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WORLD HISTORY

Pre-Historic PeriodThe Pre-historic period is di-vided into four distinct periods.Palaeolithic Period (Old StoneAge) 5,000,000 - 10,000 BCMesolithic Period (Late StoneAge) 10,000 – 4000 BCNeolithic Period (New StoneAge) 6000 – 1000 BCChalcolithic Period (Metal Age)

Palaeolithic Period(Old Stone Age)5,000,000 - 10,000 BC

The early part of the Palaeolithicis called the Lower Palaeolithic,which predates Homo sapiens,beginning with Homo habilis(and related species) and withthe earliest stone tools, dated toaround 2.5 million years ago.

Australopithecus was the firsthominids on the earth.

Homohabilis was the first homi-nid tool maker.

Homo sapiens originated some200,000 years ago, ushering inthe Middle Palaeolithic.

Zinjanthropus, which wasfound in the Great Rift Valleyof Central Africa, is consideredto be the earliest of the humanspecies.

‘Java Man’ existed some seven

Paranthropus boisei (originallycalled Zinjanthropus boisei andthen Australopithecus boisei)was an early hominin anddescribed as the largest of theParanthropus species. It livedfrom about 2.6 until about 1.2million years ago during thePliocene and Pleistocene epochsin Eastern Africa.

lakh years ago in Java and ‘Pe-king Man’ who existed somethree lakh years ago excavatedfrom Peking in China are someearly humans of the PaleolithicPeriod.

Peking Man also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currentlyHomo erectus pekinensis), is anexample of Homo erectus. Agroup of fossil specimens wasdiscovered in 1923-27 duringexcavations at Zhoukoudiannear Beijing.

Most famous Paleolithic manwas the Neandarthal Man whowas discovered from Germany.

The first proto-Neanderthaltraits appeared in Europe asearly as 600,000 – 350,000 yearsago.

Neanderthal skulls were firstdiscovered in Engis, Belgium

(1829) by Philippe-CharlesSchmerling and Forbes’ Quarry,Gibraltar (1848).

Johann Karl Fuhlrott firstrecognised the fossil called“Neanderthal man” in 1856,discovered in Neanderthalvalley in Germany.

Palaeolithic people used toolsand implements made of roughstone. They ate raw flesh andwild fruits and vegetables. Theyhad no idea of agriculture. Theybelonged to the Negrito race.

Palaeolithic men led a nomadiclife, ie, wandering from one placeto another.

The Middle Palaeolithic periodincludes the Mousterianculture, often associated withNeanderthal man , an early formof humans, living between100,000 and 40,000 years ago.

Palaeolithic Age is known as the ‘Age of Hunters’while the Neolithic Age is known as the ‘Age of Farmers’.

Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithicpeoples ca. 4500-4000 years ago.

Cromagnon (France) andGrimaldi (France) men be-longed to the Homo Sapiensspecies who lived in the MiddleStone Age.

Mesolithic Period(Late Stone Age)10,000 – 4000 BC

The Mesolithic or “MiddleStone Age” was a period in thedevelopment of human technology in between the Paleolithicor Old Stone Age and theNeolithic or New Stone Age, inwhich farming appeared.

The term "Mesolithic'' wasintroduced by John Lubbock inhis work Pre-historic Times,published in 1865.

Neolithic Period(New stone Age)6000 – 1000 BC

Neolithic Age means the NewStone Age.

People learnt the art of cultiva-tion and the Neolithic Age wasthe food producing stage.

They started using polished andsharp stone implements.

Man began to domesticate ani-mals during the Neolithic Age.Dog was the first animal domes-ticated by man.

Wheat and Barley were the ear-liest cereals grown by man.

Early men started the settled lifein the Neolithic period.

‘Potters Wheel’ was invented in the Neolithic Age. Most polished weapon of the Neolithic Age was the ‘Stone axe’. Man discovered the use of jute and began to use cloth made of jute

during the Neolithic period.

Earliest human villages ap-peared towards 6000BC in Egyptand Mesopotamia.

