1. BIG HISTORY
Big History
Daniela Druhora
Daniela Druhora

2. For western civilization, history boils down to the beginnings
of how our thinking process is developed. We are all curious
begins who pose questions not for entertainment purposes it
is because we want change. Mainly for the purpose that we
want to improve our old way of life. In the documentary the
way we are, James Burke points out all the fine technology
and the reason for our economical growth and expansion that
it is all based on how we are wired to be curious human beings
who ask questions. What is the sky made up of? Why is the
grass green? Asking these simple questions people
scientifically tested their hypothesis and gained knowledge
which in turn changed the way we looked at things. As Burke
says “you see what your knowledge tells you to see”. We
learned from examples such as Greece’s individualistic
approach to the way of life to the Egyptian’s geometry. We
gathered reason and logic and accepted them as a pattern of
thinking to probe more questions to bring about more change
in our world. So the root of history, is the course of change all
stemming from questions. For this reason the western world
defends their freedom the right question, the right for change,
the right of the individual.

3. In “Journey of Man” a young scientist travels to the place he believes is the decent of all
human birth places, which is in Africa among the Bushmen tribe. His travels explore the
migration of the human race. His time portal into each destination is the mutation of the
DNA in men’s Y chromosomes. This documentary discusses the origins of all humanity and
how we came to be a diverse world. In his personal travels he is faced with various
obstacles in overcoming basic questions such as how did the Africans travel across the
ocean 50,000 years ago to Australia? He is faced also with tribes such as the Aboriginals
who claim that they were the first of people, and they do not believe his scientific findings.
He travels above and beyond all over the world taking blood samples and looking for the
mutation in the Y chromosome in men to see how the nation spread, and he explains how
climate changes in different periods shaped lands differently and also caused different
body types and colors of skin.

4. As he embarks on his journey, he unravels the family
tree of the world based on his ten year DNA laboratory
research. At the tip of this tree we have the African
Bushmen who traveled beyond obstacles to Australia
and formed the Aborigines, moved on to the Indians,
central Asia, Chukchi, and then to the Navajo Indian
tribes and on and on. The questions which puzzled him
was how the skin color and facial attributes had changed
throughout the course of time and how they traveled
from place to place migrating when large masses of
water stood in their way, or cold stormy seasons.
He answers all these questions based on climatic
seasons throughout the hundreds of years. That as they
moved into the colder parts of the world people
throughout the years skin pigmentation altered from
the different sun exposure since more clothing was
needed to keep warm they were not fully exposed to
the sun. Land masses had changed throughout the
course of the 50,000 years based on the movement of
ocean plates. He weaves together science and history to
show that all humanity is related.

5. The trees have spoken! And David Keys tells their story.
Based on the tree rings, which Keyes explains the thinner
they are it explains a troubling cold point in history. Based
on worldwide trees the tree rings dated around the 6th
century speak of a great catastrophe that struck
worldwide. Historical books also claim in history around
that time period times of suffering. Disease, famine,
drought, and a darkened sky were all mentioned in
memoirs and even legendary sources like King Author
that in the mid 6th century a catastrophe struck. David
Keyes travels in search to discover scientific and historical
data that could explain what major event took place that
effected the whole world at that time for years? He
discovered that it could only have been three possible
options, either a comet, an asteroid, or volcano eruption.
Based on the sulfuric acid found within the polar icecaps
it was discovered that the Krakatoa Anak volcano had
erupted around 535 AD, and because of historical
writings of trauma existing in the same time frame it is
very likely this eruption cased a historical change upon
the worldwide society.

6. The effects of Krakatoa eruption caused the sky
to darken for years. The sun was hidden for
years due to the sulfuric acid particles in the air
which flowed in the upper hemisphere due to
the flux of the earth moving keeping the ash
still above the surface. This caused droughts,
famine, the spread of the bubonic plague in the
Roman Empire to spread worldwide. The ivory
trade spread the bubonic plague to other parts
of the world. The Mongolian Avars which were
people in their prime state of the time had
fallen due to their horse live stock diminishing
before their very eyes. The horses where their
primary sources of living and since horses have
a more distinct digestive system they could not
adjust to the famine as well as cattle.

