1. Big History Brandon Murray

2. BIG HISTORY Examines the past from a broad range of sciences Came from a desire to go outside the traditional ways of study Spans history from the beginning of time to our modern day Big history looks for repetitions and subjects that have repeated over the years The first experimental courses were taught in the late 80’s by a Methodist University and San Diego State University

3. THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED You see what your knowledge tells you your seeing Rationalist ideology originated in Greece Able to ask questions to get answers to improve way of life All world powers have thought their way of life was the best Military might to defend your version of life The more power, the higher the value life has in that society Some cultures still living in past because they do not want to change Instead of taking decades or centuries to change, may only take days now Western culture always trying to come to terms with constant change

4. THE JOURNEY OF MAN Spencer Wells, a geneticist, found evolutionary way to trace the origins of man Ten years of research revealed an unchanging Y chromosome The Y chromosome that passes from father to son always unchanged Blood tests are used to trace this Y chromosome from generation to generation Earliest culture originated in Africa according to blood tests

5. CATASTROPHE 1500 years ago, in mid 6th century the cause of Dark Ages “Sun went dark and rain poured red” says an account Roman accounts of bizarre weather-18 months with small amounts of light Rained yellow dust in China David Keys developed idea for reasoning behind extreme cold and devastating effects After 5 years of research and views of 40 different scientists A comet or volcano are possible causes, more proof towards volcano A tree ring study combined with ice cores from Antarctica show major weather change

6. COMET OR VOLCANO Theory of comet exploding but there is no meteoric debris Myths from King Arthurs time describe what could be falling debris Not much more proof for a comet compared to a possible volcanic eruption Sulfates found in polar ice caps Chinese records talk of loud bang from southwest Southern China the most concentrated area of volcanoes Japanese Book of Kings describes the Island Java being split in two Charts of the ocean floor around Java and Sumatra show possible clues the island was blown apart

7. Havoc Wreaked The last great subsistence problem in the world Extreme cold from volcanic ash blocking sun light Cold temperatures led to disease, famine, and drought The bubonic plague in Europe from rats infected with fleas Cold weather causes clots in fleas stomachsand rat populations flourish in cold Infected, starving fleas jump to rats which jumped on trade ships No rain led to no water and essentially no sanitation Crops could not be produced in environment Avars lived in horse run economy The cold made grass essentially useless to a horse but cattle flourished Turks lived in cattle economy, and were thriving at this time Turks able to defeat the most advanced horsemen in world

8. GEOGRAPHY People started life as hunter gathers Hunting was very unpredictable and took a considerable amount of time The rewards reaped in a hunt were not enough to provide for a huge society Then came the time to become gatherers More productive but harder work and barely enough calories to survive A protein deficient population After the return of Ice Age some 11,000 years ago people started to grow food Middle Eastern societies were the first with wheat and barley From the Chinese came rice, and the Americas with corn, beans, and squash Domestication of animals brought another form of nutrition Animals were able to do the work that was required by humans A total of 14 domesticated animals in the world, 13 of which came from Eurasia

9. New Life With an easier way of living came more time to think Middle Eastern peoples moved to the east and west due to drought The move was along the same climate and time zone People’s days no longer had to be centered around survival Their crops and animals easily adjusted due to no drastic climate change They became immune to diseases from the animals Gun powder and the use of steel for swords came into existence Possible reason for the destruction of the Inca by the Spanish The Spanish were from the east to west area where the steel, gun powder, immunity, and food came from The disease from Europeans was new to the New World New World had really no disease because there were no domesticated animals living with them or even in the country

10. COLUMBO Christopher Columbus, born 1951 in Italian Genoa From a humble wool weaving family Always fascinated by the ancient Orient stories of gold and spice Desired to find away around the Muslim world Inspired by Marco Polo and Venice, he soon set out to find his own treasures Never made it to his desired place, but succeeded in bringing a divided world together Saved Christianity by giving the western hemisphere to the Spanish

11. GLOBALIZATION The uniting of two separate worlds into one This showed that the globe was not a single ecumene encompassed by a huge sea European crops and animals were transported to the Americas Crops from the Americas spurred enormous population growth throughout the globe The human diet was radically improved for cultures all over the world Some of our favorites today like chocolate and coffee came to America form Eurasian countries Many lives were also lost from these new food stores The livestock from Europe brought diseases like small pox and measles Most native populations were almost completely wipeout