WW Prologue, Intro to Part One & First Peoples: Out of Africa & The Ways We Were

                                  The prologue of the Book "Ways of the World" discusses two types of histories. First, the History of the Universe which discusses the cosmic origins of the world beginning all the way from the Big Bang. Thankfully, I have little knowledge on the Big Bang thanks to my Earth Sciences. I am then provided a table of the History of the Universe- starting from the aforementioned Big Bang to the Aztec and Inca Empires. The cosmic history of the world gave me a glimpse of the interconnectedness the social and natural sciences possess. The second type of History discussed is the History of a planet. This section introduced terms such as Homo Sapiens which later is described as our closest primate relatives from the past. Also in the prologue, we are asked "Why world history?". I pondered on the question before reading the text and came to the conclusion; to not commit the past mistakes in the future. This is primarily my idea but the book gave me a different perspective. We take world history in order to open our minds and become global citizens. To not limit ourselves to the corners of our territory, but to expand into different boundaries and become aware that we are a part of something much bigger. The book introduces the 3C's of History: Change, Comparison and Connection. To sum it up, Change is the evolution and "change" we see throughout history. Comparison is to see both the similarities and differences of two aspects in history. And Connection is to see how aspects intertwine.


                           The intro to part one begins by stating a known fact- humans love storytelling. I believe this is very much evident in today's society as seen on social media platforms. As we read through the text we are introduced to known names such as Charles Darwin (who coined the evolution of man) and terms such as Homo Sapiens and Homininae. I find it interesting that Charles Darwin's theory the evolution of man states that we diverged to that of chimpanzees. I guess we can relate this theory to why some animals and humans have a much deeper connection than that of a human to another human. The intro also tackles the Globalization of Humankind. This can easily be associated to that of migration. Humans were able to explore untouched land thanks to the innovative people of the Paleolithic era. Stated as "the single most significant and enduring transformation of the human condition and of human relationship to the natural world"  the intro to part one also discusses the effects and foundations of the farming and herding revolution. Reading about such made me realize that the human mind is much more capable and innovative.

                              Heading into Chapter 1 (First peoples) I learned that the first migrations ever happened in Africa. People of this continent then headed to neighboring ones such as Asia, Australia, and lastly, Europe. This was the foundation to start up civilizations in the respective areas. It was mentioned in the intro to part one that the Paleolithic era was the foundation to agricultural and industrial advancements. We later on learn that it was also the foundation on building the first human societies. These societies consist of people who live one with nature,  utilizing natural ways of hunting and gathering. Chapter one focuses primarily on the Paleolithic era and how the events and innovations created during this time majorly shaped the world we have today. In fact, they even had influenced some of the religions we have today such as animism. People of this era were believed to have worshipped material objects and symbolised them of divine nature. The end of the Paleolithic era meant transitioning to a new one. It was during this "Great transition" that the use of money and privite owner-shipped emerged together with class distinctions. I would say that people started to get wealthier as it was the transition heading towards what we call the industrial revolution.


                        The assigned reading gave me new perspectives about the class and how our world started. I believe it is of importance to know how things started as this serves as foundation to understanding more on how the world works and how things came to be.