1.
History of the world
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The history of the world describes the history of humanity as determined by the study of archaeological and written records, beginning with the invention of writing. The latter period marked a change in history, as humans began the systematic husbandry of plants. Agriculture advanced, and most humans transitioned from a nomadic to a lifestyle as farmers in permanent settlements. As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labour to store food between growing seasons, labour divisions then led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of writing and accounting, in the mid-15th century, the invention of modern printing, employing movable type, revolutionized communication, helping end the Middle Ages and ushering in the Scientific Revolution. By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge and technology, outside the Old World, including ancient China and ancient India, historical timelines unfolded differently. However, by the 18th century, due to world trade and colonization. Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to Homo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to chimpanzees around six years ago. It is thought that the Australopithecine genus, which were likely the first apes to walk upright, anatomically modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago, and reached behavioural modernity about 50,000 years ago. Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe, 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 colonized nearly all the parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age. Other hominids such as Homo erectus had been using simple wood and stone tools for millennia, at some point, humans began using fire for heat and cooking. They also developed language in the Palaeolithic period and a repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead. Early artistic expression can be found in the form of paintings and sculptures made from wood and bone, showing a spirituality generally interpreted as animism. During this period, all lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic. The Neolithic Revolution, beginning about 8,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution. Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organized into 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 cities and these were centres of trade, manufacturing and political power with nearly no agricultural production of their own
2.
Prehistory
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Prehistory means literally before history, from the Latin word for before, præ, and Greek ιστορία. Neighbouring civilisations were the first to follow, most other civilisations reached the end of prehistory during the Iron Age. The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing is known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no records from human prehistory. Clear techniques for dating were not well-developed until the 19th century and this article is concerned with human prehistory as defined here above. There are separate articles for the history of the Earth. However, for the race as a whole, prehistory ends when recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC. For example, in Egypt it is accepted that prehistory ended around 3200 BC, whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently. The three-age system is the periodization of prehistory into three consecutive time periods, named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies, Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age. The notion of prehistory began to surface during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word primitive to describe societies that existed before written records, the first use of the word prehistory in English, however, occurred in the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836. The main source for prehistory is archaeology, but some scholars are beginning to more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences. This view has been articulated by advocates of deep history, human population geneticists and historical linguists are also providing valuable insight for these questions. Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology, restricted to material processes, remains and artifacts rather than written records, prehistory is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms that use, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age are modern labels with definitions sometimes subject to debate. Palaeolithic means Old Stone Age, and begins with the first use of stone tools, the Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age. The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the Lower Palaeolithic, evidence of control of fire by early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly support. The most widely accepted claim is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Yaakov Bridge, Israel. The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, Early Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic
3.
Recorded history
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Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a written record or other documented communication. Recorded history can be contrasted with other narratives of the past, for broader world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of writing. Examples of written texts, however, can be found dating as far back as 1750 BCE in Ancient Mesopotamia, for some geographic regions or cultures, written history is limited to a relatively recent period in human history because of the limited use of written records. Because of these limits, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different periods of time depending on the historical topic. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a method for interpreting recorded history is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history, prehistory refers to the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. Protohistory refers to the period between prehistory and history, after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, more complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are the Jiahu symbols, Vinča signs, early Indus script, earliest recorded history, which varies greatly in quality and reliability, deals with Pharaohs and their reigns, made by ancient Egyptians. Much of the earliest recorded history was re-discovered relatively recently due to archaeological dig sites findings, since these initial accounts, a number of different traditions have developed in different parts of the world in how to handle the writing and production of historical accounts. In China, the earliest history was recorded in oracle bone script which was deciphered, the Zuo Zhuan, attributed to Zuo Qiuming in the 5th century BCE, is the earliest written of narrative history in the world and covers the period from 722 to 468 BCE. The Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and it is traditionally attributed to Confucius. Zhan Guo Ce was a renowned ancient Chinese historical compilation of materials on the Warring States period compiled between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era, Herodotus of Halicarnassus has generally been acclaimed as the father of history composing his The Histories written from 450s to the 420s BCE. However, his contemporary Thucydides is credited with having first approached history with a historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was studied through a sacred or religious perspective
4.
Ancient history
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Ancient history is the aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded human history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with Sumerian Cuneiform script, the term classical antiquity is often used to refer to history in the Old World from the beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC. This roughly coincides with the date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of ancient Rome. In India, ancient history includes the period of the Middle Kingdoms, and, in China. Historians have two major avenues which they take to better understand the ancient world, archaeology and the study of source texts, primary sources are those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources have been distinguished from secondary sources, which cite, comment on. Archaeology is the excavation and study of artefacts in an effort to interpret, archaeologists excavate the ruins of ancient cities looking for clues as to how the people of the time period lived. The study of the ancient cities of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, the city of Pompeii, an ancient Roman city preserved by the eruption of a volcano in AD79. Its state of preservation is so great that it is a window into Roman culture and provided insight into the cultures of the Etruscans. The Terracotta Army, the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in ancient China, the discovery of Knossos by Minos Kalokairinos and Sir Arthur Evans. The discovery of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann, most of what is known of the ancient world comes from the accounts of antiquitys own historians. Although it is important to take account the bias of each ancient author. Some of the more notable ancient writers include Herodotus, Thucydides, Arrian, Plutarch, Polybius, Sima Qian, Sallust, Livy, Josephus, Suetonius, furthermore, the reliability of the information obtained from these surviving records must be considered. Few people were capable of writing histories, as literacy was not widespread in almost any culture until long after the end of ancient history, the earliest known systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, beginning with Herodotus of Halicarnassus. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, the Roman Empire was one of the ancient worlds most literate cultures, but many works by its most widely read historians are lost. Indeed, only a minority of the work of any major Roman historian has survived, prehistory is the period before written history. The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago, the controlled use of fire occurred 800,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa, 60–70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa along a coastal route to South and Southeast Asia and reached Australia
5.
History of writing
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The history of writing traces the development of expressing language by letters or other marks and also the study and description of these developments. One of the earliest forms of expression is cuneiform. Writing numbers for the purpose of record keeping began long before the writing of language, see History of writing ancient numbers for how the writing of numbers began. It is generally agreed that true writing of language was conceived and developed in at least two places and possibly more. Egyptian script is dissimilar from Mesopotamian cuneiform, but similarities in concepts, similar debate surrounds the Indus script of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization in Ancient India. In addition, the script is still undeciphered and there is debate whether the script is true writing at all. An additional possibility is the undeciphered Rongorongo script of Easter Island and it is debated whether this is true writing, and if it is, whether it is another case of cultural diffusion of writing. The oldest example is from 1851,139 years after their first contact with Europeans, one explanation is that the script was inspired by Spains written annexation proclamation in 1770. Recent examples are the Cherokee syllabary, invented by Sequoyah, symbolic communication systems are distinguished from writing systems in that one must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to comprehend the text. In contrast, symbolic systems such as signs, painting, maps. Every human community possesses language, a feature regarded by many as an innate, however the development of writing systems, and their partial supplantation of traditional oral systems of communication, have been sporadic, uneven and slow. Once established, writing systems on the change more slowly than their spoken counterparts. Writing allows societies to transmit information and share knowledge, scholars make a reasonable distinction between prehistory and history of early writing, but have disagreed concerning when prehistory becomes history and when proto-writing became true writing. Writing, in its most general terms, is a method of recording information and is composed of graphemes, the emergence of writing in a given area is usually followed by several centuries of fragmentary inscriptions. Historians mark the historicity of a culture by the presence of coherent texts in the writing system. The invention of writing was not an event, but a gradual process initiated by the appearance of symbols. A conventional proto-writing to true writing system follows a series of developmental stages, Picture writing system. Transitional system, graphemes refer not only to the object or idea which it represents, phonetic system, graphemes refer to sounds or spoken symbols, and the form of the grapheme is not related to its meanings
6.
History of Africa
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The history of Africa begins with the emergence of Homo sapiens in East Africa, and continues into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. The recorded history of early civilization arose in the Kingdom of Kush, and later in Ancient Egypt, the Sahel, the Maghreb, during the Middle Ages, Islam spread west from Arabia to Egypt, crossing the Maghreb and the Sahel. They were transported, along with Asians and Europeans, across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, from the late 15th century, Europeans joined the slave trade, with the Portuguese initially acquiring slaves through trade and later by force as part of the Atlantic slave trade. They transported enslaved West, Central, and Southern Africans overseas, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, European colonization of Africa developed rapidly in the Scramble for Africa. It is widely believed that Africa had up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs before it was colonized. Following struggles for independence in many parts of the continent, as well as a weakened Europe after the Second World War, decolonization took place, disciplines such as the recording of oral history, historical linguistics, archaeology and genetics have been crucial. The first known hominids evolved in Africa and this gave them a crucial advantage, enabling them to live in both forested areas and on the open savanna at a time when Africa was drying up and the savanna was encroaching on forested areas. This occurred 10 to 5 million years ago, by 4 million years ago, several australopithecine hominid species had developed throughout Southern, Eastern and Central Africa. They were tool users, and makers of tools and they scavenged for meat and were omnivores. By approximately 3.3 million years ago, primitive stone tools were first used to scavenge kills made by predators and to harvest carrion. In hunting, Homo habilis was probably not capable of competing with large predators and was still more prey than hunter, H. habilis probably did steal eggs from nests and may have been able to catch small game and weakened larger prey. The tools were classed as Oldowan, around 1.8 million years ago, Homo ergaster first appeared in the fossil record in Africa. From Homo ergaster, Homo erectus evolved 1.5 million years ago, some of the earlier representatives of this species were still fairly small-brained and used primitive stone tools, much like H. habilis. The brain later grew in size, and H. erectus eventually developed a complex stone tool technology called the Acheulean. Possibly the first hunters, H. erectus mastered the art of making fire and was the first hominid to leave Africa, colonizing most of Afro-Eurasia, the fossil record shows Homo sapiens living in Southern and Eastern Africa at least 200,000 to 150,000 years ago. Around 40,000 years ago, the species out of Africa launched the colonization of the planet by modern human beings. By 10,000 BC, Homo sapiens had spread to most corners of Afro-Eurasia and their disperals are traced by linguistic, cultural and genetic evidence. The earliest physical evidence of activity appears to be a lunar calendar found on the Ishango bone dated to between 23,000 and 18,000 BC
7.
