that all who were
and took the name Pachacuti, or He
eligible for labor or armed service
Who Transforms the Earth, a fitting
were meeting their obligations and
title for a king who enlarged the
ensure that housing conditions were
Inca world through conquest and
sanitary. The Inca capital of Cuzco
changed the way it was governed.
had sewers, and buildings there and
All the wealth a king acquired dur¬
in the nearby ceremonial center of
ing his reign, Pachacuti decreed,
Machu Picchu were neatly con¬
would be devoted to housing and
structed of snugly fitted stones.
caring for his mummified remains.
On rare occasions, such as the
This practice reinforced the idea
inauguration of kings, the Inca sac¬
that the ruler was immortal. It also
rificed as many as 200 young peo¬
forced each new ruler to make his
ple to their gods. More often, they
own fortune through conquest.
sacrificed llamas or made offerings
Inca kings could recruit large
of food. Every day Inca priests
armies because all people had to
offered cornmeal to honor the sun
serve the state periodically as sol¬
god. “Eat this, Lord Sun,” they pro¬
diers, laborers, or farmers—a third
claimed, “so that you will know
of whose harvest went to support
that we are your children. ” The Inca
the king and his works. The same
pantheon included several female
obligations applied to all con¬
deities, including Earth Mother and
quered subjects.
Moon Mother, wife of the sun god.
Pachacuti imposed further on
Devotees known as Chosen Women
some defeated groups by resettling
lived in seclusion at shrines and
them near the Inca homeland,
temples and wove richly embroi¬
where they were closely watched.
dered fabrics.
Loyal subjects were sent to colonize
Like the Aztec Empire, the realm
newly conquered territory. Such
of the Inca was already under
measures helped transform the
stress when Spanish conquistadores
sprawling Inca domain—which
arrived. Resentments among sub¬
extended for some 2,500 miles from
ject ethnic groups, diseases of Euro¬
present-day Ecuador southward to
pean origin, and a power struggle
Chile and embraced nearly a hun¬
in Cuzco made it possible for the
dred ethnic groups—into a tightly
small Spanish force led by Francisco
regimented state.
Pizarro that reached Peru in 1532
Binding the empire together was a remarkable highway system con¬
to divide and conquer the vast Inca Empire. ■
- 145-
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca 1000 The Chimu state continues to take shape in the Moche River Valley of Peru. ■ ca 1300 Chimu rulers begin building an empire along the Peruvian coast. ■ ca1400 The Inca expand beyond the Cuzco Val¬ ley in Hie Peruvian highlands and begin forging an empire. ■ 1438 Inca ruler Pachacuti takes power and strengthens and expands the empire through reforms and conquests. ■ 1471 Pachacuti abdicates in favor of his son, who completes conquest of the Chimu. ■ ca1500 The Inca Empire reaches its greatest extent. ■ 1532 Spanish forces led by Francisco Pizarro capture the Inca capital of Cuzco and complete conquest of Inca Empire.
A CRUSADES
TO
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
opment was profound. Tribes that once spent much of the year scrounging for subsistence settled
Mississippians & Anasazi
and harvested surpluses that sup¬ ported artisans, priests, and rulers. Even
common
people
in
this
Mississippian culture—which soon spread beyond the Mississippi River and its tributaries to other fertile
1000-1540
B
in sizable permanent communities
river valleys in the Southeast— could now devote considerable
efore the arrival of Spamsh
in combination with beans and
energy to nonsubsistence activities
colonists, no great empires
squash, they obtained a nearly com¬
such as trade, ceremonies, and
arose in North America to
plete diet and had to spend much
public works. A similar transfor¬
less time hunting and gathering.
mation had occurred earlier among
rival those in Mesoamerica or South America. By 1000, however, com¬
In fertile areas like the Missis¬
the Adena and Hopewell mound
plex societies with strong leaders
sippi Valley, the impact of this devel¬
builders of the Ohio Valley, but the
were building impressive monu¬ ments in the Mississippi Valley and the desert Southwest. Here, as elsewhere in the New World, Native Americans were constructing an elaborate cultural framework that was torn asunder when Europeans arrived in the 1500s. The emergence of complex soci¬ eties in North America resulted from advances in food production that enabled people to settle in siz¬ able villages. In most places the growing season was too short to allow people to derive much bene¬ fit from the corn originally intro¬ duced from the Southwest, which required up to 200 frost-free days to ripen. Native Americans were constantly developing crop varieties better suited to their environment, however, and by the eighth century tribes in the eastern woodlands were planting corn that matured within 120 days. By cultivating corn Marble statues of ancestral figures sacred to the Mississippians decorated a temple atop a burial mound at Etowah, a site in Georgia.
beads and was buried with at least
Greeting the Sun
E
60 other people. Some were prob¬ ably relatives and others were evi¬
very morning, the great chief
dently captives, for their heads and
honors by his presence the
hands had been cut off. Mississip-
rising of his elder brother, and salutes him with
many howlings
pian rulers were considered wor¬
as soon as he appears above the
thy of such sacrifices because they
horizon. Afterward, raising his hand
were linked with the gods. Priests
above his head and turning from
tended sacred flames in temples
the east to the west, he shows him
atop the burial mounds, and the
the direction which he must take in his course." —A French priest in the lower Mississippi
rulers themselves likely served as priests of a cult devoted to the sun
Valley describes the daily ritual of a
god, with whom they identified.
Natchez chief, who was called the Great
Here, as in ancient Egypt, massive
Sun and who lived atop a mound, communing at dawn with the sun god in heaven, referred to as his elder brother.
tombs that towered over the sur¬ rounding countryside symbolized the longing of rulers to become one
Mississippians, with their greater
with the gods.
reliance on corn and other crops,
Mississippian rulers derived their
achieved a higher level of social
wealth and prestige in part from
complexity and constructed even
tribute received from surrounding
bigger monuments.
villages, many of which had their own small burial mounds. Local
Mound Builders of Cohokia
chiefs in those outlying villages rec¬
The most important center of Mis-
ognized the ruler as their overlord,
sissippian culture was Cahokia,
to whom they owed duties in the
near the east bank of the Mississippi
form of crops, labor, or military
not far from modern-day St. Louis.
service. Rulers could expand their
By 1000 Cahokia had at least
domain by sending out warriors
10,000 inhabitants; the population
armed with bows and clubs to con¬
may have peaked at 20,000 or
quer neighboring groups, but it
more. Many residents lived in clus¬
was difficult for them to force vil¬
ters of pole-and-thatch dwellings
lagers hundreds of miles away to
outside Cahokia’s vast plaza, which
pay regular tribute. Most Missis¬
was surrounded by a stockade.
sippian rulers controlled fairly small
Within the enclosure lay houses for
domains and obtained what they
the elite and massive burial mounds,
needed from more distant areas
one of which covered some 16 acres
through trade. Precious materials
and rose a hundred feet.
such as seashells from the Gulf
The earthen mounds were con¬
Coast, used to craft ceremonial
structed in stages over several gen¬
objects, were transported by river
erations and contained the remains
and trail to markets up to a thou¬
of leaders and their followers, some
sand miles distant.
of whom were sacrifices. One ruler
By 1200, Mississippian culture
interred at Cahokia received a regal
covered a large portion of the
grave offering of 20,000 shell
Midwest and Southeast. Sites like -
147'-
NOTABLE DATES ■ ca1000 Villagers at Cahokia and other centers of Mississippian culture build great burial mounds to honor their leaders. ■ ca 1050 Anasazi ceremonial center in Chaco Canyon emerges as the hub of a highly organized society with trade ties to Mesoamerica, linked by roads to outlying communities. ■ ca 1200 The Anasazi abandon Chaco Canyon amid a prolonged drought that triggers migration from lower, drier elevations to higher spots such as Mesa Verde, where settlers build cliff dwellings. ■ ca 1250 Villagers at Cahokia and other Missis¬ sippian centers cease mound building; their culture declines, perhaps because of a change in climate or other environ¬ mental stresses. ■ ca 1300 Continued drought prompts the aban¬ donment of cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde and other sites, bringing an end to Anasazi culture. New settlements arise near the Rio Grande and other permanent waterways, marking the emergence of Pueblo culture. ■ 1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado launches Spanish conquest of the Southwest while Hernando de Soto sweeps across the Southeast, wreaking havoc among tribes heir to the traditions of the Anasazi and Mississippians.
The artfully constructed cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park were home to Anasazi villagers in the 13th century.
Etowah in Georgia and Moundville
and beliefs were passed down to
These Southwestern societies
tribes such as the Natchez, who
shared a way of life based on the
lived in smaller villages and built
cultivation of corn, the crafting of
less imposing mounds.
clay pots—used to store crops and
in Alabama, which contained 20
hold water—and the construction
mounds within its walled plaza,
Master Builders of the Southwest
of houses made of adobe or stones
were less populous than Cahokia,
The constructive feats of the Mis-
joined with adobe. The Mogollon
but the inhabitants went to no
sissippians were rivaled by the peo¬
people living in New Mexico’s
less effort and expense to glorify
ple referred to by the Navajo in later
Mimbres Valley in the 11th century
deceased rulers. By 1300, this
times as the Anasazi, or Ancient
fashioned clay vessels inscribed
extravagant culture was in decline,
Ones. Master builders, they erected
with exquisite animal motifs and
perhaps because a change in climate
multistory apartments and cliff
geometrical designs that inspired
reduced harvests or high popula¬
dwellings in what is now the Four
Southwestern potters ever after. The
tion densities near ceremonial cen¬
Corners region of New Mexico,
Mimbres also diverted water from
ters exhausted local resources and
Arizona, Utah, and Colorado—
hillside streams to nourish their
posed health risks. The swampy,
structures that were perfectly suited
crops, but the greatest irrigation
humid environment of the Missis¬
to the desert environment and
works in the region were produced
sippi Basin and other river valleys
stand among the finest examples
by the Hohokam living along the
of the Southeast may have con¬
of Native American architecture.
Gila and Salt Rivers in Arizona.
tributed to the spread of disease.
Two related cultures known as
They dug a network of canals
For whatever reason, Cahokia and
the Mogollon and Hohokam left
extending for several hundred
other Mississippian sites were aban¬
enduring monuments in southern
miles. Fields irrigated by this sys¬
doned by 1400, and their customs
New Mexico and in Arizona.
tem supported communities of up
148
to a thousand inhabitants, whose
moved to high plateaus such as
settled
customs resembled those of Meso-
Mesa Verde in Colorado, where rain
sources such as the Rio Grande,
americans in some ways. Many
fell more often than in the parched
congregating in villages Spaniards
Hohokam villages had courts for
lowlands. Settlers there farmed the
dubbed pueblos, or towns. The
ball games, for example, although
mesa tops and built spectacular cliff
Pueblo people inhabiting those vil¬
there is no evidence that they
dwellings in the alcoves of canyon
lages spoke different languages but
sacrificed the losers as the Maya
walls. The remoteness of those cliff
shared customs inherited from the
did. Hohokam culture reached
dwellings may have discouraged
Anasazi, including the practice of
its peak between 800 and 1100,
raids by enemies, but they were not
living close together in multistory
when villagers constructed impos¬
designed strictly as fortresses. Cir-
adobe dwellings, gathering in kivas
near
permanent
water
ing multistory buildings like Casa
for social and religious ceremonies,
Grande, which may have served
and raising corn and other crops in
Fabled Cities
as a residence for leaders or or as an observatory for priests who
A Ithough they are not decorated
watched the heavens and kept track of the calendar.
with turquoises, nor made of
irrigated fields. Some of the com¬ munities they founded in the 14th and 15th centuries, such as Acotna
JLlime or good bricks, never¬
Pueblo, survive to this day and rank
Mesoamerican beliefs and prac¬
theless they are very good houses,
as the oldest continuously occupied
tices may also have influenced the
three and four and five stories high."
settlements north of Mexico.
JL.
development of the sophisticated Anasazi culture that developed in
Coronado, commenting on pueblo construction.
—
The cultural heritage of both the Anasazi and the Mississippians
New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon. By
Francisco Vdsquez de Coronado's
was still very much in evidence in
the 11th century there were at least
expedition in 1540 to the Native Amer¬
1540, when Francisco Vasquez de
5,000 people living there in large multistory dwellings such as Pueblo
ican towns he called pueblos was inspired by vague reports of glittering cities, whose inhabitants were rich in
Coronado began to blaze a fiery trail across the Southwest in search
Bonito, which contained some 800
gold, silver, and turquoise. Coronado
of fortune while Hernando de Soto
rooms laid out around a plaza
and his men discovered those stories
did the same in the Southeast. De
where people gathered for cere¬
were grossly exaggerated, but they
Soto encountered tribes who con¬
monies in subterranean chambers
were duly impressed by the sturdy adobe dwellings the inhabitants had
called kivas. A network of roads
constructed in the manner of their
linked Pueblo Bonito and nearby
Anasazi predecessors.
tinued to revere the sun and wor¬ ship
at
temples
atop
burial
mounds, much as the residents of Cahokia did; Coronado entered
structures to outlying settlements, suggesting that this was the hub
cular structures resembling watch-
pueblos whose Anasazi-inspired
of a well-organized society with
towers were in fact ill-suited for that
buildings were so imposing that
strong leadership. Buildings and
purpose and were probably used for
a distant observer mistook one
rock paintings were aligned to
ceremonial purposes. Most cliff
village for a city. By the time
catch the sun’s rays and highlight
dwellings were inhabited for only
those expeditions ended three
equinoxes, solstices, and other
a century or so before drought and
years later with de Soto’s death and
astronomical events. Among the
soil exhaustion depleted the area
Coronado’s return to Mexico,
items the Anasazi living in Pueblo
and forced the occupants to migrate
the conquistadores had left an
Bonito acquired through trade were
around 1300, leaving behind haunt¬
indelible mark on North America.
macaw feathers and copper bells
ing monuments to the architectural
Many accomplished tribal societies
from Mesoamerica.
ingenuity of the Anasazi.
were already crumbling from the
After
1200,
Chaco
impact of conquest or disease, and
Canyon
declined as a center of Anasazi cul¬
Rise of the Pueblos
few would survive European con¬
ture, most likely as a result of pro¬
Most who survived this prolonged
tact without undergoing wrench¬
longed drought. Many Anasazi
period of drought and disruption
ing change. ■
149
C R U S A DES
TO
At times supporting—and at
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
times opposing—this trend toward national power was the Roman
The High Middle Ages in Europe 1000-1453
:
Catholic Church, which had wide¬ spread influence on matters great and small in the Middle Ages. It dictated how people were born and how they died. It dispensed land and power to those it favored and excommunicated those it did not; it fostered schools in France and Italy that grew into Europe’s first uni¬
As THE SECOND MILLENNIUM A.D.
began, Europe was rapidly
JL
idate their feudal states under cen¬
versities in Paris, Bologna, Oxford,
tralized control.
and elsewhere. It sponsored art,
JL-becoming a richer, more
With the invention of powerful
music, and architecture, including
urban, and more dynamic society.
weapons such as the iron cannon
the spectacular stone Gothic cathe¬
By the year 1000, threats from
and the steel crossbow, the kings
drals that rose throughout Europe.
