Prologue

1. 2 centuries ago- New Guineans lived in Stone Age 2. whites arrived a. brought cargo i. steel axes, matches, meds, clothing, soft drinks, umbrellas b. despised New Guineans- primitive 3. Yali- local polition a. Question: Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own? b. Why is it that people of Eurasian origin (especially those in Europe, eastern Asia, and transplanted to N America) dominate the modern world in wealth and power? i. Possible Explanations: 1. Genetics a. However not likely based on intelligence i. New Guineans might actually be more intelligent 1. Europeans- natural selection based on disease; New Guinean- natural section based on murder- required intelligence 2. Europeans had TV, radio, movies; New Guineans actively do activities. 2. The seasonably variable climates at high latitudes require people to be more technologically inventive to survive. 3. Importance of lowland river valleys in dry climates, where highly productive agriculture depended on largescale irrigation systems that in turn required civilized bureaucracies 4. Immediate factors that enabled Europeans to kill or conquer other peoples- especially guns, disease, and steal tools

Up to the Starting Line

1. 11,000 B.C.- beginnings of village life in a few parts of the world, 1st undisputed peopling of the Americas, the end of the Pleistocene Era and last Ice Age, and start of the Recent Era a. plant and animal domestication within 1,000 years 2. the 1st 5-6 million years of human history was confined to Africa 3. Homo erectus- close to modern humans except brain nearly of ours a. Stone tools- crude- made of flaked or battered stones- 2.5 million years ago b. 1st human ancestor to spread beyond Africa c. million years ago evolved into Homo sapiens- however still smaller brains- different artifacts and behavior i. use of fire d. 1/3 million years ago- the human populations of Africa and western Eurasia proceeded to diverge from each other and from East Asian populations e. 130,000- 40,000 years ago i. population of Europe and western Asia were Neanderthals 1. had brains slightly larger than our own 2. buried their dead 3. cared for sick 4. however- still used stone tools which were more crude than the New Guineans ii. Africans had more modern skeletons than the Neanderthals 1. However made same crude stone tools without standardized shapes 2. Unimpressive hunting skills 4. 50,000 years ago- Great Leap Forward of human history a. East African sites of standardized stone tools and 1st preserved jewelry- similar developments appeared elsewhere b. Cro-Magnons: i. Developed multi-piece weapons that allowed for hunting of dangerous prey from a distance ii. Invented rope- allowed addition of fish and birds to diet iii. Artworks iv. Evidence suggests that Cro-Magnons wiped out Neanderthals in Europe

5. During Great Leap Forward (50,000 years ago) a. extension of human geographic range since colonization into Australia and New Guinea (both joined as a single continent at that time) i. during Ice Ages, sea levels were much lower 1. nevertheless, reaching Australia/New Guinea still required a crossing of 8 channels 2. earliest evidence of watercraft ii. the human settlers caused the 1st mass extinction of large animal species by humans- that is why no animals in Australia are larger than kangaroos- it remains unknown how this was done. b. Human range expanded into the coldest parts of Eurasia i. May have been responsible for extinction of Eurasias woolly mammoth and woolly rhino 6. 14,000 and 35,000 years ago- Americas were first colonized with Clovis (1st unquestioned remains found around 12,000 B.C.) a. Americas filled up with humans so quickly that people were motivated to keep spreading south toward Patagonia b. 17,000-12,000 years ago extinctions similar to those in Australia occurred in the Americas i. discovery of mammoth skeletons with Clovis spear-points between their ribs suggests that they were exterminated by hunters- however it is also believed that they became extinct due to the Ice Age c. however possible, evidence of pre-Clovis people cannot yet be proved 7. at this point it cannot be predicted which continent would develop most quickly

A Natural Experiment of History

1. Maori overran Moriori people in the Chatham Islands in 1835 a. Maori came with guns, clubs, and axes b. Organized resistance could have defeated Moriori but they wanted to resolve the dispute peacefully. c. Due to their greater warlike capability, the Maori killed or enslaved the Moriori at will and without mercy, allowing them to overrun the Moriori. 2. Both the Maori and Moriori were Polyesian peoples and diverged from a common origin less than a millennium earlier. a. This serves as a natural experiment i. Maori tropical crops could not grow in the Chatham Islands (Moriori) climate, and the colonists had to become huntergatherers. Their prey could be captured by hand or with clubs. The hunter-gatherers had to remain in the Chatham islands and learn how to get along, leading to their peaceful nature. ii. The northern part of New Zealand (Maori) could support Polynesian agriculture. They developed locally dense populations and fought wars with neighboring populations. 3. Polynesian islands differed greatly in their economic specialization, social complexity, political organization, and material products, related to differences in population size and density, related in turn to differences in island area, fragmentation, and isolation and in opportunities for subsistence and for intensifying food production 4. The differences in the Polynesian islands within a short time from a single ancestral society, making it a good model for the cultural differences that emerged elsewhere in the world.

