{"id":425,"date":"2022-06-15T21:39:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T21:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/front-matter\/introduction\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:46:09","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"front-matter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/front-matter\/introduction\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"Welcome to Modern World History since 1815!\r\n\r\nThis textbook was originally created for an undergraduate survey course taught at all the universities and most of the colleges in the Minnesota State system. As similar courses are taught at institutions around the United States and the world, the authors have made the text available as an open educational resource (OER) that teachers and learners can read, adapt, and reuse to meet their needs.\r\n\r\nReaders of this text may have varying levels of familiarity with the events of World History before the modern period we will be covering. Occasionally understanding the text may require a bit of background that will help contextualize the material we are covering. This introduction will cover some of that background.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe Agricultural Revolution:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe'll take a look at the transition from nomadic hunt-and-gather groups to more complex societies based on agriculture. While also preparing for our coverage of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas in the early modern period by looking at the respective ancient societies.\r\n\r\n \t
\r\n
Ancient Kingdoms of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean<\/h3>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
Islam and Its Influence<\/h3>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
The Center of World Population: Asia<\/h3>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
The Isolated Americas<\/h3>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The Agricultural Revolution<\/h3>\r\nFarming developed in a number of different parts of the ancient world, before the beginning of recorded history. That means it\u2019s very difficult for historians to describe early agricultural societies in as much detail as we\u2019d like. Also, because there are none of the written records historians typically use to understand the past, we rely to a much greater extent on archaeologists, anthropologists, and other specialists for the data that informs our histories. And because the science supporting these fields has advanced rapidly in recent years, our understanding of this prehistoric period has also changed \u2013 sometimes abruptly.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"675\"] A neolithic (stone age) grindstone, used to process grain seeds collected by gatherers and later cultivated by farmers.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIt now seems likely that agriculture began in a very gradual process that goes back much farther than we had imagined. Humans as a species began in southern Africa some 300,000 years ago and after a population crisis about 150,000 years ago, modern humans seem to have left Africa between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago. They were not the first members of the human family that left Africa: Homo erectus<\/em>, Neanderthals, and Denisovans all lived in Europe and Asia until they were displaced by Homo sapiens<\/em>.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"625\"] A recent (2015) map showing updated theories of human migration out of Africa, including major archaeological sites.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the early millennia of their spread across the connected continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, modern humans lived mobile lives as hunter-gatherers. Constantly following the herds they hunted and to seek new food sources when conditions changed. Climate changed very slowly, but the most recent ice age which began about 36,000 years ago and lasted until about 11,000 years ago, displaced both animal and human populations. This then allowed some people to migrate to the Americas, as we will see.\r\n\r\nThe transition from nomadic hunt-and-gather groups to more complex societies based on agriculture (and the specialization and segmentation of work) allowed for the development of sedentary cultures which established governments, writing and number systems, and hierarchal social systems able to build impressive structures, defend (and sometimes expand) their borders, and create art and music. Let's look briefly at the ancient societies of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas to prepare for our coverage of them in the early modern period in the opening chapters.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bhzQFIZuNFY\r\n\r\n \r\n
Ancient Kingdoms of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean<\/h3>\r\nThe ancient dynasties of the Egyptian empire developed along the Nile beginning around 3100 BCE, built on the wheat surpluses made possible by the annual flooding of the Nile River.\u00a0 Among the most visible and lasting achievements of the Egyptian empires are the pyramids of Giza, built between 2600-2400 BCE to serve as burial tombs for several emperors. The Egyptian empires lasted for nearly 2300 years before being conquered, in succession, by the Assyrians, Persians, and Greeks between about 700 BCE and 332 BCE.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"559\"] The Giza pyramid complex, with Cairo in the background.