Americas + Africa Flashcards
Adena (North America)
500 BCE - 100 CE
Mound Builders
- Criel Mound, Ohio
- They also built Great Serpent Mound, Ohio
They have the ability to organize a large scale labour projects, even though they communities were “loose”, they still possessed these organizational skills
Hopewell (North America)
200 - 500 CE
They hopewell DID have farming, UNLIKE the ADENA
-They farmed squash and MAIZE
They also built mounds
The terms Adena and Hopewell refers to the towns where the MOUNDS were found. The people did not call themselves these during their time periods
Because they lived in simple societies, did not mean they lived simple lives
There were no NATIVE DRAFT ANIMALS (Work animals)
- Anything that can labour
- You can tame Buffalo, but you have to tame their children ALL OVER AGAIN. You cant DOMESTICATE them
- Llamas are not large enough to ride, and they can’t pull anything up a mountain
There were no NATIVE FOODS that were good for agriculture as well
- Squash etc comes from CENTRAL AMERICA
- They eventually get access to those things through trade, but nothing was NATIVE
- BARLEY (Incredibly tiny) is a plant and you need to grow TONS in order to get sufficient nutrients from it
The native people got rid of the trees
- To allow grass to grow and avoid shade for agriculture
- To control where the Buffalo would go when they farmed them
- Located in Western Canada, Oklahoma, Manitoba, and Alberta
EASTERN contained a LOT of trees
-The Native People perfectly planted the trees apart, they grew nuts, fruit trees etc
Anasazi (North America)
700-1300
Were called the ANCESTRAL PUEBLOANS
-The name comes from NAVAJO (Means the Ancient Ones)
Navajo is also a later language, referring tot he Anasazi as ANCIENT
There were no major urban centres, but they did have networks
PUEBLOS
The Anasazi lived in TWO types of HOUSES
-The pit house, dug out of the ground
- Second type were called PUEBLOS (Spanish word for Village)
- One Pueblo structure is in CHACO, New Mexico. It had 800 rooms built in 5 different stories. It homed about 1000 people
- Some of the largest Pueblos were some of the larges buildings in North America up until the 1800’s
- They also had rooms for people, AND for storage
- Around the year 1150, they all started to build their Pueblos into cliff faces
KIVA
(Bowls within the Pueblos)
- The number of KIVAS was proportional to the number of rooms within the Pueblos
- Roughly one Kiva every 29 rooms
- There were also GREAT KIVAS within Pueblos, that could be up to 19 meters in Diameter
KACHINA RELIGION
- The spirits or personifications of the things on earth (Wind Spirit, Tree Spirit etc) They were not gods, but they had power over things like the weather
- In ceremonial dances, men would dress up like the respective spirits. Special clothing, and engage in ceremonial dancing
- HOPI KACHINA DANCERS
POTTERY
Irrigation: Direction towards where the water is for crops etc.
- Increased food storage during this time period. Ways they did that was the use of POTTERY
- A plain unpainted container
- Pottery for ceremonial use was more painted and decorated (Common was black on white)
SCARLET MACAWS (The trade of brightly coloured birds. The have been MASS BURIALS of these birds. Presumably it was some type of ritual)
- After the year 1200, the ANAZASIS began to decline. Probably due to climate change
- The shift in climate is a big topic
- After the year 1200, there is a 300 yr DROUGHT. The GREAT DROUGHT (Because of its severity and length, and the pop went into decline too)
- They all didn’t die they all just migrated to different areas
- Another possibly reason as to why they moved is that other groups were moving into their areas, probably due to weather conditions too. Which lead to increased warfare etc.
Mississippian (North America)
800 - 1450
They’re called this because they are close to and around the Mississippi river
Under the missippian people, the MOUNDS get bigger
All of the civilizations on the Missippian map are linked together by LOOSE TRADING
There are 6 cultural traits that separate Mississippian characteristics from others
- Construction of VERY LARGE mounds (Compared to hopewell etc) Structures, such as houses, temples, and burial sites, on top of the mounds
- Large scale of agriculture around the MAIZE (Type of corn) Because of that, Missippian people can have larger population centres
- Trading networks are more extensive, from Florida, Canada, Rocky Mountains, and EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA
- Development of complex hierarchies, (Adena and Hopewell had societal organization to build mounds, but no high heirachy etc)
- The concentration of religious and political being concentration within a few people or one person. Instead of having it spread out
- Development of INTERACTION SPHERES (When one society spreads our its own values, inventions, etc to surrounding societies)
The Missipians had no writing, but they did have stone architecture. And they had tools made out of copper etc, but no evidence that they tried to turn it into Bronze etc.
