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NOTES on Collapse Chapter 4 : The Ancient Ones: The Anazi and the Neighbors Anazi sites closest to home

e of Americans; like other Native American ruins : tourist attraction Manage to build the tallest buildings erected in North America until Chicago steel girder. Anazi less populated and operating in smaller scale than maya cities Doesnt have writing system Southwest culture : regional collapse, reorganization and abandonment Single-Factor explanation during the pre-history which caused the decline in Anazi and neighbouring countries: 1. Environmental damage 2. Drought 3. Warfare 4. Cannibalism US southwest is a fragile and marginal environment for agriculture Has low and unpredictable rainfall, quickly exhausted soils and very low rates of forest regrowth Today it is surprising that people had developed farming systems despite of the difficulties unlike in Anasazi times Lessons from the collapse society : a.) human environmental impact; b.)climate change intersecting, environmental and population problems spilling into warfare c.)dangers of complex non-sufficient societies dependent on imports and exports; d.) society collapsing after the peak of population numbers and powers Tree rings dating or dendrochronology :provides unique exact dating and unique year to year environmental information First humans to reach Americas living as hunter gatherers Agriculture not indigenous because of the paucity of domestic wild plants and animal species Agriculture as part of their hunter-gatherer life style. (plant during growing season and go hunter-gatherer the rest of the year) In a.d. 1 , they become residence of villages and become agricultural dependent Southwest fundamental problem : source of water to grow crops 3 alternative types of agriculture: 1. Dryland agiculture relying on rainfall at the higher elevation where there really was an enough rain to promote growth of crops 2. Rely on areas where water table in the ground reached close enough to the surface that plant roots could extend down into the water or permanent streams and a shallow alluvial ground water table 3. Collecting water run-off in ditches or canals to irrigate fields Risks on alternatives:

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living in higher elevations where rainfall was higher it is too cold than the low elevations. Crops might not grow in cold temperatures 2. irrigations entail the risk that human cutting of ditches and canals could lead to sudden heavy water run-off from rainstorm digging further down unto the ditches and canals and incising deep channels called arroyos, in which water could drop below the field level making irrigation impossible to those who doesnt have pumps 3. in planting crops on areas with reliable springs, it became dangerous to expand agriculture. The population multiplies in those marginal areas might then find themselves unable to grow crops and starving when unpredictable climate turned dry again. Shifting sites method - Another solution made was to occupy a place where they can grow crops and transfer to another when the land is already exhausted (only for low density population) Plant crops on different sites : which ever site gets the enough rainfall would have a good harvest and redistribute the some of the harvest to those sites which doesnt get enough rainfall (risk on redistribution) Another remaining strategy: plant crops and live near permanent or dependable sources of water but on landscape above the benches above the main flood ways to avoid the risk of flood washing out the fields and villages RISK : series of good years with adequate rainfall and with sufficient shallow ground water tables may result to population growth resulting in turn to society becoming increasingly complex and interdependent and no longer locally self-sufficient cannot be supported in series of bad years WHY SHOULD ANYONE HAVE BUILT AN ADVANCED CITY IN THAT WASTED LAND? WHY AFTER ALL The WORK OF BUILDING IT ABANDON IT? Anasazi sites : Chaco Canyon construction techniques and political and societal complexity reached its peak Chaco Canyon environmental advancement which represented a favourable environmental oasis within northwestern new mexico 1. The canyon caught rain runoff from many side channels and large upland area resulting to high alluvial ground water levels permitting farming independent from local rain fall and high rates of soil renewal from the runoff 2. Large habitable area which can support relatively high population in such a dry environment 3. High diversity of wild plants and animal species 4. Relatively low elevation that provides a long growing season for crops Canyons advantages are balanced by its major disadvantages resulting for southwest fragility: 1. Water management: Anasazi began diverting water into channels for irrigation, the concentration of water runoff in the channels and

