Skip to main content

Home/ History with Holman/ Group items tagged africa

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Garth Holman

History of Timbuktu, Mali - 6 views

  • The popular statement, " From here to Timbuktu." conjures up images of remote, isolated and distant parts of this earth. Very few people are aware of this ancient city's location, and fewer still ascribe any kind of civilization to this historic area. Timbuktu is located in the western African nation of Mali at the edge of the sahara.
  • The historic town of Timbuktu is located at the precise point where the Niger flows northward into the southern edge of the desert. As a result of its unique geographical position, Timbuktu has been a natural meeting point of Songhai, Wangara,Fulani, Tuareg and Arabs. According to the inhabitants of Timbuku, gold came from the south, the salt from the north and the Divine knowledge, from Timbuktu. Timbuktu is also the cross-road where "the camel met the canoe." It is to this privilege position that the city owes much of its historical dynamism. From the 11th century and onward, Timbuktu became an important port where goods from West Africa and North Africa were traded.
  • Goods coming the Mediterranean shores and salt were traded in Timbuktu for gold. The prosperity of the city attracted both black scholars, blacks merchants and Arabs traders from North Africa. Salt, books and gold were very much in demand at that time.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • he first constructions in Timbuktu were designed by African architects from Djenne and later on by Muslim architects from North Africa. Trade and knowledge were at their height.
  • Timbuktu became a celebrated center of Islamic learning and a commercial establishment. Timbuktu had three universities and 180 Quranic schools. These universities were the Sankore University, Jingaray Ber University and Sidi Yahya University. This was the golden age of Africa. Books were not only written in Timbuktu, but they were also imported and copied there. There was an advanced local book copying industry in the city. The universities and private libraries contained unparalleled scholarly works. The famous scholar of Timbuktu Ahmad Baba who was among those forcibly exiled in Morocco claimed that his library of 1600 books had been plundered, and that his library, according to him, was one of the smaller in the city.
  • The booming economy of Timbuktu attracted the attention of the Emperor of Mali, Mansa Mussa (1307-1332) also known as “Kan Kan Mussa.” He captured the city in 1325. As a Muslim, Mansa Mussa was impressed with the Islamic legacy of Timbuktu. On his return from Mecca, Mansa Mussa brought with him an Egyptian architect by the name of Abu Es Haq Es Saheli.
  • The Emperor also brought Arabs scholars to Timbuktu. To his great surprise, the Emperor has found that these scholars are underqualified compared to the black scholars of Timbuktu
  • Mansa Mussa's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 had made Mali known worldwide. The great rulertook 60,000 porters with him. Each porter carried 3 kilograms of pure gold, that is, 180,000 kilograms or at least 180 tons of gold (Reference: Volume IV UNESCO General History of Africa, pages 197-200). He had so much gold with him that when he stopped in Egypt, the Egyptian currency lost its value and as result, the name of Mali and Timbuktu appeared on the 14th century world map.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Who would take notice of all this gold?  
    • Garth Holman
       
      Where camel met the canoe.  What does this mean? 
    • Garth Holman
       
      Key items traded? 
    • Garth Holman
       
      Spread of Islam.  How did Timbuktu help Islam take hold in Africa?  How did Mansa Mussa Help spread the word about Timbuktu?
alove_

Why every world map you're looking at is WRONG: Africa, China and India are distorted d... - 0 views

  • The distortion is the result of the Mercator map which was created in 1596 to help sailors navigate the worldIt gives the right shapes of countries but at the cost of distorting sizes in favour of the wealthy lands to the northFor instance, north America looks larger, or at least as big, as Africa, and Greenland also looks of comparable sizeIn reality, you can fit north America into Africa and still have space for India, Argentina, Tunisia and some left overMap suggests Scandinavian countries are larger than India, whereas in reality India is three times the size The biggest challenge for cartographers is that it is impossible to portray reality of spherical world on a flat map
  • ideological assumptions that can change the way we see the world.
mason m

Slavery in Ancient India: Greek, African, Criminal and Volunteer Slaves | Suite101.com - 2 views

