What were the Four Zones of the World?
9th and 10th Grade Informational Reading Texts
Today we live in a world that is extremely and irreversibly global. Our marketplaces offer seemingly limitless products from around the world. People utilize the Internet in order to connect to a body of collective learning previously unseen in history. This is in stark contrast to the origin of small hunting and gathering bands of Homo sapiens on the plains of East Africa that existed close to 200,000 years ago. From these origins, Homo sapiens gradually migrated throughout the world. This lengthy journey culminated 14,000 years ago, with the human colonization of the last region of the earth, the Southern Cone of Argentina. At the end of this lengthy process of migration, the earth was divided into four distinct areas called world zones.
About 10,000 years ago, the seas were raised to high levels as a result of the melt of the last ice age. This divided the world into four non-connected, geographic world zones. Isolated from each other, these four regions developed distinctive cultures and ways of survival. Each of these zones had advantages and challenges that made them each distinct. Many historians have recognized the two largest world zones as Afro-Eurasia, (often referred to as the "Old World") and the Americas, (often referred to as the "New World"). The problem with this historical perspective is that it fails to recognize the remaining two zones. In his book, Maps of Time, Professor David Christian describes the division of all four world zones:
Afro-Eurasia: Africa and the Eurasian landmass, including offshore islands like Britain and Japan
The Americas: North, Central, and South America, plus offshore islands like the Caribbean Islands
Australasia: Australia and the island of Papua New Guinea, plus neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific: Island societies such as New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia, Hawaii
(Antarctica is not considered a world zone because until very recently no people lived there.)
When Homo sapiens reached all the lands of the inhabitable world by the end of the Little Ice Age, the Agrarian Era began. Agrarian life was quite different from nomadic hunting and gathering as means for survival. In agrarian societies, humans remained sedentary or stationary and relied on farming and raising animals in order to survive. After close to 9,000 years of living in Agrarian societies, cities emerged, leading to the first civilization, Sumer along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Soon after, the Egyptians founded their civilization along the Nile River, the Indus Valley People along the Indus River and the Chinese along the Yellow River. Collectively, these are known to historians as the Four River Valley Civilizations.
Expansion from a Regional to an Interregional World: These first civilizations gave way to major empires and trading networks that lasted for centuries. During this time, interactions increased substantially when people mixed along trade routes and through the creation of empires. What all of these major empires and trade routes have in common is that they were geographically located in Africa, Europe, and/or Asia. This created a dynamic region of the world known as, Afro Eurasia. This long history of interaction gave Afro-Eurasia an advantage economically and politically. These advantages were so significant that globalization in the early 15th century would occur.
About 10,000 years ago, the seas were raised to high levels as a result of the melt of the last ice age. This divided the world into four non-connected, geographic world zones. Isolated from each other, these four regions developed distinctive cultures and ways of survival. Each of these zones had advantages and challenges that made them each distinct. Many historians have recognized the two largest world zones as Afro-Eurasia, (often referred to as the "Old World") and the Americas, (often referred to as the "New World"). The problem with this historical perspective is that it fails to recognize the remaining two zones. In his book, Maps of Time, Professor David Christian describes the division of all four world zones:
Afro-Eurasia: Africa and the Eurasian landmass, including offshore islands like Britain and Japan
The Americas: North, Central, and South America, plus offshore islands like the Caribbean Islands
Australasia: Australia and the island of Papua New Guinea, plus neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific: Island societies such as New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia, Hawaii
(Antarctica is not considered a world zone because until very recently no people lived there.)
When Homo sapiens reached all the lands of the inhabitable world by the end of the Little Ice Age, the Agrarian Era began. Agrarian life was quite different from nomadic hunting and gathering as means for survival. In agrarian societies, humans remained sedentary or stationary and relied on farming and raising animals in order to survive. After close to 9,000 years of living in Agrarian societies, cities emerged, leading to the first civilization, Sumer along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Soon after, the Egyptians founded their civilization along the Nile River, the Indus Valley People along the Indus River and the Chinese along the Yellow River. Collectively, these are known to historians as the Four River Valley Civilizations.
Expansion from a Regional to an Interregional World: These first civilizations gave way to major empires and trading networks that lasted for centuries. During this time, interactions increased substantially when people mixed along trade routes and through the creation of empires. What all of these major empires and trade routes have in common is that they were geographically located in Africa, Europe, and/or Asia. This created a dynamic region of the world known as, Afro Eurasia. This long history of interaction gave Afro-Eurasia an advantage economically and politically. These advantages were so significant that globalization in the early 15th century would occur.