The Barter system of exchangecame into practice during theNeolithic period.

Family life also began during theNeolithic Age.

The concept of ‘State’ also origi-nated during the Neolithic pe-riod.

Chalcolithic Period(Metal Age)

Chalcolithic Age is known asthe Metal Age.

The Chalcolithic period or Cop-per Age period, is a phase in thedevelopment of human culturein which the use of early metaltools appeared alongside theuse of stone tools.

It occurs between the Neolithicand Bronze Ages.

Bronze Ages The period when man began to

use Bronze tools and weaponsis known as Bronze Age.

In this system, in some areas ofthe world the Bronze Age fol-lowed the Neolithic age. How-ever, in many parts of sub-Sa-haran Africa, the Neolithic agewas directly followed by the IronAge. In some parts of the world,Copper Age followed theNeolithic Age and preceded theBronze Age.

Megalith

A megalith is a large stone that hasbeen used to construct a structureor monument, either alone or to-gether with other stones. Mega-lithic describes structures made ofsuch large stones, utilizing an in-terlocking system without the useof mortar or cement. The construc-tion of these structures took placemainly in the Neolithic and con-tinued into the Chalcolithic andBronze Age.

First metal used by man was Copper. Copper was first used to makeornaments and tools.

Iron Age The period when man began to

use iron is known as Iron Age. Iron Age, the period succeed-

ing the Bronze Age. Iron Age, period in the devel-

opment of industry that beginswith the general use of ironand continues into moderntimes. In Asia, Egypt, and Eu-rope it was preceded by theBronze Age. It did not begin inAmerica until the coming of theEuropeans.

18Major Human Races

of the World The term race or racial group

usually refers to the categoriza-tion of humans into populationsor ancestral groups on the ba-sis of various sets of heritablecharacteristics.

People living in Africa, Arabia,Central and South India, Malaya,Australia and Tasmania belongedto the Negroid Race.

‘Pigmies’ seen in Africa, SouthEast Asia and Indonesia is asubgroup of the Negroids.

Majority of modern Human racebelonged to the Mongoloidrace.

People living in Japan, China,Indonesia, Formosa, Tibet etc.belonged to the Mongoloidrace.

People lived in Ancient Egyptbelonged to the Hemitic race.

Ancient Babylonians, Hebrews,Phoneicians, Arabs etc be-longed to the Semitic race.

Semitic, Hemitic and Indo-Euro-peans are the subgroups of theCaucasoid race.

The 20th century racial classifi-cation by American anthropolo-gist Carleton S. Coon, dividedhumanity into five races:Caucasoid race, Congoid race,Capoid race, Mongoloid race,Australoid race.

Origin of Languagesand writing

Man began to speak meaning-fully during the Neolithic Period.

More than 100 million native speakersLanguage FamilyMandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan, ChineseSpanish Indo-European, Italic, RomanceEnglish Indo-European, Germanic, West Germanic,

Anglo-Frisian, EnglishHindi/Urdu Indo-European, Indo-Iranian,

Indo-Aryan, Central Zone, Western Hindi,Khariboli

Arabic Afro-Asiatic, SemiticBengali Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-AryanPortuguese Indo-European, Italic, RomanceRussian Indo-European, Slavic, East SlavicJapanese Japonic, formerly Language isolate

English, French, German, Span-ish, Italian, Greek, Russian, Per-sian, Sanskrit and American lan-guages belonged to the Indo-European or Aryan languagegroup

Hebrew, Arabic, Abyssenian,early Assyrian and Phoenicianlanguages belonged to theSemitic group of languages.

Languages spoken by thepeople lived around Mediterra-nean sea were of the Hemiticgroup.

Lapish, Finnish, Magyar,Tartar,Manchu, Mongol etc, belongedto the Turaniam group of lan-guages.

Egyptians were the first to usePhonetic writing.

The early writing of the Egyp-tians were known as Hiero-glyphics.

Phoenicians were considered asthe originators of the modernpattern of writing.

