10 great civilizations that ceased to exist
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The history of mankind can be compared with the biography of the same family-over time, some households go away, others are born, and everyone lives in their own way, leaving certain memories of themselves. In the case of the Global “family” of Homo sapiens, entire civilizations act as its members-some of them manage to exist for thousands of years, and some are not allowed to stretch out several centuries, but one way or another, the next civilization immediately occupies the following-inthis great justice and great meaning of history.
1. The civilization of the Olmecs
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Olmeki is one of the oldest civilizations of Central America, with an outstanding culture and an unusually high level of development of science and technology for its time.
The “business card” of the Olmecs is considered giant sculptures in the form of goals located in modern Mexico. The heyday of the Olmek state fell between the 1500th and 400s BC, according to historians, this people achieved impressive success in architecture, agriculture, medicine, writing and other branches of knowledge. Olmecs had a rather accurate calendar and a mathematical system, which used the number “0”, which can be considered a real breakthrough.
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Having existed for more than a thousand years, the civilization of the Olmecs for reasons unexplained so far fell into decay, but other states arose on its ruins, such as ..
2. The empire of the Aztecs
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The “Golden Age” of the Aztec civilization is the period between the 1428th and 1521 years-at that time the empire covered huge territories where, according to some estimates, about 5 million people, while the population of its capital, the tenchitlane located in the place of modernMexico City was about 200 thousand.
Aztecs borrowed a lot from the civilization of the Olmecs, including religious beliefs, ritual games, the traditions of human sacrifices, language, calendar and some achievements of science and culture. The Aztec empire was one of the richest and most developed states of pre -Columbian America – it is enough to mention at least the most difficult aqueducts built by them, designed to irrigate famous floating gardens.
Ernan Cortes
With the isolation of the Aztec state from the rest of the world, and at the same time with the state itself, it was finished when the detachment of the Spanish conquistador Ernan Cortes was allowed to enter Tenochtitlan. One can imagine the surprise of the Spaniards who were waiting for a meeting with “primitive barbarians” – a huge rich city with wide streets and an amazingly beautiful architecture appeared to their eyes.
Probably the greed, the envy of the Spaniards to the wealth of the townspeople, as well as European diseases and modern weapons of the conquistadors and led to the destruction
The Aztec state and the genocide of the great people, and just a few years later, the victim of European invaders, another Indian civilization ..
3. The Empire of the Inca
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The Inca State, which occupied the territory of modern Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador, lasted more than three centuries-from the beginning of the XIII to the end of the XVI, when the conquistadors came under the leadership of the Spaniard Francisco Pisarro.
Francisco Pisarro
The capital of the Inca Empire was located in the mountains, on the site of the modern city of Cuzco. Thanks to an unusually high level of development of technologies, the Incas managed to build an effective agricultural system, turning mountain slopes into fertile fields and developing the technology of their irrigation. The highest skill of the Ink architects is evidenced by the structure of the city of Machu-Picchu and other structures that have been preserved to our time. On the basis of astronomical observations and their mathematical system, Inca created an accurate calendar, they developed their own writing, achieved noticeable successes in medicine and other sciences. Scientists still rack their heads, as a people who have not had modern tools and devices, it was possible to build architectural and engineering masterpieces.
Acquaintance with European civilization has become for the Inca (as well as for other indigenous peoples of the American continent) a real tragedy – most of the population was destroyed by European diseases, the weapons of the conquistadors and the ongoing civil strife of various tribes, and their cities were looted.
Such is the sad fate of a once powerful country, the size of which was comparable with the largest Euro -Asian states, for example, what we call ..
4. Persian Empire
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For several centuries, the Persian Empire was one of the main players in the world political arena. Possessing outstanding technologies and knowledge, the Persians built a network of roads unique in their raminess and quality, which connected the most developed cities of the empire, developed the sewage system that had not had analogues, created the alphabet and numbers. They were the first to use the assimilation of the conquered peoples instead of their extermination, trying to make the religious and cultural traditions of foreigners part of their culture, so they managed to create one of the largest and most influential states on the planet, such examples in the history of mankind are quite rare and one of them ..
5. Macedonian Empire
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By its existence, this state, by and large, owes one person – to Alexander the Great. His empire covered part of modern Greece and Egypt, the territory of the former Achaemenid power and part of India. Alexander managed to subjugate many countries thanks to his commander’s talent and high level of training. The assimilation of the peoples of the captured territories – marriages between the soldiers of the Macedonian army and representatives of the local population also played a notant role in the creation of the empire.
After the death of Alexander the Macedonian empire, it lasted about three centuries. As a result of numerous conflicts between the heirs of the legendary conqueror, the country broke up and most of it became part of another great state, under the name ..
6. The Roman Empire
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Roman civilization originated in cities-states on the territory of modern Italy, the main of which, of course, was Rome. The empire was formed under the strong influence of Greek civilization – the Romans borrowed from the Greeks many ideas of the state and social systems, which they managed to successfully realize
DNS, as a result of which one of the greatest empires in the history of mankind appeared on the map of the world. Under the power of the Caesares, the scattered areas of Italy united, and due to the successes of the Roman military leaders, the young state gradually turned into the most influential empire of the world, which included modern Italy, Spain, Greece, France, significant parts of Germany and Great Britain, the region in North Africa (including- Egypt) and vast territories in the Middle East.
