Chapter 7: Classical era variations

When we study societies in the classical era, there tends to be a focus on Eurasian societies which is understandable because Eurasian population made up around 80 percent of the world's people for about 1600 years from 400 B.C.E to 1000 C.E. However there were other societies around during this time period and we often don't hear or learn much about them. Chapter 7 was a nice respite from eurocentric history and it talked about other civilizations that were developing around the same time.

One society in particular was the Niger River civilization in Western Africa. The society existed far from the influences of other classical era peoples and because of this, it developed a unique culture and way of life. The biggest difference was the absence of an imperial system. Despite the lack of authority, they had still had complex urban areas that operated freely without government, in essence, it was a a true free market. Another interesting thing was that archaeologists found little evidence of wars taking place or even social inequality which is something that is still a problem for us today.

Another region which was talked about was Mesoamerica. Unlike the African and Eurasian civilizations, the Mesoamerican peoples had little chance for commerce and mingling between cultures that were on the other side of the Pacific and Atlantic. This isolation allowed Mesoamerica to develop independently in a way that was not impacted by any other cultures. And because of geographical restrictions, the societies of Mesomamerica did not have much direct contact with each other. Not unsimilar to other places, the Mesoamericans had an agricultural community and had religious beliefs that focused on many deities and monuments to the gods. Human sacrifice was also a part of their religion and they even had a calendar. Mesoamerica was also home to Teotihuacan which was a huge planned city with a population between 100,000 and 200,000 which was easily the largest city in the Americas.