The following continues the serialization of Chapter 6, currently focusing on past great civilizations, from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity:
The Americas
Back in the New World, there were three noteworthy civilizations:
o (Is it Maya or Mayan?) You can read the analysis, but as my book used the former, let me continue, although Mayan has become the preferred usage. The Maya region (today, Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico) was first inhabited around 10,000 BC, flourished in the 250 AD to 900 AD classical period with a population of 20 million, having developed written language, art and architecture, but, then, mysteriously declined. When the Western World came calling in the form of Spaniard Hernan Cortez in 1519, the Mayas were already on a downward spiral through droughts and dubious planning, with the population perhaps as low as 30,000. You can experience one version through Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto (although some have criticized the effort as distorted, including use of the wrong Maya dialect). However, the last Maya Kingdom actually survived until around 1700. It is reported that there are today, perhaps, 10 million Maya still living in this region. The Mayas were particularly advanced in mathematics and astronomy, with an early prophesy having to do with “God communication” on October 21, 2012, when our Sun and the center of the Milky Way align in such a manner that the northern steps of the pyramid at Chitzen Itza (CI) in the Yucatan Peninsula will be pointing exactly towards the Pleiades star cluster, or December 21, when the world will supposedly come to an end. Make your reservations now for what could be a SETI (search for extraterrestrial) experience in 2012, just avoid the local popsicle. I stayed at the Cancun Westin Hotel, climbed up the C.I. pyramid with a colored ice concoction in hand, but soon thereafter suffered from Montezuma’s revenge, and later, saw on TV the hotel seriously damaged by a hurricane. Moctezuma (the preferred spelling today), of course, is an Aztec, and his civilization follows.
o The Inca Empire began as a tribe in the Cuzco area of Peru around the 12th Century, but only prospered beginning in 1438 for less than a century. At the height, the Empire also included Ecuador, Columbia and north Chile, with a total population of 6 million. Architecture was exemplified by the site on Machu Picchu. Surgery was practiced, coca leaves chewed for endurance, alcohol fermented and an incredible system of roads (14,000 miles) was built. Gold was mined and there was no crime, as such. They believed in reincarnation. The Inca army consisted of 40,000 warriors, so how did Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro (who came before, and was a distant relative of Cortez), with only 180 men and a cannon prevail? The coming of Spanish invaders introduced smallpox. Civil war was rampant. Pizarro cleverly used allies and the Christian religion to gain some control, and in 1533 executed the last sovereign, Atahualpa, bringing an end to the Inca Empire.
o The Aztec Empire began in what is now Mexico City in the 13th Century, and reached a peak population of 19 million just around the time Columbus discovered America, when Motecuzoma Xocoyotzin (yet another spelling, better known as Montezuma) was ruler. A monetary system was in use, song and poetry were in high regard, and cannibalism and human sacrifice were practiced. Also in 1519, Hernan Cortez, fresh from conquering the Mayas, added the Aztecs to his list. A smallpox outbreak that soon followed killed up to 50% of the local population. By 1581, the population dropped to 2 million, so black slaves were imported. This combination of Aztecs, blacks and Spanish now represents the Mexican race around 500 years later. In high school I belonged to a social club called the Aztecs. I’m pretty sure no one, certainly not me, knew much of the above.
While we might want to accuse those Europeans for so blatantly infringing on the rights of these indigenous people, the fact of the matter is that they were all already collapsing, some more than others, mostly from environmental factors. In any case, do you want to live in Guatemala, Peru or Mexico? Oprah and other celebrities have third mansions there, but also like Hawaii.
Thus, it appears that global climate change played a significant role in the rise and fall of civilizations. In Collapse, Jared Diamond comes to a conclusion that environmental problems were mostly responsible for the downfall of empires and societies. The worry, then, is the next big one, Planet Earth, as the developed nations, per capita, today utilize 32 times more resources than developing countries. Book 1, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth, treats this problem, or, at least provides some potentially outrageous solutions.
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Ed Cheng, just retired Professor of Engineering at the University of Hawaii was surprised with a celebration party at the Kahala Hotel. His three sons, all physicians came home. Here are Grace and Ed:
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Ed Cheng, just retired Professor of Engineering at the University of Hawaii was surprised with a celebration party at the Kahala Hotel. His three sons, all physicians came home. Here are Grace and Ed:
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Tropical Storm Conson made landfall over Vietnam, after killing 65 in the Philippines and 2 on Hainan Island.
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