Pre-Columbian era
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For this reason the alternative terms of Precontact Americas, Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Latin America the term used is Pre-Hispanic. Other civilizations were contemporary with the period and were described in European historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya civilization, had their own written records, because many Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, men like Diego de Landa destroyed many texts in pyres, even while seeking to preserve native histories. Only a few documents have survived in their original languages, while others were transcribed or dictated into Spanish, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture. Indigenous American cultures continue to evolve after the pre-Columbian era, many of these peoples and their descendants continue traditional practices, while evolving and adapting new cultural practices and technologies into their lives. Now, the study of pre-Columbian cultures is most often based on scientific. Asian nomads are thought to have entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait, genetic evidence found in Amerindians maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. Over the course of millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America, exactly when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate. One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago, however, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed. Some genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas dates from between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago, the chronology of migration models is currently divided into two general approaches. The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no earlier than 14, 000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second belief is the long chronology theory, which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at an earlier date, possibly 50. In that case, the Eskimo peoples would have arrived separately and at a later date, probably no more than 2,000 years ago. The North American climate was unstable as the ice age receded and it finally stabilized by about 10,000 years ago, climatic conditions were then very similar to todays. Within this timeframe, roughly pertaining to the Archaic Period, numerous archaeological cultures have been identified, the unstable climate led to widespread migration, with early Paleo-Indians soon spreading throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. The paleo-indians were hunter-gatherers, likely characterized by small, mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family and these groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. During much of the Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct giant land animals such as mastodon, Paleo-Indian groups carried a variety of tools
8.
History of Oceania
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The History of Oceania includes the history of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and other Pacific island nations. There are three theories regarding the spread of humans across the Pacific to Polynesia and these are outlined well by Kayser et al. This theory is supported by the majority of current human genetic data, linguistic data, slow Boat model, Similar to the express-train model but with a longer hiatus in Melanesia along with admixture, both genetically, culturally and linguistically with the local population. This is supported by the Y-chromosome data of Kayser et al. which shows all three haplotypes of Polynesian Y chromosomes can be traced back to Melanesia. In the archaeological record there are well-defined traces of this expansion which allow the path it took to be followed and dated with some certainty. It is thought that by roughly 1400 BC, Lapita Peoples, so-named after their pottery tradition and this culture is seen as having adapted and evolved through time and space since its emergence Out of Taiwan. They had given up rice production, for instance, after encountering and adapting to breadfruit in the Birds Head area of New Guinea, in the end, the most eastern site for Lapita archaeological remains recovered so far has been through work on the archaeology in Samoa. The site is at Mulifanua on Upolu, the Mulifanua site, where 4,288 pottery shards have been found and studied, has a true age of c.1000 BC based on C14 dating. A2010 study places the beginning of the human archaeological sequences of Polynesia in Tonga at 900 B. C, the area of Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa served as a gateway into the rest of the Pacific region known as Polynesia. Ancient Tongan mythologies recorded by early European explorers report the islands of Ata, pottery art from Fijian towns shows that Fiji was settled before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, although the question of Pacific migration still lingers. The first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago, Lapita pottery shards have been found at numerous excavations around the country. Aspects of Fijian culture are similar to the Melanesian culture of the western Pacific but have a connection to the older Polynesian cultures. Across 1,000 kilometres from east to west, Fiji has been a nation of many languages, fijis history was one of settlement but also of mobility. Over the centuries, a unique Fijian culture developed, constant warfare and cannibalism between warring tribes were quite rampant and very much part of everyday life. Early European visitors to Easter Island recorded the oral traditions about the original settlers. In these traditions, Easter Islanders claimed that a chief Hotu Matua arrived on the island in one or two large canoes with his wife and extended family and they are believed to have been Polynesian. There is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy of this legend as well as the date of settlement, published literature suggests the island was settled around 300-400 CE, or at about the time of the arrival of the earliest settlers in Hawaii. Some scientists say that Easter Island was not inhabited until 700-800 CE and this date range is based on glottochronological calculations and on three radiocarbon dates from charcoal that appears to have been produced during forest clearance activities
9.
History of East Asia
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The history of East Asia covers the people inhabiting the eastern subregion of the Asian continent known as East Asia from prehistoric times to the present. The best known ancient civilization of prehistoric East Asia was China, in prehistory, homo erectus lived in East and Southeast Asia from 1.8 million to 40,000 years ago. The species was believed to have lived for at least several hundred years in China. They may have been the first to use fire and cook food, homo sapiens migrated into inland Asia, likely by following herds of bison and mammoth and arrived in southern Siberia by about 43,000 years ago and some people moved south or east from there. The earliest sites of culture include Nanzhuangtou culture around 9500 BC to 9000 BC, Pengtoushan culture around 7500 BC to 6100 BC. The Jeulmun was a period of hunting, gathering, and small-scale cultivation of plants, archaeologists sometimes refer to this life-style pattern as broad-spectrum hunting-and-gathering. The Jōmon period occurred in Japan from circa 14,000 BC to 300BC, the Xia dynasty of China is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Sima Qians Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals. Following this was the Shang dynasty, which ruled in the Yellow River valley, the classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Classic of History, Bamboo Annals and Records of the Grand Historian. According to the chronology, the Shang ruled from 1766 BC to 1122 BC. 1046–256 BC lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, however, the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty, surnamed Ji, lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as the Western Zhou. This period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making, the dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved into its modern form with the use of an archaic clerical script that emerged during the late Warring States period. Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system developed during the Spring and it later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han Dynasty. Following the official abandonment of Legalism in China after the Qin Dynasty, nonetheless, from the Han period onwards, most Chinese emperors have used a mix of Legalism and Confucianism as their ruling doctrine. The disintegration of the Han in the second century CE opened the way for the doctrines of Buddhism and Taoism to dominate intellectual life at that time. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty, in the late Tang, Confucianism developed aspects on the model of Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This reinvigorated form was adopted as the basis of the imperial exams, the abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the twentieth century blamed Confucianism for Chinas weaknesses. In the 20th century, Confucianism’s influence has greatly reduced
10.
History of Southeast Asia
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The term Southeast Asia has been in use since World War II. Earliest Homo sapiens presence in Mainland Southeast Asia can be traced back to 50,000 years ago, as early as 10,000 years ago, Hoabinhian settlers have developed a tradition and culture of distinct artefact and tool production. During the Neolithic Austroasiatic peoples populated Indochina via land routes and sea-borne Austronesian immigrants preferably settled in insular Southeast Asia, the earliest agricultural societies that cultivate millet and wet-rice emerge around 1,700 BCE in the lowlands and riverine floodplains of Indochina. Around the same time the first Agrarian Kingdoms emerged where territory was abundant and favourable, such as Funan at the lower Mekong, smaller and insular principalities increasingly engaged in and contributed to the rapidly expanding sea trade. The history of Southeast Asia has been influenced by its wide topographical diversity. Maritime Southeast Asia is apart from exceptions like Borneo and Sumatra a patchwork of recurring land-sea patterns on widely dispersed islands, a discontinuity, that admitted moderately sized thalassocratic states indifferent to territorial ambitions where growth and prosperity was associated with sea trade. Mainland Southeast Asia with a continuous, but rugged and difficult terrain provided the basis for the early Khmer, the era of European colonialism, early Modernity and the Cold War era revealed the reality of limited political significance for the various Southeast Asian polities. Post-World War II national survival and progress required a modern state, there are numerous ancient Asian designations for Southeast Asia, none of which refer to a strictly defined geographical area. Names include Suvarnabhumi or Sovannah Phoum and Suvarnadvipa in Indian tradition, the term Southeast Asia has been coined to designate the area of operation for Anglo-American forces in the Pacific Theater of World War II from 1941 to 1945. Anatomically modern human migration into Southeast Asia before 50,000 years ago has been confirmed by the combined fossil record of the region. Java Man and Homo floresiensis attest for a regional presence and isolation. Modern human presence in the Niah cave on East Malaysia dates back to 40,000 years BP, human remains are from approximately 24,000 years ago. Research emphasises considerable variations in quality and nature of the artifacts, influenced by environmental conditions and proximity. Remarkable is nonetheless that the Hoabinhian culture accounts for the first verified ritual burials, genetics as a research tool has been established only recently but results tend to contradict conventional theories. Though millet and rice cultivation was introduced around 2000 BCE, hunting and gathering remained an important aspect of food provision, in particular in forested, many tribal communities of the aboriginal Australo-Melanesian settlers continued the lifestyle of mixed sustenance until the modern era. Between around 1,700 and 1,000 BC people settled in the Southeast Asian lowlands as wet-rice, immigration from China alongside the introduction of farming occurred and DNA testing calls for revision of Neolithic migrations. Earliest known copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia has been found at the site of Ban Chiang in North-east Thailand, by about 500 BCE large and delicately decorated bronze drums of remarkable quality, that weighed more than 70 kg were produced in the laborious lost-wax casting process. This industry of highly sophisticated metal processing has been developed locally bare of Chinese or Indian influence, historians relate these achievements to the presence of well organised, centralised and hierarchical communities and a large population
11.