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe societies of ancient Greece, particularly in Athens, directly influenced culture and intellectual life in Europe and the Middle East to the present day. Greek dramas and tragedies continue to be studied and performed; Pythagoras\u2019 mathematical discoveries are still taught in schools; and the thinking of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the basis for Western philosophy and political science today. The words \u201cdemocracy\u201d and \u201crepublic\u201d come from these ancient Greeks. Greek ideas and culture were adopted by the Romans and spread throughout their empire\u2014indeed, many Greek gods became Roman gods under different names.\r\n\r\nThe ancient Roman republic stood for nearly 500 years, expanding its territory from the city of Rome on the western coast of the Italian peninsula to nearly all lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including the former Greek and Egyptian empires and even England. The Romans spread their language (Latin) and their Latin alphabet to western Europe in particular. After a period of political crisis, the Republic was replaced with an Emperor under Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE.\r\n\r\nThe Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, Persian, and Roman empires all encountered the Hebrew people, who maintained their own independent kingdom of Israel around 1000 BCE.\u00a0 The Hebrew prophet Moses, influenced by spiritual ideas from the various societies, developed the concept of only one god for his people. Moses\u2019 monotheism was an unusual innovation in an era when most societies worshipped several gods and many honored the gods of other cultures. The Ten Commandments and the laws and regulations attributed to Moses in the Torah not only formed the basis of Judaism, but also Christianity and later Islam\u2014all religions which only worship a single god.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"513\"] The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, in 117 CE.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nShortly after the Romans conquered the region of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish thinker, began preaching a new more peaceful and inclusive religion of salvation. He was turned over by enemies to the Romans, who crucified him in approximately 33 CE.\u00a0 His followers, led especially by Paul (said to have never met Jesus), preached that Jesus was the Son of God and invited Gentiles (people who were not Jews) to join the faith. The new religion was especially embraced by slaves in the Roman Empire who were attracted to the promise of forgiveness, of a single, all-powerful God\u2019s unending love, and of eternal life after death. The Romans, who saw the new religion as a challenge to state religious authority, sometimes persecuted Christians.\r\n\r\nIn 330 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine banned persecution of Christians, and by 400 AC, Christianity had replaced the worship of Rome\u2019s traditional gods and goddesses as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Because Constantine embraced the new faith, the Roman Catholic Church is the most direct descendent of the Roman Empire. The Pope, leader of the Catholic Church, still lives in Rome, and the vestments of Catholic priests (and the clergy of some other liturgical Christian denominations) are similar to those worn by fourth-century Roman officials.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8ITVUBXVyR8\r\n
Islam and Its Influence<\/h3>\r\nIn 610 CE, the Prophet Muhammad began preaching and organizing a new religion\u2014Islam\u2014on the Arabian Peninsula in the region of Mecca. The Prophet\u2019s teachings, later gathered in the Holy Quran, built upon Judaism and Christianity. Mecca itself was long a site of religious pilgrimage honoring the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, and Jesus is considered as an important prophet in Islam. By the time of Muhammad\u2019s passing in 632, Islam was well-established in the eastern Arabian Peninsula; within the next one hundred years, it became the dominant religion in North Africa, the Middle East, and Persia. By 1200, Muslim rulers also dominated South Asia and the Iberian Peninsula.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"250\"] An 18th-century map of Mecca, showing the Al-Haram Mosque and the Ka'bah, which millions of Muslims visit on pilgrimages every year.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam brought stability to the region and trade, learning, as well as the exchange of ideas flourished.\u00a0 The extent of Muslim trade is notable in the establishment of a center of Islamic study in Timbuktu in the middle of northern Sub-Saharan Africa, located in today\u2019s Mali. In all actuality, religious conversion often accompanied Arab merchant activity. The Arab world benefitted from relatively stable administrations and commercial links that allowed merchants to bring new technology, science, and mathematics from India and China to the region, which Arab scholars refined in their own centers of learning.\r\n\r\nMuslims, like Christians, Jews, and followers of all other world religions, may share common sacred writings and liturgical traditions, but are also divided by different theological interpretations and religious practices. In Islam, a principal division stems from an early debate over who should have led the religion after the Prophet: should it have been a member of his family (to be known as Shi\u2019ites), or simply anyone who was an effective and dynamic leader (to be known as Sunnis)? Although Sunnis and Shi\u2019ites fought one another in the early years of Islam, many have also lived together in relative peace for centuries, until the last few decades (which we'll examine in later chapters).\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5KLvjs7Yrtw\r\n
