jensenjaundice:

brosephstalin:

asianhistory:

twistedasphyxia:

gunnyoshiaki:

Some sort of scientists believe that if the Library of Alexandria didn’t burn down or the Dark Ages never happened, we would be 300 years advanced in technology. :>

This is depressing. l:

 This isn’t something I would normally reblog on FyeahAsianHistory except this is why this blog exists. This is EXACTLY why this blog exists. Let’s put this in perspective of the very limited knowledge I have on both the Western European Middle Ages/Medieval Period/ quote “Dark Ages”, and Egypt in this time period plus everything I know about Asia as a whole.

This? This is bullshit. There’s no nice way to say it. Was the Library of Alexandria a huge, devastating loss? Absolutely. But it was “lost” more than once, and it was certainly burned before Christianity at least once and there was more than one branch of the library. Take a quick look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria there are sources saying Muslims destroyed it, and sources saying Christians ordered to have the “temple” burned down.

So on that account, it’s a load of crap. On other accounts: As any Medievalist will fervently tell you, the “Dark Ages” is a very misleading term. Loads of cool things happened during the Middle Ages in Europe. But look at Asia. Look at say, Islam which collected new libraries, brought back those “lost” Greek and Roman works, started Universities, invented the astrolabe. Look at the Silk road towards the beginning, and hell, even onwards. WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. India’s Chola Dynasty Maritime power. How about China’s first standing navy with “junk” ships? What about moveable type printing invented by the Chinese? Gunpowder warfare? How about a freakin’ odometer? WHAT ABOUT COFFEE? Hospitals? Female Surgeons.

Try looking up “Islamic Golden Age.” Really, just try it.

What was the “Dark Ages” for Europe (which is highly debateable) was the Golden Ages of Islam, the end of the Classical Age in Japan, and a period of awesome invention, innovation, and exploration for China and through several dynasties to boot. Say, there’s a funny little thing called “Pax Mongolica” and it lead to a lot of good things.

Listen, Europe and Christianity may have dun goofed a little, and some of the consequences will never be the same, but while they were on a bit of a downer, the OTHER HALF OF THE EURASIAN CONTINENT WAS DOING PRETTY OKAY. Really.

I run this blog because I want people to know that The West, Christianity, and Europe are not solely responsible for the successes or failures of the human race and innovation. Because I want people to know that before the Bible, there was Gilgamesh. That in the 11th century, a Japanese woman composed the world’s first novel. That people in the Islamic world translated the texts we consider so important in the Western Canon of Greek and Roman literature today. That India, Japan, China, and much of the Islamic empire all had golden/classical periods occuring during this time period. China became the first country in the world to use paper money in their banks.

Listen guys, if I want you to take away one thing, it’s that just because Europe sleeps doesn’t mean the world doesn’t make leaps and bounds.

Few things I hate more than a Euro-centric narrative.

THANK YOU. God I hate this graphic. as if it were possible to quantify the learning of civilizations by comparative analysis in any real and impartial way. Also did the creator of this graphic fucking understand that Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures should also be existing simultaneously as well as separately? The fact that someone had the audacity enough to construct such a blatant display of distorted history, especially with such an outdated and rudimentary model, then blame its failings on a single historical period and expect people to believe them is a level of arrogance and stupidity I can’t even begin to comprehend. The fact that all of scientific progress could have come from just 6 (or 7 depending on how it’s interpreted, I guess) periods is totally and utterly wrong. It’s wrong. IT’S. WRONG.

What also is still being left unaccounted for is what was happening in FOUR OTHER CONTINENTS. African, American, and Australian learning was not dead at the same time Europe was experiencing the Dark Ages and Asia was moving through various stages of intellectual expansion. Societies in the Yucatan, Missippi, and Niger rivers were growing ever more powerful, and their bases of knowledge were certainly not stifled. Just because most people, not to even mention historians, aren’t aware of the achievements of these people and their civilizations at these times did not mean they weren’t taking place. the independent script of RongoRongo and the incredible production of the Moai around the cultural heartland of Rapa Nui was culminating into one of the earth’s earliest examples of resource exhaustion due to a people who had learned so much about how to manipulate natural resources of their land that they became too efficient at their own production methods. The Mayan calendrical system coupled with their astronomical observances were unparalleled by anyone anywhere at that time, comparable only to the earlier recordings of Ancient Egypt and Sumer. The pre-Yoruba people around the upper Niger and Jos plateaus had independently learned iron smelting, instantaneously propelling them from what archaeologists would deem a neolithic culture into an Iron Age civilization. Their legacies would independently foster new, rich schools of thought and teaching, and subsequently be spread to other parts of the world—their worlds—themselves. Just because they go unrecorded by mainstream history does not mean they did not happen. Just because their accomplishments are not remembered or lost does not mean they did not exist.