Collision at Cajamarca
1. November 16, 1532- 1st encounter between the Inca emperor Atahullpa and the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro at the Peruvian highland town of Cajamarca a. Pizarro led a rag-tag army of 168 soldiers while Atahullpa was in the middle of his empire with an army of 80,000 soldiers b. However, Pizarro captured Atahullpa i. Set high ransom but when it was delivered, Pizarro executed Atahullpa anyway 2. Why did Pizarro capture Atahullpa? a. Pizarros steal weapons armor b. Horses and cavalry c. Early guns, however they played only a minor role d. Small pox spread by Spanish caused the death of the Inca emperor and left the Incas divided and weak (Atahullpa had won decisive battles in the war) e. European maritime technology f. Spains writing (communication) g. Spains literacy i. Gave the Spaniards access to a huge body of knowledge about human behavior and history h.

Farmer Power
1. last 11,000 years- people turned to food production a. domesticating wild animals and plants b. eating the resulting livestock and crops 2. food production was a prerequisite for the development of guns, germs, and steel a. availability of more consumable calories = more people = stronger military b. hunter gathers cannot carry more than one infant with them, creating lower birth rates than the farmers c. settlement allows for storage of food surpluses d. settlement allows for the development of government which also allows organized conquest e. government that collects taxes can feed professional soldiers f. domestication of Eurasian horses helped military conquest g. germs developed in societies from domestic animals

Historys Haves and Have-Nots

1. earliest sites of food production rank today as somewhat dry or ecologically degraded (Iraq and Iran, Mexico, the Andes, parts of China, and Africas Sahel zone) 2. in few places food production developed independently and they did do at widely different times (Southwest Asia/Fertile Crescent; China; Mesoamerica; the Andes of South America; eastern United States); it was imported to others- (thought that the import took place through population replacement by the farming peoples) 3. archaeologists date food production with radiocarbon dating a. radiocarbon dating is plagued by many technical problems i. until the 1980s, radiocarbon dating required large amounts of carbon- much more than the amount in seeds and bones. Therefore the scientists had to resort to dating material that was thought to be associated with them. ii. The carbon 14/carbon 12 ratio of the atmosphere fluctuates over time, so calculations based on a constant ratio are subject to systematic errors.

To Farm or Not to Farm

1. food production evolved as a by-product of decisions made without awareness of their consequences; it was not a decision or discovery a. influenced by the decline in availability of wild game, prestige, and cultural attitudes, the availability of domesticable wild plants and animals, technologies, and population pressures from growth, etc. i. In some cases the hunter-gatherers adopted the neighboring system of food production virtually as a complete package; in others they chose only certain elements of it. 2. the first farmers in many areas were smaller and less well nourished, suffered from more serious diseases, and died on the average at a younger age than the hunter-gatherers they replaced 3. Why didnt the transition take place earlier? a. At later dates, being a hunter-gatherer was more rewarding because wild mammals were still abundant; wild cereals were not yet abundant; people had not yet developed the inventions necessary for collecting, processing, and storing cereals efficiently; and human population densities were not yet high enough for a large premium to be placed on extracting more calories per acre 4. in most areas of the globe suitable for food production, hunter-gatherers met one of two fates: a. they were displaced by neighboring food producers a. they survived only by adopting food production themselves.

