The Encyclopedia of World History - Tabriz

[Pages:3540]The Encyclopedia of World History

Ancient, Medieval, and Modern

Simply put, this is a volume that has always intended to convey the key features of world history.

--Preface to the Sixth Edition.

Sixth Edition

Renowned historian Peter N. Stearns and thirty prominent historians have combined their expertise over the past ten years to perfect this comprehensive chronology of more than 20,000 entries that span the millennia from prehistoric times to the year 2000.

CONTENTS

Preface Contributing Editors Maps Genealogical Tables Bibliographic Record

BOSTON: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, 2001 NEW YORK: , 2002

Table of Contents I. Prehistoric Times II. Ancient and Classical Periods, 3500 B.C.E.?500 C.E.

III. The Postclassical Period, 500?1500 IV. The Early Modern Period, 1500?1800 V. The Modern Period, 1789?1914 VI. The World Wars and the Interwar Period, 1914?1945 VII. The Contemporary Period, 1945?2000

Appendixes I. Roman Emperors II. Byzantine Emperors

III. Caliphs, to 1256 IV. Roman Popes V. Presidents of the United States VI. Members of the United Nations in Order of Admission

Subject Index

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The Encyclopedia of World History. 2001.

Table of Contents

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I. Prehistoric Times A. Introduction 1. History and Prehistory 2. The Study of Prehistory a. Archaeology as Anthropology and History b. Culture and Context c. Time and Space d. Finding and Digging up the Past e. Analysis and Interpretation f. Subdividing Prehistoric Times g. Theoretical Approaches to Prehistory B. Prehistory and the Great Ice Age C. Human Origins (4 Million to 1.8 Million Years Ago) D. Homo Erectus and the First Peopling of the World (1.8 Million to 250,000 Years Ago) 1. Homo Erectus 2. Fire 3. Out of Africa E. Early Homo Sapiens (c. 250,000 to c. 35,000 Years Ago) 1. The Neanderthals F. The Origins of Modern Humans (c. 150,000 to 100,000 Years Ago) G. The Spread of Modern Humans in the Old World (100,000 to 12,000 Years Ago) 1. Europe 2. Eurasia and Siberia 3. South and Southeast Asia

H. The First Settlement of the Americas (c. 15,000 Years Ago) I. After the Ice Age: Holocene Hunter-Gatherers (12,000 Years Ago to Modern Times)

1. African Hunter-Gatherers 2. Asian Hunter-Gatherers 3. Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers in Europe 4. Near Eastern Hunters and Foragers 5. Paleo-Indian and Archaic North Americans 6. Central and South Americans J. The Origins of Food Production K. Early Food Production in the Old World (c. 10,000 B.C.E. and Later) 1. First Farmers in the Near East 2. Early European Farmers 3. Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa 4. Asian Farmers L. The Origins of Food Production in the Americas (c. 5000 B.C.E. and Later) M. Later Old World Prehistory (3000 B.C.E. and Afterward) 1. State-Organized Societies 2. Webs of Relations 3. Later African Prehistory

a. Egypt and Nubia b. West African States c. East and Southern Africa 4. Europe after 3500 B.C.E. 5. Eurasian Nomads 6. Asia a. South Asia b. China c. Japan d. Southeast Asia 7. Offshore Settlement in the Pacific N. Chiefdoms and States in the Americas (c. 1500 B.C.E.?1532 C.E.) 1. North American Chiefdoms

2. Mesoamerican Civilizations a. Olmec b. Teotihuac?n

3. Andean Civilizations a. Beginnings b. Chavin c. Moche d. Tiwanaku e. Chimu

O. The End of Prehistory (1500 C.E. to Modern Times)

The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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I. Prehistoric Times

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I. Prehistoric Times A. Introduction

1. History and Prehistory

Human beings have flourished on Earth for at least 2.5 million years. The study of history 1 in its broadest sense is a record of humanity and its accomplishments from its earliest origins to modern times. This record of human achievement has reached us in many forms, as written documents, as oral traditions passed down from generation to generation, and in the archaeological record--sites, artifacts, food remains, and other surviving evidence of ancient human behavior. The earliest written records go back about 5,000 years in the Near East, in Mesopotamia, and the Nile Valley. Elsewhere, written history begins much later: in Greece, about 3,500 years ago; in China, about 2,000 years ago; and in many other parts of the world, after the 15th century C.E. with the arrival of Western explorers and missionaries. Oral histories have an even shorter compass, extending back only a few generations or centuries at the most.

History, which remains primarily though not exclusively the study of written documents, 2 covers only a tiny fraction of the human past. Prehistory, the span of human existence before the advent of written records, encompasses the remainder of the past 2.5 million years. Prehistorians, students of the prehistoric past, rely mainly on archaeological evidence to study the origins of humanity, the peopling of the world by humans, and the beginnings of agriculture and urban civilization.

Archaeology is the study of the human past based on the material remains of human

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behavior. These remains come down to us in many forms. They survive as archaeological

sites, ranging from the mighty pyramids of Giza built by ancient Egyptian pharaohs to

insignificant scatters of stone tools and animal bones abandoned by very early humans in

East Africa. Then there are caves and rock shelters adorned with ancient paintings and

engravings, and human burials that can provide vital information, not only on biological

makeup but also on ancient diet and disease and social rankings.

Modern scientific archaeology has three primary objectives: to study the basic culture 4 history of prehistoric times, to reconstruct ancient lifeways, and to study the processes by which human cultures and societies changed over long periods of time. Archaeology is

unique among all scientific disciplines in its ability to chronicle human biological and cultural change over long periods of time. The development of this sophisticated approach to the human past ranks as one of the major scientific achievements of this century.

Archaeology, by its very nature, is concerned more with the material and the

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environmental. It is basically an anonymous science, dealing with generalities about

human cultures derived from artifacts, buildings, and food remains rather than with the

individuals who appear in many of the historians' archives. But by using complex

theoretical models and carefully controlled analogies from living societies, it is

sometimes possible for the archaeologist to gain insights into prehistoric spiritual and

religious life, and into the great complexities of ancient human societies living in worlds

remote from our own.

The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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2. The Study of Prehistory a. Archaeology as Anthropology and History

In contrast to classicists and historians, prehistoric archaeologists deal with an enormous 1 time scale of human biological and cultural evolution that extends back at least 2.5 million years. Prehistoric archaeology is the primary source of information on 99 percent of human history. Prehistoric archaeologists investigate how early human societies all over the world came into being, how they differed from one another, and, in particular, how they changed through time.

No one could possibly become an expert in all periods of human prehistory. Some

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specialists deal with the earliest human beings, working closely with geologists and

anthropologists concerned with human biological evolution. Others are experts on stone

toolmaking, the early peopling of the New and Old Worlds, or on many other topics, such

as the origins of agriculture in the Near East. All of this specialist expertise means that

archaeologists, whatever time period they are working on, draw on scientists from many

other disciplines--botanists, geologists, physicists, zoologists.

Prehistoric archaeologists consider themselves a special type of anthropologist.

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Anthropologists study humanity in the widest possible sense, and archaeological

anthropologists study human societies of the past that are no longer in existence. Their

ultimate research objectives are the same as those of anthropologists studying living

societies. Instead of using informants, however, they use the material remains of long-

vanished societies to reach the same general goals. Prehistorians also share many

objectives with historians, but work with artifacts and food remains rather than

documents. In some parts of the world, such as tropical Africa, for example, prehistoric

archaeology is the primary way of writing history, since oral traditions extend back only a

few centuries, and in many places written records appear no earlier than the 19th century

C.E.

The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright ? 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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