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Chapter 11

In Chapter 11 we look at the pastoral peoples of the world with a focus on those of the Eurasian steppe. Pastoral people by definition nomadic and draw their living from managing herds of animals. This lifestyle was a harsh one, filled with tough tasks, and war. War however enabled many pastoral peoples to become empires. From the early Assyrians who co-opted their pastoral neighbors use of chariots or the mongols whose superior riding ability was able to shock most contemporary armies. The culture of the pastoral people simply bred better warriors of the era, and their culture in fact may have produced more modern people. The pastoral life, draws few parallels to anything resembling modernity. Those who grew up in a rural area on a farm are the closest thing to it, as they learned the "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle associated with livestock. However when that lifestyle is nomadic, and takes places within a semi permanent camp, life is abundantly more difficult. ...
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Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Chapter 9 allows us to look closer at Islam as religious movement, and the foundation it is built upon. While we also examine the social consequences that have occurred as a result of said movement. A thing of note is that the book labels pre-Islamic Arab culture as “Bedouin” this is at best a half truth. As non muslim bedouins existed before and after the founding of Islam, and to this day still exist in a variety of middle eastern countries. However their lifestyles closest modern parallel is that of the bedouin people, who live and embody the nomadic ideals of a loyal, close knit, hospitality crazed, clan/ tribe or family. These clans controlled the Arabian peninsula, and its valuable oasis in piecemeal. The prophet Muhammad was able to unify these clans, and tribes through various forms of conversion, ultimating unifying the the peninsula. The man and the message to unify the peninsula, was the the Quran, and the man was the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad's messag...
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Chapter 7/ Intro to part 3

Chapter 7 In chapter 7 we depart from our mostly Eurasian sphere of focus and instead now take a look at the civilizations around the world. More specifically in the Americas,Africa, and Oceania, as each birthed a variety of civilizations and societies. Like the Nubians of the Kingdom of Kush in what is modern day Sudan, or the Maya of central America. Each unique society was progressing on a similar timeline and scope as the those in Eurasia, however due to bias, and the historical precedent of undervaluing these civilizations were are just know learning as much as we can. Historic Africa is a complicated a muddied subject, that involves, war, racism, bias, and the unfortunate era of slavery. Followed by the equally exploitative eras of neo colonialism, and globalization, making it highly improbable to know African history the same as Eurasian beyond the oral histories of the surviving tribes. This largely ignores the massive impact of the geographic location on of Africa, whos...
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