The victorious procession of the Romans in the world prevented the collapse of the empire into the western and eastern parts. The history of the Western Roman Empire ended in the 476th year, the Eastern Roman Empire, which is also called Byzantine, lasted almost a thousand years longer-until 1453 years old.
The Unified Roman Empire was one of the largest states in the history of mankind, only a few giants, for example … in its value ..
7. Mongolian Empire
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The state, which covered the most vast in history, was born by the will of the Great Mongol Commander -in -law, whose name became almost a synonym for a successful conquest policy. The history of the Genghis Khan empire lasted a little more than one and a half centuries, from 1206 to 1368-during this time, under the rule of the first Great Khan and its successors, the territories of modern Russia, India, China and some countries of Eastern Europe, in total, the area of captured lands turned out toamounted to about 33 million km2. The military successes of the Mongols are explained, first of all, by the widespread use of the cavalry – their opponents simply had no chance to cope with the countless hordes of skilled riders who appeared as if from nowhere and defeating the infantry to fluffs.
Genghis Khan
From the continuation of the conquering policy of the Mongols, the death of the great Khan Uddei, the third son of Genghis Khan held the death. Who knows – if it were not for a combination of circumstances, perhaps Western Europe would have met all the “delights” of the Mongol invasion. During the struggle for the power of several Mongol political leaders, the empire broke up into four states – the Golden Horde, Ilkhanat in the Middle East, the Yuan empire in China and the Chagatai ulus in Central Asia.
It is worth noting that the Mongols were not brainless barbarians, which Western historians often try to present them in their works. In the captured territories, they introduced the laws that are quite humane in relation to the indigenous population – for example, it was strictly forbidden to persecute local residents for their religious beliefs. Such a progressive domestic policy would be worth learning, for example, the elite of such a state as ..
8. Ancient Egypt
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The state located in the Nile River Valley in various forms has existed for more than 4 thousand years. Countless studies, thousands of books, art and documentary films are devoted to the stories of Egyptian civilization, but scientists continue to argue about the technologies and knowledge of the ancient Egyptians who allowed them to create, for example, the famous Giza pyramids and other miracles of architectural thought.
The heyday of ancient Egypt is characterized by the highest level of development of the traditional religion, the Egyptian language, medicine, architecture, agricultural technologies, mathematics and various types of arts. Egypt is included in the three ancient states on the planet, including the Sumerian and
Indian civilization, the latter is also called ..
9. Harapping civilization
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Indian civilization is far from as famous as an ancient Egypt, although both states formed an approximate at one time – in the middle of the fourth millennium BC. The period of the existence of civilization, located on the territory of modern Pakistan, covers more than one and a half thousand years.
One of the distinctive features of Harappal civilization can be considered a peaceful, creative policy of the authorities, and both internal and external.
While the rulers of other countries fought wars and intimidated their own citizens, considering violence to strengthen the power of power, the first persons of the Kharapp state directed all forces to the development of society, strengthening the economy and improving technologies.
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Archaeologists argue that during the study of the settlements of Indian civilization, they discovered only a small amount of weapons, while there were completely no human remains with signs of violent death, which allows us to conclude about the peacefulness of the Indian state.
Kharappians lived in clean, well -planned cities with sewage and water supply systems, almost every house had a bathroom and a toilet. Unfortunately, we know little about Indian civilization, but the information available indicates that it was one of the most progressive countries of that era.
The goodwill and peacefulness were also characteristic of the people who created the state on the islands of the Caribbean – we know it under the name ..
10. Aravaki
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Aravaki is the collective name of a whole group of peoples inhabited by the islands of the Caribbean and the northern part of South America. It was the Aravaks that were the first of the Indian tribes to meet Christopher Columbus upon his arrival in the New World. According to various estimates, during the first expedition
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Columbus The number of island aravaks was from 300 to 400 thousand people, although some sources give other figures – up to several million.
Possessing a developed culture, the aravaks were very friendly to each other and to strangers – according to the testimonies of the expedition participants, the natives shouted to European vessels approaching their islands: “Tainanos!”, Which is translated from local dialects means” world “. From here the second common name of the island Aravak tribes – Taino.
Taino was engaged in trade, agriculture, fishing and hunting, unlike many other Indian tribes, they practically did not participate in military conflicts. The only people with whom the Aravaks were at war were cannibals living in the territory of the modern state of Puerto Rico.
Aravak civilization is characterized by a highly organized structure of society, its hierarchy, as well as adherence to the population with universal values – for example, Aravak women had the right to refuse a man to marry, which was unheard of for the Indians, however, as for many Europeans of that time.
With the advent of the conquerors, the state of Aravaks quickly declined-the population was several times decreased due to the lack of immunity to diseases of the Old World and armed conflicts with the Spaniards. Taino is currently considered extinct, although the remnants of the culture of this once highly developed civilization have been preserved on some islands of the Caribbean Sea.