Population and Migration: Becoming who we are today.

Populating the world was something that tool many thousands years, our ancestors moved from place to place and in those migrating days many people separated, those who wanted to stay, stayed and the one who wanted to find a new place to live moved and made a home somewhere else leaving behind many people and populating the world slowly. Our ancestor had to develop new ways of living and had to adapt to their new environments giving way to the differences in physical appearances that we have now with people from different places, our bodies have to adapt to the environment in which we put it, of do not adapt we do not survive. As Spencer Wells explains in his documentary The Journey of  Man , our ancestors had to go through great challenges to get where we are today.  Fernandez- Armesto explains in his book The World  how People went from being hunter- gatherers to an  agricultural society with rulers, Gods, and different worshiping figures. Although most of us might see the change from hunting and gathering as a good thing or as evolution from primitive to evolved human beings, agriculture was not a step forward, nor am I saying that it was a step back, but people had to put in extra effort to be able to get food and also they invited diseases from animals into the human system. People also had to learn how to cook what they were now using for food to be able to digest the it. Agriculture was much more work and very little pay off.

Dr. Spencer Wells in his documentary The Journey of Man  takes the on the challenge of tracking down the first ancestor and the steps taken from when they first came out of Africa to populating the new world. He travels all around the world and takes the DNA of many different groups of people to find which group is most related to the first ancestor, so he can tell the story of how we all came to be who we are today.  He finds a few particular people who have DNA that is very similar to that of our ancestor he goes  from Africa. to India, to Australia, to Khasakstan and finally made it to America. This journey shows us how our skin color and out facial features change from one place to another according to to the environment in which we live. 

This documentary shows that there really is no such things as an elite race, we all come from the same ancestor, we all have the the same root DNA of course it varies because along the way we mix with one and other so the DNA pattern must change, But we really are one big family who came from Africa and has populated the world and turned it into what is is today.  Searching for the descendants of the ancestor took a lot of work and time, because even though we all come from the same roots they are direct descendants from that one first person who decided to migrate to other places and explore what was outside of Africa. They are the very descendants of the first peoples from their own countries or their tribes. We are one family of many descendants spread around the world.

Although migrating to other places took many years for our ancestors, one could consider that is was much easier to do it by feet since they did not have all the luxuries that we have today for transportation. Today even if we tried to make this journey by feet it would be practically impossible since the earth has shifted and separated the land masses that make today's continents. Back when the world was being populated the earth was one big land mass that could be traveled by foot from place to place. If the earth would have been separated like it is today the population of the earth would have taken even longer, modern day can not compare because now we have great technologies like the airplane or ships that can make this journey in just a few days, where as to our ancestors took thousands of years to go around the globe populating and making new civilizations. 

As I have said before we all come from Africa, from the San People, the oldest living people, the people we come from. When they migrated they started new civilizations and new countries rose from those ancient civilizations. After the spreading of the people around the world people changed physically and those people who were grouped together and had similar physical features were now a civilization. Many new civilizations arose from this in the the Middle East, Europe, and  Eurasia this were some of the first people to appear in the beginning of what we call today Western Civilization. The Middle East, Greece, Italy, Anatolia ( Turkey) had great impact on our development. 

Economic development increased due to agriculture, people now had more to trade and they also wanted more things, the idea of luxuries could come into play now. People now new how to grow crops and how to harvest, they also learned to cook the things they were harvesting, this type of new developments made life much more complex, yet they had more variety of foods rather than just the gathering and the hunting they had before. Trading with the new growing civilizations gave way to economic growth for certain people. People who made other people believe they were better than them, the Elites collected goods to increase their properties and have more power over the people who had less. The elites have always made people of lower classes work for them making them even more rich. The average people work for their elites for religious reasons, because they believe that these people who rule them were sent by their God to be their mediator between the mortals and the Godly spirits. 

Economics also increased because there was new ways to transport things from one place to another, the rivers in the Middle East and Europe played a major role in the economic development of the ancient civilizations. New trade routes that could take and bring new goods to different peoples. They also had newer technologies in which other peoples were interested in. Trading goods for goods always increases the economic development of a civilization.

Political system had to be developed, as in every developing civilization there had to be a ruler who kept the people at peace with each other and some whom the people could look up to for solutions to their problems as a living community. People developed the idea of Pharaohs, monarchs, priests, they had to have some one whom they could worship, at this time religion played a major role in the ruling of civilizations, Christianity, Islam, Judaism all played major roles in the development of many civilizations. At this period of time only the religious leaders could manage the people and make decisions about what was to happen in the community. Politics is one of the reasons why we have different social classes, someone wanted to be worshiped so they had to get someone who would worship them. Taking all power to themselves and ruling the people.

