document_title: History of the world

question_text: the prosperous african empire that facilitated early globalization was

question_tokens: the prosperous african empire that facilitated early globalization was

text: History of the world

text: Prehistory

text: Early humans

text: Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to Homo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to the bonobo, the closest living relative of modern humans, around 4.6 to 6.2 million years ago.[19] Anatomically modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago,[20] and reached behavioural modernity about 50,000 years ago.[21]

text: Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia around 60,000 years ago.[22] The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent ice age, when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonized nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago.[23] Other hominids such as Homo erectus had been using simple wood and stone tools for millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex.

text: Perhaps as early as 1.8 million years ago, but certainly by 500,000 years ago, humans began using fire for heat and cooking.[24] They also developed language in the Paleolithic period[25] and a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. Early artistic expression can be found in the form of cave paintings and sculptures made from ivory, stone, and bone, showing a spirituality generally interpreted as animism, or even shamanism.[26] During this period, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic.[27] Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.[28]

text: Rise of civilization

text: The Neolithic Revolution, beginning around 10,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which fundamentally changed the human lifestyle. Farming developed around 10,000 BCE in the Middle East, around 7000 BCE in what is now China, about 6000 BCE in the Indus Valley and Europe, and about 4000 BCE in the Americas.[29] Cultivation of cereal crops and the domestication of animals occurred around 8500 BCE in the Middle East, where wheat and barley were the first crops and sheep and goats were domesticated.[30] In the Indus Valley, crops were cultivated by 6000 BCE, along with domesticated cattle. The Yellow River valley in China cultivated millet and other cereal crops by about 7000 BCE, but the Yangtze River valley domesticated rice earlier, by at least 8000 BCE. In the Americas, sunflowers were cultivated by about 4000 BCE, and corn and beans were domesticated in Central America by 3500 BCE. Potatoes were first cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the llama was also domesticated.[29] Metal-working, starting with copper around 6000 BCE, was first used for tools and ornaments. Gold soon followed, with its main use being for ornaments. The need for metal ores stimulated trade, as many of the areas of early human settlement were lacking in ores. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is first known from about 2500 BCE, but did not become widely used until much later.[31]

text: Though early "cities" appeared at Jericho and Catal Huyuk around 6000 BCE,[32] the first civilizations did not emerge until around 3000 BCE in Egypt[33] and Mesopotamia.[34] These cultures gave birth to the invention of the wheel,[35] mathematics,[36] bronze-working, sailing boats, the pottery wheel, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings,[37] and writing.[38] Writing developed independently and at different times in five areas of the world:[39] Egypt (c. 3200 BCE),[39] India (c. 3200 BCE),[40] Mesopotamia (c. 3000 BCE),[41] China (c. 1600 BCE),[42] and Mesoamerica (c. 600 BCE).[39]

text: Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organized into states. Agriculture also created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production.[43] The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first cities. These were centres of trade, manufacturing and political power.[44] Cities established a symbiosis with their surrounding countrysides, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection.

text: The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization.[a] Early civilizations arose first in Lower Mesopotamia (3000 BCE),[46][47] followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile River (3000 BCE),[5] the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Valley (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE),[48][49] and Chinese civilization along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers (2200 BCE).[7][8] These societies developed a number of unifying characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, sophisticated language and writing systems, and distinct cultures and religions. Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information.

text: [50] Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.[citation needed] Shrines developed, which evolved into temple establishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of priests and priestesses and other functionaries. Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship anthropomorphic deities. Among the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE.

text: Ancient history

text:
Ancient history

Preceded by Prehistory

Ancient Near East

Egyptian Old Kingdom
Sumer
Uruk
Ur
Jiroft culture
Ebla
Mari
Minoan Crete
Oxus civilisation
Akkadian Empire
Gutian dynasty
Lullubi
Guti
Neo-Sumerian Empire
Egyptian Middle Kingdom
Yamhad
Qatna
First Dynasty of Isin
Old Assyrian Empire
Old Babylonian Empire
Hattians
Hurrians
Amurru kingdom
Apum
Isuwa
Nuhašše
Kurda
Ṭābetu
Tepe Sialk
Teppe Hasanlu
Shahr-e Sukhteh
Tureng Tepe
Godin Tepe
Marlik
Kizzuwatna
Tepe Hissar
Eshnunna
Egyptian New Kingdom
Hittite Empire
Kassite dynasty
Amorites
Arameans
Kingdom of Edom
Kingdom of Moab
Kingdom of Ammon
Awan dynasty
Shimashki Dynasty
Chaldea
Mitanni Empire
Troy
Alashiya
Ugarit
Nuragic civilization
Mycenaean Greece
Middle Assyrian Empire
Second Dynasty of Isin
Elam
Ellipi
Kingdom of Kummuh
Gurgum
Phrygia
Lydia
Canaan
Tyre
Sidon
Phoenicia
Israel and Judah
Arzawa
Neo-Assyrian Empire
Kushite Empire
Kingdom of Kush
Hyksos
Punt
Syro-Hittite states
Hayasa-Azzi
Georgia
Etruscan League
Roman Kingdom
Urartu
Mannaeans
Cimmerians
Colchis
Zikirti
Musasir
Neo-Babylonian Empire
Median Empire

Classical antiquity

Achaemenid Empire
Carthaginian Empire
Delian League
Bosporan Kingdom
Kingdom of Pontus
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Kingdom of Armenia
Magna Graecia
Macedonian Empire
Odrysian kingdom
Parthian Empire
Peloponnesian League
Ptolemaic Kingdom
Roman Empire
Roman Republic
Sassanid Empire
Hephthalite Empire
Lakhmids
Ghassanids
Kingdom of Aksum
Seleucid Empire
Scythians
Antigonid dynasty
Palmyra
Nabataean Kingdom

East Asia

Erlitou
Shang dynasty
Zhou dynasty
Spring and Autumn period
Warring States period
Qin dynasty
Gojoseon
Jin (Korean state)
Nanyue
Han dynasty
Three Kingdoms of Korea
Silla
Three Kingdoms of China
Jin dynasty
Northern and Southern dynasties
Sui dynasty
Japan

South Asia

Indus Valley
Vedic period
Kuru Kingdom
Mahajanapada
Magadha Kingdom
Nanda Empire
Maurya Empire
Satavahana
Indo-Greek Kingdom
Indo-Scythian Kingdom
Early Cholas
Kushan Empire
Vakataka
Pallava
Gupta Empire

Mesoamerica

Olmec
Epi-Olmec culture
Zapotec civilization
Maya civilization
Tikal
Calakmul
Palenque
Teotihuacan
Toltec Empire
League of Mayapan
Cuzcatlan
Mixtec
Tepanec
Tarascan state
Aztec Empire

Andes

Norte Chico
Valdivia
Kotosh
Casma/Sechin culture
Chiripa
Cupisnique
Chavín
Moche
Nazca
Tiwanaku Empire
Wari Empire
Chimú culture
Chincha
Chachapoya
Muisca Confederation
Inca Empire
Mapuche

Mississippi

Adena
Hopewell
Mississippian
Fort Ancient
Huron Confederacy
Three Fires Confederacy
Mi'kmaq Confederacy
Iroquois Confederacy

West Africa

Dhar Tichitt
Djenné-Djenno
Nok
Bura culture
Ghana Empire
Mossi Kingdoms
Kingdom of Nri
Benin Empire
Oyo Empire
Ghana Empire
Kanem–Bornu Empire
Almoravid dynasty
Sosso Empire
Mali Empire
Empire of Great Fulo
Jolof Empire
Hausa Kingdoms
Gao Empire
Songhai Empire

See also

History of the world

Ancient maritime history
Protohistory
Axial Age
Iron Age
Historiography
Ancient literature
Ancient warfare
Cradle of civilization

Followed by the Postclassical Era

v
t
e

text: Cradles of civilization

text: The Bronze Age is part of the three-age system (Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age) that for some parts of the world describes effectively the early history of civilization. During this era the most fertile areas of the world saw city-states and the first civilizations develop. These were concentrated in fertile river valleys: the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt,[citation needed] the Indus in the Indian subcontinent,[48] and the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China.

text: Sumer, located in Mesopotamia, is the first known complex civilization, developing the first city-states in the 4th millennium BCE.[47] It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform script, appeared around 3000 BCE.[39][51] Cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs. These pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract.[51] Cuneiform texts were written on clay tablets, on which symbols were drawn with a blunt reed used as a stylus.[39] Writing made the administration of a large state far easier.

text: Transport was facilitated by waterways—by rivers and seas. The Mediterranean Sea, at the juncture of three continents, fostered the projection of military power and the exchange of goods, ideas, and inventions. This era also saw new land technologies, such as horse-based cavalry and chariots, that allowed armies to move faster.

text: These developments led to the rise of territorial states and empires. In Mesopotamia there prevailed a pattern of independent warring city-states and of a loose hegemony shifting from one city to another.[citation needed] In Egypt, by contrast, first there was a dual division into Upper and Lower Egypt which was shortly followed by unification of all the valley around 3100 BCE, followed by permanent pacification.[52] In Crete the Minoan civilization had entered the Bronze Age by 2700 BCE and is regarded as the first civilization in Europe.[53] Over the next millennia, other river valleys saw monarchical empires rise to power.[citation needed] In the 25th – 21st centuries BCE, the empires of Akkad and Sumer arose in Mesopotamia.[54]

text: Over the following millennia, civilizations developed across the world. Trade increasingly became a source of power as states with access to important resources or controlling important trade routes rose to dominance.[citation needed] By 1400 BCE, Mycenaean Greece began to develop.[55] In India this era was the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 6th century BCE.[56] From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the Mahajanapadas were established across the subcontinent.[57]

text: As complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere, the indigenous societies in the Americas remained relatively simple and fragmented into diverse regional cultures. During the formative stage in Mesoamerica (about 1500 BCE to 500 CE), more complex and centralized civilizations began to develop, mostly in what is now Mexico, Central America, and Peru. They included civilizations such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Moche, and Nazca. They developed agriculture, growing maize, chili peppers, cocoa, tomatoes, and potatoes, crops unique to the Americas, and creating distinct cultures and religions. These ancient indigenous societies would be greatly affected, for good and ill, by European contact during the early modern period.

