Traditions and Encounters: A Brief

Global History Vol 1 4th Edition –

Ebook PDF Version
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/traditions-and-encounters-a-brief-global-history-vol-1-
4th-edition-ebook-pdf-version/
 CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER 3 EARLY SOCIETIES OF OCEANIA 74

Early Societies in Australia and New Guinea 75
Early Societies in South The Peopling of the Pacific Islands 76
and East Asia 44 Summary 78
CHRONOLOGY 46 Study Terms 78
HARAPPAN SOCIETY 46 For Further Reading 78
Harappan Society and Culture 47 BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: Part I 80
THE INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATIONS AND EARLY
VEDIC INDIA 48
The Aryans and India 49
PART 2
Origins of the Caste System 50 THE FORMATION OF CLASSICAL
RELIGION IN THE VEDIC AGE 51 SOCIETIES, ca. 500 B.C.E.
Aryan Religion 51
TO ca. 500 C.E. 82
The Blending of Aryan and Indigenous Values 51
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN EARLY CHINA 52 CHAPTER 5
The Xia and Shang Dynasties 53 The Empires of Persia 84
The Zhou Dynasty 55 CHRONOLOGY 86
REVERBERATIONS OF: Urbanization and the Creation of THE PERSIAN EMPIRES 86
Patriarchy 55
The Achaemenid Empire 86
SOCIETY AND FAMILY IN ANCIENT CHINA 55 Decline of the Achaemenid Empire 89
The Social Order 55 The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanid Empires 90
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Peasants’ Protest 56 IMPERIAL SOCIETY AND ECONOMY 92
Family and Patriarchy 56 Social Development in Classical Persia 92
EARLY CHINESE WRITING AND REVERBERATIONS: Long-Distance Trade Networks 94
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 57 Economic Foundations of Classical Persia 94
Oracle Bones and Early Chinese Writing 58 RELIGIONS OF SALVATION IN CLASSICAL PERSIAN
ANCIENT CHINA AND THE LARGER WORLD 59 SOCIETY 95
Relations with Nomadic Peoples of Central Asia 59 Zarathustra and His Faith 95
The Southern Expansion of Chinese Society 60 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Zarathustra on Good and Evil 97
Summary 61 Religions of Salvation in a Cosmopolitan Society 97
Study Terms 61 Summary 99
For Further Reading 61 Study Terms 99
For Further Reading 99
CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 6
Early Societies in the Americas The Unification of China 100
and Oceania 62
CHRONOLOGY 102
CHRONOLOGY 64
IN SEARCH OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORDER 102
EARLY SOCIETIES OF MESOAMERICA 64 Confucianism 102
The Olmecs 65 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Confucius on Good
Heirs of the Olmecs: The Maya 66 Government 104
Maya Society and Religion 68 Daoism 105
REVERBERATIONS OF: Urbanization and the Creation Legalism 106
of Patriarchy 69 THE UNIFICATION OF CHINA 106
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: The Creation of Humanity The Qin Dynasty 106
According to The Popol Vuh 70 The Early Han Dynasty 108
Heirs of the Olmecs: Teotihuacan 70 FROM ECONOMIC PROSPERITY TO SOCIAL DISORDER 111
EARLY SOCIETIES OF SOUTH AMERICA 72 Productivity and Prosperity during the Early Han 111
Early Andean Society and the Chavin Cult 72 CONNECTING THE SOURCES: Prescriptive literature and
Early Andean States: Mochica 73 the lives of Chinese women during the Han dynasty 112
viii CONTENTS

REVERBERATIONS OF: Long-Distance Trade Networks 114 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Socrates’ View of Death 145
Economic and Social Difficulties 115 Rational Thought and Philosophy 145
The Later Han Dynasty 116 Popular Religion and Greek Drama 146
Summary 117 Hellenistic Philosophy and Religion 147
Study Terms 117 ROME: FROM KINGDOM TO REPUBLIC 147
For Further Reading 117 The Etruscans and Rome 148
The Roman Republic and Its Constitution 148
CHAPTER 7 The Expansion of the Republic 148
State, Society, and the Quest FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE 149
for Salvation in India 118 Imperial Expansion and Domestic Problems 149
CHRONOLOGY 120 The Foundation of Empire 150
THE FORTUNES OF EMPIRE IN CLASSICAL INDIA 120 Continuing Expansion and Integration of the Empire 151
The Mauryan Dynasty and the Temporary Unification ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN THE ROMAN
of India 120 MEDITERRANEAN 152
The Emergence of Regional Kingdoms and the Revival Trade and Urbanization 152
of Empire 122 REVERBERATIONS OF: Long-Distance Trade Networks 153
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL Family and Society in Roman Times 154
DISTINCTIONS 123
THE COSMOPOLITAN MEDITERRANEAN 154
Towns and Trade 123
Greek Philosophy and Religions of Salvation 154
REVERBERATIONS OF: Long-Distance Trade Judaism and Early Christianity 155
Networks 124
Summary 157
Family Life and the Caste System 125
Study Terms 157
RELIGIONS OF SALVATION IN CLASSICAL INDIA 126 For Further Reading 157
Janism and the Challenge to the Established Cultural
Order 126 CHAPTER 9
Early Buddhism 127
Cross-Cultural Exchanges on the Silk Roads
Mahayana Buddhism 129
During the Late Classical Era 158
The Emergence of Popular Hinduism 130
CHRONOLOGY 160
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Ashoka Adopts and
Promotes Buddhism 131 LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND THE SILK ROADS
Summary 133 NETWORK 160
Study Terms 133 Trade Networks of the Hellenistic Era 160
For Further Reading 133 The Silk Roads 161
CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL EXCHANGES
CHAPTER 8 ALONG THE SILK ROADS 163
Mediterranean Society The Spread of Buddhism and Hinduism 163
under the Greeks and the Romans 134 The Spread of Christianity 164
CHRONOLOGY 136 The Spread of Manichaeism 165
The Spread of Epidemic Disease 166
EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK SOCIETY 136
Minoan and Mycenaean Societies 137
The World of the Polis 138
GREECE AND THE LARGER WORLD 139
Greek Colonization 139
Conflict with Persia 141
The Macedonians and the Coming of Empire 141
The Hellenistic Era 142
THE FRUITS OF TRADE:
GREEK ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 143
Trade and the Integration of the Mediterranean Basin 143
Family and Society 144
THE CULTURAL LIFE OF CLASSICAL GREECE 144
 CONTENTS ix

SOURCES FROM THE PAST: St. Cyprian on Epidemic

Disease in the Roman Empire 167
REVERBERATIONS OF: Long-Distance Trade Networks 168
CHINA AFTER THE HAN DYNASTY 168
Internal Decay of the Han State 168
Cultural Change in Post-Han China 168
THE COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE 170
Internal Decay in the Roman Empire 170
Germanic Invasions and the Collapse of the Western
Roman Empire 171
Cultural Change in the Late Roman Empire 171
Summary 174 Summary 197
Study Terms 174 Study Terms 197
For Further Reading 174 For Further Reading 197

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: Part 2 176 CHAPTER 11

The Expansive Realm of Islam 198
PART 3 CHRONOLOGY 200
A PROPHET AND HIS WORLD 200
THE POSTCLASSICAL ERA,
Muhammad and His Message 200
500 TO 1000 C.E. 178 Muhammad’s Migration to Medina 201
The Establishment of Islam in Arabia 202
CHAPTER 10
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: The Quran on Allah and His
The Christian Commonwealth Expectations Of Humankind 203
of Byzantium 180 THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM 203
CHRONOLOGY 182 The Early Caliphs and the Umayyad Dynasty 204
THE EARLY BYZANTINE EMPIRE 182 The Abbasid Dynasty 206
The Later Roman Empire and Byzantium 182 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY OF THE EARLY ISLAMIC
Justinian and His Legacy 184 WORLD 207
Islamic Conquests and Byzantine Revival 186 New Crops, Agricultural Experimentation, and Urban
Growth 207
Byzantium and Western Europe 186
The Formation of a Hemispheric Trading Zone 208
BYZANTINE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 187
The Changing Status of Women 210
Rural Economy and Society 187
ISLAMIC VALUES AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES 210
Industry and Trade 188
The Formation of an Islamic Cultural Tradition 210
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: The Wealth and Commerce
of Constantinople 189 REVERBERATIONS OF: The Spread of Religious Traditions 211
Urban Life 189 CONNECTING THE SOURCES: Sufi mysticism and the
appeal of Islam 212
CLASSICAL HERITAGE AND ORTHODOX
Islam and the Cultural Traditions of Persia, India, and
CHRISTIANITY 190
Greece 214
The Legacy of Classical Greece 190
Summary 215
The Byzantine Church 190
Study Terms 215
Monasticism and Popular Piety 191
For Further Reading 215
Tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity 191
THE INFLUENCE OF BYZANTIUM IN EASTERN EUROPE 192 CHAPTER 12
Domestic Problems and Foreign Pressures 192
The Resurgence of Empire in East Asia 216
Early Relations between Byzantium and Slavic
Peoples 193 CHRONOLOGY 218
REVERBERATIONS: The Spread of Religious THE RESTORATION OF CENTRALIZED
Traditions 194 IMPERIAL RULE IN CHINA 218
Byzantium and Russia 194 The Sui Dynasty 218
x CONTENTS

The Tang Dynasty 219 Summary 249

The Song Dynasty 221 Study Terms 249
For Further Reading 249
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF TANG AND SONG
CHINA 222 BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: Part 3 250
Agricultural Development 222
Technological and Industrial Development
The Emergence of a Market Economy 225
224
PART 4
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: The Arab Merchant AN AGE OF CROSS-CULTURAL
Suleiman on Business Practices in Tang China 226
INTERACTION, 1000 TO 1500 C.E. 252
CULTURAL CHANGE IN TANG AND SONG CHINA 226
The Establishment of Buddhism 226 CHAPTER 14
REVERBERATIONS OF: The Spread of Religious Nomadic Empires and Eurasian
Traditions 227
Integration 254
Neo-Confucianism 228
CHRONOLOGY 256
DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES IN KOREA,
TURKISH MIGRATIONS AND IMPERIAL EXPANSION 256
VIETNAM, AND JAPAN 228
Nomadic Economy and Society 256
Korea and Vietnam 228
Early Japan 229 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: William of Rubruck on
Gender Relations Among the Mongols 257
Medieval Japan 231
Turkish Empires in Persia, Anatolia, and India 258
Summary 233
THE MONGOL EMPIRES 260
Study Terms 233
Chinggis Khan and the Making of the Mongol Empire 260
For Further Reading 233
The Mongol Empires after Chinggis Khan 262
The Mongols and Eurasian Integration 264
CHAPTER 13 REVERBERATIONS: The Diffusion of Technologies 266
India and the Indian Ocean Basin 234 Decline of the Mongols in Persia and China 266