Cultural diffusion happened as it happens all the time. People migrate, trade, share and learn from each other. Ancient peoples traded and migrated to different places taking with them their culture and sharing them with the new people they meet, they also learn from that new culture. The development of trade made cultural diffusion much easier. The rivers were the main gate ways to cultural diffusion because people traveled by river to get to their destination and on that journey they would trade their things for the things they found along the way. Culture as we all know is not something that we are born with, but rather something we learn as we grow. People made up their own cultures and religions influenced on the parts of the world in which they were living, all cultures are influenced by each other, every one takes a small part of what they like from a culture and include it in their own, there is no unique culture because we all have the same ideals as humans beings. We all want the same things and it is this way that our cultures merge and become our own in different ways. 

We have learned that we all came from the same ancestor, there is no elite race or skin color. Human beings change because we have to adapt to our surroundings and if that means changing color, changing height, changing facial features than the body must do it, we must adapt to survive, if we do not we will get left behind and the others will move along. We also know that we learn culture, all of our cultures intertwine there is no unique culture so there is no reason to think we are better then someone else because of our culture. Politics has always been run by those smarter than others, those who can grab the power and tell other what to do, and those less smart will follow no matter what because if they are not leaders they are followers and need to be led the way. Politicians will always make one believe the most obvious lies if the society is completely lost and need some one to tell them what to do. Economy has all to do with culture, without culture there is no economy, because why would we want to trade what we have for what we already have? Cultural diffusion means economic growth and political exchange as well. Ideas from one powerful to the other to keep the people in line, so that they can keep the power. People change, the earth changes, the environment changes. Evolution is happening as we read this, we do not realize, but we are evolving everyday. We have influences from all over the world that make us who we are today and what out generations will be tomorrow. We are not more than or less than any other people, we're one big family that keeps on changing everyday. 

Bibliography

Armesto-Fernandez, Felipe The World  2011. (ch. 1,2, and 3)

Wells, Spencer The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey PBS.com, 2002 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJDGzzrMyQ

Understanding History

History has always been difficult to understand and keep up with. History does not stop, In fact we are history in the making. Almost all of what is happening right now in the world will be history the new generation. There are many things happening today that we don't even imagine will be in text book in the future. This is exactly how our ancestors felt, they did not know that one day we would even exist or much less be reading about them and how we came to be from them. We try to understand our ancestors as much as we can from what we know from them. As Fernandez-Armesto points out in his introduction to The World, history does not make perfect sense, we must keep asking the right questions even if we do not get the right answer. The study of history is not intended to tell us how people really lived in the past, but to give us an idea of what it felt like to live in it. In the episode Fort Raleigh of Time Team America archaeologist are sent out to investigate the first Americans that settled in North Carolina and the way they lived and how they adapted to their new environment. Eventually they abandoned the camp, to this day what really happened to them remains a mystery because they left no traces of where they were going or why they left their homes. In another investigation the History Detectives investigate the Woolworth signs that were in the stores when the historical human rights sit ins happened. Many people take small parts of history for granted, but there are people who want a piece of history to keep to remember where we come from and how it is that we are all now in some sense equal. We want to honor those who were brave enough to make history and give us the freedom that we have today. History is unexpected and surprising. As we will learn further on in the readings ahead.

To try to understand history questions must be asked, they may not always be answered because as I said before history is uncertain. Time Team America went on a quest to find where the first Americans settled and to try to understand how they lived and how they survived their new surroundings. Archaeologist dug many trenches to find where their houses were and what they looked like, they had drawings from John White who was the artist at the time they settled in North Carolina and who recorded the way the houses were made and what the environment looked like. This drawings made it much more easier for the team artist to come up with a sketch of what the settlement might have been like, of course the environment changes with time so there really is no certain drawing that tells us how exactly the first Americans lived, we can only assume. The first Americans had to adapt to their new environment since they came from a city like life style to a rural life style that did not have all the luxuries that they were used to. Trying to find out how this first Americans lived takes a long time of hard work and although they might find many characteristics of their live no certain answer will be found because there are many changes that have occurred through out time that make it hard for archaeologist and artist to have a real sense of these peoples lives.

The arrival of new people to America gave way to a change in the geographical make up of the land. This new people had to make way for their survival changing the way the land had been before. First they had to build their new houses and make enough ground space to live together as a community. The changes to them might have been small, but this changes affect the environment and the living creatures that inhabit that environment. To survive the first Americans depended on agriculture because they did not have any other sources of food. Agriculture changes everything because the land is being exploited and planted at the same time. We must keep in mind that geography changes with time as the environment changes.

