A Diamond is Forever: Conflict Diamonds and Lost History

A few years back, I heard a song by Kanye West called “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.” I thought the song was catchy and interesting, but I had no idea what Sierra Leone was. I Googled Sierra Leone shortly after and learned about conflict diamonds. Then in my International Relations class, I wrote my term paper on the situation in Sierra Leone.

A diamond is created after carbon has been under pressure for hundreds of thousands of years. Diamonds sounds as if they would not have any special value; it is just another mineral waiting to be mined. In Sierra Leone, however, they have been the cause of hundreds of bloody conflicts and thousands of deaths. Appropriately they are known as blood diamonds or conflict diamonds.

Conflict in Sierra Leone began in the 1990s when rebel groups desired to overthrow the government. At the beginning, “the [Revolutionary United Front]’s initial premise seemed sound: they demanded free and fair elections, along with social and economic justice for a country that had fallen to the bottom of the United Nations human development index,” (Smillie, p.26). They violently took over diamond mines and began selling them to fund their endeavors. Warlord and former president of Liberia Charles Taylor also help fund the RUF’s cause and a civil war ensued.
In response to the atrocities happening in Sierra Leone, many countries have created policies to ensure the legitimacy of the diamonds that they import. Eventually this grew into a group of cooperating governments and companies in the mining industry known as the Kimberely Process. These groups use the Kimberely Process Certification Scheme which “imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’. As of November 2008, the KP has 49 members, representing 75 countries, with the European Community and its Member States counting as an individual participant,” (www.kimberelyprocess.com). When purchasing loose diamonds or diamond jewelry, the consumer can request certification that the diamond is conflict free and was mined legitimately.

I chose to write this blog for one main reason, in our homework assignment this week, the question “Why do you think ancient Egyptian history so captures the public mind in the west today, but ancient sub-Saharan African history is less notable and less focused on, although both societies are African in origin?” was asked. While attempts have been made to bring justice to Sierra Leone, the damage that was done will last forever. It is important to bring awareness to conflicts like that of blood diamonds and other poor human rights conditions around the world in order to help solve the problem. We cannot turn a blind eye to conflicts in countries in “far away places” because the problems are real and they affect us all. Imagine what you would do if you could look into the diamond on your finger, in your necklace, or in your ears and see the story of that diamond. You would not knowingly purchase something that has killed someone to make it into a nice little jewelry box; you would take a stand against the unthinkable exploitations and refuse to buy it. Sub-Saharan African history has seemingly been forgotten. By bringing awareness, we remember what has happened. We can take a cue from more notable historical events and document their importance, which will help preserve all histories.

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Recent news article on Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone tribunal delivers final Freetown verdict


Kanye West: "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"


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Sources Consulted:
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_SLE.html

http://www.kimberelyprocess.com

Smillie, Ian. "Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds, and Human Security." Social Justice 27.4 (2000): 24-31.

http://www.diamondfacts.org

Warrior Kings...and Queens?

Yes, actually. Warrior queens to be specific. Despite widespread discrimination against women during the Classical period of the world, queens often ruled the African kingdom of Nubia, and powerful warrior queens at that. History notes ten women rulers of Nubia, and an additional six who significantly impacted the nation while their husbands ruled.

One ruler, Queen Amanirenas, even lead armies into battle. She defeated the Romans in one clash, but was defeated when they regrouped. Because they feared her power, the Romans negotiated a treaty, but the queen broke it a few years later. It is said that she became even more courageous after losing an eye in battle. Nubian women were a force to be reckoned with, certainly.

In addition to their unique status as rulers in a world of patriarchy, Nubian granted their queens another role denied to Classical women in other civilizations: priest. Pictures often showed Queens giving birth to the children of gods and playing an active role in immortal events.

The cult surrounding the goddess Isis is a main reason behind the queens' power. Isis was the Egyptian queen of all gods and goddesses, and one of a trinity formed with Osiris and Set. Nubia worshiped Isis more than Egypt did, and she often adorns their royal crowns. Pictures often associate this magic and powerful goddess with the queens of the kingdom, something not usually seen in other cultures of the time.