  • What was
  • the nature of slavery in Ancient India? What kind of people were slaves? Was it possible to escape?
  • e moment of birth, be freed together with her child. Of course, no one can minimize the misery of being enslaved and it is almost certain that many masters were able to disregard these kinds of rules but, nevertheless, at least some structure of protection were provided. These were supplemented by both Hindu and Buddhist precepts, which will also have been influential in affecting the behaviour of some people. A large number of slaves appear to have been sourced from Greece and Greek colony cities. This is shown both by written records and by illustrations of the people involved. The female slave armies that protected the king’s harem were frequently known as Ionians and fought hard to maintain the traditions, names and language of their homelands. Other slaves were bought by traders from the west, bringing people from Africa, Arabia and from time to time, no doubt, the European mainland as well. Traders in eastern waters surely did the same, with slaves brought from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It was also possible for free-born Indians to become slaves, perhaps through a court decision after having committed a serious crime. Others might be enslaved as a result of war or trafficking but it was also possible for people to put themselves up for enslavement. They could put their freedom at stake as surety for a cash loan or for a gambling stake. However, enslavement need not be permanent. A financial arrangement could be made in these cases but, if worst came to worst, slaves were allowed one chance to try to escape and, if they managed to get away, they were permitted to claim their freedom permanently. Ads by Google Microsoft® Private Cloud Microsoft.com/readynowBe Ready For The Future. Learn More About Microsoft® Private Cloud! MA in Ancient Greek www.brandeis.edu/gsasGenerous scholarships for 1-year Master's @ Brandeis. Learn more. Native Americans indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.comNews, Culture, Events and More. Visit Our Site & Stay Up To Date! document.getElementById('adsense_placeholder_3').innerHTML = document.getElementById('adsense_ad_3_hidden').innerHTML; Copyright John Walsh. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication. John Walsh - I am a lecturer in business with a wide range of interests. These include anything relating to East and Southeast Asia, especially ... Print Article var addthis_share = { templates: { twitter: '{{title}}: {{url}} via @suite101' } } var addthis_config = { ui_language: "en", ui_cobrand: "Suite101", ui_header_color: "#FFFFFF", ui_header_background: "#336666", data_track_clickback: true } http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.html#_=1321539691113&count=horizontal&dnt=&id=twitter_tweet_button_0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fjohn-walsh.suite101.com%2Fslavery-in-ancient-ind
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • lavery has existed in India since the time of the Mauryas at least. However, since Indian society has throughout been subject to the strictly-enforced caste system, the differences between those in the lowest caste and the lot of the slaves are not very great and, in some cases, it may have been better to be a slave. For example, a low caste person had to work constantly to obtain food and water while slaves occasionally (although not very often) could have time off from work. Laws also existed as to what sort of treatment it was permitted to use with slaves: they could be beaten on the back but not the head, for example, while a woman who was made pregnant by her master would, at th  e
  • S &nbsp;lavery has existed in India since the time of the Mauryas at least. However, since Indian society has throughout been subject to the strictly-enforced caste system, the differences between those in the lowest caste and the lot of the slaves are not very great and, in some cases, it may have been better to be a slave. For example, a low caste person had to work constantly to obtain food and water while slaves occasionally (although not very often) could have time off from work. Laws also existed as to what sort of treatment it was permitted to use with slaves: they could be beaten on the back but not the head, for example, while a woman who was made pregnant by her master would, at th &nbsp; e moment of birth, be freed together with her child. Of course, no one can minimize the misery of being enslaved and it is almost certain that many masters were able to disregard these kinds of rules but, nevertheless, at least some structure of protection were provided. These were supplemented by both Hindu and Buddhist precepts, which will also have been influential in affecting the behaviour of some people. A large number of slaves appear to have been sourced from Greece and Greek colony cities. This is shown both by written records and by illustrations of the people involved. The female slave armies that protected the king’s harem were frequently known as Ionians and fought hard to maintain the traditions, names and language of their homelands. Other slaves were bought by traders from the west, bringing people from Africa, Arabia and from time to time, no doubt, the European mainland as well. Traders in eastern waters surely did the same, with slaves brought from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It was also possible for free-born Indians to become slaves, perhaps through a court decision after having committed a serious crime. Others might be enslaved as a result of war or trafficking but it was also possible for people to put themselves up for enslavement. They could put their freedom at stake as surety for a cash loan or for a gambling stake. However, enslavement need not be permanent. A financial arrangement could be made in these cases but, if worst came to worst, slaves were allowed one chance to try to escape and, if they managed to get away, they were permitted to claim their freedom permanently. Ads by Google Microsoft® Private Cloud Microsoft.com/readynow Be Ready For The Future. Learn More About Microsoft® Private Cloud! MA in Ancient Greek www.brandeis.edu/gsas Generous scholarships for 1-year Master's @ Brandeis. Learn more. Native Americans indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com News, Culture, Events and More. Visit Our Site &amp; Stay Up To Date! document.getElementById('adsense_placeholder_3').innerHTML = document.getElementById('adsense_ad_3_hidden').innerHTML; Copyright John Walsh . Contact the author to obtain permission for republication. John Walsh - I am a lecturer in business with a wide range of interests. These include anything relating to East and Southeast Asia, especially ... <IMG s
  • &nbsp;lavery has existed in India since the time of the Mauryas at least. However, since Indian society has throughout been subject to the strictly-enforced caste system, the differences between those in the lowest caste and the lot of the slaves are not very great and, in some cases, it may have been better to be a slave. For example, a low caste person had to work constantly to obtain food and water while slaves occasionally (although not very often) could have time off from work. Laws also existed as to what sort of treatment it was permitted to use with slaves: they could be beaten on the back but not the head, for example, while a woman who was made pregnant by her master would, at th &nbsp; e moment of birth, be freed together with her child. Of course, no one can minimize the misery of being enslaved and it is almost certain that many masters were able to disregard these kinds of rules but, nevertheless, at least some structure of protection were provided. These were supplemented by both Hindu and Buddhist precepts, which will also have been influential in affecting the behaviour of some people. A large number of slaves appear to have been sourced from Greece and Greek colony cities. This is shown both by written records and by illustrations of the people involved. The female slave armies that protected the king’s harem were frequently known as Ionians and fought hard to maintain the traditions, names and language of their homelands. Other slaves were bought by traders from the west, bringing people from Africa, Arabia and from time to time, no doubt, the European mainland as well. Traders in eastern waters surely did the same, with slaves brought from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It was also possible for free-born Indians to become slaves, perhaps through a court decision after having committed a serious crime. Others might be enslaved as a result of war or trafficking but it was also possible for people to put themselves up for enslavement. They could put their freedom at stake as surety for a cash loan or for a gambling stake. However, enslavement need not be permanent. A financial arrangement could be made in these cases but, if worst came to worst, slaves were allowed one chance to try to escape and, if they managed to get away, they were permitted to claim their freedom permanently. Ads by Google Microsoft® Private Cloud Microsoft.com/readynow Be Ready For The Future. Learn More About Microsoft® Private Cloud! MA in Ancient Greek www.brandeis.edu/gsas Generous scholarships for 1-year Master's @ Brandeis. Learn more. Native Americans indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com News, Culture, Events and More. Visit Our Site &amp; Stay Up To Date! document.getElementById('adsense_placeholder_3').innerHTML = document.getElementById('adsense_ad_3_hidden').innerHTML; Copyright John Walsh . Contact the author to obtain permission for republication. John Walsh
  •  
    India slavery system and the caste system.
Garth Holman