7. During this ailing catastrophe of the sixth centaury a
new religion was born that will forever impact our
history. The prophet Mohammed aided to feed many
of the Arab people. The cause of the eruption in
some way edged on this end of times, apocalyptic
movement and caused the birth of Islam in history.
The Marib dam was broken and this effected Arabia’s
economic engineering thrust for their society. Natural
disasters change history drastically. If today such a
disaster would happen many would suffer greatly
because our new technologies would be useless, and
many would not be acquainted to a simple way of life
in finding a food source.

8. Modern history has been shaped by conquest. The
conquistadors used guns, germs, and steel to lead
their conquests, and it was the advantage they had
over the countries they would invade. military
power, deadly microbes and technology.
modern America would not be possible without
farming that spread from the fertile crescent.
People who are smart, resourceful, and dynamic
can be found anywhere, even in the
underdeveloped counties of the world. Unlike
military power, deadly microbes and technology,
no one has a monopoly on this.
The development and growth of civilizations is not
determined by lack of ingenuity, but by the raw
resources available - geography. New Guineans did
not develop like Europeans because they did not
have sheep, cows, goats or horses.

9. The reason why Europeans conquered so much of the world is because of the geography,
which determined the climate, crops and animals. The conquistadors are the most grimly
successful example of European conquest. They conquered the Inca empire, which spanned
for 2500 miles, using only 168 men, slaughtering over 7000 Inca citizens and one day and
overthrowing the Inca emperor without losing a single man.
This was possibly because the Incas underestimated them, because of their strange
appearance and small number. the Incas were however unaware that the conquistadors has
highly advanced weapons, such as fire arms, steel swords and metal armor. Another weapon
which made a difference in the war, is one that the Europeans didn't know they had -
smallpox - disease which the native Americans had no immunity against. Because the
conquistadors had a stronger immune system due to being around domestic animals and
consuming animal products, this would also cause the germ warfare to be one sided, the
disease that the Incas had did not affect them. Repeated outbreaks in Europe also caused
Europeans to be more resilient, a protection Incas never had.
By the end of the 19th century European powers moved past the Americans, colonizing
Africa, Australia, and most of Asia. The European guns, germs and steel reshaped the world.

10. Christopher Columbus was an ambitious Italian merchant from Genoa who sailed
from port to port in search of what is new. His discoveries created a world through
trade that still are practiced today. He birthed the idea of transformation and change
by putting change in motion through trade. He was obsessed with discovering gold
and spices, and was aided by the memoirs of Marco Polo in his travels, he was limited
in his travels, and in the success of finding gold and spices because the Muslims
dominated the Eastern trade. Constantinople was “the gateway of trade between
Europe and Asia and the Turks breached its walls”. Columbus knew the
Mediterranean shores like no other man in his time, but being limited in his findings
due to the Muslim dominating trade he ventured out into the unknown oceans
beyond what any man imagined and changed the course of history forever.

11. The cowboys, the rodeo, Irish in Boston, cattle, horses, chocolate, pigs, goat,
wheat, tomatoes, the slavery plantation with the sugar canes are just a few of the
things that have shaped us today all from the risk of one man’s ambition to find
gold and spices. Better then gold and spices Christopher Columbus revolutionized
the world by the growth of crops. The Columbian Exchange made the America’s
what it is today. A diverse world influenced by trade and by the various people who
came and worked the land such as the Spanish. History was put into motion by one
single man. One person risking it all based on curiosity, on question for a new
quest. This changed the face of history forever as we can see today that the world
has become a multi million international trading factory. With its ups and downs, it
is part of who we are today.