Because of the importance of the queen mother and goddess Isis to Nubian culture, Nubian women were incredibly powerful compared to women of other civilizations of the period. Nubian cultures today reflect their history of powerful women in their matriarchal structure.

Source: Role of Women in Nubia by Tara L. Kneller

Tenochtitlán

Built in 1325, Tenochtitlán was the capital city of the ancient Mesoamerican civilization of the Aztecs. Its peak population of approximately 200,000 people put it in the rankings of one of the largest cities in the world at its time.
Legend tells us that Aztec god Huitzilopochtli inspired the construction of the mega-city on the marshy, salty Lake Texcoco. The lake was shallow enough to allow the Aztecs to create a base of support for their city with a mesh-like combination of mud, reeds, and tree roots. Gradually, the soil concoction settled enough to form a stable island on which they constructed their city. They used this same principle to create “floating” gardens, called chinampas. These gardens granted the city a successful and reliable source of food. Two main aqueducts supplied the city with fresh clean drinking water.
Three main causeways, facing north, south, and west, connected the city to the mainland. Half land, half water canals made up the roadways of the city; the typical mode of transportation through these canals was small canoes. The canals also served as part of the city’s structural defense system. The city was known throughout Mesoamerica for these defensive properties, its organization, and its cleanliness.
The impressive architecture of Tenochtitlán also symbolized great wealth and power throughout Mesoamerica. The various pyramids, temples, and busy markets were very colorful and were designed in a unique artistic fashion. The Temple Mayor and the temple of Quetzalcoatl are two of the better-known religious structures to the modern world. Both were located in the centralized Sacred Precinct of the city, which could hold more than 8,000 people at any given time. This district housed the temples for the most important Aztec gods, as well as ball courts for entertainment, housing for the temple priests, and schools for educating the youth.
August of 1521 marked the downfall of the Aztec population. While European diseases, brought to Latin America by the Spanish Conquistadors, wiped out much of the population, Hernan Cortez’s invasion of the city led to its ultimate destruction. Cortez and his men flattened the city and built a new Spanish city overtop; today this city still stands, known to us as Mexico City.

References:
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/meso_america/tenochtitlan.html
http://www.mexicocity.com.mx/anc_city.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/hd/teno_1/hd_teno_1.htm

Mesoamerica: Ancient Civilizations; Mayan and Aztecs

Two ancient American civilizations, the Mayans and Aztecs, may seem the same in our minds, but in reality, there were many differences amongst them. They were the two empires that existed in Mesoamerica. The Mayan and Aztec civilizations were both located in Mexico, but the Mayan territory was the southern part of Mexico, and the Aztec’s had the central area. There are many differences in similarities between the Aztecs and Mayans, but I will talk about just a few.

Trade:

Both the Mayans and Aztecs did their own share of trading, but the area of trade for the Aztecs was much larger than that of the Mayans. They both traded cacao and salt extensively. The Aztecs had three different sectors for their trade system. The first was professionals who dealt with luxurious items. The second was the regional merchants, who dealt with more agricultural items The last sector was small-scale producers who did not do much trading and produced mainly for themselves. The Mayans did not have nearly the systematic set up for trade as the Aztecs had.

Tribute:

The Aztecs had a tribute system much earlier than the Mayans. The Aztecs had four types of tribute. The first was the tribute they were forced to pay to Spain. The second was the textiles, cloth or woven’s, paid to the conquered states. The third was the payment that nobles gave to their local rulers. The last tribute was the nobles taxation to the common citizens. When the Mayans eventually developed a tribute system, they had two types. The first was labor and food from the citizens to their nobles. The second was the precise tribute from their conquered neighbors.

Religion:

Both the Aztecs and Mayans had a polytheistic religion. They had gods of agriculture, so farming was very important to both civilizations to please the gods. The Aztecs were always trying to please their gods by participating in war, but the Mayans thrived for peace. The two civilizations shared one same god; the Aztecs called him Quetzalcoatl, and the Mayans called him Kukulcan. They both also worshipped many other deities.