How to Make an Almond

1. plants evolved to attract animals to carry their seeds through natural selection 2. most wild almonds contain amygdalin, which breaks down to yield the poison cyanicide, which can kill even a human snacker a. Individual almond trees would have a mutation that prevents them from synthesizing the bitter amygdalin. Children of farmers would have tasted the non-bitter almond seeds and they would be planted. 3. Humans also made changes in domestic plants that werent as noticeable a. Many plants have specialized mechanisms that scatter seeds (and thereby prevent humans from gathering them efficiently). Only mutant seeds lacking those mechanisms would have been harvested and would thus have become the progenitors of crops. b. Occasional mutant individuals among wild plants lacked thick seed coats or other inhibitors of germination. All such mutants promptly sprouted and yielded harvested mutant seeds. Those mutant seeds were planted and the trait was passed down. c. If those desirable mutants proceeded to interbreed with normal plants, the mutation would immediately be diluted or lost. Some mutant individuals developed fruit without even having to be pollinated, resulting in our seedless bananas, grapes, oranges, and pineapples.Some mutant hermaphrodites lost their selfincompatibility and became able to fertilize themselvesa process exemplified by many fruit trees such as plums, peaches, apples, apricots, and cherries. 4. Competition between seeds in a garden also caused the larger seed size and other changes of wild plants into crops.

y 5. There were several differences in food production systems around the world. a. Old World- broadcast seeding, monoculture fields, and eventually plowing

b. New World- fields were hand tilled and seeds were individually, mixed gardens, no plows 6. By Roman times, almost all of todays leading crops were being cultivated somewhere in the world

Apples or Indians
1. Fertile Crescent- site of origin of several of the worlds major crops 2. New Guinea and E. U.S. did domesticate crops, but these crops were very few in variety and only one of them gained worldwide importance 3. Did the flora and enviorment of the Fertile Crescent have clear advantages over those of New Guinea and the eastern US a. Fertile Crescent has Mediterranean climate (long, dry season) i. Selects of annuals (plants that die in dry season) 1. Annuals do not have inedible wood or fibrous material but must make big seeds (to survive the dry season), which are often edible by humans ii. Fertile Crescent crops were already abundant and highly productive in the wild 1. Some hunting-gathering peoples had settled before they began to cultivate the plants and few additional changes were needed to cultivate the plants 2. Fertile Crescent had high % of hermaphroditic selfers (usually pollinate themselves) a. Favorable traits would automatically be passed on to offspring iii. 5 Advantages of Fertile Crescent over other Med. Zones 1. Largest (more diversity) 2. Great climate variation (favored evolution) 3. Range of altitudes (more diversity and staggered) 4. Rich in harvest seasons 5. Large domesticated mammal species b. Difference was not due to the people in the areas- all knowledgeable about their enviroment

Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna Karenina Principle

1. Of the ancient 14 species of domestic mammals, most lived in Eurasia, which became an important reason why they developed guns, germs, and steel a. this is because: i. Eurasia has largest # of big terrestrial wild mammal species 1. Because it is larger and more diverse 2. Eurasia has highest % of candidates for domestication that were actually domesticated 2. None of Africas 51 candidates were domesticated, despite their closeness to mammals that were domesticated a. Not due to people because: i. Rapid acceptance of Eurasian domesticates buy non-Eurasian peoples ii. The universal human penchant for keeping pets iii. The rapid domestication of the Ancient Fourteen big terrestrial wild mammal species iv. The repeated independent domestications of the Ancient 14 v. Limited successes of modern efforts at further domestications b. Reasons for failed domestication i. Diet- food energy pyramid; carnivores require too much food ii. Growth rate- must grow quickly to be worth keeping (What would-be gorilla or elephant rancher would wait 15 years for his heard to reach adult size?) iii. Problems of captive breeding- some animals dont like to have sex under the eyes of others iv. Nasty disposition- some animals tend to kill humans 1. Zebras become impossibly dangerous as they grow older; bite- eliminating them despite their closeness to horses v. Tendency to panic- nervous species are difficult to keep in captivity vi. Social Structure- humans take over the dominance hierarchy; humans become leader of the pack; territorial animals cannot be herded

Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes

1. Unlike the other major continents, the major axis of Eurasia is east-west a. Food production spread much faster along east-west axes (spread faster from Fertile Crescent than other places of domestic plant origins) i. This is because localities distributed east and west of each other at the same latitude share exactly the same day length and seasonal variations; they also tend to share similar diseases, regimes of temp. and rainfall, and habitats ii. However climate barriers can slow east-west spread too b. The axes also affected the diffusion of other technologies and inventions, such as the wheel because areas that exchanged food were more likely to exchange technology

