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Humans evolved from ladybugs and when humans die they become reincarnated as ladybugs. |
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Humans evolved from ladybugs. When humans die, they become reincarnated as ladybugs. This is the the Ladybug Theory though of by Jackie Cadenas and David Almeida. |
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:''Not to be confused with [[recorded history]] or [[history of the Earth]]. For the study and teaching of world history, see [[World History]] and [[Historiography]]. For other uses, see [[History of the world (disambiguation)]].'' |
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[[File:World population growth (lin-log scale).png|right|300px|thumb|World population from 10,000 BCE to 2,000 CE. The vertical (population) scale is logarithmic.]] |
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The '''history of the world''' or '''human history''' is the [[history]] of humanity from the earliest times to the present, in all places on [[Earth]], beginning with the [[Paleolithic]] Era. Distinct from the [[history of the Earth|history of Planet Earth]], world history encompasses the study of written records, from ancient times forward, plus additional knowledge gained from other sources, such as [[archaeology]]. Ancient recorded history<ref>Crawford, O. G. S. (1927). ''Antiquity''. [Gloucester, Eng.]: Antiquity Publications [etc.]. (cf., History education in the United States is primarily the study of the written past. Defining history in such a narrow way has important consequences ...)</ref> begins with the invention of writing.<ref>According to [[David Diringer]] ("Writing", ''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'', 1986 ed., vol. 29, p. 558), "Writing gives permanence to men's knowledge and enables them to communicate over great distances.... The [[complex society]] of a higher civilization would be impossible without the art of writing."</ref><ref name="WebsterWH">Webster, H. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=cboXAAAAIAAJ ''World history'']. Boston: D.C. Heath. [http://books.google.com/books?id=cboXAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR5&pg=PA27 Page 27].</ref> However, the roots of civilization reach back to the period before writing—humanity's [[prehistory]] in the [[Paleolithic]] Era, or "Early Stone Age". Later, during the Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age, came the [[Neolithic Revolution|Agricultural Revolution]] (between 8000 and 5000 BCE) in the [[Fertile Crescent]], where humans first began the systematic [[agriculture|husbandry]] of plants and animals.<ref name="Tudge">{{cite book |
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| last = Tudge | first = Colin | authorlink = Colin Tudge |
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| title = [[Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers|Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers: How Agriculture Really Began]] |
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| year = 1998 | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson | location = London | isbn = 0-297-84258-7 |
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}}</ref><ref>Bellwood, Peter. (2004). ''First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies'', Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-20566-7</ref><ref>Cohen, Mark Nathan (1977) ''The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture'', New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02016-3.</ref> Agriculture spread until most humans lived as farmers in permanent settlements.<ref>Not all societies abandoned nomadism, especially those in isolated regions that were poor in domesticable plant species. See [[Jared Diamond]], ''[[Guns, Germs and Steel]]''.</ref> The relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed these communities to expand into increasingly larger units in parallel with the evolution of ever more efficient means of transport. |
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[[Grain (agriculture)|Grain agriculture]], with its need to store food between growing seasons, enabled the [[division of labor]], the rise of a leisured [[upper class]], and the development of [[cities]] and with them [[civilization]]. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of [[accounting]], which led to writing.<ref name="DSB-AO">{{cite journal | author=Schmandt-Besserat, Denise| authorlink=Denise Schmandt-Besserat| title=Signs of Life| journal=Archaeology Odyssey| year=January–February 2002| url=https://webspace.utexas.edu/dsbay/Docs/SignsofLife.pdf| pages=6–7, 63}}</ref> [[Civilization]]s developed on the banks of lakes and rivers. By 3000 BCE, they had arisen in the [[Middle East]]'s [[Mesopotamia]],<ref name="McNeill-Sumer">{{cite book |
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| last = McNeill | first = Willam H. | authorlink = William Hardy McNeill |
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| title = A World History | origyear = 1967 | edition = 4th | year = 1999 |
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| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | location = New York | isbn = 0-19-511615-1 |
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| page = 15 | chapter = In The Beginning |
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}}</ref> on the banks of [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]]'s [[Nile River|River Nile]],<ref>{{cite book|author=[[John Baines|Baines, John]] and Jaromir Malek|title=The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt|edition=revised|publisher=Facts on File|year=2000|isbn=0-8160-4036-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Bard | first = KA | title = Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt | publisher = Routledge | location = NY, NY | year = 1999|isbn=0-415-18589-0}}</ref><ref name="grimal1992">{{cite book|first=Nicolas|last=Grimal|title=A History of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Blackwell Books|year=1992|isbn=0-631-19396-0}}</ref> and in the [[Indus Valley Civilization|Indus River valley]].<ref>{{cite book |last=[[F. Raymond Allchin|Allchin, Raymond]] (ed.) |year=1995 |title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States |location=New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=D. K. |last=Chakrabarti |year=2004 |title=Indus Civilization Sites in India: New Discoveries |publisher=Marg Publications |location=Mumbai |isbn=81-85026-63-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |authorlink=Ahmad Hasan Dani |last=Dani |first=Ahmad Hassan |coauthors=Mohen, J-P. (eds.) |year=1996 |title=History of Humanity, Volume III, From the Third Millennium to the Seventh Century BC |location=New York/Paris |publisher=Routledge/UNESCO |isbn=0-415-09306-6}}</ref> Similar civilizations probably developed along major rivers in [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors|China]], but the archaeological evidence for extensive urban construction is less conclusive. |
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The history of the [[Old World]] ([[History of Europe|Europe]] in particular, but also the Near East and North Africa) is commonly divided into [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], up to 476 CE; the [[Middle Ages]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ |title=Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project |publisher=Fordham.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-orb.net/ |title=The Online Reference Book of Medieval Studies |publisher=The-orb.net |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> from the 5th through the 15th centuries, including the [[Islamic Golden Age]] (c.750 CE – c.1258 CE) and the early European [[Renaissance]]; the [[Early Modern period]],<ref name="rice1970">{{cite book|last=Rice|first=Eugene, F., Jr.|title=The Foundations of Early Modern Europe: 1460–1559|year=1970|publisher=W.W. Norton & Co.|authorlink=Eugene F. Rice, Jr.}}</ref> from the 15th century to the late 18th, including the [[Age of Enlightenment]]; and the [[Modern history#Western transformations|Late Modern period]], from the [[Industrial Revolution]] to the present, including [[Contemporary History]]. In [[Western civilization|Western histories]], the postulated "[[Fall of Rome]]" in 476 CE is commonly taken as signaling the end of [[Ancient history|antiquity]] and the beginning of the [[Middle Ages]]. In contrast, in [[Eastern Europe]], there was a gradual transition from the [[Roman Empire]] into the [[Byzantine Empire]], which didn't [[Decline of the Byzantine Empire|decline until much later]]. Around the year 1300 the [[European Renaissance]]<ref>[[Jacob Burckhardt|Burckhardt, Jacob]] (1878), [http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/hy309/docs/burckhardt/burckhardt.html ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy''], trans S.G.C Middlemore, republished in 1990 ISBN 0-14-044534-X</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh.html |title=''The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 1: The Renaissance (1902) |publisher=Uni-mannheim.de |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> emerged. In the mid-15th century, [[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s invention of modern [[printing]],<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2008-05-20|url=http://www.open2.net/historyandthearts/discover_science/gberg_synopsis.html|title=What Did Gutenberg Invent?|publisher=BBC}}</ref> employing [[movable type]], revolutionized [[communication]], helping to end the [[Middle Ages]] and to usher in the [[Scientific Revolution]].<ref>Grant, Edward. The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996.</ref> By the 18th century, the accumulation of [[knowledge]] and [[technology]], especially in Europe, had reached a [[Critical mass (sociodynamics)|critical mass]] that brought about the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>More; Charles. ''Understanding the Industrial Revolution'' (2000) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=102816164 online edition]</ref> |
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Elsewhere in the world, such as the [[ancient Near East]],<ref>William W. Hallo & William Kelly Simpson, ''The Ancient Near East: A History'', Holt Rinehart and Winston Publishers, 1997</ref><ref>[[Jack Sasson]], ''The Civilizations of the Ancient Near East'', New York, 1995</ref><ref>Marc Van de Mieroop, ''History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000–323 BC.'', Blackwell Publishers, 2003</ref> [[ancient China]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.automaticfreeweb.com/index.cfm?s=ancientasianworld |title=Ancient Asian World |publisher=Automaticfreeweb.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> and [[History of India|ancient India]], historical timelines unfolded differently. Notable examples are [[China]]'s [[Four Great Inventions]], the [[Islamic Golden Age]], and [[Indian mathematics]]. By the 18th century, however, due to extensive [[International trade|world trade]] and [[colonization]], the histories of most world civilizations became tightly intertwined. In the last quarter-millennium, the growth of knowledge, technology, commerce, and of the potential destructiveness of war has accelerated, creating the opportunities and perils that currently confront the human communities that inhabit the planet.<ref>[http://stateoftheworld.reuters.com Reuters – The State of the World] The story of the 21st century</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=00031010-F7DA-1304-B72683414B7F0000 |title=Scientific American Magazine (September 2005 Issue) The Climax of Humanity |publisher=Sciam.com |date=2005-08-22 |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> |
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==Prehistory== |
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{{Main|Prehistory|Human evolution}} |
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===Early humans=== |
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[[File:Lascaux 04.jpg|thumb|Cave painting, [[Lascaux|Lascaux, France]]]] |
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[[Molecular clock|Genetic]] measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to ''Homo sapiens'' diverged from the lineage that would lead to chimpanzees (the closest living relative of modern humans) around five million years ago.<ref name=ChenLi>{{cite journal | author = Chen, F.C. & Li, W.H. | year = 2001 | title = Genomic divergences between humans and other hominoids and the effective population size of the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 68 | issue = 2 | pages = 444–456 | doi = 10.1086/318206 | pmid = 11170892 | pmc = 1235277}}</ref> It is thought that the [[Australopithecine]] genus, which were likely the first apes to walk upright, eventually gave rise to genus ''Homo''. [[Anatomically modern humans]] arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and reached behavioral modernity about 50,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/sap.htm|title=Human Evolution by The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program|work=Human Origins Initiative|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|accessdate=2010-08-30}}</ref> |