CHRONOLOGY 236 AFTER THE MONGOLS 268

Tamerlane and the Timurids 269
ISLAMIC AND HINDU KINGDOMS 236
The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire 269
The Quest for Centralized Imperial Rule 236
Summary 271
The Introduction of Islam to Northern India 236
Study Terms 271
The Hindu Kingdoms of Southern India 238
For Further Reading 271
PRODUCTION AND TRADE
IN THE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN 238 CHAPTER 15
Agriculture in the Monsoon World 238 States and Societies
Trade and the Economic Development of Southern of Sub-Saharan Africa 272
India 239
Cross-Cultural Trade in the Indian Ocean Basin 240 CHRONOLOGY 274

SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Cosmas Indicopleustes on EFFECTS OF EARLY AFRICAN MIGRATIONS 274
Trade in Southern India 241 Agriculture and
Caste and Society 242 Population
Growth 274
RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA 243
Political
The Increasing Popularity of Hinduism 243 Organization 275
Islam and Its Appeal 244
AFRICAN SOCIETY
REVERBERATIONS OF: The Spread of Religious AND CULTURAL
Traditions 245 DEVELOPMENT 276
THE INFLUENCE OF INDIAN SOCIETY Social Classes 276
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 245 African Religion 277
The States of Southeast Asia 245 The Arrival of
The Arrival of Islam 248 Christianity 278
 CONTENTS xi

REVERBERATIONS OF: The Diffusion of Technologies 280 STATES AND EMPIRES IN MESOAMERICA
ISLAMIC KINGDOMS AND EMPIRES 280 AND NORTH AMERICA 310
Trans-Saharan Trade and Islamic States in West Africa 280 The Toltecs and the Mexica 310
Indian Ocean Trade and Islamic States in East Africa 283 Mexica Society 312
Mexica Religion 313
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Ibn Battuta on Muslim
Society at Mogadishu 285 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Mexica Expectations of
Boys and Girls 314
Summary 287
Study Terms 287 Peoples and Societies of North America 314
For Further STATES AND EMPIRES IN SOUTH AMERICA 316
Reading 287 The Coming of the Incas 316
Inca Society and Religion 318
CHAPTER 16 THE SOCIETIES OF OCEANIA 319
Christian Western The Nomadic Foragers of Australia 319
Europe during the The Development of Pacific Island Societies 320
Middle Ages 288 REVERBERATIONS OF: The Diffusion of
Technologies 321
CHRONOLOGY 290
Summary 324
THE QUEST FOR ORDER AND THE ESTABLISHMENT
OF REGIONAL STATES 290 Study Terms 324
The Franks and the Temporary Revival of Empire 290 For Further Reading 324
The Holy Roman Empire 292 CHAPTER 18
Regional Monarchies in France and England 292
Regional States in Italy and Iberia 294
Cross-Cultural Interactions 326
CHRONOLOGY 328
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT 294 LONG-DISTANCE TRADE AND TRAVEL 328
REVERBERATIONS OF: The Diffusion of Technologies 295 Patterns of Long-Distance Trade 328
Organizing a Decentralized Society 295 SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Ibn Battuta on Customs in
Serfs, Manors, and the Growth of the Agricultural the Mali Empire 329
Economy 295 Political and Diplomatic Travel 329
The Revival of Towns and Trade 296 Missionary Campaigns 332
Social Change 297 Long-Distance Travel and Cross-Cultural
Exchanges 332
SOURCES FROM THE PAST: Privileges Granted in
London to the Hanse of Cologne 1157–1194 298 CRISIS AND RECOVERY 333
EUROPEAN CHRISTIANITY DURING THE MIDDLE AGES 299 Bubonic Plague 333
The Politics of Conversion 300 CONNECTING THE SOURCES: Individual experiences of
The Papacy 300 the bubonic plague 334
Monasticism 300 Recovery in China: The Ming Dynasty 336
Schools, Universities, and Scholastic Theology 301 Recovery in Western Europe: State Building 337
Popular Religion 302 Recovery in Western Europe: The Renaissance 338
THE MEDIEVAL EXPANSION OF EUROPE 303 EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION 340
Atlantic and Baltic Colonization 303 REVERBERATIONS OF: The Diffusion of Technologies 341
The Reconquest of Sicily and Spain 305 The Chinese Reconnaissance of the Indian Ocean Basin 341
The Crusades 305 European Exploration in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans 342
Summary 307 Summary 344
Study Terms 307 Study Terms 344
For Further Reading 307 For Further Reading 345
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: Part 4 346
CHAPTER 17
Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania 308 Glossary G-1
Credits C-1
CHRONOLOGY 310 Index I-1
Preface
How do the themes of traditions and encounters
help make sense of the entire human past?
World history is about both diversity and connections.
We began this text with a simple goal: to help our students
understand the unique histories of the world’s rich variety of
peoples while allowing them to see the long histories of con-
nections and interactions that have shaped all human commu-
nities for millennia. To do this, we have written a story around
the dual themes of traditions and encounters, so that we can
highlight the many different religions and customs embraced
by the world’s peoples while also exploring the encounters
with other cultures that brought about inevitable change.
The interaction of these traditions and encounters pro-
vides the key to making sense of our past. Human communi-
ties furthered themselves not by remaining isolated, but by
interacting with others and exploring the benefits and risks of
reaching out. The vitality of history—and its interpretation—
lies in understanding the nature of individual traditions and
the scope of encounters that punctuated every significant
event in human history.
Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History provides
a global vision of history that is increasingly meaningful in a
shrinking world. The theme of traditions draws attention to the
formation, maintenance, and sometimes collapse of individual
societies. Because the world’s peoples have also interacted reg-
ularly with one another since the earliest days of human history,
the theme of encounters directs attention to communications,
interactions, networks, and exchanges that have linked individ-
ual societies to their neighbors and others in the larger world.
The themes of traditions and encounters are at the heart
of every chapter in the text. They provide a lens through
which to interpret the affairs of humankind and the pressures
that continue to shape history. All aspects of the text support
these themes—from the organization of chapters, engaging
stories of the world’s peoples, to the robust map program
and critical-thinking features.
Organization: Seven Eras of Global History
We discuss the world’s development through time by organiz-
ing it into seven eras of global history. These eras, treated
xii
successively in the seven parts of this book, represent coherent
epochs that form the larger architecture of world history as we
see it. Every region of the world is discussed in each of the
seven eras. The eras owe their coherence in large part to the
networks of transportation, communication, and exchange that
have linked peoples of different societies at different times in
the past. This structure allows us to make cross-cultural com-
parisons that help frame world history for students to put events
in a perspective that renders them more understandable.
Highlights of the Fourth Edition
In preparing this fourth edition of Traditions and Encoun-
ters: A Brief Global History, we have revised and updated
the text to stay current with recent world historical schol-
arship and to stay true to the goals of a brief textbook.
Significant modifications to the fourth edition include
new material on the ancient peoples of South and Central
Asia, revised material on the 16th century Americas, ad-
ditional material on the Ottoman Empire during World
War I, new scholarship on the Communist International,
and thoroughly updated material on the 21st century. In
addition, the visual art program has been extensively re-
freshed, and the Sources of the Past feature in each chap-
ter includes a variety of new sources.
Additional significant changes to the fourth edition include
the following:
Chapter 1, “The Foundations of Complex Societies”: revised
to reflect current scholarship on nomadic peoples as well as
the centrality of religion to Sumerian culture.
Chapter 3, “Early Societies in South and East Asia”: revised
to reflect current scholarship on early South Asian peoples.
Chapter 18, “Cross-Cultural Interactions”: New “Thinking
about Traditions” about comparative cultural revivals in
Ming China and Renaissance Europe. New “Thinking about
Encounters” box about long-distance travel and cross-
cultural exchange.
 Primary Source Documents
Chapter 1 The Flood Story from the Epic of
Gilgamesh 17
Chapter 2 Harkhuf’s Expeditions to Nubia 32
Chapter 3 Peasants’ Protest* 56
Chapter 4 The Popol Vuh on the Creation
of Human Beings 70
Chapter 5 Zarathustra on Good and Evil 97
Chapter 6 Confucius on Good Government 104
Chapter 7 Ashoka Adopts Buddhism* 131
Chapter 8 Socrates’ View on Death* 145
Chapter 9 St. Cyprian on Epidemic Disease
in the Roman Empire 167
Chapter 10 The Wealth and Commerce
of Constantinople 189
* Items marked with an asterisk are new to this edition.
ConnectingtheSourcesDocuments
CHAPTER 2
Document 1: Stela (inscribed stone) from the tomb
of a man named Mentuhotep, from the 11th dynasty
(2133–1991 B.C.E.). 36
Document 2: Declaration freeing slaves,
from the 20th dynasty (1185–1070 B.C.E.) 37
CHAPTER 6
Document 1: Selection from the Analects of Confucius,
“On Women and Servants.” 112
Document 2: Excerpt from Ban Zhao’s Lessons for Women,
written in about 80 C.E. 112
Chapter 11 The Quran on Allah and His Expectations
of Humankind 203
Chapter 12 The Arab Merchant Suleiman
on Business Practices in Tang China 226
Chapter 13 Cosmas Indicopleustes
on Trade in Southern India 241
Chapter 14 William of Rubruck on Gender Relations among
the Mongols* 257
Chapter 15 Ibn Battuta on Muslim Society
at Mogadishu 285
Chapter 16 Privileges Granted in London to the Hanse
of Cologne 1157–1194* 298
Chapter 17 Mexica Expectations of Boys and Girls* 314
Chapter 18 Ibn Battuta on Customs in the Mali
Empire* 329
CHAPTER 11
Document 1: Poem attributed to Rabi’a al-’Adawiyya. 212
Document 2: Selection from Alchemy of Happiness
by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Early 12th century. 212
CHAPTER 18
Document 1: Metrica,
by Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374). 334
Document 2: Essay on the Report of the Pestilence,
1348, by Ibn al-Wardi (c. 1290–1349). 334
xiii
Acknowledgments

M any individuals have contributed to this book, and the authors take pleasure in re-
cording deep thanks for all the comments, criticism, advice, and suggestions that
helped to improve the work. Special thanks to the editorial, marketing, and production
teams at McGraw-Hill: Laura Wilk, Rhona Robbin, Nomi Sofer, and Rick Hecker, who provided
crucial support by helping the authors work through difficult issues and solving the innumerable
problems of content, style, organization, and design that arise in any project to produce a
history of the world.