Lethal Gift of Livestock

1. Spread of germs a. Passive i. one host eaten by next host ii. hitchhike in the saliva of an insect from host to host iii. mother to fetus b. active i. modify the anatomy or habits of their host in such a way as to accelerate their transmission 1. ex: genital sores, diarrhea, and coughing 2. epidemics (rather than steady trickle of cases) a. spread quickly and efficiently b. acute illnesses: within a short time, you either die or recover completely c. those who did recover develop antibodies that leave them immune for a long time d. tend to be restricted to humans 3. crowd diseases could not sustain themselves in small bands of huntergatherers and slash & burn farmers a. almost an entire tribelet may be wiped out by an epidemic brought by an outside visitor b. after killing most of the tribelet, the epidemic disappears i. explains why triblets never could evolve epidemic diseases of their own to give back to visitors 4. Why did the rise of agriculture launch the evolution of our crowd infectious diseases? a. Agriculture sustains much higher human population densities than does the hunting-gathering lifestyle b. Farmers are sedentary and live amid their own sewage, providing microbes w/ a short path into drinking water c. Farming practice such as using feces as fertilizer 5. Bonanzas for microbes a. Rise of cities i. Even more densely packed human populations under even worse sanitation conditions ii. Did not become self-sustaining until 20th century- required constant immigration

b. Development of world trade routes 6. Most microbes responsible for our own unique diseases have come from our domesticated animals 7. Microbes in history a. More Native Americans died from germs than in battle (kill many and lower morale of survivors) i. Cortes + Spaniards defeat Aztecs ii. Pizarro defeated Incas (Ch 3)

Blueprints and Borrowed Letters

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1. Writing System Strategies a. Alphabet- provide a unique sign for each basic sound b. Logograms- 1 written sign stands for a whole word c. Syllabaries- a sign for each syllable 2. 2 indisputably independent inventions of writing a. Sumerians of Mesopotamia- 3,000 BC b. Mexican Indians- 600 BC c. (Egyptian writing of 3,000 BC and Chinese writing of 1,300 BC may also have arisen independently) 3. Sumerian cuneiform a. Thousands of years before cuneiform people of some farming villages used clay tokens for accounting b. 1st writing signs- recognizable pictures of the object i. gradually became more abstract and signs were combined to create new meanings

Necessitys Mother
1. 1700 BC- Phaistos disk a. oldest printed document b. ahead of its time (lacked receptive circumstances and supporting technology) and did not lead to proliferation of printing c. although necessity is sometimes the mother to invention, invention often precedes the creation of necessity i. examples: airplane and lightbulb 1. have arisen cumulatively from creative geniuses building by trial and error on the discoveries of the capable predecessors 2. Early inventions often perform poorly and appear to be unconvincing, for an invention to spread, it must be accepted within a society a. Requirements for acceptence: i. Economic advantage ii. Social value + prestige iii. Compatibility w/vested interests iv. Easy to observe advantages 3. Most new developmements arrive by diffusion, which for places w/geographic or ecologic barriers is limited 4. food production + large population = more rapid technological development 5. some inventions can allow a culture to overrun another a. examples of rejection of important inventions i. Japan- samurai restricted the adoption of guns until 1853 ii. Tansmanians- rejected fishing iii. China- rejected ocean going ships iv. Polynesians- some rejected pottery b. Technology is autocatalytic- with technology, the rate of development can increase dramatically 6. Reasons for difference in technological development between the Europeans and Native Americans a. Level of food production b. Barriers to diffusion c. Differences in human population

From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy

1. Band a. 5-80 people, usually blood relation b. typically nomadic c. 1 language and ethnicity d. egalitarian government w/informal leadership e. no bureaucracy f. no formal structures for conflict resolution g. no economic specialization 2. Tribe a. Hundreds of people b. Consist of family-based clans c. 1 language and ethnicity d. egalitarian/big man government e. informal/difficult conflict resolution 3. Chiefdoms a. Thousands of people b. Consist of 1 or more villages c. Class and residence relationships d. 1 ethnicity e. centralized rule (often hereditary) f. monopoly/centralized conflict resolution g. redistributive economy h. intensive food production i. show early division of labor/luxury goods 4. States a. Over 50,000 people b. Many villages and a capital c. Class and residence based relationships d. 1 or more languages/ethnicities e. centralized govt. f. many levels of bureaucracy g. monopolies of force and information h. formal laws and judges i. intensive food production j. division of labor k. pay taxes (public architecture, etc.)

i. may justify kleptocracy 1. kleptocrats-maintain power by disarming the populace and arming the elite, making the masses happy by redistributing the tribute, keeping order and preventing violence l. especially good at developing weapons of war 5. States arise in response to needs for irrigation and regional population size, which requires intensive food production.