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Modern humans spread rapidly from [[Africa]] into the frost-free zones of [[Europe]] and [[Asia]] around 60,000 years ago<ref name="Stringer2012">{{Cite pmid|22552077}}</ref>. The rapid expansion of humankind to [[North America]] and [[Oceania]] took place at the climax of the most recent [[Ice Age]], when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonised nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago. Other [[hominids]] such as ''[[Homo erectus]]'' had been using simple wood and stone tools for millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. At some point, humans began using [[fire]] for [[heat]] and [[cooking]]. They also developed [[language]] in the Palaeolithic period and a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. Early artistic expression can be found in the form of [[cave painting]]s and [[sculpture]]s made from wood and bone. During this period, all humans lived as [[hunter-gatherer]]s, and were generally [[nomadic]]; this means they hunted and foraged for food, and moved constantly from place to place. |
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===Rise of civilization=== |
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[[Image:Sumerian 26th c Adab.jpg|thumb|[[Cuneiform script|Cuneiform]]—earliest known writing system]] |
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The [[Neolithic Revolution]], beginning about 8,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which drastically changed the human lifestyle. Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organised into [[Sovereign state|states]]. Agriculture also created [[food]] surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production. The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first [[city|cities]]. These were centres of [[trade]], [[manufacturing]] and [[political power]] with nearly no agricultural production of their own. Cities established a [[symbiosis]] with their surrounding [[countryside]]s, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection.<ref>{{cite book |
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| last = Stearns |
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| first = Peter N. |
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| authorlink = Peter Stearns |
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| coauthors = William L. Langer |
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| title = [[The Encyclopedia of World History|The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged]] |
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| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin|Houghton Mifflin Company]] |
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| date = 2001-09-24 |
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| isbn = 0-395-65237-5 |
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}}</ref><ref>Chandler, T. ''Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census''. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1987.</ref><ref>[[George Modelski|Modelski, G.]] ''World Cities: –3000 to 2000''. Washington, DC: FAROS 2000, 2003.</ref> |
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The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of [[civilization]].<ref>The very word "[[civilization]]" comes from the [[Latin]] ''civilis'', meaning "civil," related to ''civis'', meaning "citizen," and ''civitas'', meaning "city" or "city-state."</ref> Early civilizations arose first in lower [[Mesopotamia]] (3500 BCE),<ref>Ascalone, Enrico. ''Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians (Dictionaries of Civilizations; 1)''. Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], 2007 (paperback, ISBN 0-520-25266-7).</ref><ref>Lloyd, Seton. ''The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: From the Old Stone Age to the Persian Conquest''.</ref> followed by [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian civilization]] along the [[Nile]] (3300 BCE)<ref name="grimal1992"/> and [[Indus Valley Civilization|Harappan civilization]] in the [[Indus River|Indus Valley]] (3300 BCE).<ref>Allchin, Bridget (1997). Origins of a Civilization: The Prehistory and Early Archaeology of South Asia. New York: Viking.</ref><ref>Allchin, Raymond (ed.) (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. New York: Cambridge University Press.</ref> These societies developed a number of unifying characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, sophisticated language and writing systems, and distinct cultures and religions. [[Writing]] was another pivotal development in human history, as it made the administration of cities and expression of ideas far easier. |
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As complex civilizations arose, so did complex [[religion]]s, and the first of their kind apparently originated during this period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solarnavigator.net/egyptian_sun_god_ra.htm |title=The Sun God Ra and Ancient Egypt |publisher=Solarnavigator.net |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>[http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/tianshu.html "The Sun God and the Wind Deity at [[Kizil Caves|Kizil]]," by Tianshu Zhu,] in Transoxiana Webfestschrift Series I, ''Webfestschrift Marshak: Ēran ud Anērān'', 2003.</ref><ref>[[Marija Gimbutas]]. ''The Language of the Goddess'', Harpercollins, 1989, ISBN 0-06-250356-1.</ref> Inanimate entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.<ref>Turner, Patricia, and Charles Russell Coulter, ''Dictionary of Ancient Deities'', New York, Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> [[Shrine]]s developed, which evolved into [[temple]] establishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of [[priesthood|priests and priestesses]] and other functionaries. Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] [[deities]]. Some of the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the ''[[Pyramid Texts]]'', produced by the Egyptians, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=6VBJeCoDdTUC&pg=PA1&dq=2353+-+2323+%22pyramid+texts%22|last=Allen|first=James|isbn=1-58983-182-9|title=''The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts'' |year=2007 |publisher=Scholars Press |location=Atlanta, Ga.}}</ref> Some archaeologists suggest, based on ongoing excavations of a temple complex at [[Göbekli Tepe]] ("Potbelly Hill") in southern Turkey, dating from c. 11,500 years ago, that religion predated the [[Neolithic Revolution|Agricultural Revolution]] rather than following in its wake, as had generally been assumed.<ref>Patrick Symmes, "History in the Remaking: a temple complex in Turkey that predates even the [[Pyramids]] is rewriting the story of human evolution," ''[[Newsweek]]'', March 1, 2010, pp. 46–48.</ref> |
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==Antiquity== |
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{{Main|Ancient history}} |
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===Timeline=== |
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:''Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details'' |
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<timeline> |
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ImageSize = width:800 height:355 |
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PlotArea = width:720 height:333 left:65 bottom:20 |
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AlignBars = justify |
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Colors = |
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id:time value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # |
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id:period value:rgb(1,0.7,0.5) # |
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id:age value:rgb(0.95,0.85,0.5) # |
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id:era value:rgb(1,0.85,0.5) # |
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id:eon value:rgb(1,0.85,0.7) # |
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id:filler value:gray(0.8) # background bar |
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id:black value:black |
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Period = from:-3000 till:1000 |
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TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal |
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ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-3000 |
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ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-3000 |
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PlotData = |
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align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(0,-5) |
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bar:Time color:period |
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from: -3000 till: -1200 text:[[Bronze Age]] |
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from: -1200 till: 400 text:[[Iron Age]] |
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from: 400 till: 1000 text:[[Middle Ages]] |
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bar:Mideast color:era |
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from: -3000 till: -550 text:[[Mesopotamia]] |
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from: -550 till: -322 shift:(0,-10) text:[[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] |
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from: -322 till: -247 shift:(0,0) text:[[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] |
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from: -247 till: 224 shift:(0,-10) text:[[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] |
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from: 224 till: 651 text:[[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] |
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from: 651 till: 1000 text:[[Caliphate]]s |
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bar:Africa color:age |
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from: -3000 till: -800 text:[[Ancient Egypt]] |
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from: -800 till: 350 text:[[Kingdom of Kush]] |
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from: 350 till: 1000 text:[[Axumite Empire]] |
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bar:Med/Europe color:era |
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from: -3000 till: -1200 text:Archaic |
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from: -1200 till: -650 text:[[Phoenicia]] |
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from: -650 till: -146 text:[[Ancient Greece]] |
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from: -146 till: 500 text:[[Ancient Rome]] |
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from:500 till: 1000 text:[[Middle Ages]] |
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bar:Indus color:age |
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from: -3000 till: -1200 text:[[Indus Valley Civilization|Indus Valley]] |
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from: -1200 till: -180 text:[[Iron Age India]] |
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from: -180 till: 1 text:[[Indo-Greeks]] |
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from: 1 till: 1000 text:[[Middle kingdoms of India|Middle kingdoms]] |
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bar:China color:era |
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from: -3000 till: -2000 text:[[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors|Sovereigns and Emperors]] |
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from: -2000 till: -200 text:[[Ancient China]] |
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from: -200 till: 1000 text:[[Imperial China]] |
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bar:N.Americas color:age |
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from: -3000 till: -1500 text:[[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic]] |
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from: -1500 till: 650 text:Classic |
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from: 650 till: 1000 text:Precolombian |
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bar:C.Americas color:era |
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from: -3000 till: -1500 text:[[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic]] |
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from: -1500 till: 250 text:Formative |
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from: 250 till: 900 text:Classic |
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from: 900 till: 1000 text:Postclassic |
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bar:S.Americas color:age |
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from: -3000 till: -1900 text:[[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic]] |
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from: -1900 till: 200 text:Preclassic |
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from: 200 till: 1000 text:Classic |
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</timeline> |
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===Cradles of civilization=== |
