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