text: Axial Age

text: Beginning in the 8th century BCE, the "Axial Age" saw the development of a set of transformative philosophical and religious ideas, mostly independently, in many different places.[citation needed] Chinese Confucianism, Indian Buddhism and Jainism, and Jewish monotheism are all claimed by some scholars to have developed in the 6th century BCE. (Karl Jaspers' Axial-Age theory also includes Persian Zoroastrianism, but other scholars dispute his timeline for Zoroastrianism.) In the 5th century BCE, Socrates and Plato made substantial advances in the development of ancient Greek philosophy.

text: In the East, three schools of thought would dominate Chinese thinking until the modern day. These were Taoism, Legalism, and Confucianism. The Confucian tradition, which would become particularly dominant, looked for political morality not to the force of law but to the power and example of tradition. Confucianism would later spread to the Korean Peninsula and toward Japan.

text: In the West, the Greek philosophical tradition, represented by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers,[58] along with accumulated science, technology, and culture, diffused throughout Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, and Northwest India, starting in the 4th century BCE after the conquests of Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great).[59]

text: Regional empires

text: The millennium from 500 BCE to 500 CE saw a series of empires of unprecedented size develop. Well-trained professional armies, unifying ideologies, and advanced bureaucracies created the possibility for emperors to rule over large domains whose populations could attain numbers upwards of tens of millions of subjects. The great empires depended on military annexation of territory and on the formation of defended settlements to become agricultural centres. The relative peace that the empires brought encouraged international trade, most notably the massive trade routes in the Mediterranean, the maritime trade web in the Indian Ocean, and the Silk Road. In southern Europe, the Greeks (and later the Romans), in an era known as "classical antiquity," established cultures whose practices, laws, and customs are considered the foundation of contemporary Western culture.

text: There were a number of regional empires during this period. The kingdom of the Medes helped to destroy the Assyrian Empire in tandem with the nomadic Scythians and the Babylonians. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was sacked by the Medes in 612 BCE.[60] The Median Empire gave way to successive Iranian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) and the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE).

text: Several empires began in modern-day Greece. First was the Delian League (from 477 BCE)[61] and the succeeding Athenian Empire (454–404 BCE), centred in present-day Greece. Later, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE), of Macedon, founded an empire of conquest, extending from present-day Greece to present-day India.[62][63] The empire divided shortly after his death, but the influence of his Hellenistic successors made for an extended Hellenistic period (323–31 BCE)[64] throughout the region.

text: In Asia, the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE) existed in present-day India;[65] in the 3rd century BCE, most of South Asia was united to the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great. From the 3rd century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's Golden Age. From the 4th to 6th centuries, northern India was ruled by the Gupta Empire. In southern India, three prominent Dravidian kingdoms emerged: the Cheras,[citation needed] Cholas,[66] and Pandyas. The ensuing stability contributed to heralding in the golden age of Hindu culture in the 4th and 5th centuries.

text: In Europe, the Roman Empire, centred in present-day Italy, began in the 7th century BCE.[67] Beginning in the 3rd century BCE, the Roman Republic began expanding its territory through conquest and alliances.[68] By the time of Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE), who became the first Roman Emperor, Rome had already established dominion over most of the Mediterranean. The empire would continue to grow, controlling much of the land from England to Mesopotamia, reaching its greatest extent under the emperor Trajan (d. 117 CE). In the 3rd century CE, the empire would split into western and eastern regions, with (usually) separate emperors. The Western empire would fall, in 476 CE, to German influence under Odoacer. The eastern empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, would continue for another thousand years, until overthrown by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 CE.

text: In China, the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), the first imperial dynasty of China, was followed by the Han Empire (206 BCE – 220 CE). The Han Dynasty was comparable in power and influence to the Roman Empire that lay at the other end of the Silk Road. Han China developed advanced cartography, shipbuilding, and navigation. The Chinese invented blast furnaces, and created finely tuned copper instruments. As with other empires during the Classical Period, Han China advanced significantly in the areas of government, education, mathematics, astronomy, technology, and many others.[69]

text: In Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum, centred in present-day Ethiopia, established itself by the 1st century CE as a major trading empire, dominating its neighbours in South Arabia and Kush and controlling the Red Sea trade. It minted its own currency and carved enormous monolithic steles such as the Obelisk of Axum to mark their emperors' graves.

text: Successful regional empires were also established in the Americas, arising from cultures established as early as 2500 BCE.[70] In Mesoamerica, vast pre-Columbian societies were built, the most notable being the Zapotec Empire (700 BCE – 1521 CE),[71] and the Maya civilization, which reached its highest state of development during the Mesoamerican Classic period (c. 250–900 CE),[72] but continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century CE. Maya civilization arose as the Olmec mother culture gradually declined. The great Mayan city-states slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya culture spread throughout the Yucatán and surrounding areas. The later empire of the Aztecs was built on neighbouring cultures and was influenced by conquered peoples such as the Toltecs.

text: Some areas experienced slow but steady technological advances, with important developments such as the stirrup and moldboard plough arriving every few centuries. There were, however, in some regions, periods of rapid technological progress. Most important, perhaps, was the Mediterranean area during the Hellenistic period, when hundreds of technologies were invented.[73] Such periods were followed by periods of technological decay, as during the Roman Empire's decline and fall and the ensuing early medieval period.

text: Declines, falls and resurgence

text: The empires faced common problems associated with maintaining huge armies and supporting a central bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the peasantry, while land-owning magnates increasingly evaded centralized control and its costs. Barbarian pressure on the frontiers hastened internal dissolution. China's Han dynasty fell into civil war in 220 CE, beginning the Three Kingdoms period, while its Roman counterpart became increasingly decentralized and divided about the same time in what is known as the Crisis of the Third Century. The great empires of Eurasia were all located on temperate and subtropical coastal plains. From the Central Asian steppes, horse-based nomads (mainly Mongols and Turks) dominated a large part of the continent. The development of the stirrup and the breeding of horses strong enough to carry a fully armed archer made the nomads a constant threat to the more settled civilizations.

text: The gradual break-up of the Roman Empire, spanning several centuries after the 2nd century CE, coincided with the spread of Christianity outward from the Middle East.[74] The Western Roman Empire fell under the domination of Germanic tribes in the 5th century,[75] and these polities gradually developed into a number of warring states, all associated in one way or another with the Catholic Church.[76] The remaining part of the Roman Empire, in the eastern Mediterranean, continued as what came to be called the Byzantine Empire.[77] Centuries later, a limited unity would be restored to western Europe through the establishment in 962 of a revived "Roman Empire",[78] later called the Holy Roman Empire,[79] comprising a number of states in what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, and parts of France.[80][81]

text: In China, dynasties would rise and fall, but, by sharp contrast to the Mediterranean-European world, dynastic unity would be restored. After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty[82] and the demise of the Three Kingdoms, nomadic tribes from the north began to invade in the 4th century, eventually conquering areas of northern China and setting up many small kingdoms.[citation needed] The Sui Dynasty successfully reunified the whole of China[83] in 581,[84] and laid the foundations for a Chinese golden age under the Tang dynasty (618–907).

text: Post-classical history

text: The Post-classical Era, though deriving its name from the Eurocentric era of "Classical antiquity", refers to a broader geographic sweep. The era is commonly dated from the 5th-century fall of the Western Roman Empire, which fragmented into many separate kingdoms, some of which would later be confederated under the Holy Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire survived until late in the Post-classical, or Medieval, period. The Post-classical period also encompasses the Early Muslim conquests, the subsequent Islamic Golden Age, and the commencement and expansion of the Arab slave trade, followed by the Mongol invasions in the Middle East and Central Asia,[citation needed] and the founding around 1280 of the Ottoman Empire.[85] South Asia saw a series of middle kingdoms of India, followed by the establishment of Islamic empires in India.

text: In western Africa, the Mali Empire and the Songhai Empire developed. On the southeast coast of Africa, Arabic ports were established where gold, spices, and other commodities were traded. This allowed Africa to join the Southeast Asia trading system, bringing it contact with Asia; this, along with Muslim culture, resulted in the Swahili culture. The Chinese Empire experienced the successive Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, early Ming Dynasties. Middle Eastern trade routes along the Indian Ocean, and the Silk Road through the Gobi Desert, provided limited economic and cultural contact between Asian and European civilizations. During the same period, civilizations in the Americas, such as the Inca, Maya, and Aztec, reached their height; all would be seriously compromised by contact with European colonists at the beginning of the Modern period.

text: Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa

text: Prior to the advent of Islam in the 7th century, the Middle East was dominated by the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Sasanian Empire, which constantly fought each other for control of several disputed regions. This was also a cultural battle, with the Byzantine Hellenistic and Christian culture competing against the Persian Iranian traditions and Zoroastrian religion. The formation of the Islamic religion created a new contender that quickly surpassed both of these empires. Islam greatly affected the political, economic, and military history of the Old World, especially the Middle East.

text: From their centre on the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims began their expansion during the early Postclassical Era. By 750 CE, they came to conquer most of the Near East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, ushering in an era of learning, science, and invention known as the Islamic Golden Age. The knowledge and skills of the ancient Near East, Greece, and Persia were preserved in the Postclassical Era by Muslims, who also added new and important innovations from outside, such as the manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India.