Around the year 900, they become the first to come up with the BOWN ARROW
Cahokia (North America)
Just east of modern day ST. LOUIS
Population of 30,000 people
They have the largest of these mounds (Compared to Mississippi, Hopewell etc.) They called them Monks Mounds (Largest One) because a monasteries was right by. 30 Meters high, 300 meters long
Its the LARGEST pre-columbian settlement in North America before the Europeans arrived, North of Mexico
In addition to the Monks mound, there were 84 smaller mounds around them. Some had temples on them (or had temples on them) One of the mounds contained the corpses of 110 young women.
In terms of OVERALL VOLUME, the Monks Mounds are greater than the Great Pyramid in Egypt (Piza?)
Essentially was a port as well
In Eastern America, Cahokia is the only place were for 2,000 KM, you could be surrounded by artificial construction. Not only was it the largest city north of Mexico, but it was the ONLY city. Compared to London
Baskets of dirt, clay that ppl carry back and forth, a lot of ppl. People also have to eat while they’re building, so other ppl have to provide food for them.
Problems are, if you want to build a mound, you need the dirt from somewhere else. And if it gets wet, it turns into a mud slide, and they swell etc. So if you have buildings on them, then they wont last very long.
The people then let the mounds get wet, then put a large layer of sand over the wet mound. Sand doesn’t expand or contract the same way that clay does. And the sand helps insulate that wet clay etc, and keeps it wet, aka keeping it the same size.
Cities are generally concentrations of merchants, crafts people etc. See this in Europe, Asia etc. But CAHOKIA. Is a city packed of FARMERS. Most of them grew MAIZE, due to that is could provide a surplus, that you could grow in the valley of the Mississippi river, and it was nutritional.
Maize also contributes to the cities destruction.
This is the first time that people tried to feed, house, a large number of people in one place. But they made a lot of mistake.
- 1st mistake, cleared all of the land of trees for farmers. This leads to EROSION, the water cant be absorbed into the dirt due to the fact that theres no trees etc. Leads to floods. A lot of runnoff, water doesnt know where to go.
- The Cahokia were able to DIVERT a part of the Mississipi river to bring the water supply closer to their city. But when the floods came, they were screwed during the “summertime floods” It made the society unstable
- The higher priests decided to build a wooden wall around the CENTRAL MOUND, this was used to visually and clearly separate the BEST of CAHOKIA compared to the rest. But they cut down 20,000 more trees to build that wall. Which made the flooding worse
Kincaid (North America)
c. 1050 - 1400
Large fault line that runs along the Mississippi river
When they shift, the earthquakes are enormous.
The rulers were focused on preserving their own power instead of attempting to solve the problem
1350, Cahokio was abandoned
CAHOKIA is not the only settlement, Kincaid is a smaller sized version of Cahokia.
Pollen can be dated, and you can see around the year 1200 after the earthquake, there was a huge drop in Pollen etc. So SOMETHING happened to all of the trees, and ONLY the trees. Most likely HUMAN activity!!
Another culture near Cahokia that built mounds
Little Ice Age (North America)
1300 - 1850
From 1300 to 1850, there is overall COOLING (550 yrs)
CAUSES OF IT: Increased volcanic activity, ash blocks sunlight. Decreased sun spots. Decreased human population
The little ice age made the black death worse
Lead to a lot of crop failures
Lots of famines (nothing to eat)
Rivers of England were frozen solid
Possibly contributed to the fall of the Mayan civilization
Less complex societies are more easily affected by climate change, as opposed to more advanced societies etc.
Maya (Central America)
200 - 910 CE (We don’t need to know the dates in detail)
What is now today is Mexico, Guatemala
Maya did not have metal tools (made out of stone)
200 to 910 (The Classic Age) in Mayan civi. There are written encryptions on monuments
- LATE CLASSIC (600 - 800) (50 yr gap) Possibly bc of a political crisis, all we know that there is this 50 yr gap.
- TERMINAL CLASSIC (End of the classic period) 800 - 910. Last monument with an encryption is dated to 910
- POSTCLASSIC (Continue to build things, just no longer have encryptions) 910 - 1200
- All of the previous time periods are divided depending on when the writings on monuments occurred
They Mayan had large settlements, they had seized large cities that contained 100,000’s of people.