Calendar:

The Aztec and Mayan calendars had some similarities and differences. The Mayans were much more precise with recording dates. They both had ritual day cycles; the Aztecs was called Tonalpohuall, and the Mayans was called Tzolkin. The Aztec calendar kept two different aspects of time; one counting of days, and one counting of years.

Even though they were both located in Mexico, the Aztecs and Mayans had many similarities, but many differences also. It is amazing to read about the different civilizations and how they organized their people.

 http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw13nativeamereconomics.htm

http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/105556.html

http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_3.htm

37 Miles of Alien Runway

Near the Nazca valleys of the Peruvian desert lie an ancient phenomena that have captured the imaginations of people for years: enormous line drawings in the rock. Nearly every "Strange but True" list or book on "Mysteries of the World" includes references to the giant geoglyphs (geometric patterns) and bioglyphs (plants and animals) etched in the surface of the earth. The Nazca (or Nasca) people flourished during the period 200BCE-600CE and are recognized in the archaeological and historical communities for many things, including their pottery and intricate fabrics, but the "Nazca Lines" are their legacy that generates the most controversy.

Many explanations for these lines exist, from the common but highly implausible theory of alien runways to the reasonable but statistically improbable explanation of astronomic markers. Researchers, anthropologists, and historians all over the world have spent time creating sites explaining their own interpretations of the lines and disproving the interpretations of others. Here are just a few:

The Hall of Maat regularly examines "alternative history" to test its possible accuracy. In her piece on the Nazca, Katherine Reece debunks Jim Woodman's theory that the lines indicate hot-air balloon technology among the Nazca. Woodman suggests that paintings, legends, and cloth, as well as aerial views, point to the development of such technology but provides little detail or support for his arguements. Reece finds much of his evidence to be faulty, misconstrued, non-existent, or irrelevant, and points out that an archaeologist on foot discovered the pictures. They can be viewed on the surrounding hills without ever leaving the ground.

The Minnesota State University webpage on the the Nazca disagrees with Reece and asserts that the pictures are only visible from air. This site stands by a religious and ecologic interpretation of the lines: they relate to water. Many of the geoglyphs, particularly the straight lines, transport water today, while the biomorphs include animals associated with faithfulness, hope, fishing, and rain. Here the interpretation concludes that the lines served the pragmatic function of irrigation while affirming faith in the gods and praying for more water.

Don Proulx further explores water as motivation in The Nasca Lines Project, a research project undertaken with David Johnson. Johnson studied the area and hypothesized that the geometric lines correlated with underground water sources, and found many instances where this was true. In the end, although there exists evidence of a possible relation between water and the geoglyphs, the data was not statistically significant.

The UnMuseum, a collection of information on "fringe" history, examines in its article "The Lines of Nazca" several possibilities, including alien landing strips, astronomic calendars, and underground water maps, but concludes that all are unsatisfactory. They contend that a reasonable explanation is religious shrines, burial ritual sites, or worship sites based on the size and correlation of significant architectural works with religion in other cultures.

The Skepdic reaches a similar conclusion to that of the Unmuseum: religious grounds are the most plausible explanation for these enormous pictures. The Skepdic primarily attempts to demonstrate the ways many explanations fail to adequately solve the mystery, and proposes that scientists be the ones to set forth theories, not "alienated psuedoscientific spectators".

Overall, it appears that many people believe in supernatural explanations because they don't believe the "primative" Nazca capable of designs of such epic proportions. While archaeology provides evidence of how the Nazca may have built them, there still remains no good answer as to why these images are so big. At this point, the most agree-upon explanation has something to do with water and religion, connected in some way.

