Big history

Big History

By Nadya Dooley

10/22/10

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Peoples and Empires

• Throughout the course of History, empires have risen and then fallen, replaced by new ones:

• Greece was once a huge empire, continuously expanding it’s boundaries outwards.

• However, inwardly it was weakly held up, and when Alexander the Great passed away (From drinking too much!), the city crumbled and was divided by war. It was then replaced by a new empire- Rome.





Peoples and Empires

• Some of the time, empires attacked others because of a lust for riches and power, because they wanted to expand their boundaries, or because of a previous feud.• Other times, it was because of (In the name of) religion. Religion was the cause of a lot of other actions too:• People were captured to give their souls to god, and often priests would even go along to

war.





Peoples and Empires

• Trade, as rulers began to see, was a good way to gain more power. They thought to gain the most trade, they would need to conquer the ocean and it’s trade routs.• By doing that, they would gain more riches then anyone else, and grow more powerful. By growing more powerful, they would, in the long run , control the world.



The Origins and Nature Of New World Slavery

• Slavery has existed all across the world- slaves used to be a big part of life for many people. Black slaves were used for the worst kind of labor and were treated like work animals: They were subject to sacrifice, torture and being stripped and sold as livestock. National leaders even thought black and white people could not live along side each other.

• Out of them, people liked African slaves better then indians because they were more disciplined workers, while the indians thought work like that was for women. Therefore, the African slaves sold at a higher price.

• The slaves were used a lot for producing tobacco because people loved it. Once people tasted sugar, they loved that too, and the slaves were used for that also.





The Origins and Nature Of New World Slavery

• Slavery changed the way farming and production worked. Slaves were used for any job that someone didn’t want to do.• They were captured and forced into labor. Colonists started picking up and using natives for slaves, as they sailed over to America. These slaves didn’t meet the peoples expectations though, and they started bringing African slaves over to America. By 1820, 10 million slaves had been shipped there.• America was created on the backs of the slaves.



Guns, Germs and Steel

• Lucky Geography. This was what caused some populations to be so much higher then others. While some people thrived in the fertile crescent, others spent long, weary hours hunting for food. • Because of the fact food was relatively easy to find, the people in the fertile crescent had time to advance technologically. They planted food and cared for livestock, while the others were still trying to scrape a living out of the

dirt.• Perhaps the unlucky ones could’ve gotten livestock, but without the

right food, the right livestock didn’t even live there. This is also another cause of “the creation of” slaves.



Guns, Germs and Steel

• It was because of this huge head

start, that spanish conquistadors

were able to mow down thousands

of incas with only 106 footmen and

62 horsemen.

• Due to the fact that they had the livestock that benefited them so much, the lucky Europeans grew immune to many diseases that later wiped out their enemies, and even 95% of the indians from America that would become their slaves.





Guns, Germs and Steel• With the help of their food and livestock, those people developed technology and weapons that some unlucky people still don’t have today.• For example, there are some tribes living in New Guinea that still use primitive, outdated methods to catch and harvest their food. It takes all day to get enough food (And most of the food is not very nutritious), and the tribes don’t have any time left for advancing their technology.• As you can see, it’s all in the luck of the draw.







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