A History of the World Book #1 Before History

A History of the World Book #1 Before History 

Before agriculture, history is long, very long and dark and murky. The basics are as follows

Humans diverged from great apes (chimps and bonobos) approximately 6-7 million years ago.

Australopithecus, is known as on of the earliest hominids, they were bipedal and found in eastern and southern Africa. They emerged around 4 million years ago.

Then Emerges Homo Habilis 2.4 million years ago. This species had a bigger brain and could use tools.

From this came Homo Erectus 1.5 million years ago, they had similar body proportions to modern humans, used tools and were the first to control and manage fire. This allowed them to manipulate their environment. This was though, a long process and actually learning how to make fire took time.  They expanded to the Near East and Asia. They engaged in big game hunting and used stone tools.

A distinction between male and female was made stronger in cultural life and reproductive life as females stopped entering in estrous cycles (entering in heat, activitly seeking a male). This made sexual selection a reality. 

Homo Neanderthalensis (named after a skeleton was found in the Neander Valley in Germany) emerged about 400,000 years ago and spread through much of Europe.

They were shorter but stockier. They had smaller frontal lobes than Homo Sapians but larger Occipital lobes, which benefited being big game hunters which they were. Their is evidence that they buried the dead some times. 

They seemed to maintain a low population and interbred. This made them very easily supplanted by Homo Sapians in 40,000 BC. 

Denisovans were a subspecies similar to Neanderthals who lived mostly in South East Asia. Most humans have some Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA.

Homo Sapians emerged from Africa around 300,000 years ago. 

They began to develop advanced cognitive skills, social cordination, burial of the dead, seafaring, toolmaking and the arts among other skills. Language developed but it's origins remain murky

They lived as hunter gatherers until 12,000 BC when the agricultural revolution took place (Neolithic Revolution). The revolution happened independently in many regions in the world where it was possible. 

Following the Agricultural Revolution, trade routes were established, travel was made easier through the usage of domesticated animals, and most importantly, societies could begin as you did not need a lot of space or to be nomadic to produce a lot of food. The Bronze Age began. 

7 Words and Their Origins, Vol 2. The Sun

7 Words and Their Origins, Vol 2. The Sun

1) SunOrigin: From Old English sunne, related to Proto-Germanic sunnōn, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sóhwl, the root for “sun” across many Indo-European languages (e.g., Latin sol, Greek helios).

2) SolarOrigin: From Latin solaris, meaning “of the sun,” from sol, “sun.”

3) DawnOrigin: From Old English dagian, meaning “to become day.” Related to the word day, both deriving from Proto-Germanic dagaz.

4) EclipseOrigin: From Greek ekleipsis, meaning “abandonment” or “failing to appear.”

5) ParasolOrigin: From French parasol, literally “sun-shield,” from para- (to protect) + sol (sun). Entered English via French and Italian. 

6) RiseOrigin: From Old English rīsan, meaning “to go up, rise, or ascend,” from Proto-Germanic rīsaną

7) GoldOrigin: From Old English gold, from Proto-Germanic gulþą, possibly from a root meaning “to shine” or “yellow,” 

7 Words and Their Origins, Vol 1. The Sea

7 Words and Their Origins, Vol 1. The Sea

1) Ocean Origin: From Latin ōceanus, via Greek ōkeanos, meaning “a vast or large body of water.”

2)Island Origin: From Old English īegland, meaning “island.” The s was added in the 16th century under the influence of isle (which previously lacked an s), and then carried over to island.

3)Tide Origin: From Old English tīd, meaning “time, season, or period,” etymologically related to “time.”

4)Drown Origin: From Old English druncnian, meaning “to sink or be submerged in water.” Shares its root with drunk.

5)Azure Origin: From Old French azur, from Arabic lazaward, meaning “lapis lazuli” (a blue stone).

6)Shark Origin: Borrowed into English between the 14th and 16th centuries from German Schurke, meaning “villain.”

7)Profound Origin: From Latin profundus, meaning “deep” or “bottomless.”

The Child

The Child

            My courage is mine, and mine alone.

Its pulse and breath, weighed by stone.

A rose, a cross, a heart bled bare,

Enclose the infant and rightful heir.

 

These eyes that paint my world around,

And the sounds in which my name is bound,

Come from an ocean vast unknown,

But they are mine and mine alone.

 

My darkness too is within my breast,

And has etched designs without rest.

Groping, clawing onto my veins,

Its sorrow speaks in twisted chains.

 

But deep within my bloody streams,

Swims the child of ancient dreams.

Whose flaming voice chars the bone,

And claims this life as mine alone. 

The Boer Wars

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the South African Boers (Farmers) and the British Empire.

Who Were the Boers?

"Boer" (pronounced "bu-ruh") is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for "farmer." The Boers were settlers of French (Huguenot), German, and predominantly Dutch origin who began settling in South Africa during the period of the Dutch Cape Colony. They established a settlement at present-day Cape Town in 1652 under the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

From the outset, the Boers interacted with various local African groups, including such as the Khoikhoi, San and Xhosa

The British Empire always had an eye on the location, recognizing the strategic importance of the Cape as a maritime waypoint to India, and sought control of the region early on attempting to establish a settlement near Capetown. Although the Dutch established their presence in 1652, British merchants continued to use the Cape for trade.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British formally seized the Cape Colony in 1806, motivated by the Netherlands’ alliance with France under Napoleon. In 1814, the Treaty of Vienna ceded the Cape to Britain permanently.

The Great Trek and the Voortrekkers

The Boers took issue with many of the British and felt alienated. The British abolished slavery in 1834 disrupting the Boer economy. The Afrikaaners felt culturally alienated from the British as well.

This dissatisfaction led to the Great Trek (1830s-1840s), a mass migration of Boer families, known as the Voortrekkers (“pioneers”), into the South African interior. The Voortrekkers sought autonomy and new lands for farming, free from British interference.

Development of the Boer Republics

Following the Great Trek, the Boers established independent republics: Transvaal (South African Republic) and the Orange Free State: Established in 1854.

These republics were predominantly agricultural and fiercely independent, existing in uneasy proximity to British-controlled territories.

First Boer War (1880-1881): The discovery of diamonds in Afrikaaner lands lead to increased British interest. British Empire attempts to annex the Transvaal which provoked resistance, the Boers waged guerrilla war successfully and the Biritish allowed the South African Republic to regain self-government under British suzerainty.

Second Boer War (1899-1902): Tensions escalated over control of gold and diamond resources in and influxes of gold searching immigrants in Afrikaaner lands stoked tensions.  Boer territories, as well as British imperial ambitions.

Diplomatic tensions escalated following the failed Jameson Raid in 1895 spearheaded by colonialist adventurer Cecil Rhodes.

The inevitable war began in October 1899, when the Boer republics declared war on Britain after British troop buildups near their borders. In the early stages, the Boers used guerrilla tactics and besieged key British towns, achieving several successes. 

The Boers were much more efficient fighters, however eventually the British overpowered them through an influx of soldiers and from the crown. The British eventually adopted scorched-earth tactics burning farms and using the British burned farms and used concentration camps to control the Boer civilian population, where tens of thousands of civilians, particularly women and children, died due to poor conditions.

This was the first conflict in which barbed wire was extensively used, playing a strategic role bringing spaces under control, at military outposts as well as to hold the captured Boer population in concentration camps.

 

The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging on May 31, 1902. The Boer republics were incorporated into the British Empire, but the treaty promised eventual self-government, leading to the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.