Academic Reviewers
This edition continues to reflect many discerning suggestions made by instructors of the world
history course. We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following reviewers who
suggested many of the changes implemented in this print and digital program:
Heather J. Abdelnur W. H. Bragg
Blackburn College Georgia College and State University
Wayne Ackerson Kathryn Braund
Salisbury University Auburn University
Valerie Adams David Brosius
Arizona State University U.S. Air Force Academy/USAFA
Patrick Albano Robert Brown
Fairmont State University UNC Pembroke
William H. Alexander Gayle Brunelle
Norfolk State University California State University, Fullerton
Michael Balyo Samuel Brunk
Chemeketa Community College University of Texas, El Paso
Diane Barefoot Marybeth Carlson
Caldwell Community College, Watauga Campus University of Dayton
Gene Barnett Kay J. Carr
Calhoun Community College Southern Illinois University
Christopher M. Bellitto Robert Carriedo
Kean University U.S. Air Force Academy/USAFA
Michael J. Bennett Annette Chamberlin
Winston Salem State University Virginia Western Community College
Patricia Boelhower Jim Chelsvig
Marian University MacMurray College
John Boswell Patricia Colman
San Antonio College Moorpark College
Beau Bowers John Davidann
Central Piedmont Community College Hawaii Pacific University
Jeff Bowersox Kevin Dougherty
University of Southern Mississippi University of Southern Mississippi

xiv
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

Tim Dowling Timothy Hawkins Pamela Sayre

Virginia Military Institute Indiana State University Henry Ford Community College
Mike Downs John K. Hayden David Schmidt
Tarrant County College Southeast Southwest Oklahoma State University Bethel College
Christopher Drennan Susan M. Hellert Ron Schultz
Clinton Community College University of Wisconsin, Platteville University of Wyoming
Mitch Driebe Mark C. Herman Jerry Sheppard
Andrew College Edison State College Mount Olive College
Shawn Dry Paul Isherwood Brett S. Shufelt
Oakland Community College Ohio University Copiah-Lincoln Community College
Shannon Duffy Theodore Kallman Kyle Smith
Loyola University of New Orleans San Joaquin Delta Community College Grand Valley State University
Peter Dykema David Katz Michael Snodgrass
Arkansas Technical University Mohawk Valley Community College Indiana University–Purdue University
Ken Faunce Richard Kennedy Indianapolis
Washington State University Mount Olive College Paul Steeves
Robert J. Flynn Xurong Kong Stetson University
Portland Community College Kean University Kurt Stiegler
Deanna D. Forsman Janine Lanza Nicholls State University
North Hennepin Community College Wayne State University Clif Stratton
Sarah Franklin Jodie N. Mader Washington State University
University of Southern Mississippi Thomas More College Elisaveta Todorova
Kristine Frederickson David Massey University of Cincinnati
Brigham Young University Bunker Hill Community College Sarah Trembanis
James Fuller Jason McCollom Immaculata University
University of Indianapolis University of Arkansas Eric Engel Tuten
Jessie Ruth Gaston Mark W. McLeod Slippery Rock University of PA
California State University, University of Delaware Katya Vladimirov
Sacramento Eileen Moore Kennesaw State University
George W. Gawrych Miles College Judith Walden
Baylor University Kelli Yoshie Nakamura College of the Ozarks
Deborah Gerish Kapiolani Community College Ron Wallenfels
Emporia State University Lance Nolde Kean University
Gary G. Gibbs Kapiolani Community College Kathleen Warnes
Roanoke College Nathan Orgill Grand Valley State University
Margaret Gillikin Georgia Gwinnett College Kurt Werthmuller
Tiffin University Anne Osborne Azusa Pacific University
Philip Grace Rider University Sherri West
Grand Valley State University Charles Parker Brookdale Community College
Candace Gregory Saint Louis University Kenneth Wilburn
California State University, Sacramento Bobby Peak East Carolina University
Ernie Grieshaber Shawnee Community College Jeffrey Wilson
Minnesota State University-Mankato Brian Plummer University of New Orleans
Casey Harison Asuza Pacific University Mary Clingerman Yaran
University of Southern Indiana Julie Rancilio Grand Valley State University
Jillian Hartley Kapi‘olani Community College William Zogby
Arkansas Northeastern College Kayla Reno Mohawk Valley Community College
James M. Hastings University of Memphis; Northeast Texas
Wingate University Community College
Gregory Havrilcsak William Rodner
The University of Michigan, Flint Tidewater Community College
xvi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In addition, we would like to thank the following individuals who participated in McGraw-Hill history
symposia and focus groups and on the Connect Board of Advisors; these individuals helped shape our
digital program:
Gisela Ables James Jones Geri Ryder
Houston Community College Prairie View A & M University Ocean County College
Sal Anselmo Mark Jones Linda Scherr
Delgado Community College Central Connecticut State University Mercer County Community College
Simon Baatz Philip Kaplan Susan Schmidt-Horning
John Jay College University of North Florida St. John’s University
Mario A. J. Bennekin Stephen Katz Donna Scimeca
Georgia Perimeter College Philadelphia University College of Staten Island
Manu Bhagavan Carol A. Keller Jeffrey Smith
Hunter College San Antonio College Lindenwood University
C. J. Bibus Greg Kelm Rachel Standish
Wharton County Junior College Dallas Baptist University San Joaquin Delta College
Olwyn M. Blouet Michael Kinney Matthew Vaz
Virginia State University Calhoun Community College City College of New York
Michael Botson Jessica Kovler Roger Ward
Houston Community College John Jay College Colin County Community College–Plano
Cathy Briggs David Lansing Christian Warren
Northwest Vista College Ocean County College Brooklyn College
Brad Cartwright Benjamin Lapp Don Whatley
University of Texas at El Paso Montclair State University Blinn College
Roger Chan Julian Madison Scott M. Williams
Washington State University Southern Connecticut State University Weatherford College
June Cheatham David Marshall Carlton Wilson
Richland College Suffolk County Community College North Carolina Central University
Karl Clark Meredith R. Martin Geoffrey Willbanks
Coastal Bend College Collin College Tyler Junior College
Bernard Comeau Linda McCabe Chad Wooley
Tacoma Community College North Lake College Tarrant County College
Kevin Davis George Monahan
North Central Texas College Suffolk County Community College Connect Board of Advisors
Michael Downs Tracy Musacchio Michael Downs
Tarrant County College–Southeast John Jay College University of Texas–Arlington
Laura Dunn Mikal Nash Jim Halverson
Brevard Community College Essex County College Judson University
Arthur Durand Sandy Norman Reid Holland
Metropolitan Community College Florida Atlantic University Midlands Technical College
David Dzurec Michelle Novak Stephen Katz
University of Scranton Houston Community College–Southeast Rider University
Amy Forss Veena Oldenburg David Komito
Metropolitan Community College Baruch College Eastern Oregon University
Jim Good Jessica Patton Wendy Sarti
Lone Star College–North Harris Tarrant County College–Northwest Oakton Community College
R. David Goodman Edward Paulino Linda Scherr
Pratt Institute John Jay College Mercer County Community College
Wendy Gunderson Craig Pilant Eloy Zarate
Colin County Community College County College of Morris Pasadena City College
Debbie Hargis Robert Risko
Odessa College Trinity Valley Community College
John Hosler Esther Robinson
Morgan State University Lone Star College–Cyfair
 AboutTheAuthors

Jerry H. Bentley was professor of history at the University of Hawai‘i and editor of the
Journal of World History. His research on the religious, moral, and political writings of
Renaissance humanists led to the publication of Humanists and Holy Writ: New Testament
Scholarship in the Renaissance (Princeton, 1983) and Politics and Culture in Renaissance
Naples (Princeton, 1987). More recently, his research was concentrated on global history
and particularly on processes of cross-cultural interaction. His book Old World Encounters:
Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York, 1993) examines
processes of cultural exchange and religious conversion before the modern era, and his pam-
phlet Shapes of World History in Twentieth-Century Scholarship (Washington, D.C., 1996)
discusses the historiography of world history. His most recent publication is The Oxford
Handbook of World History (Oxford, 2011), and he served as a member of the editorial team
preparing the forthcoming Cambridge History of the World. Jerry Bentley passed away in
July 2012.

Herbert F. Ziegler is an associate professor of history at the University of Hawai‘i. He has

taught world history since 1980 and currently serves as director of the world history program
at the University of Hawai‘i. He also serves as book review editor of the Journal of World
History. His interest in twentieth-century European social and political history led to the
publication of Nazi Germany’s New Aristocracy (1990). He is at present working on a study
that explores from a global point of view the demographic trends of the past ten thousand
years, along with their concomitant technological, economic, and social developments. His
other current research project focuses on the application of complexity theory to a compara-
tive study of societies and their internal dynamics.

Heather E. Streets-Salter is department chair and director of world history programs at

Northeastern University. She is the author of Martial Races: The Military, Martial Races,
and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914 (2004), Empires and Colonies in
the Modern World: A Global Perspective (2015) with Trevor Getz, and Southeast Asia and
the First World War (forthcoming 2016). Her current research focuses on communist and
anti-communist networks in interwar East and Southeast Asia.
THE BIG PICTURE

PART 1 THE EARLY COMPLEX SOCIETIES,

3500 TO 500 b.c.e.

CHAPTER 1
The Foundations of
A bout 12,000 years ago, humans crossed an impor-
tant threshold when they began to experiment
with agriculture. It quickly became clear that cultivation
Complex Societies

of crops provided a larger and more reliable food sup- CHAPTER 2

ply than foraging. Groups that turned to agriculture Early African Societies
­experienced rapid population growth, and they settled and the Bantu Migrations
into permanent communities. Some of these devel-
oped into cities and became the world’s first complex CHAPTER 3
societies. Early Societies in South
and East Asia
The Development of Complex Societies
The term complex society refers to a form of large-scale CHAPTER 4
social organization in which productive agricultural econ- Early Societies in the
omies produced surplus food. That surplus allowed some Americas and Oceania
people to devote their time to specialized tasks other
than food production and to congregate in urban settle-
ments. During the centuries from 3500 to 500 b.c.e.,
complex societies arose independently in several regions established political authorities, built states with formal
of the world, including Mesopo­ta­mia, Egypt, northern governmental institutions, collected surplus agricultural
­India, China, Meso­america, and production in the form of taxes or tribute, and redistrib-
the central ­Andean region uted wealth. Complex societies also traded with other
of South America. Each peoples, and they often sought to extend their authority
to surrounding territories.

