Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7: THE CLASSICAL ERA VARIATIONS: 

AFRICA AND THE AMERICAS 500 B.C.E.-1200 C.E.

        
         This period was characterized by the development of language and tools to enable different cultures to produce agricultural crops, to domesticate animals, to utilize waterways for trade routes and to increase population more quickly than ever before.  This led to rapid population growth that contributed to the collapse of many civilizations because the land could not sustain the number of people who were trying to survive by utilizing its resources.  The changing climate and intense warfare between neighboring groups contributed greatly to the demise of these societies.

            The civilizations in this area made use of hallucinogenic drugs to enhance their religious experiences and beliefs.  Most used human sacrifice as part of their rituals.   They developed art that depicted their gods as animal spirits.  They constructed cities and developed irrigation canals to facilitate the agricultural industry.  They created elaborate jewelry, and their artwork was seen on pottery and woven products. 

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Meroë

            Located near Egypt, but was a civilization in itself, and flourished from 300 B.C.E.to 100 C.E.

Politics:           They were a monarchy with occasionally women rulers.  They were buried with sacrificial victims.

Economy:        They had a very strong economy:  merchants, weavers, potters, masons, servants and slaves.  They were particularly known for their smelting of iron and manufacturing of iron tools and weapons.  In the rural areas, people were herders and farmers.  The rural farmers were not as dependent on the Nile River because of heavy rainfall in the region.  Long distance trading was done with the use of camels.  These people had a reputation for great riches in NE Africa and the Mediterranean region.

Religion and culture:   A lion god was more popular with them than the gods of Egypt.  They developed their own writing rather than continue the use of the Egyptian writing style.  After 100  C.E., the civilization declined, partly from deforestation, and they were finally conquered by their neighbors, the Axum

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Axum
            They were a new and emerging kingdom founded on agriculture, using plows rather than hoes and digging sticks that the rest of Africa was using at the time.  By 50 C.E., they had become a substantial state by use of commerce in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.  Taxes on trade were a major source of revenue.  The interior capital city (Axum) was a center for arts; they created huge stone columns 79 feet tall.
Religion:          They were introduced to Christianity in 400 C.E.  The monarchy adopted the religion, linking them religiously to Egypt (which subsequently became Islamic).
Politics:           They expanded their kingdom from Meroë, across the Red Sea into Yemen and S. Arabia.  By 571, their army (including African war elephants) reached into Mecca.  Their decline was due in part to environmental changes such as erosion of soil and deforestation from over-farming.  The rise of Islam changed trade routes and loss of revenue from taxes was an economic factor.

Bantu speaking people of Africa

            Approx 400 distinct but related languages connected the South African communities, established by 100 C.E. to 400 C.E.  This was a slow progression, not brought on by conquest, but by expansion through agriculture and a common language.  Farmers expanded into the communities of the HGs, bringing with them diseases that killed off many of the native people.  The new agricultural people brought tools and weapons with them, and the original HGs adapted to the new lifestyle and language, or died off.

            In Central Africa, the foraging people were the Batwa (pygmy), who brought honey, wild animals (food and hides), medicinal barks and plants to exchange for agricultural food and tools.  They adopted the Bantu language.  These native people were honored as the original “owners of the land,” and the Bantu chiefs claimed they were related to them and were therefore entitled to be honored as well, as “civilizers of the earth.”

Religion:          The Bantu speakers believed in ancestral and nature spirits.  They sacrificed cattle and used rituals to attempt to control the weather and defend their villages.  They believed in witches, and thought that wicked people caused misfortune.  “Diviners” used dreams, visions, trances and charms to determine the cause of misfortune, and to prescribe solutions for such problems.  Their religion was constantly evolving, because people were continually receiving new spiritual messages.  They did not proselytize, and kept their religion local.

