WHAT IS HISTORY?PRESENTED BY: DENISE MITCHELL
JOURNEY OF A MAN
• JOURNEY OF MAN TELLS THE REMARKABLE STORY OF
THE HUMAN JOURNEY OUT OF AFRICA AND INTO THE
REST OF THE WORLD, TRACING HISTORY THROUGH
EVIDENCE UNCOVERED IN THE Y-CHROMOSOME OF
MAN’S DNA. TRAVERSING SIX CONTINENTS, THE FILM
TAKES VIEWERS ON A FASCINATING JOURNEY INTO THE
HIDDEN WORLD OF THEIR ANCESTRY AND OFFERS A
MODERN LOOK AT OUR ANCESTOR’S LIVES. (NEWS.NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC.COM)
QUESTIONS RAISED:
•TO WHOM/WHAT/WHERE DOES THE
HUMAN POPULATION’S ROOTS TRACE
BACK TO?
THE GLOBAL FAMILY TREE CAN BE
TRACED TO AFRICA. PARTICULARLY, TO
ONE MAN WHO WALKED THE EARTH
NEARLY 60,000 YEARS AGO.
CATASTROPHE!
•CATASTROPHE! EXPLORES THE THEORY OF
A MASSIVE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AS THE
DEFINING FACTOR THAT TRANSFORMED
THE ANCIENT WORLD INTO THE MIEDEVAL
ERA.
QUESTIONS RAISED
•WHAT RESULTED FROM THIS ERUPTION?
THE SUN WAS BLOTTED OUT
CAUSING EXTREME FAMINE, DROUGHTS,
FLOODS, STORMS, AND AN EPIDEMIC OF
BUBONIC PLAGUE. (WIKI)
GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL
• GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL EXPOSES THE GREAT
FORCES THAT HAVE SHAPED HUMAN HISTORY OVER
THE LAST 10,000 YEARS. UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF
RESOURCES FROM CATTLE, WHEAT, AND WRITING HAS
SHAPED THE COURSE OF GLOBAL HISTORY AND PLAYED
A VITAL PART IN THE EPIC STORY OF CONTINENTAL
COMPETITION. GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES HAVE ALSO
PLAYED A PART IN THESE FINDINGS. (PBS.ORG)
QUESTIONS RAISED• WHAT IS GLOBAL INEQUALITY?
GLOBAL INEQUALITY REFERS TO THE THREE-WORLD MODEL AND INCLUDES "WORLD SYSTEM THEORY."
THE THREE-WORLD MODEL ASSUMES THAT ALL OF THE WORLD WAS ONCE AGRARIAN. BY THAT I MEAN THAT THERE WERE CERTAINLY
HUNTERS, GATHERERS, TRADERS, SHEPHERDS, ETC. BUT, MOST OF THE WORLD'S WORK INVOLVED FARMING, WHICH WAS THE MOST
ADVANCED TYPE OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY.
AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, EUROPE BEGAN THE TRANSITION TO AN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY. THE COUNTRIES OF
WESTERN EUROPE ADOPTED THE ECONOMIC POLICY OF CAPITALISM AND COUPLED IT WITH FACTORY TECHNOLOGY. THESE (AND THEIR
OFFSPRING: UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND AUSTRALIA, PRINCIPALLY) BECAME THE WEALTHY COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. WE CALL THEM THE
FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES. MOST OF THE REST OF THE GLOBE WAS STILL AGRICULTURAL, AT BEST.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, RUSSIA ADOPTED THE SOCIALIST ECONOMIC MODEL AND BEGAN TO INDUSTRIALIZE.
HOWEVER, IT WAS A CENTURY AND A HALF BEHIND WESTERN CIVILIZATION, AND SOCIALISM DID NOT TURN OUT TO BE EFFECTIVE IN A WORLD
THAT WAS GEARED TOWARD CAPITALISM (WORLD SYSTEM THEORY). THE COUNTRIES THAT FOLLOWED THIS MODEL (U.S.S.R,, CHINA, CUBA,
ETC.) BECAME THE SECOND WORLD COUNTRIES.
COUNTRIES THAT WERE UNAFFECTED BY THE TWO GREAT REVOLUTIONS (INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN THE WEST AND COMMUNIST
REVOLUTION IN THE EAST) ARE TODAY'S THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD. (YAHOO, GLOBAL COMPETITION)
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
• THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RESULTS OF THE
AGE OF EXPLORATION AND THE FIRST GLOBAL AGE. FOOD PRODUCTS, LIVESTOCK
AND DISEASES ARE BUT THREE ELEMENTS OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE.
• AS COLUMBUS "DISCOVERED AMERICA" AND WESTERN EUROPE DISCOVERED THE
VARIOUS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THE NEW WORLD,
AGRICULTURAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE TWO REGIONS LED TO EXCHANGES OF
OTHER ITEMS. WITHIN DECADES OF COLUMBUS' VOYAGES, THE TRANS ATLANTIC
SLAVE TRADE HAD BEGUN AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NATIVE
AMERICANS DIED OF DISEASES BROUGHT TO AMERICA BY EUROPEANS AND
AFRICANS. (SUITE 101)
QUESTIONS RAISED• WHAT WAS “EXCHANGED”?
THE EARLY SPANISH CONQUISTADORS BROUGHT GUNPOWDER AND THE HORSE TO AMERICA AS WELL AS THE
CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH. INDEED, THE CONQUISTADORS BROUGHT PRIESTS WITH THEM AND
ESTABLISHED MISSIONS SUCH AS ST. AUGUSTINE, SAN DIEGO AND SAN ANTONIO. THE SPANISH ALSO
BROUGHT AFRICAN SLAVES TO WORK ON SUGAR PLANTATIONS. NEW FOODS FOR BOTH EUROPE AND THE
AMERICAS WAS A MAJOR PART OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE. THE AMERICAS PROVIDED SUCH NEW FOODS
AS CORN, THE POTATO, THE TOMATO, PEPPERS, PUMPKINS, SQUASH, PINEAPPLES, CACAO BEANS (FOR
CHOCOLATE) AND THE SWEET POTATO. ALSO, SUCH ANIMALS AS TURKEYS, PROVIDED A NEW FOOD SOURCE
FOR EUROPEANS. TOBACCO, AN AMERICAN PRODUCT, WAS ALSO CARRIED TO EUROPE. MORE NEGATIVE
ITEMS INTRODUCED TO THE AMERICAS WERE DISEASES. SMALLPOX, INFLUENZA, MALARIA, MEASLES, TYPHUS
AND SYPHILIS WERE BROUGHT TO THE AMERICAS AS A PART OF THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE. (SUITE 101)
FIN