text: Much of this learning and development can be linked to geography. Even prior to Islam's presence, the city of Mecca had served as a centre of trade in Arabia, and the Islamic prophet Muhammad himself was a merchant. With the new Islamic tradition of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the city became even more a centre for exchanging goods and ideas. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to the Europeans, Indians, and Chinese, who based their societies on an agricultural landholding nobility. Merchants brought goods and their Islamic faith to China, India, southeast Asia, and the kingdoms of western Africa, and returned with new discoveries and inventions.

text: Motivated by religion and dreams of conquest, European kings launched a number of Crusades to try to roll back Muslim power and retake the Holy Land. The Crusades were ultimately unsuccessful and served more to weaken the Byzantine Empire especially with the 1204 sack of Constantinople, which began to lose increasing amounts of territory to the Ottoman Turks. Arab domination of the region ended in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the Seljuq Turks, migrating south from the Turkic homelands in Central Asia. In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, the Mongol Empire's armies, swept through the region but were eventually eclipsed by the Turks[citation needed] and the founding of the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey around 1280.[85]

text: Starting with the Sui Dynasty (581–618), the Chinese began expanding into eastern Central Asia, and had to deal with Turkic nomads, who were becoming the most dominant ethnic group in Central Asia.[86][87] Originally the relationship was largely cooperative, but in 630 the Tang dynasty began an offensive against the Turks,[88] capturing areas of the Mongolian Ordos Desert. The Tang Empire competed with the Tibetan Empire for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia.[89] In the 8th century, Islam began to penetrate the region and soon became the sole faith of most of the population, though Buddhism remained strong in the east.[citation needed] The desert nomads of Arabia could militarily match the nomads of the steppe, and the early Arab Empire gained control over parts of Central Asia.

text: The Hephthalites were the most powerful of the nomad groups in the 6th and 7th centuries, and controlled much of the region. In the 9th through 13th centuries the region was divided among several powerful states, including the Samanid dynasty,[citation needed] the Seljuq dynasty,[90] and the Khwarezmid Empire. The most spectacular power to rise out of Central Asia developed when Genghis Khan united the tribes of Mongolia. The Mongol Empire spread to comprise all of Central Asia and China as well as large parts of Russia, and the Middle East.[citation needed] After Genghis Khan died in 1227,[91] most of Central Asia continued to be dominated by the successor Chagatai Khanate. In 1369, Timur, a Turkic leader in the Mongol military tradition, conquered most of the region and founded the Timurid Empire. Timur's large empire collapsed soon after his death, however. The region then became divided into a series of smaller khanates that were created by the Uzbeks. These included the Khanate of Khiva, the Khanate of Bukhara, and the Khanate of Kokand, all of whose capitals are located in present-day Uzbekistan.

text: North Africa saw the rise of polities formed by the Berbers, such as the Marinid dynasty in Morocco, the Zayyanid dynasty in Algeria, and the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia. The region will later be called the Barbary Coast and will host pirates and privateers who will use several North African ports for their raids against the coastal towns of several European countries in search of slaves to be sold in North African markets as part of the Barbary slave trade.

text: Europe

text: Europe during the Early Middle Ages was characterized by depopulation, deurbanization, and barbarian invasion, all of which had begun in Late Antiquity. The barbarian invaders formed their own new kingdoms in the remains of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the Eastern Roman Empire, became part of the Caliphate after conquest by Muhammad's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break was not as extreme as once put forth by historians, with most of the new kingdoms incorporating as many of the existing Roman institutions as they could. Christianity expanded in western Europe, and monasteries were founded. In the 7th and 8th centuries the Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, established an empire covering much of western Europe;[citation needed] it lasted until the 9th century, when it succumbed to pressure from new invaders—the Vikings,[92] Magyars, and Saracens.

text: During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. Manorialism—the organization of peasants into villages that owed rents and labour service to nobles—and feudalism—a political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rents from lands and manors—were two of the ways of organizing medieval society that developed during the High Middle Ages. Kingdoms became more centralized after the decentralizing effects of the breakup of the Carolingian Empire. The Crusades, first preached in 1095, were an attempt by western Christians from countries such as the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire to regain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims and succeeded long enough to establish some Christian states in the Near East. Also, merchants imported thousands of Armenians, Circassians, Georgians, Greeks and Slavs into Italy to work as household slaves and in processing sugar. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism and the founding of universities, while the building of Gothic cathedrals was one of the outstanding artistic achievements of the age.

text: The Late Middle Ages were marked by difficulties and calamities. Famine, plague and war devastated the population of western Europe.[citation needed] The Black Death alone killed approximately 75 to 200 million people between 1347 and 1350.[93][94] It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Starting in Asia, the disease reached Mediterranean and western Europe during the late 1340s,[95] and killed tens of millions of Europeans in six years; between a third and a half of the population perished.

text: The Middle Ages witnessed the first sustained urbanization of northern and western Europe. Many modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of military and dynastic events during this tumultuous period.[citation needed] The Middle Ages lasted until the beginning of the Early modern period in the 16th century,[13] marked by the rise of nation states,[96] the division of Western Christianity in the Reformation,[97] the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance,[98] and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the Columbian Exchange.

text: Sub-Saharan Africa

text: Medieval Sub-Saharan Africa was home to many different civilizations. The Kingdom of Aksum declined in the 7th century as Islam cut it off from its Christian allies and its people moved further into the Ethiopian Highlands for protection. They eventually gave way to the Zagwe dynasty who are famed for their rock cut architecture at Lalibela. The Zagwe would then fall to the Solomonic dynasty who claimed descent from the Aksumite emperors[citation needed] and would rule the country well into the 20th century. In the West African Sahel region, many Islamic empires rose, such as the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, and the Kanem Empire. They controlled the trans-Saharan trade in gold, ivory, salt and slaves.

text: South of the Sahel, civilizations rose in the coastal forests where horses and camels could not survive.[citation needed] These include the Yoruba city of Ife, noted for its art,[99] and the Oyo Empire, the Benin Empire of the Edo people centred in Benin City, the Igbo Kingdom of Nri which produced advanced bronze art at Igbo-Ukwu, and the Akan who are noted for their intricate architecture.[citation needed]

text: Central Africa saw the birth of several states, including the Kingdom of Kongo. In what is now modern Zimbabwe various kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Mutapa descended from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in modern South Africa. They flourished through trade with the Swahili people on the East African coast. They built large defensive stone structures without mortar such as Great Zimbabwe, capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Khami, capital of Kingdom of Butua, and Danangombe (Dhlo-Dhlo), capital of the Rozwi Empire. The Swahili people themselves were the inhabitants of the East African coast from Kenya to Mozambique who traded extensively with Asians and Arabs, who introduced them to Islam. They built many port cities such as Mombasa, Zanzibar and Kilwa, which were known to Chinese sailors under Zheng He and Islamic geographers.

text: South Asia

text: In northern India, after the fall (550 CE) of the Gupta Empire, the region divided into a complex and fluid network of smaller kingly states.[citation needed] Early Muslim incursions began in the west in 712 CE, when the Arab Umayyad Caliphate annexed much of present-day Pakistan. Arab military advance was largely halted at that point, but Islam still spread in India, largely due to the influence of Arab merchants along the western coast. The Tripartite Struggle for control of northern India took place in the ninth century. The struggle was between the Pratihara Empire, the Pala Empire and the Rashtrakuta Empire. Some of the important states that emerged in India at this time included the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagara Empire. Post-classical dynasties in South India included those of the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Hoysalas, the Cholas, the Islamic Mughals, the Marathas and the Mysores. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.[citation needed]

text: East Asia

text: After a period of relative disunity, the Sui dynasty reunified China in 581,[citation needed] and under the succeeding Tang dynasty (618–907) China entered a Golden Age.[100] The Tang dynasty eventually splintered, however, and after half a century of turmoil the Song Dynasty reunified China,[citation needed] when it was, according to William McNeill, the "richest, most skilled, and most populous country on earth".[101] Pressure from nomadic empires to the north became increasingly urgent. By 1142, North China had been lost to the Jurchens in the Jin–Song Wars, and the Mongol Empire[102] conquered all of China in 1279, along with almost half of Eurasia's landmass. After about a century of Mongol Yuan dynasty rule, the ethnic Chinese reasserted control with the founding of the Ming dynasty (1368).

text: In Japan, the imperial lineage had been established by this time, and during the Asuka period (538–710) the Yamato Province developed into a clearly centralized state.[103] Buddhism was introduced, and there was an emphasis on the adoption of elements of Chinese culture and Confucianism. The Nara period of the 8th century[104] marked the emergence of a strong Japanese state and is often portrayed as a golden age.[citation needed] During this period, the imperial government undertook great public works, including government offices, temples, roads, and irrigation systems.[citation needed] The Heian period (794 to 1185) saw the peak of imperial power, followed by the rise of militarized clans, and the beginning of Japanese feudalism. The feudal period of Japanese history, dominated by powerful regional lords (daimyōs) and the military rule of warlords (shōguns) such as the Ashikaga shogunate and Tokugawa shogunate, stretched from 1185 to 1868. The emperor remained, but mostly as a figurehead, and the power of merchants was weak.

text: Postclassical Korea saw the end of the Three Kingdoms era, the three kingdoms being Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. Silla conquered Baekje in 660, and Goguryeo in 668,[105] marking the beginning of the North–South States Period (남북국시대), with Unified Silla in the south and Balhae, a successor state to Goguryeo, in the north.[106] In 892 CE, this arrangement reverted to the Later Three Kingdoms, with Goguryeo (then called Taebong and eventually named Goryeo) emerging as dominant, unifying the entire peninsula by 936.[107] The founding Goryeo dynasty ruled until 1392, succeeded by the Joseon, which ruled for approximately 500 years.