Slavery in Africa prior to European contact - 2 views

  • we know about slavery from about 900 AD. But the lives of African slaves in West Africa and African American slaves were very different. In many West African societies, land was owned by communities, not by individuals. Social status and class could therefore not be based on land ownership. Instead, they were based on one's place in the social environment. Slaves were thus part of the family as well as private property. And slavery was not a lifetime status—someone might be born free, made a slave for a few years, and then be free again for the rest of their life.
  • rights; they could marry, own property, and inherit substantial goods from their owner
  •  
    "nitially, the slaves were war prisoners, criminals or people in debt. However, as the European demand for slaves grew, African leaders turned to new ways to find slaves. Wars were started for the sole reasons of taking prisoners to sell, and many were simply kidnapped (either by people from their own tribe, or from competing tribes). Some African rulers earned great profits by controlling the regional slave trade."
morgan m

Slavery in India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 2 views

  • The history of slavery in India is complicated by the presence of factors which relate to the definition, ideological and religious perceptions, difficulties in obtaining and interpreting written sources, and perceptions of political impact of interpretations of written sources.[1] If current scholarly interpretations of various literary sources are accepted, then slavery as forced appropriation of labour, skill or sexual gratification appears to have existed in various forms from the pre-500 BCE period, though never as a legitimate and generally acceptable widespread practice. Historical consensus points to an intensification of slavery under India's Islamic period.[2][3][4][5][6] For instance, K. S. Lal discussed in his work "Muslim Slave System in Medieval India" the import of African slaves to India by Muslims through the Middle East, a trade never undertaken by India's indigenous religions due to limited contact with Africa. Often, claims about slavery in India, and the sources they are based on, need to be analyzed with special attention to context. Some modern scholars appear to treat most claims of slavery by Persian or Arabic chroniclers as propaganda or exaggeration for military and political glorification, whereas similar arguments are not applied to the textual claims of the epics, the Smriti, or other pre-Islamic Indian texts (Levi admits the possibility of exaggeration on the part of Muslim chroniclers but accepts Basham's claims based on Mahabharata without such doubts.[1]) Susan Bayly of Cambridge University noted in her work "Caste, Society and Politics" that India was never a monolithic caste society [7] with noted shifting and fluidity of the caste structures in some parts of India, and its non-existence in others. Irfan Habib notes in his study of the agrarian system of Mughal India, that in many parts of the country, caste barriers were fluid, and the working classes formed a type of vast labour pool, from which specializations were formed as and when needed without consideration of caste.
  • The slave appears to have retained degrees of control over money, property, right to compensation or wage for labour, and had the right of redemption, and deceiving or depriving a slave of these rights is also a punishable offence. Slavery also appears to have been of limited duration or of temporary status, as only specific conditions are given for slavery for life
  • Employing a slave to carry the dead, or to sweep human waste, remnant of meal, stripping or keeping in nudity, hurting or abusing, violating the chastity (of a female slave), causes the forfeiture of the value paid for the slave (although it is not clear whether this earns the slave his or her freedom). In the same paragraph, however, it is stated that the violations of the chastity of nurses, female cooks, or female servants of the class of joint cultivators or of any other category shall at once earn them their liberty. A master’s connections with a nurse or pledged female slave against her will is a punishable offence, (for a stranger the degree of offence is higher), and rape is specifically mentioned as particularly offensive with high penalties as well as forfeiture of sale price.[10] In fact if a child is born to the female slave as a result of sexual union with the master, then the mother and child have to be freed immediately.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • For an Arya, slavery appears to have been
  • limited to the person who has sold himself, and not automatically to his family or offspring, as the status of the offspring as Arya is categorically emphasized. A slave is also guaranteed to not only whatever he has earned without prejudice to his master’s work, but also any inheritance he has received from his father.
  • As for prisoners of war, enslavement does not appear to have been automatic, as it is stated that an Arya who is captured in war can only be ransomed for an amount proportionate to the damage or dangerous work done by the captive at the time of his capture (or half the amount
  • Slavery begins to appear in explicit and extensive reference in surviving historical records following the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century. Many chroniclers claim that his campaign of 1024 in which he sacked Ajmer, Nehrwala, Kathiawar, and Somnath was particularly successful in garnering more than 100,000 Hindu slaves for the Muslim general.
  • The history of slavery in India is complicated by the presence of factors which relate to the definition, ideological and religious perceptions, difficulties in obtaining and interpreting written sources, and perceptions of political impact of interpretations of written sources.[1] If current scholarly interpretations of various literary sources are accepted, then slavery as forced appropriation of labour, skill or sexual gratification appears to have existed in various forms from the pre-500 BCE period, though never as a legitimate and generally acceptable widespread practice. Historical consensus points to an intensification of slavery under India's Islamic period.[2][3][4][5][6] For instance, K. S. Lal discussed in his work "Muslim Slave System in Medieval India" the import of African slaves to India by Muslims through the Middle East, a trade never undertaken by India's indigenous religions due to limited contact with Africa.
  •  
    Slavery in Inida
  •  
    slavory in india
  •  
    This descibes the caste system in india
isabel l

