Chapter 6

In chapter 6 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, whose equatorial climate is perfect  for disease and insects hatching. All of these disclaimers are important when discussing Africa, as it allows us to one understand the gaps in the knowledge, and two cherish what we do know even more. For example the Nubian Kingdom of Meroe, was a powerful city state, that lay south of Egypt. The ruler either male or female (which happened at least 10 times) was all powerful and sacred, deriving their power from a form of “divine right to rule.” In the earlier eras of Meroe Egyptian gods played a larger role, but further in the history it is clear that their own  pantheon supplanted them in importance and reverence. This is important as Nubians are most known from the three centuries in which the Nubian Kingdom of Kush, ruled Egypt, in which time Egyptian culture and style were still maintained. Leading to the popular assumption that the people of Nubia were essentially darker-black Egyptians, while there was a cultural exchange, it is clear they were their very own diverse and unique civilization.

A similar amount of ignorance is often levied against the history and ancient peoples of Mesoamerica. While the peoples of Eurasia, and Africa had opportunity for interactions as civilizations ebbed and flowed, the peoples of the Americas developed completely separate until 1492 A.D. Like the continent of Africa, parts of the Americas are equatorial, and thus are lush tropical jungle, filled with life of all kinds.  Yet the unique thing that defines the Americas so separately is that rugged mountain ranges that line North and South America both. This combination of high peaks and low river valleys played pivotal roles in how different societies and civilizations organized themselves and where. Another unique aspect of the American civilizations are all the major architectural landmark achievements accomplished without the use of a large (except the llama) domesticated animal of any kind. The Maya are perhaps the perfect example of this, as historians have found ceremony sites from as early as 2000 B.C.E. By the next millennia large urban centers with big populations and massive architecture had appeared. The Maya are also well known in history for their strong ties to intellectualism. The Maya priests also acted as scholars of sorts, developing a complex math calculations system, and incorporating it into their study of Astronomy-which they interpreted religiously. In this example the Maya and early Jews have a commonality, as the in early and modern Jewish culture, the Rabbi is also seen as the hub of the academia and intelligentsia of the community.

While both Africa and the Americas have had their true and total histories bleached by injustice and oppression throughout the centuries. It has only made the big and small breaks in our understanding of these two places that much more important. The variation in social organization by the Maya, or the unique dispersal of rural citizens by Meroe, shows that they each found their own way. See often when humans talk big picture history, these civilizations are likely to be overlooked in turn from Rome or China, and in many ways rightfully so. Those cultures way of thinking has shaped the world on a massive scale, now with more and more information on these African, and American civilizations maybe it's time we let their schools of thought shape the world for the better too.