Increased Social Distinctions

Bronze bust of a
Mesopotamian king often
thought to represent
Sargon of Akkad. The
sculpture dates to about
2350 b.c.e. and reflects
high levels of expertise in
the working of bronze.
Complex societies were able to generate and preserve
much more wealth than smaller societies. When be-
queathed to heirs and held within particular families, this
accumulated wealth became the foundation for social
­distinctions. These societies developed different kinds of
social distinctions, but all recognized several classes of
people, including ruling elites, common people, and slaves.
The Growth
of Sophisticated
Cultural Traditions
All early complex societies also
created sophisticated cultural
traditions. Most of them either
invented or borrowed a system
of writing, which quickly came
to be used to construct tradi-
tions of literature, learning, and
reflection. All the complex soci-
eties organized systems of for-
mal ­education that introduced
intellectual elites to skills such
as writing and astronomical ob-
servation deemed necessary
for their societies’ survival. In
addition, all of these societies
explored the nature of human-
ity, the world, and the gods.
Differences Between Complex
Societies
Although all the early complex societies shared some
common features, each nevertheless d
­ eveloped distinct
In this Maya mural from Bonampak in the southern part of modern
Mexico, war captives prepare to be sacrificed by their captors.
cultural, political, social, and
1
PART
economic traditions of its
own. These d ­ istinctions were
based, at least initially, on
­geographical differences and
the differing availability of
resources. For ­
­ instance, the
absence or presence of large
supplies of fresh water, of river
or ocean transport, of moun-
tains or desert, or of large
draft animals or ­domesticable
plants helped structure the
shape of early economic
­activities, cultural ­beliefs, and
state structures. As a result,
Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of mummification, early complex societies in dif-
prepares the mummy of a deceased worker for burial. This ferent parts of the world grew
painting comes from the wall of a tomb built about the
into a variety of rich and
thirteenth century b.c.e.
unique cultures.
Connections Between Complex
Societies
At the same time, none of the early complex societies
developed their distinct cultures in complete isolation.
­Indeed, each interacted with neighboring peoples, with
whom they traded valuable items, fought, married, and
borrowed ideas about government, philosophy, or reli-
gion. In many ways, these encounters were crucial to the
development of early complex societies. Because of
this, it seems clear that, even in the earliest complex
societies, connections between peoples were an impor-
tant part of the human story.
1. What factors provided the catalyst for the
development of the first complex societies?
2. What needs prompted people in most complex
societies to interact with neighboring societies,
and what might have been the result of these
interactions?
3
The Foundations
of Complex Societies

CHAPTER 1

A wall relief from an

Assyrian palace of the
eighth century b.c.e.
depicts a heroic figure
thought to be Gilgamesh
holding a lion.

4
The Transition to Agriculture The Broader Influence of Mesopotamian Society
The Paleolithic Era Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews
The Neolithic Era The Phoenicians
The Quest for Order The Indo-European Migrations
Mesopotamia: “The Land between the Rivers” Indo-European Origins
The Course of Empire
The Formation of a Complex Society and
Indo-European Expansion and Its Effects
1
PART

Sophisticated Cultural Traditions

Economic Specialization and Trade
The Emergence of a Stratified Patriarchal Society
The Development of Written Cultural Traditions

EYEWITNESS:
Gilgamesh: The Man and the Myth

B y far, the most familiar individual of ancient Mesopotamian society was a man named Gilgamesh. According
to historical sources, Gilgamesh was the fifth king of the city of Uruk. He ruled about 2750 b.c.e., and he led
his community in its conflicts with Kish, a nearby city that was the principal rival of Uruk.
Gilgamesh was a figure of Mesopotamian mythology and folklore as well as history. He was the subject of
numerous poems and legends, and Mesopotamian bards made him the central figure in a cycle of stories known
collectively as the Epic of Gilgamesh. As a figure of legend, Gilgamesh became the greatest hero figure of ancient
Mesopotamia. According to the stories, the gods granted Gilgamesh a perfect body and endowed him with super-
human strength and courage. The legends declare that he constructed the massive city walls of Uruk as well as
several of the city’s magnificent temples to Mesopotamian deities.
The stories that make up the Epic of Gilgamesh recount the adventures of this hero and his cherished friend
Enkidu as they sought fame. They killed an evil monster, rescued Uruk from a ravaging bull, and matched wits
with the gods. In spite of their heroic deeds, Enkidu offended the gods and fell under a sentence of death. His
loss profoundly affected Gilgamesh, who sought for some means to cheat death and gain eternal life. He eventu-
ally found a magical plant that had the power to confer immortality, but a serpent stole the plant and carried it
away, forcing Gilgamesh to recognize that death is the ultimate fate of all human beings. Thus, while focusing on
the activities of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the stories explored themes of friendship, loyalty, ambition, fear of death,
and longing for immortality. In doing so they reflected the interests and concerns of the complex, urban-based
society that had recently emerged in Mesopotamia.
Yet such interests and concerns had their foundation deep in the human past. By the time Mesopotamian society
emerged, our own species of human, Homo sapiens, had existed for about two hundred thousand years. These
humans, who themselves descended from earlier hominids, were already accomplished problem solvers and think-
ers long before urban societies developed. In fact, early human communities were responsible for laying the social,
economic, and cultural foundations on which their descendants built increasingly complex societies—especially
through the domestication of plants and animals and by establishing agricultural economies.
Indeed, productive agricultural economies supported the development of the first known complex socie­ties
during the fourth millennium b.c.e. Such societies, in which sizable numbers of people lived in cities and extended
their political, social, economic, and cultural influence over large regions, emerged first in southwest Asia, par-
ticularly in Mesopotamia. As these complex societies developed and grew, people found that they needed to
resolve disputes that inevitably arose as individual and group interests conflicted. In Mesopotamia, settled agri-
cultural peoples in search of order recognized political authorities and built states. The establishment of states

Uruk (OO-rook)
hominid (HAW-mih-nihd)

5
CHRONOLOGY
4 million–1 million years ago
2.5 million–200,000 years ago
200,000 years ago
40,000 years ago
10,000–8000 b.c.e.
4000–3500 b.c.e.
3200–2350 b.c.e.
3000 b.c.e.–1000 c.e.
2350–1600 b.c.e.
2334–2315 b.c.e.
1792–1750 b.c.e.
1450–1200 b.c.e.
1000–612 b.c.e.
1000–970 b.c.e.
970–930 b.c.e.
722 b.c.e.
605–562 b.c.e.
600–550 b.c.e.
586 b.c.e.
in turn encouraged the creation of empires, as some states
sought to extend their power by imposing their rule on neigh-
boring lands.
Era of first hominids, Australopithecus
Era of Homo erectus
Early evolution of Homo sapiens
First appearance of Homo sapiens sapiens
Early experimentation with agriculture
Appearance of cities in southwest Asia
Era of Sumerian dominance in Mesopotamia
Era of Indo-European migrations
Era of Babylonian dominance in Mesopotamia
Reign of Sargon of Akkad
Reign of Hammurabi
Era of Hittite dominance in Anatolia
Era of Assyrian dominance in Mesopotamia
Reign of Israelite king David
Reign of Israelite king Solomon
Assyrian conquest of the kingdom of Israel
Reign of Nebuchadnezzar
New Babylonian empire
New Babylonian destruction of the first temple in
Judah
Even in the earliest days of city life, the world was the site
of frequent and intense interaction between peoples of dif-
ferent societies.
Apart from stimulating the establish-
ment of states, urban society in Mesopo-
tamia also promoted the emergence of
social classes, thus giving rise to increas-
ingly complex social and economic struc-
tures. Cities fostered specialized labor, and
the efficient production of high-quality goods
in turn stimulated trade. Furthermore, early
Mesopotamia developed distinctive cultural
traditions as Mesopotamians invented a
system of writing and supported organized
religions.
Mesopotamian and other peoples
regularly interacted with one another,
which helped further the geographic reach
of Mesopotamian society. Some Indo-
European peoples also had direct dealings
with their Mesopotamian contemporar-
ies, with effects crucial for both Indo-
European and Mesopotamian societies.
Other Indo-European peoples probably
never heard of Mesopotamia, but they
employed Mesopotamian inventions,
such as wheels and metallurgy, when
undertaking extensive migrations that
profoundly influenced historical develop-
ment throughout much of Eurasia from
western Europe to India and beyond.

THE TRANSITION The Paleolithic Era

TO AGRICULTURE
Between twelve and six thousand years ago, humans
crossed a critical threshold of immense significance for
the species, and the earth more generally, when they
­began to domesticate plants and animals. That transition
to agriculture led to a population explosion, which
­enabled human communities to establish themselves in
far greater numbers around the world than ever before.
Agriculture also led to new forms of social organization,
which ultimately resulted in the birth of the world’s first
urban centers.
Homo sapiens (HOH-moh SAY-pyans)
Homo sapiens sapiens (HOH-moh SAY-pyans SAY-pyans)
Homo sapiens Homo sapiens (“consciously thinking
­human”)—the direct ancestor of our own subspecies, Homo
sapiens sapiens—evolved about two hundred thousand years
ago from a hominid ancestry that originated in east Africa
about four to five million years ago. Homo sapiens possessed
larger brains and greater intelligence than earlier hominids—
a feature that enabled them to adapt to widely varying envi-
ronmental conditions and to displace earlier hominid species.
More than one hundred thousand years ago, communities of
Homo sapiens began to spread throughout the temperate
lands of the eastern hemisphere. Using their intelligence to
make warm clothes and shelters, Homo sapiens soon estab-
lished communities in progressively colder regions. Then,
between sixty and fifteen thousand years ago, Homo sapiens
took advantage of land bridges exposed by lowered sea
­levels and spread to Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, and,