The Center of World Population: Asia<\/h3>\r\nAfter thousands of years of hunting and gathering, the ancient people of northern China began cultivating millet and rice at about the same time and in much the same way that people of the Middle East grew wheat and people of the Americas grew maize, potatoes, and cassava. China\u2019s recorded history began about four thousand plus years ago. Based on irrigated rice agriculture, the population of China grew to 50-60 million people as early as 2,000 years ago. This population was originally divided into several small kingdoms whose ruling families were connected through political marriages. Beginning in 221 BCE, the most influential and powerful family organized the kingdoms into an empire covering much of the territory of modern China.\u00a0 This empire \u00a0lasted over two thousand years under a series of over a dozen dynasties until the fall of the Qing dynasty<\/em> in 1911 and the establishment of the Republic of China. In the region that is now Pakistan and India, Indus Valley cities such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, each housed 30,000 to 60,000 people. These cultures grew on an agricultural base focused on wheat, barley, and millet. <\/span>\r\n\r\nThe permanent nature of these agricultural societies led thinkers to consider in more complex ways how people should live correctly in the world, which led to the establishment of both religious and civil structures that are the ancestors and sources of many of the world governments and religions which still exist today. <\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"559\"] The extent of the Roman and Han Empires around the year 1 CE.[\/caption]\r\n
The earliest emperors of China began large public works programs including construction of what they called Long Walls<\/em> which later formed the basis of the Great Wall<\/em>, partly to protect from northern tribes and partly to expand their territory northward. Around 200 BCE, the second Chinese dynasty<\/em>, the Han<\/em>, established a trade route called the Silk Road<\/em> linking China through central Asia with Europe. The next dynasty, the Sui<\/em>, dug the Grand Canal<\/em> to connect the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers in the sixth century CE. The canal allowed rice, wheat, and millet to be transported on a protected inland waterway instead of being shipped on the ocean where shipments could be threatened by pirates. China also led the world in iron, copper, and porcelain production as well as in the \u201cFour Great Inventions\u201d<\/em>: the compass, gunpowder, paper-making, and printing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Isolated Americas<\/h3>\r\n
The people living in the Americas were separated by climate change from Eurasia for nearly 12,000 years after the end of the ice age that had created Beringia<\/em> between what is now Alaska and Siberia, and allowed Eurasians to cross over into the Americas. During this period, which we should remember is twice as long as recorded history, the Native Americans were not idle. When they had arrived in the Americas, they found very few large animal species available to domesticate. Like the \u00a0Europeans, Asians, and Africans, Native Americans experienced their own agricultural revolution after a long period of hunting and gathering. Yet, instead of domesticating cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens, Americans developed certain plants, creating \u00a0three of the world\u2019s current top five staple crops.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"478\"] An image depicting Teosinte, a Maize-teosinte hybrid, and Maize, developed 7,000 to 10,000 years ago in central Mexico.[\/caption]\r\n
Staple crops produce the foods that provide the greatest percentage of the calories people eat. Today that means only about fifteen staple crops make up 90% of the calories people eat every day. The top five were all discovered\/invented by ancient people between 6-10 thousand years ago, and three of the five were invented in the Americas. The world\u2019s top five staples today (in order of importance) are: <\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \t
maize (corn)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
rice<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
wheat<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
potatoes<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t
cassava <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n
Only rice and wheat were known to Europe, Asia, and Africa before contact with the Americas. Native women (they were in charge of agricultural work) of what is now Mexico developed maize from a native grass called teosinte; about 9 thousand years ago. Maize is currently the most important staple in the world for human and animal feed, as well as in industrial uses like High Fructose Corn Syrup, plastics and fuel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n
Andean natives in Peru and Bolivia are responsible for the many varieties of potatoes; beginning 10,000 years ago. They learned to grow in different conditions and learned to freeze dry potatoes for long-term storage. And the people of the Amazon region discovered manioc trees and developed processes to turn the trees\u2019 poisonous roots into cassava; between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago. Along with rice and wheat developed in Eurasia, maize, potatoes, and manioc are the most important staple crops in the modern world, feeding billions of people. We have ancient native Americans to thank for them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"334\"] Cassava roots need to be processed to remove poisons before they can be eaten.[\/caption]\r\n