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[[Image:All Gizah Pyramids.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient Egypt]]ians built the [[Great Pyramids of Giza]].]] |
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{{Main|Bronze Age|Iron Age}} |
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The [[Bronze Age]] is part of the [[three-age system]] ([[Neolithic|Stone Age]], [[Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age]]) that for some parts of the world describes effectively the early history of civilization. During this era the most fertile areas of the world saw [[city state]]s and the first civilizations develop. These were concentrated in fertile river valleys: The [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] in [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Nile]] in [[Egypt]], the [[Indus]] in [[India]], and the [[Yangtze]] and [[Yellow River]] in [[China]]. |
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[[Sumer]], located in [[Mesopotamia]], is the first known complex civilization, developing the first [[city-state]]s in the 4th millennium BCE. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, [[cuneiform script]], appeared circa 3000 BCE. Cuneiform writing began as a system of [[pictography|pictographs]]. These pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiform texts were written on [[clay tablet]]s, on which [[symbol]]s were drawn with a blunt [[Phragmites|reed]] used as a [[stylus]]. Writing made the administration of a large state far easier. |
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Transport was facilitated by waterways—by rivers and seas. The [[Mediterranean Sea]], at the juncture of three continents, fostered the projection of military power and the exchange of goods, ideas and inventions. This era also saw new land technologies, such as horse-based cavalry and chariots, that allowed armies to move faster. |
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[[Image:The Wrestler (Olmec) by DeLange.jpg|right|thumb|"[[The Wrestler (sculpture)|The Wrestler]]", an [[Olmec]] era statuette, 1200 – 800 BCE.]] |
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These developments led to the rise of [[empire]]s. Such extensive civilizations brought peace and stability over wider areas. The first empire, controlling a large territory and many cities, developed in Egypt with the unification of [[Lower and Upper Egypt]] c. 3100 BCE. Over the next millennia, other river valleys would see monarchical empires rise to power. In the 24th century BCE, the [[Akkadian Empire]] arose in [[Mesopotamia]];<ref>[[H.G. Wells|Wells, H. G.]] (1921), [http://books.google.com/books?id=rTAMAAAAIAAJ&client=firefox-a 'The Outline of History: Being A Plain History of Life and Mankind'], New York, Macmillan Company, p. 137.</ref> and c. 2200 BCE the [[Xia Dynasty]] arose in China. |
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Over the following millennia, civilizations would develop across the world. [[Trade]] would increasingly become a source of power as states with access to important resources or controlling important trade routes would rise to dominance. In c. 2500 BCE the [[Kingdom of Kerma]] developed in [[Sudan]], south of Egypt. In modern Turkey the [[Hittites]] controlled a large empire and by 1600 BCE, [[Mycenaean Greece]] began to develop.<ref>[[John Chadwick|Chadwick, John]] (1976) ''The Mycenaean World'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-29037-6.</ref><ref>[[George E. Mylonas|Mylonas, George E.]] (1966), ''Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age'', Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-03523-7.</ref> In India this era was the [[Vedic civilization|Vedic period]], which laid the foundations of [[Hinduism]] and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 6th century BCE. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the [[Mahajanapadas]] were established across the country. |
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As complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere, most indigenous societies in [[the Americas]] remained relatively simple for some time, fragmented into diverse regional cultures. During the [[Formative stage]] in [[Mesoamerica]], (about 1500 BCE to 500 CE), more complex and centralized civilizations began to develop, mostly in what is now Mexico, Central America, and Peru. They include civilizations such as the [[Maya civilization|Maya]], [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]], [[Moche]], and [[Ica-Nazca culture|Nazca]]. They developed agriculture as well, growing maize and other crops unique to the Americas, and creating a distinct culture and religion. These ancient indigenous societies would be greatly affected by European contact during the early modern period. |
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===Axial Age=== |
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{{Main|Axial age}} |
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{{Main|History of philosophy|Timeline of religion|History of religion}} |
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[[Image:Angkor wat temple.jpg|thumb|[[Angkor Wat]] [[temple]], [[Cambodia]], early 12th century]] |
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Beginning in the 7th century BCE, the so-called "Axial Age" saw a set of transformative religious and philosophical ideas develop, mostly independently, in many different locations. During the 6th century BCE, Chinese [[Confucianism]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Confucianism |
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|first=Chai |last=Ch'u |coauthor=Winberg Chai |publisher=Barron's Educational Series |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-7641-9138-1 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Primary Source Reader for World History: To 1500 |first=Elsa A. |last=Nystrom |publisher=Thmpson, Wadsworth |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-495-00609-1 |page=46}}</ref> Indian [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]], [[Persia]]n [[Zoroastrianism]], and [[Jewish]] [[Monotheism]] all developed. In the 5th century BCE [[Socrates]] and [[Plato]] would lay the foundations of [[Ancient Greek philosophy]]. |
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In the east, three schools of thought were to dominate [[China|Chinese]] thinking until the modern day. These were [[Taoism]],<ref>Miller, James. Daoism: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2003). ISBN 1-85168-315-1</ref> [[Legalism (philosophy)|Legalism]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/China/China%20Legalism.htm |title=Chinese Legalism: Documentary Materials and Ancient Totalitarianism |publisher=Worldfuturefund.org |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> and [[Confucianism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comparative-religion.com/confucianism/ |title=Confucianism and Confucian texts |publisher=Comparative-religion.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> The Confucian tradition, which would attain dominance, looked for [[political]] [[morality]] not to the force of law but to the power and example of tradition. Confucianism would later spread into the [[Korean peninsula]] and toward [[Japan]]. |
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In the west, the [[ancient Greece|Greek]] philosophical tradition, represented by [[Socrates]],<ref name="enc1911">{{cite web |
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|url = http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Socrates_%28philosopher%29 |
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|publisher = 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica |
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|title = Socrates |
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|year=1911 |
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}}</ref> [[Plato]],<ref>Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/ Plato]</ref> and [[Aristotle]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1907-03-01 |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/a/aristotl.htm |title=The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Utm.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> was diffused throughout [[Europe]] and the [[Middle East]] in the 4th century BCE by the conquests of Alexander III of Macedon, more commonly known as [[Alexander the Great]].<ref>[http://hum.ucalgary.ca/wheckel/bibl/alex-bibl.pdf PDF: A Bibliography of Alexander the Great] by Waldemar Heckel</ref><ref>[http://virtualreligion.net/iho/alexander.html Alexander III the Great], entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/alexander.html |title=Trace Alexander's conquests on an animated map |publisher=Ac.wwu.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080615021840/http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/alexander.html |archivedate = June 15, 2008}}</ref> |
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===Regional empires=== |
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{{Main|Civilization|Empire}} |
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[[Image:Parthenon from west.jpg|thumb|[[Parthenon]] epitomizes sophisticated culture of [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]].]] |
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The millennium from 500 BCE to 500 CE saw a series of empires of unprecedented size develop. Well-trained professional armies, unifying ideologies, and advanced bureaucracies created the possibility for emperors to rule over large domains, whose populations could attain numbers upwards of tens of millions of subjects. |
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Some areas experienced slow but steady technological advancements, with important developments such as the [[stirrup]] and [[moldboard plow]] arriving every few centuries. There were, however, in some regions, periods of rapid technological progress. Most important, perhaps, was the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] area during the [[Hellenistic period]], when hundreds of technologies were invented.<ref>Camp, J. M., & Dinsmoor, W. B. (1984). [http://books.google.com/books?id=7ChJMHxovjUC Ancient Athenian building methods]. Excavations of the Athenian Agora, no. 21. [Athens]: [[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]].</ref><ref>Drachmann, A. G. (1963). The mechanical technology of Greek and Roman antiquity, a study of the literary sources. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.</ref><ref>[[John Peter Oleson|Oleson, J. P.]] (1984). Greek and Roman mechanical water-lifting devices: the history of a technology. Phoenix, 16 : Tome supplémentaire. Dordrecht: Reidel.</ref> Such periods were followed by periods of technological decay, as during the [[Roman Empire]]'s decline and fall and the ensuing [[early medieval]] period. |
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The great [[empire]]s depended on [[military]] [[annexation]] of territory and on the formation of defended settlements to become agricultural centres.<ref>Morgan, L. H. (1877). [http://books.google.com/books?id=V2hURbcPp0YC Ancient society]; or, Researches in the lines of human progress from savagery, through barbarism to civilization. New York: H. Holt and Company.</ref> The relative peace that the empires brought encouraged [[international trade]], most notably the massive trade routes in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] that had been developed by the time of the [[Hellenistic Age]], and the [[Silk Road]]. |
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[[Image:PtolemyWorldMap.jpg|thumb|[[Ptolemy's world map]], ca. 150 [[Common Era|CE]]]] |
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The empires faced common problems associated with maintaining huge armies and supporting a central bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the [[peasant]]ry, while land-owning [[magnate]]s increasingly evaded centralised control and its costs. [[Barbarian]] pressure on the frontiers hastened internal dissolution. [[China]]'s [[Han Empire]] fell into [[civil war]] in 220 CE, while its [[Roman Empire|Roman]] counterpart became increasingly decentralized and divided about the same time. |
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In the west, the [[ancient Greeks|Greeks]] (and later the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]) established their own cultures; whose practices, laws, and customs are considered the foundation of contemporary [[western culture|western civilization]]. Beginning in the 3rd century BCE, the Romans began expanding their territory through conquest and colonization. By the reign of Emperor [[Augustus]] (late 1st century BCE), Rome controlled all the lands surrounding the Mediterranean. By the reign of Emperor [[Trajan]] (early 2nd century CE), Rome controlled much of the land from [[England]] to [[Mesopotamia]]. |
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In the 3rd century BCE, most of [[South Asia]] was united into the [[Maurya Empire]] by [[Chandragupta Maurya]] and flourished under [[Ashoka the Great]]. From the 3rd century CE, the [[Gupta dynasty]] oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's Golden Age. Empires in Southern India included those of the [[Chalukyas]],the [[Rashtrakutas]], the [[Hoysalas]], the [[Cholas]] and the [[Vijayanagara Empire]]. [[Science]], [[engineering]], [[art]], [[literature]], [[astronomy]], and [[philosophy]] flourished under the patronage of these kings. |