6

finally, the Americas. Thus by about fifteen thousand years
ago, communities of Homo sapiens had appeared in almost
every habitable region of the world.
For most of human existence—indeed, from the evo-
lution of the first hominids until about twelve thousand
years ago—our ancestors foraged for their food. In other
words, they hunted wild animals or gathered edible prod-
ucts of naturally growing plants. That reliance on forag-
ing characterized what historians and archaeologists call
the paleolithic era, or the “old stone age.”
The conditions of foraging economies decisively in-
fluenced all dimensions of the human experience during
the paleolithic era. For instance, because of constant mo-
bility in the search for food, a foraging economy virtually
prohibits individuals from accumulating private property
and basing social distinctions on wealth. In the absence of
accumulated wealth, hunters and gatherers of paleolithic
times probably lived a relatively egalitarian existence.
Some scholars believe that this relative social equality
also extended to relations between the sexes, because all
members of a paleolithic group made important contribu-
tions to the survival of the community. Although meat
from the hunt (provided by men) was the most highly
prized item in the paleolithic diet, plant foods (provided
by women) were essential to survival and sustained com-
munities when the hunt did not succeed. Because of the
thorough interdependence of the sexes from the view-
point of food production, paleolithic society probably did
not encourage the domination of one sex by the other.
The Neolithic Era
Between twelve and six thousand years ago, human com-
munities in a variety of locations underwent profound
economic, social, and political changes when they began to
experiment with the domestication of plants and animals.
Scientists refer to this period as the neolithic era, or “new
stone age,” because of the polished stone tools associated
with peoples who relied on cultivation for subsistence.
Neolithic peoples sought to ensure themselves more
regular food supplies by encouraging the growth of edible
crops and bringing wild animals into dependence on
­human keepers. Many scholars believe that women most
likely began the systematic care of plants. As the principal
gatherers in foraging communities, women in neolithic
societies probably began to nurture plants instead of simply
collecting available foods in the wild. Meanwhile, instead
of just stalking game with the intention of killing it for meat,
neolithic men began to capture animals and domesticate
them by providing for their needs and supervising their
breeding. Over a period of decades and centuries, these
practices gradually led to the formation of agricultural
economies.
Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   7
The Early Spread of Agriculture The transition to
agriculture—including both the cultivation of crops and
the domestication of animals—emerged independently in
several parts of the world. The earliest evidence of agri-
cultural activity discovered so far dates to the era after
9000 b.c.e. in southwest Asia (modern-day Iraq, Syria, and
­Turkey). Between 9000 and 7000 b.c.e., agriculture also
emerged among African peoples inhabiting the southeast-
1
PART
ern margin of the Sahara desert (modern-day Sudan), and
then among the peoples of sub-Saharan west Africa (in the
vicinity of modern Nigeria) between 8000 and 6000 b.c.e.
In east Asia, residents of the Yangzi River valley began
to cultivate crops as early as 6500 b.c.e., and their neigh-
bors to the north in the Yellow River valley did the same
after 5500 b.c.e. In southeast Asia the cultivation of crops
dates from an indeterminate but very early time, probably
3000 b.c.e. or earlier. In the western hemisphere, inhabit-
ants of Mesoamerica (central Mexico) cultivated plants as
early as 4000 b.c.e., and residents of the central Andean
region of South America (modern Peru) followed suit after
3000 b.c.e. It is also possible that the Amazon River valley
was yet another site of independently invented agriculture.
Once established, agriculture spread rapidly. As a re-
sult, foods originally cultivated in only one region also
spread widely, as merchants, migrants, or other travelers
carried knowledge of these foods to agricultural lands that
previously had relied on different crops. However, agricul-
ture did not spread rapidly because it was easier than for-
aging. On the contrary, agriculture involved long hours
of hard physical labor—clearing land, preparing fields,
planting seeds, pulling weeds, and harvesting crops—and
thus probably required more work than paleolithic forag-
ing. Yet over time, agriculture made possible the produc-
tion of abundant food supplies, which in turn allowed
human populations to grow to unprecedented levels. For
example, historians estimate that before agriculture, about
10,000 b.c.e., the earth’s human population was about
four million. By 500 b.c.e., after agriculture had spread to
most world regions, the human population had risen to
about one hundred million.
The Development of Social Distinctions Such rap-
idly increasing populations encouraged neolithic peoples
to adopt new forms of social organization. Because they
devoted their time to cultivation rather than to foraging,
neolithic peoples did not continue the migratory life of
their paleolithic predecessors but, rather, settled near their
fields in permanent villages. Most people in neolithic
­villages cultivated crops or kept animals, and many even
paleolithic (pey-lee-oh-LITH-ik)
neolithic (nee-uh-LITH-ik)
8  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
continued to hunt and forage for wild plants. But a surplus
of food enabled some individuals to concentrate their
time and talents on enterprises that had nothing to do with
the production of food, especially pottery making, metal-
lurgy, and textile production. Moreover, the concentration
of people into permanent settlements and the increasing
specialization of labor provided the first opportunity for
individuals to accumulate considerable wealth. The insti-
tutionalization of privately owned landed property—
which occurred at an uncertain date after the introduction
of agriculture—enhanced the significance of accumu-
lated wealth. Because land was (and remains) the ultimate
source of wealth in any agricultural society, ownership of
land carried enormous economic power. When especially
successful individuals managed to consolidate wealth in
their families’ hands and kept it there for several genera-
tions, clearly defined social classes emerged.
Çatal Hüyük Within four thousand years of its intro-
duction, agriculture had dramatically transformed the
face of the earth. Human beings multiplied prodigiously,
congregated in densely populated quarters, placed the
surrounding lands under cultivation, and domesticated
several species of animals. Besides altering the physical
appearance of the earth, agriculture transformed the
lives of human beings. Even a modest neolithic village
dwarfed a paleolithic band of a few dozen hunters and
gatherers. In larger villages and towns, with their popula-
tions of several thousand people, their specialized labor,
and their craft industries, social relationships became
more complex than would have been conceivable during
paleolithic times.
Excavations carried out at Çatal Hüyük, one of the
best-known neolithic settlements, have helped confirm that
view. Located in south-central Anatolia (modern Turkey),
Çatal Hüyük grew from a small village to a bustling town
of five thousand inhabitants between its settlement in
7250 b.c.e. and its abandonment in 5400 b.c.e. Archaeo-
logical evidence indicates that because the site was close
to large obsidian deposits, Çatal Hüyük became a center
for production and trade in obsidian tools. The wealth
generated from such trade in turn allowed increasing spe-
cialization of labor, so that residents eventually manufac-
tured and traded pots, textiles, leather, beads, and jewelry
at the site. Gradually, dense populations, specialized
­labor, and complex social relations such as those that
­developed at Çatal Hüyük gave rise to an altogether new
form of social organization—the city.
Çatal Hüyük (chat-l-hoo-yook)
Sumerians (soo-MEHR-ee-uhns)
Semitic (suh-MIHT-ihk)
THE QUEST FOR ORDER
The earliest known cities grew out of agricultural villages
and towns in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). During the fourth
millennium b.c.e., human population increased rapidly in
the area, which in turn presented inhabitants with the chal-
lenge of keeping order in a large-scale society. Over time,
by experimentation and adaptation, they created states and
governmental machinery that brought political and social
order to their territories. Moreover, effective political and
military organization enabled them to build regional em-
pires and extend their authority to neighboring peoples.
Mesopotamia:
“The Land between the Rivers”
The place-name Mesopotamia comes from two Greek
words meaning “the land between the rivers.” This was
one of four river-valley regions in which ancient civiliza-
tions were established. Each shared important geographi-
cal features, including dry soils, an environment that was
slowly drying and warming following the end of the last
ice age, and seasonally flooding rivers that made irriga-
tion agriculture possible. So, although Mesopotamia re-
ceived little rainfall, the Tigris and Euphrates brought
large volumes of fresh water to the region. Early cultiva-
tors realized that by tapping these rivers, building reser-
voirs, and digging canals, they could irrigate fields of
barley, wheat, and peas. Small-scale irrigation began in
Mesopotamia soon after 6000 b.c.e.
Sumer Artificial irrigation led to increased food sup-
plies, which in turn supported a rapidly increasing human
population and attracted migrants from other regions.
­Human numbers grew especially fast in the land of Sumer
in the southern half of Mesopotamia. By about 5000 b.c.e.
the Sumerians were constructing elaborate irrigation net-
works that helped them realize abundant agricultural har-
vests. By 3000 b.c.e. the population of Sumer approached
one hundred thousand—an unprecedented concentration
of people in ancient times—and the Sumerians were the
dominant people of Mesopotamia.
Semitic Migrants While supporting a growing popula-
tion, the wealth of Sumer also attracted migrants from other
regions. Most of the new arrivals were Semitic ­peoples—so
called because they spoke tongues in the Semitic family of
languages, including Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, and
Phoenician. Semitic peoples were nomadic herders who
went to Mesopotamia from the Arabian and Syrian deserts
to the south and west. They often i­ntermarried with the
­Sumerians, and they largely adapted to Sumerian ways.
 Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   9

Mesopotamia, 3000–2000 B.C.E.

Black Sea

Ca
sp
1

ian
PART

Sea
Kanesh
A N ATO L I A
Irrigable land between the
ASSYRIA Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
neveh
Nineveh
CYPRUS Eu Assur
ph

Tig
ra

ris
Medi

tes
terranean Sea SYRIA AKKAD
Babylon
Ba
PALESTINE Jericho Lagash
Dead Sea Uruk SUMER
Eridu Ur
Sinai
EGYPT
Peninsula
Nile

Pe
SAHARA

rs
ARABIA

ia
G

n
ul
f
0 500 mi

0 500 km

M A P 1 .1
Early Mesopotamia, 3000–2000 b.c.e. Note the locations of Mesopotamian cities in relation
to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
In what ways were the rivers important for Mesopotamian society?