Vikings and other nomadic invaders
could assemble armies that would
As the church became increas¬
were fading. The Norman rulers of
withstand challenges from lower-
ingly powerful and worldly, it drew
England, Capetian kings of France,
ranking nobles. People began to
criticism both from the kings who
and Holy Roman emperors of Ger¬
develop a sense of national, rather
clashed with it and from purists
many and Austria began to consol¬
than regional, identity.
who called for reform. In the 13th century, Saints Dominic and Fran¬ cis founded the Dominican and Franciscan orders, which empha¬ sized poverty and spirituality. The Cathars, or Albigensians, attempted to break away from the church hier¬ archy until Pope Innocent III or¬ dered their destruction. By the 14th century, the church reached a crisis during the Great Schism, when two popes were elected—one in Rome, the other in Avignon, with secular powers in Europe backing one or the other. Only in 1417 did the var¬ ious factions agree to return to one pope, in Rome, but by then the damage was done; the church never regained complete authority. Meanwhile, the standard of liv¬ ing was rising across Europe. FarmThis scene appears in a 15th-century illuminated manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles—a history of the Hundred Years War written in the 14th century.
150
times guilds became monopolies
Agincourt
that made it difficult for journeymen-craftsmen to become masters.
"V^T"Then.the King of England
Despite its prosperity, two huge
\ JL /saw that he was master of
blpws damaged medieval Europe in
▼ ▼ the field and had got the bet¬
the 14th century. The first was a
ter of his enemies he humbly thanked the Giver of victory, and he had good
series of famines and devastating
NOTABLE DATES ■ 987
Hugh Capet becomes King of France, beginning the Capetian dynasty. ■ 1160
Building begins on Notre-Dame cathedral in Laon, France, thought to be the first Gothic-style edifice.
cause, for of his people there died on
plagues that reduced the population
the spot only about sixteen hundred
by as much as a quarter in the mid¬
men of all ranks, among whom was
dle of the century. The second was
the Duke of York, his great-uncle, about
the Hundred Years War, a conflict
■ ca 1170
that began in 1337 when Philip VI
The University of Paris is founded.
whom he was very sorry. Then the King collected on that place some of those most intimate with him, and inquired
of France laid claim to a rich area
the name of a castle which he per¬
in southwest France held by the
ceived to be the nearest; and they said,
English known as Gascony, and
'Agincourt.' 'It is right then,' said he,
Edward III of England declared
'that this our victory would for ever bear the name of Agincourt....'" —French knight Jehan de Wavrin
himself king of France. The war between England and
describes Henry V's victory at Agincourt
France actually lasted more than a
in his Chronicles.
century, from 1337 until 1453, but fighting was not continuous. The
■ ca 1170-1221
St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order, lives. ■ ca 1182-1226
St. Francis of Assisi lives. ■ 1337
The Hundred Years War begins between England and France.
ers using improved plows, horse
English won most of the important
collars, and horseshoes grew much
battles, including Crecy in 1346 and
■ 1346
more on their lands. New windmills
Agincourt in 1415. By using the
and water mills allowed owners not
new longbow, they could loose
The English win at Crecy and after a year-long battle capture Calais.
only to grind foods, but also to
arrows from 400 yards, while the
■ 1347-1352
power machinery for making cloth
French were still using short-range
and for forging metal. In Italy, par¬
crossbows. English forces began
The Black Death reaches its height in Europe.
ticularly, merchants profited from
experimenting with gunpowder, fir¬
trade with the East and set up a sys¬
ing missiles through a long tube
tem of banking. The invention of
lighted by a match. By the end of
gunpowder migrated across Eura¬
the Hundred Years War, cannon
sia, being adapted, changed, and
were in use, which rendered both
improved by states, craftsmen, and
knightly armor and town fortifica¬
soldieries in the Middle East, Cen¬
tions ineffective against assault.
tral Asia, and Europe.
Inspired by a young girl named
■ 1378-1417
The"Greaf Schism" within the Roman Catholic Church results in the election of two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon, France. ■ 1415
Henry V wins the Battle of Agincourt.
As commerce stimulated the
Joan of Arc, the French rebounded.
■ 1429
growth of European cities, mer¬
Joan led them to victory at Orleans
Joan of Arc saves the city of Orleans.
chants and craftsmen established
but was captured by the English and
guilds that set standards and rules
eventually burned at the stake. Her
■ 1453
for creating products and regulat¬
courage continued to be an inspi¬
The Hundred Years War ends.
ing trade. An apprentice could serve
ration for the French, who eventu¬
up to 12 years before becoming
ally ended the war by driving the
a master. Merchants also formed
English out of France, except for
guilds to deal with political superi¬
the port of Calais—and even that
ors who charged heavy taxes. Some¬
returned to France in 1558. ■
-151 -
A CRUSADES
TO
mands it.” Thus was launched the
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
first of several crusades that took more than 50,000 Europeans into the Holy Land, campaigns that combined piety and greed in an ulti¬ mately unsuccessful attempt to
The Crusades
retake the city of Jerusalem.
1095-1291
efforts—known as the Peoples
T
Thousands responded to Urban II’s call, but the first disorganized
Crusade—met with defeat and massacre by the Turks. A more dis¬
o Christians in medieval
Muslims, overran Palestine in the
ciplined force later managed to
Europe, Palestine, where
late 11th century, safe passage for
capture Jerusalem in 1099. Success
Jesus had lived and died,
Christians was no longer possible.
in this hirst Crusade strengthened
was the Holy Land. After Muslims
In 1095 Pope Urban II called for
the church’s influence and increased
took Palestine in the seventh cen¬
a holy war to regain the Holy Land.
tury, Christians were still allowed
He urged volunteers “to strive to
to make pilgrimages to their sacred
expel that wicked race from our
sites. But when Seljuk Turks, also
Christian lands_ Christ com¬
Forces from oii over Europe launched wave after wave of attack on the Holy Land in an attempt to recapture Jerusalem, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
SWEDEN
Baltic Sea
North Sea
IRELAND
LITHUANIA
J*-
_
The Crusades
Prussians/ POMERANIA
1 ENGLAND London*
KIEVAN RUS
HOLY
Dartmouth,
300 mi
POLAND
JL T
l
21sr
d ht
400 km
'BayeuX*
ROMAN
1RMANI
Lisbon
o d t! T ~Nr
(Regensburg)
Cumans EMPIRE
FRANCE
HUNGARY
Clermonti
LEON
'oulouse^.—^
AND
-^Aigues Mortes*
Venicf ■enoa
GEORGIA'
Marseille Spalato (Spin
CASTILE
Khazars
Buda/Pest
BYZANTINE
SERBIA
BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Adrianople (Edime)
LATALONIJ
Corsica
inople (Istanbul)
Lisbon
DANISHMENDS
rrrhachium Gallipoli
DOMINION
Sardinia Balearic Islands
OF THE
Cagliari #
BYZANTINE
NORMAN PRINCIPALITIES
_^ANicaea irylaeum*"""')
SEUUKSpi
Messina^
A
Crusader states (1099-1144)
COUNTY OF EDESSA
; /:/ EdeSsa X-JUrfa|GREAT Aleppo SELJUK •(Halab) EMPIRE PRINCIPALITY iOF ANTIOCH P COUNTY rpDF TRIPOLI
DOMINION
ALMORAVIDS
X |ANjl
Iripoli
OF THE
Candiai
HAMMADITES
First Crusade (1095-1099) Second Crusade (1147-1149) Third Crusade (1189-1192) Fourth Crusade (1199-1204) Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)
• Damascus
^Jerusalem Damietta
FATIMID CALIPHATE
Political boundaries of 1097
152
3NGDOM IF JERUSALEM
the self-confidence of western Euro¬
Richard’s
peans—for a time. When the forces
brother. Yet, when terms of Acre’s
that remained in Palestine failed to
surrender displeased Richard, he
hold on to crusader territory, the
allowed the slaughter of 2,700
Second Crusade was launched less
Turkish hostages within sight of
than 50 years after the first. By this
their comrades in Jerusalem.
sister
and
Saladin’s
time, however, Muslim forces had rallied, and the crusade failed to
Chivalry
regain what had been lost.
The Christian Crusades came at a time when knighthood had reached
Later Crusades
its full expression in Europe. The
Under the leadership of the brilliant
system of military recruitment
general Salah ad-Din, or Saladin,
through a landed aristocracy, set up
NOTABLE DATES ■ 1095
Pope Urban II calls for a holy war to regain the Holy Land. Thousands respond and begin to travel across the Continent toward Turkey. ■ 1099
An organized and prepared force is sent east; later that year it manages to capture Jerusalem. ■ 1147-49
The Second Crusade begins in France; it ends with the crusaders failing to regain what had been lost.
the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem
by Charlemagne, had produced a
in 1187, and the Third Crusade
cult of gentleman warriors whose
could not regain it. Diseases sweep¬
code of conduct became a roman¬
ing Europe impeded expansion
tic ideal, even if its reality was con¬
■ 1187
into the Holy Land. In the Fourth
siderably more brutal.
Saladin reconquers Jerusalem for the Muslims.
Crusade, instead of pursuing “infi¬
Training for knighthood began
dels,” western Christians turned
early, with youths serving as pages
against the eastern Christians of
at about age 12, then as squires or
the Byzantine Empire and sacked
apprentices to knights at age 14.
Constantinople. Lesser but equally
Training included horsemanship,
unsuccessful crusades followed;
archery, wrestling, and the use of
gradually Europeans lost interest in
sword, shield, and lance. Education
the fruitless ventures, concentrat¬
emphasized Christian piety, honor,
ing instead on political and eco¬
respect for women, and protection
■ 1189-1192
The Third Crusade fails to retake Jerusalem, although Saladin allows pilgrims access to the Holy Sepulchre. ■ 1202
The Fourth Crusade is launched by Pope Innocent III.
nomic matters in their homelands.
and compassion for the helpless. A
■ 1212
In 1291 Muslims destroyed the last
novice was expected to become pro¬
Christian outposts in the Holy land,
ficient at hawking, chess, and writ¬
effectively ending the Crusades.
ing poetry. At 21, if found worthy,
In the ill-fated "Children's Crusade/' thousands of children leave for the Holy Land, only to die en route or be captured and sold into slavery.
In the Crusades, as in any war,
he could be dubbed a knight. The
there were examples of both valor
aura of selfless and chivalrous serv¬
■ 1219
and cruelty. The Muslims were
ice made knights natural recruits for
said to admire the courage of the
campaigns to regain the Holy Land.
The Fifth Crusade captures Damietta in Egypt.
“Franks,” as they called all cru¬
Although the Crusades failed in
saders, and when the Christians
their intended purpose of liberating
conquered the city of Acre, they
the Holy Land, Europe benefited.
stared at the departing Turks with
Contact with the highly advanced
admiration, remembering their
civilizations of the Muslims and the
fierce defense. When the Christian
Byzantines stimulated Europeans.
leader King Richard the Lionheart
Exposure to goods from the East—
of England was ill, the Muslim
rugs, tapestries, spices, and exotic
leader Saladin sent him fruit and
foods—opened trade routes, and
snow, and the two discussed peace
Europe began to play a bigger part
that would involve the marriage of
in the larger world. ■
■ 1248-1254
Louis IX of France goes on crusade to Egypt, where he is captured and later ransomed. ■ 1291
The Christian city of Acre falls to Islam; the Crusades are effectively at an end.
A CRUSADES
TO
able to loose arrows with great
COLUMBUS: 960-1644
accuracy at full gallop. Even so, their impact would have been merely regional had it not been for the leadership of a military genius named Temujin, later known as
Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan Born around 1162, son of a minor
1206-1368
T
Chinggis, or Genghis, Khan.