Ancient Near East
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The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
12.
Classical antiquity
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It is the period in which Greek and Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwestern Asia. Conventionally, it is taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetry of Homer, and continues through the emergence of Christianity and it ends with the dissolution of classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity, blending into the Early Middle Ages. Such a wide sampling of history and territory covers many disparate cultures, Classical antiquity may refer also to an idealised vision among later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poes words, the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome. The culture of the ancient Greeks, together with influences from the ancient Near East, was the basis of art, philosophy, society. The earliest period of classical antiquity takes place before the background of gradual re-appearance of historical sources following the Bronze Age collapse, the 8th and 7th centuries BC are still largely proto-historical, with the earliest Greek alphabetic inscriptions appearing in the first half of the 8th century. Homer is usually assumed to have lived in the 8th or 7th century BC, in the same period falls the traditional date for the establishment of the Ancient Olympic Games, in 776 BC. The Phoenicians originally expanded from Canaan ports, by the 8th century dominating trade in the Mediterranean, carthage was founded in 814 BC, and the Carthaginians by 700 BC had firmly established strongholds in Sicily, Italy and Sardinia, which created conflicts of interest with Etruria. The Etruscans had established control in the region by the late 7th century BC, forming the aristocratic. According to legend, Rome was founded on April 21,753 BC by twin descendants of the Trojan prince Aeneas, Romulus and Remus. As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the Sabines. Archaeological evidence indeed shows first traces of settlement at the Roman Forum in the mid-8th century BC, the seventh and final king of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus. As the son of Tarquinius Priscus and the son-in-law of Servius Tullius, Superbus was of Etruscan birth and it was during his reign that the Etruscans reached their apex of power. Superbus removed and destroyed all the Sabine shrines and altars from the Tarpeian Rock, the people came to object to his rule when he failed to recognize the rape of Lucretia, a patrician Roman, at the hands of his own son. Lucretias kinsman, Lucius Junius Brutus, summoned the Senate and had Superbus, after Superbus expulsion, the Senate voted to never again allow the rule of a king and reformed Rome into a republican government in 509 BC. In fact the Latin word Rex meaning King became a dirty and hated throughout the Republic. In 510, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow the tyrant Hippias, cleomenes I, king of Sparta, put in place a pro-Spartan oligarchy conducted by Isagoras. Greece entered the 4th century under Spartan hegemony, but by 395 BC the Spartan rulers removed Lysander from office, and Sparta lost her naval supremacy. Athens, Argos, Thebes and Corinth, the two of which were formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the Corinthian War, which ended inconclusively in 387 BC
13.
Middle kingdoms of India
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Middle kingdoms of India refers to the political entities in India from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. This period begins after the decline of the Maurya Empire, the Middle period lasts for some 1500 years, and ends in the 13th century with the rise of the Delhi Sultanate and the end of the Later Cholas. The period is known as the period of India, during which India is estimated to have had the largest economy of the world controlling between one third and one fourth of the worlds wealth. During the 2nd century BCE, the Maurya Empire became a collage of regional powers with overlapping boundaries, the whole northwest attracted a series of invaders between 200 BCE and 300 CE. The Puranas speak of many of these tribes as foreigners and impure barbarians, over time, the invaders became Indianized as they influenced society and philosophy across the Gangetic plains and were conversely influenced by it. This period is marked by intellectual and artistic achievements inspired by cultural diffusion and syncretism as the new kingdoms straddle the Silk Road. The first Saka king in India was Maues or Moga who established Saka power in Gandhara, Indo-Scythian rule in India ended with the last of the Western Satraps, Rudrasimha III, in 395 CE. The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant part in the history of India as well as nearby countries. The Indo-Greek Kingdom covered various parts of the Northwestern South Asia during the last two centuries BCE, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other. The kingdom was founded when Demetrius I of Bactria invaded the Hindu Kush early in the 2nd century BCE, the Greeks in India were eventually divided from the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centered in Bactria. The expression Indo-Greek Kingdom loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, there were numerous cities, such as Taxila Pakistans Punjab, or Pushkalavati and Sagala. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius a Magnesian Greek and his son, Demetrius, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek descent from his father at minimum. A marriage treaty was arranged for Demetrius with a daughter of Antiochus III the Great, the ethnicity of later Indo-Greek rulers is less clear. For example, Artemidoros Aniketos may have been of Indo-Scythian descent, intermarriage also occurred, as exemplified by Alexander the Great, who married Roxana of Bactria, or Seleucus I Nicator, who married Apama of Sogdia. The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, the Yavana or Yona people, literally Ionian and meaning Western foreigner, were described as living beyond Gandhara. Yavanas, Sakas, the Pahlavas and Hunas were sometimes described as mlecchas, kambojas and the inhabitants of Madra, the Kekeya Kingdom, the Indus River region and Gandhara were sometimes also classified as mlecchas. This name was used to indicate their cultural differences with the culture of the Kuru Kingdom, the Indo-Parthian Kingdom was founded by Gondophares around 20 BCE. The kingdom lasted only briefly until its conquest by the Kushan Empire in the late 1st century CE and was a framework where many smaller dynasts maintained their independence
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History of the Middle East
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Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East has seen many of the worlds oldest cultures and civilizations. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh. Mesopotamia was home to powerful empires that came to rule almost the entire Middle East—particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC. From the early 7th century BC and onwards, the Iranian Medes followed by Achaemenid Persia, in the 1st century BC, the expanding Roman Republic absorbed the whole Eastern Mediterranean, which included much of the Near East. From the 3rd up to the course of the 7th century AD, from the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam. The dominance of the Arabs came to a end in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq Turks. In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, large parts of the Middle East became a warground between the Ottomans and Iranian Safavids for centuries starting in the early 16th century. By 1700, the Ottomans had been out of Hungary. The British also established effective control of the Persian Gulf, in 1912, the Italians seized Libya and the Dodecanese islands, just off the coast of the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Middle Eastern rulers tried to modernize their states to more effectively with the European powers. A turning point in the history of the Middle East came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf states, and also in Libya and Algeria. A Western dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the decline of British influence led to a growing American interest in the region, during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Syria and Egypt made moves towards independence. The British, the French, and the Soviets departed from many parts of the Middle East during, the struggle between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine. Later in the midst of Cold War tensions, the Arabic-speaking countries of Western Asia, the departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel, and the increasing importance of the oil industry, marked the creation of the modern Middle East. The wealthiest economies in the region per capita are the small countries of Persian Gulf, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain. Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and similar changes in other Muslim-majority countries throughout the 1980s, the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought a global security refocus from a Cold War to a War on Terror. Starting in the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings. Clashes in western Iraq on 30 December 2013 were preliminary to the Sunni pan-Islamist ISIL uprising, geographically, the Middle East can be thought of as Western Asia without the Caucasus but with Egypt, which is the non-Maghreb part of Northern Africa
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Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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Modern history
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Modern history, the modern period or the modern era, is the global historiographical approach to the timeframe after the Post-classical history. It took all of history up to 1804 for the worlds population to reach 1 billion. Contemporary history is the span of historic events from approximately 1945 that are relevant to the present time. Some events, while not without precedent, show a new way of perceiving the world, the concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments. The fundamental difficulty of studying modern history is the fact that a plethora of it has been documented up to the present day and it is imperative to consider the reliability of the information obtained from these records. In the pre-modern era, many peoples sense of self and purpose was expressed via a faith in some form of deity. Pre-modern cultures have not been thought of creating a sense of distinct individuality, religious officials, who often held positions of power, were the spiritual intermediaries to the common person. It was only through intermediaries that the general masses had access to the divine. Tradition was sacred to ancient cultures and was unchanging and the order of ceremony. The term modern was coined in the 16th century to present or recent times. New information about the world was discovered via empirical observation, versus the use of reason. The term Early Modern was introduced in the English language in the 1930s, to distinguish the time between what we call Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment. It is important to note that these terms stem from European history, in the Contemporary era, there were various socio-technological trends. Regarding the 21st century and the modern world, the Information Age and computers were forefront in use, not completely ubiquitous. The development of Eastern powers was of note, with China, in the Eurasian theater, the European Union and Russian Federation were two forces recently developed. A concern for Western world, if not the world, was the late modern form of terrorism. The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science, politics, warfare and it has also been an age of discovery and globalization. During this time, the European powers and later their colonies, began a political, economic, the modern era is closely associated with the development of individualism, capitalism, urbanization and a belief in the possibilities of technological and political progress
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Early modern period
