An Explanation of Historical Greatness of Civilizations By Availability of Resources
Here's The PR;
. 0
.Others who have considerd it believe the general course of history can be explained by the Eurasian band of good weather, giving advantage with a broad band to build up science and culture, but this still wouldn't explain why for example the Chinese were not the main colonizers like the Europeans, or the Russians who were near the band of the good weather. To explain this about the Chinese and more about history on this post, I consider that the brilliance of a civilization if it can be measured, can be correlated with the access to resources, to better than 10 percent, with more causal link than a weather report.
To measure brilliance of civilizations I use five general measures like wealth, wars won, creativity, and so on, and to measure the resources that had influence, creativity is a good advantage to have... And to measure Excellence five more. Good weather no doubt as an influence on most of ancient and modern history. Other boosts like water transport (of major influence to ancient Greece and Rome to speed up ancient history!) or salt for example (no salt, essential to life inland without ways of reach in ancient and even up to our time) measure the main resources. This measure of resources I name Foundations of History, F.H that may have had influence on the brilliance of the civilization Brilliance Rating, or B.R. also named the Excellence in History or E.H. Rating, and they correlate to about 10% which is a high moderate correlation..
Because life and history is complex, and because I assume each of the five components of the F.H. and B.R., are so essential to the advantage in history, that all five of each rating can roughly be counted as one unit in the rating, and they would level out to one unit each, like most authors in 500 BC! Obviously if you look at an age in history like the chinese (Ming) dynasty of the 1600's or ancient greece they had both a high FH and BR, and other times in history like the US in the 1800's or ancient egypt that had most but not all of the F.H and got a high to middle E.H. rating. And no doubt, other times in history like in modern South America the resouces are poor and so is the E.R. You may say it's obvious poverty causes slower improvement of civilization and they've found that it's enough to make persons ill. This is only recently they've actually proven this. We may hear a lot about all this about how the poor people are just naturally that way, if the glory goes not so much to the greeks, in a real way it goes more to us all, glory is nearer than it seems.
So it's easier than it would seem to be brilliant, all of us are. In brain research they find we have the same neurons as other higher life, just more of the same neurons, if we wear a hat with a fan, all year round! Science proves creativity isn't a sudden blaze of light, rather creativity is after many labors then creating the boost. It was once believed creativity was rare and just the geniuses had a lot, they find it's more common and most of us have a lot of creativity. In this explanation Einstein is like the other 999 Einstein's who lived before him, he was just in a situation of more favor, the other Einsteins were wise too.
.
Here's The Olds!
.
Europe and Asia are the area in the world where the land is distributed east to west, with a band of good weather from China to Europe. This in the "plane explanation" is believed to be important in history because it was easier for commerce between all the businesses who lived on the band. The other areas of the world had a north south distribution like where the western hemisphere is now. This N S weather limit to travel with the heat would limit trade. Any contribution to the science was retained by all who lived in the Europe and Asian band of travel. There were more inventors on the band than in other regions because it was a large region and all their discoveries where available and retained by all the Eurasians involved. Progress was slower to reach other regions this built up the advantage of science that Europeans and Asians in other nations although of the same genes, were unable to have the advantage of. This belief was the explanation put forth in the magazine The Sciences. This explains the wealth of the first world and the third world as it now is. But of the first world, why did China just do somewhat well, while the ancient greeks were of elevated culture? Russia is near the wide band. Why are the Russians poor? Here I would elaborate the general idea of the article in The Sciences with addition to the general causology.
. What was it about the greeks that no other civilization seems to have in history? The greeks had the climate band, and something important the Russians and Africans didn't, good weather. Bad weather has been so much a burden that at any age in history the more north you go, the older the age like the bronze or iron age is. The sucessive ages like the later stone age or the bronze age generally arrive later the nearer the bad weather at the high or low altitudes you go. The iron age has no definite time, it has many times.
This was also because there were not as many people living more north. Carl Sagan said one of the reasons the greeks were the first to be good at so many things and to almost invent science and other creativity was that they were at one of the crossroads of civilizations rather than one of it's centers (if most of the roads are in the water!). This caused more of the advance of culture to be allowed and aided, much like how the web has added speed to science by faster travel of ideas. The greeks were where the boats would stay between far and near. The best sort of ancient transport in terms of war and commerce was via water, so travel was by ships. Even now boats carry far more to the world near more with far richer worth than any other form of transport. So the second "foundation of history" in ancient times and unchanged now was available shipping by boat, not shipping by semi!
Any form of transportation like train or van is of use so while ancient history was aided by the boats, today most regions of the world have this advantage. So although it may be of use to explain ancient history, it's not a cause of modern history about the general advantage the first world has had over the third world in modern ages.