Mongol chieftain, Temujin’s faced a brutal struggle for survival in his
hroughout early Asian
In their male-dominated warrior
early life. After his father was poi¬
and European history, set¬
society Mongol men took the best
soned by Tatar tribesmen, Temujin
tled people in organized
food for themselves and trained
grew up in poverty, and according
communities contended with raids
from childhood in archery and
to some stories, once escaped from
from warlike nomads, pastoralist
physical combat. They hunted on
captivity while his enemies were
clans that generally lived in rugged
horseback, honing their skills as
drunk. By the time he was an adult,
high country. Sometimes these
swift, deadly cavalrymen who were
Temujin was a man to be reckoned
intrusions completely disrupted societies, such as those of the Roman Empire and China. In the 13th century, civilizations from the Mediterranean to the Pacific had to endure the last and most successful invasion by nomadic peoples when the Mongols conquered an empire that in scope and range exceeded anything that had come before it. Originating in the chilly steppes of central Asia, in the area now known as Mongolia, the Mongols and their rivals, the Tatars, had long bedeviled their neighbors in China. Because the barren land of the central Asian steppes from which they originated was not highly productive, the Mongols were never a numerous people. Their success as conquerors was due to their excellent horsemanship, endurance, ferocity in battle, and superior mil¬ itary tactics. Chinese designs adorn a Mongol officer's hel¬ met, a trophy from the Mongols' unsuccessful attack on Japan.
154
with. Gathering allies, Temujin
Marco Polo in his Travels (see p.
defeated the Tatars. In revenge
159), “but keep perpetually riding
for his father’s death, he killed
round and shooting into the enemy.
all males taller than the height of a
And as they do not count it any
cart axle and enslaved the women
shame to run away in battle, they
and children. As his power grew
will sometimes pretend to do so,
and alliances shifted, he gradually
and in running away they turn in
brought the 30-some nomadic
the saddle and shoot hard and
tribes of Mongolia under his con¬
strong at the foe, and in this way
trol, killing in the process his own
make great havoc. Their horses are
brother, who had opposed him. The
trained so perfectly that they will
■ 1211-1234
enemies he did not kill, he enslaved
double hither and thither.... Thus
The Mongols conquer northern China.
or dispersed among his own tribe,
they fight to as good purpose in run¬
so that families and tribes were bro¬
ning away as if they stood and faced
ken up and old alliances could not
the enemy because of the vast vol¬
re-form behind his back. In 1206
leys of arrows that they shoot in this
the tribes named him Genghis
way, turning round upon their pur¬
■ 1241
suers, who are fancying that they
The Mongols turn back from an invasion of Europe upon Hie death of Genghis Khan's son Ogodei.
Khan, universal ruler.
have won the battle.” Military tactics
With the Mongols united behind
NOTABLE DATES ■ 1204
The first Mongol alphabet is devised, using Uygur script. ■ 1206-1227
Genghis Khan, unifier of the Mongols and founder of the Mongo! Empire in Asia, reigns.
■ 1237-1241
The Mongols conquer Russia and begin their rule as the Golden Horde.
Although he commanded a rela¬
him, Genghis turned first to China,
■ 1254-1324
tively small population, Genghis
defeating the Tangut peoples who
Khan’s implacable will and ruthless
controlled oases along the lucrative
tactics, combined with the skill of
Silk Road between China and lands
Marco Polo, the Venetian adventurer who brought knowledge of the Far East back to Europe, lives.
his fabled horsemen, overwhelmed
to the west. Moving farther into
his opponents. Mongolian warriors
China, he took bribes aimed at
grew up on horseback, hunting,
fending off his attacks, then sacked
playing, and fighting from the backs
and massacred inhabitants anyway.
of their tough, grass-fed mounts.
Returning to Mongolia, he built a
■ 1260-1294
capital at Karakorum, then defeated
Kublai Khan, Great Khan of the Mongols and ruler of China, rules.
A mounted Mongol was a for¬ midable force, a superb horseman
rivals to the west.
armed with a lance, saber, dagger,
■ 1258
Hulegii Khan captures the Abbasid capital of Baghdad,
■ 1279-1368
a bow with at least two quivers of
Campaigns against Persia
arrows, and a shield on his arm.
When the shah at Samarkand killed
Some of the arrowheads were
envoys sent by Genghis to negoti¬
designed to make a whistling sound
ate, Genghis avenged the insult
to terrify the enemy. Each warrior
by defeating the shah’s forces,
kept as many as four horses so
even though they were superior in
■ 1336-1405
that he would always have a fresh,
number to his own. Continuing
speedy mount available. Using cat¬
westward, he overran central Asia,
Tamerlane, last of the great nomadic conquerors, lives.
apults in siege warfare, warriors
Afghanistan, Persia, and parts of
lobbed not only rocks but also dis¬
Russia. Many cities were demol¬
eased human carcasses into their
ished and townsfolk were massa¬
enemies’ strongholds.
cred by the thousands, with some
“They
never
let
themselves
get into a regular medley,” wrote
unlucky survivors saved to serve as human shields in the next battle. -155 j-
Mongols rule China as Hie Yuan dynasty. ■ 1295
llkhan Ghazan converts to Islam.
Genghis’s army may never have exceeded 110,000 men, but they were mobile, loyal, and disciplined soldiers. When necessary, troops from
conquered
states
were
incorporated into the forces and rewarded with booty. Turks per¬
£7 T
FOUR KHANS BESTRIDE ASIA
EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN ■ Mongol raiding parties reach the outskirts of' Vienna in December. "1241. The death*??' "t t
■
kic language became the language
1240. fhey remain vas}
golia saves Europe
sals djntil lvafi Uf fepek.
consolidated into four
pwNcietf.m ' HUNGARY
VV'T
ggnerryguv
kS
one of Genghis Khan's
(Chernlhiv)
'Vladimir
-
V
Y""!
UKRAINE
descendents. After the defeat of the Jin and then Kublai initiated 89 years
Despite his well-deserved repu¬ brutal
Novgorod
the Southern Song empire,
the enemy dead. a
knights
the Mongol world had
each the personal fief of
as
the Mongols ih 1430.
■ 'from further attack.
By the time of Kublai Khan
pages by the Mongols, who were
tation
feuding principalities by
TEUTONIC
near-autonomous khanates,
and were rumored to cannibalize
.Bata subdued Russia's
,.y"
POL^yNd
of the invaders. Fear preceded ram¬
known to slaughter the vanquished
-
T
OgodeibackinMon-
haps outnumbered native Mongols in Genghis’s armies, and the Tur¬
,
'
conqueror,
Golden Horde capital after 124:
of Mongol rule over China TURI0*
under the auspices of his
SELJUK SULTANATE. OF RUM
Yuan dynasty. From the Yuan
Genghis Khan was also an intellec¬
capital at Daidu, he remained
tually curious man who was quick
titular head over the entire
to adapt knowledge from the cul¬
Mongol Empire and active
tures he conquered. In 1204, he
Mongol homeland.
/ /
M .,
Ain Jalut, 1260 ‘yl Vq ''TQn^^^^^njehSjate capital after'1265 Mamluks defeat Mongols/# bYKlA/ . < iMfcragheh —TURKMEN ? PAOSTiNErx. ;
RUSSIA
■'
* ■*
/ {«„
1
v
i -'Baiiiial
-
Marco Polo described Kublai
Two failed attempts,
1
in.07A and 128!, to
•
\
• itMde'Jipan frustrate
;
admiringly: “He is of a good
khan's desire
stature, neither tall nor short, but
to .expand his empire beyfchd the seacoast. (Bayan-OvogL
MONGOLIA C
of a middle height. He has a becom¬
JAPAN
*(UIaanbaatar) Karakorum Mongol empire
ing amount of flesh, and is very #Shang4H'"|,:y
(Harhorin), ;capTta44235-l267
kKSTAN
•]
shapely in all his limbs. His com¬ Daidu (Beijing) >oudian)#Mongol emtffe i capital fbunded,
V
'
KOREA. -^*^ Ky\Jfrd> 1267 ^?4 A-
■, Xf
n. Galconda*
fyutthayaS Isgkok
X Hong Kong
PACIFIC OCEAN
South
China. Sea Ph
Strait of 'Malacca
'(Sri tanka) Ratnapura
Tern ate;
EQUATOR
INDIAN OCEMN . Kilwa
p
* f Banda
•*V-/Timor
Sofalal
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
AUSTRALIA
Cape of Good Hope
than 50 fortified trading posts along
Sea to Europe. But for a century,
the route. Lisbon became one of the
prior to coming under Spanish rule,
most important ports in Europe.
the Portuguese had no serious Euro¬
Despite the Treaty of Tordesillas,
Through the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Portuguese explorers established sea routes from Lisbon to Africa, India, and east Asia, creating a rich trade empire.
pean rivals.
Portugal never had a monopoly on
Although Portugal took some
introduced sugarcane, tobacco,
Eastern trade. The first visits to
bases such as Hormuz, Goa, and
coffee, cocoa, and cotton. The local
Eastern ports met with opposition
Malacca as outright possessions, it
Indian population was inadequate
from the Muslims. The Portuguese
was not aggressive in establishing
for forced labor, so the Portuguese
tried to limit competition through
colonies
gradually
began bringing slaves from their
tolls and by plundering other car¬
planted colonies in its African bases
ports on the west coast of Africa, a
goes, but the sea was big and ships
at Angola and Mozambique and
practice soon copied throughout the
few. Arabs, Persians, and Indians
began sending settlers to Brazil in
Americas. By the late 1600s Brazil
continued to haul pepper across the
the 1530s. Land there was split
was the largest sugar-producing area
Indian Ocean and through the Red
among wealthy Portuguese who
in the world. ■
abroad.
It
-- 183-
COLONIZING
NEW
WORLDS:
14 5 5-1 8 5 7
first, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella refused him. Then, heart¬ ened by the expulsion of Moors
Navigating the Globe
from southern Spain in 1492, they outfitted him with three ships. In early August he left the Spanish port of Palos and sailed to the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa. Departing there on September 6, he sailed weeks without sighting land,
1492-1522
his crews growing increasingly fear¬ ful and mutinous.
'T^T’Then Columbus sailed
measuring the angle of the sun
On October 12, 1492, they at
\ lL I west from Spain in 1492
above the horizon at noon—the
last made landfall in the Carib¬
▼ in pursuit of the riches of
compass, the hourglass, and a rope
bean—possibly at the Bahamian
the Far East, he was drawing on
with regularly spaced knots that
island of San Salvador. They pro¬
recent advances in navigation and
was released behind the ship to
ceeded to the larger islands of Cuba
age-old geographical knowledge.
measure its speed.
▼
and Hispaniola (now Haiti and the
Astute mariners and scholars had
The leading mariners of the day
Dominican Republic). Sure that he
reckoned since classical times that
were mostly Italians—longtime
had reached the Indies, Columbus
the Earth was round, and Greek
masters of the Mediterranean—or
called the native people he met
mathematician Eratosthenes had
Portuguese, who had made great
“Indians.” In all, he made four voy¬
even calculated its circumference.
strides under Prince Henry the Nav¬
ages to the Caribbean and back
The revival of classical learning dur¬
igator, founder of a school devoted
before he died in 1506.
ing the Renaissance reinforced
to improving navigation and patron
Columbus insisted that the lands
Columbus’s belief that he could
of expeditions southward along the
he discovered were close to Asia, if
reach Asia by circling the globe to
west African coast. By 1492 Por¬
not actually part of that continent.
the west, but he had little way of
tuguese mariners had rounded
In truth, the honor of first sailing
calculating how distant his goal was
Africa and were within reach of
from Europe to Asia went to Por¬
and greatly underestimated.
India and its spices, prized by Euro¬
tuguese mariner Vasco da Gama,
Tie dared to venture into un¬
peans because they made meat
who reached India in 1498 after a
charted waters because he had ships
palatable even when it was close to
voyage around Africa—a trip far
that were swifter and more maneu¬
spoiling. Finding an ocean route to
shorter than any route westward to
verable than those of medieval
the Indies—India and other desti¬
Asia. The true significance of cross¬
times—squat, square-rigged vessels
nations in Asia that had spices or
ing the Atlantic was soon made
with a single mast. Ships by Colum¬
precious metals—became a prior¬
clear, however, by another Italian
bus’s day had three masts with var¬
ity after the Turks took Constan¬
sailing with a Spanish expedition,
ied rigging that enabled them to
tinople in
and deprived
Amerigo Vespucci, who in 1501
move briskly with a tailwind and
western Europeans of access to
explored the coast of a huge land-
make headway even when sailing
overland routes.
mass south of the Caribbean that
1453
close to the wind. By this time,
bore no relation to any descriptions
mariners could also chart their ap¬
Discovering a New World
of Asia. He concluded that this was
proximate course and later retrace
Columbus, an Italian who offered
an unknown country, forming a
it with navigational tools such as
his services to Spain, hoped to find
barrier between Europe and Asia,
the astrolabe—which allowed them
a shorter route to Asia than the one
and referred to it in writing about
to approximate their latitude by
the Portuguese were pursuing. At
1504 as Mundus Novus, or the
- 184-
ililS8it*8
NOTABLE DATES ■ 1492
Sailing from Spain, Christopher Colum¬ bus reaches islands in the Caribbean. ■ 1497
John Cabot leads an English expedition across the North Atlantic and explores the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. ■ 1498
Vasco da Gama of Portugal lands in India after rounding Africa, pioneering an ocean route to the riches of Asia. ■ 1502
[Gehakous M e r c*
;rus
RuPEL.MLNDS.in NON.MARTH ANNO fopxd.vjxir ANN.LXXX. J.M.VIII. D. XXVKDENATUS »( NON .l)UT RR s ANNO (l)imIV,
1
H 1
iu 1) OfT^TT 0X61 U i NATOS IN '\0O Fl.ANDRIS. Die TO WACKENE XVI; tALEND-NOVEMBRIS ANNO tnOEXl'li:; (1X1T ANN XLVIlM.vn.Q.XXlXVOENAI. i USXIV KAL.MARTU -XNNO CI>|?CSI .
r- ------. .--.r--..
1
Columbus embarks on his fourth and final voyage to the Caribbean, still believing that the islands there are part of Asia or close to that continent. ■ ca 1504
Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, seated at left with his publisher, devised the Mer¬ cator projection in the 1500s. It represented the round globe on a flat map.
