Humanities – History

Holocene Era (beginning of neolithic)

• Started in West Asia (middle east but that is Eurocentric)

• From 10,000 to 5,000 BC
• Paleolithic Nomadic hunting and gathering predominated
• It is believed that the division of tasks in the Paleolithic period was based on gender
and age
• Age can too be based on social perceptions. (Many infants died = average age was 30
years old) social status related to being father/grandfather not on age

Some assumptions proved partially wrong

• Prehistoric women hunted too: against “Man-the-Hunter” model, which is
increasingly being debunked which suggest that’ hunting was primarily undertaken by
male members of society

Left Africa because of climate? Colder before and got warmer and more stable

Pre neolithic life expectancy 30 years

Can we speak of human groupings like today so called “races” in paleolithic history? Do races
exist?
Can we speak of ethnies? What is an ethnie?
Different cultures existed; we know this due to material industries.

No race = all humans were similar

China india central America west Africa all had own agricultural revolutions

Peak in population growth = 2000 BC iron age

World distribution of technologies (4000 BP)

Gene for depression comes frm neaderthals

Explantion for lightskin – vitamin D

dark skinned people have problems processing vitamin d
Most africans do not carry neanderthal genes
Societies relying on agriculture

Sahara desert was a place of green pasture but because of growth in temperature during
Holocene, became a desert. So populations living there started to spread

Ibreian iron age and antiquity

3500 – 2500 BP formation of the 2 main Iberian cultures: levant and Tartessos
3800 – 2200 BP the three waves of Phoenicians
- Eritreans
- Phoenicians
- Carthaginians
2800 – 2500 BP pre-celtic and celtic invasions (resulting In the celtiberians, gallaeci, astures,
lusitanians)
2218 – 2019 BP romanization

HOLOCENE CALENDAR
INTERNATIONAL FIXED CALENDAR
NUCALENDAR

Asynchronous Session

Provide a text of a minimum of 500 words explaining who Cheick Anta Diop and Martín
Bernal were, and explaining the Old Model, the New Model and the Revised Old Model of
the populations of Ancient Egypt.

Cheick Anta Diop was a Senegalese historian and anthropologist, who was highly influential in
redefining and shaping early African history and culture. He challenged the “Old Model” of
Ancient Egyptian Civilizations, which was heavily influenced by Eurocentric perspectives and
suggests that Egypt’s highly advanced civilization was a product of external influences,
downplaying the role and contribution of indigenous African populations. Minimizing the
historical role of African populations furthered the notion that African societies lacked the
sophistication to develop advanced civilizations.

Therefore, Cheick Anta Diop laid the foundations for a new model of Ancient Egyptian
civilization. This “New Model” suggests that the roots of ancient Egypt were highly influenced
by Africa. This was especially seen in his work regarding early human history, proving that
ancient Egyptians were in fact not white, as has been seen in Eurocentric works and books,
but had in fact mostly black features. This can be seen in archaeological findings in which the
features of ancient skulls had primarily “black” features, instead of white as is more
commonly seen. Cheick Anta Diop challenged old theory that suggests that Man had origins
in Europe (England), a theory which was highly defended by American anthropologists but
that today we know as false. Therefore, our commonly known history of Ancient Egypt, in
which the man is mainly portrayed as having white features, has dramatically departed itself
from reality. Diop challenged this narrative by using anthropological and linguistic evidence
to support his claims, providing a more accurate representation of Africa’s historical
contributions to world civilizations.

Similarly, Martin Bernal, a renewed scholar who was educated at Cambridge in oriental
studies, explored the connections between ancient civilizations and the impact of other
cultures on the development of western civilizations. His work “Black Athena”, challenged
traditional Eurocentric views on the origins of ancient civilizations, suggesting that the roots
of Greek civilization owed more to influences from African and near east that is normally
acknowledged. Biases in classical studies occulted the contributions of non-European cultures
to the development of western civilizations. The transmission of knowledge and idea
occurred through trade, migrations and cultural contracts. This is known as the “Revised Old
Model”, which pushed for more inclusive understanding of the interconnected of cultures
and the contributions of Africa and near east to ancient civilizations such as those of Greece
and ancient Egypt.

