Derrin Lee

02/28/2011
American History I
The world as we know it will end in 2960 Thats what my professor Ronald Hardy
predicts. When he talks about the world as we know it he is referring to western civilization, but
before someone can predict the future we must first take a look at the beginning of the world as
we know it. According to Professor Ronald Hardy, The world as we know it began in 9640
B.C in the Jordan River Valley.
The Jordan River Valley is named The Cradle of Civilization because due to a great
flood during the Ice Age, that was caused by the warming of the ice through various Holocene
climate cycles (HCC). Holocene cycles are 2,520 years long, recur every 100,000 yrs or so, and
last from 10,000 to 12,000 yrs. So because of the flood people had to find some where to live and
the only place where the earth was not filled with water was the Jordan River Valley. The Valley
is the lowest land elevation on earth and the weather was mild, not too hot or cold, and fertile
ground, which made it the perfect place for life to flourish.
Unfortunately as time progressed and life flourished, there came a few major problems.
Because new life was being brought in, the Valley was getting too small to sustain life there. Not
only was the Valley too small but the food supply was low and the way people way to solve this
problem was to either reduce life or increase the supply of food. They chose the latter of the two
and decided to some how increase food, and this sparked a life changing event known as the
Agricultural Revolution. This is where people began to domesticate crops as well as animals to
survive. Because of this, this marked the beginning of what we know today s modern civilization
because people began to settle down and look after their crops and this caused communities,
villages, and soon cities. This process from the Jordan River Valley is still used today.

Derrin Lee
02/28/2011
American History I
With this new revolution and a two-step solution to domesticate crops and animals as a
way of life, came a new set of problems over land-usage. This can be bet explained through the
biblical story found in the book of Genesis. The story talks about two brothers named Cain and
Able. Cain is said to be the father of domesticating crops, while his brother is the father of
domesticating animals. As the story goes on it talks about Cain killing Able out of jealousy. For
Cains sin of killing his brother, God sent Cain into exile eastward from the Garden of Eden into
the Land of Nod which is now said to be Northern Iraq in todays time. In essence the Fight over
land usage was won by Cain The father of domesticating crops (farmers).
As the story continues, Cain has a son and builds a city in his honor and calls it Enoch,
which is the name of his son. Not long after that, His mother Eve gave birth to another son
named Seth who is said to be a blessing from God to take place of Abel who Cain slew. The
Bible goes on to say Soon after men began to call on the name of the Lord gen 4:26. Seth is
later known as the father of a new generation of people called the Samaritans. It is believed that
the Samaritans lived some where close to Egypt where soon after civilization moved from Iraq to
Egypt.
Though this civilization shift, came promising values and growth. By the end of
Holocene I, the second step in the development of Civilization was formed, and the third was
formed in Sumer by the end of HCC II. In, HCC III which is associated with the Bronze Age,
shows us the increase if human knowledge and technology progressing forward. In this Age
Bronze was discovered and this opened up more ways for things to be advanced like military and
Technology. By the beginning of HCC IV, which began in 820 B.C., its era is associated with the
Roman Empire who was well known for their organization in politics and military. They also

Derrin Lee
02/28/2011
American History I
converted into Christianity in 314 A.D. and the building of Constantinople in 320 A.D., which
split into eastern and western divisions in 395 A.D.
Not so far into the future, 457 A.D, the Roman Empire fell to a group of Turkish people
called the Vandals. Soon after the word vandalize was adopted by people, which means to
destroy someones property without permission. The destruction of Rome caused Europe to
experience a thousand-year period known as the Dark Ages. Although Rome had fallen, its
Christian religion remained and in turn caused Europe to be controlled by the church who only
taught what the churched believed to be the truth. This allowed people to be enslaved by the
church because the churched believed that kings were ordained by god and in turn the Kings had
to do what ever the church wanted or the king would be kicked off the throne and would either
be exiled from the kingdom or beheaded in public.
Although Europe was enslaved by the church, not all was lost. As the days progress, the
Europeans rediscovered the Canary Islands in 1311 result of an African king brother ignorance
and soon after they discovered the trade winds. Soon after, an important discovery facilitated the
European Renaissance, bringing the Dark Ages to an end in 1439. John Gutenberg is the one who
invent movable print which allowed mass productions of books like the bible which at first only
belonged to the priest of the Roman church. Also it gave a wide dissemination of ideas for other
things to be printed like story books. The Cause of the European Renaissance is due to the fall of
Constantinople in 420 B.C. The survivors of Constantinople fled to Italy and then into the heart
of Europe bringing with then a Renaissance or rebirth of Ancient knowledge based on the
teachings of Plato who believed the earth revolved around the sun.

Derrin Lee
02/28/2011
American History I
This Renaissance was the spark of new discovery of new worlds, technology, and even
planets and stars. It gave birth to new teachings from people like Isaac Newton and Galileo.
Along with new teachings came new religion like the protestant church, puritans, and Quakers. It
gave birth to the discovery of North America. With new discoveries came new problem though,
Rebellions in the Roman church began, wars over land, and wars between the king and Roman
church began to take control. This started to give birth of politics such as democracy and
communist. So the history of the world as we know it and the information about where the birth
place of civilization, you can see that there was a major power shift from eastern to the western
and it can only predict that it will soon shift again. Maybe The world as we know it will end in
2960.

Derrin Lee
02/28/2011
American History I
Bibliography
1.) http://www.goodnewsmedia.com/bible.studies.htm/.cradle.htm
2.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/holocene
3.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Rift_Valley
4.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River