HIST 10 - World History to 1500
Lect. # 21

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A European Miracle?
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I. History Inside Out
    A. Europe as the "Inside"
        1. 'Eurocentric diffusionism'
        2. European Miracle (E.L. Jones)
                • building blocks of modernity must be European
                • Colonialism NOT critical element of modernity
                • Colonialism resulted in modernization

    B. Tunnel of Time
        1. 19th Century
                • Mediterranean-centric
                • Non-Europeans are 'infrahuman'
                • Christians favored over non-Christians

        2. 1900
                • More secular
                • Evolutionary (not Darwinian)
                • First Cro-magnon Man lived in Europe
                • Agriculture "discovered" in Europe
                • Africans = savages; Asians = despotic

        3. Post World War II
                • Enlarged notion of history (as a result of WWII)
                • More inclusive of non-European History
                • Non-European's seen as evolving more slowly

II. The Voyagers
    A. Pacific Islanders & Traditional Navigation
        1. Western Descriptions of the Pacific
                • Pedro Fernandez de Quiros - Marquesas (1595)
                • Jacob Roggeveen - Easter Island (1722)
                • James Cook
                         - Kealakekua Bay (1779)
                         - Tahiti (1774)
                • Thor Heyerdahl (Kon-Tiki)
                • Tupaia (Tupaia's map)

        2. Pacific Navigation
                • Steering by the Stars
                • Sidereal ("Star") Compass (keeping track)
                         - Micronesian 'Stick Charts'
                • Daytime Steering
                • Wave Reading (ocean swell patterns)