text: Southeast Asia

text: The beginning of the Middle Ages in Southeast Asia saw the fall (550 CE) of the Kingdom of Funan to the Chenla Empire, which was then replaced by the Khmer Empire (802 CE). The Khmer's capital city Angkor was the largest city in the world prior to the industrial age and contained over a thousand temples, the most famous being Angkor Wat. The Sukhothai (1238 CE) and Ayutthaya (1351 CE) kingdoms were major powers of the Thai people, who were influenced by the Khmer. Starting in the 9th century, the Pagan Kingdom rose to prominence in modern Myanmar. Other notable kingdoms of the period include the Srivijayan Empire and the Lavo Kingdom (both coming into prominence in the 7th century), the Champa and the Hariphunchai (both about 750), the Dai Viet (968), Lan Na (13th century), Majapahit (1293), Lan Xang (1354), and the Kingdom of Ava (1364). Taiwanese aborigines formed tribal alliances such as the Kingdom of Middag. It was also during this period that Islam spread to present-day Indonesia (beginning in the 13th century), and the Malay states began to emerge including the Malacca Sultanate, the Bruneian Empire and the Rajahnate of Maynila.

text: Oceania

text: The Tuʻi Tonga Empire was founded in the 10th century CE and expanded between 1200 and 1500. Tongan culture, language, and hegemony spread widely throughout Eastern Melanesia, Micronesia and Central Polynesia during this period,[108] influencing East 'Uvea, Rotuma, Futuna, Samoa and Niue, as well as specific islands / parts of Micronesia (Kiribati, Pohnpei, the Mariana Islands populated by the Chamorro people and miscellaneous outliers), Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (specifically, the Loyalty Islands, with the main island being predominantly populated by the Melanesian Kanak people and their cultures).[109] At around the same time, a powerful thalassocracy appeared in Eastern Polynesia centred around the Society Islands, specifically on the sacred Taputapuatea marae, which drew in Eastern Polynesian colonists from places as far away as Hawai'i, New Zealand (Aotearoa), and the Tuamotu Islands for political, spiritual and economic reasons, until the unexplained collapse of regular long-distance voyaging in the Eastern Pacific a few centuries before Europeans began exploring the area. Indigenous written records from this period are virtually non-existent, as it seems that all Pacific Islanders, with the possible exception of the enigmatic Rapa Nui and their currently undecipherable Rongorongo script, had no writing systems of any kind until after their introduction by European colonists; however, some indigenous prehistories can be estimated and academically reconstructed through careful, judicious analysis of native oral traditions, colonial ethnography, archaeology, physical anthropology and linguistics research.

text: The Americas

text: In North America, this period saw the rise of the Mississippian culture in the modern United States c. 800 CE, marked by the extensive 12th-century urban complex at Cahokia. The Ancestral Puebloans and their predecessors (9th – 13th centuries) built extensive permanent settlements, including stone structures that would remain the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century.[110] In Mesoamerica, the Teotihuacan civilization fell and the Classic Maya collapse occurred. The Aztec Empire came to dominate much of Mesoamerica in the 14th and 15th centuries. In South America, the 14th and 15th centuries saw the rise of the Inca. The Inca Empire of Tawantinsuyu, with its capital at Cusco, spanned the entire Andes Mountain Range, making it the most extensive Pre-Columbian civilization. The Inca were prosperous and advanced, known for an excellent road system and unrivaled masonry.

text: Modern history

text: Modern history (the "modern period," the "modern era," "modern times") is history of the period following the Middle Ages. "Contemporary history" is history that only covers events from around 1945 to the present day.

text: Early modern period

text: "Early modern period"[b] is a term used by historians to refer to the period between the Middle Ages (Post-classical history) and the Industrial Revolution—roughly 1500 to 1800.[13] The Early Modern period is characterized by the rise of science, and by increasingly rapid technological progress, secularized civic politics, and the nation state. Capitalist economies began their rise, initially in northern Italian republics such as Genoa. The Early Modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the mercantilist economic theory. As such, the Early Modern period represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of feudalism, serfdom and the power of the Catholic Church. The period includes the Protestant Reformation, the disastrous Thirty Years' War, the Age of Discovery, European colonial expansion, the peak of European witch-hunting, the Scientific revolution, and the Age of Enlightenment.[c]

text: Renaissance

text: Europe's Renaissance, beginning in the 14th century and extending into the 16th, consisted of the rediscovery of the classical world's scientific contributions, and of the economic and social rise of Europe. The Renaissance also engendered a culture of inquisitiveness which ultimately led to Humanism[111] and the Scientific Revolution.[112] Although it saw social and political upheaval and revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, the Renaissance is perhaps known best for its artistic developments[citation needed] and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term "Renaissance man."

text: European expansion

text: During this period, European powers came to dominate most of the world. Although the most developed regions of European classical civilization were more urbanized than any other region of the world, European civilization had undergone a lengthy period of gradual decline and collapse. During the Early Modern Period, Europe was able to regain its dominance; historians still debate the causes.

text: Europe's success in this period stands in contrast to other regions. For example, one of the most advanced civilizations of the Middle Ages was China. It had developed an advanced monetary economy by 1,000 CE. China had a free peasantry who were no longer subsistence farmers, and could sell their produce and actively participate in the market. According to Adam Smith, writing in the 18th century, China had long been one of the richest, most fertile, best cultivated, most industrious, most urbanized, and most prosperous countries in the world. It enjoyed a technological advantage and had a monopoly in cast iron production, piston bellows, suspension bridge construction, printing, and the compass. However, it seemed to have long since stopped progressing. Marco Polo, who visited China in the 13th century, describes its cultivation, industry, and populousness almost in the same terms as travelers would in the 18th century.

text: One theory of Europe's rise holds that Europe's geography played an important role in its success. The Middle East, India and China are all ringed by mountains and oceans but, once past these outer barriers, are nearly flat. By contrast, the Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, Carpathians and other mountain ranges run through Europe, and the continent is also divided by several seas. This gave Europe some degree of protection from the peril of Central Asian invaders. Before the era of firearms, these nomads were militarily superior to the agricultural states on the periphery of the Eurasian continent and, as they broke out into the plains of northern India or the valleys of China, were all but unstoppable. These invasions were often devastating. The Golden Age of Islam was ended by the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258. India and China were subject to periodic invasions, and Russia spent a couple of centuries under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Central and western Europe, logistically more distant from the Central Asian heartland, proved less vulnerable to these threats.

text: Geography contributed to important geopolitical differences. For most of their histories, China, India, and the Middle East were each unified under a single dominant power that expanded until it reached the surrounding mountains and deserts.[citation needed] In 1600 the Ottoman Empire controlled almost all the Middle East,[113] the Ming dynasty ruled China,[114][115] and the Mughal Empire held sway over India. By contrast, Europe was almost always divided into a number of warring states. Pan-European empires, with the notable exception of the Roman Empire, tended to collapse soon after they arose. Another doubtless important geographic factor in the rise of Europe was the Mediterranean Sea, which, for millennia, had functioned as a maritime superhighway fostering the exchange of goods, people, ideas and inventions.

text: Nearly all the agricultural civilizations have been heavily constrained by their environments. Productivity remained low, and climatic changes easily instigated boom-and-bust cycles that brought about civilizations' rise and fall. By about 1500, however, there was a qualitative change in world history. Technological advance and the wealth generated by trade gradually brought about a widening of possibilities.[116]

text: Many have also argued that Europe's institutions allowed it to expand, that property rights and free-market economics were stronger than elsewhere due to an ideal of freedom peculiar to Europe. In recent years, however, scholars such as Kenneth Pomeranz have challenged this view. Europe's maritime expansion unsurprisingly—given the continent's geography—was largely the work of its Atlantic states: Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. Initially the Portuguese and Spanish Empires were the predominant conquerors and sources of influence, and their union resulted in the Iberian Union, the first global empire on which the "sun never set". Soon the more northern English, French and Dutch began to dominate the Atlantic. In a series of wars fought in the 17th and 18th centuries, culminating with the Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the new world power.

text: Regional developments

text: Persia came under the rule of the Safavid Empire in 1501, succeeded by the Afsharid Empire in 1736, and the Qajar Empire in 1796. Areas to the north and east were held by Uzbeks and Pashtuns. The Ottoman Empire, after taking Constantinople in 1453, quickly gained control of the Middle East, the Balkans, and most of North Africa.

text: In Africa, this period saw a decline in many civilizations and an advancement in others. The Swahili Coast declined after coming under Portuguese (and later Omani) control. In west Africa, the Songhai Empire fell to the Moroccans in 1591 when they invaded with guns. The South African Kingdom of Zimbabwe gave way to smaller kingdoms such as Mutapa, Butua, and Rozwi. Ethiopia suffered from the 1531 invasion from neighbouring Muslim Adal Sultanate, and in 1769 entered the Zemene Mesafint (Age of Princes) during which the Emperor became a figurehead and the country was ruled by warlords, though the royal line later would recover under Emperor Tewodros II. The Ajuran Empire, in the Horn of Africa, began to decline in the 17th century, succeeded by the Geledi Sultanate. Other civilizations in Africa advanced during this period. The Oyo Empire experienced its golden age, as did the Benin Empire. The Ashanti Empire rose to power in what is modern day Ghana in 1670. The Kingdom of Kongo also thrived during this period. European exploration of Africa reached its zenith at this time.

text: In the Far East, the Chinese Ming Dynasty gave way (1644) to the Qing, the last Chinese imperial dynasty, which would rule until 1912. Japan experienced its Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1603), followed by the Edo period (1603–1868). The Korean Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) ruled throughout this period, successfully repelling 16th- and 17th-century invasions from Japan and China. Japan and China were significantly affected during this period by expanded maritime trade with Europe, particularly the Portuguese in Japan. During the Edo period, Japan would pursue isolationist policies, to eliminate foreign influences.

