Big History

History 140

July, 24,2011

Professor Arguello

by Ryan Babers

• Big History is looking at the past through all time scales• Evolution of ideologies and studies from the Cold War & Space Race

What is Big History?

Coffee as an Exampleof Big History

• What is the origin of coffee?• Origins of coffee are connected to

many historic events:• Slave trade, Sugar plantations,

workers, factories, smuggling,climate change

• First coffee drinkers were Ethiopian• Dutch East India company• Planted beans where they thought it

will grow• Coffee break created to give

workers a break• Sugar important to sweetening of

coffee• Sugar comes from the sugar

plantations which slaves were usedto work plantations

The Day The Universe Changed

• Humans as a whole are curious• “We” like to dismantle things to see how it works• Have changed and adapted to various situations, events• As a comparison, Westerners are bothered by curiosity and questions whereas

Easterners already have the answers and don’t change but rather live in thepast (Like Buddhism, Islam)

The Journey of Man

• Geneticist and Anthropologist Dr. Spencer Wells traveled to Africa to look for the origins ofman

• Facial features of various people around the world found in San tribe• San tribe split from rest and traveled upland into Eurasia• Information comes from blood that tells about the past, people carry chapter in their in our

genes (DNA)• Lucca first man to look at blood as a time machine to the past• “Everyone is somewhat related”• Family lines are traced through the blood line/type• The tree is like the family which it has branches that resemble the generations and

members of that family

Catastrophe!Catastrophe!

Catastrophe!Catastrophe!• Krakatoa is a massive volcano near Indonesia• About 535A.D. volcano erupted that sent ash and dust into the air causing

serious damage• Led to droughts, famine, and then floods• 542 A.D. first record of the bubonic plague that infected rats leading to outbreak

in humans• Keyes: “Outbreaks are related to climate change”• Climate change can alter history• Plague, rats driven toward cooler temperature, wet climate• Temps allow bacteria to flourish• Plague traced to African lakes where diseases are prominent• Ships could of brought disease to other places• Plague and constant siege by Avar barbarians brought Roman empire to knees

further destabilizing the empire.

Guns, Germs, SteelGuns, Germs, Steel

Guns, Germs, SteelGuns, Germs, Steel• Out of Eden:

• Local native Yali asks, “Why white people haveso much goods but his people have little of theirown?”

• New Guineans have ingenuity and smarts• About the have and have nots• Hunter gathering takes a lot of effort to feed

everyone• Site in Jordan over 11,000 years old found mud-

built homes with wheat and barley farms• First farmers of the world• Domestication• New Guineans been using one of the earliest

farming methods approx 10,000yrs• New Guinea crops less nutritious than other

crops• Europeans had plows whereas New Guineans

do not• Overexploiting crops and resources forced

migrations

• Conquest:

• The Incas (modern Peru) only had the llama astheir domestic animal

• Geography which was a big part of accessingresources was mostly disadvantageous to Incas

• Horses and steel were technological advantagesto conquistadors

• Swords became a standard of Spaniardconquistadors and was a sign of class & rank

• Spanish missionaries tried to impose theirreligion on the local populations

• Spanish conquest led to the destruction of theInca, Aztec, and Mayan empires due to war,disease, and inferior technology

The World in 1492 &The World in 1492 &Columbus's WorldColumbus's World

• 1492 Christopher Columbus embarks on hisvoyage that would take him to the “new world”mistakenly

• Columbus is seen as a single minded, stubborn,but big thinker

• Marco Polo inspired Columbus’ expedition• Columbus knew that spices instead of gold and

diamonds were valued more• Amazed of far east treasures he sailed hoping to

find Asia where many sought after goods were• Columbus thought the newly discovered

Americas was Asia• Muslims challenged Columbus and other

European empires religiously, Militarily, andEconomically

• Muslims respected trade and commerce whichthey controlled the Asian trade routes

• Columbus’ arrival to the Americas had broughtthe destruction of it’s inhabitants

The World & Trade: The EuropeanVoyages and How the World Changes

• Columbus brought horses to the new world• Some of his voyages took him to Trinidad and

South America• Goods such as wheat, root vegetables, and corn

are also imported by Columbus• Shortly after landfall Spaniard Hernan Cortez

makes launches his campaign in Mexicosouthward

• Horses and cattle brought to Americas andadopted into Native American culture

• Cattle ranched for hide rather meat• Potato had become food of Peruvians• Europeans profited from slave trade, plantations

which many slaves died from poor treatment• South American crops such as beans, cocoa,

and peanuts become a trading export toEuropeans and the rest of the world