Another important influence in history that aided the ancients may be about no overcrowding, just up to about the time the ancient BC ended and the Empire started; this may have been a major aid that other nations like the communist nations of today don't have to enrich it's people. For my explanation of overpopulation's influence by way of increased competition for reduced resources, CLICK HERE..
Another reason the Romans and Greeks may have done well was because they lived by the ocean. Inland, salt is tough to find and it's essential to life.
These are what I call the 5 Foundations of History (F H); . EGW; The Eurasian band of good weather G.W.; Good weather generally . W.T. Water Transport Available, Mostly Ancient History, But Up To Recent History, of Import . N.O.U. No Over or Undercrowding . S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life to be found, Just Near the Sea (till more recent ages) Each counts as one.
How we know how well each civilization did in history; Excellence in History (E H) may be also measured by 5 ideas; HR How Rich they are or were when rated; WW Wars Won; Fr Freedom; SI Science and Inventions; AC Art and Other Creativity.
Here I will also rate the Excellence in History (E H) of some civilizations on a 1-5 scale, also 1- 5 I'll list to compare the Excellence In History with the Foundations in History.
All this I use to explain most of what was named history mostly about the other available advantages via the augumentation of the idea of the weather's influence so this basic idea may be improved especially about the research where they find no distinction in the genes or chromosomes of all the world's people, when The Excellence and Fundamentals correlate well is proof that the poverty of the third world is about limits of resources, and if they have the same wealth all the world would achieve just as the greeks.
5 is highest and the lowest score for an individual rating such as Overcrowding or Science is 1 or less
Excellence IN HISTORY; EH
ANCIENT GREEKS Overall E. H. 4.7 (before overcrowding);
HR How Rich The Greeks were certainly not poor; by the standard of half the world today, they were rich +1
WW Won Wars +1
FR Freedom While the greeks were the first in history who were slaves they also started democracy, even slavery may be of less import than the great greeks, so it's E.H. is +.7 for freedom
SI Science and Inventions The greeks were great at tech and came close enough to discovery of science that I give them a +1 in Science
AC Arts and Other Creativity No doubt +1
ANCIENT ROME REPUBLIC (B.C) E.H 4.2
HR +1
WW Wars Won +1
Fr Freedom +1
SI Science and Inventions +.5
AC Art and Other Creativity since copied from greeks but of high caliber +.7
ANCIENT ROME, EMPIRE E.H. Excellence Rating + 2.7 (AD 1 and later)
HR How Rich they are or were when rated +1
WW Wars Won 0
Fr Freedom +.7
SI Science and Inventions Invention of the arch and concrete (1st century), medical science much advanced (20,000 herbs then known to medicine) and so on, so not as low a score in science as you might think +.5
AC Art and Other Creativity high moving to low, the low has more import since high can't achieve well without solid foundation, and the high was also of excellent level so later Rome AC is +.5 0verall
AMERICA IN 1800's E.H. Excellence In History 4
HR How rich they are or were when rated +1
WW Wars Won +1
Fr Freedom +1
SI Science and Inventions +1
AC Art and Other Creativity 0
CHINA, 1600's "rennaisaince china" Excellence in History EH 4.2
HR How Rich they are or were when rated +.5 (imperial so lots of peasants)
WW Wars Won military campaigns agains the mongols +1
Fr Freedom There was some "superficial" oppression by the government of top officials but the people were't ill (freedom comes from within so peace breaks out) +.7
SI Science and Inventions +1
AC Art and Other Creativity +1
RENNAISSANCE EUROPE EH EXCELLENCE IN HISTORY 3.5
HR How Rich they are or were when rated many peasants +.5
WW Wars Won (for who?) +.5
Fr Freedom +.5
SI Science and Invention with Galileo's invention of science +1
AC Art and Other Creativity +1
ANCIENT EGYPT EH 3
HR How Rich they are or were when rated +.5.
WW Wars Won +1
Fr Freedom under rule of royals +.5
SI Science and Inventions +.3
AC Art and Other Creativity +.7
MODERN RUSSIA EH 1.7
HR How Rich they are or were when rated 0
WW Wars Won +.7
Fr Freedom -0
SI Science and Inventions +1
AC Art and Other Creativity 0
AFRICA, Contemperary EH 1.4
HR How Rich they are or were when rated .5
WW Wars Won .2
Fr Freedom 0
SI Science and Inventions .2
AC Art and Other Creativity .5
SOUTH AMERICA EH 1.2 (Although some wealth and freedom in some SA countries)
HR How Rich they are or were when rated .3
WW Wars Won (not usually with totaliarian governments for freedom) .5
Fr Freedom .2
SI Science and Inventions .2
AC Art and Other Creativity 1
EUROPE; MIDDLE AGES E. H +.7
HR How Rich they are or were when rated 0
WW Wars Won (mostly fuedal) 0
Fr Freedom 0
SI Science and Inventions +.2 (some activity, they weren't dumb, activity led to renaissance)
AC Art and Other Creativity +.5
AUSTRALIA 1700'S 1800'S EH +.7
HR How Rich they are or were when rated 0
WW Wars Won 0
Fr Freedom .5
SI Science and Inventions .1
AC Art and Other Creativity .1
AUSTRALIA CONTEMPORARY EH 3
HR How Rich +1
WW Wars Won +1 Fr
Freedom +1
SI Science and Inventions 0
AC Art and Other Creativity 0
___________________________
These numbers are based on the wealth, good deeds, science and other creativity, and freedom of the people of the time in history of the rating. Each Excellence in History counts as one point. Here's how the Foundations of History compare to these scores.
