Big History:Embracing the Past

By: Toni Gonzales

The day the universe changed

You see what your knowledge tells you you’re seeing.”

Simply put, without order in nature, there would be chaos. The idea that the universe only exists by how you see it.

Science historian James Burke looks into the past to show us how far we’ve come in science and technology .

How we’ve tried to take the universe apart and see how it works. We never stopped asking questions, and with that, we found answers which is one of the main reasons our technology has evolved so much over time.

He tells the story of many different scientific discoveries that have taken place and how they have changed the way western civilization perceives the world.

The day the universe changed continued…

The curiosity for answers all began in Greece. The Greeks were very much into asking questions such as; what’s it all

made of? What’s the constant change in nature? Etc…They wanted an explanation for the existence of the world.

In a world of mythology and magic the first Greek philosopher known as Thales decided to look at nature with mechanisms in mind rather than myths. Thales used geometry to solve problems to determine the height of pyramids and the distance of ships from shore which became a huge breakthrough for how things were shaped from then on out.

The Journey 0f a Man

Geneticist Spencer Wells researches the early human migrations of Africa using evolutionary biology. He had the theory that all human beings descended from one man who lived in Africa roughly 60,000 years ago.

How blood embodies the past, tells of the journey of our species, and is the overall essence of life.

Lucca, a blood analysis studied various blood samples to build a family tree for the entire world. believed that blood could be the time machine to reunite us with our ancestors.

The earliest group of humans were believed to have orignated from the Sans tribe. There are people in East Africa today that share distinctive characteristics of the San language consisting of pop and clicking sounds.

Journey of a man continued…

Studying DNA and recognizing changes in the DNA sequence have helped give clues in regards to genealogical relationships. Wells theory is, if two people share a change, then the same two people are likely to share an

ancestor.

The Y-chromosome traces back to Africa more than 60,000 years ago.

Wells explains in an interview with that even though we originated from one African American man because we migrated that is what caused skin

to progressively get lighter. When we started moving into the northern hemisphere, the sun was not nearly as strong.

Catastrophe! The day the sun went outThe sun began to go dark, rain poured red, and clouds of dust enveloped the earth which brought on drought, famine, and death.

This catastrophic event laid the foundation for the world today.

David Keyes, whom is not a historian, decided to gather information on scientists, and historians to help support his hypothesis on what actually took place during this climate catastrophe.

Mike Ballie , a leading expert in dendrochronlogy noticed several environmental downturns around the 6th century that could have resulted in catastrophic events. He believes that impacts from cometary debris may account for most of the downturns during that time.

By analyzing the tree rings he noticed a pattern that indicated severe frost damage, reduced summer growth, long stretches of extreme cold, and missed summers.

Catastrophe continued…

Ballie analyzed King Arthur and believed that his death could have been a symbol to the climate catastrophe. As Arthur grew old his kingdom was reduced to a wasteland. Many suggested he died around 539-542 A.D, right in the middle of the climatic catastrophe.

It was believed that the change in climate may have contributed to the Justinian plague.

It was a disease had begun in fleas and was transmitted from infected rats to humans and caused swollen faces, bloody eyes, etc..- Cooler temperatures allow bacteria to flourish and not having any food made people very ill. There was also a huge sanitation problem without water.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Finding out why some areas prospered more than others and why some were left behind. Ex: New Guinea-key factors were location, vegetation, wildlife, and climate.

China- Rice, pigs, and soya were all domesticated here.Europe- Wheat, barley, goats, sheep, and cattle.Tropics-Generally hot and humid all year round allowing for diverse vegetation, but they lacked domesticated animals and crops which did not help their development.Africa-Yams, millets, and bread cattle which helped their agricultural civilization.

Guns, Germs, and Steel continued…

Yali, a New Guinea politician asked the questions “Why is it that you white people developed so much more cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?

-The questions is how could New Guinea have some of the oldest systems of farming and be the earliest farmers in the world, but not have any kind of great developments like other parts of the world.

As stated in the previous slide what it really comes down to is climate, wildlife, and vegetation.

The reason the Americas have had an advantage over New Guineans is because their crops are more nutritious and productive. Taro-A plant that grew in New Guinea was a lot of work and very low in protein compared to wheat. They would sometimes eat spiders to supplement their diet.When domesticating animals started to rise, provided not only an alternative to hunting, but became a dependable meat supply year round rather than being subject to seasonal variations. They eventually started using animals to plough to increase productivity, but New Guinea just simple did not have the animals for the job. Bottom line is, I can see the farming inequality, but in the end the most productive crops have the most productive farmers.

The world and trade

-The Columbian exchange was a huge widespread of animals, plants, culture, human populations including slaves from the Old World to the New World.-It affected every society on Earth . New diseases were introduced by Europeans to which the indigenous people had no immunity.-On the other hand the contact between the two areas created a new variaty of crops and livestock which increased the population in both hemispheres. -Explorers returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes which became very important crops during the 18th century. -New foods became staples of human diets.

-In the 18th century the potato had many advantages to the poor because it was easy to plant and cultivate. It also allowed factory laborers to grow much of their own food. -The potato also allowed a family of 5 to live off of 1/5th of an acre for a year with just a little milk. -During the rise of the potatoe the fields started being killed off and entire potatoe fields were being destroyed which caused a mass famine. So many people had died that many bodies were dumped into pits.

The world and trade continued…

The cacao tree is a Native of Central and South American plant. Columbus was the first to come in contact with cacao. For many Europeans drinking chocolate was an acquired taste.

African products that were introduced to the Americas included items such as onions, citrus fruits, bananas, coffee, beans, olives, grapes, rice, and sugar cane.

Although the Columbian exchange introduced diseases that wiped out American populations it also introduced new food supplies, livestock, and better diets which has shaped the way that we eat and live today.