Slavery in the Modern World - Infoplease.com - 0 views

  • When a ship carrying hundreds of people was recently turned away from Benin , Africa, officials suspected that the children on board were human slaves. The incident once again brought attention to the problem of slavery . At this moment, millions of men, women, and children—roughly twice the population of Rhode Island—are being held against their will as modern-day slaves
  • When a ship carrying hundreds of people was recently turned away from Benin, Africa, officials suspected that the children on board were human slaves. The incident once again brought attention to the problem of slavery. At this moment, millions of men, women, and children—roughly twice the population of Rhode Island—are being held against their will as modern-day slaves.
megan s

List of Indian inventions and discoveries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Button, ornamental: Buttons—made from seashell—were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BCE.[1] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pieced into them so that they could attached to clothing by using a thread.[1] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that: "The button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old."
  • Calico: Calico had originated in the subcontinent by the 11th century and found mention in Indian literature, by the 12th century writer Hemachandra. He has mentioned calico fabric prints done in a lotus design.[3] The Indian textile merchants traded in calico with the Africans by the 15th century and calico fabrics from Gujarat appeared in Egypt.[3] Trade with Europe followed from the 17th century onwards.[3] Within India, calico originated in Calicut.[3] Carding, devices for: Historian of science Joseph Needham ascribes the invention of bow-instruments used in textile technology to India.[4] The earliest evidence for using bow-instruments for carding comes from India (2nd century CE).[4] These carding devices, called kaman and dhunaki would loosen the texture of the fiber by the means of a vibrating string.[4]
  • The words for "chess" in Old Persian and Arabic are chatrang and shatranj respectively — terms derived from caturaṅga in Sanskrit,[11][12] which literally means an army of four divisions or four corps.[13][14] Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape.[15] This game was introduced to the Near East from India and became a part of the princely or courtly education of Persian nobility.[13] Buddhist pilgrims, Silk Road traders and others carried it to the Far East where it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.[15] Chaturanga reached Europe through Persia, the Byzantine empire and the expanding Arabian empire.[14][16] Muslims carried Shatranj to North Africa, Sicily, and Spain by the 10th century where it took its final modern form of chess.[15] Chintz: The origin of Chintz is from the printed all cotton fabric of calico in India.[17] The origin of the word chintz itself is from the Hindi language word चित्र् (chitr), which means a spot
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Coherer, iron and mercury: In 1899, the Bengali physicist Jagdish Chandra Bose announced the development of an "iron-mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector" in a paper presented at the Royal Society, London.[19] He also later received U.S. Patent 755,840, "Detector for electrical disturbances" (1904), for a specific electromagnetic receiver. Cotton gin, single-roller: The Ajanta caves of India yield evidence of a single roller cotton gin in use by the 5th century.[20] This cotton gin was used in India until innovations were made in form of foot powered gins.[21] The cotton gin was invented in India as a mechanical device known as charkhi, more technically the "wooden-worm-worked roller". This mechanical device was, in some parts of India, driven by water power.[4] Crescograph: The crescograph, a device for measuring growth in plants, was invented in the early 20th century by the Bengali scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose.[22][
  • Perhaps as early as 300 BCE—although certainly by 200 CE—high quality steel was being produced in southern India also by what Europeans would later call the crucible technique.[24] In this system, high-purity wrought iron, charcoal, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon.[24] The first crucible steel was the wootz steel that originated in India before the beginning of the common era.[25] Archaeological evidence suggests that this manufacturing process was already in existence in South India well before the Christian era.[26][27][28][29] Dock (maritime): The world's first dock at Lothal (2400 BCE) was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt.[30] Modern oceanographers have observed that the Harappans must have possessed knowledge relating to tides in order to build such a dock on the ever-shifting course of the Sabarmati, as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering.[30] This was the earliest known dock found in the world, equipped to berth and service ships.[30][31] It is speculated that Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures, since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks.[32] This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal's location in the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuar
  • location in the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be sluiced through flow tides in the river estuar y
  • Incense clock: Although popularly associated with China the incense clock is believed to have originated in India, at least in its fundamental form if not function.[33][34] Early incense clocks found in China between the 6th and 8th century CE—the period it appeared in China all seem to have Devanāgarī carvings on them instead of Chinese seal characters.[33][34] Incense itself was introduced to China from India in the early centuries CE, along with the spread of Buddhism by travelling monks.[35][36][37] Edward Schafer asserts that incense clocks were probably an Indian invention, transmitted to China, which explains the Devanāgarī inscriptions on early incense clocks found in China.[33] Silvio Bedini on the other hand asserts that incense clocks were derived in part from incense seals mentioned in Tantric Buddhist scriptures, which first came to light in China after those scriptures from India were translated into Chinese, but holds that the time-telling function of the seal was incorporated by the Chinese.[34] India ink, carbonaceous pigment for: The source of the carbon pigment used in India ink was India.[38][39] In India, the carbon black from which India ink is produced is obtained by burning bones, tar, pitch, and other substances.[39][40] Ink itself has been used in India since at least the 4th century BCE.[41] Masi, an early ink in India was an admixture of several chemical components.[41] Indian documents written in Kharosthi with ink have been unearthed in Xinjiang.[42] The practice of writing with ink and a sharp pointed needle was common in ancient South India.[43] Several Jain sutras in India were compiled in ink