Sub-Saharan African

Because much of African history is a mystery, early explorers often assumed that it was a dangerous dark unknown place filled with savage uncivilized peoples. What they failed to recognize was that the reason for little information about ancient Africa can be blamed on a very strong oral tradition. Ancient Africans relied on the passing of traditions, stories and rituals by word of mouth. There is little history written down. Much of African history has finally been reveiled by archeologists today, much is forever lost beneath the hot sandy desert floor. What we have found out is that evidence of African life is found 1000 years earlier than expected by most people. We also know that aging back to around 250 b.c.e. there is evidence of trade routes and even the use of iron technology.

Unfortunately, the people of this region were mostly cut off from the rest of the world. This is also why much of its history is forgotten about. Some factors that attribute to this are; the desert is vast, dry and hard to cross not to mention the few rivers available are extremely hard to navigate as well. Many African people were afraid to venture into the ocean or sea which made getting to this region pretty much impossible.

Even though it was difficult to get to this part of Africa, trade was still prevalent starting in the 7Th century c.e. Africa was a large resource for gold in exchange for salt and other resources.

The first group to caravan across the Sahara were the Berbers from North Africa. They brought with them there strict Islamic faith and attempted to convert many people in the area to there faith. Even though most rejected the religion there were some merchants who adopted the faith. Most sub-Saharan African believed that many gods existed in nature and refused to adopt Islam.

As we continue to learn more about this "dark continent", we unleashed many mysteries of Africa's great past. It is interesting that in attempt for Europeans to learn about this great country they ended up destroying much of the valid resources needed for evidence. It is interesting also that only a few years ago did people truly start to recognize Africa's great history.

Resources:
http://www.mrdowling.com/609-testr.htm
Lecture notes and in class documentary

Sub-Saharan Africa: Bantu Peoples and Iron

Iron in Africa:

Sub-Saharan Africans Developed metallurgy at a very early stage. It is thought that they developed the use of iron way before other civilizations.  The Iron Age came very early to Africa around the sixth century BC. They started producing steel in carbon furnaces. Iron technology spread very slowly throughout Africa. They began to extract the metal from its ore, which spread throughout the continent through the Bantu migrations.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/IRONAGE.HTM

Irons Impact on Bantu Peoples:

The Bantu people developed the iron blade, which made cutting and gathering crops much easier. As agriculture grew, so did the Bantu populations. The advantage they had with iron tools, most Bantu’s neighboring peoples merged with or conquered by the Bantu’s. When they merged and conquered their neighboring peoples, they influenced language and culture of almost all sub-Saharan peoples. Because of the iron influence, many Africans speak a Bantu language, or language with Bantu roots.

http://ceoleadershipacd.org/mrweigel/bantu.htm

It is amazing how something so simple to us as iron had such an impact on the ancient Bantu people. It created a spread of culture and language of the Bantu people. They were able to do much more with their crops after they learned how to smelter the iron to produce tools and weapons. Simple objects, such as iron, have had a great impact in history.

Ancient Roman Burial Rituals

Today, funerals are performed based on a family's religion and beliefs. If the body is in good shape, then a visitation will take place on a certain day with no more than three different times throughout the day. After the visitation, the actual funeral will take place with family gathering together to say a few words about their dead loved one and then the body is brought to the cemetary in a funeral persession lead by the herse carrying the body. If requested, a grave side ceremony can take place where the family gathers at their loved one's final resting place. This is a normal, basic funeral. A family also has the oppertunity to have their loved one cremated. Cremation is when a body is placed in a furnace and the ashes are gathered and placed in an urn. When a family chooses to have a loved one cremated, the ritual is not much different from a basic funeral. The only difference is instead of a graveside ceremony, a family can gather at a special place and scatter the ashes.

The funeral and burial rituals today are not all that different from acient Roman burial rituals. Cremation was the popular choice of burial rituals for the ancient Romans. When a loved one would pass away, their body would be washed and dressed in thier nicest clothes by family members. The body would then be placed on a couch for eight days for family and friends to pay their last repects to the deceased and family. Next, a coin would be placed either in the mouth under the tounge or two coins would be placed over the eyes so that he can pay the ferry man to row him to the land of the dead. Finally, the body of the deceased would be carried outside to be burned in front of family and friends.