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The early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages of the post-classical era. Historians in recent decades have argued that from a worldwide standpoint, the period witnessed the exploration and colonization of the Americas and the rise of sustained contacts between previously isolated parts of the globe. The historical powers became involved in trade, as the exchange of goods, plants, animals, and food crops extended to the Old World. The Columbian Exchange greatly affected the human environment, New economies and institutions emerged, becoming more sophisticated and globally articulated over the course of the early modern period. This process began in the medieval North Italian city-states, particularly Genoa, Venice, the early modern period also included the rise of the dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. The European colonization of the Americas, Asia, and Africa occurred during the 15th to 19th centuries, the early modern trends in various regions of the world represented a shift away from medieval modes of organization, politically and economically. Historians typically date the end of the modern period when the French Revolution of the 1790s began the modern period. Early modern themes Other In 16th century China, the Ming Dynastys economy was stimulated by trade with the Portuguese, Spanish. China became involved in a new trade of goods, plants, animals. Trade with Early Modern Europe and Japan brought in massive amounts of silver, during the last decades of the Ming the flow of silver into China was greatly diminished, thereby undermining state revenues and the entire Chinese economy. This damage to the economy was compounded by the effects on agriculture of the incipient Little Ice Age, natural calamities, crop failure, the ensuing breakdown of authority and peoples livelihoods allowed rebel leaders such as Li Zicheng to challenge Ming authority. The Ming Dynasty fell around 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, which was the last ruling dynasty of China, during its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. The Azuchi-Momoyama period saw the unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period from 1600 to 1868 characterized early modern Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period gets its name from the city, Edo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle from 1603 until 1868, in 1392, General Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon Dynasty with a largely bloodless coup. Joseon experienced advances in science and culture, King Sejong the Great promulgated hangul, the Korean alphabet. The period saw various other cultural and technological advances as well as the dominance of neo-Confucianism over the entirety of Korea, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, invasions by the neighboring Japanese and Qing Chinese nearly overran the Korean peninsula
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Contemporary history
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Contemporary history is a subset of modern history which describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. The term contemporary history has been in use at least since the early 19th century, contemporary history is politically dominated by the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union whose effects were felt across the world. In this geopolitical context, European colonial empires in Africa and Asia fell apart between 1945 and 1975, the latter stages and aftermath of the Cold War paved the way for the democratisation of much of Europe, Africa, and Latin America. In the Middle East, the period after 1945 was dominated by conflict involving the new state of Israel, the period after 1945 saw the growth of the first supranational organisations of government, such as the United Nations and European Union. Living standards rose sharply across the world as a result of the post-war economic boom which also saw the emergence of major economies such as Japan. The culture of the United States, especially consumerism, spread widely, by the 1960s, many western countries had begun a process of deindustrialization. In their place, globalization led to the emergence of new industrial centres, such as Japan, Taiwan and later China, the period after 1945 was also transformative for the history of science. It also saw the creation of the first computers, the Internet, in the first half of the 20th century, the world saw a series of great conflagrations, World War I and World War II. Near the end of the first world war, there were a series of Russian Revolutions, in between the world wars, the 1920s saw a great rise in prosperity where much of the world saw progress and new technology, but this was soon ended by the Great Depression. Notable events during the period of universal history include two world wars and the Cold War, characterized by the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War began in 1947 and lasted until 1991, the Space Age was concurrent with this time, encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The post-1945 world experienced the establishment of new states. Throughout the post-1945 period, the Cold War was expressed through military coalitions, espionage, weapons development, invasions, propaganda, and competitive technological development. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc of countries that it occupied, annexing some as Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States and various Western European countries began a containment policy for communism and forged alliances to this end, including NATO. The conflict included defense spending, a conventional and nuclear arms race, and various proxy wars, the post-1989 world saw the end of the totalitarian regimes of the Cold War and the ending of client state status for many states. The Cold war was ended by the Revolutions of 1989. The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991, various post-Cold War regimes established were democratic republics, though some were authoritarian/oligarchic republics. In Latin America, military regimes supported by the CIA, such as that facilitated by the United States intervention in Chile, the Pinochet regime collapsed in 1990
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Modernity
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Some writers have suggested there is more than one possible modernity, given the unsettled nature of the term and of history itself. It also encompasses the social relations associated with the rise of capitalism, the term modern dates from the 5th century, originally distinguishing the Christian era from the Pagan era. In the 6th century AD, Cassiodorus appears to have been the first writer to use modern regularly to refer to his own age, in these usages, modernity denoted the renunciation of the recent past, favouring a new beginning, and a re-interpretation of historical origin. The distinction between modernity and modern did not arise until the 19th century, Modernity has been associated with cultural and intellectual movements of 1436–1789 and extending to the 1970s or later. There was a shift into modernization in the name of industrial capitalism. Some authors, such as Lyotard and Baudrillard, believe that modernity ended in the mid- or late 20th century and thus have defined a period subsequent to modernity, namely Postmodernity. He also proposed that an aim of politics is to ones own chance or fortune. Machiavellis recommendations were sometimes influential upon kings and princes, but eventually came to be seen as favoring free republics over monarchies, machiavelli in turn influenced Francis Bacon, Marchamont Needham, James Harrington, John Milton, David Hume, and many others. Both these principles are enshrined within the constitutions of most modern democracies, starting with Thomas Hobbes, attempts were made to use the methods of the new modern physical sciences, as proposed by Bacon and Descartes, applied to humanity and politics. Notable attempts to improve upon the approach of Hobbes include those of John Locke, Spinoza, Giambattista Vico. David Hume made what he considered to be the first proper attempt at trying to apply Bacons scientific method to political subjects, modernist republicanism openly influenced the foundation of republics during the Dutch Revolt, English Civil War, American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Haitian revolution. By this logic, what makes a political system or a good man is completely dependent upon the chance path a whole people has taken over history. This thought influenced the thinking of Immanuel Kant, Edmund Burke and others. On the conservative side, Burke argued that this understanding encouraged caution, on the other hand, the notion modernity has been contested also due to its Euro-centric underpinnings. This is further aggravated by the re-emergence of non-Western powers, yet, the contestations about modernity are also linked with our notions of democracy, social discipline, and development. In the most basic terms, Anthony Giddens describes modernity as. a shorthand term for modern society, largely as a result of these characteristics, modernity is vastly more dynamic than any previous type of social order. It is a society—more technically, a complex of institutions—which, unlike any preceding culture, lives in the future, other writers have criticized such definitions as just being a listing of factors. They argue that modernity, contingently understood as marked by a formation in dominance
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Futures studies
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Futures studies is the study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. There is a debate as to whether this discipline is an art or science, in general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and parallel to the field of history. History studies the past, futures studies considers the future, Futures studies seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, unlike the physical sciences where a narrower, more specified system is studied, futures studies concerns a much bigger and more complex world system. The methodology and knowledge are much less proven as compared to science or even social science like sociology, economics. Futures studies is a field, studying yesterdays and todays changes. It includes analyzing the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in an attempt to develop foresight, around the world the field is variously referred to as futures studies, strategic foresight, futuristics, futures thinking, futuring, and futurology. Futures studies and strategic foresight are the fields most commonly used terms in the English-speaking world. Foresight was the term and was first used in this sense by H. G. Wells in 1932. Futurology is a common in encyclopedias, though it is used almost exclusively by nonpractitioners today. Futurology is defined as the study of the future, the term was coined by German professor Ossip K. Flechtheim in the mid-1940s, who proposed it as a new branch of knowledge that would include a new science of probability. Three factors usually distinguish futures studies from the conducted by other disciplines. First, futures studies often examines not only possible but also probable, preferable, third, futures studies challenges and unpacks the assumptions behind dominant and contending views of the future. The future thus is not empty but fraught with hidden assumptions, for example, many people expect the collapse of the Earths ecosystem in the near future, while others believe the current ecosystem will survive indefinitely. A foresight approach would seek to analyze and highlight the assumptions underpinning such views and it is in this regard, that futures studies evolves from an academic exercise to a more traditional business-like practice, looking to better prepare organizations for the future. Futures studies does not generally focus on short term such as interest rates over the next business cycle. Most strategic planning, which develops operational plans for preferred futures with time horizons of one to three years, is not considered futures. Plans and strategies with longer time horizons that specifically attempt to anticipate future events are definitely part of the field
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Future