Of course, eating nothing but maize, potatoes, and cassava would be a very bland diet. The indigenous in central Mexico developed other plants to flavor their cuisine: the various types of hot peppers, beans, and tomatoes present in Mexican food today were enjoyed by the Olmecs, Toltecs, and Mexica hundreds of years before their encounter with Europeans in the sixteenth century. The Meso-Americans also ground cocoa beans and added hot water, peppers, and honey to make hot chocolate\u2013even today, millions of Latin Americans begin and end their day with a cup, prepared in a traditional olleta<\/span><\/em>\u00a0with a hand-held\u00a0batidor<\/span><\/em>, using chunks of chocolate. However, such a delicious drink was originally reserved for the nobility, and cocoa beans themselves were often used as a kind of currency.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe will look more closely in the next several chapters at the cultures of all these regions, as they entered the modern era. Although the people of each continent and region developed different traditions and customs, their agriculturally-based cultures shared a lot of similarities and their civilizations were all comparably advanced at the beginning.\r\n
Is it significant that historians must rely on information from other fields like archaeology to tell the story of the ancient world?<\/li>\r\n \t
Why does it matter where agriculture first developed?<\/li>\r\n \t
Does considering human migrations in the deep past affect your opinions on race and ethnicity?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n \t
\r\n
Ancient Kingdoms of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n \t
On what types of historical evidence do you think references to people such as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are based? How might these sources differ from the archaeological sources mentioned previously?<\/li>\r\n \t
How do the cultures of ancient Europe continue to influence life in the modern world?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
Islam and Its Influence<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n \t
How do you think the memory of the Roman Empire affected Europeans?<\/li>\r\n \t
How did conflict between Muslims and Christians shape European history?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
The Center of World Population: Asia<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n \t
Is it significant that China and India have always been centers of world population?<\/li>\r\n \t
Why do agricultural surpluses encourage the building of cities, kingdoms, and empires?<\/li>\r\n \t
Is it surprising to you that the Han and Roman Empires existed at the same time and that there was trade between Asia and Europe via the Silk Road?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t
\r\n
The Isolated Americas<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n \t
Why would it matter that there were no large animal species in the Americas for natives to domesticate?<\/li>\r\n \t
![\"neolithic](\"https:\/\/mlpp.pressbooks.pub\/app\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2019\/06\/Molino_neoli\u0301tico_de_vaive\u0301n.jpg#fixme#fixme\")
A neolithic (stone age) grindstone, used to process grain seeds collected by gatherers and later cultivated by farmers.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIt now seems likely that agriculture began in a very gradual process that goes back much farther than we had imagined. Humans as a species began in southern Africa some 300,000 years ago and after a population crisis about 150,000 years ago, modern humans seem to have left Africa between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago. They were not the first members of the human family that left Africa: Homo erectus<\/em>, Neanderthals, and Denisovans all lived in Europe and Asia until they were displaced by Homo sapiens<\/em>.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"625\"]![\"Migration](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/Putative_migration_waves_out_of_Africa.png\")
A recent (2015) map showing updated theories of human migration out of Africa, including major archaeological sites.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the early millennia of their spread across the connected continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, modern humans lived mobile lives as hunter-gatherers. Constantly following the herds they hunted and to seek new food sources when conditions changed. Climate changed very slowly, but the most recent ice age which began about 36,000 years ago and lasted until about 11,000 years ago, displaced both animal and human populations. This then allowed some people to migrate to the Americas, as we will see.\r\n\r\nThe transition from nomadic hunt-and-gather groups to more complex societies based on agriculture (and the specialization and segmentation of work) allowed for the development of sedentary cultures which established governments, writing and number systems, and hierarchal social systems able to build impressive structures, defend (and sometimes expand) their borders, and create art and music. Let's look briefly at the ancient societies of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas to prepare for our coverage of them in the early modern period in the opening chapters.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bhzQFIZuNFY\r\n\r\n \r\n![\"Giza](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/Pyramids_of_the_Giza_Necropolis-scaled-1.jpg\")