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Meanwhile, East Asia saw the rise of the Han Dynasty, which was comparable in power and influence to the Roman Empire that lied on the other side of the Silk Road. While the Romans constructed a vast military of unprecedented power, Han China was developing advanced cartography, shipbuilding, and navigation. The East invented blast furnaces and were capable of creating finely tuned copper instruments. As with other empires during the Classical Period, Han China advanced in strides in areas of government, education, mathematics, astronomy, and technology, among others. |
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By the 1st century CE the [[Aksumite Empire]] had established itself as a major trading Empire, dominating its neighbours in South Arabia and Kush and controlling the [[Red Sea]] trade. They minted their own currency and carved enormous monolithic stelea such as the [[Obelisk of Axum]] to mark their Emperors graves. |
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[[File:80 - Machu Picchu - Juin 2009 - edit.jpg|thumbnail|[[Machu Picchu]]—leading icon of [[Inca]] [[civilization]]]] |
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From the fourth to sixth centuries CE, northern [[India]] was ruled by the [[Gupta Empire|Guptas]]. In southern India, three prominent [[Dravidian people|Dravidian]] kingdoms emerged: [[Chera dynasty|Cheras]], [[Chola]]s and [[Pandyas]]. The ensuing stability contributed to heralding in the golden age of [[Hindu]] culture in the 4th and 5th centuries. |
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Successful regional empires were also established in [[the Americas]] starting from around 2000 BCE. In [[Mesoamerica]],<ref>"[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574502/Central_America.html Central America]". ''[[Encarta|MSN Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006]].'' [http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1257007771573674 Archived] 2009-10-31.</ref> vast pre-Columbian societies were being built, the most notable being the [[Maya civilization|Maya]] and [[Aztecs]]. As the [[mother culture]] of the [[Olmecs]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.authenticmaya.com/olmecs_origins_in_guatemala.htm |title=Olmec Origins in The Southern Pacific Lowlands |publisher=Authenticmaya.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> gradually declined, the great Mayan [[city-state]]s slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya culture spread throughout [[Yucatán]] and surrounding areas. The later empire of the [[Aztecs]] was built on neighboring cultures and was influenced by conquered peoples such as the [[Toltec]]s. |
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In [[South America]], the 14th and 15th centuries saw the rise of the [[Inca]]. The [[Inca Empire]] of [[Tawantinsuyu]], with its capital at [[Cusco]], spanned the entire [[Andes]] [[Mountain Range]], making it the most extensive Pre-Columbian civilization.<ref>[http://trailingincas.info/ History of the Inca Empire] Inca history, society and religion.</ref><ref>[http://www.timespacemap.com/search/eventsearch.htm?_what=%22inca+empire%22&_maptype=1 Map and Timeline] of Inca events</ref> The Inca were prosperous and advanced, known for an excellent [[Inca road system|road system]] and unrivaled [[masonry]]. |
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===Declines and falls=== |
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The great empires of Eurasia were all located on temperate coastal plains. From the [[Central Asian]] steppes, horse-based nomads (Mongols, Turks) dominated a large part of the continent. The development of the [[stirrup]], and the breeding of horses strong enough to carry a fully armed archer, made the nomads a constant threat to the more settled civilizations. |
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The gradual break-up of the [[Roman Empire]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://roman-empire.info |title=Detailed history of the Roman Empire |publisher=Roman-empire.info |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>[[Edward Gibbon]]. [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gibbon-fall.html "General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West"], from the [[Internet Medieval Sourcebook]]. Brief excerpts of Gibbon's theories.</ref> spanning several centuries after the 2nd century CE, coincided with the spread of [[Christianity]] westward from the Middle East. The Western Roman Empire fell<ref>Gibbon, Edward (1906). in J.B. Bury (with an Introduction by W.E.H. Lecky): [[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]] (Volumes II, III, and IX). New York: Fred de Fau and Co..</ref> under the domination of [[Germanic tribes]] in the 5th century, and these [[polities]] gradually developed into a number of warring states, all associated in one way or another with the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. The remaining part of the Roman Empire, in the eastern Mediterranean, would henceforth be the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>Bury, John Bagnall (1923). [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/home.html History of the Later Roman Empire]. Macmillan & Co., Ltd..</ref> Centuries later, a limited unity would be restored to [[western Europe]] through the establishment of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]<ref>Bryce, J. B. (1907). [http://books.google.com/books?id=0jNI4vCO7d8C The Holy Roman empire]. New York: MacMillan.</ref> in 962, comprising a number of states in what is now [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]], [[Belgium]], [[Italy]], and parts of [[France]]. |
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In China, [[dynasties]] would similarly rise and fall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gascoigne |first=Bamber |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Dynasties of China: A History |year=2003 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York |isbn=1-84119-791-2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gernet |first=Jacques |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=A history of Chinese civilization |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-24130-8 }}</ref> After the fall of the [[Eastern Han Dynasty]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html |title=Han Dynasty by Minnesota State University |publisher=Mnsu.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> and the demise of the [[Three Kingdoms]], [[nomad]]ic tribes from the north began to invade in the 4th century, eventually conquering areas of Northern China and setting up many small kingdoms. The [[Sui Dynasty]] reunified China in 581, and under the succeeding [[Tang Dynasty]] (618–907) China entered a second [[golden age]]. The Tang Dynasty also splintered, however, and after [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period|half a century of turmoil]] the [[Northern Song Dynasty]] reunified China in 982. Yet pressure from nomadic empires to the north became increasingly urgent. [[North China]] was lost to the [[Jurchens]] in 1141, and the [[Mongol Empire]]<ref>Buell, Paul D. (2003), Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., ISBN 0-8108-4571-7</ref><ref>Howorth, Henry H. History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part I: The Mongols Proper and the Kalmuks. New York: Burt Frankin, 1965 (reprint of London edition, 1876).</ref> conquered all of China in 1279, as well as almost all of [[Eurasia]]'s landmass, missing only [[central Europe|central]] and [[western Europe]], and most of [[Southeast Asia]] and [[Japan]]. |
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==Middle Ages== |
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{{Main|Middle Ages}} |
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The Middle Ages center on the [[Eurasia]]n world and are commonly dated from the [[fall of the Roman Empire|fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century. While the Western Roman Empire fragmented into numerous separate kingdoms, the Eastern Roman, or [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine, Empire]] survived until late in the Middle Ages. The period also corresponds to the [[Islamic conquests]],<ref>Fred Donner, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/donner.html ''The Early Islamic Conquests''] Chapter 6</ref> subsequent [[Islamic golden age]],<ref>[http://trboard.org/modules/makale/makale.php?id=57 Golden age of Arab and Islamic Culture]{{Dead link|date=April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theislamproject.org/education/B04_SpreadofIslam.htm |title=Overview of Muslim History |publisher=The Islam Project |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> and commencement and expansion of the [[Arab Slave Trade|Arab slave trade]], followed by the [[Mongol invasions]] in the Middle East and Central Asia. [[South Asia]] saw a series of [[middle kingdoms of India]], followed by the establishment of [[Islamic empires in India]]. The [[Mid-Imperial China|Chinese Empire]] experienced the successive [[Sui Dynasty|Sui]], [[Tang Dynasty|Tang]], [[Liao Dynasty|Liao]], [[Yuan Dynasty|Yuan]] and [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] Dynasties. Middle Eastern trade routes along the Indian Ocean, and the [[Silk Road]] through the Gobi Desert, provided limited economic and cultural contact between Asian and European civilizations. While the Middle Ages held sway in Europe, civilizations in the Americas, such as the [[Inca]], [[Maya civilization|Maya]], and [[Aztec]], continued to flourish, then ended at different times. |
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===Islamic growth=== |
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[[File:110409 042.jpg|thumb|The [[Dome of the Rock]] in [[Jerusalem]], initially completed in 691 CE]] |
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{{Main|Islamic Golden Age}} |
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Muslims began their expansion in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. They came to conquer most of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe (here, they were halted by Christians). The knowledge and skills of the ancient Middle East, of Greece and of Persia were learned by Muslims in the Middle Ages. Muslims added new and important innovations from outside, such as the manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India. Much of this learning and development can be linked to geography. Even prior to Islam's presence the city of Mecca had served as a center of trade in Arabia, and Muhammad was a merchant. With the new tradition of the ''[[Hajj]]'', the pilgrimage to Mecca, the city became even more a center for exchanging goods and ideas. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to the Christians, Indians and Chinese who based their societies on an agricultural landholding nobility. Merchants brought goods and their faith to China (resulting in a present-day population of some 37 million Chinese Muslims, mainly ethnic Turkic [[Uyghur people|Uyghur]]s, whose territory was annexed to China), India, southeast Asia, and the kingdoms of western Africa and returned with new discoveries and inventions. |
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===Medieval Europe=== |
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Europe during the [[Early Middle Ages]] was characterized by depopulation, deurbanization, and [[barbarian]] invasion, all of which had begun in [[Late Antiquity]]. The barbarian invaders formed their own new kingdoms in the remains of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. In the 7th century [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]], once part of the eastern empire, became part of the [[Caliphate]] after conquest by [[Muhammad]]'s successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break was not as extreme as once put forth by historians, with most of the new kingdoms incorporating as many of the existing Roman institutions as they could. Christianity expanded in western Europe and monasteries were founded. In the 7th and 8th centuries the [[Franks]], under the [[Carolingian dynasty]], established an empire covering much of western Europe; it lasted until the 9th century, when it succumbed to pressure from new invaders – the [[Viking]]s, [[Magyars]], and [[Saracen]]s. |
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[[File:Alcazar05 5-4-04.JPG|thumb|[[Castle]]s, such as [[Alcázar of Segovia|this]] in [[Spain]], became common in [[High Middle Ages]] Europe.]] |
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During the [[High Middle Ages]], which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as new technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. [[Manorialism]] – the organization of peasants into villages that owed rents and labor service to nobles – and [[feudalism]] – a political structure whereby [[knight]]s and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rents from lands and [[manor]]s – were two of the ways of organizing medieval society that developed during the High Middle Ages. Kingdoms became more centralized after the decentralizing effects of the breakup of the [[Carolingian Empire]]. The [[Crusades]], which were first preached in 1095, were an attempt by western Christians to regain control of the [[Holy Land]] from the [[Muslims]], and succeeded long enough to establish some Christian states in the Near East. Intellectual life was marked by [[scholasticism]] and the founding of universities, while the building of [[Gothic cathedrals]] was one of the outstanding artistic achievements of the age. |
