Culture Hearths

First Cultural Hearths Religious Hearths Language Hearths

1) The Nile River Valley2) Mesopotamia3) The Indus River Valley4) The Huang He Valley5) The Ganges Valley6) Mesoamerica7) West Africa

1) Jerusalem, Israel (Christianity/Judaism)2) Mecca, Saudi Arabia (Islam)3) Punjab, India (Hinduism)4) Ganges River Plain (Buddhism)

1) Turkey (Indo-European)2) Israel (Afro-Asiatic)3) SE Asia (Austronesian)4) Niger-Congo (West Africa?)5) China (Sino-Tibetan)

Modern Culture Hearths and Cultural Diffusion

Because cultures develop over time, new dominant areas of dominant culture do to.

Today's modern culture hearths are places such as the United States and major world cities like London and Tokyo.

Areas such as these are considered modern culture hearths because their major cultural ideas have spread throughout much of the world.

Take for instance the popularity of sushi--cultural diffusion from Tokyo.

The presence of Starbucks in places like France, Germany, Moscow, and even in China is cultural diffusion from the United States.

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1 DEFINITION

Culture Hearth:- heartland- source area- innovation center- place of origin of a major

culture* “civilization incubator”

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1Primary Culture Hearths of the World:

Fertile Crescent (8000 BCE)India (7000 BCE)Huang Ho (5000 BCE)West Africa (2000 BCE)Mesoamerica & S. America (8000-3000 BCE)

A cultural hearth is the heartland of a particular culture.  

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1

Primary Culture Hearths of the World

http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/g101ilec/china/chh/hea/chhheafr.htm

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1

Fertile Crescent location:- Neolithic Revolution ca. 8000 BCE- several early settlements: Jericho et al.- organized societies appear concurrently:

Mesopotamia: Sumer (3200)Unification of Egypt (3100)

Mesopotamia

• for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.

• Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires

Mesopotamia

• As early as 500 B.C people were farming in Southern Mesopotamia. This flat swampy region was well suited for agriculture.

• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers often flooded there in the spring.

• The floods left behind a fertile mud called silt, which enriched the soil.

• It’s geography led to the developing methods to control water.

Mesopotamia

• Early civilizations first developed in Mesopotamia over six thousand years ago. Some of the first cities were established.

• A writing system was developed.

• Empires were created and monumental buildings were constructed.

Mesopotamia

• People created methods to control water.

• They dug basins (holes) to store rainwater, and cannels to carry water to fields and dikes to control flooding.

• As a result of their water projects they had to assign jobs and allocate resources. Resulting in appointed leaders and government formed.

Sumerian Culture

• Sumerian’s developed the first writing called cuneiform.

• To produce this writing they had to chisel into stone or clay tablets using a sharp tool called styluses.

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1

India:- early agricultural sites date from 7000 BCE- Harappan society arises ca. 3000- dependent upon rich floodplains of Indus- develop cotton textiles & dyes by 2000- impt. trade contacts w/ Fertile Crescent - Aryan migration into India ca. 1500

India’s Geography

• One of the greatest river valley civilizations originated along the Indus River.– Flows across the NW edge of the Indian subcontinent.

• Subcontinent is divided into 3 geographic zones:– Far North: Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountains– Northern Plains: middle of the subcontinent– Southern part: Deccan Plateau

• Flooding in the Northern Plains is caused by heavy rains– Monsoon: season winds– India’s first civilization depended on the monsoons to bring

water.– Could also destroy crops and homes.

Indus Valley Civilization

• Hunters and gathers: first people here• Farming communities came second

– These communities grew into India’s first civilization.• Civilization started around 2500 BC when a system of

writing was developed.– 2 large cities: Harappa and Mohenjo Darao

• Sometimes called the Harappan civilization because of the ruins found.

• Civilizations were carefully planned; suggesting a strong central authority.

• Economy: focus on agriculture and trade.• Reasons for decline: flooding, disappearance of the

river; invasion and disease.

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1Huang Ho (Yellow River):

- Neolithic Revolution ca. 5000 BCE- rich soils but floods = need for dikes, dredging- small societies flourish, 5000-3000 BCE- emergence of centralizing hereditary monarchies:Xia (ca. 2200-1750) & Shang (ca. 1750-1100)- major influence of Indo-Europeans: bronze, chariots- Zhou dynasty (1122-256): classical Chinese civilization

China’s Geography

• The first Chinese civilizations grew in river valleys created by:– The Chang Jiang river (AKA the Yangzi)– The Huang He River (AKA the Yellow River)

• First civilization here was ruled by the Xia dynasty.

• Annual floods left behind rich soil in both valleys.• The Huang He valley also benefited from losses (a

fine dusty soil carried into China by desert winds).• Mountains, hills and desert protected early

Chinese civilizations from invaders.

The Shang Dynasty• Since no evidence if the Xia dynasty has been found, most

historians date Chinese civilization to the beginning of the Shang dynasty; around 1766 BC.

• Most Shang kings ruled their capital of Anyang where they were surrounded by a court (gathering of wealthy nobles).

• Shang rulers appointed governors to keep order in distant parts of the kingdom.

• Most people in Shang China were farmers.• The Shang believed in an afterlife in which a ruler would still need

his riches and servants.• Shang religion centered on ancestor worship.

– Used oracle bones to seek advice from dead ancestors.• Were skilled at making items out of bronze, learned how to build

huge structures and created a precise calendar based on the cycles of the moon.

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1West Africa:

- early Sudanic agricultural influence- incremental Bantu migrations, 3000-1000 BCE- spread across central and southern Africa- enabled by agricultural surpluses & iron- diffusion: - W. African yams & grains

- 90 million Bantu-speakers today

Impact of Geography

• Africa has four distinct climate zones:

– Mild climate of the north: 10%

– Sahara and Kalahari Deserts: 40%

– Rain forest: 10%

– Savannas: 40%

Impact of Geography• Landforms of Africa:– In the north, mountains run along the coast of

the Mediterranean Sea. – The Nile River empties into the

Mediterranean, and the Sahara is the largest desert in the world.

– The so-called hump of Africa extends to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Here the Sahara gradually gives way to grasslands, while the coastal regions are mostly tropical jungles.

Culture Hearths

Egypt: Gift of the Nile (3100-1200 BCE)

- regular flood cycle - natural frontiers - Nile-as-highway - breadbasket - awe and wonder

pharaohs

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.2

Egypt: 2nd Pyramid of Giza (Khafra, 2558-2532)

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.2 Common Factors of Decline:

- increased contacts with hostile neighbors

- ecological degradation & exhaustion- over-attractive agricultural hearths

(?)- internal disorder

all in evidence in Egypt by 1200 BCE

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.1

Mesoamerica & South America:- migrations to W. hemisphere ca. 13,000 BCE(?)- early agriculture in Mesoamerica by 7000

- maize cultivation begins ca. 4000- no large domestic animals (hence no wheel)- only small villages; no large cities until

later- Olmec rulers (fl. 1200-400) compel building of large ritual centers, drainage projects, & artistic objects (heads)- Olmec destroy own civilization; Maya inherit later

Maya, Aztec, and Inca

Civilizations

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.3 Columbian Exchange and

European Conquerors the radical global diffusion of:

- people- animals- ideas* plants & food crops* pathogens

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.3 EXAMPLE

Columbian Exchange: DEMOGRAPHICS

New World: disaster- smallpox, measles, influenza, et

al.- 90% mortality- s.16-18: 100 million dead- adult losses = esp. devastating

Columbian Exchange: SMALLPOX

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/smallpox-images/smallpox1.htm

Culture Hearths

GHW 1.3 Columbian Exchange:

DEMOGRAPHICSOld World: boon

- new crops = population explosion

- s.16-18: growth of 475 million!- European pol & econ expansion

WORLD HEGEMONY