the clearing of vegetation for agriculture combined with natural process results to the cutting of deep arroyos in which the water level was below field levels, making irrigation agriculture and also agriculture based on ground water impossible until the arroyos filled up again. SOLUTION : a. Building dams inside side-canyons above the elevation of the main canyon to store water b. Laying out field systems that the rainwater could irrigate c. Storing rainwater coming down over the tops of the cliffs rimming the canyons north wall between each pair of side canyons d. Building a rock dam across the main canyon 2. Deforestation : (revealed packrat midden analysis) Packrats-crystallized rat urine laced with rat feces and rat garbage; it preserved the materials in the old midden from decaying : made it possible for the paleobotanist to reconstruct a snapshot of the vegetation growing near the midden Deforestation : the people exploited the trees to make their houses and buildings and sue to the low rate of regrowth in dry lands the area had been treeless (pinyon pines) RESULT : less source of food (pinyon nuts) and less source of timber SOLUTION: the people decided to collect timber form 2 mountains. On at a time so the mountains would not be deforested. POPULATION CONTINUE TO INCREASE PUEBLO BONITO large houses in chaco canyon The dense population could not support itself but was subsidized by outlying satellite settlements Chaco Canyon black hole where everything is imported but nothing is exported Chaco society became a mini empire : elite and peasant Great Houses in Chaco Canyon (governing chiefs) Greathouses beyond the canyon (provincial capitals;junior chiefs) small homestead (peasants) In Chaco Canyon are evidences of strife and cannibalism During drought the outlying settlement refused to make food deliveries because they lose faith to chacoan priest due their prayers unanswered Chaco canyon was abandoned and 600 yrs later was inhabited with Navajo and referred the old settlers as Anasazi or ancient one WHY ABANDON CHACO CANYON : during the drought the people starved to death; killed each other because of desperation; survivors fled to other settlement areas in southwest (PLANNED ABANDONMENT) FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGES THAT LED TO ABANDONMENT: 1. People live in fragile and difficult environments

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Adopting solutions that were brilliantly successful and understandable in a SHORT RUN only Five factor framework : 4 are applicable 1. Human environmental impacts : deforestation and arroyo cutting 2. Climate change: rainfall and temperature 3. Internal trade with friendly trade partners : putting the whole society at risk of collapsing 4. Societal responses to environment No external enemies THE CHACO CANYON WAS ABANDONED BECAUSE OF DROUGHT AND BECAUSE OF HUMAN IMPACTS IN ENVIRONMENT ULTIMATE CAUSE : human impacts on environment PROXIMATE CAUSE : drought

Chapter 5 : The Maya Collapses Maya cities once the sites of new world most advanced native American civilization before the European arrival Only one with deciphered written text Pure archaeological sites Remained deserted, hidden by trees and unknown to the outside world Mysteries no one could tell how long it had been there and how it is destructed Great art and architecture and writing system resulted in far more archaeologist study Bishop Diego de Landa burned all the Maya manuscript to end paganism Maya culturally most advance society in the preColumbian new world Only one with extensive preserved writings Located at the two heartlands of New World civilization 4 of the FIVE-POINT FRAMEWORK would explain its collapse: 1. They did damage their environment: deforestation and erosion 2. Climate changes: drought 3. Hostilities among Maya themselves 4. Political/cultural factors: competition among king and nobles Maya environment NOT jungle or tropical rain forest It is a seasonal rainforest or seasonal desert Rainfall are unpredictably variable between years so it is difficult for the farmers to grow crops especially in the northern areas Drought had affected wet south more than dry north because wet south is more elevated that cause them to not reach the water tables Southern Maya had denser population located uplands and in drought season they are surviving with the water reservoirs they collected with the use of large plastered catchment basins. However, reservoirs are not sufficient because drops need rain not reservoirs

Maya agriculture was based on crops domesticated in Mexico, corns and beans It is believed that Maya farming was based on slashand-burn agriculture (swidden agriculture) however, it can only support modest population so archaeologist believed that Maya had some other means on increasing productivity beyond swidden agriculture can provide such as irrigation, terracing, raised- or drained field system, muching, flood water farming and etc Socially stratified societies are consist of farmers and non-farmers such as bureaucrats and soldiers He farmers hould produce more than what he needs for the other consumers however, in Maya the peasant only produce twice the needs of himself. 70% of people in maya are peasants Only twice because Maya agriculture has LIMITATIONS: 1. Yielded little protein (crops such as corn contains little protein compared to other crops yielded in other places) 2. Mayas corn agriculture was less intensive and productive compared to other societies such as Astecs 3. Humid climate that made it difficult to store corn beyond a year 4. Maya had no animal transport or plows (limited their military campaigns) Because of the limitation in animal transport, it can be said that it added up to the reasons why Maya remained divided among small conflicting groups. It cannot manage to have a lengthy military campaign due to food shortages Maya part of Mesoamerica Mesoamerica including Maya lacks metal tools, pulleys ad other machines, wheels, boats with sails. Had its Long Count Calendar Their kings are their priest because of the belief that they have a family relationship with God Classic period : reach peak numbers and erected the largest monuments Indicators of complex society decline such as Maya population, architecture, and long count calendar constitute the Classic Maya collapse Copan the best land for agricultures in the five pockets of flat land with fertile alluvial soil along river valley with tiny total area of 10 sq miles Copan pockets largest of those five pockets Soil in hills is less fertile, more acidic and poorer in phosphate than valley soil Hill slopes suffered from rapid erosion and lose three quarters of productivity within a decade of farming REASON for the erosion of hillside: 1. The forest that formerly covered and protected their soils were cut down 2. Most of the pine trees were cut for fuelling and the rest were used for making plaster cause of DEFORESTATION Deforestation caused man-made-drought because of the exploitation of the resources. Forest have a significant role in water cycling thus the massive deforestation reduce rainfall