Both these scholars were crucial figures in challenging the traditional Eurocentric view of the
development of classical civilizations, recognizing Eurocentric biases, and thus departing from
these, emphasizing the role of African civilizations and culture in their development. This
suggests African societies were much more developed and influential than was commonly
known and is extremely helpful in destigmatizing this.

By challenging Eurocentric models, both these figures have played a crucial role in advancing
a more comprehensive and respectful portrayal of the rich contributions of African societies
to the development of global ancient civilizations, placing them on par with Western
counterparts.

Democracy

Greek VS Modern Democracy

Enslaved, direct, non-representative,

Voting system = had a jar, gave you a piece, had to reconstruct jar so you don’t vote 2x

Africanity of the ancient Egyptians:

è 1500 BC colonized by Egyptians who
è Greeks brought sailing techniques, alphabet. Egyptians brought architecture,
medicine, mathematics, and GODS

Egypt: females had great freedom, weird to Greeks as they were not used to it
Circumcision comes from Egypt.
Greeks didn’t classify people based on race and external appearance
Greeks (Herodotus) classify Egyptians as black people with curly hair (indirectly as this was
not very important to them)

Pan Africanism: ideology which promotes unity of African diaspora (does not segregate
between Africans living in Africa and diaspora)
Promote African unity against imperialism
Cheick Anta Diop was a Pan-Africanist, scientist
Egyptian population was not homogenous (foreign populations especially in the delta)
Lots of Egyptian figures with African features – hidden in museums
Africans invaded by Arabs, Europeans
- Afrocentrism
- Eurocentrism
- Afrocentricity
Afrocentrism = a practice to regain our past, process of self-reparation
Afrocentricity = epistemology (a theory of knowledge, a perspective on how to address
knowledge)
Everything regarding Africa we should look through African eyes
The enslavement of people is a process – convince them they are a slave (not a status)

Classical music = classical European music

Way in which Europe universalized their achievements
Tribe, a subdivision within a culture.

1746 map of areas of control under the ancient

Minoans (ancient Greek) representation of a multicultural society (white and dark shades)
Slavery for everyone at that time, not only for one colour

Gender Statuses: Diplomacy and International Relations in Ancient Egypt and East Asia

5000 BP world was already inhabited by African descendants

Culture of greater sex equality (NOT a matriarchal society) – vs Aryan societies (which were
more concentrated in war, warrior like societies, concentrated around men who were the
warriors)

Aryan invasions –

Akhenaten = changed Egyptian religion from poly to monotheism

“the one who loves the son god”
18th dynasty

Armana letters “first” diplomatic letters

Between Amenhotep the 3rd and the Babylonian king kadashman-enlil the first, regarding the
exchange of women from both families as spouses
Kings were polyamorous
2 powers: Egypt and Babylonia
Exchange wives = strengthen links between 2 families
Women had decision making power (refused to be sent to Babylonia)
Pharaoh was highly respected as long as he respected the customs of the people
After death = judged by gods – so had to be sensible with the people
MAAT goddess of harmony
Climate crisis – king should kill himself (believed he was responsible for harmony of the land)

Nefer – titi = Beauty – foreigner – beauty that comes from abroad

Biggest errrors of afro-centric scholars
What if Kadashman-enlil finally decided to bring his daughter? FOREIGNER

Aryan invasion = patriarchy became most prevalent social invention in the world
Ptolomeus – descendants of this dynasty are white because descendants of Greek people
Cleopatra was from European descent
Cleopatra had a sister who was black (different mothers).
Geographical notions in the African travels in Africa

Expedition of Queen Hatshepsut

- Reestablished the trade networks that had been disrupted during the ehyksos

Punt expedition of Queen Hatsheput

2 phases of ancient model

1. Egyptian got to Greece and colonized (bring architecture, art, etc)

Once you see a muslim and you see muslisms

Islam calendar starts in 632 (free from meca to …)

Asynchronous Session
(150 words each)

Write about 4 political entities (kingdoms, empires, nations, city states, factions...) one
African, one American, one Asian, and one European, under the following conditions:

