The Western Hemisphere is the
hemisphere that includes North and South America; the civilizations that
developed in the Western Hemisphere, such as the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs,
were not as complex as those in the Eastern Hemisphere. There are doubtlessly
many different reasons why it worked out that way, but it is probably important
that the Eastern Hemisphere, including Eurasia and Africa, was inhabited for a
much longer time and had more diverse ethnicities with longer histories, which
became more competitive with each other than the relatively homogeneous
cultures of the Western Hemisphere, and the competition pushed civilization to
greater complexity. I would also say that the invention of the phonetic
alphabet by the Phonecians was perhaps the single most critical advance of the
Eastern Hemisphere. After the rise of the great river valley civilizations,
history witnessed the rise of civilizations in the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres (2200-250 B.C.E). Each civilization faces challenges from politics
to environment and everything in between. This chapter explains how each
society became urbanized even though it was very tough. Nubia, China, Olmec,
and Chavin are connected though each are separated by millions of miles and
geological isolation.
Chinese civilization may be the
oldest continuous one in world history, and it has a number of enduring
characteristics. [1]The
uniqueness and distinctiveness of Chinese civilization is due at least in part
to geography:
·
It is located at the eastern end of
Eurasia and is bounded by mountains, deserts, and steppes. To the north is Siberia, and to the east is
the Pacific Ocean.
·
Its ability to have less civilized
invaders who then absorbed Chinese culture and the language rather than the
other way around, as was frequently the case in India.
·
Also important was the secular nature of
Chinese civilization; it never produced a priestly class that had an important
political role.
·
In
addition, Chinese culture stresses the social life rather than the individual
life of human beings, thus emphasizing the importance of relations between
members of a family or between subject and king.
Early
Neolithic agricultural villages appeared in China’s Yellow River Valley about
4,000BC. Others developed along other
rivers like the Huai and the Yangtze.
The earliest crop was millet, followed by rice, wheat, cabbage, and
soybeans. Early Chinese also domesticated animals, made pots for the storage of
grain and liquids, and owned weapons.
Little is known about religious beliefs or practices, but it is thought
that ancestral worship was very important. The Urban Revolution may have occurred
about 2,000 BC, but the details are sketchy, largely because extensive
archeological excavations have not been undertaken. Early Chinese history is
traditionally divided into three dynasties:
·
The Hsia (ca. 2205-1766 BC);
·
The Shang (ca. 1766-1050BC);
·
The Chou (ca. 1050-256BC).
Until
the 20th century, most historians assumed the first two were mythical, but the
discovery of Shang cities has forced a re-evaluation and the suggestion that the
Hsia may also be real; its legendary founder is named Yu the Great. Nonetheless, little is known about this
dynasty, except for legends describing the cruelty of the Hsia princes.
[2]The Hsia Dynasty was
overthrown by members of the Shang family led by King T’ang, who according to
early records was called upon by Heaven to oust the Hsia rulers. Located
near the Yellow River, Shang civilization centered on great city-states like
the capital, which was founded by P’an Keng in 1384 BC and consisted of a
walled city surrounded by Neolithic agricultural villages. Characteristics
of Shang civilization included: Political, economic, social, and religious
power which belonged to the king, who with the nobility lived in the fortified
cities, armies were composed of aristocrats who fought in horse-drawn chariots
and foot soldiers; armies were around 4,000 troops and were equipped with
bronze weapons, the Shang had a complex system of writing, and it has been
preserved on bronzes and oracle bones. Furthermore, Shang religion combined
animism and ancestor worship. They believed, in the existence of a kindly
and all-powerful dragon, who lived in the rivers and seas and rose into the
heavens. They also had a supreme “Deity Above” who was served by lesser
natural gods. The gods were not worshiped directly but through the
intermediation of ancestors. Reverence for one’s parents and ancestors was of
paramount importance. [3]Religion was associated
with cosmology, and the movements of the planets and stars was recorded.
Important for an agricultural people was a calendar. The Shang calendar
had 30 day months and a 360 day in a year; extra days were added as needed to
correct the calendar. The Shang were also masters of bronze technology; it was
used for weapons, armor, and ceremonial vessels. As Shang society developed, a
rigid stratification system was introduced. At the top were the king, his
court officials, and warriors; at the bottom were masses of artisans,
agricultural workers, and slaves who did the needed manual labor like building
city walls -- those of one city required the labor of 10,000 men for 18
years. Evidence for the lowly status of those at the bottom is provided
by Shang royal tombs; some were filled with the bodies of the king’s slaves and
servants, all sacrificed to accompany their master for eternity; one royal tomb
at Anyang contains the remains of fifty-two animals and seventy-nine humans.
The third of the
early Chinese dynasties, the Chou dynasty originated along the Wei River, a
tributary of the Yellow River. Its history is divided into two major periods,
that of the Western (ca. 1050-771 BC) and that of the Eastern Chou (771-256
BC). A less civilized but more warlike people, they conquered the
neighboring Shang about 1050 BC, perhaps because they were tired of paying
tribute, or because of the wickedness of the last Shang king, one Chou Hsin.