Jenne-jeno

            These people numbered about 40,000 at best, existing from 300 B.C.E. to 900 C.E.  They developed into a civilization of cities without states.  They accomplished this by creating small communities that specialized in various “industries,” such as iron-smithing, weaving, pottery making, and singing.  Rural communities developed that engaged in agriculture, some specialized in growing rice; others specialized in fishing and other various agricultural endeavors.  This group of people only married within their individual communities (i.e., the weavers married weavers).  This way they were able to be autonomous and use the resources of the other surrounding communities without the need to overpower any of them.  They were able to be even more profitable by trading along the Niger River.

MESOAMERICA

            This was the area from Central Mexico to N. Central America.  (The Classical Era occurred before the period of the Aztec and Inca civilizations.)  The most remarkable Mesoamerican civilization was that of the Maya.

Mayan Civilization (around 250-900 C.E.)

            The Mayans developed a mathematical system that included zero, place notation and complex calculations.  They combined their math skills to plot planets and develop calendars and accurately calculate the solar year.  They created an elaborate writing system using pictographs and hieroglyphics.  They recorded historical events, astronomical data and religious or mythological texts.  They created temples, pyramids, palaces, public plazas.  They constructed an elaborate water management system.  Agriculture abounded, population increased.  They had a class system of elites, including priests, merchants, architects, sculptors and artisans.  They had a large public labor force.

            Their political system was fragmented, and there was no social cohesiveness.  No central authority and frequent warfare.  They captured and sacrificed prisoners.  While some city-states were imperialistic, none were able to create a unified empire.  The civilization collapsed quickly, due to drought, famine, epidemic and fratricidal warfare.  Historians believe that the rapid population growth outstripped the resources of the land, and climate change and lack of political unity contributed to the downfall of the civilization.

Teotihuacán, “the city of the gods”

            This city flourished around the same time as the Mayans, and was located northward in the Valley of Mexico.  This city was built around 150 B.C.E., and it was built from plans (perhaps the birth of organized architecture in Mesoamerica?) rather than buildings just popping up as the need for them arose.  By 550 C.E., the population was estimated to be from 100,000 to 200,000.  It was one of the 6^th largest urban complexes in the world.  We know nothing about the language or politics of these people, and not much about their religion.
The City:         The city was huge, with broad streets, large marketplaces, “temples, palaces, apartment complexes, slums waterways, reservoirs, drainage systems and colorful murals” (Strayer, 195).  The apartments of the average citizens contained separate kitchens, bedrooms, patios and shrines to their gods.  Their murals depicted different aspects of their culture, from one showing happy people frolicking in irrigated fields, playing and singing and chasing butterflies (thought to be souls of dead people) to another showing warriors dancing with knives that held bleeding human hearts (!).  Many of the skilled Mayan tradespeople lived in this city. 

Power:             The art of the city does not depict individual rulers, so it is speculated that perhaps they were ruled by a council of elites, or that they wanted to avoid the “personality cult” that was alive in the Mayan civilization.  They had a very limited form of writing.  Their sphere of influence was about 10,000 sq. miles.  They took over at least one Mayan city (in the southern highlands) and made it into a colony.  Some of their military activity was used to obtain commodities by long-distance trade.  The size and prestige of the city caused it to be imitated across Mesoamerica, both architecturally and artistically.  No one knows what caused this society to collapse.  Much later (like 1,000 years later), the Aztec people referred to this city as the “city of the gods.”

THE ANDES

            Many civilizations developed around the Andes, an area along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in South America.  These civilizations thrived, in part, due to their proximity along the coast and availability of fish and sea birds.

The Chavin (900 B.C.E.—by about 750 B.C.E., they numbered about 2,000 or 3,000)

            These people lived along the coast and in the highland regions of Peru.  They developed small-scale irrigation projects, and were ruled by religious leaders.  Chavin de Huantar was located high in the Andes, along trade routes west to the coastal area and east to the Amazon rain forest.  They were characterized by a distinct class separation of elites and regular people.  The elites lived in stone houses and the regular people lived in adobe structures.