1 The entity must arise and disappear before the year 1900
2 Describe the characteristics of the entity
3 Describe when it arose and when it disappeared
4 Describe any notable fact achieved by said entity

AFRICAN - KUSH
The Kingdom of Aksum ruled in East Africa, in what is now known as Ethiopia. From around
1600 BCE to 300 BCE, following the Kingdom of Aksum. Aksum was able to establish a mighty
empire by expanding his territory into south Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as
being a major, and only, driver for urbanization in the area. As a major Christian kingdom, it
was one of the only areas in Africa that did not become influenced by Islam and managed to
remain Christian, conserving critical early documents. Even under the supposed threat of
Judaism and Christian churches were burnt down, a subsequent dynasty managed to revert
the area back to Christianity, showcasing the importance this kingdom placed unto religion.

AMERICA - MAYANS
Mayan Civilization was present around the times of 1500 BC but was most critical between
300 to 900 BCE. Mayan Civilization is greatly talked about, as it is one of few ancient
civilizations whose writing was deciphered by historians, providing an in-depth account of its
culture and practices. However, as less commonly known, the Mayan society consisted of
city-states of which were independent and thus never formed into a unified society unlike
many other commonly known civilizations. Mayan society eventually collapsed around 900
BCE at the end of their Classical period. Historians have not reached a consensus for the
reason for this, but one theory is the rise of the Toltecs, a predecessor to Aztec culture. One
key feature of the Mayan civilization was its influence on Teotihuacan, a city of today’s
Mexico consisting of 125,000 people, the largest city in the continent at the time, which
today is believed to have been influenced by a range of civilizations, amongst which the
Mayans.

ASIA - INDIA
Around 800 BCE, India was divided into two main territories, North and South, consisting of
separate historical timelines. This division was not only cultural, both also linguistical with the
North speaking Indo-Aryans dialects and in the South, Dravidian the debunked Aryan-Invasion
theory suggested that Vedic culture arose from Aryan, of European descent, conquers of
Indigenous tribes, bringing with them their more advanced culture. On the other extreme
Hindu nationalists suggest that Vedic culture goes back thousands of years, with no influence
from Northwestern tribes. Modern day theories suggest that there is linguistic and genetic
connections between Europeans and Indians, due to slow migration of Indo-Aryans speakers
into India, at the same time as the Indus Valley civilization was declining, mixing with Indian
culture to create the unique culture existent in India.

EUROPE - ROME
Rome was one of the most important cities of Ancient Europe. Starting out as a small city in
around 750 BC, the Romans focused on conquering territory in order to achieve a massive
expansion of their empire, conquering the Greeks, the Carthaginians and the Celts, amongst
others. Rome was a Christian Republic led by emperors, amongst which the most known
were Augustus Caesar and the “5 good emperors”. The gradual degradation of this empire
started with internal conflicts, this was taken advantage of by Germanic tribes, who
conquered the Western part of the Empire in 476 AC. The empire was thus split into two, the
Western, subsequently ruled by the Franks along with Charlemagne, and Eastern, ruled by
the Byzantines. The Frankish area of the territory then became the Holy Roman Empire,
located in now Germany.

Geographical Notions in the African travels in Africa

1200 BC Canaanites / Red Sea – Eritrea

800 BC Phoenicians / Lebanon – West Asia
814 BC Carthaginians / Tunis – North Africa
218 BC
146 BC Final defeat of Cartage

Herodotus accounts on expeditions to Africa

Herodotus 484 BC – 425 D Halicarnassus
Herodotus not ethnocentric

Dorians (Aryans) invaded Greece BUT not creators of Greek civilization

Pelasgians
Al-Andalus

Visigoths entered Iberian Peninsula – a minority

Amazigh
Berbers = inhabitants Northern Africa
è Derogatory term used by Arabs to refer to them (

Don Julain = governern of celta, vassal of don rodrugo BUT as veseance for don
rodirgo raping la Florinda h tells

HUMANITIES ASYNCH

Select 3 historical events prior to the Haitian Revolution, date them according to each of
these calendars, and write an essay of at least 300 words about the differences and
similarities between the four calendars. The use of AI will produce serious and noticeable
errors in the text.
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