MAYAN WRITING
The writing system does not look like any other writing system in the world
PICTORIAL and PHONETIC writings
1970’s, the code of mayan writing was cracked
Pictorial is to have an IMAGE to represent a word
The MAYAN writing combines PICTORIAL, and some with SOUNDS.
Phonetic: Sounds, (Ex. F makes and F sound)
COPA’N
Pop of 20,000 ppl (Mayan City)
There is a hierarchy, ROYAL FAMILY, NOBILITY, The people
The ruler himself, also the commander of the army ranked above everyone. He decided to make alliances with other cities, or if to go to war. He decided how to allocate taxes etc.
When the ruler died, a group of Nobles got together and determined if the rulers son was capable of taking over.
The nobles lived in very large and spacious houses. The nobles all lived in a particular neighbourhood. The neighbourhood is called, “The House of the Officials”
To determine Nobility, you need to have nobility on your Mother and Fathers side.
In the Mayan society, it was based on the mother and father, not just the FATHER. Unlike other societies and their hierarchies
The ordinary people, who specialized in long distance trade, especially salt, were called Merchants. Due to the fact that there were no local salt mines. Other trade items include items that were luxury goods, shells, QUETZL BIRD FEATHERS
Obsidian, volcanic glass. That occur when volcanos erupt. Can be used to make tools, fine art objects. It will shatter, it is essentially glass. Because of this, Mayans also made tools out of something called CHERT (A type of rock)
Farmers generally mostly grew, MAIZE, beans, squash, chilli peppers. The Maya had no DRAFT animals. SO most farmers work close to where they live, since they had no transportation.
- The boarders of the farmers fields were also a representation of the borders of the city state
- Most of the back breaking work, were done by slaves. Who were the lowest ranking class in society. They were usually PRISONERS OF WAR, who were allowed to live.
- The Merchants are Farmers were in the same class. So were SCRIBES (People who do the writing, mathematical skills, and maintain the elaborate Mayan calendar)
- The MAYA had a concept of 0, and their astronomers predicted ECLIPSES. And they were skilled at tracking the movements of VENUS
- Used the knowledge of astronomy to find the BEST DAY, to start a war, have a religious ceremony, or appoint a new ruler, ALL DEPENDING on the happening of the stars
MAYA RELIGION
Involved of the spilling of blood, and they believed the blood of the royal family to be SACRED
There are paintings of Maya women pulling thorny vines through their tongues.
Mayan were POLYTHEISTIC
The Mayan gods were descended from a single married pair. The father, LIZARD HOUSE. INVENTED THE MAYAN SCRIPT. HIS WIFE, LADY RAINBOW. WAS a goddess of WEAVING, MEDICINE. Also it is considered that the helped women who endured pain of child birth. From the two of them, come all of the other gods in the Mayan system.
There is a god for merchants, fisherman, soldiers, farmers, scribes etc.
The Maya communicated w the gods, by using a series of caves. That served as doorways from the world of the living, and the underworld. This is called the XIBALBA UNDERWORLD
The caves can be deep, one goes down 850 meters into the earth. The walls of this caves have drawings of BALL GAMES. The losers would be sacrificed?
ENEMAS: Injection of some sort of liquid into the rectum to clean out the digestive tract MEDICALLY. They did the enemas by attaching tubes, MADE OUT OF BONES, to bags of liquids that could include, WINE, MELTED CHOCOLATE, or HALLUCINOGENS.
The mayan did engage in religious sacrifice, at the ball games, and sometimes outside of the ball games. Usually were the Prisoners of War.
A priest, in a combination w the scribes regarding the calendar etc would determine when the sacrifices take place etc.
CONTINUED
The area where the Mayan lived is very heavily forested (As a result, Archaeologists are still finding Mayan pyramids all the time)
MAYA ARMIES: Weapons consisted of spears (Tips made of Obsidian) The Maya did not have the Bow Arrow)
The goal were to get prisoners of wars (The most captives, the more powerful) (Most of the sacrifices were prisoners of war)
At the peak of Mayan power, 750, a pop of 8 to 10 million people (A whole bunch of different rulers and cities)
Around the year 800, the Maya start to go into decline
This is evident by unfinished construction sites with no encryptions on them
Constant warfare was a drain on resources
Soil in the Maya area were not great too
Another explanation for the fall of the Maya is the DROUGHT
Entry into the Americas
They didn’t really group together until around the year of 700 (Prior to that there were no groups that consisted of 60 ppl)
Its well established that people came from Siberia (Russia) by the LAND BRIDGE
The land bridge was called the BERING LAND BRIDGE (BERINGIA)
In Clovis, New Mexico. Remains were found form 13,000 years ago. In Chile, remains form 22,000 years ago were found.