Yalis People
1. Australian climate and terrain a. Mostly inhospitable/supports small population of primitive peoples b. 10,000 years ago was once united with New Guinea c. New Guinea: Wetter than Australia but grows very little protein 2. European Penetration of New Guinea was slow a. Due to disease such as Malaria and thriving of their cattle and crops b. Australia was easier to settle 1. Allowed the decimation of aborigines by Europeans who imported their technologies

How China Became Chinese

1. 500,000 year human prehistory a. populations were once more diverse 2. 221 B.C.- forced unification under the Qin dynasty a. populations have become very uniform b. Northern Chinese overran the Southern Chinese 1. Sino-Tibetan family of languages (Northern Chinese) dominate 2. Pockets of Miao-Yao languages are also scattered c. Conquests were aided by: 1. Food production 2. Animal domestication 3. Diseases 4. Technologies 5. Suppression of the indigenous cultures 1. Possible genocide 3. The Austronesian migration may have been of peoples displaced from China

Speedboat to Polynesia

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1. 40,000 B.C.-Austronesian migrations a. Islands of the Pacific were colonized by waves of colonists from Asia (became the New Guinea Highlanders) b. Began from Chinese mainland 1. Reached Taiwan 3500 B.C. 2. Reached Philippines 3000 B.C. 3. Reached Sumatra and Java 2000 B.C. 4. Reached N. New Guinea by 1600 B.C. 5. Reached Samoa by 1200 B.C. 6. Reached Hawaii, Easter Island, and Madagascar by 500 A.D. c. These migrants became the Polynesians 1. Displaced less capable peoples but not the central or southern New Guineans- had no competitive advantage 2. Had trouble establishing themselves in west and north Australia

Hemispheres Colliding
1. Factors leading to the European conquest of the Americas a. Better food production b. Better domesticated plants and animals c. Better metallurgy d. Better weapons and cavalry e. Better transport and communication via wriing f. Better political organization 2. Development in the New World was more primitive due to: a. Later arrival of humans there b. Later domestication c. Geographic and ecological barriers d. Migration through Siberian Arctic which had stripped away technologies for warmer climates e. The wheel had not been invented except as a toy in the New World f. writing was limited to a few locations 3. New World shows much less major language diffusion 4. 1st European visitors to the New World a. the Norse i. 1000 A.D. ii. from Greenland and Iceland iii. could not sustain their colony on Newfoundland and it died out (15th century)

How Africa Became Black

1. Africa a. High diversity of peoples and languages 1. Due to diverse geography and long prehistory b. North African whites 1. Resemble whites in Middle East and Europe 2. Mostly speak Afro-Asiatic languages c. Pygmies 1. Now mostly confined to Central Africa but were once more widespread but were engulfed by Bantu farmers 1. languages were lost even where they continue to live d. Khoisan 1. Now have been marginalized to desert areas the Bantu could not farm, but used to be widespread e. Blacks 1. occupy most of S. Sahara and sub-Saharan Africa 2. speak Niger-Congo languages with some pockets of remaining Nilo-Saharan languages 3. Bantu farmers dominated as they spread from 3000 B.C. to 500 A.D. due to: 1. Superior plant and animal domestication 2. Iron and bronze f. Dutch white colonists at S. Africa 1. Faced only the poorly defended Khoisan 2. Upon expanding, encountered and fought the Xhosas in 1702 3. Further white colonization succeeded due to better food production, cannons, etc.

The Future of Human History as a Science

1. Answer to Yalis question: Incidents in geography and environment brought about the domination of whites of Eurasian origin. a. Animal and plant domestication b. Rates of diffusion and migration due to ecological and geographical barriers including between continents c. Continental differences in population and areal size 2. View is geographic determinism- Europeans were favored merely by having more starting materials and more favorable conditions 3. Why Europe came to dominate over the Fertile Crescent and China a. Fertile Crescent 1. was ecologically fragile 1. Underwent desertification, erosion, salinization of the soil, deforestation, etc. 2. No inherent advantage over other regions once food production was developed b. China 1. The power struggle with the eunuchs led to abandonment of shipyards and its oceangoing fleets 1. Diversity and disunity of Europe ensured that Columbus would find a state leader to support his proposed voyage c. Some degree of geographic barrier is desirable- Europe is just right 1. Not too little- might allow too much unification 2. Not too much- might prevent diffusion of technologies