Nova Scotia confirmed the land was all part of the New World. The crowning feat of this age of navigation began in 1519, when a
New World. In 1507 a German car¬
Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand
tographer published the first map
Magellan of Portugal set out to
of the New World using the name
find the western passage to the
America—in honor of Vespucci.
Indies that had eluded Columbus.
By the time Vespucci wrote of the
In 1520 the ships rounded the
New World, its northern shores had
storm-wracked tip of South Amer¬
been explored by other Europeans.
ica—now called the Strait of Mag¬
Vikings had landed along the coast¬
ellan—and entered the Pacific,
line of what is now Canada around
enduring one dismal stretch of 99
1000, and John Cabot, an Italian
days before obtaining fresh food.
sailing under the English flag,
Magellan died in 1521 in a battle
had reconnoitered the coasts of
with Philippine islanders, but Juan
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia
Sebastian de Elcano took command,
in 1497. Like Columbus, Cabot
continuing west in one ship, and cir¬
thought he had reached Asia, but
cumnavigated the globe, returning
later voyages by Juan Ponce de
to Spain in 1522. The crown added
Leon, Giovanni da Verrazano, and
to Elcano’s coat of arms a globe in¬
others who explored the east coast
scribed with the words: “You were
of North America from Florida to
the first to encircle me.” ■ 185
Amerigo Vespucci publishes an account of his recent journey along the east coast of South America, labeling that country the New World. ■ 1513
Juan Ponce de Leon explores the coast of Florida for Spain. ■ 1521
Ferdinand Magellan dies in the Philip¬ pines after leading the first European expedition to round South America and crass the Pacific. ■ 1522
Juan Sebastian de Elcano of Magellan's expedition returns to Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe.
COLONIZING
NEW
WORLDS: 145 5-1 8 5 7
bursts of conquest and colonization in history. The interests of Spanish coloniz¬
Spanish-American Empire 1492-1800
B
ers soon brought them into con¬ flict with native people in the New World, who at first welcomed the newcomers. Columbus gave the Indians he met on Hispaniola and other Caribbean islands gifts such as beads and bells, and they
:
responded in kind. “Of anything they have, if you ask them for
efore Columbus set out in
Similar incentives later lured Span¬
it, they never say no,” he wrote.
the summer of 1492 on the
ish conquistadores to the New
“Rather they invite the person to
voyage that gave birth to the
World. Many of those empire-
share it, and show as much love as
Spanish-American Empire, he made
builders were eager to serve God
if they were giving their hearts.”
a deal with King Ferdinand and
and country by spreading Chris¬
The islanders cultivated cassavas,
Queen Isabella by which he would
tianity and claiming territory for
serve as governor of any lands he
Spain, but they were just as eager
discovered and receive 10 percent
to serve themselves, and that self-
of all the wealth obtained there.
interest fueled one of the greatest
Atahualpc, heir to the Inca throne, kneels before the conquistador Francisco Pizorro, who cap¬ tured him in 1531. Despite promising to spare Afahuaipa for gold, Pizarro had him executed.
cotton, tobacco, and other crops,
forces armed with cannon, mus¬
but what most interested Colum¬
kets, and swords. Natives taken
bus were the glittering ornaments
prisoner fared little better than
■ 1492
they wore. The Caribbean lacked
those who died in battle. In 1496
great mineral wealth, but there was
Columbus shipped nearly 500
enough gold on Hispaniola to make
Taino captives to Spain. Only 300
the island worth colonizing.
or so survived the voyage, and they
Columbus explores the Caribbean and builds a fort on the island of Hispaniola before returning to Spain to organize a colonizing expedition in 1493.
NOTABLE DATES
The first settlement there came
were sold as slaves in Seville in vio¬
■ 1511
about by accident. In December
lation of an edict by Queen Isabella.
1492, Columbus’s flagship Santa
In 1500, after conditions on His¬
Maria ran aground off Hispaniola
paniola deteriorated and colonists
Diego Velazquez conquers Cuba and becomes governor of Spanish colonists there.
and broke apart. Taino Indians
turned against him, Columbus
■ 1513
paddled out in dugout canoes to
was removed as governor, but the
help rescue the men and their cargo.
exploitation of the islanders con¬
It was Christmas, and Columbus
tinued. His successor instituted a
Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses the Panamanian isthmus and reaches the Pacific Ocean.
took the mishap as a sign from
system known as encomienda—a
God that he should settle there;
royal grant that entitled colonists
he used timbers from the wreck
to demand goods and labor from
to build a fort called La Navidad
Indians, reducing them to serfdom.
■ 1519
Neman Cortes leaves Cuba for Mexico, where he completes his conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521.
(Christmas). Leaving 39 men at the
One Catholic missionary sent to
outpost, he and others returned
the Caribbean, Bartolome de Las
to Spain aboard the surviving
Casas, was shocked by the abuse
ships Nina and Pinta to organize a
of Indians there and launched a
full-scale colonizing expedition,
personal crusade against what he
launched in 1493. He returned to
called the “robbery, evil, and injus¬
find that the fort and its occupants
tice committed against them.” His
had been destroyed after the men
efforts led to laws to correct such
antagonized the Taino. Undeterred,
abuses, but not before many tribes
Columbus settled Hispaniola in
had been devastated by contact
earnest and reconnoitered other
with Spanish colonists and the
Caribbean islands. By 1511 Span¬
diseases, such as smallpox, that
■ 1565
ish colonies had been established on
they spread. The native population
Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba.
of the Caribbean was all but anni¬
Spanish colonists land in Florida and found St. Augustine, oldest permanent European settlement in the U.S.
hilated. The gold was exhausted,
■ 1531
Francisco Pizarro reaches Peru and embarks on conquest of the Inca Empire, completed in 1536. ■ 1542
Hernando de Soto dies near the Mississippi River while searching for wealth in the Southeast; Francisco Vasquez de Coronado returns to Mexico after a similar expedition across the Southwest.
Conflict in the Caribbean
and colonists turned to raising
■ ca 1609
As governor of Hispaniola, Colum¬
sugarcane and other cash crops. To
bus urged settlers there to treat
work the fields, they imported
Indians decently, but he profited by
slaves from Africa in such vast
Spanish colonists found Santa Fe, which becomes the colonial capital of New Mexico.
the wealth extracted from native
numbers that the population of the
people, who were forced to pay
Caribbean became largely Black.
colonists tribute in the form of gold dust and cotton. Meeting those
Age of the Conquistadores
demands kept the Taino from rais¬
Spanish colonists eventually found
ing enough food, and many died
the great mineral wealth they cov¬
of hunger. Others resisted Spanish
eted by probing the interior of
authority and were attacked by
Mexico and South America and
-177-
■ 1762
France cedes Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain. ■ 1769
Spanish missionaries and troops reach San Diego harbor from Baja California and found the colony Alta California.
defeating the mighty Aztec and Inca
of the city. Cortez recruited an
then reneged on his promise and
Empires. Leading the way were con-
army of 200,000 Indian allies
had the Inca ruler put to death. By
quistadores, who operated under
among tribes antagonized by Aztec
1536 Pizarro had captured the Inca
royal authority but recruited their
demands for tribute and sacrificial
capital of Cuzco and driven the last
own forces. Those recruits helped
victims. By the time he returned
emperor there into exile. Here as
finance the campaigns and were
with those forces and laid siege to
in Mexico, the conquerors recruited
repaid with land grants and a share
Tenochtitlan in 1521, an epidemic
Indian allies to overthrow the exist¬
of the profits.
of smallpox was raging in the city.
ing empire and then imposed their
were
Cortes sacked and destroyed the
own regime and demanded labor
noblemen who set out to make a
Aztec capital and founded Mexico
and tribute from .former subjects
fortune because they had little or
City in its place.
of the Inca. Vast amounts of silver
Most
conquistadores
no inheritance. Hernan Cortes,
poured into Spanish coffers from
the conqueror of Mexico, came
Preamble to War
from such a background. A reck¬ less, quarrelsome youth, he left for the Caribbean when he was 19 and
Acknowledge the Church as the
L\ ruler and superior of the whole
sources in Mexico and South Amer¬ ica during the 1500s, and gold was extracted in large quantities from Central America.
helped colonize Cuba, where Gov¬
-X.
JL.world and the high priest
Conquistadores who explored
ernor Diego Velazquez authorized
called Pope and in his name the king
North America, in contrast, found
him to lead an expedition to the
and queen.... But if you do not do this
land of the Aztec in 1519. With 600
or if you maliciously delay in doing it, I certify to you that with the help of
no great wealth or native empires to exploit. Instead, they encoun¬
men, he sailed for Mexico in 11
God we shall forcefully enter your
tered tribes fiercely resistant to out¬
ships stocked with 10 cannon and
country and shall make war against
side control, as demonstrated in
17 horses, both of which awed
you in all ways and manners that we
1521 when Juan Ponce de Leon
native people on the mainland,
can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of
who had never seen such things. Courageous but ruthless, Cortes set out from the newly founded town of Veracruz on the Mexican coast for the Aztec capital of Tenochti¬
coast of Florida and died of his
their highnesses." —Extract from the Requerimiento, the declaration conquistadores had to read to the Indians before engaging in hostile activities. If possible, an interpreter translated the document.
tlan—first burning his ships to show his men that there was no turning back.
was attacked by Indians along the
wounds. When Hernando de Soto followed in 1539 to search for wealth, he came prepared for bat¬ tle with some 700 men. For three years, they rampaged across the
Much the same strategy was
Southeast, clashing with warriors,
used against the Inca by Francisco
capturing chiefs, and plundering
Cortes disguised his hostile inten¬
Pizarro, an aide to Vasco Nunez
pearls and other grave offerings
tions when he entered Tenochtitlan.
de Balboa, who in 1513 crossed
from burial mounds. De Soto fell
Aided by an Indian woman named
Panama and became the first Euro¬
ill and died along the Mississippi
Malinche, his mistress and inter¬
pean to reach the Pacific. When
River in 1542, and only about
preter, he first befriended the Aztec
Pizarro arrived in Peru in 1531 with
half his force survived the expedi¬
ruler Moctezuma II and then caught
a force of fewer than 200 men, he
tion, which brought disease and
him off guard and took him pris¬
defeated the Inca by treachery. He
calamity to tribespeople and little
oner. Moctezuma’s brother suc¬
enticed the Inca leader, Atahualpa,
profit to Spain.
ceeded him as king and launched
and his 6,000 unarmed bodyguards
Much the same assessment could
an attack on Cortes, during which
into the Spanish camp. There the
be made of Francisco Vasquez
Moctezuma was mortally wounded
Spaniards killed most of the men
de Coronado and his men, who
when he urged the Aztec in vain
and
prisoner.
marched north from Mexico in
to lay down their arms. Cortes and
Pizarro agreed to spare his life in
1540 and wreaked havoc among
his followers fought their way out
exchange for a huge sum of gold,
Pueblo Indians in a futile search for
took
Atahualpa
188
S
Spanish Mission System panish missionaries played a vital role in
supporting. “There are no other missions like theirs
colonizing the New World, particularly in
in all these provinces,” one official said of the Fran¬
| the rugged borderlands of the American
ciscans there. “They have made fertile and fecund a
Southwest, which attracted few settlers. The
portion of land which they found as uncultivated
Spanish colonies of Texas, New Mexico, and Cali¬
wastes.” Aided by California’s mild climate, friars
fornia owed their very existence to Franciscan fri¬
and their Indian converts reaped large harvests from
ars who founded scores of missions there, converted
irrigated fields, tended cattle and sheep, and built
tens of thousands of Indians to Christianity, and
handsome mission buildings where Indians practiced
introduced them to Spanish customs and the Spanish language. The relationship between missionaries and the native peoples under their author¬ ity was complex. Most Indians were tol¬ erant of competing beliefs and curious about the newcomers and their rituals. They admired the sacred music, art, and pageantry of Catholicism and readily com¬ bined elements of Christianity with their own ancestral beliefs. The missions and the farms and ranches attached to them offered Indians some security at a time when their livelihood was threatened by the incursions of colonists and the diseases they communicated. On the other hand, the concentration of native people at missions sometimes made epi¬
Mission Son Froncisco de Asis (St. Francis of Assisi} near Taos, New Mexico, was ded¬ icated by Franciscan missionaries to the founder of their order.
demics worse. And once Indians were bap¬ tized, they could leave the missions only with the
traditional crafts like pottery and basketmaking and
friars’ consent.
mastered new skills like masonry and tanning hides. Yet these seemingly successful missions were shad¬
In California, Spanish troops went in pursuit of
owed by disease and discord.
runaways and sometimes forced unbaptized Indians into missions. Even willing converts disliked the strict
California missions were supposed to disband after
mission regimen that banned “pagan” practices such
ten years, at which time their occupants would
as the worship of kachinas, spirits sacred to the Pueb¬
become part of colonial society, which needed to
los, and prescribed bodily punishment for a variety
assimilate Indians to compensate for the small num¬
of offenses. Many missionaries allowed Indians to
ber of Spanish settlers. Franciscans postponed that
engage in traditional customs such as tribal dances,
transition indefinitely, arguing that mission Indians
but some were harsh disciplinarians who aroused
were not ready for independence. Here, as elsewhere,
violent resentments.
the mission system helped the colony get started but failed to promote its continued growth and resusci¬
Missions in New Mexico were heavily subsidized
tate the declining Spanish-American Empire. ■
by Spain, but those in California were largely self¬
189
After raising sword and cross over the Missis¬ sippi River in 1541, Hernando de Soto went on to explore part of the territory the French later dubbed Louisiana.