FOUNDATIONS OF HISTORY FH
ANCIENT GREEKS FH All 5,
EGW; The Eurasian band of good weather +1
G.W.; Good weather generally +1
W.T. Water Transport Available, Mostly Ancient History, But Up To Recent History, of Import +1
N.O.U. No Over or Undercrowding +1
S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life to be found, Just Near the Sea (till more recent ages) +1
Each Foundation of History (F.H.) counts as one point. Invasion by Rome not overcrowding caused the end of ancient greek history, so what we call ancient greece was not overpopulated so they are higher up the scale than Rome, by the one extra building block of what we call ancient greece not associated with overpopulation by definition.
ROME ANCIENT B.C. (before overcrowding) F.H. +4.3;
EGW; The Eurasian band of good weather not 1 because land transport was so slow and cumbersome in those ages +.3
G.W. Good weather generally +1
W.T. Water Transport Available +1
N.O.U. No Over or Undercrowding +1
S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life to be found +1
ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE (A.D.) AFTER OVERCROWDING F.H. +3.7
EGW; The Eurasian band of good weather but so early in history just +.7
G.W.; Good weather generally +1
W.T. Water Transport Available, +1
N.O.U. No Over or Undercrowding 0
S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life to be found +1
AMERICA 1800's F.H. +3.3
E.G.W. America had no EW Eurasian belt of good weather but a transfer of science from the old world, but this link was neither strong or weak so it got .5
G.W. Weather good +1
W.T.The US in the time of the old west had poor water transport, although later they had the trains, and better ships from the old world, so because of ties with european science, +1
N.O.U. Population was low so this is .3
S.E.L. Salt was to be found inland with better boats and travel, so this gets a .5
CHINA; 1600's "Rennaisaince China" F. H. 3.5
EGW European Good weather +1
GW Good Weather Generally +1
WT They had all but poor water transport (just along the coast) 0
N.O.U. low overpopulation (the Plague started here) +1
S.E.L. With poor water transport, not as easy to get salt inland .5 This gives renaissance china, 3.5 which is almost as good as America in the 1800's.
EUROPE 14-1600's Europe F.H. 3.5
E.G.W. Obviously with trade opening up in Europe with asia, they had the Eurasian Belt of weather and transport of ideas by it as they had in ancient times, reawakened. 1
G.W. Europe of the 1500's had poor weather north of the alps, bad weather south, and so on just +.5
W.T. Poor water transport for much of europe when it was of historic import; Because of the poor land transport, and the preceding lack of connection with Asia in the Middle Ages just as with the arctic and the stone age this slowed transfer of science and inventions from the Eurasian belt, at least in N Europe, +.5
N.O.U. No Over or Underpopulation Low overpopulation after the plague +1
S.E.L. Salt .5
Renaissance Europe, 3 comparable to the brilliant civilizations of the US or rennaissance china.