Major languagefamilies

By number of native speakers1. Indo-European languages 46%

(Europe, Southwest to SouthAsia, America, Oceania)

2. Sino-Tibetan languages 21%(East Asia)

3. Niger-Congo languages 6.4%(Sub-Saharan Africa)

4. Afro-Asiatic languages 6.0%(North Africa to Horn of Africa,Southwest Asia)

5. Austronesian languages 5.9%(Oceania, Madagascar, maritimeSoutheast Asia)

6. Dravidian languages 3.7%(South Asia)

7. Altaic languages 2.3% (CentralAsia, Northern Asia, Anatolia, Si-beria)

8. Japonic languages 2.1% (Japan)9. Austro-Asiatic languages 1.7%

(mainland Southeast Asia)10. Tai-Kadai languages 1.3%

(Southeast Asia)

Semitic languages family includes (largely Middle Eastern origin) the ancient and modern forms of Akkadian,Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hebrew, Maltese, Phoenician, Tigre and Tigrinya among others.

Sumerian orMesopotamian

civilization (3000-1600 BC) It is the earliest known civiliza-

tion in the world and is knownas the Cradle of Civilization.The Sumerian civilizationspanned over 3000 years.

Sumer was a civilization and his-torical region in southernMesopotamia, modern Iraq.

Sumer was the birthplace of writ-ing, wheel, agriculture, arch andirrigation.

The Sumerians had developedcore agricultural techniques in-cluding large-scale intensivecultivation of land, mono-crop-ping, organized irrigation, andthe use of a specialized labourforce.

Sumerian civilisation flourishedon the banks of rivers Euphratesand Tigris later came to beknown as Mesopotamiancivilisation.

A Lunar Calendar based on theMoon was one of the majorachievements of the Sumerians.

Empires, water supply system,use of gold and silver for trans-action, code of laws, libraries,

Cuneiform was the most widespread andhistorically significant writing system inthe ancient Middle East. The Sumeriansare credited with the invention of a distinc-tive system of writing known as Cunieform.They wrote on clay tablets with a sharp sty-lus made of reed. The name Cunieform wasoriginated from the Latin word ‘cuneus’which means wedge. The Cunieform scriptwas desciphered by Henry Rawlinson.

CUNIEFORM WRITING

Cuneiform tablet featuringa tally of sheep and goats

educational centres, poetry, lit-erature, sculpture, palaces,arches, pillars, domes, slavery,autocracy imperialism etc firstoriginated in Sumeria.

The first dynasty in the worldwas established at Ur in Sumeriain 3000 BC.

Dungi was the most importantruler of the Sumerians.

The Sumerian Empire declinedtowards BC 2650 due to the at-tack of the Akkadians.

The writing system of theSumerians was known asCunieform.

Mesopotamian civilization isconsidered to be the world’sfirst urban civilisation.

The word Mesopotamia meansland between rivers.

The name Mesopotamia wasgiven by the Greeks.

The Mesopotamian civilisationexisted in modern Iraq.

The northern part ofMesopotamia was known asAssyria and southern part wasknown as Babylonia.

Babylonian people invented wa-ter clock and sundial to knowthe time.

Mesopotamian seals throw lighton the trade relation between theIndus people and theSumerians.

Hammurabi’s CodeHammurabi was the sixth king of Babylon from 1792 BC to 1750 BC.Hammurabi is known as the founder of Early Babylonian Empire.Hammurabi is known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, thefirst written codes of law in history. It was based on the principle of‘‘an eye for eye and tooth for a tooth’’.These laws were written on a stone tablet standing over eight feettall (2.4 meters). The Code of Hammurabi contained 282 laws, writtenby scribes. It was written in Akkadian, the common language ofBabylon

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The Mesopotamians inventedwheel and glassware.

Mesopotamians discovered thesystem of Geometry. It was latercalled ‘‘Pythagorus Theorem’’.

Mesopotamians were the first toinvent the system of Multipli-cation.

Mesopotamians were worship-pers of multi Gods. Their majorGod was the Sky God ‘Anu’.

Assyrians were credited for theinvention of the system of di-viding a circle into 360 degrees.