text: On the Indian subcontinent, the Delhi Sultanate and the Deccan sultanates would give way, beginning in the 16th century, to the Mughal Empire.[citation needed] Starting in the northwest, the Mughal Empire would by the late 17th century come to rule the entire subcontinent,[117] except for the southernmost Indian provinces, which would remain independent. Against the Muslim Mughal Empire, the Hindu Maratha Empire was founded on the west coast in 1674, gradually gaining territory—a majority of present-day India—from the Mughals over several decades, particularly in the Mughal–Maratha Wars (1681–1701). The Maratha Empire would in 1818 fall under the control of the British East India Company, with all former Maratha and Mughal authority devolving in 1858 to the British Raj.

text: In 1511 the Portuguese overthrew the Malacca Sultanate in present-day Malaysia and Indonesian Sumatra. The Portuguese held this important trading territory (and the valuable associated navigational strait) until overthrown by the Dutch in 1641. The Johor Sultanate, centred on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, became the dominant trading power in the region. European colonization expanded with the Dutch in the Netherlands East Indies, and the Spanish in the Philippines. Into the 19th century, European expansion would affect the whole of Southeast Asia, with the British in Myanmar and Malaysia, and the establishment of French Indochina. Only Thailand would successfully resist colonization.

text: The Pacific islands of Oceania would also be affected by European contact, starting with the circumnavigational voyage of Ferdinand Magellan, who landed on the Marianas and other islands in 1521. Also notable were the voyages (1642–44) of Abel Tasman to present-day Australia, New Zealand and nearby islands, and the voyages (1768–1779) of Captain James Cook, who made the first recorded European contact with Hawaii. Britain would found its first colony on Australia in 1788.

text: In the Americas, the western European powers vigorously colonized the newly discovered continents, largely displacing the indigenous populations, and destroying the advanced civilizations of the Aztecs and the Inca. Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France all made extensive territorial claims, and undertook large-scale settlement, including the importation of large numbers of African slaves. Portugal claimed Brazil. Spain claimed the rest of South America, Mesoamerica, and southern North America. Britain colonized the east coast of North America, and France colonized the central region of North America. Russia made incursions onto the northwest coast of North America, with a first colony in present-day Alaska in 1784, and the outpost of Fort Ross in present-day California in 1812.[118] In 1762, in the midst of the Seven Years' War, France secretly ceded most of its North American claims to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. Thirteen of the British colonies declared independence as the United States of America in 1776, ratified by the Treaty of Paris in 1783, ending the American Revolutionary War. Napoleon Bonaparte won France’s claims back from Spain in the Napoleonic Wars in 1800, but sold them to the United States in 1803 as the Louisiana Purchase.

text: In Russia, Ivan the Terrible was crowned (1547) the first Tsar of Russia, and by annexing the Turkic Khanates in the east, transformed Russia into a regional power. The countries of western Europe, while expanding prodigiously through technological advancement and colonial conquest, competed with each other economically and militarily in a state of almost constant war. Often the wars had a religious dimension, either Catholic versus Protestant, or (primarily in eastern Europe) Christian versus Muslim. Wars of particular note include the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon came to power in France in 1799, an event foreshadowing the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century.

text: Late Modern period

text: The Scientific Revolution changed humanity's understanding of the world and led to the Industrial Revolution, a major transformation of the world's economies. The Scientific Revolution in the 17th century had had little immediate effect on industrial technology; only in the second half of the 18th century did scientific advances begin to be applied substantially to practical invention. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and used new modes of production—the factory, mass production, and mechanization—to manufacture a wide array of goods faster and using less labour than previously required. The Age of Enlightenment also led to the beginnings of modern democracy in the late-18th century American and French Revolutions. Democracy and republicanism would grow to have a profound effect on world events and on quality of life.

text: After Europeans had achieved influence and control over the Americas, imperial activities turned to the lands of Asia and Oceania. In the 19th century the European states had social and technological advantage over Eastern lands.[citation needed] Britain gained control of the Indian subcontinent, Egypt and the Malay Peninsula; the French took Indochina; while the Dutch cemented their control over the Dutch East Indies. The British also colonized Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with large numbers of British colonists emigrating to these colonies. Russia colonized large pre-agricultural areas of Siberia. In the late 19th century, the European powers divided the remaining areas of Africa. Within Europe, economic and military challenges created a system of nation states, and ethno-linguistic groupings began to identify themselves as distinctive nations with aspirations for cultural and political autonomy. This nationalism would become important to peoples across the world in the 20th century.

text: During the Second Industrial Revolution, the world economy became reliant on coal as a fuel, as new methods of transport, such as railways and steamships, effectively shrank the world. Meanwhile, industrial pollution and environmental damage, present since the discovery of fire and the beginning of civilization, accelerated drastically.

text: The advantages that Europe had developed by the mid-18th century were two: an entrepreneurial culture,[119] and the wealth generated by the Atlantic trade (including the African slave trade). By the late 16th century, silver from the Americas accounted for the Spanish empire's wealth.[citation needed] The profits of the slave trade and of West Indian plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy at the time of the Industrial Revolution.[120] While some historians conclude that, in 1750, labour productivity in the most developed regions of China was still on a par with that of Europe's Atlantic economy,[121] other historians like Angus Maddison hold that the per-capita productivity of western Europe had by the late Middle Ages surpassed that of all other regions.[122]

text: The 20th century opened with Europe at an apex of wealth and power, and with much of the world under its direct colonial control or its indirect domination. Much of the rest of the world was influenced by heavily Europeanized nations: the United States and Japan. As the century unfolded, however, the global system dominated by rival powers was subjected to severe strains, and ultimately seemed to yield to a more fluid structure of independent nations organized on Western models.

text: This transformation was catalysed by wars of unparalleled scope and devastation. World War I destroyed many of Europe's empires and monarchies, and weakened Britain and France. In its aftermath, powerful ideologies arose. The Russian Revolution of 1917 created the first communist state, while the 1920s and 1930s saw militaristic fascist dictatorships gain control in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere.

text: Ongoing national rivalries, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, helped precipitate World War II. The militaristic dictatorships of Europe and Japan pursued an ultimately doomed course of imperialist expansionism. Their defeat opened the way for the advance of communism into Central Europe, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, China, North Vietnam, and North Korea.

text: Contemporary history

text: When World War II ended in 1945, the United Nations was founded in the hope of preventing future wars,[123] as the League of Nations had been formed following World War I.[124] The war had left two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, with principal power to influence international affairs.[125] Each was suspicious of the other and feared a global spread of the other's, respectively capitalist and communist, political-economic model. This led to the Cold War, a forty-five-year stand-off and arms race between the United States and its allies, on one hand, and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other. With the development of nuclear weapons during World War II, and with their subsequent proliferation, all of humanity were put at risk of nuclear war between the two superpowers, as demonstrated by many incidents, most prominently the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Such war being viewed as impractical, proxy wars were instead waged, at the expense of non-nuclear-armed Third World countries.

text: The Cold War ended in 1991, when the Soviet Union disintegrated, in part due to inability to compete economically with the United States and western Europe. However, the United States likewise began to show signs of slippage in her geopolitical influence;[126] even as her private sector, now less inhibited by the claims of the public sector, increasingly sought private advantage to the prejudice of the public weal.[citation needed]

text: In the early postwar decades, the African and Asian colonies of the Belgian, British, Dutch, French, and other west European empires won their formal independence.[127] But the newly independent countries faced challenges in the form of neocolonialism, sociopolitical disarray, poverty, illiteracy, and endemic tropical diseases.[128]

text: Most Western European and Central European countries gradually formed a political and economic community, the European Union, which expanded eastward to include former Soviet-satellite countries.[129][130][131] The European Union's effectiveness was handicapped by the immaturity of its common economic and political institutions, somewhat comparable to the inadequacy of United States institutions under the Articles of Confederation prior to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution that came into force in 1789. Asian and African countries followed suit and began taking tentative steps toward forming their own respective continental associations.

text: Cold War preparations to deter or to fight a third world war accelerated advances in technologies that, though conceptualized before World War II, had been implemented for that war's exigencies, such as jet aircraft, rocketry, and electronic computers. In the decades after World War II, these advances led to jet travel, artificial satellites with innumerable applications including global positioning systems (GPS), and the Internet—inventions that have revolutionized the movement of people, ideas, and information.

text: However, not all scientific and technological advances in the second half of the 20th century required an initial military impetus. That period also saw ground-breaking developments such as the discovery of the structure of DNA,[132] the consequent sequencing of the human genome, the worldwide eradication of smallpox, the discovery of plate tectonics, manned and unmanned exploration of space and of previously inaccessible parts of mankind's home planet, and foundational discoveries in physics phenomena ranging from the smallest entities (particle physics) to the greatest entity (physical cosmology).

text: The century saw several global threats emerge or become more serious or more widely recognized, including nuclear proliferation, global climate change,[133][134][135] deforestation, ocean acidification, overpopulation, deadly epidemics of microbial diseases, near-Earth asteroids and comets,[136] supervolcano eruptions, lethal gamma-ray bursts, geomagnetic storms destroying all electronic equipment, and the dwindling of global natural resources (particularly fossil fuels).[137]

text: 21st century

text: A man-made hazard to world survival that dominated concerns in the second half of the 20th century, continues into the 21st. Countries ambitious to develop and deploy nuclear weapons are discouraged from doing so by countries that already possess them. At the same time, nuclear-armed countries have shown little urgency about honoring their 20th-century pledge to eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons. Such weapons continue to be equally hazardous to their owners as to their potential targets.[138][139]

text: The 21st century has been marked by growing economic globalization and integration, with consequent increased risk to interlinked economies; and by the expansion of communications with mobile phones and the Internet, which have caused fundamental societal changes in business, politics, and individuals' personal lives.

text: The early 21st century saw escalating intra- and international strife in the Near East and Afghanistan, stimulated by vast economic disparities, by dissatisfaction with governments dominated by Western interests, by inter-ethnic and inter-sectarian feuds, and by the longest war in the history of the United States, the proximate cause for which was Osama bin Laden's provocative 2001 destruction of New York City's World Trade Center.

