Question 2
The stories of different regions in the world are marked by the rise of diverse and complex societies that depict their leadership styles, culture, religion, and perceptions concerning gender. This essay will articulate its focus on three continents: Africa, China, and the Americas to assess their rich history regarding leadership, gender, and culture. This is essential to create a deeper understanding of the effects of history on the past and present actions of the inhabitants of the regions. The leadership, gender and cultural factors define the activities and attitudes of people from various areas making it easier to identify where they emanate. Africa was mostly characterized with empires and chiefdoms that coordinated activities amongst people. The kingdoms’ leaders and the wealth ensured that they were respected or feared amongst others. An example can be retrieved from the Great Zimbabwe, a city made of stone and the capital of the medieval empire on the Eastern side of Kalahari Desert.
The unusual aspect about Great Zimbabwe is that little is known about the people who occupied the region since they did not leave any written records of their existence. The element leaves historians to rely on the archaeological information to derive and construct the culture of the community. The inhabitants indulged in both mining and farming as early as the 7th AD. The emergence of the great empire began with the discovery of gold that led to overwhelming power and wealth. The city of stone was thus built to protect and sustain the people through the work of monumental construction. The barrier created a distinction whereby those who lived outside the world were poor while those inside enjoyed the riches of Great Zimbabwe.
Indeed, Great Zimbabwe possesses the characteristics of a centralized state that believed is social stratification. The elite had enormous wealth such as plentiful soapstone sculptures, gold, copper, iron tools, and pottery. The social stratification is prevalent today since most of the minerals in the continent are held by specific people who derive their benefits while others live in poverty. Africa maintains the largest share of nations that live under poor standards. The wealth of Great Zimbabwe came from the Asian continent from countries like China, India, and Arabia. The great city comprises of smaller stone homesteads called the Zimbabwes that contained less than 30 elites led by the local governors who answered to the a king. Africa proves to be a rich source leadership even from other empires in East Africa such as the Axum and Kush. The two kingdoms forged the early civilization trend in the region due to the presence of the River Nile. Nowadays, the countries in the region have dropped the empires to form governments where one leader controls the entire nation. The kingdoms are now considered to be ambiguous elements that only existed in history, and those that are still present do not wield any substantial powers.
The Kush depended on trading activities with the Egyptians where they provided slaves, timber, elephant tusks, gold, incense, timber, etc. Occasionally, the Egyptians would raid the Kush community to obtain the items directly. The Kushite enemies appeared to come from the North; hence, it came as a shock when the nomads from the South struck and invaded the kingdom. The Axum Empire, on the other hand, was split by the missionaries who took advantage of the trading routes to access the region. Their closeness to the sea allowed them to trade easily with other continents increasing their wealth and power. The decline of Axum took place after they allowed Muslims to seek refuge in the city resulting in a clash of beliefs amongst the people.
The kingdoms of Africa were the basis for the region’s culture and religion. Hence, their extinction had led to an erosion of fundamental factors that defined the people. China also had unique traditions and religion. Their beliefs unlike those of Africans have been carried forward till to date. According to anthropology, culture is an institution of shared meanings and ideas, implicit and explicit, that people utilize to interpret the world and develop behavioral patterns. The concept of culture involves the history, art, and literature of the community as well as less the tangible phenomenon such as folklore, prejudice, and attitudes. The Chinese culture emblems their religion, medicine, inventions, and food because they are special aspects of the society.
Chinese religion is derived from the logic of three fundamental teachings: Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. They liken the three factors to the heavenly bodies whereby Buddhism represents the sun, Confucianism depicts the five planets, and Daoism the moon. Their medicine and inventions have been the backbone of modern technology. For instance, the seismograph that predicts earthquakes was first made by brilliant mathematicians and scientists in the country following the continuous plagues of the natural disaster in the region. They also formulated strategies that helped them understand organs in the body that have assisted the medical practice today.