ANCIENT EGYPT F. of H. +2
E.G.W. European Good Band of weather Egypt had No Eurasian Band much near like Russia also 0
G.W. Bad Weather 0
W.T. Water transport Small area so no major commerce, so no real advantage of water transport so it's +.5
N.O.U. No overpopulation +1
S.E.L. The same for salt inland other than just for basic use, (no land!) -.5
RUSSIA MODERN F. of H. + 2.5
G.W. Good Weather 0
E.G.W Eurasian Good Weather Band Russia may be too far North to be much aided by it or to aid perhaps +.5
W.T. Water Transport of reduced import in modern history because it was superceded by other transportation motifs. Actually a +1
N.O.U. Over or Underpopulation European so overcrowded in modern times 0
S.E.L. Salt essential to life In modern times due to relatively good transport this was not a problem +1
AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA 1 F. of H. 1 each (Although some wealth and freedom in some SA countries)
EGW European Good weather Band 0
G.W. Good Weather 0
W.T. Water Transport 0 except around coasts in older times
N.O.U.Underpopulation Or Overpopulation Overpopulation was just bad recently so before this +1
S.E.L.Salt 0
EUROPE IN DARK AGES F. of H. 1.6
EGW; The Eurasian band of good weather. Due to reduced transportation, the advantage of the good weather band was out of reach till the late middle ages -0
G.W.; Good weather generally, N Europe bad (above the alps winter was more like Russia with air from Russia moving S, South of the alps they were a limit to the cool weather, so Europe at the age had a BB rating about weather of just +.5
W.T. Water Transport Available, Mostly Ancient History, But Up To Recent History, of Import Slow land and water transport +.5
N.O.U. OverPopulation before The Plague 0
S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life to be found, Just Near the Sea, Even with slow land transport due to reduced economic activities not that far to go to transport salt +.6
AUSTRALIA Foundation of Older History had F. of H. of just (+.5) so there were few great Australians in the older history but this may soon change since the F of H rating has moved up to 3.5
EGW Eurasian Good Weather Band Not present in most of older Aussy History So in old times (0) With improved transport, Australia is in touch more much (+1)
G.W. Good weather not so good both (.5) now and (.5) then
W.T. Water Transport formerly unestablished (0) Now improved by other transport so in recent times W.T. is (+1)
N.O.U. No Over or Under Population till now before Under (0) Now over (0)
S.E.L. Salt Essential to Life Before (0) now (+1)
--
Here are the E. H. compared to the F. H.
Ancient greeks Overall E.H. 4.7 Ancient greeks Building Blocks All 5, Difference .3 (about 5.8% of 5)
Ancient Roma BC (Republic) BR 4.2 (before overcrowding) F.H 4.3 Difference .1 (2% of 5)
Ancient Roma AD B.R 2.7 (after overcrowding) F.H +3.7 Difference 1 (20% of 5)
America in 1800's E.H 4; F.H. 3.3 difference .7 (about 14% 0f 5)
China in 1600's "rennaisaince china" Excellence In History E.H 4.2 F.H. Foundations of History 3.5 Difference .7 (about 14% of 5)
Rennaiscance Europe E.H. 3.5 Rennaissance Europe F.H 3.5 Difference 0 (0% 0f 5)
Ancient Egypt BR 3 Ancient Egypt F. H. 2 Difference 1 (20% of 5)
Modern Russia F.H. 1.7 Modern Russia F.H (Foundations) + 2.5 Difference .8 (about 16% of 5)
Africa, Contemperary F.H 1 Africa E.H 1.4 Difference .4 (about 8% of 5)
South America F.H. +1. South America E.H +1.2 Difference .8 (16% of 5)
Europe In Dark Ages F.H 1.6 EUROPE IN DARK AGES .5 Difference 1.1 (25% of 5)
Australia BB older just (+.5) F.H and (+.7) Difference .2 (4% of 5)
Australia modern F.H. (3.5); EH (3) Difference .5 (10 % 0f 5)
.
All The differences between the FH and E.H. add up to 154% 13 times and places are 1300% and the difference is about 10% overall. This is a high to moderately high (signifigant) correlation. A correlation of just 2% in health science of improvement is considered to be a major improvement e.g. in medicine influencing millions of lives.
-
If most of history is because of these five Foundations and correlates well this a not a fatalistic view of history because the genes of the world's people, the geneticists say are almost exactly the same. If as some think "genes create the enviroment" in one explanation, this would seem to say that genes just make the best use of what environment they recieve. This may seem to trivialize history but all the civilizations before history began would rate a low F.H. because none of the physical posessions of higher civilizations were present. To compare civilizations to each other is not the same as comparing them to civilization in prehistoric times. Of course the life of the inner spirit of the prehistoric person was much like ours. They were just as true and they had almost all the social components that would be laws and customs later on in higher civilizations, as good as any. We owe all our life to them, our life, our world. (What's the "definition of natural" in life? Here's an explanation of HEALTH AS EVOLUTION with recent evidence in favor of this vision of our future as it relates to our evolution). So the high rating of the greeks was not because the other civilizations were so much bad, just mostly the greeks lucked out. A theory of historic motifs like the above that explains history mostly by available advantages may seem to trivialize history. I would say it's cosmic actually, life is simple, and good. It's easy to be a citizen of the cosmos, it doesn't take much to be exalted! Should it?
Because of the link of the advantages with the excellence, I believe my extension of idea that history was influenced by weather is true, and those of the third world have tried as much as we have to be good people and should be praised for all that's good about us all.
________________________
A real business woman is a woman who can win at 21 while she's with her boss!
How to Draw Real Good is a book so authored by Betsy W. I think she's a real art marm and I know how, on the outside is a self portrait-painted by her mother! ..
We have a local police woman whose favorite show was Andy Griffith, she'd watch it in her jeep on TV, her favorite show this month is Star Search!
disclaimer