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The [[Late Middle Ages]] were marked by a number of difficulties and calamities. Famine, plague and war decimated the population of western Europe. The [[Black Death]] alone killed approximately a third of the population between 1347 and 1350. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Starting in [[Asia]], the disease reached Mediterranean and western [[Europe]] during the late 1340s,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/plague-article.html |title=Plague: The Black Death|publisher=National Geographic|date= |accessdate=2008-11-03}}</ref> and killed tens of millions of Europeans in six years; between a third and a half of the population.<ref>[http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/99/8/497 The Black Death and AIDS: CCR5-{Delta}32 in genetics and history]. S.K. Cohn, Jr and L.T. Weaver. ''Oxford Journals.''</ref> |
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The Middle Ages<ref>''[[Dictionary of the Middle Ages]]'' (1989) Joseph R. Strayer, editor in chief, ISBN 0-684-19073-7</ref> witnessed the first sustained [[urbanization]] of northern and western Europe. Many modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of the military and dynastic achievements during this tumultuous period.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=r2gBAAAAQAAJ Rudimentary chronology of civil and ecclesiastical history, art, literature and civilisation, from the earliest period to 1856]. (1857). London: John Weale.</ref> The Middle Ages lasted until the beginning of the [[Early Modern Period]]<ref name="rice1970"/> in the 16th century, marked by the rise of [[nation-states]], the division of Western [[Christianity]] in the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]],<ref>McManners, J. (2002). [http://books.google.com/books?id=Rgm7NIEKCbgC The Oxford history of Christianity]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> the rise of [[humanism]] in the [[Italian Renaissance]],<ref>Pater, W. (1873). [http://books.google.com/books?id=aS4CAAAAQAAJ Studies in the history of the renaissance]. London: Macmillan and.</ref> and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the [[Columbian Exchange]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Richard J. Mayne |url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-58260/history-of-Europe |title=history of Europe:: The Middle Ages – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |publisher=Britannica.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> |
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===Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa=== |
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[[Image:Ife Kings Head.jpg|thumb|right|A bronze cast head from the city of [[Ife]] produced in the late 11th-14th century shows the artistic advancement of the medieval [[Yoruba]].]] |
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{{Main|History of Africa}} |
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Medieval [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] was home to many different civilizations. The [[Aksumite Empire]] declined in the 7th century as Islam cut it off from its Christian allies and its people moved further into the [[Ethiopian highlands]] for protection. They eventually gave way to the [[Zagwe Dynasty]] who are famed for their rock cut architecture at [[Lalibela]]. The Zagwe would then fall to the [[Solomonic Dynasty]] who claimed descent from the Aksumite emperors and would rule the country well into the 1900s. In the [[West African]] [[Sahel]] region many Islamic empires rose, such as the [[Ghana Empire]], the [[Mali Empire]], the [[Songhai Empire]], and the [[Kanem Empire]]. They controlled the [[trans-Saharan trade]] in gold, ivory, salt and slaves. |
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South of the Sahel civilisations rose in the coastal forests where horses and camels could not survive. These include the [[Yoruba]] city of [[Ife]] (noted for its naturalistic art) and the [[Oyo Empire]], the [[Benin Empire]] of the [[Edo people]] centered in [[Benin city]], the [[Igbo people|Igbo]] [[Kingdom of Nri]] which produced advanced bronze art at [[Igbo Ukwu]], and the [[Akan]] who are noted for their intricate architecture. |
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In what is now modern [[Zimbabwe]] various kingdoms evolved from the [[Kingdom of Mapungubwe]] in modern [[South Africa]]. They flourished through trade with the [[Swahili people]] on the [[East African]] coast. They built large defensive stone structures without mortar such as [[Great Zimbabwe]], capital of the [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]], [[Khami]], capital of [[Kingdom of Butua]] and [[Danamombe]] (Dhlo-Dhlo), capital of the [[Rozwi Empire]]. The [[Swahili people]] themselves were the inhabitants of the East African coast from Kenya to Mozambique who traded extensively with Asians and Arabs, who introduced them to Islam. They built many port cities such as [[Mombasa]], [[Zanzibar]], and [[Kilwa]], which were known to Chinese sailors under [[Zheng He]] and Islamic geographers. |
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===The Americas=== |
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This period saw the rise of the [[Mississippian culture]] in the modern [[United States]] circa 800 CE. The [[Aztec]] came to dominate much of [[Mesoamerica]] in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the [[Inca]] came to dominate the [[Andes]] in the 15th century. In [[Mesoamerica]] the [[Teotihuacan]] civilization fell and the [[Classic Maya collapse]] occurred. |
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===Southeast Asia=== |
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The beginning of the Middle Ages in [[Southeast Asia]] saw the fall of the [[Kingdom of Funan]] to the [[Chenla Kingdom]], which was then replaced by the [[Khmer Empire]]. The Khmer's capital city [[Angkor]] was the largest city in the world prior to the industrial age and contained over a thousand temples, the most famous being [[Angkor Wat]]. The [[Sukhothai]] and [[Ayutthaya]] kingdoms were major powers of the [[Thai people]] who were influenced by the Khmer. The [[Pagan Kingdom]] also rose to prominence in modern [[Burma]]. It was during this period that [[Islam]] spread to [[Indonesia]]. |
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==Modern history== |
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[[Image:Da Vinci Vitruve Luc Viatour.jpg|thumb|right|[[Leonardo da Vinci|Da Vinci]]'s [[Vitruvian Man]] epitomizes [[Renaissance]] artistic and scientific advances.]] |
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[[Modern history]] (the "modern period," the "modern era," "modern times") is history of the period following the Middle Ages. "[[Contemporary history]]" encompasses historic events that are immediately relevant to the present (such as [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]). It covers human history from ''[[Circa|c.]]'' 1900 up to the present. |
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===Early modern period=== |
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{{Main|Early Modern period}} |
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"[[Early modern period]]"<ref>"[[Early Modern]]," historically speaking, refers to [[Western Europe]]an history from 1501 (after the widely accepted end of the [[Late Middle Ages]]; the transition period was the 15th century) to either 1750 or c. 1790–1800, by which ever [[Epoch (reference date)|epoch]] is favored by a school of scholars defining the period—which, in many cases of [[periodization]], differs as well within a discipline such as art, philosophy or history.</ref> is a term used by historians to refer to the period in [[Western Europe]] and its first [[colony|colonies]] that spans the centuries between the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[Industrial Revolution]] – roughly 1500 to 1800. The early modern period is characterized by the rise to importance of [[science]] and by increasingly rapid [[History of technology|technological progress]], [[secular]]ized civic [[politics]], and the [[nation state|nation-state]]. [[capitalist economy|Capitalist economies]] began their rise, initially in northern [[Italy|Italian]] [[republic]]s such as [[Genoa]]. The early modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the [[mercantilism|mercantilist]] economic theory. As such, the early modern period represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of [[feudalism]], serfdom and the power of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]. The period includes the late decades of the [[Protestant Reformation]], the disastrous [[Thirty Years' War]], the [[Age of Discovery]], the [[European colonization of the Americas]], and the peak of European [[witch-hunt]]ing. |
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This period saw a decline in many African civilizations and an advancement in others. Ethiopia entered the [[Zemene Mesafint]] (Age of Princes) in 1769 when the Emperor became a figurehead and the country was ruled by warlords, though it later recovered under Emperor [[Tewodros II]]. The [[Swahili Coast]] declined after coming under Portuguese and Omani contol. The [[Songhai Empire]] fell to the Moroccans in 1591 when they invaded with guns. The kingdom of Zimbabwe gave way to smaller kingdoms such as Mutapa and Butua. Other civilizations in Africa advanced during this period; the [[Oyo Empire]] went through its golden age, as did the [[Benin Empire]]. The [[Ashanti Empire]] rose to power in what is modern day [[Ghana]] in 1670. The [[Kingdom of Kongo]] also thrived during this period. [[European exploration of Africa]] reached its zenith at this time. |
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====Renaissance==== |
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{{main|Renaissance}} |
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[[Europe]]'s [[Renaissance]], beginning in the 14th century,<ref>The Encyclopedia Americana; a library of universal knowledge. (1918). New York: Encyclopedia Americana Corp. Page 539 (cf., The European Renaissance which flourished from the 14th to the 16th century [...])</ref> consisted of the rediscovery of the [[classical antiquity|classical]] world's scientific contributions, and in the [[economic]] and social rise of Europe. But the Renaissance also engendered a culture of [[curiosity|inquisitiveness]] which ultimately led to [[Humanism]]<ref>Briffault, R. (1919). The making of humanity. London: G. Allen & Unwin ltd. 371 pages (cf. [...] humanism of the Renaissance [...])</ref> and the [[Scientific Revolution]].<ref>The freethinker. (1881). London: G.W. Foote. Page 394 (cf., [...] scientific revolution began with the Italian Renaissance about 1500 [...])</ref> Although it saw social and political upheaval and revolutions in many [[intellectual]] pursuits, the Renaissance is perhaps known best for its [[art]]istic developments and the contributions of such [[polymath]]s as [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Michelangelo]], who inspired the term "[[Polymath|Renaissance man]]".<ref>BBC Science and Nature, ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/ Leonardo da Vinci]'' Retrieved on May 12, 2007</ref><ref>BBC History, ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/michelangelo.shtml Michelangelo]'' Retrieved on May 12, 2007</ref> |
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====European expansion==== |
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{{See|History of Europe}} |
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{{further2|16th century and 17th century}} |
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[[File:OrteliusWorldMap.jpeg|thumb|World map by [[Ortelius]], 1570 CE, incorporating new discoveries by Europeans]] |
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[[Image:Gutenburg bible.jpg|thumb|[[movable type|Movable-type]] [[printing press]] arose in mid-15th century. 50 years later, nine million books were in print.]] |