Egyptian Civilization(3000 BC - 1750 BC)

Egyptian civilisation flourishedon the banks of Nile river.

Egyptian kings were known as‘Pharoh’

‘Pharoh’ means one who livesin a mansion.

Ramses III is considered as thelast of great Pharohs of Egypt.

‘Hyksus’ were a semetic groupof people who captured Egypttowards BC 1750.

Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut isconsidered as the first womenruler of the world.

Pyramids were the Tombs ofEgyptian Pharohs.

Mesopotamian civilisation is alsoknown as the ‘melting pot of

civilisation’.

The Pyramids of Giza – most recognizable symbolsof the civilization of ancient Egypt.

First Pyramid was built about2700 BC.

Greatest of the Pyramids was theGreat Pyramid at Giza built byPharoh Khufu.

Great Pyramid at Giza is the onlysurvivor of the Seven Wondersof the Ancient World.

Preserved dead bodies of theEgyptians were known as‘mummies’. Mummificationshows their belief in life afterdeath.

Biggest of the temples built bythe Egyptians was the temple atKarnak.

Egyptian Sun God was knownas ‘Ra’ or ‘Re’.

Osiris was the Goddess of truthworshipped by the Egyptians.

Egyptians were responsible forthe invention of Addition, Sub-traction and Division.

The word ‘Chemistry’ wasoriginated from the Egyptianlanguage.

Egyptians were the first to inventa solar calendar having 365 dayswith 12 months of 30 days each.

Hieroglyphics "Hieroglyphics" refer to the

characters made by graphicalfigures, be it animals, objects,or concepts that concern thereligons' gods.

Egyptian script was picto-graphic in nature. It was knownas Hieroglyphics.

The hieroglyphs that were origi-nally used for recording agricul-tural products and handicraftsled to the birth of linear and cu-neiform script, widely used by

SphinxSphinx was a mythological animal of the ancient Egyptians. It was the largestof the Egyptian statues. It has a human head and the body of a lion. It has 100feet length and 70 feet height. The ancient Greeks adapted this image andapplied their own name for a male monster, the “strangler”, an archaic figureof Greek mythology.

the Sumerians, Assyrians andBabylonians.

The word Hieroglyphic meanssacred writing. It consisted of24 signs. Vowels were not used.The Egyptian alphabets weredeciphered by Champollion.

Indus Valley Civilization The Indus Valley Civilization

was a Bronze Age civilizationwhich was centred mostly in thewestern part of the Indian Sub-continent.

Indus Valley Civilization flour-ished around the Indus riverbasin.

Indus Valley Civilisation wasdiscovered in 1920-22 atMohenjodaro and Harappa(Both in Pakistan) by R.D.Banarjee and Dayaram Sahni.

The mature phase of this civili-zation is known as the HarappanCivilization.(more details are given in the In-dian History part).

Chinese Civilization Chinese Civilisation originated

on the banks of river Hwang Ho. Shang dynasty was the first dy-

nasty to rule China from BC1750-1125.

Shih Hwangti was the First Em-peror of China.

The Qin dynasty establishedChina’s first strong central gov-ernment.

Chin ruler Shih Hwangti wasresponsible for the constructionof the Great Wall of China toprevent the Huna invasion.

Shih Hwangti was the founderof Chin dynasty.

The Great Wall is 1800 mile longand having 20 feet breadth and22 feet height.

Early communication of the Chi-nese was done by knots madein strings.

Paper was invented by the Chi-nese.

Confucianism was the new reli-gion founded by Confucious.

Siesmograph and Gun Powderwere also invented by the Chi-nese.

Tea was invented by the Chi-nese.

Ancient China enjoyed a devel-oped agriculture and advancedirrigation system, an indepen-dent tradition of medicine andadvanced botanical knowledge.

China's four great inventions,namely, the compass, gunpow-der, movable type printing andpapermaking, not only changedthe world but also acceleratedthe evolution of world history.

Lao-Tse , Confucious andMencious were the three majorPhilosophers of ancient China.