Gender was not a dominant issue amongst the Chinese. They believed that a person could love whoever they wanted. Hence, homosexuality began to be accepted early in China. Most leaders in the region were either bisexual or homosexual. Few articles describe homosexuality in the region. For example the escapades and homosexual activities of Lord Yong Yang and Pan Zhang and vividly describes in Hinsch’s article called “Passions of the Cut sleeve”. Scientist and the Westerners criticized the homosexual acts of the Chinese as evil and abnormal presenting a level of bias that does not allow people to pursue the freedom of sexuality. The debate is still prevalent today with parties for and against the sexuality. Civilization first occurred on the American continent in 1200BC in the southern section of Mexico. The civilization was known as Olmec. It dictated the American way of life ranging from their trading activities, religion, and leadership. The remnants and sculptures portray the war-infested history of the region from the images of warriors and their weaponry.
Question 3
This paper will look at the geographical outlines of three regions to assist in interpreting the relevant historical projections. This is crucial because the environment has a substantial role in instituting the characters and cultures of people in different regions. Hence, the objective is to examine the geography and how it intertwined with the beliefs and practices of people in Africa, China, and America. Africa is a massive continent comprising of more than 20 percent of the land mass in the world. Historically, the region was demarcated into three areas. They include Sub-Sahara, North Central and Northwest, and Northeast Africa. The Sub-Saharan section consisted of the area that extends from the West of the continent to the Sudanic Plain and down towards the Central part of Africa. The large spread of land had many people and cultures. The Northwest and the central section comprised of a huge section of the Saharan Desert and countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. A large proportion of the current inhabitants are original descendants of their ancestors since not many people brought foreigners to the region.
The Northeast part of Africa includes the present day Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Egypt. The Nile runs through the nations except Somalia. The continent has the earliest evidence of the presence for the man that dates back to millions of years ago. The region is special to archaeologists and historians who are determined to identify the character and activities of the early human being. They can also trace the particular species that existed at different points in history. China is found in the Southeast section of Asia. The northern people of the continent appear to be heavier and taller than the southerners explaining why the Chinese are generally smaller in size. The language of the area also shows greater diversification with the northerners speaking the official dialect in China known as Mandarin while those in the south talk in unintelligible languages such as Fukien, Wu, and Cantonese.
The Chinese together with the Vietnamese and Thai form a language family or stock called the Sino-Tibetan. The nation has recently acquired Asian acquisitions, namely Tibet and Sinkiang. Their heritage is different from those of ancient China and Manchuria that comprises of the fundamental contributors towards civilization in the country. Remnants of the early human beings have also been found in China with the unearthing of the popular Perking man in the northern part of the region. The country is also known for the early beginnings of farming and the making of ceramics. The Yang-Shao traditions found in more than 1000 places in the Kansu and Honan provinces portrays people who molded gray, black, and red pottery pigments.
A culture of hunting also existed in China. The land bridges between Korea, China, and Japan made it easy for people to move freely from one nation to another. The Jomon culture that is closely related to the Southeast traditions of China can be found in Japan. The southeast people planted rice, the staple food in the country. On the other hand, the geographical depiction of America classifies it as the New World because it consists of two main continents with an interconnecting region that made it seem like three subdivisions: North, Central, and South America. North America is further classified as Canada, the U.S., and the far north region. Central America contains the Caribbean islands and Mexico.
The present political distribution in Central America comprises of Panama, Nicaragua, Cost Arica, Belize, amongst others. South America contains the rough course of the primary rivers. No political lines have been formed on the continent though efforts to divide into the North, Central, Eastern, and Western areas have been made. In the beginning, the American people had formed hunting groups to separate themselves. The plains teemed with animals that are now considered extinct such as mammoths, dinosaurs, and bisons. The tools of the Pleistocene human beings that were used for hunting purposes have been found in South America. The Indian population was highly prevalent in the region.
Most of the inhabitants of the North American region were wiped out by constant plagues of drought and famine. The disaster killed the animals that they depended on for hunting. The incidence denuded the population causing shifts in the living patterns. They began to plant maize and beans to supplement their diet. The need for artistic representation was popular in the Andes. For example, the prehistoric men and women painted their clothing, necklaces, and beads. Conclusively, the overview presents comparisons and contrasts amongst different regions of the globe. They portray the unique attributes that have been carried forward over generations such as staple foods, farming, and trade. Those that have faded have led to the erosion of a sense of belonging amongst the individuals in the three continents. The aspects also provide foundations for the modern developments amongst us today as seen from the Chinese technology and inventions.
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