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During this period, European powers came to dominate most of the world. One theory of why that happened holds that Europe's [[geography]] played an important role in its success. The [[Middle East]], [[India]] and [[China]] are all ringed by [[mountain]]s and [[ocean]]s but, once past these outer barriers, are nearly flat. By contrast, the [[Pyrenees]], [[Alps]], [[Apennine Mountains|Apennines]], [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathians]] and other mountain ranges run through Europe, and the continent is also divided by several [[sea]]s. This gave Europe some degree of protection from the peril of [[Central Asia]]n invaders. Before the era of firearms, these nomads were militarily superior to the agricultural states on the periphery of the [[Eurasia]]n continent and, if they broke out into the plains of northern India or the valleys of China, were all but unstoppable. These invasions were often devastating. The [[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age of Islam]]<ref>Joel L. Kraemer (1992), Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam, p. 1 & 148, Brill Publishers, ISBN 90-04-07259-4.</ref> was ended by the [[Mongol invasions|Mongol]] [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|sack of Baghdad]] in 1258. India and China were subject to periodic [[invasion]]s, and [[Russia]] spent a couple of centuries under the [[Tatar invasions|Mongol-Tatar]] yoke. [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[western Europe]], logistically more distant from the [[Central Asia]]n heartland, proved less vulnerable to these threats. |
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Geography contributed to important [[geopolitical]] differences. For most of their histories, China, India and the Middle East were each unified under a single dominant power that expanded until it reached the surrounding mountains and deserts. In 1600 the [[Ottoman Empire]]<ref>Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0-333-61386-4.</ref> controlled almost all the Middle East, the [[Ming Dynasty]] ruled China,<ref>Ebrey, Walthall, Palais. (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-13384-4.</ref><ref>Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66991-X (paperback).</ref> and the [[Mughal Empire]] held sway over India. By contrast, Europe was almost always divided into a number of warring states. Pan-European empires, with the notable exception of the [[Roman Empire]], tended to collapse soon after they arose. Another doubtless important geographic factor in the rise of Europe was the [[Mediterranean Sea]], which, for millennia, had functioned as a maritime superhighway fostering the exchange of goods, people, ideas and inventions. |
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Nearly all the agricultural civilizations have been heavily constrained by their [[Natural environment|environments]]. Productivity remained low, and [[climatic]] changes easily instigated [[boom and bust|boom-and-bust]] [[Business cycle|cycles]] that brought about civilizations' rise and fall. By about 1500, however, there was a qualitative change in world history. [[Technological]] advance and the [[wealth]] generated by [[trade]] gradually brought about a widening of possibilities.<ref>Grant, A. J. (1913). [http://books.google.com/books?id=YJBCAAAAIAAJ A history of Europe]. London; Longmans, Green and Co.</ref><ref>Lavisse, E. (1891). [http://books.google.com/books?id=nHk4AAAAMAAJ General view of the political history of Europe]. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.</ref><ref>Postan, M. M., & Miller, E. (1987). The Cambridge economic history of Europe. Vol.2, Trade and industry in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Breasted, J. H., & Robinson, J. H. (1920). [http://books.google.com/books?id=BFsAAAAAYAAJ History of Europe, ancient and medieval: Earliest man, the Orient, Greece and Rome]. Boston: Ginn and.</ref><ref>Thatcher, O. J., Schwill, F., & Hassall, A. (1909). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ORAMAAAAYAAJ A general history of Europe, 350–1900]. London: Murray.</ref><ref>Nida, W. L. (1913). [http://books.google.com/books?id=zLcXAAAAIAAJ The dawn of American history in Europe]. New York: Macmillian.</ref><ref>Robinson, J. H., Breasted, J. H., & Smith, E. P. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=Wl0AAAAAYAAJ A general history of Europe, from the origins of civilization to the present time]. Boston: Ginn and company.</ref><ref>Goodrich, S. G. (1840). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ETMFAAAAYAAJ The second book of history, combined with geography; containing the modern history of Europe, Asia, and Africa]. Illustrated by Engravings and colored maps, and designed as a sequel to "The first book of history. Boston: Hickling, Swan and Brewer.</ref><ref>Turner, E. R. (1921). [http://books.google.com/books?id=tNoLAAAAYAAJ Europe since 1870]. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.</ref><ref>Weir, A. (1886). [http://books.google.com/books?id=tLkfAAAAMAAJ The historical basis of modern Europe (1760–1815): an introductory study to the general history of Europe in the nineteenth century]. London: S. Sonnenschein, Lowrey.</ref><ref>Hallam, H. (1837). [http://books.google.com/books?id=3ixjAAAAMAAJ View of the state of Europe during the middle ages]. London: J. Murray.</ref> |
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Many have also argued that Europe's institutions allowed it to expand,<ref>Russell, W., & Lady of Massachusetts. (1810). [http://books.google.com/books?id=X5a28RAi25AC The history of modern Europe, particularly France, England, and Scotland with a view of the progress of society, from the rise of those kingdoms, to the late revolutions on the continent]. Hanover, N.H.: Printed by and for Charles and Wm. S. Spear.</ref><ref>Ogg, F. A., & Sharp, W. R. (1926). [http://books.google.com/books?id=McA9AAAAIAAJ Economic development of modern Europe]. New York: Macmillan.</ref> that [[property right]]s and [[free market|free-market]] economics were stronger than elsewhere due to an ideal of [[Freedom (political)|freedom]] peculiar to Europe. In recent years, however, scholars such as [[Kenneth Pomeranz]] have challenged this view, although the revisionist approach to [[world history]] has been met with criticism for systematically "downplaying" European achievements.<ref>Ricardo Duchesne, [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1540-5923.2006.00168.x?cookieSet=1 "Asia First?"], ''The Journal of the Historical Society'', Vol. 6, Issue 1 (March 2006), pp.69–91</ref> |
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Europe's maritime expansion unsurprisingly — given the continent's geography — was largely the work of its Atlantic states: [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[England]], [[France]], and the [[Netherlands]]. Initially the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish Empire]]s were the predominant conquerors and source of influence, and their union resulted in the [[Iberian Union]],<ref>Jonathan Locke Hart, ''Empires and Colonies'', Cambridge, Polity, 2008, [http://books.google.com/books?id=LnevC1FYdnEC&pg=PA54 p. 54].</ref> the first [[global empire]], on which the "[[The empire on which the sun never sets|sun never set]]". Soon the more northern [[England|English]], [[France|French]] and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] began to dominate the [[Atlantic (ocean)|Atlantic]]. In a series of wars fought in the 17th and 18th centuries, culminating with the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Britain emerged as the new world power. |
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This era in European culture saw the [[Age of Enlightenment]]<ref>The Age of Enlightenment has also been referred to as the [[Age of Reason]]. Historians also include the late 17th century, which is typically known as the Age of Reason or [[Age of Rationalism]], as part of the Enlightenment; however, contemporary historians have considered the Age of Reason distinct to the ideas developed in the Enlightenment. The use of the term here includes both Ages under a single all-inclusive time-frame.</ref> [[Science in the Age of Enlightenment|which led to the Scientific Revolution]].<ref name="Sedgwick1917">Sedgwick, W. T., & Tyler, H. W. (1917). [http://books.google.com/books?id=KdsEAAAAYAAJ A short history of science]. New York: The Macmillan company.</ref> |
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===Modern period=== |
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{{Main|Modern history}} |
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{{further2|18th century and 19th century}} |
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The [[Scientific Revolution]] changed humanity's understanding of the world and led to the [[Industrial Revolution]], a major transformation of the world's economies.<ref name="Sedgwick1917" /><ref name="beard1902">Beard, C. (1902). [http://books.google.com/books?id=dnJMAAAAIAAJ The industrial revolution]. S. Sonnenschein & co., lim., 1919.</ref> The [[Scientific Revolution]] in the 17th century had made little immediate impact on industrial [[technology]]; only in the second half of the 18th century did scientific advances begin to be applied significantly to practical [[invention]]. The Industrial Revolution began in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]] and used new modes of production — the [[factory]], [[mass production]], and [[mechanisation]] — to manufacture a wide array of goods faster and using less labour than previously. The Age of Enlightenment also led to the beginnings of modern [[democracy]] in the late-18th century [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution]]s. [[Democracy]] and [[republicanism]] would grow to have a profound effect on world events and on [[quality of life]]. |
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After Europeans had achieved influence and control over the Americas, the [[Imperialism|imperial]] activities of the West turned to the lands of the East and Asia.<ref>Grosvenor, E. A. (1899). Contemporary history of the world, '[http://books.google.com/books?id=DVQPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA141 Partition of Africa, Asia, and Oceania]'. New York and Boston: T.Y. Crowell & Co.</ref><ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook34.html Imperialism]. Internet Modern History Sourcebook, fordham.edu.</ref> In the 19th century the European states had social and technological advantage over Eastern lands.<ref name="Robinson1914" /> Britain gained control of the [[Indian subcontinent]], [[Egypt]] and the [[Peninsular Malaysia|Malay Peninsula]];<ref name="McIntyre1977">McIntyre, W. D. (1977). The Commonwealth of nations: Origins and impact, 1869–1971. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press</ref> the [[Colonization of Cochinchina|French took Indochina]]; while the Dutch cemented their control over the [[Dutch East Indies]]. The British also colonized [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]] and [[South Africa]] with large numbers of British colonists emigrating to these colonies.<ref name="McIntyre1977" /> Russia colonised large pre-agricultural areas of Siberia.<ref>Russia., Crawford, J. M., & World's Columbian Exposition. (1893). [http://books.google.com/books?id=eulxAAAAIAAJ Siberia and the Great Siberian Railway: With a general map]. Industries of Russia, v. 5. St. Petersburg: The Departmen</ref><ref>Korff, S. A. (1921). Russia in the Far East. Washington: The Endowment.</ref> In the late 19th century, the European powers [[Scramble for Africa|divided the remaining areas of Africa]]. Within Europe, economic and military challenges created a system of [[nation state]]s, and ethno-linguistic groupings began to identify themselves as distinctive [[nation]]s with aspirations for cultural and political autonomy. This [[nationalism]] would become important to peoples across the world in the 20th century. |
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During the Industrial Revolution, the world economy became reliant on [[coal]] as a fuel, as new methods of [[transport]], such as [[railways]] and [[steamship]]s, effectively shrank the world.<ref name="beard1902" /> Meanwhile, industrial [[pollution]] and [[Natural environment|environmental]] damage, present since the discovery of fire and the beginning of civilization, accelerated drastically. |
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The advantages that Europe had developed by the mid-18th century were two: an [[entrepreneurial]] culture,<ref name="Robinson1914">Robinson, J. H., Breasted, J. H., & Beard, C. A. (1914). [http://books.google.com/books?id=s0AiAAAAMAAJ Outlines of European history]. Boston: Ginn.</ref><ref>Wood, N. (1984). John Locke and agrarian capitalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref> and the wealth generated by the [[Atlantic]] trade<ref name="Robinson1914"/> (including the [[African slave trade]]). By the late 16th century, [[silver]] from the Americas accounted for the Spanish empire's wealth.<ref>Walton, T. R. (1994). The Spanish treasure fleets. Sarasota, Fla: Pineapple Press</ref> The profits of the [[slave trade]] and of [[West Indies|West Indian]] plantations amounted to 5% of the [[Economic history of Britain|British economy]] at the time of the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Digital History, Steven Mintz |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/con_economic.cfm |title=Was slavery the engine of economic growth? |publisher=Digitalhistory.uh.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> While some historians conclude that, in 1750, [[productivity|labour productivity]] in the most developed regions of China was still on a par with that of Europe's Atlantic economy (see the NBER Publications by Carol H. Shiue and Wolfgang Keller<ref>[http://www.nber.org/cgi-bin/author_papers.pl?author=carol_shiue Wolfgang Keller and Carol Shiue], nber.org.</ref>), other historians like [[Angus Maddison]] hold that the per-capita productivity of [[western Europe]] had by the late [[Middle Ages]] surpassed that of all other regions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/ |title=Homepage of Angus Maddison |publisher=Ggdc.net |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> |