  • Indian clubs: The Indian club—which appeared in Europe during the 18th century—was used long by India's native soldiery before its introduction to Europe.[45] During the British Raj the British officers in India performed calisthenic exercises with clubs to keep in for physical conditioning.[45] From Britain the use of club swinging spread to the rest of the world.[45] Kabaddi: The game of kabaddi originated in India during prehistory.[46] Suggestions on how it evolved into the modern form range from wrestling exercises, military drills, and collective self defense but most authorities agree that the game existed in some form or the other in India during the period between 1500-400 BCE.[46] Ludo: Pachisi originated in India by the 6th century.[47] The earliest evidence of this game in India is the depiction of boards on the caves of Ajanta.[47] This game was played by the Mughal emperors of India; a notable example being that of Akbar, who played living Pachisi using girls from his harem.[47][48] A variant of this game, called Ludo, made its way to England during the British Raj.[
  • Ruler: Rulers made from Ivory were in use by the Indus Valley Civilization in what today is Pakistan and some parts of Western India prior to 1500 BCE.[64] Excavations at Lothal (2400 BCE) have yielded one such ruler calibrated to about 1/16 of an inch—less than 2 millimeters.[64] Ian Whitelaw (2007) holds that 'The Mohenjo-Daro ruler is divided into units corresponding to 1.32&nbsp;inches (33.5&nbsp;mm) and these are marked out in decimal subdivisions with amazing accuracy—to within 0.005 of an inch. Ancient bricks found throughout the region have dimensions that correspond to these units.'[65] Shigeo Iwata (2008) further writes 'The minimum division of graduation found in the segment of an ivory-made linear measure excavated in Lothal was 1.79&nbsp;mm (that corresponds to 1/940 of a fathom), while that of the fragment of a shell-made one from Mohenjo-daro was 6.72&nbsp;mm (1/250 of a fathom), and that of bronze-made one from Harapa was 9.33&nbsp;mm (1/180 of a fathom).'[66] The weights and measures of the Indus civilization also reached Persia and Central Asia, where they were further modified.[66] Seamless celestial globe: Considered one of the most remarkable feats in metallurgy, it was invented in Kashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in between 1589 and 1590 CE, and twenty other such globes were later produced in Lahore and Kashmir during the Mughal Empire.[67][68] Before they were rediscovered in the 1980s, it was believed by modern metallurgists to be technically impossible to produce metal globes without any seams, even with modern technology.[68] These Mughal metallurgists pioneered the method of lost-wax casting in order to produce these globes
  • Simputer: The Simputer (acronym for "simple, inexpensive and multilingual people's computer") is a self-contained, open hardware handheld computer, designed for use in environments where computing devices such as personal computers are deemed inappropriate. It was developed in 1999 by 7 scientists of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, led by Dr. Swami Manohar in collaboration with Encore India, a company based in Bangalore.[69][70] Originally envisaged to bring internet to the masses of India, the Simputer and its derivatives are today widely utilized by governments of several Indian states as part of their e-governance drive, the Indian Army, as well as by other public and private organizations.[71][72] Snakes and ladders: Snakes and ladders originated in India as a game based on morality.[73] During British rule of India, this game made its way to England, and was eventually introduced in the United States of America by game-pioneer Milton Bradley in 1943.[73] Stepwell: Earliest clear evidence of the origins of the stepwell is found in the Indus Valley Civilization's archaeological site at Mohenjodaro in Pakistan.[74] The three features of stepwells in the subcontinent are evident from one particular site, abandoned by 2500 BCE, which combines a bathing pool, steps leading down to water, and figures of some religious importance into one structure.[74] The early centuries immediately before the common era saw the Buddhists and the Jains of India adapt the stepwells into their architecture.[74] Both the wells and the form of ritual bathing reached other parts of the world with Buddhism.[74] Rock-cut step wells in the subcontinent date from 200-400 CE.[75] Subsequently the wells at Dhank (550-625 CE) and stepped ponds at Bhinmal (850-950 CE) were constructed.[75] Stupa: The origin of the stupa can be traced to 3rd century BCE India.[76] It was used as a commemorative monument associated with storing sacred relics.[76] The stupa architecture was adopted in Southeast and East Asia, where it evolved into the pagoda, a Buddhist monument used for enshrining sacred relics.[76] Toe stirrup: The earliest known manifestation of the stirrup, which was a toe loop that held the big toe was used in India in as early as 500 BCE[77] or perhaps by 200 BCE according to other sources.[78][79] This ancient stirrup consisted of a looped rope for the big toe which was at the bottom of a saddle made of fibre or leather.[79] Such a configuration made it suitable for the warm climate of most of India where people used to ride horses barefoot.[79] A pair of megalithic double bent iron bars with curvature at each end, excavated in Junapani in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have been regarded as stirrups although they could as well be something else.[80] Buddhist carvings in the temples of Sanchi, Mathura and the Bhaja caves dating back between the 1st and 2nd century BCE figure horsemen riding with elaborate saddles with feet slipped under girths.[81][82][83] Sir John Marshall described the Sanchi relief as "the earliest example by some five centuries of the use of stirrups in any part of the world".[83] In the 1st century CE horse riders in northern India, where winters are sometimes long and cold, were recorded to have their booted feet attached to hooked stirrups.[78] However the form, the conception of the primitive Indian stirrup spread west and east, gradually evolving into the stirrup of today.http://en.wikipe
mukul g