Lao-Tse was the founder of themost important religion of Chinaknown as Taoism. Lao-Tse isconsidered as the ‘‘ChineseBuddha’’.

China was one of the cradles of the human race. The Chinese nation is notonly the most populous but also one of the oldest in the world. Fossils thathave been found in Chinese territory include those of Yuanmou Man, thefirst Homo erectus, who lived 1.7 million years ago, those of Lantian Man,who lived 750,000 years ago, and those of the Peking Man, who lived atZhoukoudian in today's suburban Beijing 600,000 years ago. The fossilsof Shu Ape, a primate that lived 45 million years ago, which is known as the"first anthropoid", were discovered in China in 1994.

Taoism was an important schoolof thought, and is known for itssimple dialectical elements. Itsposition of "quietude and inac-tion" has many identical viewswith the thoughts of modernman. Taoism, based on the Tao-ist doctrines, is an independentreligion established in China.

Persian Civilisation

Persian Civilisation existed inmodern Iran

Persians belonged to the Indo-European race.

Cyrus was the strongest of thePersian rulers.

Cyrus is considered as thefounder of the Persian Empire.

Greatest of the Persian rulerswas Darius I.

Darius I was responsible for thefoundation of the ever largestempires of the world.

The Greeco- Persian conflictbegan during the period ofDarius I.

The Battle of Marathon (BC 490)between the Persians and Athe-nians was led by Darius I.

The writing of the Persians wasCunieform, adopted from theMesopotamians.

The Persian priests were knownas ‘Maji’.

22 Zorastrianism (Persian reli-

gion) was founded byZorathushtrar.

The Parsies of India believe inZorastrianism.

Ahuramazda is the God of theZorastrian religion.

‘Ahriman’ was considered asthe evil spirit by the Persians.

‘Avesta’ (Zend Avesta) is the sa-cred book of Zorastrianism.

‘Avesta’ is known as ‘PersianBible’

Greek Civilization Greek Civilisation dates back to

800 BC Greece is on the coast of Medi-

terranean sea. The civilisation existed in

Greece, before the Greeks wasknown as Aegean Civilization.

Early Greek immigrants wereknown as Ionians.

Greeks were collectively knownas Hellenes. Hence their civili-zation was known as Hellenis-tic Civilization.

Democracy was originated inGreece. Greek Democracy wasdirect democracy.

The civilisation of Greek citystates is known as ‘ClassicalCivilisation’.

Athens, Sparta, Corinth,Thebes, Macedonia etc. werethe major city states in Greece.

Pindar was a famous Greek LyricPoet.

Aesceles was the greatest of theGreek dramatists, who wrote fa-mous tragedies.

Greeks were the first to introduceVowels in the alphabet.

Euripides and Aristophenes

The Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena,located on the Acropolis in Athens, is one of themost representative symbols of the culture andsophistication of the ancient Greeks.

were the other famous Greek dra-matists.

Demosthenese was a world fa-mous Greek orator

Thales of Meletus is consideredas the father of Greek Math-ematics

Pythagoras who made greatcontributions in Geometry wasa Greek.

Anaxagoras, Euclid etc were fa-mous Greek Mathematicians.

Hipparchus calculated the diam-eter of the Moon.

Erathosthenes calculated thecircumference of the Earth.

The first Olympic Games wereheld at Olympia in Greece in 776BC.

Flavius Theodosius also calledTheodosius I and Theodosiusthe Great was Roman Emperorfrom 379 to 395. Theodosiuswas the last emperor of both theEastern and Western RomanEmpire.

The Roman Emperor Theodosius banned Olympics in 394BC.

Macedonian Empire Macedonia was a Greek city state.

It became a prominent empire un-der its king Philip II (359 - 336 BC)

Alexander the Great, the sonand successor of Philip II, wasborn in 350 BC and became theruler in 337 BC.

Alexander defeated the Persianruler Darius III.

Alexander captured Egypt andfounded the city of Alexandriathere.

Alexander invaded India in 326BC and defeated Porus, the rulerof Taxila.

He died at the age of 33 in 323BC at Babylonia.