Demography was obviously affected by the arrival of new people to America. New people means an increase in population and maybe even intermixing of different peoples to become one. People who settled became a self sustaining community. A new community that brought about more diversity. These people had a way of live before they came to America and tried to make life here similar to the one they had before. These people migrated from one place to another as suggested by the evidence, they abandoned their settlement, some of them probably separated from the rest as it usually happens with migrating groups, this means that the same people could have populated other areas of the country at the same time making them a bigger group, because obviously reproduction was going on even though migration was happening too. Reproduction is one of the most important parts of demographic change, every day there is new people being born into this world, making and shaping our demography.

As population grew, so did economy. People needed things that they did not have. How than did they obtain the things they wanted, but had no access to?  Trading. Trading is the most convincing theory since I assume their currency was not worth very much when they arrived to their new home. Trading has been the path to a great economy. People get what they want giving other people what they need, this is a win- win situation for everyone. Economy plays a major role in our lives. Without economy we would not have developed into the first world country that we are today. Economy is what makes a country thrive. Back when our ancestors were roaming the world trying to find a better living, they had to deal with economy as well. They needed to get from one place to another, they also needed food to survive, this world does not move without economy, we must pay for what we need, with whatever it is that we have within our reach, it does not matter if its currency, animals, or other types of goods. 

A good economy brings stability to people, a good economy makes a stronger nation. A nation that will not collapse rapidly. We all depend on economy. Even the most isolated people around the world depend on their own type of economy. As long as economy is fair to everyone there will not be an up-rise from the poorer to try to destabilize the ones with a better economy prospective. We can see now with what is happening with the One Percent trying to overthrow the 99% in Wall Street. In a good economy there needs to be a balance between the poor and the rich, so no one can feel like they are being left behind. If the people with a better economic status get too greedy the people with less monetary resources will rise and disturb the peace that there once was between the two groups. We do not need to refer to text books to see this. This is happening right now, this will be part of our history.

Any civilization to be successful needs a ruler. Politics are fundamental for any nation, civilization, or tribe to be successful. Without a ruler everyone would do what ever they wanted. A ruler sets rules to his or her group, although historically almost all rulers have been men, we can not discard the idea that some past civilizations also had female rules. Politics goes hand in hand with economics, politicians set rules for economic prosperity, good politicians want to better their community with having a good economic status. Good politicians want a fair treatment of their people it does not matter if they are poor or rich.  The fist Americans who settled down in this new country had a ruler or someone whom they followed. Some one who made plans and kept them together as a group. Once they moved they moved because their ruler believed that they had better chances of survival out of the place where they had first settled. In modern day a country could not function without a ruler, maybe not the entire nation agrees with what the ruler decides to do with the country, but without a ruler the nation would be lost and collapse. 

Politics are often misunderstood by normal people like us, because we are promised many thins by the politicians who try to gain our trust so we can choose them as our rulers, but once they are in the ruling chair they forget about all the promises they made and take a different on what they call politics. This happened in ancient times as well, that is why many nations came to an end or separated. Many nations came to be by the fall of other nations. 

Cultural diffusion happens everyday in modern day world. But back in the time of our ancestors cultural diffusion took too long to happen because for many years people were isolated. Even though our ancestors migrated most of their lives cultural diffusion was hard because most of the world was not populated and making contact with other people was difficult. Most cultural diffusion started to happen when trading began. People everywhere were trading not only goods, but culture as well. When the English settled in North Carolina they had to have contact with Native Americans and their culture, same for Native Americans who had contact with the new people settling in their land. The new Americans had to share land with people who had a very different cultural background, they had to learn from them to survive and adapt to the new environment. It is believed that when they abandoned their camp ground they could have united with the Native Americans to become one group and settle together as one. We will never know because they left no traces of where they were going when they left. But living with the Natives could have given way to a whole new culture that includes both Native American and New American roots. 

All in all, we have learned that history is hard to fully understand and that it is ever changing and on going. We are making history today, that will be read in text books in the future. Culture, Politics, Demography, Geography, and Economics are all part of our history. They are the most fundamental part of who we are today and they are what shape out future, weather its a good thing or a bad thing. We depend on all these things because with out them we would not be able to exist. We all strive towards a better tomorrow and without this fundamentals we would not be able to have a developing world. 

Bibliography

Armesto-Fernandez, Felipe. The World. 2007

Time Team America. Fort Raleigh, North Carolina. PBS.COM. 2009

http://video.pbs.org/program/time-team-america/

History Detectives. Titanic Picture Frame, Woolworth Signs, Nazi Spy Toys. 

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives