Fixed Agriculture Advantages

Question 2: What were the chief advantages of fixed agriculture, and how did fixed agriculture contribute to the rise of more complex civilizations?

When hunting and gathering was no longer a plausible method to supply food, due to the decline of large game, a controlled fixed agriculture was formed. Fixed agriculture supplied "development of food surpluses and consequently large increases in population" (pg. 5); however, the newly-found agriculture did not just provide food, it was a stepping stone to complex civilizations across the world. The Archaic Era Indians took the first step of agriculture by simply weeding out the inedible plants around the plants they ate, and now it has reaped the benefits of nowadays societies; modern Mexico was where the first tools were used in agriculture and the creation of fixed agriculture. When more food was created, children and adults could have a higher rate in surviving with less likelihood of dying from starvation, with plenty of food on the table, populations boomed, but as they started trying to come up with better ideas for farming, the mesoamericans thought of other innovating ideas to further more luxurious life style. By discovering farming, it also brought great minds to rely less on hunting and be less busy to work on

creating and discovering temples, written languages, mathematics, and so much more.

Question 3: What were the chief similarities between the civilizations of Africa and the Americas? What were the differences?

There were two types of civilizations in the early Africa and the Americas. One settlement was a "simpler, more egalitarian" or "highly, autonomous villages" (pg. 21); the other development was large cities and empires that were highly advanced in technology and lead a new era of education that is the basis of education we still use today. The former was small villages or tribes that were still primarily hunters and gatherers that incorporated farming into their food supply (pg. 8), though Africans had to herd animals instead since the weather was not always the most convenient to grow crops. On the other hand, the Americas had much more Empires and large advanced cities than Africa. Both places still discovered farming by themselves but it is evident that they adapted to their climates and made great civilizations and unique cultures from their discovery.

Question 5: What were the most important ideas associated with the Renaissance?

Once the Renaissance came, the entire European culture was changed about “arts, science, architecture, and political philosophy” (pg. 13). However, the most impactful was theology that focused on humanism, self-beauty, and self-improvement. To civilize humanity, the people of the Renaissance encouraged and valued art and philosophy (pg. 13). The Renaissance didn’t only just innovate art and education, but also brought forward many “religious figures” (pg. 13) as well, including Martin Luther. Martin Luther disagreed with the key principles of Catholics and reformed his own views from the issues, think that all people should find their own salvation through themselves and not the priests. The Renaissance was a new era to the people of Europe and an era that would mold them into a more ‘sophisticated’ civilization.

Question 1: How do you account for the early failures of Jamestown and its eventual successed?

George Peray, a colonist from Jamestown, once said “Our men were destroyed with cruel diseases, as swellings, Fluxes, Burning fevers and by wars, and some departed suddenly, but for the most part they died of famine.” The people of Jamestown were not prepared for the “arduous life in Virginia and who viewed manual labor as undignified.” The settles searched for minerals instead of farming, and steadily the town decreased from five hundred to a measly sixty.

Jamestown was on the brink of surviving, but John Rolfe rescued the colony by serving it a dishful surprise, tobacco. Tobacco was a cash crop and highly craved in England; Jamestown was finally able to boom with profits and rise from

near-death.

Question 4: What drove the pilgrims to leave Holland, a country noted for both its prosperity and its tolerance?

When leaving a place, it is in most cases, one found a better place or the one they belonged to was so miserable. In the Pilgrim’s place, it was both; England was not a preferable choice in their chosen religious practices, and then so, they fled to Holland. Holland, at the time, was known for its religious tolerance. However, upon arriving, they were soon discouraged by the “corruptness” of the country. A Dutch artist of the name Jan Steen portrayed the true face of Holland with his painting The Topsy-Turvy World that faced the undisciplined and rather undignified place (pg. 43). The Pilgrims did not want to live or raise their children in such of an environment and risk their faithfulness to temptation that they fled back to England and boarded a ship to sail to the New World (pg. 44).