The Crown Takes Control
role in future colonization efforts
By the 1540s Spain was taking
and appointed viceroys to rule
steps to impose order on its Amer¬
Spanish dominions in the New
ican colonies. Conquistadores were
World and enforce Spanish laws.
the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola.
feuding among themselves (Pizarro
Such measures did not bring an
In 1541 they marched far onto the
died in 1541 in a vendetta with
end to conflict because many Indi¬
plains, lured by a fanciful tale about
a rival) and inciting Indian upris¬
ans still resented having to labor
a golden city called Quivira; Coro¬
ings with their brutal tactics.
for the colonists, but a new society
nado found only buffalo and scat¬
Laws passed in 1542 prohibited the
evolved in the Americas that com¬
tered Indian villages and returned
enslavement of Indians—although
bined Spanish and Indian culture.
to Mexico in 1542 with little to
the trade in African slaves remained
Despite the toll taken by European
show for his efforts. Like de Soto,
legal throughout the Americas—
diseases, Indians far outnumbered
he had added to geographical
and modified the encomienda sys¬
Spanish colonists and often inter¬
knowledge of North America, but
tem that gave colonists free use of
married with them. Colonists of
his chaotic expedition confirmed
Indian labor. Pressure for those
pure Spanish ancestry formed the
that the age of the conquistadores
reforms came from missionaries
elite, but a large class of mestizos,
was ending and that future efforts
such as Las Casas, who argued that
or people of mixed race, emerged.
to expand the Spanish-American
colonists should be converting Indi¬
Spanish became the dominant
Empire must be based on more than
ans, not killing them. The crown
language
the profit motive.
gave missionary orders a leading
with the exception of Brazil, which
190
from Mexico south,
was settled by Portugal under an
undermined those efforts. By 1700
Mexico in the 1690s and eventually
agreement reached with Spain in
there were few Indians left on the
came to terms with the Pueblos,
1494. Native crops such as corn
Florida peninsula, and the Spanish
who served with them in expedi¬
and tomatoes and dishes like the
presence there was confined to St.
tions against hostile tribes.
cornmeal tortilla became staples of
Augustine and other fortified posi¬
Hispanic-American cuisine, while
tions along the Gulf Coast.
Two other Spanish colonies grew up on either side of New Mexico—
horses, cattle, sheep, and other
A larger, more successful colony
Texas to the east and California to
livestock imported from Spain
took root in New Mexico when set¬
the west. Both consisted largely
transformed the landscape and
tlers arrived overland from Mexico
of missions for Indians guarded
economy. Indians who converted to
and founded Santa Fe about 1609.
by small numbers of troops. Texas
Christianity honored their own
had more than 30 missions by
icons and saviors, and a Catholic
1800, and California had nearly
church or cathedral dominated nearly every town or city square from Cuba to Argentina.
Imperial Sunset
F
20, thanks largely to the efforts of Father Junfpero Serra, a tireless
irst they become acquainted with the Indians, trade with them, and afterwards engage
Franciscan who in 1769 helped found the colony, known originally
Colonies in North America
in contraband trade with the natives
as Alta California to distinguish it
The success of the Spanish-Ameri¬
of Mexico. Some stay in the territo¬
from Baja California. Even the pros¬
can Empire drew competition from
ries.... They are settled in sufficient
perous California missions, with
other European powers. In the mid-
numbers that they will establish their customs, laws, and religion. They will
1500s France sent colonists to vie
form independent states, aggregating
their well-tended fields and gardens, were plagued by disease and unrest,
with Spain for control of Florida—
themselves to the Federal Union, which
and no large towns arose outside
which originally extended up the
will not refuse to receive them, and
their walls. Some Spanish settle¬
coast to the Carolinas—and Eng¬
progressively they will go as far as the
ments founded in the 1700s would
land dispatched privateers like Sir Francis Drake to raid Spanish ships
Pacific Ocean."
later grow into major cities, includ¬
—Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos of Louisiana, 1798
ing Eos Angeles in California and San Antonio in Texas, but these
and ports. Such challenges led Spain to colonize and fortify a wide area
By the late 1700s it was clear to some
rugged
from Florida to California over the
officials that Spain's colonies in North
lightly inhabited throughout the
next two centuries as a buffer
America had too few settlers to with¬ stand the territorial advances of the
against European incursions. This
booming Anglo-American population
Spanish frontier in North America
of the newly independent U.S.
borderlands
remained
colonial period. Spanish America reached its greatest extent in the late 1700s after France ceded to Spain the city
was sparsely settled by civilians, troops, and missionaries, and the
Pueblo Indians in the area, antago¬
of New Orleans and the remainder
colonists encountered more oppo¬
nized by demands for their labor
of Fouisiana west of the Mississippi
sition from defiant Indians than
and efforts by missionaries to make
River. Yet this huge empire extend¬
from rival Europeans.
them embrace Christianity at the
ing from the Canadian border to
expense of their traditional beliefs,
Cape Horn would soon crumble as
began in 1565, when Pedro Menen-
staged a determined revolt in 1680,
Anglo-Americans encroached on
dez de Aviles founded the town of
killing hundreds of colonists and
the
St. Augustine and annihilated a
forcing the survivors to flee. In the
colonists in Central and South
French settlement at nearby Fort
process, many Spanish horses found
America—weary of a colonial sys¬
Caroline. Franciscans later founded
their way into the hands of nearby
tem that extracted their resources
dozens of missions in present-day
Plains Indians, greatly enhancing
while restricting their economic and
Florida and vicinity, but Indian
their skills as hunters and warriors.
political development—began agi¬
rebellions and ruinous epidemics
Spanish colonists reclaimed New
tating for independence. ■
Spanish colonization of Florida
-191 -
borderlands,
and
Spanish
A COLONIZING
NEW
wealth and its hierarchy of clergy.
WORLDS : 1 45 5-1 85 7
In Bohemia, Jan Hus led a move¬ ment aimed at reforming corrupt church leadership. In 1415 a church council, after promising Hus pro¬ tection in order to hear his views,
The Reformation
had him burned at the stake. For hundreds
turbed even its supporters. To raise
1517-1648
I
of years, the
church’s financial policies had dis¬
money for its large administrative structure, the church often levied
n October of 1517, a Catholic
creeds had swept through northern
unpopular taxes; almost all services
scholar named Martin Luther
Europe in the movement known as
required the payment of fees.
wrote a letter of protest to his
the Protestant Reformation.
Church positions could be bought.
archbishop. In it, he listed 95 theses
Luther was not the first to raise
Although many popes were vir¬
critical of church practices. In
his voice. In the late 1300s in Eng¬
tuous and altruistic, for others the
particular, he objected to the grant¬
land, Oxford University scholar
pursuit of power and luxury had
ing of indulgences: paying the church
John Wycliffe criticized the church’s
become paramount. Pope Leo X
to pardon sins, even those not yet committed. Accord¬ ing to some stories, Luther also nailed his theses to the door of All Saint’s Church in Wittenberg. Whether he did so or not, his theses soon became public, thanks to
the
newly
invented
printing press, and they
^gucM
expressed the doubts and anger that had been grow¬
R O MAH
ing throughout all classes of European society. Luther intended merely to spur an academic debate about church corruption and authority. Instead he touched off a religious revolt. Within 50 years, Lutheranism and other dissenting
Christian ffEES^
From its beginnings in $axony, the Protestant Reformation branched out into different sects and spread rapidly throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the British Isles.
192
spent heavily not only on wars to
NOTABLE DATES
repel foreigners and on improve¬ ments for the Vatican, but also on pleasures such as lavish banquets. The church founded on Luther’s
Four Theses
T
preached that salvation was a gift
preach
only
human
doctrines who say that as soon as the
tenets of faith was the first of the Protestant denominations. Luther
■ 1517 hey
money clinks
into
the money chest, the soul flies out ■ 1522
of purgatory. ■ It is certain that when money clinks
from God that could not be bought
in the money chest, greed and avarice
or sold and did not require the inter¬
can be increased; but when the church
cession of a church official. He and other reformers simplified church
■ Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the
church leaders not priests but min¬
needy does a better deed than he who
and conducted services in the local language instead of in Latin.
Huldrych Zwingli brings the Reforma¬ tion to Zurich; Martin Luther translates the New Testament into German.
intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone.
doctrine and rituals and called their isters, who preached from the Bible
Martin Luther makes public his 95 theses regarding the reformation of church practices.
buys indulgences. ■ The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God. —From Martin Luther's 95 theses, 15Y7,
Protestant Sects
■ 1524-25
Thousands of German peasants take arms in the "Peasants' War," demand¬ ing religious reform as well as relief from feudal obligations. ■ 1527
The first Protestant university in Germany is founded at Marburg.
written originally in Latin and sent to church officials.
Various Protestant sects formed as different interpretations were applied to biblical passages. In the
Henry VIII declared himself head
1520s Huldrych Zwingli, leader of
of the Church of England when the
the Reformed Church in Zurich cre¬
pope refused to grant him a divorce.
■ 1534
Henry ¥11! becomes the first head of the Church of England. ■ 1536
John Calvin comes to Geneva.
ated a church-run state that banned
This more radical variant of the
the Catholic Mass and forbade the
Catholic Church became part of the
■ 1555
use of music in worship. The Swiss
Protestant movement by the time
Brethren, or Anabaptists, broke
his daughter, Elizabeth, gained the
away from Zwingli to form a more
throne. Some believers who thought
The Peace of Augsburg gives German princes and cities the right to choose between Catholicism and Lutheranism.
radical sect that opposed infant
the church still not reformed
baptism. Anabaptists disagreed
enough became known as Puritans.
so radically with civic authority
To counter Protestantism, the
that they refused to hold office or
Catholic Church reinvigorated the
bear arms. For their civil disobedi¬
Inquisition to forcibly uproot its
ence, they came to be persecuted by
opponents. The Lutherans formed
Catholics and Protestants alike.
the Schmalkaldic League, which
In 1540s Geneva French preacher
fought
the
pro-Catholic
Holy
John Calvin founded a strict church
Roman Emperor Charles V. Reli¬
that advocated and enforced thrift,
gious wars raged across Europe
sobriety, and hard work: Backslid¬
from 1545 to 1650.
ers could be excommunicated.
In time Europeans wearied of
Calvinists also believed in predes¬
warfare over religion, which slowly
tination, the idea that some people
abated. The Catholic Church looked
are elected for salvation by God.
inward and reformed its worst
England entered the Reforma¬ tion for different reasons. In 1534
abuses; but the Protestant Church was here to stay. ■ 193
■ 1618-1648
The Thirty Years' War pits Protestant forces against Catholic in Europe.
) COLONIZING
NEW
WORLDS:
1 4 5 5-1 8 57
and curious, Akbar began by organ¬ izing the tattered country into regular provinces, districts, and vil¬ lages, each with sound administra¬ tion. He revised taxation, which had been a special burden on the
Mogul India
large peasant population. His suc¬ cessful reign had drawn many capable office seekers from Asia, but Akbar also made use of Hindus
1523-1857
as
administrators,
army
com¬
manders, and counselors. 41 though Mongol invasions
were little more than a bad
The Reign of Akbar
Although himself a Muslim, the
Although Akbar was only 13 when
philosophical Akbar invited schol¬
in Asia by the
his father died, he took control rap¬
ars of many faiths to his court and
16th century, in 1523 a descendent
idly, aided by his able chief minister,
appointed Hindus to high govern¬
of both Timur (the Lame) and
Bayram Khan. Illiterate, but smart
ment posts. He married a Hindu
JL
A. memory
Genghis Khan showed that the Mongol will to conquer remained. From Kabul, Afghanistan, came Babur, a Mogul, the name used in India to describe people descended from Turks and Mongols. Backed by warriors on swift horses, Babur outmaneuvered the elephants of Indian troops, overthrew the Turk¬ ish sultanate at Delhi, and took over the central part of northern India. Despite his conquests, Babur’s Mogul Empire was never consoli¬ dated, and he was unhappy in India. In his memoirs he wrote: “Hindus¬ tan is a country of few charms. ” His attitude may have rubbed off on his son Humayun, who became an opium addict and for a time lost the empire to Sher Shah, an Afghan chief. Humayun regained Delhi in 1555—only to die falling down stairs in 1556. His son Akbar cre¬ ated a lasting Mogul dynasty that controlled more than half of India and lasted nearly two centuries. Babur, the first Mogul emperor, presides over outdoor entertainments that include wrestling matches between beasts as well as men.
princess and allowed his subjects to worship as they pleased. Typically, his benevolence did not extend to
NOTABLE DATES
Weighing Jahangir ■ 1523
occasional uprisings, which he
At last [the Emperor Jahangir]
fiercely put down, keeping tight
Z_\appeared clothed, or rather -i-
control of his empire. Mogul occupation created a melting pot of Arab and Persian thought in India. Akbar immersed
JL loden with Diamonds, Rubies,
Babur, a descendant of Mongols born in Ferghana, invades northern India from Afghanistan.
Pearles, and other precious vanities, so great, so glorious ... his head, necke,
■ 1530-1540
breast, armes, above the elbowes, at
Babur's son Humayun rules.
the wrists, his fingers every one with
himself in the culture of the con¬
at least two or three rings; fettered
■ 1540-1555
quered land, establishing libraries
with chaines, or dialled Diamonds,
Afghan chief Sher Shah, who takes Hindustan away from Humayun, and his successors rule.
and schools and encouraging art, music, and literature. A school of
Rubies as great as walnuts, some greater; and Pearles, such as mine eyes were amazed at. Suddenly he
miniature painting became widely
entered into the scales, sate like a
known. Muslim architecture mixed
woman on her legs, and there was put
with Indian to produce marble
in against him, many bagges to fit his
buildings with domes, arches, elab¬ orate decoration, and minarets.
weight." —Sir Thomas Roe, English Ambassador to the Mogul court in 1617
The peace and prosperity dur¬
Jahangir was said to donate
ing Akbar’s reign drew Europeans
his weight in silver to the poor.