text: US military involvements in the Near East and Afghanistan drained US economic resources at a time when the US and other Western countries were experiencing mounting socioeconomic dislocations aggravated by the robotization of work and the exportation of industries to cheaper-workforce countries.[140]

text: Meanwhile, ancient and populous Asian civilizations, India and especially China, have been emerging from centuries of relative scientific, technological, and economic languishment to become potential rivals for Western, chiefly European and United States, economic and political ascendance in the world.[141]

text: Worldwide demand and competition for resources has risen due to growing populations and industrialization, especially in India, China, and Brazil (see List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita). This increased demand is causing increased levels of environmental degradation and a fast-growing threat of disastrous global warming. That, and a need for reliable energy supplies independent of politically volatile regions, has spurred the development of alternative, renewable sources of energy (notably solar energy and wind energy), proposals for cleaner fossil-fuel technologies[142] and for expanded use of nuclear energy (somewhat dampened by nuclear-plant accidents),[143][144] and, conversely, calls to eschew the indiscriminate large-scale employment of the "fissile-fossil complex" of fissile- (nuclear) and fossil-fuel (coal, petroleum, natural-gas) energy generation.[145]

text: In recognition that global warming caused by growing concentrations of man-made greenhouse gases was an existential threat to everyone on Earth,[d] in December 2015 195 countries signed the Paris Climate Agreement, scheduled to go into effect in 2020. Thus with the exception of two non-signatory countries (and in June 2017, after the fact, with the exception of the United States government) all the world's countries explicitly recognized that this common existential threat required a common cooperative response. The transition to environmentally sustainable energy is being aided by the growing economic competitiveness of solar and wind energy vis-à-vis the fissile-fossil complex of nuclear and fossil-fuel energy.


document_title: Mount Vernon

question_text: who established an experimental farm at mount vernon

root

text: Mount Vernon

text: Name[edit]

text: When George Washington's ancestors acquired the estate, it was known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, after the nearby Little Hunting Creek.[4] However, when Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence Washington, inherited it, he changed its name to Mount Vernon in honor of Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, famed for the War of Jenkins' Ear and capture of the Portobelo, Colón.[5] Vernon had been Lawrence's commanding officer in the British Royal Navy. When George Washington inherited the property, he retained the name.[4]

tag: p

text: Buildings and grounds[edit]

text: The current property consists of 500 acres (200 ha);[6] the main buildings, including the house, are near the riverfront.

text: Architecture[edit]

text: The present house was built in phases from 1758, by an unknown architect, on the site of the Washingtons' former farmhouse. This staggered and unplanned evolution is indicated by the off-center main door, which would once have been central to an earlier façade. As completed and seen today, the house is in a loose Palladian style. The principal block, dating from 1758, is a two-storied corps de logis flanked by two single-story secondary wings, built in 1775. These secondary wings, which house the servants hall on the northern side and the kitchen on the southern side, are connected to the corps de logis by symmetrical, quadrant colonnades, built in 1778. The completion of the colonnades cemented the classical Palladian arrangement of the complex and formed a distinct cour d'honneur, known at Mount Vernon as Mansion Circle, giving the house its imposing perspective.

text: The corps de logis and secondary wings have hipped roofs with dormers. In addition to its second story, the importance of the corps de logis is further emphasized by two large chimneys piercing the roof, and by a cupola surmounting the center of the house; this octagonal focal point has a short spire topped by a gilded dove of peace.[7] This placement of the cupola is more in the earlier Carolean style than Palladian, and was probably incorporated to improve ventilation of the enlarged attic and enhance the overall symmetry of the structure and the two wings; a similar cupola crowns the Governor's House at Williamsburg, of which Washington would have been aware.

text: Interior[edit]

text: The rooms at Mount Vernon have mostly been restored to their appearance at the time of George and Martha Washington's occupancy. These rooms include Washington's study, two dining rooms (the larger known as the New Room), the West Parlour, the Front Parlour, the kitchen and some bedrooms.[8]

text: The interior design follows the classical concept of the exterior, but owing to the mansion's piecemeal evolution, the internal architectural features – the doorcases, mouldings and plasterwork – are not consistently faithful to one specific period of the 18th-century revival of classical architecture. Instead they range from severe Palladianism to a finer and later neoclassicism in the style of Robert Adam.[8] This varying of the classical style is best exemplified in the doorcases and surrounds of the principal rooms. In the West Parlour and Small Dining rooms there are doorcases complete with ionic columns and full pediments, whereas in the hall and passageways the doors are given broken pediments supported only by an architrave.[8] Many of the rooms are lined with painted panelling and have ceilings ornamented by plasterwork in a Neoclassical style; much of this plasterwork can be attributed to an English craftsman and emigree, John Rawlins, who arrived from London in 1771 bringing with him the interior design motifs then fashionable in the British capital.[9]

text: Today, visitors to Mount Vernon are shown Washington's study, a room to which in the eighteenth century only a privileged few were granted entrée. It is a simply furnished room Washington used as a combined bathroom, dressing room and office; the room was so private that few contemporary descriptions exist. Its walls are lined with naturally grained panelling and matching bookcases.[10]

text: In contrast to the privacy of the study, since Washington's time, the grandest, most public and principal reception room has been the so-called New Room or Large Dining Room – a two-storied salon notable for its large Palladian window, occupying the whole of the mansion's northern elevation, and its fine Neoclassical marble chimneypiece.[11] The history of this chimneypiece to some degree explains the overall restrained style of the house. When it was donated to Washington by the English merchant Samuel Vaughan, Washington was initially reluctant to accept the gift, stating that it was: "too elegant & costly I fear for my own room, & republican stile of living."[12]

text: A determined effort has to be made to restore the rooms and maintain the atmosphere of the eighteenth century; this has been achieved by using original color schemes, and by displaying furniture, carpets and decorative objects which are contemporary to the house. Throughout, George Washington and his family are evident through portraits and former possessions, expressing the preservation of the mansion as a personal memorial to the Washingtons as well as a nationally important museum.

text: Grounds[edit]

text: The gardens and grounds contain English boxwoods, taken from cuttings sent by Major General Henry Lee III ("Light Horse Harry" Lee, a Governor of Virginia and the father of Robert E. Lee), which were planted in 1786 by George Washington and now crowd the entry path. A carriage road skirts a grassy bowling green to approach the mansion entrance. To each side of the green is a garden, contained by a red brick wall. These Colonial Revival gardens[13] grew the household's vegetables, fruit and other perishable items for consumption. The upper garden, located to the north, is bordered by the greenhouse.[14] Ha-ha walls are used to separate the working farm from the pleasure grounds that Washington created for his family and guests.[15] The overseer's quarter, spinning room, salt house, and gardener's house are between the upper garden and the mansion.

text: The lower garden, or southern garden, is bordered on the east by the storehouse and clerk's quarters, smokehouse, wash house, laundry yard, and coach house. A paddock and stable are on the southern border of the garden; east of them, a little down the hillside, is the icehouse. The original tomb is located along the river. The newer tomb in which the bodies of George and Martha Washington have rested since 1831 is south of the fruit garden; the slave burial ground is nearby, a little farther down the hillside. A "Forest Trail" runs through woods down to a recreated pioneer farm site on low ground near the river; the 4-acre (16,000 m2) working farm includes a re-creation of Washington's 16-sided treading barn.[16]

text: A Museum and Education Center are on the grounds and exhibit examples of Washington's survey equipment, weapons, and clothing, as well as dentures worn by the first President.

text: The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington opened in September 2013.[17] The Library fosters new scholarship about George Washington and safeguards original Washington books and manuscripts. The site is open for scholarship by appointment only.

text: History[edit]

text: John Washington (1633–77)[edit]

text: In 1674, John Washington (the great-grandfather of President Washington) and his friend Nicholas Spencer came into possession of the land from which Mount Vernon plantation would be carved, originally known by its Indian name of Epsewasson.[18][a] The successful patent on the acreage was due largely to Spencer, who acted as agent for his cousin Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper,[18] the English landowner who controlled the Northern Neck of Virginia, in which the tract lay.[19]

text: Lawrence Washington (1659–1698)[edit]

text: When John Washington died in 1677, his son Lawrence, George Washington's grandfather, inherited his father's stake in the property. In 1690, he agreed to formally divide the estimated 5,000 acre (20 km2) estate with the heirs of Nicholas Spencer, who had died the previous year. The Spencers took the larger southern half bordering Dogue Creek in the September 1674 land grant from Lord Culpeper, leaving the Washingtons the portion along Little Hunting Creek. (The Spencer heirs paid Lawrence Washington 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) of tobacco as compensation for their choice.)[18]

text: Augustine Washington (1694–1743)[edit]

text: Lawrence Washington died in 1698, bequeathing the property to his daughter Mildred. On 16 April 1726, she agreed to a one-year lease on the estate to her brother Augustine Washington, George Washington's father, for a peppercorn rent; a month later the lease was superseded by Augustine's purchase of the property for £180.[20] He almost certainly built the original house on the site some time between then and 1735, when he and his family moved from Pope's Creek to Eppsewasson,[21] which he renamed Little Hunting Creek.[22] The original stone foundations of what appears to have been a two-roomed house with a further two rooms in a half-story above are still partially visible in the present house's cellar.[21]

text: Lawrence Washington (1718–1752)[edit]

text: Augustine Washington recalled his eldest son Lawrence (George's half-brother) home from The Appleby School, England, in 1738 and set him up on the family's Little Hunting Creek tobacco plantation, thereby allowing Augustine to move his family back to Fredericksburg at the end of 1739.[4]

text: In 1739, Lawrence, having reached his majority (age 21), began buying up parcels of land from the adjoining Spencer tract, starting with a plot around the Grist Mill on Dogue Creek. In mid-1740 Lawrence received a coveted officer's commission in the Regular British Army, and made preparations to go off to war in the Caribbean with the newly formed American Regiment to fight in the War of Jenkins' Ear.[23] He served under Admiral Edward Vernon; returning home, he named his estate after his commander.