Middle Ages - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views

    • Aden S
       
      The fall of Rome
  • During the High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1300), Christian-oriented art and architecture flourished and Crusades were mounted to recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. The influence of the emerging nation-state was tempered by the ideal of an international Christendom. The codes of chivalry and courtly love set rules for proper behavior, while the Scholastic philosophers attempted to reconcile faith and reason.
  • In the Early Middle Ages the trends of the Late Antiquity (depopulation, deurbanization, and increased barbarian invasion) continued. North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the Eastern Roman Empire, became Islamic. Later in the period, the establishment of the feudal system allowed a move away from subsistence agriculture. There was sustained urbanization in Northern and Western Europe.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The Middle Ages (adjectival form: medieval, mediaeval or mediæval) is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in the 15th century and reflects the view that this period was a deviation from the path of classical learning, a path that was later reconnected by Renaissance scholarship.
  • Outstanding achievement in this period includes the Code of Justinian, the mathematics of Fibonacci and Oresme, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the architecture of Gothic cathedrals such as Chartres.
  • The Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analyzing European history: classical civilization (or Antiquity), the Middle Ages, and the modern period.[1] It is "Middle" in the sense of being between the two other periods in time, ancient times and modern times.
Garth Holman

Geography shaped Greek civilization - 2 views

  • Greece was known as the "Birthplace of Western Civilization"
  • One factor that can be considered as an integral part of the development of Greek civilization is its geography.
  • Balcan peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is surrounded by three seas: in the south is the Mediterranean Sea; Ionian Sea in the west; and the Aegean Sea in the east.
  • ...31 more annotations...
  • The geographical features of ancient Greece contributed to its advantage and disadvantage.
  • Greece is a strategic location for empire building because it served as the crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe
    • Garth Holman
       
      What does it mean: "Crossroads between Africa, Asia and Europe." 
  • climate, the mountains and the seas
  • temperate, making it comfortable to the people to be outside of their homes almost every year. This allowed them to engage in outdoor life within their city-states. They were able to interact with each other which enabled them to organize outdoor activities such as athletic competitions, public gatherings, entertainment and art shows, and meetings, which facilitate to the development of a rich and distinct Greek culture.
  • mountains
  • Almost 70 to 80 percent of Greece is covered and dominated with mountains
  • advantage of the mountains is that they contributed to the preservation of the purity of Greek culture.
  • were secluded to their area resulting to rare interactions with other cultures.
  • served as a natural barrier which acted like walls separating different communities.
  • hindered communication among communities and slowed down the introduction of new ideas and technology.
  • unified system of government
  • polis or the city-state
  • democratic government works better in smaller states
  • protection and security to the inhabitants.
  • disadvantage of this geographical feature is that only few lands were dedicated to farming
  • isadvantage is the the rocky lands and poor soil which are not suitable for the domestication of plants.
  • olives and grapes
  • domesticated sheeps and cattles as an alternative to farming
  • Having been surrounded by three major bodies of water served as an advantage because it allowed early Greeks to travel and trade
  • Greece to major trade routes allowed the prosperity in maritime commerce (
  • became fishers, sailors and merchants
  • excelled in ship buildings and voyaging because of their knowledge about seas around them
  • Greeks to depend heavily on trade
  • could not grow through trading
  • olive oil, wine, wool and pottery with grains and other natural resources, which had a limited supply during that time
  • trade encouraged cultural diffusion
  • Hellenistic culture
    • Garth Holman
       
      Hellenistic Culture means Greece culture. 
    • Garth Holman
       
      What are the geographic factors that promote or impede the movement of people, products or ideas? Explain your ideas.  
    • Garth Holman
       
      We are part of the WESTERN CIVILIZATION.  That means Greece has several enduring impacts on us.  Can you find any in this reading.  
Garth Holman

getfile.php (1255×1140) - 0 views

    • Garth Holman
       
      This map shows three groups that attach and raid Europe: The Saracens (from North Africa, they are Arabs), The Magyars (From Europe, Hungarian Christians) and Vikings (from Scandinavia, polytheistic: become Christian) Another article describes these raids this way "In the short run, they wreaked havoc on land and people" 
Garth Holman

geography - National Geographic Society - 1 views

  • Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments.
  • They also examine how human culture interacts with the natural environment, and the way that locations and places can have an impact on people.
  • geography" comes to us from the ancient Greeks,
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • geo means “earth” and -graphy means “to write.”&nbsp;
  • located in relation to other places,
  • what their own and other places were like, and how people and environments were distributed. These concerns have been central to geography ever since.
  • Throughout human history, most societies have sought to understand something about their place in the world, and the people and environments around them.
  • More importantly, they also raised questions about how and why different human and natural patterns came into being on Earth’s surface, and why variations existed from place to place. The effort to answer these questions about patterns and distribution led them to figure out that the world was round, to calculate Earth’s circumference, and to develop explanations of everything from the seasonal flooding of the Nile River to differences in population densities from place to place.
  • Advances in geography were chiefly made by scientists of the Muslim world, based around the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. Geographers of this Islamic Golden Age created the world’s first rectangular map based on a grid, a map system that is still familiar today. Islamic scholars also applied their study of people and places to agriculture, determining which crops and livestock were most suited to specific habitats or environments.
  • They were the first to use the compass for navigational purposes.
  • Age of Discovery
Cameron G.