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===Contemporary history=== |
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{{Main|Contemporary history}} |
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====1900-45==== |
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{{Main|20th century}} |
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{{further2|[[Interwar period]], [[Roaring Twenties]], and [[Great Depression]]}} |
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[[File:Royal Irish Rifles ration party Somme July 1916.jpg|thumb|[[World War I]] static [[trench warfare]], western Europe]] |
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[[Image:Nagasakibomb.jpg|thumb|History's only use of [[nuclear weapon]]s in war—[[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], 1945]] |
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The 20th century<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.20th-century.net |title=The 20th Century Research Project |publisher=20th-century.net |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Old.html |title=Slouching Towards Utopia: The Economic History of the Twentieth Century |publisher=Econ161.berkeley.edu |date=2000-03-01 |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/archive/collections/0,21428,c_writers,00.shtml TIME Archives] The greatest writers of the 20th Century</ref> opened with [[Europe]] at an apex of wealth and power, and with much of the world under its direct [[Colonialism|colonial]] control or its indirect domination.<ref>Etemad, B. (2007). Possessing the world: taking the measurements of colonisation from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. European expansion and global interaction, v. 6. New York: Berghahn Books.</ref> Much of the rest of the world was influenced by heavily Europeanized nations: the [[United States]] and [[Japan]].<ref>Wells, H. G. (1922). [http://books.google.com/books?id=FGgMAAAAIAAJ The Outline of History: Being A Plain History of Life and Mankind]. New York: The Review of Reviews. Page 1200.</ref> As the century unfolded, however, the global system dominated by rival powers was subjected to severe strains, and ultimately yielded to a more fluid structure of independent nations organized on Western models. |
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This transformation was [[catalysis|catalysed]] by [[war]]s of unparalleled scope and devastation. [[World War I]]<ref>Herrmann David G (1996). The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War.</ref> destroyed many of Europe's empires and monarchies, and weakened [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[France]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/ |title=A multimedia history of World War I |publisher=Firstworldwar.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> In its aftermath, powerful ideologies arose. The [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]<ref>Bunyan, James and H. H. Fisher, eds. The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1918: Documents and Materials (Stanford, 1961; first ed. 1934).</ref><ref>[[John Reed (journalist)|Reed, John]]. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1919/10days/10days/index.htm Ten Days that Shook the World]. 1919, 1st Edition, published by BONI & Liveright, Inc. for International Publishers. Transcribed and marked by David Walters for [http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/works/index.htm John Reed Internet Archive]. Penguin Books; 1st edition. June 1, 1980. ISBN 0-14-018293-4. Retrieved May 14, 2005.</ref><ref>[[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky, Leon]]. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1930-hrr/index.htm The History of the Russian Revolution]. Translated by Max Eastman, 1932. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 8083994. ISBN 0-913460-83-4. Transcribed for the World Wide Web by John Gowland (Australia), Alphanos Pangas (Greece) and David Walters (United States). Pathfinder Press edition. June 1, 1980. ISBN 0-87348-829-6. Retrieved May 14, 2005.</ref> of 1917 created the first [[communism|communist]] state, while the 1920s and 1930s saw [[militarism|militaristic]] [[fascism|fascist]] dictatorships gain control in [[Italy]], [[Germany]], [[Spain]] and elsewhere.<ref>Davis, W. S., Anderson, W., & Tyler, M. W. (1918). [http://books.google.com/books?id=DOtGAAAAIAAJ The roots of the war; a non-technical history of Europe, 1870–1914, AD]. New York: Century.</ref> |
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Ongoing national rivalries, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the [[Great Depression]], helped precipitate [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|author=C. Peter Chen |url=http://www.ww2db.com/ |title=World War II Database |publisher=Ww2db.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=226140 |title=World War II Encyclopedia by the History Channel |publisher=History.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> The [[militaristic]] [[dictatorship]]s of [[Europe]] and [[Japan]] pursued an ultimately doomed course of [[imperialist]] [[expansionism]]. Their defeat opened the way for the advance of [[communism]] into [[Central Europe]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Romania]], [[Albania]], [[China]], [[North Vietnam]] and [[North Korea]]. |
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====1945-2000==== |
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{{Main|20th century}} |
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After [[World War II]] ended in 1945, the [[United Nations]] was founded in the hope of allaying conflicts among nations and preventing future wars.<ref>''An Insider's Guide to the UN'', Linda Fasulo, Yale University Press (November 1, 2003), hardcover, 272 pages, ISBN 0-300-10155-4</ref><ref>''United Nations: The First Fifty Years'', Stanley Mesler, Atlantic Monthly Press (March 1, 1997), hardcover, 416 pages, ISBN 0-87113-656-2</ref> The war had, however, left two nations, the [[United States]]<ref>Avery, S. (2004). The globalist papers. Louisville, Ky: [Compari].</ref> and the [[Soviet Union]], with principal power to guide international affairs.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zinn|first=Howard|title=A People's History of the United States|url=http://books.google.com/?id=9-FtlblxbLgC&printsec=frontcover|year=2003|edition=5th|place=New York, New York|publisher=HarperPerennial Modern Classics [2005 reprint]|isbn=0-06-083865-5}}</ref> Each was suspicious of the other and feared a global spread of the other's political-economic model. This led to the [[Cold War]], a forty-year stand-off between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies. With the development of [[nuclear weapons]]<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/ ''Race for the Superbomb''], PBS website on the history of the H-bomb</ref> and the subsequent [[arms race]], all of humanity were put at risk of [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] between the two superpowers.<ref>As irrefutably demonstrated by a number of incidents, most prominently the October 1962 [[Cuban missile crisis]].</ref> Such war [[Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth|being viewed as impractical]], [[proxy war]]s were instead waged, at the expense of non-nuclear-armed [[Third World]] countries. |
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The [[Cold War]] lasted to the 1990s, when the Soviet Union's communist system began to collapse, unable to compete economically with the United States and western Europe; the Soviets' [[Central Europe]]an "[[satellite state|satellites]]" reasserted their national sovereignty, and in 1991 the [[Soviet Union]] itself [[Breakup of the Soviet Union|disintegrated]].<ref>Brown, Archie, et al., eds.: ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).</ref><ref>Gilbert, Martin: ''The Routledge Atlas of Russian History'' (London: Routledge, 2002).</ref><ref>Goldman, Minton: ''The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe'' (Connecticut: Global Studies, Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1986).</ref> The United States for the time being was left as the "sole remaining superpower".<ref>Richard H. Schultz, Wayne A. Downing, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, W. Bradley Stock, "Special Operations Forces: Roles And Missions In The Aftermath Of The Cold War". 1996. Page 59</ref><ref>Caraley, D. (2004). American hegemony: preventive war, Iraq, and imposing democracy. New York: Academy of Political Science. Page viii</ref><ref>After 1970s, the United States superpower status has came into question as that country's economic supremacy began to show signs of slippage. For more see, McCormick, T. J. (1995). America's half-century: United States foreign policy in the Cold War and after. The American moment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Page 155</ref> |
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In the early postwar decades, the [[Africa]]n and [[Asia]]n colonies of the Belgian, British, Dutch, French and other west European empires won their formal independence.<ref>Chamberlain, Muriel Evelyn. [http://books.google.com/books?id=T6zBLY312-wC Decolonization: The Fall of the European Empires]. Historical Association studies. Oxford, UK: Malden, MA, 1999.</ref><ref>Abernethy, David B. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ennqNS1EOuMC The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415–1980]. 2000.</ref> These nations faced challenges in the form of [[neocolonialism]], poverty, illiteracy and [[Endemic (epidemiology)|endemic]] [[tropical disease]]s.<ref>Stern, N. H., Jean-Jacques Dethier, and F. Halsey Rogers. [http://books.google.com/books?id=V7KgWjcvcUkC Growth and Empowerment: Making Development Happen]. Munich lectures in economics. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2005.</ref><ref>Weiss, Thomas George. UN Voices: The Struggle for Development and Social Justice. Bloomington: [[Indiana University Press]], 2005. [http://books.google.com/books?id=5cxA4LwpKVoC&pg=PA3 Pages 3].</ref> |
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Many [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]]an nations gradually formed a political and economic community, the [[European Union]], which expanded eastward to include former Soviet satellites.<ref>''Europe Recast: A History of European Union'' by [[Desmond Dinan]] (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) ISBN 978-0-333-98734-6</ref><ref>''Understanding the European Union 3rd ed'' by [[John McCormick (political scientist)|John McCormick]] (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) ISBN 978-1-4039-4451-1</ref><ref>''The Institutions of the European Union'' edited by John Peterson, Michael Shackleton, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0-19-870052-0</ref><ref>''The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream'' by Jeremy Rifkin (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004) ISBN 978-1-58542-345-3</ref> |
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[[Image:Apollo 17 Cernan on moon.jpg|thumb|Last [[Moon]] landing — [[Apollo 17]] (1972)]] |
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The 20th century saw exponential progress in [[science]] and [[technology]], and increased [[life expectancy]] and [[standard of living]] for much of humanity. As the developed world shifted from a [[coal]]-based to a [[petroleum]]-based economy, new transport technologies, along with the dawn of the [[Information Age]],<ref>Lallana, Emmanuel C., and Margaret N. Uy, "[[b:The Information Age|The Information Age]]".</ref> led to increased [[globalization]].<ref>{{cite book | last = von Braun | first = Joachim | coauthors = Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla | title = Globalization of Food and Agriculture and the Poor| publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2007 |location = Oxford| pages = | url = http://www.ifpri.org/PUBS/otherpubs/globalpoor.asp | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0-19-569528-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Friedman | first = Thomas L. | authorlink = Thomas L. Friedman | coauthors = | title = [[The World Is Flat]] | publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year = 2005 | location = New York | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-374-29288-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Murray | first = Warwick E. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Geographies of Globalization | publisher = Routledge/Taylor and Francis | year = 2006 | location = New York | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-415-31799-1 }}</ref> [[Space exploration]] reached throughout the [[solar system]]. The structure of [[DNA]], the template of [[life]], was discovered,<ref>Clayton, Julie. (Ed.). ''50 Years of DNA'', Palgrave MacMillan Press, 2003. ISBN 978-1-4039-1479-8</ref><ref>Watson, James D. ''[[The Double Helix|The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA (Norton Critical Editions)]]''. ISBN 978-0-393-95075-5</ref><ref>Calladine, Chris R.; Drew, Horace R.; Luisi, Ben F. and Travers, Andrew A. ''Understanding DNA'', Elsevier Academic Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-12-155089-9</ref> and the [[human genome]] was sequenced, a major milestone in the understanding of [[human biology]] and the treatment of [[disease]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genome.gov/ |title=The National Human Genome Research Institute |publisher=Genome.gov |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ensembl.org/ Ensembl] The [[Ensembl]] Genome Browser Project</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=mapview |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview/map_search.cgi?taxid=9606 |title=National Library of Medicine human genome viewer |publisher=Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |date=2008-03-26 |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ucsc.edu/ |title=UCSC Genome Browser |publisher=Genome.ucsc.edu |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/project/info.shtml |title=Human Genome Project |publisher=Ornl.gov |date=2008-03-26 |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref> Global [[literacy]] rates continued to rise, and the percentage of the world's [[labour (economics)|labor]] pool needed to produce [[humankind]]'s [[agriculture|food]] supply continued to drop. |