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The future is what will happen in the time after the present. Its arrival is considered due to the existence of time. The future and the concept of eternity have been subjects of philosophy, religion, and science. In the Occidental view, which uses a linear conception of time, in special relativity, the future is considered absolute future, or the future light cone. In the philosophy of time, presentism is the belief that only the present exists and the future and the past are unreal. Religions consider the future when they address such as karma, life after death, and eschatologies that study what the end of time. Religious figures such as prophets and diviners have claimed to see into the future, organized efforts to predict or forecast the future may have derived from observations by early man of heavenly objects. Future studies, or futurology, is the science, art, the concept of the future has been explored extensively in cultural production, including art movements and genres devoted entirely to its elucidation, such as the 20th century movement futurism. Forecasting is the process of estimating outcomes in uncontrolled situations, forecasting is applied in many areas, such as weather forecasting, earthquake prediction, transport planning, and labour market planning. Due to the element of the unknown, risk and uncertainty are central to forecasting, statistically based forecasting employs time series with cross-sectional or longitudinal data. Econometric forecasting methods use the assumption that it is possible to identify the factors that might influence the variable that is being forecast. If the causes are understood, projections of the variables can be made. Judgmental forecasting methods incorporate intuitive judgments, opinions and probability estimates, as in the case of the Delphi method, scenario building, prediction is similar to forecasting but is used more generally, for instance to also include baseless claims on the future. Organized efforts to predict the future began with practices like astrology, haruspicy and these are all considered to be pseudoscience today, evolving from the human desire to know the future in advance. Future studies or futurology is the science, art and practice of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures, futures studies seeks to understand what is likely to continue, what is likely to change, and what is novel. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, a key part of this process is understanding the potential future impact of decisions made by individuals, organisations and governments. Leaders use results of work to assist in decision-making. Futures is a field, studying yesterdays and todays changes
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Periodization
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Periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time in order to facilitate the study and analysis of history. This results in descriptive abstractions that provide convenient terms for periods of time with relatively stable characteristics, however, determining the precise beginning and ending to any period is often arbitrary. To the extent that history is continuous and ungeneralizable, all systems of periodization are more or less arbitrary, yet without named periods, however clumsy or imprecise, past time would be nothing more than scattered events without a framework to help us understand them. The origins of periodization are very old and first became part of the Western tradition in the myths of Ancient Greece, virgil spoke of a distant Golden Age and recurrent cycles of history. The Bible outlines a narrative of history from Creation to the End of time, not only do periodizing blocks inevitably overlap, they often seemingly conflict with or contradict one another. Some have a cultural usage, others refer to prominent historical events, other periods are named from influential or talismanic individuals. Some of these usages will also be geographically specific and this is especially true of periodizing labels derived from individuals or ruling dynasties, such as the Jacksonian Era in America, the Meiji Era in Japan, or the Merovingian Period in France. Cultural terms may also have a limited reach, thus the concept of the Romantic period is largely meaningless outside the Western world of Europe and European-influenced cultures. Likewise, the 1960s, though applicable to anywhere in the world according to Common Era numbering, has a certain set of specific cultural connotations in certain countries. For this reason it may be possible to say things as The 1960s never occurred in Spain. Likewise it is often said, as the historian Arthur Marwick has. His reason for saying this is that the cultural and economic conditions that define the meaning of the period more than the accidental fact of a 10-year block beginning with the number 6. This extended usage is termed the long 1960s and this usage derives from other historians who have adopted labels such as the long 19th century to reconcile arbitrary decimal chronology with meaningful cultural and social phases. Similarly, an Eighteenth Century may run 1714–1789, eric Hobsbawm has also argued for what he calls the short twentieth century, encompassing the period from the First World War through to the end of the Cold War. Is it possible to use the term Victorian outside Britain, and even within and it sometimes is used when it is thought that its connotations usefully describe the politics, culture and economic conditions characteristic of the last two-thirds of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, periodizing terms often have negative or positive connotations that may affect their usage and this includes Victorian, which often negatively suggests sexual repression and class conflict. Other labels such as Renaissance have strongly positive characteristics, as a result, these terms sometimes extend in meaning. Thus the English Renaissance is often used for a largely identical to the Elizabethan Period or reign of Elizabeth I
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Spread of Islam
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Trading played an important role in the spread of Islam in several parts of the world, notably southeast Asia. Islamic expansion in South and East Asia fostered cosmopolitan and eclectic Muslim cultures in the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. As of January 2011, there were 1.62 billion Muslims, with one out of five people in the world being Muslim, the Islamic religion is still the second most populous religion as of 2016. The expansion of the Arab Empire in the first centuries after Muhammads death soon established Muslim dynasties in North Africa, West Africa, to the Middle East, and Somalia. For the subjects of this new empire, formerly subjects of the greatly reduced Byzantine, the objective of the conquests was more than anything of a practical nature, as fertile land and water were scarce in the Arabian peninsula. A real Islamization therefore only came about in the subsequent centuries, Islam was introduced in Somalia in the 7th century when the Muslim Arabs fled from the persecution of the Pagan Quraysh tribe. When the Muslims defeated the Pagans, some returned to Arabia, the local Somalis adopted the Islamic faith well before the faith even took root in its place of origin. Conversion initially was neither required nor necessarily wished for, did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples, at the outset, they were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs. Only in subsequent centuries, with the development of the doctrine of Islam and with that the understanding of the Muslim ummah. The caliphs of the Arab dynasty established the first schools inside the empire which taught Arabic language, at the end of the Umayyad period, less than 10% of the people in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Spain were Muslim. Only on the Arabian peninsula was the proportion of Muslims among the higher than this. Expansion ceased and the disciplines of Islamic philosophy, theology, law and mysticism became more widespread. These initial conversions were of a flexible nature, the reasons why, by the end of the 10th century, a large part of the population had converted to Islam are diverse. According to British-Lebanese historian Albert Hourani, one of the reasons may be that Islam had become clearly defined. Muslims now lived within a system of ritual, doctrine. The status of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians was more precisely defined and they were regarded as the People of the Book, those who possessed a revealed scripture, or People of the Covenant, with whom compacts of protection had been made. In general they were not forced to convert, but they suffered from restrictions and they paid a special tax, they were not supposed to wear certain colors, they could not marry Muslim women. It should be pointed out that most of these laws were elaborations of basic laws concerning non-Muslims in the Quran, Albert Hourani points towards interwoven terms of political and economic benefits and of a sophisticated culture and religion as appealing to the masses
24.
Caliphate
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A caliphate is an area containing an Islamic steward known as a caliph —a person considered a religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, and a leader of the entire Muslim community. During the history of Islam after the Rashidun period, many Muslim states, the Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam, however, believe a caliph should be an Imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt, before the advent of Islam, Arabian monarchs traditionally used the title malik, or another from the same root. The term caliph, derives from the Arabic word khalīfah, which means successor, steward, however, studies of pre-Islamic texts suggest that the original meaning of the phrase was successor selected by God. There was no specified procedure for this shura or consultation, candidates were usually, but not necessarily, from the same lineage as the deceased leader. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual heir, Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr was chosen by the community and that this was the proper procedure. Sunnis further argue that a caliph should ideally be chosen by election or community consensus, the Shia believe that Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, was chosen by Muhammad as his spiritual and temporal successor as the Mawla of all Muslims in the event of Ghadir Khumm. The caliph was often known as Amir al-Muminin, Muhammad established his capital in Medina, after he died, it remained the capital during the Rashidun Caliphate, before Kufa was reportedly made the capital by Caliph Ali. At times there have been rival claimant caliphs in different parts of the Islamic world, according to Sunni Muslims, the first caliph to be called Amir al-Muminin was Abu Bakr, followed by Umar, the second of the Rashidun. Uthman and Ali also were called by the title, while the Shia consider Ali to have been the only truly legitimate caliph. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk officially abolished the system of Caliphate in Islam as part of his secular reforms, the Kings of Morocco still label themselves with the title Amir al-Muminin for the Moroccans, but lay no claim to the Caliphate. Some Muslim countries, including Somalia, Indonesia and Malaysia, were never subject to the authority of a Caliphate, with the exception of Aceh, consequently, these countries had their own, local, sultans or rulers who did not fully accept the authority of the Caliph. Abu Bakr, the first successor of Muhammad, nominated Umar as his successor on his deathbed, Umar, the second caliph, was killed by a Persian named Piruz Nahavandi. His successor, Uthman, was elected by a council of electors, Uthman was killed by members of a disaffected group. Ali then took control but was not universally accepted as caliph by the governors of Egypt and he faced two major rebellions and was assassinated by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Khawarij. Alis tumultuous rule lasted only five years and this period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war. The followers of Ali later became the Shia minority sect of Islam, the followers of all four Rashidun Caliphs became the majority Sunni sect. Under the Rashidun each region of the Caliphate had its own governor, Muawiyah, a relative of Uthman and governor of Syria, succeeded Ali as Caliph
25.