TED Cast Study BUBONIC - 1 views

  • Between 1339 and 1351 AD, a pandemic of plague traveled from China to Europe, known in Western history as The Black Death
  • The Black Death was actually a combination of three different types of plague: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicaemic, with bubonic being the most common
  • The initial symptom is a blackish pustule forming over the point of the bite, followed by swollen lymph nodes near that bite.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • bruise-like purple blotches, called buboes, on the victim's skin. It is from this word, buboe, that the bubonic plague takes its name. The hemorrhaging causes an intoxication of the nervous system, which produces neurological and psychological disorders, including insomnia, delirium, and stupor
  • Septicaemic plague is, like the bubonic plague, carried by insects. Its distinguishing feature is its rapidity - death occurs within a day of infection, even before buboes have had time to form. This form of the plague is the rarest rare, but is almost always fatal
  • victims suffer a sharp drop in body temperature, which is followed by sever coughing and discharge of a bloody sputum
  • airborne transmission.
  • None of these plagues are native to Europe.
  • bacteria normally resides in Central Asia, Yunan China, Arabia, East Africa, and limited areas of Iran and Libya.
  • Their spread to Europe from these areas has always been through global commerce - trade which carried with it plague- bearing rats and fleas.
  • From China, the plague is known to have been carried along the Silk Road into Central Asia, where there are records of outbreaks in 1339.
  •  
    Information on the spread of the Black Plague with highlights
rachel c

Ancient Egypt: Slavery, its causes and practice - 0 views

  • Theory and practice of Egyptian slavery were, as far as we can ascertain, quite different from those of Greece, Rome or the southern states of the USA, where slaves were wholly at the mercy of their owners with little protection from society, and more in line with the kind of slavery practiced in the rest of Africa&nbsp;[16].
  • Part of the slaves were personal servants of individuals. Others belonged to estates of temples and noblemen, often taken during a military campaign or bestowed by the king. But how is one to interpret the following Old Kingdom inscription
  •  
    show how they were used
Garth Holman

Dgh - Scientific Revolution - 0 views

  • came up with the heliocentric universe theory
  • Polish astronomer and mathematician
  • was also a translator, artist, physician, and scholar.
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • invented the telescope using two lenses and a lead pipe.
  • realized that the solar system was heliocentric, and was promptly persecuted for it by the Church.
  • found that the milky way was not a light in the sky but a cloud made of many nebulas and stars
  • first person to create laws about inertia and gravity
  • first to discover sunspots and he also discovered many stars
  • study other sciences, like math, medicine, and poetry.
  • British mathematician and physician
  • invented calculus
  • three laws of motion, and the law of gravity
  • came up with the Binomial Theorem
  • His achievements helped other scientists like Einstein be able to discover the Theory of Relativity and Nuclear Fission.
  • After Rome fell, however, during the Middle Ages, people forgot all these things.
  • that led to the birth of modern science
  • for themselves instead of accepting how things were
  • Muslims in Asia and Africa, though, were able to preserve the ideas of these great Greek and Roman thinkers. They translated them and then added their own ideas to them--to learn more about muslim thinkers, see this link. As the Europeans came out of their Dark Age, they began to learn from the muslims when trade and conflict brought Europeans and Arabs together. As they read and learned, their own view of the world became more rational and expanded their view of the world.
  • Rome and Greece the idea of humanism was passed on to the Arabs. When the Europeans started to make contact with the Arabs, these ideas were brought back. Education, government, technology, and science made it possible for this time of major change, discovery and exploration. Many discoveries and inventions were made in this time period by great thinkers still impact the world today.
  • It sparked their curiosity, and started the Scientific Revolution.
  • read and write by themselves and the printing press made books much cheaper and available to a wider audience. When the time came, the government provided money, supplies and education for explorers.
  • Together, education, government, technology, and science created the perfect mix for the Scientific Revolution and exploration.
  • began to explore the world around them.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Self Paced:  Copy this question into your document and then answer it.  How did the Muslims aid the Renaissance and the scientific revolution?  
    • Garth Holman
       
      Self Paced:  Explain the concept of the Perfect MIX?
    • bw_htian
       
      When people began to explore the world around them and learned to read and write by themselves. Education, government, technology, and science created the perfect mix for the Scientific Revolution.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Self Paced:  Explain the importance of at least 2 of these key figures of the Scientific Revolution?  Explain how the Catholic Church reacted to these ideas? 
    • Garth Holman
       
      Self Paced:  From the list of inventions, how could these inventions help in exploration? 
Josh B

Forgotten Story of Indian Slavery - 6 views

  • When Americans think of slavery, our minds create images of Africans inhumanely crowded aboard ships plying the middle passage from Africa, or of blacks stooped to pick cotton in Southern fields. We don't conjure images of American Indians chained in coffles and marched to ports like Boston and Charleston, and then shipped to other ports in the Atlantic world.
  • Yet Indian slavery and an Indian slave trade were ubiquitous in early America. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, tens of thousands of America's native peoples were enslaved, many of them transported to lands distant from their homes.
liat s