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The technologies of sound recordings, motion pictures, and radio and television broadcasting produced a focus on popular culture and entertainment. Television spots sold both commercial products and political candidates. Then, in the last decade of this century, a rapid increase took place in the use of personal computers. A global communication network emerged in the [[Internet]]. One-way [[mass media]] gave way to individual communication in what has been called a shift from the fourth to a fifth civilization.<ref>McGaughey, William, ''Five Epochs of Civilization'', Thistlerose, 2000, ISBN 0-9605630-3-2</ref> |
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The century saw the development of man-made global threats, including [[nuclear proliferation]], [[global climate change]],<ref>Earth Radiation Budget, http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/education/class/yuri/erb.html</ref><ref>Wood, R.W. (1909). Note on the Theory of the Greenhouse, Philosophical Magazine '17', p. 319–320. For the text of this online, see http://www.wmconnolley.org.uk/sci/wood_rw.1909.html</ref> massive [[deforestation]], [[overpopulation]], and the dwindling of global [[natural resource|resources]] (particularly [[fossil fuel]]s).<ref>Edwards, A. R. (2005). ''The sustainability revolution: portrait of a paradigm shift''. Gabriola, BC: New Society. p. 52</ref> |
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{{further2|[[American Century]] and [[Pax Americana]]}} |
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====21st century==== |
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[[File:Internet map 1024.jpg|thumb|Depiction of the [[Internet]], a source of [[information]] and [[communication]]]] |
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{{Main|21st century}} |
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The 21st century has been marked by [[economic globalization]], with consequent risk to interlinked economies, and by the expansion of communications with [[mobile phone]]s and the [[Internet]]. Worldwide [[demand]] and [[competition]] for [[Natural resource|resources]] has risen due to growing populations and industrialization, mainly in India, China and [[Brazil]]. <!-- Can't use Wikipedia as reference <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita]</ref> --> This demand is causing increased levels of environmental degradation and a growing threat of [[global warming]].<ref>"Foreword", ''Energy and Power'' (A ''[[Scientific American]]'' Book), pp. vii–viii.</ref> That in turn has spurred the development of alternate or [[renewable energy|renewable]] sources of [[energy]] (notably [[solar energy]] and [[wind energy]]), proposals for cleaner [[fossil fuels|fossil fuel]] technologies, and consideration of expanded use of [[Nuclear power|nuclear energy]] (somewhat dampened by [[Nuclear accidents#Nuclear power plant accidents|nuclear plant accidents]]).<ref>[[M. King Hubbert]], "The Energy Resources of the Earth", ''Energy and Power'' (A ''[[Scientific American]]'' Book), pp. 31–40.</ref><ref>[http://www.sefi.unep.org Renewable energy] ([[UNEP]]); [http://sefi.unep.org/english/globaltrends Global Trends In Sustainable Energy Investment] ([[UNEP]]).</ref><ref>[http://www.nrel.gov NREL] – US National Renewable Energy Laboratory</ref> |
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==See also== |
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{{Human history and prehistory}} |
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===History topics=== |
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* [[Economic history of the world]] |
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* [[Civilization]] |
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* [[Historical powers]] |
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* [[Medieval demography]] |
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* [[History of science]] |
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* [[History of technology]] |
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* [[Technological singularity]] |
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* [[Historiography]] |
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* [[Development criticism]] |
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* [[Deluge (mythology)]] |
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===History by period=== |
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* [[List of archaeological periods]] |
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* [[List of time periods]] |
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===History by region=== |
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* [[History of Africa]] |
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* [[History of Asia]] |
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** [[History of Central Asia]] |
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** [[History of East Asia]] |
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** [[History of South Asia]] |
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** [[History of Southeast Asia]] |
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* [[History of Europe]] |
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* [[History of the Middle East]] |
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* [[History of Oceania]] |
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** [[History of Australia]] |
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** [[History of New Zealand]] |
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** [[History of the Pacific Islands]] |
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* [[History of the Americas]] |
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** [[History of Central America]] |
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** [[History of South America]] |
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** [[History of North America]] |
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** [[History of the Caribbean]] |
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* [[History of Antarctica]] |
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{{clear}} |
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==Notes== |
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{{Reflist|35em}} |
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==References== |
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{{Spoken Wikipedia|History_of_the_world.ogg|2005-04-19}} |
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* Williams, H. S. (1904). [[The historians' history of the world]]; a comprehensive narrative of the rise and development of nations as recorded by over two thousand of the great writers of all ages. New York: The Outlook Company; [etc.]. |
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* Blainey, Geoffery (2000). ''[[A Short History of the World (Geoffrey Blainey)|A Short History Of The World]]''. Penguin Books, Victoria. ISBN 0-670-88036-1 |
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* Gombrich, Ernst H. [[A Little History of the World]]. Yale. UK and USA, 2005. |
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* [[H.G. Wells]] (1920), ''[[The Outline of History]]'' [http://books.google.com/books?id=-64EAAAAYAAJ Volume One], New York, MacMillan. |
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* [[Howard Spodek|H. Spodek]] (2001), ''[[The World's History]]: combined volume'', Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. |
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* G. Parker (1997), ''[[The Times Atlas of World History]]'', London, Times Books. |
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* ''The [[Biosphere]]'' (A ''[[Scientific American]]'' Book), San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1970, ISBN 0-7167-0945-7. This seminal book, originally a 1970 ''[[Scientific American]]'' magazine issue, covered virtually every major concern and concept that has since been debated regarding [[material]]s and [[energy resource]]s, [[population]] trends and [[environmental degradation]]. |
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* ''Energy and Power'' (A ''[[Scientific American]]'' Book), San Francisco, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1971, ISBN 0-7167-0938-4. |
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* {{cite book | author=[[Jared Diamond]] | title=[[Guns, Germs, and Steel|Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies]]. | location=New York | publisher=W. W. Norton | year=1996 | isbn=0-393-03891-2}} |
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* {{cite book | author=[[Fernand Braudel]] | title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II | location=Berkeley, Calif. | publisher=University of California Press | year=1996 | isbn=0-520-20308-9}} |
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* {{cite book | author=[[Fernand Braudel]] | title=Capitalism and Material Life, 1400–1800 | location=New York | publisher=HarperCollins | year=1973 | isbn=0-06-010454-6}} |
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* [[Francis Fukuyama]], ''[[The End of History and the Last Man]]'', Free Press, 1992, ISBN 0-02-910975-2. |
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* [[Marshall Hodgson]], ''Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History'', Cambridge, 1993. |
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* [[Kenneth Pomeranz]], ''The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy'', Princeton, 2000. |
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* [[Clive Ponting]], ''World History: a New Perspective'', London, 2000. |
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* [[Ronald Wright]], ''[[A Short History of Progress]]'', Toronto, Anansi, 2004, ISBN 0-88784-706-4. |
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* Guy Ankerl, ''Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western'', Geneva, INUPRESS, 2000, ISBN 2-88155-004-5. |
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==Further reading== |
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* [[David Landes]], "[[The Wealth and Poverty of Nations]]: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor", New York, W. W. Norton & Company (1999) ISBN 978-0-393-31888-3 |
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* [[David Landes]], "Why Europe and the West? Why Not China?", ''Journal of Economic Perspectives'', 20:2, 3, 2006. |
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* [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1540-5923.2006.00168.x?cookieSet=1 Ricardo Duchesne, "Asia First?", ''The Journal of the Historical Society'', Vol. 6, Issue 1 (March 2006), pp. 69–91] (PDF) |
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* [[William H. McNeill]], ''The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community'', Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1963. |
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* [[Larry Gonick]], ''The Cartoon History of the Universe'', Volume One, Main Street Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-385-26520-1, Volume Two, Main Street Books, 1994, ISBN 978-0-385-42093-8, Volume Three, [[W. W. Norton & Company]], 2002, ISBN 978-0-393-32403-7. |
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==External links== |
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{{Sister project links}} |
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* [http://all-history.org History of the World: From Prehistory to Present Day] |
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{{Earth}} |
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Revision as of 03:17, 28 August 2012
Humans evolved from ladybugs. When humans die, they become reincarnated as ladybugs. This is the the Ladybug Theory though of by Jackie Cadenas and David Almeida.