Sumerian City-States Beginning about 4000 b.c.e., as
human numbers increased in southern Mesopotamia, the
Sumerians built the world’s first cities. These cities differed
markedly from the neolithic villages that preceded them.
Unlike the earlier settlements, the Sumerian cities were
centers of political and military authority, and their juris-
diction extended into the surrounding regions. Moreover,
bustling marketplaces that drew buyers and sellers from
near and far turned the cities into economic centers as well.
Finally, the cities also served as cultural centers where
priests maintained organized religions and scribes devel-
oped traditions of writing and formal education. For almost
a millennium, from 3200 to 2350 b.c.e., a dozen Sumerian
cities—Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, Kish, and others—
dominated public affairs in Mesopotamia.
These cities all experienced internal and external
pressures that prompted them to establish states—formal
governmental institutions that wielded authority through-
out their territories. Internally, the cities needed recog-
nized authorities to maintain order and ensure that
inhabitants cooperated on community projects. With their
expanding populations, the cities also needed to prevent
conflicts between urban residents from escalating into se-
rious civic disorder. In addition, because agriculture was
crucial to the welfare of urban residents, the cities all
b­ ecame city-states: they not only controlled public life
within the city walls but also oversaw affairs in surround-
ing agricultural regions.
While preserving the peace, recognized authorities
were also needed to organize work on projects of value
to the entire community. Palaces, temples, and defensive
walls dominated all the Sumerian cities. Particularly
impressive were the ziggurats—distinctive stepped pyra-
mids that housed temples and altars to the principal local
deity. More important, however, were the irrigation sys-
tems that supported productive agriculture and urban so-
ciety. As their population grew, the Sumerians expanded
their networks of reservoirs and canals, whose construc-
tion and maintenance required untold thousands of labor-
ers and provided precious water for Sumerian crops.
Sumerian Kings As the wealth of Sumerian cities grew,
they began to face increasing external problems from
raiders outside the cities. The cities responded to that
threat by building defensive walls and organizing military
forces. Thus the need to recruit, train, equip, maintain,
and deploy military forces created another demand for
recognized ­authority. To answer that demand, the earliest
ziggurats (ZIG-uh-rahts)
10  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
Sumerian Ziggurat.
The massive temple of the moon god Nanna-Suen (sometimes known as Sin) dominated the Sumerian city of Ur. Constructing temples of this
size required a huge investment of resources and thousands of laborers.
As some of the largest human-built structures of the time, how might such temples have impressed Mesopotamian peoples?
Sumerian governments were probably made up of assem-
blies of prominent men who made decisions on behalf of
the whole community. By about 3000 b.c.e., however,
most Sumerian cities were ruled by individual kings
(known as lugals) who claimed absolute authority within
their realms. By 2500 b.c.e. city-states ruled by kings
dominated public life in Sumer.
The Course of Empire
Conflicts between city-states often led to war between
ambitious or aggrieved kings. However, after 2350 b.c.e.
a series of conquerors sought to put an end to these con-
stant conflicts by building empires that supervised the
affairs of numerous subject cities and peoples.
Sargon of Akkad The first of these conquerors was
Sargon of Akkad. A talented administrator and brilliant
warrior, Sargon (2370–2315 b.c.e.) began his career as
a minister to the king of Kish. About 2334 b.c.e. he or-
ganized a coup against the king, recruited an army, and
went on the offensive against the Sumerian city-states.
Sin (seen)
Hammurabi (hahm-uh-RAH-bee)
He conquered the cities one by one, destroyed their defen-
sive walls, and placed them under his own governors and
administrators. Sargon financed his empire by seizing
control of trade routes and taxing the goods that traveled
along them, which allowed him to transform his capital at
Akkad into the wealthiest and most powerful city in the
world. At the high point of his reign, his empire embraced
all of Mesopotamia, and his armies had ventured as far
afield as the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
By about 2150 b.c.e. Sargon’s empire had collapsed
in the midst of rebellion from within and invasion from
outsiders. Yet the memory of his deeds, recorded in legends
and histories as well as in his own works of propaganda,
inspired later conquerors to follow his example. Most
prominent of these later conquerors was the Babylonian
Hammurabi (reigned 1792–1750 b.c.e.), who styled him-
self “king of the four quarters of the world.” Hammurabi
improved on Sargon’s administrative techniques by relying
on centralized bureaucratic rule and regular taxation rather
than on suppression and plunder.
Law in Hammurabi’s Babylon By these means
­Hammurabi developed a more efficient and predictable
­government than his predecessors and also spread its costs
more evenly over the population. Hammurabi also sought to
 Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   11

­ aintain his empire by providing it with a code of law, which

m The code relied heavily on the principle that offend-
became the most extensive and complete Mesopotamian law
code up to that point. In the prologue to his laws, Hammurabi
proclaimed that the gods had chosen him “to promote the
welfare of the people, . . . to cause justice to prevail in the
land, to destroy the wicked and evil, [so] that the strong
might not oppress the weak, to rise like the sun over the
people, and to light up the land (Harper 1904).” Hammu-
ers should suffer punishments resembling their violations.
However, the code did not treat all social classes equally
and demanded lesser punishments for those of higher
classes who committed crimes against those of lower
classes. In addition, local judges did not always follow the
prescriptions of Hammurabi’s code: indeed, they fre-
quently relied on their own judgment when deciding cases
1
PART

rabi’s laws established high standards of behavior and stern
punishments for violators. They prescribed death penalties
for murder, theft, fraud, false accusations, sheltering of run-
away slaves, failure to obey royal orders, adultery, and incest.
Civil laws regulated prices, wages, commercial dealings,
marital relationships, and the conditions of slavery.
MAP 1.2
Mesopotamian empires, 1800–600 b.c.e. Mesopotamian
empires facilitated interactions between peoples from
different societies. Consider the various land, river, and
sea routes by which peoples of Mesopotamia, Anatolia,
and Egypt were able to communicate with one another in
the second and first millennia b.c.e.
Black Sea
that came before them. Nevertheless, Hammurabi’s laws
established a set of common standards that lent some de-
gree of cultural unity to the far-flung Babylonian empire.
Eventually, the wealth of the Babylonian empire at-
tracted invaders. Foremost among them were the Hittites,
who had built a powerful empire in Anatolia (modern-day
Turkey). By about 1595 b.c.e. the Babylonian empire had
crumbled before Hittite assaults. For several centuries af-
ter the fall of Babylon, southwest Asia was a land of con-
siderable turmoil, as regional states competed for power
and position while migrants and invaders struggled to
­establish footholds for themselves in Mesopotamia and
neighboring regions.

Ca
spia
A N ATO L I A

n Sea
Kanesh

SYRIA Tigris

Nineveh
Aegean
Sea Eu
p
CYPRUS Assur
hr
at e

CRETE
s

M E S O P OTA M I A
E

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S ea
TIN
ES

Babylon
Nippur
PA L

Jericho
Lagash
Dead Sea ARABIA Uruk

EGYPT Eridu Ur
Sinai The distinctive shape of the Assyrian
Memphis
Peninsula empire closely correlates to areas that
Pe

SAHARA could be irrigated by large rivers.

rs
ia

Assyrian empire
n

ul
G

Hammurabi’s empire f
Ni

Re
le

Hittite empire
dS

Thebes 0 200 mi Area of Mesopotamia

ea

conquered by Hittites
0 200 km
12  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
The Assyrian Empire Imperial rule returned to Meso-
potamia with the Assyrians, a people from northern
­Mesopotamia who had built a compact state in the Tigris
River valley during the nineteenth century b.c.e. Taking
advantage of their location on trade routes running both
north-south and east-west, the Assyrians built flourishing
cities at Assur and Nineveh. They built a powerful and
intimidating army by organizing their forces into stan-
dardized units and placing them under the command of
professional officers chosen on the basis of merit and
skill. They supplemented infantry with cavalry forces and
light, swift, horse-drawn chariots, which they borrowed
from the Hittites. These chariots were devastating instru-
ments of war that allowed archers to attack their enemies
from rapidly moving platforms.
Many states jockeyed for power following the collapse
of the Babylonian empire, but after about 1300 b.c.e. the
Assyrians gradually extended their authority to much of
southwest Asia. At its high point, during the eighth and
seventh centuries b.c.e., the Assyrian empire embraced
not only Mesopotamia but also Syria, Palestine, much of
Anatolia, and most of Egypt.
Like most other Mesopotamian peoples, the Assyrians
relied on the administrative techniques pioneered by their
Babylonian predecessors, and they followed laws much
like those enshrined in the code of Hammurabi. They also
preserved a great deal of Mesopotamian literature in huge
libraries maintained at their large and lavish courts. Yet
Assyrian domination was extremely unpopular and proved
impossible to maintain. In 612 b.c.e. a combination of in-
ternal unrest and external assault brought the empire down.
The New Babylonian Empire For half a century, from
600 to 550 b.c.e., Babylon once again dominated Mesopo-
tamia during the New Babylonian empire, sometimes
called the Chaldean empire. King Nebuchadnezzar
(reigned 605–562 b.c.e.) lavished wealth and resources on
his capital city. Babylon occupied some 850 hectares
(more than 2,100 acres), and the city’s defensive walls
were reportedly so thick that a four-horse chariot could
turn around on top of them. Within the walls there were
enormous palaces and 1,179 temples, some of them faced
with gold and decorated with thousands of statues. When
one of the king’s wives longed for flowering shrubs from
her mountain homeland, Nebuchadnezzar had them
planted in terraces above the city walls, and the hanging
gardens of Babylon have symbolized the city’s luxurious-
ness ever since.
By this time, however, peoples beyond Mesopotamia
had acquired advanced weapons and were experimenting
with techniques of administering large territories. As a
Assyrians (uh-SEER-ee-uhns)
Nebuchadnezzar (neb-uh-kud-NEZ-er)
result, in the mid–sixth century b.c.e. Mesopotamians
largely lost control of their affairs, and foreign conquerors
absorbed them into their own empires.
THE FORMATION OF
A COMPLEX SOCIETY
AND SOPHISTICATED
CULTURAL TRADITIONS
With the emergence of cities and the congregation of
dense populations in urban spaces, specialized labor pro-
liferated. The Mesopotamian economy became increas-
ingly diverse, and trade linked the region with distant
peoples. Clearly defined social classes emerged, as small
groups of people concentrated wealth and power in their
own hands, and Mesopotamia developed into a patriar-
chal society that vested authority largely in adult males.
Mesopotamians also allocated some of their resources to
individuals who worked to develop sophisticated cultural
traditions, including the invention of writing, which en-
abled them to record information for future retrieval. In-
deed, writing soon became a foundation for education,
science, literature, and religious reflection.
Economic Specialization and Trade
When large numbers of people began to congregate in
cities and work at tasks other than agriculture, they vastly
expanded the stock of human skills. Craftsmen refined
techniques inherited from earlier generations and experi-
mented with new ways of doing things. Pottery making,
textile manufacture, woodworking, leather production,
brick making, stonecutting, and masonry all became dis-
tinct occupations in the world’s earliest cities.
Bronze Metallurgy Metallurgical innovations ranked
among the most important developments that came about
because of specialized labor. About 3500 b.c.e. experi-
mentation with copper metallurgy led to the invention
of bronze when Mesopotamian metalworkers learned to
­alloy copper with tin. Unlike pure copper, bronze is both
hard and strong, and it quickly became the preferred metal
for military weaponry as craftsmen turned out swords,
spears, axes, shields, and armor made of the recently in-
vented metal. And although bronze was expensive, over
a long period Mesopotamian farmers also began to use
bronze knives and bronze-tipped plows instead of tools
made of bone, wood, stone, or obsidian.
Iron Metallurgy After about 1000 b.c.e. Mesopotamian
craftsmen began to manufacture effective tools and
weapons with iron as well as bronze. Whereas early