Ancient Rome - Ancient History - HISTORY.com - 0 views

  • Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands.
Garth Holman

Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest - North Carolina Digital History - 1 views

shared by Garth Holman on 19 May 14 - Cached
  • had been isolated from each other for 10,000 years.
    • Garth Holman
       
      If they have been isolated, how would that make them different? 
  • the human inhabitants of the “old” and “new” worlds developed vastly different cultures, languages, and religions; they found different ways of adapting to their different envinronments; and their bodies over hundreds of generations became resistant to the diseases of their different worlds. When the two great land masses were rejoined by European exploration, the resulting exchange of people, crops, animals, ideas, and diseases — called the “Columbian exchange” — changed both worlds forever.
  • Within a hundred years this small European nation had claimed the better part of two continents
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • disease.
  • They go as naked as their mothers bore them, even the women, though I only saw one girl, and she was very young. All those I did see were young men, none of them more than thirty years old.… They do not carry arms and do not know of them, because I showed them some swords and they grasped them by the blade and cut themselves out of ignorance
  • They ought to make good slaves for they are of quick intelligence, since I notice that they are quick to repeat what is said to them, and I believe that they could very easily become Chirstians, for it seemed to me that they had no religion of their own. God willing, when I come to leave I will bring six of them to Your Highnesses so that they may learn to speak
  • Columbus believed he had every right to take their land and make them into “servants.
  • With the native population gone, the Spanish began to import slaves from Africa to grow their sugar cane
  • superiority to their enemies who had rejected Christianity, and they developed rules of war based on that superiority — including the right to enslave the people they conquered. Once Spain was reconquered, Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or be expelled from Spain.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Forced + Fled = INQUISITION
  • In 1519 Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico from Cuba with 11 galleons, 550 men, and 16 horses — the first horses on the American continent. Within two years his conquistadores, conquerors, had won control of the Aztec kingdom that spanned most of present-day Mexico and Central America.
    • Garth Holman
       
      How could this happen?  How could an empire of millions be destroyed and conquered by 550 men? 
  • One of Cortés’ soldiers had smallpox, and he started an epidemic that killed a third of the population of the Aztec empire.
  • Cortés for the deity Quetzalcoátl, or Plumed Serpent, who according to prophesy would return from the east to reclaim his kingdom — perhaps in 1519. When Cortés arrived — from the east, with fair skin, riding four-legged creatures never before seen in Mexico, wearing shining armor and looking for all the world like someone who wanted to reclaim a kingdom — Moctezuma feared that he might be Quetzalcoátl and did not immediately meet him in battle.
  • What Cortés and his men saw in Tenochtitlán horrified them.
  • The Spanish, more convinced than ever of their superiority, forced most of the people of Mexico to convert to Christianity. Priests burned Aztec books and destroyed idols and temples. Indigenous people were enslaved to work in gold mines. Disease reduced the population of Mexico from more than 20 million when Cortés arrived in 1519 to about 2 million by 1600.
  • By the 1600s, Spain was easily the most powerful kingdom in Europe.
  • We can estimate very surely and truthfully that in the forty years that have passed, with the infernal actions of the Christians, there have been unjustly slain more than twelve million men, women, and children. In truth, I believe without trying to deceive myself that the number of the slain is more like fifteen million.…
  • They attacked the towns and spared neither the children nor the aged nor pregnant women nor women in childbed, not only stabbing them and dismembering them but cutting them to pieces as if dealing with sheep in the slaughter house.
  • With still others, all those they wanted to capture alive, they cut off their hands and hung them round the victim’s neck, saying, “Go now, carry the message,” meaning, Take the news to the Indians who have fled to the mountains.
spencer s

How Did Geography Help Rome Rise to Power? | Education - Seattle PI - 3 views

  • the Alps and the Apennines, helped to protect Rome from invasion.
  • Any army attempting to attack Rome would be at risk of attack from the other side of the mountains.
  • seal off the peninsula from the rest of Europe during winter. This natural roadblock protected Rome from outside invasions by forcing attackers to move slowly through narrow passes, giving the Romans time to respond.
    • Phillip M
       
      these mountains helped Romans greatly while others come to attack. It would usually end up as Rome winning because they have time to prepare for the attack 
    • spencer s
       
      Yeah i agree completely
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • suited for agriculture
  • volcanic ash made the soil near Rome some of the best in all of Europe. Rome attracted new settlers during its rise to power due to its agricultural potentia
  • The Roman population grew quickly, thanks to surplus production of grains, olives and other crops. The extra population later helped Rome's military expansion by providing a large supply of troops.
  • establish trade ties with other Mediterranean powers, enhancing the city's economic might.
    • Garth Holman
       
      How did the Tiber River help to make Rome and economic Powerhouse in the Ancient World. 
  • position at the center of the Mediterranean Sea. As Smith notes, the Italian Peninsula is only 50 miles from Greece, while Sicily is less than 100 miles from Africa. Rome is also a short voyage by boat from Spain and only a few days' journey to France on horseback. Its central location made Rome a desirable trading post even before the city's rise to power. This centrality later helped the Romans administer their empire effectively by reducing communication times.
  • Several geographic advantages helped Rome to grow and ultimately dominate the known world.
1 - 20 of 27 Next ›
Showing 20 items per page