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Worlds Apart Isolated from the Eurasian landmass, the scattered peoples of the Americas, Oceania, and Australia possessed little to keep them unified. Thousands of different languages divided them. Nevertheless, ties between them could still be found.
Ironically, warfare helped break barriers between peoples. Men fought, not to annihilate, but for captives which, often enough, were incorporated into the victorious tribe. Trade also helped unite separated peoples, particularly when conducted as a form of tribute to a dominant tribe. Like piracy on the high seas, trade and warfare were often hard to separate. The Incas provide a good example. Located high in the Andes, they built a huge empire by conquering weaker local tribes and incorporating them into their society. Further north, the Aztecs did the same. Unable to produce vital goods like firewood, the Aztecs resorted to attacking neighboring tribes and trading with those farther away. Trade contributed to the rise of huge commercial cities supported by a class of merchants. A continual supply of goods contributed to distinctive class differences; the upper classes enjoyed food, clothing, and adornments restricted from the lower classes. At the bottom of the class hierarchy were the Aztec slaves: impoverished Aztecs or prisoners of war. From these ranks came the human sacrifices that all saw as necessary to keep the sun burning and ensure continual harvests. Faith and ritual dominated daily life, particularly since society depended on agriculture and thus on the nature gods. Education taught young Aztec men to be warriors. War was honorable and given the highest priority, both for its role in securing prisoners for sacrifices and in supporting trading networks.
Like the Americas, Africa below the Sahara Desert was divided into thousands of dialects, tribes, and communities. The term "Africa" could not even provide some common ground since the people did not consider themselves to be "African" but members of this or that tribe. Geography, climate, and disease kept large cities from developing, with a few exceptions. Most people lived in modest villages. Forest Dwellers: The rain forests of western and central Africa hosted an abundance of food plus water access to distant points, thus facilitating trade. Local "big men" competed for followers, wives, children, land, and yam stores as they moved to expand their influence, reputation, and wealth by farming and trade. Men controlled yams—the most valuable produce—while women cultivated the lesser crops. Men also controlled long-distance trading while women engaged in shorter distance exchanges. Women could organize themselves, but were generally subordinate to strong males. Africans believed in a host of supernatural forces and spirits that controlled human life. A high god, various good and evil beings, and ancestors composed the typical sub-Saharan African pantheon. Offerings at family shrines sought to appease these forces. Peoples of East, West, and South Africa: In other parts of Africa, dynastic empires appeared. Long-distance trade brought these areas into contact with the peoples of Eurasia. Along these trading routes came religious emissaries. In Ethiopia, Christianity took root by going through Egypt and the Sudan. Islam spread to East Africa and connected it to the much larger Indian Ocean trade. While their religion did not always take root, Muslim traders contributed to the rise of the Zambezi Valley in southern Africa. Muslim traders and missionaries impacted West Africa. Muslims in Ghana traded gold, salt, and slaves from Africa to the Islamic world beyond the Sahara Desert. Mali, which rose on the rubble of Ghana, was also dominated by Islamic believers and became one of the wealthiest communities in the world. >> Continue to the next part of the Summary: The Four Major Cultural Areas of Eurasia
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