Continental Comparisons

• At the most basic level, human civilizations have evolved in a similar way all across the world. Of fact, they were all a part of the massive human exodus that first populated the globe. That massive human migration began in Africa and eventually spread over Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania. Almost everywhere, gathering, hunting, and fishing have long been the only means of subsistence.

• These similarities serve as the foundation for a truly universal human history. That trend had produced a total world population of around 250 million people by the start of the Common Era, far less than the present population of the United States alone. It was still a lightly inhabited world by today's standards.

• As the Snapshot on page 232 shows, the world's human population was then divided quite unevenly among the three big continents. Eurasia accounted for more than 85% of the world's population at the time, with Africa accounting for 10%, America for 5%, and Oceania accounting for less than 1%.

• In the Americas, metallurgy was also considerably less developed than in Eurasia and Africa, where iron tools and weapons played such a significant part in economic and military life. Writing was limited to the Mesoamerican region in the Americas, where it was most developed among the Maya, whereas it was limited to the northern and northeastern regions of Africa.

Civilizations of Africa

• When historians speak of Africa in premodern periods, they are referring to a geographical concept, a continent, rather than a cultural identity. At the time, few, if any, individuals on the continent considered themselves to be Africans.

• Heavy but unpredictable rainfall, often followed by protracted dry seasons, and the loss of nutrients from typically very old soils were among them. Climate change also bred a slew of disease-carrying insects and parasites, which have wreaked havoc on many parts of the continent for years.

• The Kingdom of Mero was ruled by an all-powerful and sacred king, a position that has been held by women on at least 10 occasions, either alone or in tandem with a male monarch.

• By around 50 c.e., a significant state had arisen, fueled by its participation in the rapidly expanding Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade, which was fueled by growing Roman demand for Indian pearls, textiles, and, particularly, pepper.

• Axum was introduced to Christianity in the fourth century c.e. through its connections to the Red Sea trade and the Roman world, particularly Egypt. King Ezana, the country's ruler at the time, converted to Christianity around the same time as Constantine did in the Roman Empire.

• In West Africa, the middle reaches of the Niger River have seen tremendous urbanization. During the five centuries following 500 B.C.E., a prolonged dry era drove increasing numbers of people from the southern Sahara onto the rich floodplain of the middle Niger in search of more reliable water.

• A different realm lay westward across the Atlantic Ocean, later known as the Americas. Even though geography fostered some interaction between African and Eurasian peoples, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans separated Western Hemisphere cultures and societies from their Afro-Eurasian counterparts.

Civilization of Africa

• When historians speak of Africa in premodern periods, they are referring to a geographical idea, a continent, rather than a cultural identity. At the time, few, if any, individuals on the continent considered themselves to be Africans. Eurasia and the Americas, for example,

• While some places, such as highland Ethiopia, were able to maintain extremely productive agriculture, others had reduced agricultural yields and soil fertility due to a number of causes. Heavy but irregular rainfall, often followed by lengthy dry seasons, and the loss of nutrients from typically very old soils were among them.

Meros: Continuing a Nile Valley Civilization

• The territories of Nubian civilization, nearly as old as Egypt itself, are located in the Nile Valley south of Egypt. Nubians traded and battled with Egypt for ages, and at one point, the Nubian Kingdom of Kush invaded Egypt and controlled it for a century.

• In terms of politics, the Kingdom of Mero was ruled by an all-powerful and holy king, a position held by women on at least 10 occasions, either alone or in tandem with a male monarch. Unlike Egypt's female pharaoh Hatshepsut, who was shown in masculine garb,

• Merchants, weavers, potters, and masons, as well as servants, workers, and slaves, were all represented in the city of Mero and other urban areas. Iron smelting and the production of iron implements and weapons were particularly important enterprises.