Understanding Human History
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hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page i UNDERSTANDING HUMAN HISTORY hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page ii Other books by Michael H. Hart The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History A View from the Year 3000 hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page iii UNDERSTANDING HUMAN HISTORY An analysis including the effects of geography and differential evolution by MICHAEL H. HART Washington Summit Publishers Augusta, GA A National Policy Institute Book 2007 hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page iv © 2007 Michael H. Hart All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other elec- tronic or mechanical methods, or by any information storage and retrieval system, with- out prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations embedded in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below. Washington Summit Publishers P.O. Box 3514 Augusta, GA 30914 Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hart, Michael H. Understanding Human History : an analysis including the effects of geography and differential evolution / by Michael H. Hart. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and an index. ISBN-13: 978-1-59368-027-5 (hardcover) ISBN-10: 1-59368-027-9 (hardcover) ISBN-13: 978-1-59368-026-8 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-59368-026-0 (pbk.) 1. Civilization--History. 2. Historical geography. 3. Evolution. 4. Social evolution. 5. Genetic algorithms. I. Title CB69.H39 2007 909--dc22 2006102193 This book was typeset using QuarkXpress 6.5. The body of the book is in 11-point Times New Roman, set 11-13, with six extra points between paragraphs. The index and footnotes are set 10/12. Chapter heads are in 18-point Arial Bold. hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page v To the memory of my father, Harold H. Hart, in appreciation of the example he set of intelligence, energy, and a passionate love of truth hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like every serious scholar, I am deeply indebted to others whose ideas I have adopt- ed and whose painstaking research I have made use of. Several of the central ideas pre- sented in this book have already been presented by Richard Lynn, and his books and articles have been invaluable to me. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. J. Philippe Rushton, partly because his own research has helped me so much in this project, and partly because of the encouragement he has given me. Most of all, I would like to thank Professor Arthur Jensen, in part for his extensive research concerning human intelligence, and even more because his example of careful scholar- ship and personal courage has been an inspiration to me. I would be remiss, though, if I failed to acknowledge my debt to several scholars who have reached conclusions very different than my own. In particular, this book would scarcely have been possible had not Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and his associates collected extensive information concerning DNA from all over the world. I am likewise indebted to Jared Diamond for information concerning the rise and spread of agricul- ture, as well as information concerning the origin and effects of epidemic diseases. I am very grateful to Sally Barba for her careful drawing of the maps in this book, and for her careful typesetting. I am also grateful to Donald Archer, Tony Gahan, and the late Glayde Whitney for their useful suggestions concerning the text. Most of all, I am indebted to my wife Merna for editing the book, for her help in clarifying my own thoughts on difficult topics, and for her endless patience and encour- agement during the years I have spent in writing this book. vi hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of maps and diagrams ix List of abbreviations and symbols x Introduction 1 PART 1 – Background material 1) The theory of evolution 4 2) Human races 10 3) Intelligence 17 4) The origin of Homo sapiens 28 5) Altruism 35 6) Bands, and the dual code of morality 40 7) Human sexual behavior and attitudes 43 8) The ice ages 46 9) Languages 51 PART 2 – Outline of major migrations during the Paleolithic 10) The expansion out of sub-Saharan Africa 60 11) Migrations and divisions of the σ-group 68 12) Migrations and divisions of the μ-group 72 13) Location of human groups 13,000 years ago 76 PART 3 – Racial differences 14) Physical differences between the races 79 15) Racial differences in intelligence 91 16) Nature or nurture? 103 17) How did racial differences in intelligence arise? 121 18) Behavioral differences between the races 126 PART 4 – The Neolithic Era 19) Advances in the Upper Paleolithic 133 20) The Neolithic Revolution: Description 139 21) Technological advances in the Neolithic 146 22) Some migrations driven by agriculture 149 23) The Neolithic Revolution: Explanations 160 24) An alternative explanation 173 vii hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page viii PART 5 - Pre-modern history 25) The introduction of writing 178 26) The Indo-Europeans 183 27) The Ancient Middle East 197 28) Ancient Egypt 206 29) Ancient Greece 213 30) The rise of ancient Rome 221 31) The rise of Christianity 228 32) The decline and fall of the Roman Empire 230 33) The early Middle Ages in Europe 237 34) The Islamic world 246 35) China 257 36) India 268 37) Southeast Asia 276 38) Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands 281 39) Northern Asia 289 40) The Western Hemisphere 300 41) Sub-Saharan Africa 310 42) The Late Middle Ages in Europe 316 PART 6 – Modern history 43) The transition to modern times 325 44) European exploration and colonization, 1500-1700 334 45) The rise of science 346 46) Constitutional democracy 358 47) The Industrial Revolution 364 48) The Enlightenment and the French Revolution 367 49) The nineteenth century 374 50) The Jews 389 51) The twentieth century 398 52) Some broad trends in history 412 53) Some final comments and predictions 416 Appendices 1) Chronology 418 2) Determining ancient dates 430 3) Description of computer simulation 435 4) Calculations concerning the Neolithic transition 440 Bibliography 443 Index 457 viii hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page ix LIST OF MAPS AND DIAGRAMS Map Title Page 8-1 The Ice-Age World, 18,000 Years Ago 48 10-1 The Spread of HSS, from 60 kya to 13 kya 64 13-1 Location of Human Groups, 13,000 Years Ago 77 20-1 The Fertile Crescent and Nearby Regions 140 22-1 The Spread of Afro-Asiatic Languages 152 22-2 The Austronesian Expansion 154 24-1 Tilted Axes and E-W Expanses 175 26-1 Indo-Europeans, 4000-3000 BC 190 26-2 Indo-Europeans, about 2000 BC 191 26-3 Indo-Europeans, about 1400 BC 192 26-4 Indo-Europeans, about 600 BC 193 34-1 The Arab Conquests 248 37-1 Migrations into Southeast Asia 378 39-1 The Northern Mongolids 291 39-2 The Mongol Conquests 294 39-3 Altaic-Ruled Territories, 1700 AD 298 Diagram Title Page 10-1 Some human groups, 130-15 kya 66 14-1 Effect of off-center thrusts 85 26-1 Main branches of the Indo-European language family 188 ix hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS Abbreviation Chapter it first or symbol Meaning appears in AHS archaic Homo sapiens 4 14C isotope 14 of carbon (i.e., carbon-14) Appendix 2 CRT choice reaction time 3 EA Eskimo-Aleut 39 f The fraction of the gene pool of a population that Appendix 3 comes from recent invaders or migrants, rather than from the people inhabiting the region prior to the recent invasion or migration. FDS forward digit span 3 g factor general intelligence 3 G The fraction of δ1917 that was due to genetic differences 16 between American blacks and whites GDP gross domestic product 51 HF harshness factor 17 HGHG History and Geography of Human Genes 10 HSS Homo sapiens sapiens 4 IR Industrial Revolution 47 kya kiloyears ago (= thousands of years ago) 4 K parameter affecting rate at which higher IQs evolve Appendix 3 M-1, M-2 subgroups of the Mongoloids 12 ME Middle East 147 x hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page xi N0 group The group of humans (living about 60,000 years ago in 10 Africa) from whom the modern Negroids derive NM Northern Mongolids 39 PIE Proto-Indo-European 9 r correlation coefficient 3 r-K classi- A method of describing species (or subspecies) based 18 fication on comparisons of the extent to which they use their system resources to produce large numbers of offspring (the r-strategy), or instead use their resources to produce hardy, well-adapted offspring (the K-strategy) R The “remnant factor,” defined as the fraction that 16 remains of the overall environmental disadvantage faced by American blacks in 1917 (relative to whites) R0 group The “rest-of-the-world” group 10 SEA Southeast Asia 37 SSA sub-Saharan Africa 24 δ The difference (in any given year) between the mean 15 IQ scores of American whites and blacks δ1917 The value of δ in 1917 16 μ-group The descendants of those members (the “main group”) 10 of the R0 group who, some 60,000 years ago, migrated northward and gave rise to the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races μ-1, μ-2, μ-3 subgroups of the μ-group 12 σ-group The descendants of those members (the “southern 10 group”) of the R0 group who, some 60,000 years ago, migrated eastward towards India σ-1, σ-2, subgroups of the σ-group 11 σ-3, σ-4 xi hartbookfront2.qxp 3/1/2007 3:56 PM Page xii There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than in philosophical disputes to endeavor the refutation of any hypothesis by a pretense of its dangerous consequences to religion and morality.