Modern foragers in the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa and the Ituri Forest of Central Africa derive the bulk of their day-to-day nourishment from wild vegetable foods.
by HistoryNerd94 November 07, 2010
Small charm meant to protect the bearer from evil. Found frequently in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia and Egypt, amulets reflect the religious practices of the common people.
The survival of many amulets and representations of a host of demons suggest widespread belief in magic—the use of special words and rituals to manipulate the forces of nature.
by HistoryNerd94 December 23, 2010
Amorite ruler of Babylon (r. 1792–1750 B.C.E.). He conquered many city-states in southern and northern Mesopotamia and is best known for a code of laws, inscribed on a black stone pillar, illustrating the principles to be used in legal cases.
Toward the end of a long reign, Hammurabi initiated a series of aggressive military campaigns, and Babylon became the capital of what historians have named the "Old Babylonian" state, which eventually stretched beyond Sumer and Akkad into the north and northwest, from 1900 to 1600 B.C.E.
by HistoryNerd94 December 19, 2010
(Ancient) The change from food gathering to food production that occured between ca. 8000 and 2000 B.C.E. Also known as the Neolithic Revolution.
The term Agricultural Revolutions is more precise because it emphasizes the central role of food production and signals that the changeover occured several times.
by HistoryNerd94 November 10, 2010
The period of the Stone Age associated with the evolution of humans. It predates the Neolitic period.
by HistoryNerd94 November 04, 2010
The Portuguese colonized Brazil under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, a 1494 agreement dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal.
by HistoryNerd94 January 04, 2012
The long struggle (ending in 1492) during which Spanish Christians reconquered the Iberian peninsula from Muslim occupiers.
Columbus finally sold his plan to Isabel and Ferdinand, the monarchs of Castile and Aragon, who had married and united their kingdoms. In 1492, the couple had succeeded in conquering Grenada, the last Muslim-controlled province in Iberia, ending a centuries-long struggle known as the reconquista.
by HistoryNerd94 January 01, 2012