WW Chapter 6: Commonalities and Variations

     The first major point of conversation in this chapter is the major comparison between the three major supercontinents: The Americas, Africa, and Eurasia.
     The first major difference we stumble upon was the huge difference in population among the three. It doesn't surprise me that most of the human population resided in Eurasia. Assuming the estimates are correct, Eurasia accounted for more than eighty percent of the world population. Africa consisted of eleven percent and the Americas between five and seven percent. This doesn't surprise me because most of the future civilizations we learn about, such as ancient Rome, Greece,medieval England and so forth, are all located in Europe. In addition, there were a bunch of different dynasties in Asia.
     The Americas were different from Eurasia and Africa because they lacked animals that could be domesticated. People in the Americas were, as Strayer says, Hunter-gatherers. Even when Agriculture seemed like it was going to overtake the Americas, many people were against changing a lifestyle that they had grown accustomed to. In other words, why fix something when it's not broken.
     The Americas were also much more secluded from Eurasia and Africa. Since Africa was located much closer to the Eurasia regions than the Americas, they had the fortune to interact with Europe, especially northern parts of Africa, such as Egypt.
     We then move on to learn about the Meroë, the city south of Egypt, which became the center of the Nubian civilization. The Nubian civilization was governed by a very powerful monarch. It also consisted of people with many different roles- merchants, weavers, potters, and of course servants. Women were also portrayed as having equal status as men in sculpture's.
     Axum is considered the emergence of a brand new civilization, unlike Meroë. Axum was located on the Horn of Africa (modern day Eritrea and Ethiopia). Their agriculture methods were primarily based on plowing. Axum was a very artistic place. If you were an artist, this would be where you would live. I would definitely live here. People would construct huge obelisks primarily for graves for royalty. This civilization is very much under-recognized...It is not mentioned a lot when you talk about major civilizations; however, the Romans considered it to be the third largest civilization at the time, behind them and the Persian Empire. Thanks to connections, Axum later in the fourth century, was introduced to Christianity and adopted it.