Ancient Mesoamerica

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Ancient Mesoamerica the West African Bantu
Migrations
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• In the Americas, two early civilizations
  existed the Olmec, in what we know today as
  Mexico from 1200 to 1400 B.C.E..

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• and the Chavin in the Andes from 900 to 300
  B.C.E.

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The Olmecs were an urban society supported by
surpluses of corn, beans, and squash.
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Like most early societies, they mastered
irrigation techniques and constructed large-scale
buildings.
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They were polytheistic, and developed a
system of writing and a calendar.
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The Chavin was another urban civilization,
whose people were also polytheistic.
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But, while mostly agricultural, they also had
access to the coast, and therefore supplemented
their diet with seafood.
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The Chavin developed ways to use metals in tools
and weapons.
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Interestingly the Chavin used llamas as their
beast of burden.
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These civilizations demonstrate that the same
patterns of civilizations can develop without
exposure to other civilizations.
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In addition, neither the Olmec nor the Chavin
civilization developed in a river valley.
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However, the Olmec and Chavin had access
to water from streams and water, no but no major
river system served as the generator of
agricultural production or as the hub of culture
and transportation.
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Their existence disproves the hypothesis
that river valleys are essential for the
emergence of early civilizations.
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Ancient Bantu Africa
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Beginning around 1500 B.C.E., farmers in Niger
and Benue River valleys in West Africa began
migrating south and east, bringing with them
their languages and their knowledge of
agriculture and metallurgy.
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This migration, referred to as the Bantu
migrations, continued over the course of the next
2,000 years.
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Bantu speakers gradually moved into areas
formerly occupied by nomads, some of whom simply
moved on.
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and some of whom adopted the more sedentary
culture of the Bantu.
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It is generally believed that the migration was
spurred by climatic changes, which made the area
now know as the Sahara Desert too dry to live in.
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People moved south out of the Sahara into the
Bantus homeland, which in turn caused them to
move to the forests of Central Africa, then
eventually beyond the forests to the east and
south.
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However, not all Bantu-speakers moved
away. Further north in the upper Niger River
valley can be found the remains of Jenne-Jeno,
believed to be the first city in sub-Saharan
Africa.
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Beginning as a small fishing settlement
around 250 B.C.E. and reaching urban size in 400
C.E
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Jenne-Juno is unusual because although it
reached urban density, its architecture suggests
that it was not a hierarchically organized
society.
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Instead, archeologists believe that it was a
unique form of urbanism comprising a collection
of individual communities.
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Once again, not all human societies have always
followed the same path toward civilization, and
that urbanization does not necessarily mean
centralization.
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Why do people migrate? People migrate for the
same reason animals do to find food, and a
hospitable environment in which to live.
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Migration
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Nomadic peoples by definition are migratory,
moving from place to place with the seasons to
follow food sources.
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Agricultural peoples also migrated, following the
seasons and therefore agricultural cycles.
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To maintain a stable home, people also migrated
to avoid natural disasters or climatic changes
that permanently change the environment...
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making it too hot and dry (example the Saharas
Deserts expansion)
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.too cold (Ice Ages), or too wet (flooding
cycles of major rivers such as the Yellow River
in China).
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Migration isnt something that only ancient
peoples do, though, and isnt always solely the
result of random environmental change.
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Overpopulation of a particular area can exhaust
the food supply, forcing people to move
elsewhere, often displacing a smaller or weaker
population in the process.
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Massive migrations of people from Ireland during
the famines of the mid-19th century were caused
by a mix of politics, destructive farming methods
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and an unpleasant fungus that wiped out the
populaces main source of food.
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The Jewish Diaspora, the slave trade
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and the waves of immigrants coming from Europe
to the Americas in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries are examples of more modern-day
migrations caused by people rather than nature.
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