It became a powerful and lucrative point of trade for South Asia and the entire Mediterranean. Axum became famous for its exports of ivory, frankincense, myrrh, and slaves. In 500 A.D. the empire of Ghana emerged. It was located in the upper Niger River Valley along the West African coast. Its economy consisted of farming, gold and iron mining.
The countries involved in the ‘Scramble for Africa’ were Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy. A key economic feature of colonialism was producing and exporting raw materials either agricultural or mineral, precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. Tropical products for luxury consumption such as coffee, sugar, spices, timber and fabrics like cotton. Later when Britain, France and Germany were competing against each other for colonies in Africa in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the international market had changed rapidly with a huge demand for raw materials for manufacturing such as jute, cotton, rubber and sisal (Bernstein, 1992:48). Mass consumption demand such as tea, sugar and vegetable oils (Bernstein, 1992:48).
With using the criteria`s of: scale, genius, effort, and significance; we will see what they were. The Maya`s remarkable achievements were: trade networks, calendars, and the number system; However their most remarkable achievement was building cities. Three good examples of the remarkable achievement by the ancient Maya were trade networks, number system, and the calendar. The trade network reached across Mesoamerica from southern Mexico to Honduras (Doc A). The Mayan`s carried many products on these routes including cocoa, basalt
Colonial Architecture. In the early sixteenth century the conquest of America was mostly done. On the ruins of the great pre-Hispanic cultures a new culture raises. Mexican art is mostly based on religious aspects, with a great influence of Europe. In Mexico many monuments are build to show the power of the religion and to control the population.
It was supposed to stand for all Mexicans. Ibid., 163. The Mexican people needed an identity and like all other nations needed to come together on common ground to form a nation. There were more then just books and short stories that were used as visual practices to construct a nation-state in early Latin America.
Imperialism France and Japan are two of the world’s most important countries. Not only are they economically and militarily strong, they are also very politically influential. These two countries would not be in the position they are now without their success in expansion through imperialism. Both have a great history in imperialism. France has imperialized many African countries on Africa’s west coast as well as many islands along Africa, which they used throughout their trading route.
Cuzco is a city that was of vast importance to both the Inca and the Spaniards when they arrived. Pre Spanish invasion, the city served as the central political and cultural hub of the entire empire that changed regularly with the induction of new leaders, yet it was the changes that were brought about by the Spanish that were deemed most dramatic. After the city’s fall in 1533, the Spaniards immediately began to add their architectural influence to the great city, even replacing the great Coricancha temple or Temple of the Sun, a headpiece in the Incan religion, with still standing Church of Santo Domingo (Sacredsites.com). The city would go on to flourish for many years thanks to the introduction of mining and trade with the Spanish. The city still functions today as a home to around 400,000 people with an economy based on the tourism that the great city brings in
Brazil is one of the most populated countries in the world. Its most famous holiday is Carnival. Carnival began in Brazil by the Portuguese colonists; they brought the tradition too. Traditionally, the festivals consisted mainly of street battles with raw eggs or eggshells filled with flour, or balloons full of water. Gradually, the celebrations evolved into the unique practices of masquerades, parades, dances and drums.
Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia. It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460. Due to several technological and cultural advantages, Portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. While, in the fifteenth century, the rest of Europe was decimated by the Black Plague, Portugal was protected by its physical isolation. Additionally, Portugal had an unusually strong national identity, due to its natural geographic borders, allowing the pooling of the considerable economic resources necessary to fund these ambitious explorations.
Thousands of workers worked on building the temples in this settlement. Kaminaljuyú developed trade routes all the way to central Mexico, increasing its importance to other settlements and increasing its own economic strength. Kaminaljuyú did not maintain its influence when the city of Teotihuacan rose. Teotihuacan, also known as the city of the gods, dominated Kaminaljuyú politically and economically severely reducing Kaminaljuyú’s influence on the Maya. Teotihuacan will be the trading, cultural, and religious center of Mesoamerica for several centuries.