Lived a nomadic life style, were very small till around, again, the year 700
It was a “loose” confederations of settlements of peoples, there were no “cities” etc.
Aztec/Mexica (Central America)
1300 - 1540
The Mexica call themselves this, historians call them the Aztec.
There are about 50 city states in southern america, and they are home of ALTEPETL
Each city state had its own leader, its own government, palace for the ruler, a pyramid shaped chapel,
When the Mexica arrived, they arrived around the area of the city of TEOTIHUACAN
The Aztecs were forced to settle in the swamp of TENOCHITITLAN due to the fact that there were settlements in TEOTIHUACAN
The Aztecs then eventually started claiming more surrounding land
The Aztec capital consists of 60,000 homes, which held 200,000 people. In an area of 13 square kilometres
The market place offered cooked and uncooked food, gold, feathers. They had no COINS, so they used bird feathers, gogo beans, cotton cloth etc. for currency.
The Mexica believed that their god was HITZILOPOCHTLI (The hummingbird of the south) He is also their warrior god
When the Mexica arrived at the mountain, they encounter a priestess, and then a bowl of feathers fell from the sky? And the priestess got pregnant. The priestess daughter was ashamed that her mother got pregnant by a bowl of feathers, and organized an army to kill her. A solider warns her (the fetus inside of her), he emerges as a full grown warrior, then rolls her body parts off of the mountain. This gives them a rationale for their massive blood sacrifices
The Aztec term for human blood is PRECIOUS WATER
-The Mexica believed that the gods (Rain god, Sun god etc) needed to drink a great deal of human blood in order to keep them happy. So the gods would keep the soil good, so their harvests would be plentiful. And their crop seasons would come when they were supposed to. Most of the sacrificial victims were prisoners of war. The Mexica did the sacrifices were on a LARGER scale (Killing large numbers of people at once.) They killed 80,000 sacrificial victims at once (Probably an exaggeration apparently)
Quetzalcoatl (Creator god)
- Creator of writing (Method of writing)
- Their writing system is different from the Mayan, it is known as REBUS WRITING (Uses images to represent words)
- Someone who already knew the story of what is contained in the writings/drawings, can me reminded on what happens next. (Its not a true writing story, because if you DONT know the story before hand, then you don’t know what the story says and what the details say.) Based on memory
The Aztecs treated certain humans, the leaders, like gods
The leader of the Mexica is known as the GREAT SPEAKER, who was carried around in a leather/feather chair, and his advisors never looked at him, and there was a screen that always separated him from his advisors and the people.
The Great Speaker, was chosen by a group of nobles, priests, and warriors. MERITOCRACY
If they felt that he was doing a bad job, they can depose him.
The second in command is FEMALE SNAKE (Involved with all of the INTERNAL MANNERS, and is not a female, and is a male) The leader handled all the EXTERNAL MANNERS. The female snake is also a close relative
The lowest ranking people were slaves were usually the people who ORIGINALLY the people who habited the land prior to the Aztecs taking over.
