The Khyber Pass through the Hindu Kush Mountians provided a connection to the outside world and ws used by merchants on trade excursions. But because of the huge mountains north and west of the Indus River, contact with outside civilizations was more limited there than in Mesopotamia which was under continual threat by invaders. Like Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization was built along the banks of a river system. Today there are over 500 distinct (though related) languages that can be traced back to the Bantus. All of this migrating led to an increase in the overall population of Africa-from 3.5 million in 400 BCE to 22 million in 1000 CE-and the spread of agriculture through much of Africa. Around 500 CE, the cultivation of bananas-which had made their way to Africa via Indian Ocean Trade-enabled the Bantus to expand into heavily forested regions and to continue the migration process. This led to an increase in population and more migration. Around 1000 BCE, the Bantus began to produce iron tools, which enables them to clear more land and expand agriculture. The Bantu people often intermarried with those they came in contact with, and these people often joined the Bantu society. As a result, the groups of people began to leave the areas to set up new agricultural settlements the process repeated itself slowly. Resources were stretched to their limits as the population increases. The migration of the Bantu people began around 2000 BCE and by 1000 CE, the Bantu occupied most of sub-Saharan Africa. These early inhabitants referred to themselves as "men of Sidon" or the like, according to their city of origin, and called the country "Lebanon." Because of the nature of the country and its location, the Phoenicians turned to the sea, where they engaged in trade and navigation. It was inhabited by the Canaanites, a Semitic people, whom the Greeks called "Phoenicians" because of the purple (phoinikies) dye they sold. The area now known as Lebanon first appeared in recorded history around 4000 BC as a group of coastal cities and a heavily forested hinterland. In Byblos, which is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, archaeologists have discovered remnants of prehistoric huts with crushed limestone floors, primitive weapons, and burial jars which are evidence of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic fishing communities who lived on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea over 8,000 years ago. The earliest known settlements in Lebanon date back to earlier than 5000 BC. (Hammurabi's Code) Notable that their famous king was King Hammurabi of Babylon. As a result, the Old Babylonians invented an entirely new set of laws: laws which dealt with crimes against the state. In order to make this system work, power and autonomy was taken from the individual cities and invested in the monarch. While the Sumerian civilization consisted of independent and autonomous city-states, the Old Babylonian state was a behemoth of dozens of cities. Above all, the greatest innovation was centralization. This powerful new monarchy invented new ways to administer the state and its resources: taxation and involuntary military service. The Old Babylonians believed that the monarch was a god and had a divine origin. For this reason, the Amorites are called the Old Babylonians and the period of their ascendancy over the region, which lasted from 1900-1600 BC, is called the Old Babylonian period. Like the Akkadians, the Amorites centralized the government over the individual city-states and based their capital in the city of Babylon, which was originally called Akkad and served as the center of the Amorite empire. Around 1900 BC, a group of Semites called the Amorites had managed to gain control of most of the Mesopotamian region.
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