The Giza pyramid complex, with Cairo in the background.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe societies of ancient Greece, particularly in Athens, directly influenced culture and intellectual life in Europe and the Middle East to the present day. Greek dramas and tragedies continue to be studied and performed; Pythagoras\u2019 mathematical discoveries are still taught in schools; and the thinking of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the basis for Western philosophy and political science today. The words \u201cdemocracy\u201d and \u201crepublic\u201d come from these ancient Greeks. Greek ideas and culture were adopted by the Romans and spread throughout their empire\u2014indeed, many Greek gods became Roman gods under different names.\r\n\r\nThe ancient Roman republic stood for nearly 500 years, expanding its territory from the city of Rome on the western coast of the Italian peninsula to nearly all lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including the former Greek and Egyptian empires and even England. The Romans spread their language (Latin) and their Latin alphabet to western Europe in particular. After a period of political crisis, the Republic was replaced with an Emperor under Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE.\r\n\r\nThe Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, Persian, and Roman empires all encountered the Hebrew people, who maintained their own independent kingdom of Israel around 1000 BCE.\u00a0 The Hebrew prophet Moses, influenced by spiritual ideas from the various societies, developed the concept of only one god for his people. Moses\u2019 monotheism was an unusual innovation in an era when most societies worshipped several gods and many honored the gods of other cultures. The Ten Commandments and the laws and regulations attributed to Moses in the Torah not only formed the basis of Judaism, but also Christianity and later Islam\u2014all religions which only worship a single god.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"513\"]![\"Map](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/Roman_Empire_Trajan_117AD.png\")
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, in 117 CE.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nShortly after the Romans conquered the region of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish thinker, began preaching a new more peaceful and inclusive religion of salvation. He was turned over by enemies to the Romans, who crucified him in approximately 33 CE.\u00a0 His followers, led especially by Paul (said to have never met Jesus), preached that Jesus was the Son of God and invited Gentiles (people who were not Jews) to join the faith. The new religion was especially embraced by slaves in the Roman Empire who were attracted to the promise of forgiveness, of a single, all-powerful God\u2019s unending love, and of eternal life after death. The Romans, who saw the new religion as a challenge to state religious authority, sometimes persecuted Christians.\r\n\r\nIn 330 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine banned persecution of Christians, and by 400 AC, Christianity had replaced the worship of Rome\u2019s traditional gods and goddesses as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Because Constantine embraced the new faith, the Roman Catholic Church is the most direct descendent of the Roman Empire. The Pope, leader of the Catholic Church, still lives in Rome, and the vestments of Catholic priests (and the clergy of some other liturgical Christian denominations) are similar to those worn by fourth-century Roman officials.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8ITVUBXVyR8\r\n![\"1787](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/OldmapofMecca.jpg\")
An 18th-century map of Mecca, showing the Al-Haram Mosque and the Ka'bah, which millions of Muslims visit on pilgrimages every year.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIslam brought stability to the region and trade, learning, as well as the exchange of ideas flourished.\u00a0 The extent of Muslim trade is notable in the establishment of a center of Islamic study in Timbuktu in the middle of northern Sub-Saharan Africa, located in today\u2019s Mali. In all actuality, religious conversion often accompanied Arab merchant activity. The Arab world benefitted from relatively stable administrations and commercial links that allowed merchants to bring new technology, science, and mathematics from India and China to the region, which Arab scholars refined in their own centers of learning.\r\n\r\nMuslims, like Christians, Jews, and followers of all other world religions, may share common sacred writings and liturgical traditions, but are also divided by different theological interpretations and religious practices. In Islam, a principal division stems from an early debate over who should have led the religion after the Prophet: should it have been a member of his family (to be known as Shi\u2019ites), or simply anyone who was an effective and dynamic leader (to be known as Sunnis)? Although Sunnis and Shi\u2019ites fought one another in the early years of Islam, many have also lived together in relative peace for centuries, until the last few decades (which we'll examine in later chapters).\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5KLvjs7Yrtw\r\n![\"Map](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/RomanandHanEmpiresAD1.png\")
The extent of the Roman and Han Empires around the year 1 CE.[\/caption]\r\n![\"teosinte](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/Maize-teosinte.jpg\")
An image depicting Teosinte, a Maize-teosinte hybrid, and Maize, developed 7,000 to 10,000 years ago in central Mexico.[\/caption]\r\n![\"Manioc\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/20thcenturyworldhis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/211\/2022\/06\/Manihot_esculenta_dsc07325.jpg\")
Cassava roots need to be processed to remove poisons before they can be eaten.[\/caption]\r\n