Read "General History of the World" every day 12.26 America and Australia

Thursday, December 26, 2019 (the fifth day of the Lunar New Year)

America and Australia

In the 11th century, the Vikings discovered North America and tried to Maintaining residency was unsuccessful. In the 15th century, Columbus discovered the American continent, which was followed by a large-scale invasion. Compared with the invasion and development of Africa only a few centuries later, the American continent was geographically more accessible and more attractive. The overall development of Indian culture, This makes the local people unable to carry out effective resistance, especially for the Australian Aboriginals who are in the food gathering stage.

Land and People

The Americas have no sandbars that block access to the coast. There are many more ports available on the jagged coastline of the Americas than on the straight coast of Africa. The Americas also have Well-developed and relatively unobstructed inland waterways provide convenient access to the interior. The climate of the Americas is also more attractive than that of Africa.

Culture

Some Indians remained in hunting groups, while others developed kingdoms and empires. Based on the way of obtaining food, the Americas are divided into three categories: fishing and hunting and gathering culture, intermediate agricultural culture and advanced agricultural culture. High agricultural cultures existed in Mesoamerica, intermediate agricultural cultures were generally located in areas adjacent to high agricultural cultures, and food gathering areas were located in more distant areas (southern South America and western and northern North America).

The Indians cultivated more than 100 species of plants, almost as many as in all of Eurasia. None of the plants grown in the Americas were cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere, proving that agriculture in both hemispheres had its own independent origins.

Civilization

The three major civilizations of American Indians: the Mayan civilization, the Aztec civilization located in what is now Mexico, and the Inca civilization from central Ecuador to central Chile.

The Mayans created the oldest civilization in the Americas. They independently developed ideograms, calculated auspicious days, studied the movements of celestial bodies, and built some huge stone buildings in centers for religious ceremonies to represent their social unity. The Maya civilization flourished from the 4th to the 10th centuries, and then declined.

The Aztecs were rough and warlike, and their strength was based on long-term preparations for war. Their rule ranged from the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Gulf of Mexico in the east, the Yucatan Peninsula in the south, and the Rio Grande in the north.

The Incas were one of the many tribes of the Quechua ethnic group who settled in the Cusque Valley in the 12th century. Before the Spanish invasion, they had expanded their territory from Ecuador to central Chile, about 2,500 miles north to south. The empire was geographically connected by a complete road system; complex court rituals and a state based on sun worship further promoted the unity of the empire.

American Indians in History

The reason for Spain’s unilateral victory was not only that the American Indian civilization was isolated from the civilizations of other continents and could not promote mutual influence between them, but also that the Indian Civilizations were also isolated from each other. The Indians are far behind the civilization of the invaders in economy and technology. Their agricultural output is small, and their population goals are not up to the level of the Eastern Hemisphere. Their tools are only made of stone, wood, and bones, and their transportation tools cannot carry heavy objects. Llamas and alpacas, as well as human backs. The most important thing is that the Indians' minds are instilled with the idea of ????absolute execution of orders. When the leader is overthrown, they will be leaderless and lose resistance. This passivity is further strengthened by the suppression of religion and the concept of war (the belief that war is short-term and an effort for religious rituals). The lack of immunity against the diseases brought by Europeans also dealt a fatal blow.

Australia

The Aboriginal people arrived here about 50,000 years ago. At the end of the 18th century, when the first British immigrants came here, the local culture was still in the Paleolithic stage.

Australia's political organization was as backward as its technology, its population was extremely sparse, and it lacked the weapons and organizations necessary for effective resistance to resist white attacks.