Religion:          They constructed an elaborate temple complex with hidden passageways and staircases, ventilation shafts, drainage canals and carvings on the walls.  Their gods were derived from the desert coast and rain forest:  jaguars, crocodiles and snakes.  The shamans used the hallucinatory properties of the San Pedro cactus to come up with some of their religious visions.  These are depicted in their artwork, showing images of human-jaguar beings.  These beliefs stretched across the area, and the artwork, religious images and architecture can be found throughout much of Peru.   Chavin became a site to which people made pilgrimages, and it is thought that they had training centers to teach their religious beliefs and rituals.  No empire emerged from this civilization, but something of a religious cult arose around the belief system; their proximity to trade routes helped to spread the popularity of their religion.

Moche (100-800 C.E.)

            After the Chavin cult faded from the picture, several other civilizations became popular.  The Moche was one of them.  These people lived along the northern coast of Peru, and enjoyed thirteen river valleys.  Obviously, this helped them by providing food from the coast, and irrigation and travel because of the rivers. 

Politics:           They were governed by warrior-priests who used hallucinogenic drugs.  They used ritual sacrifice of humans, many of whom were prisoners of war.  Images show decapitation and dismemberment of people who would be sacrificed.  This elite class was wealthy, and adorned themselves elaborately, including the wearing of headdresses of feathers, and necklaces and bracelets of turquoise and gold.  

Art:      The Moche were skilled artisans and created masks, jewelry, animal figures, metal works, pottery and woven products.  These items were adorned with pictures of their gods, often portrayed in erotic images and grotesque figures.

Environmental conditions led to the demise of this culture, in the form of drought and earthquakes and torrential rains.  They were also subject to aggressive neighbors.

Quiz Questions

          

1)      Discuss the spread of the Bantu speaking people across Africa and why this was unusual.

2)      Discuss the Mayan civilization and some of their specific achievements.

3)      Discuss at least two additional civilizations of the era (i.e., Meroë, Axum, Jenne-Jeno, the Chavin, the city of Teotihuacán, and/or the Moche), and what made them of interest to you.

4)      Speculate on why hallucinogens were used so frequently in religious practices of the day, and the impact this might have had on the civilizations.

At first we gathered

This week’s reading focused on society's development from scavengers into an organized, intentional civilization.  The book discussed the agricultural revolution, from which humans evolved as gatherers and hunters, to eventually establishing civilizations and communities.

            The Agricultural Revolution transformed the way that human beings lived on the planet, and the way that they related to one another. An interesting development described in the reading was the way that the agricultural revolution moved humans from the Paleolithic matriarchal society into one where men had control and power.  This developed because women were no longer able to compete with men in supplying food for the community.  Initially, the bulk of the food a group ate was “produced” by the gathering work of women.  With the development of planting and plowing, men became more useful as providers for the community, and women’s roles became more focused on bearing and raising children and preparing food.  Once men became the providers, they were able to take control of their society, and maintained this control with the use of economic and militaristic strength.

            Throughout history, those who were unable to adapt to the needs of a growing community could not survive for long.  Societies that were unable to develop an agricultural lifestyle or one that domesticated and bred animals for food eventually died out (i.e., the Clovis people).  Eventually, this group used up all of the resources available to them.  The land was unable to sustain the population growth, and the communities died out unless they were able to develop techniques for growing their own food, or unless they were able to migrate.

            Migration played a key role in the development and expansion of human civilization.  The societies that eventually became the strongest were those whose restless nature pushed them to explore and develop other lands.  This suggests that the inherent desire in some people to learn more, to explore more, to be more curious and inventive, was the characteristic most important in the development and expansion into other lands, and therefore into the economic success of communities.  For example, the desire to move across water led to the invention of canoes, which allowed expansion into Australia and the surrounding islands.  The individuals who innovated rose to higher levels in the community and/or left a community to develop a new one.

            One of the coolest things in the book so far is the “snapshot” on page xlii showing the history of the universe on a “cosmic calendar.”  This is the first time that the scale of the evolution of life on earth made sense to me.  This graphic illustration was a very clear rendering of how long it took for human life to evolve, and how quickly things have moved along since the first human-like creatures appeared, and particularly since the agricultural revolution.