Their characteristics included: they then adopted and preserved the main
features of Shang civilization, including their writing system, the practice of
ancestor worship, divination by the reading of oracle bones, and the division
of society into two major groups, peasants and an aristocratic warrior class,
Mandate of Heaven—the approval of the gods to govern—, which gave the Chou
kings political legitimacy and which justified the overthrow of the Shang
Dynasty. They claimed that the Shang had once had it, but that it had
been withdrawn because of the wickedness of the last Shang king; it therefore
passed to the Chou kings. This basic idea survived into the 20th
century. Because of the size of their lands, the Chou rulers set up a
feudalistic system. Trusted royal family members and military leaders
were granted land in exchange for loyal and military service to the ruler and
protection for the people living on the land. Over time, some of these
lords built city-states and grew very powerful, and they fought with each other
or power, wealth, and land. The Western Chou state ended in 771 BC when it was
overrun by barbarians. They also had Great intellectual flowering with the
development of Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism.
[4]The Chou Dynasty (1050-256
BC), especially the Warring States period, witnessed remarkable creativity in
Chinese intellectual life. It is called
the time of the Hundred Schools. The
political, social, and economic challenges confronting the Chinese state and
Chinese society stimulated the production of new ideas and theories. Some, like Sun Wu wrote about such matters as
The Art of War. But, the most noteworthy
is Confucius; other school of thought are Daoism and Legalism. These thinkers are the contemporaries as well
as the intellectual equals of the Hebrew prophets, the Greek philosophers, and
a number of religious teachers in India. Confucius (ca 551-478 BC) is
considered China’s greatest thinker and teacher, and his ideas have influenced
Chinese beliefs and styles of living to the present time.
Another civilization was the Olmec
civilization. [5]The
ancient Olmec civilization is now considered to be one of the earliest great
civilizations in Mesoamerica. This
civilization came and went long before the Aztec empire was even thought of,
and yet they left their mark on the peoples of Mexico and beyond, and developed
a complex culture which is still echoed today, probably in ways we don't yet
even realize. The ancient Olmec civilization is believed to have been centered
on the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico area (today the states of Veracruz and
Tabasco) - further south east than the heart of the Aztec empire. The Olmec culture developed in the centuries
before 1200BC (BCE), and declined around 400BC. [6]There are a couple of
reasons why the Olmec’s are so important. They used and perhaps developed many
things culturally and religiously that were later used by the Mayans and Aztecs
and many other cultures. The Olmec’s carved stone, jade, and the volcanic rock
basalt (used for the great stone heads
In addition, the Kush (also known as
Nubia) was the empire to the south of Egypt. Kush was built in at the base of
the mountains, at the start of the Nile River. [7]They didn't have to worry,
as the Egyptians did, about the annual flooding of the Nile to bring good soil.
They had good soil. They enjoyed plenty of rainfall all year long to keep
things fresh and growing. Kush had tremendous natural wealth. They had gold
mines and ivory and iron ore. Other kingdoms wanted to conquer Kush and keep
the wealth for themselves. They were
known as the Land of the Bow because of their many expert archers. The nobles
lived along the Nile River. They thought of themselves as Egyptians, although
the Egyptians would not have agreed. They lived in similar houses and worshiped
the same gods as the ancient Egyptians, with a couple of additional gods tossed
in, like the three-headed lion god. Unlike the Egyptians, their rulers were queens,
rather than kings or pharaohs. They mummified their dead. They built tombs with
flat roofs. Like the Kush nobles, the common people mummified their dead, and
worshiped the same gods. But they did not think of themselves as Egyptians. The
common people lived in villages. They were farmers. They were proud of their
village. Each village had a leader, but the leader was not a king or queen or
chief. The leader did not rule. Rather, the leader suggested and led discussions.
The villagers decided. There was a place in Kush where two or more villages
might meet. You had to be invited, but if invited, you knew where to go, as the
meeting place was always the same. Festivals were held in the meeting place. One
of Kush's natural resources was iron ore. This was the Iron Age. Everyone
wanted iron weapons and iron tools. Kush was the center of the iron trade in
the ancient African world. [8]To produce iron from ore,
Kush needed to burn wood. Wood was running out. Kush had to turn their
attention to other trade goods to survive. They had heard stories of the
wonderful gold mines on the other side of Africa. It was a very long trip. The
Sahara Desert was in the way. Around 750 CE, Kush tried using camels and camel
trains to cross the sea of sand. It was dangerous. It was miserable. But as
Kush traders discovered, it could be done. Kush turned their attention to the
trade with West Africa. This was the beginning of the Trans-Sahara Trade Route.
[1] http://www2.uncp.edu/home/rwb/lecture_asian_civ.htm
[2] http://www2.uncp.edu/home/rwb/lecture_asian_civ.htm
[3] http://www.answers.com/Q/Compare_the_development_of_complex_civilizations_in_the_Western_Hemisphere_with_those_of_the_Eastern_Hemisphere_What_factors_might_account_for_those_differences
[4] http://www2.uncp.edu/home/rwb/lecture_asian_civ.htm
[5] http://www.aztec-history.com/olmec-civilization.html
[6] http://www.aztec-history.com/olmec-civilization.html
[7] http://africa.mrdonn.org/kush.html
[8] http://africa.mrdonn.org/kush.html