text: George Washington (1732–1799)[edit]

text: Lawrence died in July 1752, and his will stipulated that his widow should own a life estate in Mount Vernon, the remainder interest falling to his half-brother George; George Washington was already living at Mount Vernon and probably managing the plantation. Lawrence's widow, Anne Fairfax, remarried into the Lee family and moved out.[24] Following the death of Anne and Lawrence's only surviving child in 1754, George, as executor of his brother's estate, arranged to lease "Mount Vernon" (or, more properly, his sister-in-law's life estate) that December. Upon the death of Anne Fairfax in 1761, he succeeded to the remainder interest and became sole owner of the property.[25]

text: In 1758, Washington began the first of two major additions and improvements by raising the house to two-and-a half stories.[25] The second expansion was begun during the 1770s, shortly before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Washington had rooms added to the north and south ends, unifying the whole with the addition of the cupola and two-story piazza overlooking the Potomac River. The final expansion increased the mansion to 21 rooms and an area of 11,028 square feet.[15] The great majority of the work was performed by African American slaves and artisans.[26]

text: Though no architect is known to have designed Mount Vernon, some attribute the design to John Ariss (1725–1799), a prominent Virginia architect who designed Paynes Church in Fairfax County (now destroyed) and likely Mount Airy in Richmond County. A friend of George Washington, to whom he leased his home, Ariss was the great-grandson of Col. Nicholas Spencer, the original patentee of Mount Vernon with the Washingtons.[27] Other sources credit Col. Richard Blackburn, who also designed Rippon Lodge in Prince William County and the first Falls Church.[28][29] Blackburn's granddaughter Anne married Bushrod Washington, George's nephew, and is interred at the Washingtons' tomb on the grounds. Most architectural historians believe that the design of Mount Vernon is solely attributable to Washington alone and that the involvement of any other architects is based on conjecture.[30]

text: Agriculture and enterprise[edit]

text: Washington had been expanding the estate by the purchase of surrounding parcels of land since the late 1750s, and was still adding to the estate well into the 1780s.[31] From 1759 until the Revolutionary War, Washington, who at the time aspired to become a prominent agriculturist, had five separate farms as part of his estate. He took a scientific approach to farming and kept extensive and meticulous records of both labor and results.

text: In a letter dated 20 September 1765, Washington writes about receiving poor returns for his tobacco production:

text: Can it be otherwise than a little mortifying then to find, that we, who raise none but Sweetscented Tobacco, and endeavour I may venture to add, to be careful in the management of it, however we fail in the execution, and who by a close and fixed corrispondance with you, contribute so largely to the dispatch of your Ships in this Country shoud [sic] meet with such unprofitable returns?[32]

text: In the same letter he asks about the prices of flax and hemp, with a view to their production:

text: In order thereto you woud do me a singular favour in advising of the general price one might expect for good Hemp in your Port watered and prepared according to Act of Parliament, with an estimate of the freight, and all other Incident charges pr. Tonn that I may form some Idea of the profits resulting from the growth. I should be very glad to know at the sametime how rough and undressd Flax has generally, and may probably sell; for this year I have made an Essay in both, and altho I suffer pretty considerably by the attempt, owing principally to the severity of the Drougth [sic], and my inexperience in the management I am not altogether discouraged from a further prosecution of the Scheme provided I find the Sales with you are not clogd with too much difficulty and expence.

text: The tobacco market had declined and many planters in northern Virginia converted to mixed crops. Like them, by 1766 Washington had ceased growing tobacco at Mount Vernon and replaced the crop with wheat, corn, and other grains. Besides hemp and flax, he experimented with 60 other crops including cotton and silk. He also derived income from a new gristmill which produced cornmeal and flour for export and also ground neighbors' grain for fees. Washington similarly sold the services of the estate's looms and blacksmith. He built and operated a small fishing fleet, permitting Mount Vernon to export fish. Washington also practiced the selective breeding of sheep in an effort to produce better quality wool.

text: The new crops were less labor-intensive than tobacco; hence, the estate had a surplus of slaves. But Washington refused to break up families for sale. Washington began to hire skilled indentured servants from Europe to train the redundant slaves for service on and off the estate.[33] Following his service in the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon and in 1785–1786 spent a great deal of effort improving the landscaping of the estate. It is estimated that during his two terms as President of the United States (1789–1797), Washington spent a total of 434 days in residence at Mount Vernon. After his presidency, Washington tended to repairs to the buildings, socializing, and further gardening.

text: In his will, written several months before his death in December 1799, Washington left directions for the emancipation after Martha Washington's death, of all the slaves who belonged to him. Of the 318 slaves at Mount Vernon in 1799, a little less than half, 123 individuals, belonged to George Washington and were set free under the terms of his will.[34]

text: When Martha Washington's first husband, Daniel Parke Custis, died without a will, she received a life interest in one-third of his estate, including the slaves. Neither George nor Martha Washington could free these slaves by law. Upon her death, they reverted to the Custis estate and were divided among her grandchildren. By 1799, 153 slaves at Mount Vernon were part of this dower property.[34]

text: In accordance with state law, George Washington stipulated in his will that elderly slaves or those who were too sick to work were to be supported throughout their lives by his estate. Children without parents, or those whose families were too poor or indifferent to see to their education, were to be bound out (or apprenticed) to masters and mistresses who would teach them reading, writing, and a useful trade, until they were ultimately freed at the age of twenty-five.[34]

text: In December 1800, Martha Washington signed a deed of manumission for her deceased husband's slaves, a transaction which is recorded in the abstracts of the Fairfax County, Virginia, Court Records. The slaves finally received their freedom on 1 January 1801.[34]

text: Washington's Tomb[edit]

text: On 12 December 1799, Washington spent several hours riding over the plantation, in snow, hail and freezing rain. He ate his supper later that evening without changing from his wet clothes. The following day, he awoke with a severe sore throat (either quinsy or acute epiglottitis) and became increasingly hoarse as the day progressed. All the available medical treatments failed to improve his condition, and he died at Mount Vernon at around 10pm on Saturday, 14 December 1799, aged 67.

text: On 18 December 1799, a funeral was held at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred.[35] Congress passed a joint resolution to construct a marble monument in the United States Capitol for his body, an initiative supported by Martha. In December 1800, the United States House passed an appropriations bill for $200,000 to build the mausoleum, which was to be a pyramid with a base 100 feet (30 m) square. Southerners who wanted his body to remain at Mount Vernon defeated the measure.[36]

text: In accordance with his will, Washington was entombed in a family crypt he had built upon first inheriting the estate. It was in disrepair by 1799, so Washington's will also requested that a new, larger tomb be built. This was not executed until 1831, the centennial of his birth. The need for a new tomb was confirmed when an unsuccessful attempt was made to steal his skull (See: Attempted theft of George Washington's head).[37] A joint Congressional committee in early 1832 debated the removal of Washington's body from Mount Vernon to a crypt in the Capitol, built by Charles Bulfinch in the 1820s. Southern opposition was intense, exacerbated by an ever-growing rift between North and South. Congressman Wiley Thompson of Georgia expressed the Southerners' fears when he said:

text: Remove the remains of our venerated Washington from their association with the remains of his consort and his ancestors from Mount Vernon and from his native State, deposit them in this capitol, and then let a severance of the Union occur and behold the remains of Washington on a shore foreign to his native soil.[36]

text: Washington's remains were finally moved on 7 October 1837, along with those of his wife, Martha, to the new tomb presented by John Struthers of Philadelphia.[38] Other members of the Washington family are interred in an inner vault, behind the vestibule containing the sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington.

text: Preservation, legacy and tourism[edit]

text: Following Martha Washington's death in 1802, George Washington's will was carried out in accordance with the terms of his bequests. The largest part of his estate, which included both his papers and Mount Vernon, passed to his nephew, Bushrod Washington (an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States).[39] The younger Washington and his wife then moved to Mount Vernon.[40]

text: Bushrod Washington did not inherit much cash and was unable to support the upkeep of the estate's mansion on the proceeds from the property and his Supreme Court salary. He sold some of his own slaves to gain working capital.[41] However, the farms' low revenues left him short, and he was unable to adequately maintain the mansion.

text: Following Bushrod Washington's death in 1829, ownership of the plantation passed to George Washington’s great-grandnephew, John Augustine Washington III.[42] As his funds dwindled and the wear and tear of hundreds of visitors began to take its toll, Washington could do little to maintain the mansion and its surroundings.[42] Washington suggested to the United States Congress that the federal government purchase the mansion.[42] Little interest was paid to Washington’s offer.[42] Washington traveled to Richmond where he was equally unsuccessful in appealing to the Virginia General Assembly for the state to purchase the mansion.[42] The mansion's decline continued.[42]

text: In 1858, Washington sold the mansion and a portion of the estate's land to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which was under the leadership of Ann Pamela Cunningham.[42] The Association paid the final installment of the purchase price of $200,000 ($5,714,285.71 in 2014 dollars) on 9 December 1859, taking possession on 22 February 1860.[42] The estate served as a neutral ground for both sides during the American Civil War, although fighting raged across the nearby countryside. Troops from both the Union and the Confederacy toured the building. The two women caretakers asked that the soldiers leave their arms behind and either change to civilian clothes or at least cover their uniforms. They usually did as asked.[43]

text: The mansion has been fully restored by the Association, independent of the US government, with no tax dollars expended to support the 500-acre (2.0 km2) estate, its educational programs or activities.[44]

text: Harrison Howell Dodge became resident superintendent in 1885. During his 52 years' overseeing the estate, he doubled the facility's acreage, improved the grounds, and added many historic artifacts to the collections. Dodge reviewed George Washington's writings about the estate, visited other Colonial-era gardens, and traveled to England to see gardens dating from the Georgian period. Using that knowledge, Dodge oversaw the restoration of the site and put in place a number of improvements Washington had planned but never implemented.[45]