Abandonment of all the fields in the hills means that the burden of feeding the increasing population is given to the valley floor. The 10 sq. m of valley bottom land cant provide enough food. Thus, people started to fight for food and resources Kings palace were burned because of the unanswered prayers for rain and prosperity The cope valleys population started to decrease and became abandoned; the forest started to recover FIVE REASONS complicated Maya history 1. There are 2 collapses prior to the Classic Maya Collapse, the Pre-Classic Collapse of El Mirador and other Maya cities and Maya Hiatus in the late 6th and 7th century when no monuments are erected in Tikal and the collapses after the Classic collapse of Maya cities 2. Classic Collapse are obviously not complete because there were hundreds of thousand Maya who met and fought with Spaniards though fewer than the Classic peak but still more than other ancient societies 3. The collapse in population was in some cases much slower than the decline in numbers of Long Count dates (what collapse quickly is kingship and Log count calendar) 4. Apparent collapses of cities were really nothing more than a power cycling (changing of power handlers without changing the population) 5. Cities on Maya areas rose and fell on different trajectories Some archaeologist consider the 5 complications and not the Maya collapse Maya collapse is about the collapse of both population and culture that needs explaining: 1. Population 2. Disappearance of king 3. Long count calendars 4. Other complex political and cultural institution WARFARE and DROUGHT contributing to the Maya Collapse Warfare in Maya area was too intense, chronic and unsolvable because of the limitation of food supply and transportation and made it impossible for any Maya principality to unite Wars became more intense in the time of CLASSIC COLLAPSE Different kind of warfare: wars bet. Separate kingdoms; attempts of cities within kingdom to secede by revolting against the capital; and civil wars resulting from frequent violent attempts by would-be kings to usurp the throne; conflicts between commoners because of large population and scarce land Maya had experienced repeated occurrence of drought and environmental changes which contribute to the collapse of El Mirador and Tikal; and the collapse of the Maya centers in different years in the 4 peaks of drought Southern lowlands is the one severely affected by the Classic Collapse which resulted for 99% of its population to disappear for 2 reasons: 1. It has the densest population

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It has the most severe water problems because it lay too high above the water table and it is hard for them to obtain water from well and cenotes Immigrants flooded center Peten, building its population around 300k and ushering a new era for deforestation and erosion. Today the population there decreased and the of the Honduras is destroyed FIVE STRANDS OF CLASSIC COLLAPSE 1. Population growth outstripping available resources 2. Deforestation and erosion decrease available farmlands 3. Increase fighting (warfare) for scarce resources 4. Repeated occurrence of drought 5. Short term concerns of the kings( own welfare) they tried outdo each other by erecting extravagant temples and buildings

Chapter 6: The Viking Prelude and Fugues Viking besides being pirates are farmers, traders, colonizers and the first European explorers of North Atlantic Vikings settlers of the Continental Europe merged with local populations and take important roles in forming nation-states notable Russia, England, and France Vinland colony representing Europeans first attempt to settle North America was quickly abandoned Greenland colony vanished Iceland colony struggle against poverty and political difficulties but now the most affluent societies These Viking colonies are from one ancestral society and their different fates were transparently related to the different environments. Chapter 10: Malthus in Africa: Rwandas Genocide Population explosion in East Africa and its effects on landscapes Reasons or exploding population : 1. Adoption of crops native to the new world 2. Broadening agricultural base and increasing food production (than native African crops alone) 3. Improved hygiene 4. Preventive medicines 5. Vaccinations 6. Medicines against endemic African diseases 7. National unification and fixing national boundaries 8. Opening of former no-mans land for settlement Malthusian population problems in East Africa In 1978 Thomas Malthus said that human population growth would outrun the growth in food production Human population grows exponentially (double in 35 yrs) while food production grows arithmetically (percentage like 25%)