Islamic Golden Age
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This period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Sack of Baghdad in 1258 AD. A few contemporary scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries, the metaphor of a golden age began to be applied in 19th-century literature about Islamic history, in the context of the western aesthetic fashion known as Orientalism. There is no definition of term, and depending on whether it is used with a focus on cultural or on military achievement. During the early 20th century, the term was used only occasionally, the Muslim government heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council. The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today, the House of Wisdom was a library established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq by Caliph al-Mansur. During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. They also excelled in fields, in particular philosophy, science. For a long period of time the personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrian Christians, among the most prominent Christian families to serve as physicians to the caliphs were the Bukhtishu dynasty. Throughout the 4th to 7th centuries, Christian scholarly work in the Greek, the House of Wisdom was founded in Baghdad in 825, modelled after the Academy of Gondishapur. It was led by Christian physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq, with the support of Byzantine medicine, many of the most important philosophical and scientific works of the ancient world were translated, including the work of Galen, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and Archimedes. Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Christian background, the use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the eighth century, arriving in Al-Andalus on the Iberian peninsula, present-day Spain in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture than parchment, less likely to crack than papyrus, Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries. It was from countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian. Ibn Sina and other such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Latin and Ladino, contributing to the development of modern European philosophy, during this period, non-Muslims were allowed to flourish relative to treatment of religious minorities in the Christian Byzantine Empire. The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, who lived in Andalusia, is an example, in epistemology, Ibn Tufail wrote the novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and in response Ibn al-Nafis wrote the novel Theologus Autodidactus
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Asia
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Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
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Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
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Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
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Science in the medieval Islamic world
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Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate. Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a range of subject areas, especially astronomy, mathematics. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included alchemy and chemistry, botany, geography and cartography, ophthalmology, pharmacology, physics, in the 8th century, scholars had translated Indian, Assyrian, Sassanian and Greek knowledge, including the works of Aristotle, into Arabic. These translations became a wellspring for advances by scientists from Muslim-ruled areas during the Middle Ages, major religious and cultural works of the empire were translated into Arabic. The culture inherited Greek, Indic, Assyrian and Persian influences, an era of high culture and innovation ensued. Islamic scientific achievements encompass a range of subject areas, especially mathematics, astronomy. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included physics, alchemy and chemistry, ophthalmology, alchemists supposed that gold was the noblest metal, and that other metals formed a series down to the basest, such as lead. They believed, too, that an element, the elixir. Jabir ibn Hayyan wrote on alchemy, based on his own experiments and he described laboratory techniques and experimental methods that would continue to be used when alchemy had transformed into chemistry. Ibn Hayyan identified many substances including sulfuric and nitric acids and he described processes including sublimation, reduction and distillation. He utilized equipment such as the alembic and the retort stand, there is considerable uncertainty as to the actual provenance of many works that are ascribed to him. Astronomy was one of the disciplines within Islamic science. Al-Battani accurately determined the length of the solar year and he contributed to numeric tables, such as the Tables of Toledo, used by astronomers to predict the movements of the sun, moon and planets across the sky. Some of his tables were later used by Copernicus. Al-Zarqali developed a more accurate astrolabe, used for centuries afterwards and he constructed a water clock in Toledo. He discovered that the Suns apogee moves slowly relative to the fixed stars, nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote an important revision to Ptolemys celestial model. When he became Helagus astrologer, he was given an observatory and gained access to Chinese techniques and he developed trigonometry as a separate field, and compiled the most accurate astronomical tables available up to that time. The study of the world extended to a detailed examination of plants
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East Asia
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East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
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History of China
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Written records of the history of China can be found from as early as 1500 BC under the Shang dynasty. Ancient historical texts such as the Records of the Grand Historian and the Bamboo Annals describe a Xia dynasty, with thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the worlds oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization. Much of Chinese culture, literature and philosophy developed during the Zhou dynasty. This is one of multiple periods of failed statehood in Chinese history, between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China, in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang united the warring kingdoms and created for himself the title of emperor of the Qin dynasty. Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly, in the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite, the Scholar-officials. Young men were selected through difficult examinations and were well-versed in calligraphy and philosophy. What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a million years ago, recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated to 1.36 million years ago. The archaeological site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded use of fire by Homo erectus, the excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923–27, fossilised teeth of Homo sapiens dating to 125, 000–80,000 BC have been discovered in Fuyan Cave in Dao County in Hunan. The Neolithic age in China can be traced back to about 10,000 BC, Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is radiocarbon-dated to about 7000 BC. The earliest evidence of cultivated rice, found by the Yangtze River, is carbon-dated to 8,000 years ago, farming gave rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia,3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6000–5000 BC have been discovered, featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and these pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese. Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 7000 BC, Dadiwan from 5800 BC to 5400 BC, Damaidi around 6000 BC, some scholars have suggested that Jiahu symbols were the earliest Chinese writing system. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, Later, Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture, which was also centered on the Yellow River from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC. Bronze artifacts have been found at the Majiayao culture site, The Bronze Age is also represented at the Lower Xiajiadian culture site in northeast China. Sanxingdui located in what is now Sichuan province is believed to be the site of a ancient city. The site was first discovered in 1929 and then re-discovered in 1986, Chinese archaeologists have identified the Sanxingdui culture to be part of the ancient kingdom of Shu, linking the artifacts found at the site to its early legendary kings
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Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
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Neo-Confucianism
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Although the Neo-Confucianists were critical of Taoism and Buddhism, the two did have an influence on the philosophy, and the Neo-Confucianists borrowed terms and concepts from both. Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the Tang Dynasty, the Confucianist scholars Han Yu, the Song Dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi is seen as the first true pioneer of Neo-Confucianism, using Daoist metaphysics as a framework for his ethical philosophy. Neo-Confucianism developed both as a renaissance of traditional Confucian ideas, and as a reaction to the ideas of Buddhism, although the Neo-Confucianists denounced Buddhist metaphysics, Neo-Confucianism did borrow Daoist and Buddhist terminology and concepts. One of the most important exponents of Neo-Confucianism was Zhu Xi and he was a rather prolific writer, maintaining and defending his Confucian beliefs of social harmony and proper personal conduct. One of his most remembered was the book Family Rituals, where he provided detailed advice on how to conduct weddings, funerals, family ceremonies, Buddhist thought soon attracted him, and he began to argue in Confucian style for the Buddhist observance of high moral standards. It is reputed that he wrote many essays attempting to explain how his ideas were not Buddhist or Taoist, after Xi Ling, Wang Yangming is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker. Wangs interpretation of Confucianism denied the rationalist dualism of Zhus orthodox philosophy, a well known Neo-Confucian motif is paintings of Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Tzu all drinking out of the same vinegar jar, paintings associated with the slogan The three teachings are one. While Neo-Confucianism incorporated Buddhist and Taoist ideas, many Neo-Confucianists strongly opposed Buddhism and Taoism, indeed, they rejected the Buddhist and Taoist religions. One of Han Yus most famous essays decries the worship of Buddhist relics, nonetheless, Neo-Confucian writings adapted Buddhist thoughts and beliefs to the Confucian interest. Neo-Confucianism is a social and ethical philosophy using metaphysical ideas, some borrowed from Taoism, the rationalism of Neo-Confucianism is in contrast to the mysticism of the previously dominant Chan Buddhism. But the spirit of Neo-Confucian rationalism is diametrically opposed to that of Buddhist mysticism, whereas Buddhism insisted on the unreality of things, Neo-Confucianism stressed their reality. Buddhism and Taoism asserted that existence came out of, and returned to, non-existence, Buddhists, and to some degree, Taoists as well, relied on meditation and insight to achieve supreme reason, the Neo-Confucianists chose to follow Reason. The importance of li in Neo-Confucianism gave the movement its Chinese name, Neo-Confucianism was a heterogeneous philosophical tradition, and is generally categorized into two different schools. In medieval China, the mainstream of Neo-Confucian thought, dubbed the Tao school, had long categorized a thinker named Lu Jiuyuan among the unorthodox, non-Confucian writers. However, in the 15th century, the esteemed philosopher Wang Yangming took sides with Lu and critiqued some of the foundations of the Tao school, albeit not rejecting the school entirely. Objections arose to Yangmings philosophy within his lifetime, and shortly after his death, Chen Jian grouped Wang together with Lu as unorthodox writers, as a result, Neo-Confucianism today is generally categorized into two different schools of thought. The school that remained dominant throughout the medieval and early modern periods is called the Cheng-Zhu school for the esteem it places in Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, the less dominant, opposing school was the Lu–Wang school, based on its esteem for Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming. In contrast to this model, the New Confucian Mou Zongsan argues that there existed a third branch of learning
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Gunpowder
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Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
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Mongol Empire
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The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The empire grew rapidly under the rule of him and his descendants, the Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued even among the descendants of Tolui. Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. The Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 marked the point of the Mongol conquests and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield. In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty, but it was later taken by the Han Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368. What is referred to in English as the Mongol Empire was called the Ikh Mongol Uls, in the 1240s, one of Genghiss descendants, Güyük Khan, wrote a letter to Pope Innocent IV which used the preamble Dalai Khagan of the great Mongolian state. After the succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Ariq limited Kublais power to the part of the empire. Kublai officially issued an edict on December 18,1271 to name the country Great Yuan to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources state that the full Mongolian name was Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus, the area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty, in the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan, great-grandfather of Temujin. The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations, Keraites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, khabuls successor was Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143, in 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, the Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161. During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and it is thought that as a result, a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock significantly enhanced Mongol military strength. Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain, when he was young he was from one of Yesugis orphaned and deserted families, he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. Kurtait was the most powerful Mongol leader during this time and was given the Chinese title Wang which means Prince, Temujin went to war with Wang Khan. After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan and he then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin
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Leonardo Bruni
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Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. He has been called the first modern historian and he was the earliest person to write using the three-period view of history, Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern. The dates Bruni used to define the periods are not exactly what modern historians use today, Leonardo Bruni was born in Arezzo, Tuscany circa 1370. Bruni was the pupil of political and cultural leader Coluccio Salutati, whom he succeeded as chancellor of Florence and he also served as apostolic secretary to four popes. Brunis years as chancellor—1410 to 1411 and again from 1427 to his death in 1444—were plagued by warfare, though he occupied one of the highest political offices, Bruni was relatively powerless compared to the Albizzi and Medici families. Historian Arthur Field has identified Bruni as an apparent plotter against Cosimo de Medici in 1437, Bruni died in 1444 in Florence and was succeeded in office by Carlo Marsuppini. Brunis most notable work is Historiarum Florentini populi libri XII, which has called the first modern history book. While it probably was not Brunis intention to secularize history, the three view of history is unquestionably secular and for that Bruni has been called the first modern historian. The foundation of Brunis conception can be found with Petrarch, who distinguished the period from later cultural decline. Bruni argued that Italy had revived in recent centuries and could therefore be described as entering a new age, one of Brunis most famous works is New Cicero, a biography of the Roman statesman Cicero. He was also the author of biographies in Italian of Dante and it was Bruni who used the phrase studia humanitatis, meaning the study of human endeavors, as distinct from those of theology and metaphysics, which is where the term humanists comes from. As a humanist Bruni was essential in translating into Latin many works of Greek philosophy and history, such as Aristotle, Brunis translations of Aristotles Politics and Nicomachean Ethics, as well as the pseudo-Aristotelean Economics, were widely distributed in manuscript and in print. He also wrote a treatise in Greek on the Florentine constitution. Bruni was one of the very first Humanists to be confronted with Platos homosexuality, Bruni died in Florence in 1444, and is buried in a wall tomb by Bernardo Rossellino in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Latin text and English translation, Leonardo Bruni, Field, Arthur, Leonardi Bruni, Florentine traitor. Bruni, the Medici, and an Aretine conspiracy of 1437, Renaissance Quarterly 51, hankins, James, Repertorium Brunianum, a critical guide to the writings of Leonardo Bruni, Rome, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo 1997 Ianziti, Gary. Writing History in Renaissance Italy, Leonardo Bruni and the Uses of the Past Leonardo Bruni, an vulgus et literati eodem modo per Terentii Tullique tempora Romae locuti sint Calphurnia et Gurgulia De Bello Gallico Adversus Gothos Bruni, Leonardo. Historiarum Florentinarum libri XII, quibus accesserunt quorundam suo tempore in Italia gestorum & de rebus Græcis commentarii, archived from the original on August 18,2009
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Dark Ages (historiography)
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The Dark Ages is a historical periodization traditionally referring to the Middle Ages. The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the darkness with earlier and later periods of light. The concept of a Dark Age originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, the phrase Dark Age itself derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries. As the accomplishments of the era came better to be understood in the 19th and 20th centuries, many modern scholars avoid the term altogether due to its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate. In the 19th century scholars began to recognize the accomplishments of the period, nowadays the term is not used by scholars to refer to the entire medieval period, when used, it is generally restricted to the Early Middle Ages. The rise of archaeology in the 20th century has shed light on the period, other terms of periodization have come to the fore, Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages, and the Great Migrations, depending on which aspects of culture are being emphasized. The idea of a Dark Age originated with the Tuscan scholar Petrarch in the 1330s, writing of the past, he said, Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom. Christian writers, including Petrarch himself, had long used traditional metaphors of light versus darkness to describe good versus evil, Petrarch was the first to give the metaphor secular meaning by reversing its application. From his perspective on the Italian peninsular, Petrarch saw the Roman and he spent much of his time travelling through Europe, rediscovering and republishing classic Latin and Greek texts. He wanted to restore the Latin language to its former purity, Petrarch wrote that history had two periods, the classic period of Greeks and Romans, followed by a time of darkness in which he saw himself living. In around 1343, in the conclusion of his epic Africa, he wrote, My fate is to live among varied, but for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. This sleep of forgetfulness will not last for ever, when the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance. In the 15th century, historians Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo developed an outline of history. They used Petrarchs two ages, plus a modern, better age, which believed the world had entered. Later the term Middle Ages - Latin media tempestas or medium aevum - was used to describe the period of supposed decline. During the Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants generally had a view to Renaissance Humanists such as Petrarch. They saw classical antiquity as a time, not only because of its Latin literature. In response to the Protestants, Catholics developed a counter-image to depict the High Middle Ages in particular as a period of social and religious harmony, the most important Catholic reply to the Magdeburg Centuries was the Annales Ecclesiastici by Cardinal Caesar Baronius
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Medievalism
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The words medievalism and Medieval are both first recorded in the nineteenth century. Medieval is derived from Latin medium aevum, scholars of the Renaissance believed that they lived in a new age that broke free of the decline described by Petrarch. Historians Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo developed a three tier outline of history composed of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, the Latin term media tempestas first appears in 1469. The term medium aevum is first recorded in 1604, Medieval first appears in the nineteenth century and is an Anglicised form of medium aevum. During the Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants generally followed the views expressed by Renaissance Humanists. They saw classical antiquity as a time, not only because of the Latin literature. Most Protestant historians did not date the beginnings of the era from the Renaissance. For them the Middle Ages was barbaric and priest-ridden and they referred to these dark times, the centuries of ignorance, and the uncouth centuries. The Protestant critique of the Medieval Church was taken into Enlightenment thinking by works including Edward Gibbons Decline and it was partly a revolt against the political norms of the Age of Enlightenment which rationalised nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature. The name Romanticism itself was derived from the medieval chivalric romance. The latters Waverley Novels, including Ivanhoe and Quentin Durward helped popularise, and shape views of, the name Nazarene was adopted by a group of early nineteenth-century German Romantic painters who reacted against Neoclassicism and hoped to return to art which embodied spiritual values. They sought inspiration in artists of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of clothing and hair style. The movement was formed in 1809 by six students at the Vienna Academy and called the Brotherhood of St. Luke or Lukasbund. They met up with Austrian romantic landscape artist Joseph Anton Koch who became a tutor to the group. In Rome the group lived an existence, as a way of re-creating the nature of the medieval artists workshop. However, by 1830 all except Overbeck had returned to Germany, many Nazareners became influential teachers in German art academies and were a major influence on the later English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Gothic Revival was a movement which began in the 1740s in England. He went on to produce important Gothic buildings such as Cathedrals at Birmingham and Southwark, large numbers of existing English churches had features such as crosses, screens and stained glass, restored or added, and most new Anglican and Catholic churches were built in the Gothic style
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End of the Han dynasty
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The end of the Han dynasty refers to the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 AD, which roughly coincides with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynastys last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was able to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xians rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself. Cao Caos efforts to reunite the Han empire were rebuffed at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 /209. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Caos son and heir, Cao Pi, Cao Pi became the emperor of a new state, Cao Wei. A year later, in response to Cao Pis usurpation of the Han throne, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han, and in 229, Sun Quan followed suit, declaring himself emperor of Eastern Wu. The period from Emperor Xians abdication in 220 to the reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 265 was known as the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history. Towards the end of the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, Emperor Ling, convinced by Liu Yan, changed the Inspectors titles to Governor and granted them the authority to levy taxes and command armed forces within the borders. Liu Yan was commissioned as the Governor of Yi Province, while other important officials also became Governors, including Liu Yu. The increased influence of these provincial governors formed the basis on which later warlords would control large regions of the Han empire, Emperor Ling died in 189 and was succeeded by his 13-year-old son, Liu Bian, who became known as Emperor Shao. Empress He, now empress dowager, became regent to the emperor, while her older brother, General-in-Chief He Jin. He Jin and Yuan Shao plotted to exterminate all the Ten Attendants, a group of ten influential eunuch officials in the court, after the eunuchs discovered He Jins plot, they lured him into the palace and murdered him. In response, Yuan Shao led the guards on an indiscriminate massacre of the palace eunuchs. Dong Zhuo arrived on the scene and found Emperor Shao and the Prince of Chenliu, the young emperor appeared nervous and fearful, while the prince remained calm and composed, and gave orders to Dong Zhuo to escort them back to the palace. Dong Zhuo used the opportunity to control of state power. Not long later, Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao and replaced him with the Prince of Chenliu, in the spring of 190, several provincial officials and warlords formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo, claiming that he was set on usurping the throne and had effectively kidnapped Emperor Xian. Yuan Shao, Administrator of Bohai, was nominated to be the leader of the coalition, the coalition armies was stationed at Henei and appeared to be ready to move on the capital Luoyang. However, the coalition was actually rather disorganized, and Yuan Shao did not have command over the entire alliance. Besides, the members were also hesitant to directly confront Dong Zhuo
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Fall of the Western Roman Empire
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The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. Increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse, the reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world and they inform much modern discourse on state failure. Relevant dates include 117 CE, when the Empire was at its greatest territorial extent, irreversible major territorial loss, however, began in 376 with a large-scale irruption of Goths and others. In 395, after winning two destructive civil wars, Theodosius I died, leaving a field army and the Empire, still plagued by Goths. Invading barbarians had established their own power in most of the area of the Western Empire, while its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which it failed to enforce its rule. The Fall is not the only unifying concept for these events, for Dio Cassius, the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 CE marked the descent from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron. Gibbon started his story in 98 and Theodor Mommsen regarded the whole of the period as unworthy of inclusion in his Nobel Prize-winning History of Rome. Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the entire Imperial era was one of decay of institutions founded in republican times. Gibbon gave a formulation of reasons why the Fall happened. He began a controversy about the role of Christianity, but he gave great weight to other causes of internal decline. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious, and, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic, alexander Demandt enumerated 210 different theories on why Rome fell, and new ideas have emerged since. Historians still try to analyze the reasons for loss of control over a vast territory. Comparison has also made with the Han Empire in China. At least from the time of Henri Pirenne, scholars have described continuity of culture and of political legitimacy, Pirenne postponed the demise of classical civilization to the 8th century. The more recent formulation of a period characterized as Late Antiquity emphasizes the transformations of ancient to medieval worlds within a cultural continuity. In recent decades archaeologically-based argument even extends the continuity in material culture, observing the political reality of lost control, but also the cultural and archaeological continuities, the process has been described as a complex cultural transformation, rather than a fall
41.