text: Charles Wall was assistant superintendent from 1929 to 1937, then resident superintendent for 39 years. He oversaw restoration of the house and planted greenery consistent with what was used in the 18th century. In 1974, a campaign he organized was successful in preserving as parkland areas in Maryland across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, as part of an effort to retain the bucolic vista from the house.[46] His office was the same one used in the 18th century by Washington himself.[47]

text: On 7 November 2007, President George W. Bush hosted French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a general press conference on the front lawn of Mount Vernon following Sarkozy's address to a joint session of Congress earlier that day.[48]

text: On 30 March 2007, the estate officially opened a reconstruction of George Washington's distillery. This fully functional replica received special legislation from the Virginia General Assembly to produce up to 5,000 US gal (19,000 l) of whiskey annually, for sale only at the Mount Vernon gift shop. The construction of this operational distillery cost $2.1 million, and is located on the site of Washington's original distillery, a short distance from his mansion on the Potomac River. Frank Coleman, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council that funded the reconstruction, said the distillery “will become the equivalent of a national distillery museum” and serve as a gateway to the American Whiskey Trail.[49]

text: As of 2012, since first opening to the paying public in 1860, the estate had received more than 80 million visitors. In addition to the mansion, visitors can see original and reconstructed outbuildings and barns (including slaves' quarters), an operational blacksmith shop, and the Pioneer Farm. Each year on Christmas Day, Aladdin the Christmas Camel recreates Washington's 1787 hiring of a camel for 18 shillings to entertain his guests with an example of the animal that brought the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem to visit the newborn Jesus.[50]

text: Mount Vernon remains a privately owned property. Its income is derived from charitable donations and the sales of tickets, produce and goods to visitors. Its non-profit owners, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, continue their mission "to preserve, restore, and manage the estate of George Washington to the highest standards and to educate visitors and people throughout the world about the life and legacies of George Washington, so that his example of character and leadership will continue to inform and inspire future generations."[51]

text: Mount Vernon was featured on U.S. postage stamps in 1937 and again in 1956; it was memorialized in the latter Liberty Issue of stamps as a national shrine with a 1.5-cent stamp on 22 February 1956. The Liberty Issue was originally planned to honor six presidents, six famous Americans, and six historic national shrines. The first of the shrines is the Mount Vernon issue, a view of Washington's home facing the Potomac River.[52]

text: On 19 December 1960, Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Development and improvement of the estate is an ongoing concern. Following a $110 million fundraising campaign, two new buildings designed by GWWO, Inc./Architects were opened in 2006 as venues for additional background on George Washington and the American Revolution.

text: Award[edit]

text: In March 2014, Mount Vernon awarded its first Cyrus A. Ansary Prize for Courage and Character to former president George H. W. Bush.[53] Ansary is a member of the Life Guard Society.[54]


document_title: List of Milwaukee Bucks seasons

question_text: when was the last time the bucks won a playoff series

text: List of Milwaukee Bucks seasons

text: This is a list of seasons completed by the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Bucks joined the NBA as an expansion team in the 1968 season.

text:
League Champions
Conference Champions
Division Champions
Playoff Berth

tag: table

text:
Season
League
Conference
Finish
Division
Finish
Wins
Losses
Win%
GB
Playoffs
Awards

Milwaukee Bucks

1968–69
NBA

Eastern
7th
27
55
.329
30

1969–70
NBA

Eastern
2nd
56
26
.683
4
Won Division Semifinals (76ers) 4–1
Lost Division Finals (Knicks) 4–1
Lew Alcindor (RoY)

1970–71
NBA
Western
1st
Midwest
1st
66
16
.805
—
Won Conference Semifinals (Warriors) 4–1
Won Conference Finals (Lakers) 4–1
Won NBA Finals (Bullets) 4–0
Lew Alcindor (MVP, FMVP)

1971–72
NBA
Western
2nd
Midwest
1st
63
19
.768
—
Won Conference Semifinals (Warriors) 4–1
Lost Conference Finals (Lakers) 4–2
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (MVP)

1972–73
NBA
Western
1st
Midwest
1st
60
22
.732
—
Lost Conference Semifinals (Warriors) 4–2

1973–74
NBA
Western
1st
Midwest
1st
59
23
.720
—
Won Conference Semifinals (Lakers) 4–1
Won Conference Finals (Bulls) 4–0
Lost NBA Finals (Celtics) 4–3
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (MVP)

1974–75
NBA
Western
7th
Midwest
4th
38
44
.463
9

1975–76
NBA
Western
4th
Midwest
1st
38
44
.463
—
Lost First Round (Pistons) 2–1

1976–77
NBA
Western
11th
Midwest
6th
30
52
.366
20

1977–78
NBA
Western
6th
Midwest
2nd
44
38
.537
4
Won First Round (Suns) 2–0
Lost Conference Semifinals (Nuggets) 4–3

1978–79
NBA
Western
9th
Midwest
4th
38
44
.463
10

1979–80
NBA
Western
2nd
Midwest
1st
49
33
.598
—
Lost Conference Semifinals (SuperSonics) 4–3

1980–81
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
60
22
.732
—
Lost Conference Semifinals (76ers) 4–3

1981–82
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
55
27
.671
—
Lost Conference Semifinals (76ers) 4–2

1982–83
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
51
31
.622
—
Won Conference Semifinals (Celtics) 4–0
Lost Conference Finals (76ers) 4–1
Sidney Moncrief (DPoY)
Don Nelson (CoY)

1983–84
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
50
32
.610
—
Won First Round (Hawks) 3–2
Won Conference Semifinals (Nets) 4–2
Lost Conference Finals (Celtics) 4–1
Sidney Moncrief (DPoY)

1984–85
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
59
23
.720
—
Won First Round (Bulls) 3–1
Lost Conference Semifinals (76ers) 4–0
Don Nelson (CoY)

1985–86
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
57
25
.695
—
Won First Round (Nets) 3–0
Won Conference Semifinals (76ers) 4–3
Lost Conference Finals (Celtics) 4–0

Milwaukee Bucks

1986–87
NBA
Eastern
4th
Central
3rd
50
32
.610
7
Won First Round (76ers) 3–2
Lost Conference Semifinals (Celtics) 4–3
Ricky Pierce (SMoY)

1987–88
NBA
Eastern
5th
Central
4th
42
40
.512
12
Lost First Round (Hawks) 3–2

1988–89
NBA
Eastern
5th
Central
4th
49
33
.598
14
Won First Round (Hawks) 3–2
Lost Conference Semifinals (Pistons) 4–0

1989–90
NBA
Eastern
6th
Central
3rd
44
38
.537
15
Lost First Round (Bulls) 3–1
Ricky Pierce (SMoY)

1990–91
NBA
Eastern
4th
Central
3rd
48
34
.585
13
Lost First Round (76ers) 3–0

1991–92
NBA
Eastern
11th
Central
7th
31
51
.378
36

1992–93
NBA
Eastern
12th
Central
7th
28
54
.341
29

Milwaukee Bucks

1993–94
NBA
Eastern
13th
Central
7th
20
62
.244
37

1994–95
NBA
Eastern
9th
Central
6th
34
48
.415
18

1995–96
NBA
Eastern
13th
Central
7th
25
57
.305
47

1996–97
NBA
Eastern
11th
Central
7th
33
49
.402
36

1997–98
NBA
Eastern
13th
Central
7th
36
46
.439
26

1998–99
NBA
Eastern
7th
Central
4th
28
22
.560
5
Lost First Round (Pacers) 3–0

1999–2000
NBA
Eastern
8th
Central
5th
42
40
.512
14
Lost First Round (Pacers) 3–2

2000–01
NBA
Eastern
2nd
Central
1st
52
30
.634
—
Won First Round (Magic) 3–1
Won Conference Semifinals (Hornets) 4–3
Lost Conference Finals (76ers) 4–3

2001–02
NBA
Eastern
9th
Central
5th
41
41
.500
9

2002–03
NBA
Eastern
7th
Central
4th
42
40
.512
8
Lost First Round (Nets) 4–2

2003–04
NBA
Eastern
6th
Central
4th
41
41
.500
20
Lost First Round (Pistons) 4–1

2004–05
NBA
Eastern
13th
Central
5th
30
52
.366
24

2005–06
NBA
Eastern
8th
Central
5th
40
42
.488
24
Lost First Round (Pistons) 4–1

Milwaukee Bucks

2006–07
NBA
Eastern
14th
Central
5th
28
54
.341
25

2007–08
NBA
Eastern
13th
Central
5th
26
56
.317
33

2008–09
NBA
Eastern
12th
Central
5th
34
48
.415
32

2009–10
NBA
Eastern
6th
Central
2nd
46
36
.561
17
Lost First Round (Hawks) 4–3
John Hammond (EoY)

2010–11
NBA
Eastern
9th
Central
3rd
35
47
.427
27

2011–12
NBA
Eastern
9th
Central
3rd
31
35
.469
19

2012–13
NBA
Eastern
8th
Central
3rd
38
44
.463
11½
Lost First Round (Heat) 4–0

2013–14
NBA
Eastern
15th
Central
5th
15
67
.183
41

2014–15
NBA
Eastern
6th
Central
3rd
41
41
.500
12
Lost First Round (Bulls) 4–2

Milwaukee Bucks

2015–16
NBA
Eastern
12th
Central
5th
33
49
.402
24

2016–17
NBA
Eastern
6th
Central
2nd
42
40
.512
11
Lost First Round (Raptors) 4–2

2017–18
NBA
Eastern
-
Central
2nd
0
0
.000
-
-

Regular Season Totals (1968–2017)
2,025
1,945
.510

Playoff Totals (1968–present)
108
126
.462
1 NBA Championship

All-time regular and Playoff record
2,133
2,070
.507