Modern countries prevented the population explosion by means of voluntary or government-ordered birth control Rwanda worst case scenario of Malthus theory population and environmental probems caused by non-sustainable resource use will ultimately get solved n one way or another : if not by pleasant means of our own choice; then by unpleasant and unchosen means Malthus Rwandas population is three times the population of the third most densely populated Nigeria Genocide in Rwanda 3rd largest body count a mong the worlds genocide Rwandas proportion of the total population killed exceeds those of Bangladesh and Cambodia. Burundis Genocide (7th largest body count; 4th proportion) and Rwandas Genocide = ethnic violence Hutus and Tutsis occupy Rwanda and Burundi. Hutus: short, dark, flat-nosed, t hick-lipped farmers (first to occupy the 2 countries) Tutsis: taller, paler-skin, more slender, thin lipped, pastoralist (arrived later and established themselves overlords of Hutus) Germans then Belgians colonial government allowed Tutsis to rule because they are racially superior Belgians- required people to have identity cards (hutus or tutsis) 1962 independence in both countries (Hutus struggle to overthrow Tutsi) Burundi Tutsi succeeded to retain their domination ; Hutu rebellions followed by Tutsi killings of few thousand Hutu Rwanda Hutu gained upper hand and killed thousands of Tutsi Exiles attempted to invade Rwanda. Hutu general staged a coup against the previously hutu dominated gov and decided to leave tutsi in peace Rwanda became favourite recipient of foreign aid because of its peacefulness with improving health, education and economic indicators Rwanda Problems : deforestation, drought, soil erosion and soil infertility) Again Tutsi attempted to invade Rwanda, Hutu President imported machetes as toleration of killing Tutsi; Hutus trains their militias and imported weapons Triggering event : assassination of Rwanda president Habyarimana (the plane was shot down) Hutu extremist had laid plans to kill Hutu PR and all the moderate, less extremist member of democratic opposition and Tutsi

Hutu extremist killed all the cockroaches (tutsis) and all other Hutus who disagree about he killings UN peace keeping forces, French gov peace keeping forces sided with hutus government and US declined to intervene. chaos confusing situation and tribal conflict just as the normal tribal conflict in Africa Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) tutsi-led rebel army started operating upon the start of genocide PRF succeed and form a new government encouraging Rwandans to think of themselves as Rwandans rather than Hutu or Tutsi Genocide result of the choices of leaders to foster hatred and fear to keep themselves into power The genocide is not sharply Hutus vs Tutsis because in a place where in only one is Tutsi and the rest are hutus, mass killings also took place. Ethnic hatred is not the only reason why genocide took place in Rwanda RWANDA FEATURES : dense population due to twin advantages of moderate rainfall and an altitude too high for malaria and the tse tse fly After independence rwandas population continues to rose without modernizing its agricultural methods to expand agricultural exports and intent for family planning. Instead to cope up with the growing population, forest are being cleared, draining marshes to gain new farmland, shortening fallow periods and trying to extract 2 or 3 consecutive crops per year There had been soil erosion because of exploitation of resources; they have not done even elementary methods to avoid erosion such as terracing. Famine and food shortages deforestation, climate change and drought KANAMA fertile volcanic soil ; population density translated to a very small farms Because all the commune land was occupied people tend to postpone marriages or do not live independently and preferred to stay on their parents house resulting to land shortage because the average people per farm household increases People cant feed themselves by farming alone because of the increased population they needed to work off farm KANAMA farm society was divided between rich haves and have-nots (former having larger farms and the latter having small farms) Small farms were sold because of emergencies and larger lands are sold to buy another land which is more beneficial for them. The rich become richer and the poor become poorer In KANAMA more people are impoverished, hungry and desperate

Desperate people become more desperate while few become less desperate BECAUSE OF THESE INEQUALITY IT RISE TO SERIOUS CONFLICTS and they either refer to a traditional village conflict mediator or a court Rwandan society traditional fabrics : richer should help poorer relatives BREAKING down because richer landowners compare to other are still poor to help others Lack of protection for women, orphans etc Conflicts arising from division of land (father son and etc . p.324) MAY BE THE ROOT OF THE KILLINGS Poverty people engaged in theft and violence Crimes - dense population and worse starvation categories of killings 1. Inherited much land 2. Land taken by relatives 3. Large land owners : a. majority older land owners (father-son dispute) b. minority younger people who earned much off-farm income and used to buy lands 4. troublemakers land disputes 5. young men and children who are driven by desperation to enlist in militias and proceeded to kill each other 6. poor people who have no land and no off farm earning (starvation, no money to pay for their survival) ANDRE and PLATTEU 1194 events provided unique opportunity to settle scores, or to reshuffle properties, even among Hutu villagers POPULATION PRESSURES : KILLINGS The decision to kill was made by politicians for political reason ( to stay in power) Ethnic conflict It was carried out so thoroughly by people because there are too many people on too little land POLICY PROPOSALS : FAMILY PLANNING; REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL POLICY REGULATING THE USE OF FARM LANDS POLICY REGULATING THE CONVERSION OF FOREST LANDS AND STREAMS INTO RESIDENTIAL LANDS

CHAPTER 11

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