Gupta Empire
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The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire founded by Sri Gupta. The empire existed at its zenith from approximately 320 to 550 CE, the peace and prosperity created under the leadership of the Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II were the most notable rulers of the Gupta dynasty, the high points of the period is great cultural developments which took place during the reign of Chandragupta II. Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era, strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. The earliest available Indian epics are also thought to have committed to written texts around this period. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, a minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by Vardhana ruler Harsha, who established his empire in the first half of the 7th century, according to many historians, the Gupta dynasty was a Vaishya dynasty. Historian Ram Sharan Sharma asserts that the Vaishya Guptas appeared as a reaction against oppressive rulers, brannigan, the rise of the Gupta Empire was one of the most prominent violations of the caste system in ancient India. There is controversy among scholars about the homeland of the Guptas. Jayaswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayaga, Uttar Pradesh, in north India, another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jaiswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag. However another historian of this time in Indian history, Ganguli, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland, according to him the Guptas homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar. He based his theory on the statement of the Chinese Buddhist monk, Yijing, fleet and other historians however criticize Gangulis theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the 3rd century, but Yijing placed him at the end of the 2nd century. Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of Yijing, are considered less valid than theories based on sources such as coinage. From these theories, several conflicting opinions about the original homeland, according to Allan and a few other scholars, the Guptas were initially concentrated in the region of Magadha and from there they extended their sway to Bengal. According to other groups, the homeland of the Guptas was Varendri or the Varendra Bhumi in Bengal. Whatever the theory is, the rule of the Guptas initiated the Golden Age in history of ancient India, bengali historians like HC Raychoudhuri the Guptas originated from the Varendri region which is now part of Rangpur and Rajshahi Division of modern-day Bangladesh. DC Ganguly, on the hand, considers the surrounding region of Murshidabad as the original home of the Guptas. The most likely time for the reign of Sri Gupta is c, the Murundas who were feudal lords of Kushans provided or granted land to Srigupta
42.
Sasanian Empire
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The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
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Late Middle Ages
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The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th and 15th centuries. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the modern era. Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt, a series of famines and plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before the calamities. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare, France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings, such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict in the Hundred Years War. To add to the problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively these events are called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of progress in the arts. Following a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman texts that took root in the High Middle Ages, combined with this influx of classical ideas was the invention of printing, which facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning. These two things would lead to the Protestant Reformation. Toward the end of the period, the Age of Discovery began, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, eroded the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire and cut off trading possibilities with the east. Europeans were forced to seek new trading routes, leading to the expedition of Columbus to the Americas in 1492 and their discoveries strengthened the economy and power of European nations. The changes brought about by these developments have led scholars to view this period as the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of modern history. However, the division is artificial, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society. As a result there was continuity between the ancient age and the modern age. Some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the Late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the period of the Middle Ages transitioning to the Renaissance. The term Late Middle Ages refers to one of the three periods of the Middle Ages, along with the Early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodization in his History of the Florentine People. Flavio Biondo used a framework in Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire. Tripartite periodization became standard after the German historian Christoph Cellarius published Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, for 18th-century historians studying the 14th and 15th centuries, the central theme was the Renaissance, with its rediscovery of ancient learning and the emergence of an individual spirit
44.
Afro-Eurasia
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Afro-Eurasia, Afroeurasia, or Eurafrasia, nicknamed the World Island, is the combination of Africa and Eurasia which together form the largest contiguous landmass on Earth. The term is a portmanteau of the names of its constituent parts, Afro-Eurasia encompasses 84,980,532 square kilometers, a little over half the worlds land area, and has a population of approximately 6 billion people, roughly 86% of the world population. The Old World, a term from the Age of Discovery which, for European explorers, the World Island, a term coined by H. J. Mackinder and used in geopolitical contexts. Mackinder defines the World Island as the contiguous landmass, technically excluding islands such as Britain. Afro-Eurasia generally includes those islands usually considered part of Africa, Europe, although Afro-Eurasia is typically considered to comprise two or three separate continents, it is not a proper supercontinent. Instead, it is the largest present part of the supercontinent cycle and it has made up parts of every supercontinent since. This impacted southern Asia around 50 million years ago and began the formation of the Himalayas. The Arabian Plate broke off of Africa around 30 million years ago, after this initial connection of Afro-Eurasia, the Betic corridor along the Gibraltar Arc closed a little less than 6 million years ago, fusing Northwest Africa and Iberia together. This led to the nearly complete desiccation of the Mediterranean Basin, today, Africa is now joined to Asia only by a narrow land bridge and remains separated from Europe by the Straits of Gibraltar and Sicily. Paleogeologist Ronald Blakey has described the next 15 to 100 million years of development as fairly settled. In that time, Africa is expected to continue drifting northward and it will close the Strait of Gibraltar around 600,000 years from now, closing and quickly evaporating the Mediterranean Sea. No supercontinent will form within the time frame, however. Three possibilities are known as Novopangaea, Amasia, and Pangaea Ultima, normally Afro-Eurasia is divided at the Suez Canal into Africa and Eurasia, the latter of which can be subdivided into Europe and Asia. It has also divided into Eurasia-North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa for cultural and historical reasons. ² According to the International Date Line, Geography of Africa Geography of Asia Extreme points of Africa Extreme points of Europe Extreme points of Asia Extreme points of Eurasia Extreme points of Earth Intermediate Region
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Columbian Exchange
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Invasive species of flora and fauna and communicable diseases were a byproduct of the Exchange. Traders returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, the term was first used in 1972 by American historian Alfred W. Crosby in his environmental history book The Columbian Exchange. It was rapidly adopted by historians and journalists and has become widely known. In 1972 Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin and this book covers the environmental impact of Columbus landing in the new world. The term has become popular among historians and journalists, such as Charles C, mann, whose book 1493 expands and updates Crosbys original research. Before AD1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America, by the 1840s, Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the proximate cause of the Great Famine was a potato disease. Potatoes eventually became an important staple of the diet in much of Europe, many European rulers, including Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, encouraged the cultivation of the potato. Maize and manioc, introduced by the Portuguese from South America in the 16th century, have replaced sorghum, 16th-century Spanish colonizers introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and thereby contributed to population growth in Asia. Tomatoes, which came to Europe from the New World via Spain, were prized in Italy mainly for their ornamental value. From the 19th century tomato sauces became typical of Neapolitan cooking and, ultimately, coffee from Africa and the Middle East and sugar cane from the Spanish West Indies became the main export commodity crops of extensive Latin American plantations. Introduced to India by the Portuguese, chili and potatoes from South America have become an part of Indian cuisine. It took three centuries after their introduction in Europe for tomatoes to become widely accepted, of all the New World plants introduced to Italy, only the potato took as long as the tomato to gain acceptance. In large part this was due to 16th-century physicians believing that this native Mexican fruit was poisonous, in 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a Tuscan physician and botanist, suggested that tomatoes might be edible, but no record exists of anyone consuming them at this time. At this time, the label pomi doro was also used to refer to figs, melons, in the early years, tomatoes were mainly grown as ornamentals in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they were to be only for their beauty and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. Tomatoes were grown in elite town and country gardens in the fifty years or so following their arrival in Europe and were occasionally depicted in works of art. However, in 1592 the head gardener at the garden of Aranjuez near Madrid, under the patronage of Philip II of Spain wrote. Besides this account, tomatoes remained exotic plants grown for ornamental purposes, the combination of pasta with tomato sauce was developed only in the late nineteenth century
46.
Mesoamerica
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It is one of six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas along with Norte Chico in present-day northern coastal Peru. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures, while Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico and extended inland, frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas, Guatemala and Oaxaca laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica and this Formative period saw the spread of distinct religious and symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes. In the subsequent Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya, with the rise of such as El Mirador, Calakmul and Tikal. Mesoamerica is one of three regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around AD600, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula, ensued. During the early period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec. Towards the end of the period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, over the next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as the civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico, Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area, and the term is now fully integrated in the standard terminology of pre-Columbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica, which refer to northern Mexico, 10° and 22° northern latitude, Mesoamerica possesses a complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. A main distinction groups these different niches into two categories, the lowlands and the altiplanos, or highlands. In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The highlands show much more diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatan to the humid southern Pacific, several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid, the Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups, the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands, the southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala, southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize
47.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