Archemedes the originator ofthe law of specific gravity livedin the Hellenistic Age.

Roman Civilisation Roman Civilisation developed

on the banks of river Tiber inItaly.

The idea of Republic originated inRome.

‘Senate’ was the Roman Assem-bly of Elders

Punic Wars were fought be-tween Rome and Carthage(264-146 B.C.).

Caesar modified the Old Calen-dar which had only 355 days,New Calendar came to be knownas Julian Calendar.

Roman society was divided intotwo classes - Patricians (the up-per class) and Plebians (thelower class).

The Roman Colosseum, a hugeamphitheatre was built in thefirst century A.D. for stagingbloody fights between gladia-tors and wild beasts.

SOCRATESSocrates was a classical greek

philosopher. He was treated asone of the founders of Westernphilosophy. His notable ideaswere Socratic method (orMethod of Elenchus or SocraticDebate), and Socratic irony. Itwas first described by Plato in

the Socratic Dialogues.Plato, Xenophon, Antisthenes and Aristippus

were the disciples of Socrates. He was forced to commitsuicide by drinking Hemlock, a poison, in 399 BC.Zantippee was the wife of Socrates.

HOMERHomer, a blind Greek poet, composed Greek epics ‘Illiad’and ‘Odyssey’. Homer lived in the9th century BC.

PERICLESPericles (c. 495 – 429 BC) was aprominent and influential states-man, orator, and general of Athens– specifically, the time between thePersian and Peloponnesian wars.Greek Civilisation reached the Ze-nith of its progress during the period of Pericles. HisAge is considered as the ‘Golden Age of Athens’.

Under Pericles the city of Athens gotthe name ‘‘the School of Hellas’’.

HERODOTUSHerodotus was an ancient Greekhistorian (c.484 BC – c.425 BC). Heis considered as the Father of His-tory. Herodotus wrote about thePersian war. He is exclusivelyknown for writing The Histories,

a record of his “inquiry” into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars which occurred in 490 and 480 - 479 BC.

DEMOSTHENESDemosthenes (384–322 BC) was a prominent Greekstatesman and orator of ancient Athens. Demosthenesplayed a leading part in his city’s uprising against thenew King of Macedon, Alexander the Great.

THUCYDIDESThucydides (c. 460 BC – c. 395 BC) was a Greek histo-rian and author of the History of the PeloponnesianWar, which recounts the 5th century BC war betweenSparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydideshas been dubbed the father of “scientific history”

PLATOPlato was a Classical Greek phi-losopher, mathematician, andwriter. He was the founder of theAcademy in Athens, the first in-stitution of higher learning in theWestern world. Aristotle was thefamous student of Plato. Repub-

lic was the famous work of Plato. Plato was thedisciple of Socrates. His original name was Aristocles.

HIPPOCRATESHippocrates who is considered asthe father of Medical Science wasa Greek. He was an ancient Greekphysician of the Age of Pericles(Classical Athens). HippocraticSchool of medicine revolution-ized medicine in ancient Greece,establishing it as a discipline dis-tinct from other fields. He is credited with clinicalmedicine, medical knowledge of previous schools, andprescribing practices for physicians through theHippocratic Oath, Corpus and other works.

ARISTOTLEAristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was aGreek philosopher, a student of Platoand the teacher of Alexander theGreat. He is highly regarded as thefather of logic and reasoning. Hiswritings cover many subjects, in-cluding physics, metaphysics, po-

etry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics,government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Aristotleis one of the most important founding figures in West-ern philosophy. His analytical method, now knownas Aristotelian logic, is the backbone of not only math-ematics, but of all the natural sciences. Aristotlefounded a school named Lycium in Athens.

ANCIENT GREEK PERSONALITIES

24 Later this calendar was modified

by Pope Gregory XIII and cameto be known as Gregorian Cal-endar.

‘Caesarism’ means autocracy orimperial supremacy.

Ottoman Turks capturedConstantinople in 1453 A.D.

The Greatest contribution ofRomans to the world is theircode of laws.