Sumerian shipbuilding.
A silver model of a boat discovered in a royal tomb at Ur sheds light on Sumerian transportation of grain and other goods on the rivers, canals,
and marshes of southern Mesopotamia about 2500 b.c.e.
e­ xperimentation with iron metallurgy resulted in products
that were too brittle for heavy-duty uses, by about 1300 b.c.e.
craftsmen from Hittite society in Anatolia (discussed later
in this chapter) developed techniques of forging excep-
tionally strong iron tools and weapons. As knowledge of
those techniques spread, Assyrian conquerors made par-
ticularly effective use of them by forging iron weapons to
build their empire. Iron also had the advantage of being
less expensive than bronze, which quickly made it the
metal of choice for weapons and tools.
The Wheel Other craftsmen focused on devising efficient
means of transportation based on wheeled vehicles and
sailing ships, both of which facilitated long-distance trade.
Sumerians first invented the wheel in about 3500 b.c.e.,
and they were building wheeled carts by 3000 b.c.e.
Wheeled carts and wagons enabled people to haul heavy
loads of bulk goods over much longer distances than hu-
man porters or draft animals could manage. The wheel
rapidly diffused from Sumer to neighboring lands, and
within a few centuries it had become a standard means of
overland transportation.
Shipbuilding Sumerians also experimented with tech-
nologies of maritime transportation. By 3500 b.c.e. they
had built watercraft that allowed them to venture into the
Persian Gulf and beyond. By 2300 b.c.e. they were trading
regularly with merchants of Harappan society in the Indus
Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   13
1
PART
River valley of northern India (discussed in chapter 3),
which they reached by sailing through the Persian Gulf
and the Arabian Sea. Until about 1750 b.c.e. Sumerian
merchants shipped woolen textiles, leather goods, sesame
oil, and jewelry to India in exchange for copper, ivory,
pearls, and semiprecious stones. During the time of the
Babylonian empire, Mesopotamians traded extensively
with peoples in all directions: they imported silver from
Anatolia, cedarwood from Lebanon, copper from Arabia,
gold from Egypt, tin from Persia, lapis lazuli from
­Afghanistan, and carnelian from Gujarat.
Trade Networks Archaeological excavations have shed
bright light on one Mesopotamian trade network in par-
ticular. During the early second millennium b.c.e., Assyrian
merchants traveled regularly by donkey caravan some
1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from their home of Assur
in northern Mesopotamia to Kanesh (modern Kültepe) in
Anatolia. Surviving correspondence shows that during the
forty-five years from 1810 to 1765 b.c.e., merchants trans-
ported at least eighty tons of tin and one hundred thousand
textiles from Assur and returned from Kanesh with no less
than ten tons of silver. The correspondence also shows that
the merchants and their families operated a well-organized
business. Merchants’ wives and children manufactured
textiles in Assur and sent them to their menfolk who lived
in trading colonies at Kanesh. The merchants responded
with orders for textiles in the styles desired at Kanesh.
14  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
Reverberations
The Role of Urbanization in the Creation of Patriarchy
S ome events or processes in the global
past are so momentous that they
produce social, political, economic, or
environmental changes for centuries—
even in places thousands of miles from their points
of origin. In other words, we can see the rever­
berations of these events or processes in multiple
places and in multiple timelines after they occur.
Understanding the spectrum of consequences
spurred by such momentous events and processes
can help us trace the historical connections between
the world’s people and places, even when such
connections may not have been obvious to people
living at the time.
Urbanization and Patriarchy
The creation of the first cities in human history was one
of these momentous processes. Between 4000 and
2350 b.c.e., cities emerged in the fertile region of Mesopo-
tamia. After 2350 b.c.e., Mesopotamian leaders of city-
states also built empires to dominate ever-larger regions,
which spread the values and practices of these urban
centers across Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Egypt. Yet
­ Scholars suggest a variety of reasons why urbanization
­peoples in North Africa (chapter 2), India (chapter 3), and
East Asia (chapter 3) also built cities independently begin-
ning in about 3100 b.c.e., 3000 b.c.e., and 2200 b.c.e.,
respectively. Near the turn of the first millennium c.e.,
­ women’s roles as producers of children, who could provide
The Emergence of a
Stratified Patriarchal Society
With their increasingly specialized labor and long-
distance trade, cities provided many more opportunities
for the accumulation of wealth than ever before. As a result,
social distinctions in Mesopotamia became much more
sharply defined than those in neolithic villages.
Social Classes In early Mesopotamia the ruling classes
originally consisted of kings and nobles who were elected
to their positions because of their valor and success as
warriors. However, royal status soon became hereditary,
large-scale agriculture similarly led to the development of
cities in Central and South America (chapter 4). In all of
these ­locations, early urbanization involved the establish-
ment of states that localized power in the hands of a small
group of people, organized military protection, made laws
to control large populations, oversaw the development
of large-scale infrastructure such as irrigation, and ex-
erted control over the surrounding countryside. Also in all
these locations, urbanization appears to have resulted in
the decline of women’s status over time and in the creation
of patriarchy, or the institutional domination of men over
women.
Why Patriarchy?
Scholars believe the emergence of patriarchy was closely
linked to early urbanization. Although evidence from the
deep human past is limited, many historians and archeolo-
gists believe that urbanization created a set of similar pres-
sures that led societies to develop patriarchal practices in
many different areas. Once established, these practices
spread as cities and city-states increased their influence
over surrounding regions—with long-lasting and profound
effects on the development of human societies for thou-
sands of years.
might have encouraged the development of patriarchy.
Some argue that the transition to intensive agriculture char-
acteristic of early cities led to practices that emphasized
as kings arranged for their sons to succeed them. Nobles
were mostly members of royal families and other close
supporters of the kings and thus controlled significant
wealth and power. Members of the ruling class displayed
their high status through large-scale construction projects
and by lavishly decorating their capital cities.
Temple Communities Closely allied with the ruling
elites were priests and priestesses, many of whom were
younger relatives of the rulers. The principal role of the
priestly elites was to intervene with the gods to ensure good
fortune for their communities. In exchange for those ser-
vices, priests and priestesses lived in temple communities

the workforce necessary for such large-
scale agriculture. At the same time, this
­emphasis on producing large numbers of
children may have led women to have less
time and ­ energy for heavy agricultural
work—particularly once plows had been
introduced. Other scholars ­
­ argue that
i ncreased militarization of agricultural
­ clear that gender stratification was al-
­societies—in order to protect resources
from ­outside ­invaders—led to a decline in
women’s status, since pregnancy and
child-rearing tended to ­ p revent most
women from soldiering. In fact, some
scholars speculate that this may be why
the status of women in the early cities of
the Nile River valley (chapter 2) and the
­Indus River valley (chapter 3) was higher
than in the cities of Mesopotamia and East
Asia (chapter 3): since early cities in the
former two areas were more militarily
secure—and thus less militarized—than
­ view the development of patriarchy as
their counterparts in Mesopotamia and
East Asia, they also may have been less
patriarchal. Still other scholars argue that
as power and wealth grew concentrated
in the hands of a small class of elites, the
desire to keep such power and wealth
within particular families led to increased
anxieties about ensuring the lineage of
all family members. Since it was impos-
sible for men to ensure the ­paternity of
their children, paternity was increasingly
ensured by controlling women’s
and received offerings of food, drink, and clothing from
city inhabitants. Temples also generated income from the
vast tracts of land that they owned and large workshops that
they maintained. Because of their wealth, temples provided
comfortable livings for their inhabitants, and they also
served the needs of the larger community. For instance,
temples functioned as banks where individuals could store
wealth, and they helped underwrite trading ventures to
distant lands. They also helped those in need by taking in
orphans, supplying grain in times of famine, and providing
ransoms for community members captured in battle.
Apart from the ruling and priestly elites, Mesopotamian
society included less privileged classes of free commoners,
Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   15
movements, morality, and access to other
men through the assumption of political
control (chapters 1–4), laws (chapters 1 and
3), veiling (chapter 1), and seclusion (chap-
ters 1 and 3).
1
PART
Patriarchy did not develop overnight
in ancient urban areas, and it seems
ready developing among farming vil-
lages by the time cities first emerged.
However, by 1000 b.c.e. patriarchal
practices, enshrined both in ­ c ustom
and law, had become a way of life for
urbanized peoples in Mesopotamia,
the Nile, the Indus River valley, and
east Asia. In the Americas, patriarchal
practices also seem to have emerged
in early cities, although evidence of
their particular shape is quite limited.
For these reasons, many scholars
an integral part of the development of
urbanization. When reading subse-
quent chapters, consider the effects
patriarchal structures have had on
so­ci­e­ties around the world over the
very long term.
Hammurabi’s Laws. Hammurabi’s Code
of Laws demonstrate that women already
occupied a subordinate legal and social
position in ancient Mesopotamia nearly
4,000 years ago.
dependent clients, and slaves. Free commoners mostly
worked as peasant cultivators in the countryside on land
owned by their families, although some also worked in the
cities as builders, craftsmen, or professionals. Dependent
­clients possessed no property and usually worked as agricul-
tural laborers on estates owned by others. Free commoners
and dependent clients all paid taxes—usually in the form of
surplus agricultural production—that supported the ruling
classes, military forces, and temple communities. In addi-
tion, free commoners and dependent clients were subject to
conscription by ruling authorities to provide labor services
for large-scale construction projects such as roads, city walls,
irrigation systems, temples, and public buildings.
16  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
Commoners in
Mesopotamia.
Gypsum carving of an
elderly couple from the
city of Nippur about
2500 b.c.e.
How does this figure give
us insight into daily life
among the Sumerians?
Slaves Slaves came from three main sources: prisoners
of war, convicted criminals, and heavily indebted indi-
viduals who sold themselves into slavery to satisfy their
obligations. Some slaves worked as agricultural laborers
on the estates of nobles or temple communities, but most
were domestic servants in wealthy households. Many
masters granted slaves their freedom, often with a finan-
cial bequest, after several years of good service.
In addition to recognizing differences of rank, wealth,
and social status, Mesopotamians built a patriarchal soci-
ety that vested authority over public and private affairs in
adult men. Men made most of the important decisions
within households and dominated public life as well. In
effect, men ruled as kings, and decisions about policies
and public affairs rested almost entirely in their hands.
Gender Roles Hammurabi’s laws throw considerable
light on sex and gender relations in ancient Mesopotamia.
The laws recognized men as heads of their households and
entrusted all major family decisions to their judgment. Men
even had the power to sell their wives and children into
slavery to satisfy their debts. In the interests of protecting
the reputations of husbands and the legitimacy of offspring,
the laws prescribed death by drowning as the punishment
for adulterous wives, as well as for their partners, while
permitting men to engage in consensual sexual relations
with concubines, slaves, or prostitutes without penalty.
In spite of their subordinate legal status, women
made their influence felt in Mesopotamian society. At
­ruling courts women sometimes advised kings and their
governments. A few women wielded great power as high
priestesses who managed the enormous estates belonging
to their temples. Others obtained a formal education and
worked as scribes—literate individuals who prepared ad-
ministrative and legal documents for governments and
private parties. Women also pursued careers as midwives,
shopkeepers, brewers, bakers, tavern keepers, and textile
manufacturers.
During the second millennium b.c.e., however, Mes-
opotamian men progressively tightened their control over
the social and sexual behavior of women. To protect fam-
ily fortunes and guarantee the legitimacy of heirs, Meso-
potamians insisted on the virginity of brides at marriage,
and they forbade casual socializing between married
women and men outside their family. By 1500 b.c.e. and
probably even earlier, married women in Mesopotamian
cities had begun to wear veils when they ventured beyond
their own households in order to discourage the attention
of men from other families. This concern to control wom-
en’s social and sexual behavior spread throughout much
of southwest Asia and the Mediterranean basin, where it
reinforced patriarchal social structures.
The Development of
Written Cultural Traditions
The world’s earliest known writing came from Mesopota-
mia. Sumerians invented a system of writing about the
middle of the fourth millennium b.c.e. to keep track of
commercial transactions and tax collections. They first
experimented with pictographs representing animals, ag-
ricultural products, and trade items that figured promi-
nently in tax and commercial transactions. By 3100 b.c.e.
conventional signs representing specific words had
spread throughout Mesopotamia.
A writing system that depends on pictures is useful
for purposes such as keeping records, but it is a cumber-
some way to communicate abstract ideas. Beginning about
2900 b.c.e. the Sumerians developed a more flexible
system of writing that used graphic symbols to represent
sounds, syllables, and ideas as well as physical objects.
By combining pictographs and other symbols, the Sume-
rians created a powerful writing system.
Cuneiform Writing When writing, a Sumerian scribe
used a stylus fashioned from a reed to impress symbols on
wet clay. Because the stylus left lines and wedge-shaped
marks, Sumerian writing is known as cuneiform, a term
that comes from two Latin words meaning “wedge-
shaped.” When dried in the sun or baked in an oven, the
clay hardened and preserved a permanent record of the
scribe’s message. Babylonians, Assyrians, and other peo-
ples later adapted the Sumerians’ script to their own lan-
guages, and the tradition of cuneiform writing continued
for more than three thousand years.
Though originally invented for purposes of keeping
records, writing clearly had potential that went far beyond
the purely practical matter of storing information. Meso-
potamians relied on writing to communicate complex
ideas about the world, the gods, human beings, and their
relationships with one another. Indeed, writing made

SourcesfromthePast
The Flood Story from the Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving epic poem
in history, dating from about 2500 b.c.e. As part of his
adventures, Gilgamesh seeks the secret of immortality
from a wise man named Ut-napishtim. During the visit, ­
Ut-napishtim tells him how the god Ea alerted him to
a plot by the gods to destroy humankind by a massive
flood. Here, Ut-napishtim recounts the story to Gilgamesh.
In its circuit (the boat measured) 14 measures
I placed its roof on it (and) I enclosed it
I rode in it, for the sixth time;
I (rode in it) for the seventh time into the restless deep.
Its planks the waters within it admitted,
I saw breaks and holes.
Three measures of bitumen I poured over the outside,
Three measures of bitumen I poured over the inside.
The men carrying its baskets . . . fixed an altar;
I unclosed the altar for an offering.
The material of the ship (was) completed;
Reeds I spread above and below.
All I possessed I collected it, all I possessed I collected
of silver,
All I possessed I collected of gold,
All I possessed I collected of the seed of life, the whole.
I caused to go up into the ship, all my male and female
servants,
The beasts of the field, the animals of the field,
And the sons of the army all of them, I caused to go up.
A flood Shamas made, and he spoke saying in the night,
‘I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily;
Enter to the midst of the ship, and shut thy door.’
A flood he raised, and he spoke saying in the night,
‘I will cause it to rain from heaven heavily.’
In the day that I celebrated his festival, the day that
he had appointed; fear I had.
I entered to the midst of the ship, and shut my door . . .
The raging of a storm in the morning arose,
From the horizon of heaven extending and wide . . .
The bright earth to a waste was turned;
The surface of the earth (was) swept.
possible the emergence of a distinctive cultural tradition that
shaped Mesopotamian values for almost three millennia.
Astronomy and Mathematics Literacy led to a rapid
expansion of knowledge. Mesopotamian scholars devoted
themselves to the study of astronomy and mathematics—
both important sciences for agricultural societies. Knowl-
edge of astronomy helped them prepare accurate calendars,
Chapter 1 The Foundations of Complex Societies   17
It destroyed all life, from the face of the earth.
The strong tempest over the people, reached to heaven.
Brother saw not his brother, it did not spare the people . . .
1
PART
Six days and nights passed, the wind tempest and storm
overwhelmed.
On the seventh day in its course, was calmed the storm,
and all the tempest which had destroyed like an
earthquake, quieted.
The sea he caused to dry, and the wind and tempest
ended.
I was carried through the sea.
The doer of evil, and the whole of mankind who turned
to sin, like reeds their corpses floated.
I opened the window and the light broke in, over my
refuge it passed . . .
On the seventh day . . . I sent forth a dove, and it left.
The dove went and searched and a resting place it did
not find, and it returned.
I sent forth a swallow, and it left.
The swallow went and searched and a resting place it
did not find, and it returned.
I sent forth a raven, and it left.
The raven went, and the corpses on the waters it saw,
And it did eat, it swam, and wandered away, and did
not return.
I sent the animals forth to the four winds;
I poured out a libation;
I built an altar on the peak of the mountain.
For Further Reflection
■ Think about the similarities between the flood story
above and the story of Noah’s Ark from the Old Testa-
ment. Which features appear in both stories? Why do you
think these stories are so similar?
Source: Dalley, Stephanie, translator. Myths From Mesopotamia:
Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press, 1989, 50–56, 88–89, 95–116, 118–119, 150–151.
Copyright ©1989 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.
which in turn enabled them to chart the rhythms of the
seasons and determine the appropriate times for planting
and harvesting crops. They used their mathematical skills
to survey agricultural lands and allocate them to the proper
owners or tenants. Some Mesopotamian conventions per-
sist to the present day: Mesopotamian scientists divided the
year into twelve months, for example, and they divided the
hour into sixty minutes, each composed of sixty seconds.
18  PART 1 The Early Complex Societies, 3500 to 500 b.c.e.
The Epic of Gilgamesh Mesopotamians also used writ-
ing to communicate abstract ideas, investigate intellectual
and religious problems, and reflect on human beings and
their place in the world. Best known of the reflective litera-
ture from Mesopotamia is the Epic of G ­ ilgamesh, completed
after 2000 b.c.e. In recounting the experiences of Gilgamesh
and Enkidu, the epic explored themes of friendship, rela-
tions between humans and the gods, and especially the
meaning of life and the inevitability of death. The stories of
Gilgamesh and Enkidu resonated so widely that for some
two thousand years—from the time of the Sumerian city-
states to the fall of the Assyrian empire—they were the prin-
cipal vehicles for Mesopotamian reflections on moral issues.
THE BROADER INFLUENCE
OF MESOPOTAMIAN SOCIETY
While building cities and regional states, Mesopotamians
deeply influenced the development and experiences of
peoples living far beyond their own lands. Often their
wealth and power attracted the attention of neighboring
peoples. Sometimes Mesopotamians projected their
power to foreign lands and imposed their ways by force.
Occasionally migrants left Mesopotamia and carried their
inherited traditions to new lands. Mesopotamian influ-
ence did not completely transform other peoples and turn
them into carbon copies of Mesopotamians. On the con-
trary, other peoples adopted Mesopotamian ways selec-
tively and adapted them to their own needs and interests.
Yet the broader impact of Mesopotamian society shows
that, even in early times, complex agricultural societies
organized around cities had strong potential to influence
the development of distant human communities.
Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews
The best-known cases of early Mesopotamian influence
involved Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews, who preserved
memories of their historical experiences in an extensive
collection of sacred writings. Hebrews were speakers of
the ancient Hebrew language. Israelites formed a branch
of Hebrews who settled in Palestine (modern-day Israel)
after 1300 b.c.e. Jews descended from southern Israelites
who inhabited the kingdom of Judah. For more than two
thousand years, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews interacted
constantly with Mesopotamians and other peoples as
well, with profound consequences for the development of
their own societies.
The Early Hebrews The earliest Hebrews were pastoral
nomads who inhabited lands between Mesopotamia and
monotheism (mah-noh-THEE-iz’m)
Yahweh (YAH-way)
Egypt during the second millennium b.c.e. As Mesopota-
mia prospered, some of the Hebrews settled in the re-
gion’s cities. According to the Hebrew scriptures (the Old
Testament of the Christian Bible), the Hebrew patriarch
Abraham came from the Sumerian city of Ur, but he
­migrated to northern Mesopotamia about 1850 b.c.e.
Abraham’s descendants continued to recognize many of
the deities, values, and customs common to Mesopotamian
peoples. Hebrew law, for example, borrowed heavily from
Hammurabi’s code. The Hebrews also told the story of a
devastating flood that had destroyed all early human soci-
ety, which was a variation on similar flood stories related
from the earliest days of Sumerian society. One early ver-
sion of the story made its way into the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Hebrews altered the story and adapted it to their own
interests and purposes, but their familiarity with the flood
story shows that they participated fully in the larger soci-
ety of Mesopotamia.
Migrations and Settlement in Palestine According
to their scriptures, some Hebrews migrated from Palestine
to Egypt during the eighteenth century b.c.e. About
1300 b.c.e., however, this branch of the Hebrews departed
under the leadership of Moses and returned to Palestine.
Organized into a loose federation of twelve tribes, those
Hebrews, known as the Israelites, fought bitterly with
other inhabitants of Palestine and carved out a territory
for themselves. Eventually the Israelites abandoned their
inherited tribal structure in favor of a Mesopotamian-style
monarchy that brought all their twelve tribes under unified
rule. During the reigns of King David (1000–970 b.c.e.)
and King Solomon (970–930 b.c.e.), Israelites dominated
the territory between Syria and the Sinai peninsula. They
built an elaborate and cosmopolitan capital city at
­Jerusalem and entered into diplomatic and commercial
relations with Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Arabian
peoples. Like other peoples of southwest Asia, the Israelites
made use of iron technology to strengthen their military
forces and produce tough agricultural implements.
Moses and Monotheism After the time of Moses,
however, the religious beliefs of the Israelites developed
along increasingly distinctive lines. Whereas the early
Hebrews had recognized many of the same gods as their
Mesopotamian neighbors, Moses embraced monotheism:
he taught that there was only one god, known as Yahweh,
who was a supremely powerful deity, the creator and
­sustainer of the world. Yahweh expected his followers to
worship him alone, and he demanded that they observe high
moral and ethical standards. In the Ten Commandments, a
set of religious and ethical principles that Moses announced
to the Israelites, Yahweh warned his followers against
­destructive and antisocial behavior such as lying, theft,
adultery, and murder. Between about 1000 and 400 b.c.e.,
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN