Is this article in Science meant to enlighten or confuse? It praises ancient Amerindian agricultural accomplishments, AD 1000 to 1600. ANCIENT? Egyptians, Sumerians, Chinese, Indians were probably producing foods sufficiently or in abundance for their empires in 3000BC. That is ancient. 1600AD and Elizabeth I is on the throne of England, beginning to nibble at the world wide Spanish and Portuguese empires.
The climate changed greatly between 1000, the era when Vikings first settled a warm, green Greenland and the grape growing area of Canada (Vinland), but by 1350 AD the thriving Greenland colony was wiped out by the little ice age, and the Canadian settlements wiped out by hostile skrellings. The Greenland settlement was once large enough with a European way of life with cows, and several thousand people, AND a bishop recorded in records in Rome.
This article seems like affirmative action DEI history. Over praising the legitimate accomplishments of a group. Not all people advanced at the same rate. In 3000BC England was probably no more advanced than the Menominee Amerindiaans of Michigan and Wisconsin. Both were far behind Egypt or Babylon or India. But things change. Around 1600 England survived the threat of the Spanish Armada, and by 1900 Britain ruled one quarter of the earth. Of course, by 2000AD the British Empire has shrunken to the Falkland Is. and a few other islands. The much warmer period around 1000AD was not caused by automobiles, airplanes, coal fires, or bar b q grills. The Menominee may have developed some agriculture in a difficult clime, but that is not the same as creating a major civilization.----Hugh Murray
No comments:
Post a Comment