■ 1555
Humayun retakes Hindustan, but dies the following year. ■ 1556-1605
Akbar, Humayun's son, rules. Akbar's tolerance of India's many cultures allows him to consolidate his empire.
seeking lucrative trade in Indian goods. With Akbar’s death in 1605,
Akbar, who tolerated other reli¬
■ 1605-1627
his Mogul inheritors continued to
gions, Aurangzeb destroyed Hindu
Akbar's son Jahangir rules.
press for territorial expansion, but
schools and temples, dismissed
often did not govern with his cus¬
Hindu clerks, and reinstated the
tomary efficiency. Military and civil
taxes on non-Muslims. Rebellions
service declined under the 22-year
began, and he found himself bat¬
rule of Jahangir.
tling not only former allies such
■ 1632
son,
as the Rajputans but also the Sikhs
restored state discipline, but his
and a rising Hindu power called
attempts at expansion raised taxes
the Marathas.
Construction begins on the Taj Mahal, built as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan's favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died during childbirth.
Shah Jahan,
Jahangir’s
■ 1627-1658
Jahangir's son Khurram, who takes the name Shah Jahan, roles.
on the peasantry, causing many to
By the beginning of the 1700s,
emigrate. Although best known as
European powers were taking a
■ 1658-1707
the creator of the Taj Mahal, in Agra,
serious interest in the riches of India,
Aurangzeb, who overthrows his father and imposes a harsh rule over increas¬ ingly rebellious peoples, reigns.
Shah Jahan rebuilt Delhi as the cap¬
and the British, French, Portuguese,
ital of his empire. When he fell ill in
Danish, and Dutch had set up trad¬
1657, his eldest son, Dara Shukoh,
ing posts along the coast, often bat¬
■ 1760
took over as ruler; Dara Shukoh’s
tling each other for supremacy. By
siblings then turned against him. The
the 18th century, the Mogul Empire
victor, Aurangzeb, killed his broth¬
was reduced to a small kingdom. In
The British defeat the French at the Battle of Wandiwash, increasing British power in India.
ers and imprisoned his father.
1803 the Mogul emperor accepted British protection. Although the
Rebellions and Foreigners
British backed a Mogul emperor
Aurangzeb pushed the Mogul fron¬
until 1857, by the beginning of the
tiers to their greatest extent, but the
1800s English supremacy in India
effort drained his treasury. Unlike
had become a reality. ■
■ 1857
Mogul rule ends; the Indian Mutiny (or Sepoy Rebellion, as it is also known) marks the beginning of Britain's assumption of direct rule in India.
!) COLONIZING
NEW
WORLDS: 1 4 5 5 -1857
France’s North American Colonies 1534-1763
F
~
of
and strained relations with nearby
North America began in
Indians. Cartier did not help mat¬
earnest
when
ters by seizing a tribal chief and sev¬
Jacques Cartier crossed the North
eral of his people the following
Atlantic and entered the Gulf of St.
spring and carrying them back to
rench
exploration
in
1534,
Lawrence. Ships from various coun¬
France against their will—a com¬
tries had fished the waters off New¬
mon practice among European
foundland since 1497, when John
explorers visiting the New World.
Cabot returned to England and
Cartier returned to Canada in
reported great schools of cod there.
1541 and founded a settlement at
But Cartier’s expedition was the first
Quebec. It lasted only two years
to penetrate Canada—a name of
before the colonists headed home,
Indian origin for the land he and his
discouraged by the harsh climate,
countrymen called New France.
the inhospitable Indians, and the
Like Columbus, Cartier hoped
absence of precious metals. Euro¬
to find a passage to the Indies and
peans remained obsessed with find¬
returned to Canada in 1535 to
ing mineral wealth in the New
explore that possibility. At first the
World and paid little attention to
broad St. Lawrence looked prom¬
other resources. By 1600, however,
ising, but it narrowed as he and his
there was a demand in Europe for
crew proceeded westward, and
beaver pelts, used to make hats.
soon they encountered rapids that
A statue of the explorer La Salle overlooks Matagorda Elay in Texas. After voyaging to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682, La Salle tried to reach if by sea, landing here instead in 1685.
Beaver abounded in the colder
ties with several tribes, notably the
proved impassable. This was no
regions of North America, and that
Huron living between Lake Ontario
passage to India, but the country¬
profitable trade helped spur the
and Georgian Bay. Soon Jesuit mis¬
side along the St. Lawrence looked
development of New France.
sionaries from France were living
fertile and inviting. Climbing a hill
among the Huron and introducing
he dubbed Mont Royal, Cartier
Colonizing Canada
them to Christianity. The French
admired the broad river valley.
In 1608 Samuel de Champlain
introduced diseases to the Huron,
It was “the most beautiful land,”
founded the first permanent French
however, which made them vul¬
he wrote, “covered with the most
settlement in Canada at Quebec.
nerable to attack by their rivals,
magnificent trees.” By then it was
Champlain understood that the
the Iroquois, who lived in what is
autumn, and he spent the winter in
French would need Indians as allies
now New York State and resented
a fort near what is now the city of
and trading partners in order to suc¬
French intrusions to their north. In
Quebec, enduring harsh weather
ceed in the fur trade, and he forged
years to come, the French and their
196
NOTABLE DATES ■ 1534
Jacques Cartier explores the Gull of St. Lawrence on the first of three pioneering expeditions to Canada. ■ 1608
Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec, the first permanent French settlement in Canada. ■ 1682
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reaches the mouth of the Mississippi and claims all the land watered by that river and its tributaries for France under the name of Louisiana. ■ 1685
La Salle lands at Matagorda Bay after failing to locate the mouth of the Mississippi by sea and explores Texas. ■ 1713
France surrenders Newfoundland and other territory in North America to England at the conclusion of Queen Anne's War. ■ 1718
New Orleans is founded by French settlers. Indian allies remained at odds with
and were exploring Lakes Superior
the Iroquois and the English—who
and Michigan. The founding of the
soon supplanted the Dutch in New
Hudson’s Bay Company by the
York and took over the fur trade.
English that same year provided
■ 1759
British forces capture Quebec and take control of Canada in the decisive battle of the French and Indian War.
Despite this ongoing rivalry,
competition for the Canadian fur
which flared up periodically into
trade and encouraged the French to
bloody fighting, the colony of New
broaden their scope. Missionaries
France grew and prospered. Enter¬
sometimes accompanied the voya¬
prising fur traders called coureurs
geurs, many of whom married
du bois, or voyageurs, set out from
women from local tribes, fostering
■ 1763
Quebec and the nearby town of
a mixed race—the Metis.
France surrenders its remaining territory in North America by conceding British control of Canada and transferring the eastern portion of Louisiana to Britain.
Montreal, founded in 1642, and
Meanwhile Montreal, Quebec,
ranged far to the west, traveling
and other settlements along the St.
along rivers or lakes and portaging
Lawrence were gradually increas¬
their canoes from one body of water
ing in population as new colonists
to another. By 1670 the French had
arrived from France and raised fam¬
a trading post at Sault Ste. Marie
ilies. French authorities expanded 197
■ 1762
France cedes New Orleans and all of Louisiana west of die Mississippi to Spain.
the colony by granting territory
rice, tobacco, and other crops. The
opposing settlements and many
to
landlords called seigneurs,
French population of New Orleans
civilians were killed or captured.
who then recruited settlers called
and environs was bolstered in the
After King George’s War ended
habitants and provided them with
mid-1700s by the arrival of several
inconclusively in 1748, the French
homesteads of around a hundred
thousand Acadians, exiled from
tried to halt the westward expan¬
acres in exchange for rent and serv¬
their homeland in Nova Scotia,
sion of the British—who far out¬
ices. The system was based on feu¬
which had long been disputed
numbered
dalism, but unlike serfs in Europe,
between England andvFrance and
Canada—by occupying the Ohio
settlers in New France had a legal
came under British control by treaty
Valley. British colonial authorities
claim to their land and could deed
in 1713.
responded in 1754 by sending mili¬
French
settlers
in
tia under George Washington to
it to their descendents.
challenge the French and their tribal Founding Louisiana After reconnoitering the Great Lakes, French explorers began pushing southward along the Mis¬ sissippi River and its tributaries. In 1673 Father Jacques Marquette and French-Canadian Louis Jolliet, trav¬ eling by canoe with five voyageurs, paddled far down the Mississippi past the mouths of the Missouri and Ohio Rivers before turning back. The venturesome French seigneur Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reached the mouth of the Mis¬ sissippi in 1682. La Salle claimed for France all the country watered by the Mississippi and its tribu¬ taries, including such great rivers as
Lure of Louisiana
T
allies at Fort Duquesne in presentday Pittsburgh. Washington lost in
he banks are almost uninhab¬ itable, on account of the spring floods. The woods are all those of a boggy district, the country one of canes and briars and of trees torn up by the roots; but a league or two from the river, is the most beautiful country in the world, prairies, woods of mul¬ berry trees, vines, and fruits that we are not acquainted with." —Henri de Jonty's 1693 description of the Mississippi Valley in his account of the founding of Louisiana
French authorities hoped to colonize this area and make good on La Salle's claim, but settlements were few. Ulti¬ mately, Anglo-Americans displaced the Indians and took possession of the fer¬ tile floodplain of the Mississippi.
the Ohio and Missouri, which
a battle at Fort Necessity that inau¬ gurated an epic conflict known to British colonists as the French and Indian War, which was linked to the Seven Years’ War in Europe. At first the French fared better in this struggle because they had superior commanders and far more Indian allies. In 1758, the British gained the upper hand by shipping more troops to North America and ending the forced recruitment of colonists, who responded by enlisting in large numbers. In 1759 British troops captured Quebec and took control of Canada. Elsewhere, savage fighting con¬
extended a thousand miles or more
A Losing Struggle
tinued between British colonists
in either direction.
The treaty under which France lost
and Indian allies of the French
Known as Louisiana in honor of
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and
until peace was negotiated in
King Louis XIV, this vast country
other territory to Great Britain—
1763. France renounced to Britain
extending from the Appalachians
as England became known after
not only Canada but also all of
to the Rocky Mountains went
its union with Scotland in 1707—
Louisiana east of the Mississippi
largely unsettled by the French, and
brought an end to Queen Anne’s
except New Orleans, having ceded
both Spain and England contested
War,
one of several conflicts
it and the western portion of
La Salle’s claim. Nonetheless,
between the two powers that cul¬
Louisiana to Spain the year before.
France made something of his ini¬
minated in the British conquest of
The French adventure in North
tiative by planting settlements along
Canada. These wars were related to
America had come to an end. ■
the lower Mississippi River, notably
hostilities in Europe but hit home
the town of New Orleans, founded
with brutal intensity in North
in 1718. French planters there
America, where colonists enlisted
imported African slaves to raise
Indian allies in merciless raids on 198
By 1750 North America was divided between France, Britain, and Spain, with the exception of unexplored territory and coastal Alaska, recently colonized by Russian fur traders.
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Memphis.'
TERRITORY
j.I.
and average citi¬
Captains of Industry
Antitrust Act of 1890, but it went
zens would have greater economic
The industrial revolution that began
largely unenforced until the 1900s.
power. Their arguments were soon
in Europe in the early 1800s did not
Another challenge to the eco¬
adopted by Democrats, who were
reach the U.S. until mid-century and
nomic power of capitalists came
losing support to Populists in the
Populist
movement.
did not extend beyond New York
South. In 1896 the Democrats nom¬
and a few other northern cities until
inated William Jennings Bryan of
after the Civil War. Despite the late start, the U.S. was the world’s lead¬ ing manufacturer by 1890, thanks in part to a huge influx of foreign workers. Between 1876 and 1900 nearly ten
million immigrants
arrived in America, settling mostly in urban areas like New York and Chicago, where they made up the vast majority of the population. This abundant supply of immigrant
America in 1900 e stand on the threshold of \ \ /a new century ... big with ▼ V the fate of the great nations.... Is America a weakling, to shrink from the world-work of the great world pow¬ ers? No. The young giant of the West stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race."
workers kept the cost of labor down —Theodore Roosevelt, speaking before
Nebraska for President. Democrats had trumped Populists, who nom¬ inated Bryan at their own conven¬ tion and lost their political identity. Bryan was defeated by Republi¬ can William McKinley despite car¬ rying nearly all the states in the West and South. Bryan’s sermons against the gold standard failed to sway many voters in the populous North¬ east and Midwest, where McKin¬ ley wooed insecure workers by
and boosted profits. Shrewd capi¬
the Republican Convention that nomi¬
promising a “full dinner pail” for
talists invested those profits in new
nated him for Vice President in 1900.
the unemployed. The economy did
plants and equipment, increasing
improve under McKinley—a gold
the efficiency of their operations
from labor. By the 1880s national
rush in Alaska helped ease the cur¬
and dominating their markets.
organizations like the Knights of
rency crunch—and the focus shifted
One such captain of industry was
Labor and the American Federation
from the nation’s problems to its
John D. Rockefeller, whose Stan¬
of Labor were joining local unions
strengths. Unlike heavily industri¬
dard Oil Company controlled 90
in staging strikes for higher wages
alized Britain, which had to import
percent of the nation’s oil business.
and a shorter workday. (Many peo¬
food, the U.S., with its vast western
Another was Andrew Carnegie.
ple worked ten hours a day, six days
farming areas, fed its fast-growing
His U.S. Steel Corporation owned
a week.) Organized labor lost most
population and exported surplus
mines that extracted the iron, fac¬
strikes: The majority of workers did
grain to Europe. This combination
tories that made the ore into steel,
not belong to unions, and owners
of agricultural and industrial out¬
and railroads that carried it to mar¬
had the support of state and federal
put made the U.S. potentially the
ket. Some inventors became capi¬
authorities that sometimes called in
greatest power on Earth.
talists, including Thomas Edison,
troops to put down strikes.
who formed a company to provide electric power to cities.
In 1893 the nation suffered a severe financial panic that left one274
The Spanish-American War The emergence of the U.S. as a
world power was personified by the man McKinley appointed Under¬ secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt of New York. Roosevelt helped propel the nation into war with Spain by urging American support for Cuban rebels fighting against Spanish colonial rule. When the battleship Maine mysteriously exploded in February 1898 while docked in Havana Harbor, lurid press reports blamed Spain, increas¬ ing pressure on a reluctant McKin¬ ley to go to war.
in April, Roosevelt widened its scope by ordering Commodore George Dewey to prepare for naval action against Spanish forces holding the Philippines. Dewey promptly seized the Philippines, and Roosevelt enlisted in the Army and organized a unit called the Rough Riders that helped defeat Spanish forces in Cuba. The U.S. also obtained Puerto Rico, Guam, and other islands from Spain. called
emember the Maine!” Americans chanted after that bat-
tleship blew up in Havana Harbor in early 1898, “To hell with Spain!” In fact, there was no evidence implicating Spain in the ^ship’s destruction, which was probably an accident. But
Undersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt argued that Spain had no business trying to hold on to Cuba, where rebels were agitating for independence. “We will have this war for the freedom of Cuba,” he declared, adding privately that war with Spain would be in the inter¬ est of the U.S. and provide a good test for the nation’s armed forces. To his credit, Roosevelt volunteered to fight in the conflict he helped
Shortly before the conflict began
Critics
R
Rough Riders in Cuba
the
promote, resigning as undersecretary to organize a mounted regiment called the Rough Riders, which mingled prominent easterners like Roo¬ sevelt with rough-hewn westerners. He chose his friend Leonard Wood to serve as colonel but took command of the regiment himself in Cuba after Wood was promoted. In July 1898 Roosevelt and his men took part in the Battle of San Juan, charging up Kettle Hill while other troops led the attack on San Juan Hill. The regiment lost 15 men killed and 76 wounded in this American victory, part of a campaign that forced the surrender of Spanish forces at Santiago in August. Roosevelt reveled in his exposure to combat. “All men who feel any power of joy in battle,” he wrote, “know what it is like when the wolf rises in the heart.” But he later defied his popular reputation as a freeswinging Rough Rider by relying as President on shows of force that
Spanish-
achieved national objectives without war. ■
American War imperialist, and in fact the U.S. dominated Cuba for years to come and kept troops in the Philippines. But Roosevelt offered no apologies. He believed the U.S. had as much right to flex its muscle as any European nation and would do better managing the affairs of other countries than would old imperial powers such as Spain. His exploits in Cuba helped make him McKinley’s choice as running mate in 1900. Less than a year after McKinley won reelection, he was assassinated by an anarchist, and Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to fully embrace the
Roosevelt (center) charges with his Rough Riders, most of whom actually fought on foot.
nation’s role as a world power. ■ U's A. /J
0 ERA: AGE
OF
IMPERIALISM
WORLD
SURVEY
T
1750-1917 he forces of imperialism,
■ Alaska
cils called zemstva that could set
industrialization, and inde¬
On March 30,1867, U.S. Secretary
regional policies. He reformed
pendence swept around
of State William Seward bought
laws, eliminating corporal punish¬
the globe from 1800 to 1900.
615,230 square miles of Alaska
ment. State-sponsored education
Some countries gained ground,
from Russia for 7.2 million dollars.
spread, and literacy increased. The
others lost it; some fought to
With the decline of the fur trade,
military, which had suffered dur¬
retain their nationhood, while oth¬
the new territory was widely re¬
ing the Crimean War, instituted
ers changed hands.
garded as useless, and the public
promotion by merit. And the vast
derisively referred to it as “Seward’s
trans-Siberian railroad was built,
Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox.”
stimulating the country’s economy.
■ Canada By the mid-19th century, Canada
Over the next 30 years, a few
But the tsar’s greatest reform was
existed as a number of separate
white settlers moved to Alaska, but
the emancipation of Russia’s tens
provinces. As immigrants moved in,
the U.S. generally ignored its new
of millions of serfs in 1861. The
as the power of the U.S. grew, and
holdings until 1897. In that year
serfs also received land. The eman¬
as Canadian politicians saw the
news of a gold strike in Canada’s
cipation did not eliminate social
need to secure the northwest for
Klondike region, followed by dis¬
injustices in Russia, but it did win
expansion, a coalition of Canadian
coveries of gold in Nome and Fair¬
Alexander a legacy as a reformer.
leaders agreed to form a union. In
banks, triggered a massive gold
1867 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
rush. With virtually no local gov¬
■ Mexico
and Canada East and West (now
ernment in place, Alaska was in
After losing territory to the U.S. in
Quebec and Ontario) became the
chaos. In the next few years it finally
1848, Mexico was in disarray. Lib¬
Dominion of Canada under the
gained a criminal code, a taxation
erals
British North America Act. In 1869
system, and plans for an internal
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and.
the country purchased the North¬
railroad. In 1906 it received a ter¬
drove him from power in 1855. A
west Territories from the Hudson’s
ritorial representative in Congress.
few years later, Benito Juarez, a lib¬
Bay Company, and in 1871 British
turned
against
President
eral of Zapotec Indian descent, ■ Russia
became
With the addition of western
Nineteenth-century Russia had
ahead with a controversial program
lands, a transcontinental railway
fallen behind its European coun¬
of reforms that included separating
became a primary goal. The Cana¬
terparts socially, politically, and
church and state and confiscating
Columbia joined the union.
president and
pressed
dian Pacific Railway reached Van¬
technologically.
Tsar
church property not used for wor¬
couver in 1887, giving the country
Alexander II came to power intent
ship. In 1860 Juarez defeated Mex¬
access to the Pacific. Between 1891
on change. In his 26-year reign
ican conservatives who revolted
and 1914 more than three million
Alexander greatly reformed and
against his policies, but rebels in
immigrants followed the railway,
modernized Russian society. He
exile then encouraged the French
settling east to west.
created local elected political coun¬
Emperor
In
1855
- 276 -
Louis
Napoleon
to
intervene on their behalf. In 1861,
intervention in the Americas. In
took a number of military, social,
after Juarez suspended payment of
1866 Napoleon bowed to U.S. pres¬
and economic reforms. He mod¬
foreign debts, France, Britain, and
sure and withdrew his forces; Juarez
ernized the army, expanded indus¬
Spain sent troops to Mexico. Britain
regained power and captured Max¬
try, and increased production of
and Spain soon withdrew, but
imilian, who was tried by court-
crops such as cotton and indigo.
French forces persisted. On May
martial and executed.
5, 1862, Mexican troops repulsed
After Ali’s death in 1849, his suc¬ cessors, known as the khedives,
the French in the Battle of Puebla—
■ Egypt
were unable to continue his reforms
a victory that inspired the Mexi¬
The history of Egypt in the 19th
and began to fall into debt to Euro¬
can festival known as Cinco de
century can be divided into two
pean financiers. This debt was
Mayo (Fifth of May).
parts—before the Suez Canal and
greatly increased by the cost of the
Louis
Napoleon
sent
more
after the Suez Canal.
Suez Canal, which was completed
troops. They captured Mexico City
In the first part of the 1800s the
in 1869. Eventually, Egypt was
and installed Napoleon’s puppet,
Ottoman Turks joined the British
forced to sell many of its shares in
Prince Maximilian of Austria, as
in ousting Napoleon’s troops from
the canal to the British. Increasingly,
emperor. Juare£ continued to wage
Egypt. In following years, a forward-
Egypt came under European dom¬
guerrilla warfare against the regime
looking soldier, Muhammad Ali,
ination. Nationalists staged a revolt
with support from the U.S., which
became pasha. After eliminating the
against the outsiders in 1882, but
had protested the French occupa¬
Mamluks, Ottoman vassals that had
were crushed by British forces. By
tion as a violation of the Monroe
controlled Egypt before Napoleon’s
1900 Britain was in firm control of
Doctrine, prohibiting European
invasion, Muhammad Ali under¬
the country. ■
ERA: GLOBAL
CONFLICT
T
Global Conflict 1900-1945 he 20th century, especially in Europe and America, dawned in promise tempered
by apprehension as a Victorian-era worldview collided with new realities—strange, even threatening—that had already begun to supplant the old and familiar. Industri¬
alization jeopardized craftsmanship. Women were restive, agitating for the vote. Authors wrote of estrangement from an unwinding society. Yet there was much to wonder at. Only just into the new century, a couple of Americans proved that humans could fly. The horseless car¬ riage gradually came to be seen not as a cart missing its four-legged motor, but as rapid trans¬ portation for everyman. As people struggled with such developments, undercurrents of political self-determination and nationalism surfaced around the world. In their wake came upheaval and violence on a scale never before seen as the world plunged into a conflict hopefully described at its conclusion as “the war to end all wars.” An economic cataclysm soon followed the mil¬ itary one, as the injurious effects of a collapse in the United States’ economy spread relentlessly around the world. Throwing millions out of work, the Great Depression created global dis¬ content that fostered the visions of two of history’s wickedest dictators. Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union was one. The other was Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, who almost Single-handedly dragged the world into a conflict even deadlier ,
.
i
i
i
i
i •
sumed in flames during the Nazi invasion of
than the one that had ended just two decades before.
■
1903
Wilbur and Orville Wright become the first to achieve sustained controlled flight in a heavier-than-air craft.
■
1908
Henry Ford introduces the Model T; whose assembly-line produc¬ tion makes it ubiqui¬ tous on American roadways.
■
Norway in April 1940.
■
1914
Serbian nationalists assassinate Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
278
German infantrymen sprint pasta building con-
1917
In April the U.S. enters World War I. Six months later, V. I. Lenin instigates a Bolshevik coup against the provi¬ sional government of Russia and declares a Communist state.
■
1919
The Treaty of Versailles ends World War I, extracting billions in reparations from a defeated Germany.
■
1922
Fascism is on the rise as Benito Mussolini marches on Rome in October.
■
1929
Buoyed by speculation with borrowed money, the U.S. stock market crashes in October, beginning the slide into the Great Depression.
■
■
1932
New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford splits the atom, becoming the first to create a nuclear reaction.
27 9
1939
World War II begins when Germany invades Poland. Two years later, Japan draws in the U.S. by attacking its fleet at Pearl Harbor, turning the tide of war.
■
1945
Germany surrenders; Japan follows after atomic bombs destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
GLOBAL
CONFLICT:
its cylinders rather than outside, as
1 900-1 945
most steam engines do. In 1878, German inventor Niko¬
Revolution in Transit
laus Otto devised the first success¬ ful internal combustion motor, which Gottlieb Daimler subse¬ quently developed into the fore¬ runner of today’s gasoline engine. Daimler adapted a horse-drawn carriage
1900-1930
I
to
accommodate
his
single-cylinder motor, thereby build¬ ing the first four-wheel automobile.
N THE WORLD OF TRANSPORTA-
America’s first family car, and the
In 1889 he installed a two-cylinder
tion, 1903 was a prophetic year.
Wright Flyer, as the first self-
motor in a vehicle built from
Henry Ford established the
propelled aircraft was named,
the ground up as an automobile.
Ford Motor Company in Detroit,
would evolve into aerial con¬
Equipped with a four-speed trans¬
Michigan, and on December 17
veyances that would shrink the
mission, it could chug along at 10
near Kitty7 Hawk, North Carolina,
Earth. Around the world in 80
miles an hour.
Orville Wright became the first per¬
days? Try less than eight days.
son to pilot an aircraft other than a balloon in powered flight.
Aircraft and automobiles are
In the early 1900s the horse still reigned, and automobiles were
possible due to the internal com¬
It would be difficult to overstate
bustion engine, which got its start
the significance of these events.
in Europe in the latter part of the
Ford’s Model T would become
19th centurv and burns fuel inside
An airship noses out of a Dosseldorf hangar in 1914. Germany pioneered commercial avia¬ tion with such aircraft and commissioned 126 of them for use in World War I.
expensive, unpopular, and fragile.
that propelled the car to speeds
The cheapest car cost twice a
above a hundred miles an hour.
worker’s annual pay, which bought
And it carried a 15-year warranty.
an incomplete vehicle without
NOTABLE DATES
■
1903
On December 17, Orville and Wilbur Wright become the first to fly an air¬ plane. Henry Ford establishes the Ford Motor Company.
bumpers or headlights (purchased
Earthbound No More
separately). Cars were smelly and
In 1901, when the Ford Motor
noisy, prompting attempts in some
Company was merely a gleam in
cities to ban them. They hadn’t the
Henry Ford’s eye, Wilbur and
■
power to climb a steep hill, and they
Orville Wright, bicycle-building
broke down regularly.
brothers from Ohio, were deeply
William C. Durant combines Buick, Cadillac, and Oidsmobiie to farm General Motors.
1908
But this would pass. By 1913,
immersed in the mysteries of flight.
the American demand for cars
In a wind tunnel of their own
prompted Ford to boost produc¬
■
design, they were testing model glid¬
tion with the first continuously
ers, trying to develop a full-size
moving assembly line. While Ford
wing that produced sufficient lift to
French pilot Louts Bleriot is the first to fly an airplane across the English Channel, a distance of 24 miles.
concentrated on cars for every-
stay airborne.
man—“I will build a car for the
Succeeding in that, they tackled
great multitude,” he had promised
perhaps the thorniest issue con¬
in 1903—others aimed for speed
fronting them—-how to control an
and luxury.
aircraft in flight. In 1902 the Wright
■
1909
1911
Cal Rodgers completes the first trans¬ continental flight between New York and Pasadena, California. The trip takes 49 days, many of which are spent in repairs after 16 crashes.
In 1908 Italy produced the Isotta
brothers solved that problem as
Fraschini Tipo FE car. With a four-
well, producing a manned glider
■
cylinder engine developing a mere
that would climb, dive, and turn at
eight horsepower, the Tipo FE had
the will of the pilot.
Henry Ford adds a moving assembly line in his factory.
a top speed of 56 miles an hour. By
The next year the Wrights built
1926 French manufacturer Bugatti
a lightweight gasoline motor and
had built the Type 35B. With a
a new aircraft to mount it on, and
supercharger to pump more fuel
they took their flying machine, dis¬
into itsl30-horsepower engine, this
assembled, to Kill Devil Hills, near
fabled machine could accelerate to
Kitty Hawk on North Carolina’s
130 miles an hour.
Outer Banks. There, on December
On the luxury front, Cadillac
17,1903, Orville piloted the Wright
came out with the Model 30 in
Flyer a grand distance of 120 feet.
1912. Chief among its innovations
The brothers had achieved what
was the Delco electrical system,
had eluded all others: sustained,
which included a battery to power
controlled, powered flight of a
electric lights and the piece de
heavier-than-air machine.
starter
Where the Wright brothers led,
motor. The days of hand cranking
others soon followed. Not three
the engine were numbered. The
years later, Parisian Alberto Santos-
1929 Duesenburg J was the premier
Dumont, a Brazilian by birth and
automobile of its era. Beautifully
well experienced in lighter-than-air
customized, fast, and fabulously
conveyances called dirigibles, flew
expensive—$ 18,000 when the first
an aircraft of his own design 240
orders were taken—the Duesen¬
yards at an altitude of 20 feet and
burg had a 265-horsepower engine
a speed of 23 miles an hour.
resistance—an
electric
-281 -
■
1913
1923
U.S. Army Air Service pilots Oakley Kelly and John McReady fly a Fokker T-2 nonstop across the United States in just under 27 hours.
■
1924
Model T automobiles account for onehalf of the world's vehicles.
■
1926
Francis Davis, co-inventor of practical power steering, first installs the system on a 1921 Pierce Arrow. Power steering would not become commonplace in cars until the 1950s.
■
1927
Charles Lindbergh claims the Orteig Prize with his awe-inspiring solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
Vimy, the largest biplane built in England, in 1917. Such flying machines could take on extra fuel instead of bombs, greatly increas¬ ing their range, perfect for the broad expanses of water that seemed a special attraction for aviators. Less than a year after the end of World War I, two Royal Air Force pilots, John Alcock and A. W. Brown, became the first to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. After taking off from Newfoundland in a modified Vimy bomber, they crash-landed in an Irish bog just a little more than 16 hours later.
Lucky Lindy Flies All Alone Ground crew push Charles Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of St Louis, into position for takeoff on his epochal 1927 solo flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France.
Corps Airplane No. 1, it was the
But all this was mere prelude to the
world’s first military aircraft, but by
greatest aeronautical achievement
no means the last. Just five years
between the two World Wars:
later, Europe would be embroiled
Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight from
French inventor Louis Bleriot
in World War I, and aircraft would
New York to Paris in May 1927.
developed a monoplane with a 28-
see extensive use, first in recon¬
Lindbergh was a mail pilot in
horsepower engine in 1909. In it he
naissance and then in combat.
made the first flight across the Eng¬
In wartime, technology often
lish Channel—a 24-mile excursion
advances rapidly, and aviation in
that took 37 minutes.
World War I was no exception. Air¬
1926. Some years earlier, Raymond Orteig, a New York hotelier, had
Harriet Quimby
An alternative to heavier-than-
planes flew progressively higher and
air flight was the airship, in essence
faster. Armament evolved from an
a balloon filled, at this time, with
occasional brick thrown by one
hydrogen and outfitted with engines
pilot at another, to pistols, and on
and rudders for steering. German
to machine guns firing between
airships, called zeppelins after their
spinning propeller blades. Airplanes
—Harriet Quimby after her solo flight
inventor Count Ferdinand von Zep¬
made heroes of some pilots. Man¬
across the English Channel
pelin, are perhaps the best known.
fred von Richthofen, Germany’s
In 1910 Germany established the
Red Baron, shot down an amazing
adventurous New York magazine
world’s first well-financed airline
80 enemy planes. America’s top
writer, became the first American
company. Called Delag, it operated
World War I ace, Eddie Ricken-
woman to earn a flying license.
four airships that, during the next
backer, destroyed 26.
five years, carried some 34,000 pas¬ sengers on 1,588 flights.
Aircraft became larger in order
I
was annoyed from the start by the attitude of doubt on the part of the spectators that I would never really
make the flight."
In 1911 36-year-old Harriet Quimby, an
The following year she sailed for France to meet aviator Louis Bleriot, from whom she borrowed an airplane
to carry heavy payloads of bombs
to become the first woman to fly across
In 1909, just a year before Delag
to drop on enemy trenches. Ger¬
the English Channel. Quimby took off
began carrying passengers, the U.S.
many had the Gotha bomber, which
from Dover, England, on a foggy April
Army had purchased an improved
carried a crew of three. Great
Wright Flyer. Designated Signal
Britain’s Vickers Ltd. introduced the 282
morning. Only 59 minutes later she touched down on a French beach.
offered a standing prize of $25,000 to the first pilot to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. Several pilots had died in their
Mass Production Comes of Age
efforts to claim the prize, but Lind¬ bergh was undaunted. He secured
As HAVE MANY OTHER TITANS OF INDUSTRY, HENRY FORD DEPENDED
/ % on inventors who had preceded him in developing his revolu-
financial backing from a consor¬ tium of St. Louis businessmen, and in early 1927 he commissioned the Ryan Aircraft Company of San Diego, California, to produce a custom-built plane. Ready in just 60 days, it was named the Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh favored max¬ imum fuel capacity for his plane, sacrificing comfort and safety fea¬ tures to get it. When he took off for New York in Spirit, its huge fuel tanks blocked his view.
tionary advances in mass production. Eli Whitney had come -A.
JL. up with a device that followed a pattern to shape parts so
nearly identical to each other that they could be used interchangeably in larger assembly—guns for the U.S. Army, in Whitney’s case. Called the milling machine, Whitney’s invention made mass production possible by substituting unskilled machinery operators for master crafts¬ men who, try as they might, could not reproduce parts accurately enough for one to be used in place of another. Nor did Ford invent the assem¬ bly line. George Eastman used an assembly line of sorts to develop film and print pictures, and Ransome Olds, father of the Oldsmobile, first adapted the
The morning of May 20 arrived cold and rainy at Long Island’s Roosevelt Field. Despite having not slept in 30 hours, Lindbergh taxied his plane onto the soggy,
idea to automobile production. Ford’s contribution was to animate the assembly line with a conveyor belt, which brings work to the workers at a steady
grass airstrip and gunned the
pace without interruption. When
engine. So heavily laden with fuel
the moving assembly line was
was the Spirit of St. Louis that it
inaugurated in 1913, it allowed
barely cleared the telegraph wires
the Ford Motor Company to bolt
off the end of the airstrip. Fending
together a Model T in 728 min¬
off sleep the entire flight, Lind¬
utes. In less than two years, the
bergh spotted the glowing lights of
time required to produce a car dropped to 93 minutes. Later, the inter¬
Paris after dark on the evening of
val between Model Ts dropped to a mere 24 seconds. This huge increase
May 21 and landed at Le Bourget
in productivity helped Ford reduce the price of a Model T from $950
aerodrome. He had been airborne
in 1908 to as low as $280 during its 19-year production run.
33.5 hours. Lindbergh
Henry Ford pilots the first horseless carriage he ever built along a street in Detroit, Michigan,
The conveyor-belt assembly line had some drawbacks. The men who became
famous
labored there found the work tedious and monotonous. Furthermore,
overnight—among other things a
Ford gradually increased the speed of the conveyor system to raise
popular dance, the Lindy, was
production. The result was huge turnover in the labor force. To stanch
named
feat
the hemorrhage of workers, Ford in 1914 more than doubled the then
focused public attention on the air¬
prevalent wage to five dollars a day and reduced the workday from
plane as never before. There can
nine hours to eight. These high wages—perhaps industry’s first “golden
be little doubt that Lindbergh’s
handcuffs”—assured a ready supply of labor, and the shorter working
flight in the Spirit of St. Louis
hours, besides appealing to the employees, allowed Ford to run his fac¬
opened the public’s eyes to the
tory three shifts each day instead of two, increasing by one-third the
potential of air travel as had no ear¬
number of cars he could produce in a 24-hour period. ■
for him—and
his
lier aeronautical achievement. ■ {283
A GLOBAL
CONFLICT:
1900-1945
On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. World War I had begun.
The Point of No Return Serbia hardly seemed likely to spark
World War I
the conflagration that would soon spread far and wide. Landlocked and agrarian, Serbia was a poor country and a hotbed of national¬
1914-1918
D
ism—at best a prize of questionable value. Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm
uring the opening years
The act of terrorism for which
did not expect that a wider war
|of the 20th century, civil
the Black Hand is most infamous
would evolve when he encouraged
unrest was much in the air.
is the assassination of Archduke
Austria-Hungary to act against Ser¬
Revolutions occurred in Russia
Franz Ferdinand. Heir to the throne
bia after the assassination of the
(1905-07), Turkey (1908), Mexico
of Austria-Hungary, the archduke
archduke in Sarajevo.
(1910), and China (1911). These
was to visit the Bosnian city of Sara¬
War spread like a virulent infec¬
revolutions had mostly local con¬
jevo on June 28, 1914, to inspect
tion because of a system of alliances
sequences. But another, founded on
nearby military maneuvers. The
established
the nationalistic aspirations of Serbs
Black Hand determined to kill him,
in the Balkans, would plunge the
despite the Serbian government’s
world into a cauldron of conflict. In 1903 Serbian army officers
fear that the murder could result in war with Austria-Hungary.
killed King Alexander, an unpopu¬
As the archduke and his wife
lar autocrat of the first order, and
motored through Sarajevo, a con¬
established a democracy. Impelled
spirator lobbed a grenade at his
by nationalistic fervor, the govern¬
open car. His driver swerved, and
ment sowed unrest among Serbs in
the missile hit the side of the car,
neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina
injuring several officers riding in
and Austria-Hungary in an effort
attendance. When Franz Ferdinand
to unite all Serbs into a single state.
left the hospital after he visited the
To prevent this outcome, Austria-
injured members of his party, his
Hungary invaded Bosnia in 1908.
car happened to pass by one of
Three years later 11 Serbs, in¬
the conspirators. He fired a pistol,
cluding army officers of high rank
killing the archduke and his wife.
and some government officials,
When Austria demanded that Ser¬
formed the Black Hand secret
bia hand over the perpetrators,
society. Its intent was to unify all
Prime Minister Pasic refused, say¬
Serbs through the violence of ter¬
ing that doing so “would be a
rorism. Within three years, the
violation of Serbia’s Constitution
Black Hand had established a
and criminal law.”
strong network of revolutionary cells throughout Bosnia and had more than 2,500 members, most of them junior officers in the army.
Kneeling on platforms built into a barge, Ser¬ bian marksmen fire at Austrian soldiers entrenched on the banks of the Danube River as the vessel floats downriver.
284
between
European
countries in years past. Russia,
majority of its army through Bel¬
although not formally allied with
gium to defeat France from the
NOTABLE DATES
Serbia, supported that country in
north before Russia had a chance
its argument with Austria-Hungary
■
to mobilize. With France subdued,
and mobilized its armed forces
Germany calculated that Britain
upon learning of the declaration of
and Russia would stay out of the
war. But a secret agreement, known
conflict. France had Plan XVII, by
as the Triple Alliance, which dated
which it earmarked four military
back to 1882, obliged Germany,
divisions to recapture Alsace and
Austria-Hungary,
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassi¬ nated. Austria-Hungary, Germany, Rus¬ sia, France, and Great Britain become major players as war begins. President Woodrow Wilson asserts U.S. neutrality, japan enters the war against Germany. Germans rout the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg. The German advance against the French stops at the Marne River. Trench warfare begins. The Ottoman Empire sides with Germany.
Italy to
Lorraine, provinces lost to Ger¬
defend each other against attack
and
many in 1871, after the Franco-
from Russia or France. Thus Ger¬
Prussian War.
1914
many declared war, first on Russia,
Neither plan survived contact
then on France. Germany’s invasion
with the enemy. After a month of
■
of Belgium on August 4, 1914,
battle, French opposition to the
brought Great Britain into the war.
German advance halted it well short
Germany and France in parti¬
of Paris. German defenders turned
German submarines fill British waters. Britain blockades German ports. On the Eastern front, Germany expels Russia from Poland. Italy attacks Austria-Hungary, ending its alliance with Germany.
cular had detailed war plans for just
back the French in Alsace-Lorraine.
this eventuality. The Schlieffen Plan
Mutually thwarted, the two sides
called for Germany to send the vast
dug in—the Germans to defend
■
1915
1916
In the war's longest battle, Germany attacks at Verdun in February; the conflict rages six months. British and German navies fight to a draw in the Battle of Jutland, the only major naval engagement of the war. Russians defeat Turks in the Caucasus. Lawrence of Arabia engineers revolt against Turks in the Middle East. Battle of the Somme sees first use of tanks; there are 60,000 British casualties on the first day alone.
■
1917
German U-boats begin unrestricted attacks on shipping. The U.S. declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Lenin arrives in Petrograd. The First Division becomes the first U.S. unit to reach France. British forces capture Jerusalem.
■
1918
Germany launches spring offensive to reverse setbacks of 1917. U.S. troops win their first major battle, at Cantigny. French and American troops open the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the Allies' last major push, Kaiser Wilhelm abdi¬ cates as Germany falters. The new Republic of Germany signs an armistice. 285
MAJOR BATTLES A'**
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