Ch 6 Blog

       Chapter six continued to talk about Africa and the Americas. One group that was looked at was the Meroë. The civilization was named the Nubian civilization, and it flourished along the Nile Valley South of Egypt. The Nubian civilization came to center in the southern city of Meroë. The kingdom of Meroë was governed by an all powerful and sacred monarch. This high position, on at least 10 occasions, was held by a women. These women enjoyed greater recognition than did their Egyptian counterparts. For example, the Meroë queens would be depicted as women in sculptures. However, the female Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut was portrayed in men's clothing. In another aspect, rulers would be buried along with a number of human sacrificial victims. Like most other civilization, the Meroë also fell apart. Deforestation was a part of this decline as the need for wood to make charcoal for smelting iron increased. Also, the Egyptian trading with the African interior switched from the Nile Valley route to the Red Sea. Additionally, the rise of Islam altered the trading routes in Africa, which Meroë depended on.

       Moving to the Americas, we can look at the Maya. According to scholars, the Mayans had their beginnings as early as 2000 B.C. in what is now Yucatan, Mexico. Because the areas where they loved were filled with swamps, the Maya drained the swamps, as well as terraced hillsides, flattened ridgetops, and constructed an elaborate water management system (274). The larger political units of the Maya were densely populated urban centers, as well as ceremonial centers, which were ruled by kings; and on a few occasions- queens. one of the Mayan cities, Tikal, consisted of about 50,000 people, and had about another 50,000 in the surrounding countryside. However, despite some of these cities being imperialistic, none of them succeeded in creating a unified Mayan empire. Another one of these greatest Mesoamerican cities is Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan is located in what is now Mexico City, was is said to have been started in 150 B.C.. It is estimated that by 550 A.D. it had a population of about 100,000-200,000 people. By far, for its time, it was the largest urban complex in the Americas (275). From this city, it is said that at least two small sections were reserved for foreigners. This provides evidence that in Teotihuacan, there wre signs of trading over long distances.