Virgil the author of ‘Aenid’ wasa famous Roman poet.

Lucricius the author of ‘‘On theNature of Things’’ was famousEpicurian Philosopher.

Pliny wrote the famous book‘Historia Naturalis’

Romans were the inventors ofconcrete and the technique ofbinding stone and bricks.

‘‘The Decline and Fall of theRoman Empire’’ is a famousbook written by Edward Gibbon.

American Civilisation

Mayan, Inca and Aztec are themain native Americancivilisations flourished beforethe European colonization ofAmerica.

The Maya, the Inca, and TheAztecs are existed in Meseoamerica.

Julius Caesar one of the prominent rulers of Rome was born in

102 BC. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman

Republic into the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC by Casius, Brutus and

other senators. This resulted a series of civil wars, which ultimately

led to the establishment of the permanent Roman Empire by Caesar’s

adopted heir Octavius (later known as Augustus).

‘‘I came, I saw, I conquered’’ His famous saying

Mayan books written on thebark of trees were known asCodid.

Mayan Civilisation declined inthe 15th century due to Spanishinvasion.

Toltecs were anotherAmarindian people who devel-oped their civilisation to thesouth of Mexican plateau.

The Toltecs were a diversegroup of people that are said tohave appeared between 800 to900 C.E.

They built the city of Tollan lo-cated fifty miles north of MexicoCity.

The Toltecs were one of thefirst to use and become expertsin metallurgy (metal sculpture)using copper and gold for theirwork.

The Mayan is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only knownfully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, aswell as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical sys-tems. It was one of the most densely populated and culturally dy-namic societies in the world. Many Mayan cities reached their high-est state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the ar-rival of the Spanish. Mayan influence can be detected from Hondu-ras, Guatemala, El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico, more than1000 km (625 miles) from the Mayan area.

Toltecs were also masters atarchitecture,(picture) buildingtemples(picture) and pyramidsfor their gods.

The vital center of the Toltecswas located at Tula.

In the year 1200 C.E. the Toltecsfinally collapsed

Aztecs finally arrived in the Val-ley of Mexico and settled inCoatlicamac, where they foughtwith scattered groups of Toltecsfor the land.

The organized life of the Aztecswas relatively short. The periodfrom their foundation in 1345until their conquest (by theSpaniards) in the year 1521, wasonly 176 years.

Floating Gardens built by theAztecs were known asChinambus.

Aztecs believed in the worshipsof serpents (Snakes)

The capital of Aztec-Tinochtitlans was captured by Span-ish conquerors in 1519 AD, thusended the Aztec Civilisation.

Most civilised of the Amarindiancivilisations was the Inca, whichdeveloped in Peru (SouthAmerica)

Inca was politically the mostdeveloped Amarindian tribes.

According to myth, Incan civi-lization began with MancoCapac, who carried a goldenstaff called the ‘tapac-yauri’.

The Inca people began as a tribeof the Killke culture in the Cuzcoarea around the 12th centuryAD. Under the leadership ofManco Capac, they formed thesmall city-state of Cuzco(Quechua Qosqo).

In 1442, Patchacuti founded theInca Empire (Tawantinsuyu),which became the largest em-pire in pre-Columbian America.

The Sun Temple at Cusco was acontr ibution of the Inca

Civilisation. America derived its name from

Americo Vespuci, an Italian ex-plorer.

Copper was the first metal usedby Americans.

Maize cultivation was the baseof American Civilisation.

African Civilisation It is believed that human beings

evolved in Africa. Africa is considered as the

birthplace of humanity! The Portuguese were the first

Europeans to reach Africa.

City of Moro in Central Africa isknown as Berminhatam of Cen-tral Africa.

First country formed in the west-ern part of Africa is Ghana.Ghana is also known as the‘Gold Coast’.

Bandus are the Negroes of Cen-tral and South Africa. Bandumeans humans.

The dark skinned race of Africaare called Negroes.

Swahilis are the people livingin the parts of Kenya and Tan-zania. Zulus are the people liv-ing in South Africa, belongingto the Bandu family.