The slaves did most of the agricultural work. And the Maize, especially the grinding of Maize, was exclusively only WOMENS WORK. And if men did that, the gods would be MAD
The farmers were required to a pay a tribute to the leader of the Mexica etc. (The tribute would be a portion of their crops)
If you were a successful warrior, you were pretty high in society, you have lands of your own for FREE. But if you were CAPTURED, you would be perfect example of something that is preferred for a sacrifice due to the honour and wealth that warrior have
Obsidian tips, spears, darts, and the obsidian can shatter too
Protected themselves using very thick cotton armour
in 1428, the Mexica formed what is called the TRIPLE ALLIANCE. They united with two other groups and went on a series of other conquests (In what is today Central Mexico)
1500, 72 years later. They conquered 450 city states. Ruled over 5 million people. They, HOWEVER, had a major weakness. When they conquered, they took tribute, sacrificial victims, and that was IT. They did not try to unite all of the city states, and this lead to their downfall
in 1517, CORTEZ shows up, he is Spanish. Has been sent to Spain to explore, seek out riches, and see what he can do to increase Spanish influence in the new world. He shows up w 500 soldiers, and 53 yrs later (1540), he conquered the WHOLE Aztec/Mexica empire. (Took him only only 23 years)
Cortez had guns and the native people didnt. He was white, and the native people see him as a god on earth. But this is not the real reason why he took over the whole Aztec/Mexica Empire
- Small Pox (Comes from Asia, Africa)
- Chicken pox, the flu, and small pox. All sicknesses from the “old world” were not as strong to them, as they were to the “new world” native peoples because their immune systems are not immune to them
- ZOONOTIC: Diseases that originate from animals to humans
- About 90% of the native peoples were killed bc of the diseases
- By the time Cortez came, there had already been a great deal of death
- Fall of Aztecs/Mexica are due to the illnesses, and political instability
South America
The ANDES mountain chain, extends from the dense amazon forest in the east to the Pacific Ocean
There were no draft animals, but they did have LLAMAS, but they cant carry you
They knew what the WHEEL was, but they couldn’t utilize it in their environment
There is heavy rain, but in the west. Almost NO RAIN falls.
The Atacama desert, is one of the driest places on earth. (Maybe a MM of rain a year, cant grow)
Its been occupied at least 10,000 years (8,000 BCE)
Earliest COMPLEX society in the americas
Hills are actually ruins of Pyramids
These people managed to do agriculture up and down the mountains (It was colder the higher up you went, and they understood that, so if a crop failed, they can change)
Popular crops were POTATOES, QUINOA
Tiwanaku (South America)
600 - 1000
Located 12 miles south of LAKE TITICACA (3600 met above sea level)
Quite cold, the rulers of Tiwanaku had control of MODERN DAY Bolivia, Northern Chile, Argentina, and Southern Peru. Homed and ruled over 40,000 people
They used a RAISED FIELD SYSTEM (They elevated their fields, dug arrogation ditches around their fields. This helped their crops from freezing on cold nights)
Around the year 700, people in the Andes mountains, became the only people in the Americas that knew how to manipulate metals and how to use them
The MAYA knew how to manipulate GOLD, but in the Andes mountains, they were able to blend types of metals (Alloys, which would make them stronger)
Most of the metal work in the Andes was used for decoration. Worn by people and to decorate buildings
They were able to do what is called TERRACING (Carve out sections of the mountains, so they could build flat parts of the mountain for crops etc)
Chimu (South America)
900 - 1470
They were centred in what is today, Northern Peru
They did not have a writing system
-But they were conquered pretty late. The Spanish showed up 50 years after 1470. Spanish documents give us evidence of Chimu
They lived on a coast, in the rain shadow (No rainfall)
They had arrogation, along the coast, they were expert fishermen, and fish was more important food source than agriculture bc of the environment. They had kings, slaves, noble people etc
For religion, the Chimu worshipped the moon, instead of the sun unlike other religions. They thought it was more powerful because it appears during the day AND night
They made sacrifices to the moon, including their OWN children. They believed it would turn their own children into GOS
They also did worship the sun, and other stars as LESS powerful gods
The earliest long distance communication device is from the CHIMU. It consists of two GOURDS connected by a string that is 25 meters long
Inca (South America)
1400 - 1532
Capital: Cuzco
Unlike the Aztec, they imposed their culture on those they captured. They forced them to learn their language called, QUECHUA
Those who were conquered had to do labour, and military service as well.
They would also mix up the populations to minimize the chance of revolt (They also split them up, so they would lose connection to their old culture)
The Inca did not have an organized organization of succession when a Ruler died. Theres no orderly succession.
The Inca worshiped gods, and they required sacrifices. They did not do the human sacrifices on the same level extent as the Aztecs.
INCA SOCIETY
They believed that there were HUNDREDS of spirits within society (spirit of hills, mountains, caves, etc) And there were GODS who ranked ABOVE the spirits
The most important gods were the CREATOR GOD and that gods SON. And the RAIN GOD
Around the year 1500, the Sun God had become the main god.
- Probably because the Inca Ruler, known as SAPA INCA (Unique Inca), claimed to be descended from the Sun God
- The priest of the Sun God, who was in charge of the ceremonies regarding the sun god etc, became the second most imp person of the empire
- The Sapa Inca wore special clothes, food that no one else had or wore. And it was also believed that he continued to believe after death
- It is also believed that he lived after he died
- He was mummified, and in the town square of the capital
The Inca had a very complex calendar, detailing what god should be worshipped on a specific day
Within the capital, there were 332 Shrines, HOLY PLACES, that were dedicated to the worship of a specific god
31 of the shrines, required human sacrifice. Young boy and a young girl
The Inca did not perform human sacrifices to the same level as the Aztec, but they usually were done during times of HARDSHIPS (Epidemics etc)
The largest sacrifice apparently was 4,000 people. (Maybe a solar eclipse, volcano, small pox etc)
The Inca moved to Cuzco in 1400, in 1438, PACHAKUTI, who was the FIRST Inca ruler. Launched military campaigned outwards, they conquered neighbouring lands, peoples etc. Because they wanted the things that were produced in these different zones. The INCA wanted the things that could be grown in these different areas. Ex. Gold, feathers, metals, fish, Quinoa
Warfare for the Inca usually consisted of storming with a HUGE infantry (Foot soldiers). The storming of a city usually occurred after a SIEGE. After when they cut off the food and water supply of the people they were going to attack to weaken them. Their armour were made out of thick cotton, they launched stones from sling shots, and they had bow arrows. And they could have up to 100,000 soldiers in a single battle. And these military campaigns usually happened seasonally
Eventually at their height, they ruled over 10-12 million people.
They took apart the shrines of the local people the conquered, and held it hostage in Cuzco. That way it prevented people from rising against.
They treated conquered people fairly, the local rulers continued to rule if they were obedient to the INCA.
The Inca DID NOT have a writing system, but they did have something called QUIPU
Quipu: A counting system. They tie knots indicating a count for something. Whether its for farming, soldiers, gold etc.
Different types of knots, represent different numbers. And a SKIPPED KNOT, represents a ZERO. And DIFFERENT COLOUR strings, represent different things that are being counted.
Each town had one person who was in charge of being the KNOT KEEPER.
Each male of a house hold, had to perform 2-3 of service for the labour a year. What ever task he was assigned, he can get any help he needs to finish it, including his family etc. This encouraged people to have larger families so they could do this more efficiently (Tax service)
THE URU group that the INCA conquered, their Tax service consisted of catching fish, nutritious grass, textiles etc.
Blankets, tools, were all used to give away for tax. They had big STOREHOUSES, for all of these items that amazed the Spanish. Corn, and potatoes that have been stored can support the army for months. During the time of a famine, they could keep distributing food from their surplus from before.
Over 40,000 KM of very good roads, which some are still being used today. The INCA had the wheel, but they were in the mountains, so the traffic was done on foot. The Inca managed to build these roads across deserts, between mountains, bridges etc.
The messengers could move up to 150 miles per day on foot.
The Inca also constructed very good walls. The Inca did not have mortar (what holds the bricks together). They constructed their walls beau carving each block very precisely.
The Empire seemed stronger than it was. People did EXEMPT the labour service. Every time the Ruler died, their was a Succession crisis, and that ONLY serves to weaken an empire.
In 1532, a man named Pizarro from Spain, came and conquered INCA (An 18 yr conquest) 1850 He did NOT lose a single soldier (To combat). He showed up during succession crisis, and allied himself w half of the population. Small pox also helped him conquer the empire too.
Everyone had to dress the same, eat the same etc. EXCEPT the Ruler. Helps avoid discrimination, and imposes unity etc.
Africa
Ecological Determination: Environment determines our fate
Terra Preta: RICH BLACK EART, that is created by human beings, by using microorganisms, by creating soil regeneration. The soil is very poor in the amazon, due to the fact that all of the nutrients are sucked up into the plants
Amazon RAINFOREST is called that for a reason, if the trees werent there, the constant rain will hit the soild and plants eventually causing erosion, and packing it down like cement
Once a tree falls, the tree is regenerated (Terra Preta)
Compared between the Americas and the Europeans, the euros were suprised how clean the sreets were compared to their own societies
Betty Meggers: She argues that you cant have large civilizations in the Amazon
Mercator Projection: The way to make a map flat, you make the south and north pole bigger to show people the whole earth in a flat picture (Messes up the size of some countries, such as greenland etc)