Also HA fucking HA HA HA that somehow the Egyptian period is smaller than both the Greek and Roman periods when in reality if we’d be playing by this bullshit graphic’s rules it would be longer than both of them put together

how the hell could anyone believe this butchery of both science and a history of science

brosephstalin:

asianhistory:

twistedasphyxia:

gunnyoshiaki:

Some sort of scientists believe that if the Library of Alexandria didn’t burn down or the Dark Ages never happened, we would be 300 years advanced in technology. :>

This is depressing. l:

 This isn’t something I would normally reblog on FyeahAsianHistory except this is why this blog exists. This is EXACTLY why this blog exists. Let’s put this in perspective of the very limited knowledge I have on both the Western European Middle Ages/Medieval Period/ quote “Dark Ages”, and Egypt in this time period plus everything I know about Asia as a whole.

This? This is bullshit. There’s no nice way to say it. Was the Library of Alexandria a huge, devastating loss? Absolutely. But it was “lost” more than once, and it was certainly burned before Christianity at least once and there was more than one branch of the library. Take a quick look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria there are sources saying Muslims destroyed it, and sources saying Christians ordered to have the “temple” burned down.

So on that account, it’s a load of crap. On other accounts: As any Medievalist will fervently tell you, the “Dark Ages” is a very misleading term. Loads of cool things happened during the Middle Ages in Europe. But look at Asia. Look at say, Islam which collected new libraries, brought back those “lost” Greek and Roman works, started Universities, invented the astrolabe. Look at the Silk road towards the beginning, and hell, even onwards. WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. India’s Chola Dynasty Maritime power. How about China’s first standing navy with “junk” ships? What about moveable type printing invented by the Chinese? Gunpowder warfare? How about a freakin’ odometer? WHAT ABOUT COFFEE? Hospitals? Female Surgeons.

Try looking up “Islamic Golden Age.” Really, just try it.

What was the “Dark Ages” for Europe (which is highly debateable) was the Golden Ages of Islam, the end of the Classical Age in Japan, and a period of awesome invention, innovation, and exploration for China and through several dynasties to boot. Say, there’s a funny little thing called “Pax Mongolica” and it lead to a lot of good things.

Listen, Europe and Christianity may have dun goofed a little, and some of the consequences will never be the same, but while they were on a bit of a downer, the OTHER HALF OF THE EURASIAN CONTINENT WAS DOING PRETTY OKAY. Really.

I run this blog because I want people to know that The West, Christianity, and Europe are not solely responsible for the successes or failures of the human race and innovation. Because I want people to know that before the Bible, there was Gilgamesh. That in the 11th century, a Japanese woman composed the world’s first novel. That people in the Islamic world translated the texts we consider so important in the Western Canon of Greek and Roman literature today. That India, Japan, China, and much of the Islamic empire all had golden/classical periods occuring during this time period. China became the first country in the world to use paper money in their banks.

Listen guys, if I want you to take away one thing, it’s that just because Europe sleeps doesn’t mean the world doesn’t make leaps and bounds.

Few things I hate more than a Euro-centric narrative.

THANK YOU. God I hate this graphic. as if it were possible to quantify the learning of civilizations by comparative analysis in any real and impartial way. Also did the creator of this graphic fucking understand that Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures should also be existing simultaneously as well as separately? The fact that someone had the audacity enough to construct such a blatant display of distorted history, especially with such an outdated and rudimentary model, then blame its failings on a single historical period and expect people to believe them is a level of arrogance and stupidity I can’t even begin to comprehend. The fact that all of scientific progress could have come from just 6 (or 7 depending on how it’s interpreted, I guess) periods is totally and utterly wrong. It’s wrong. IT’S. WRONG.

What also is still being left unaccounted for is what was happening in FOUR OTHER CONTINENTS. African, American, and Australian learning was not dead at the same time Europe was experiencing the Dark Ages and Asia was moving through various stages of intellectual expansion. Societies in the Yucatan, Missippi, and Niger rivers were growing ever more powerful, and their bases of knowledge were certainly not stifled. Just because most people, not to even mention historians, aren’t aware of the achievements of these people and their civilizations at these times did not mean they weren’t taking place. the independent script of RongoRongo and the incredible production of the Moai around the cultural heartland of Rapa Nui was culminating into one of the earth’s earliest examples of resource exhaustion due to a people who had learned so much about how to manipulate natural resources of their land that they became too efficient at their own production methods. The Mayan calendrical system coupled with their astronomical observances were unparalleled by anyone anywhere at that time, comparable only to the earlier recordings of Ancient Egypt and Sumer. The pre-Yoruba people around the upper Niger and Jos plateaus had independently learned iron smelting, instantaneously propelling them from what archaeologists would deem a neolithic culture into an Iron Age civilization. Their legacies would independently foster new, rich schools of thought and teaching, and subsequently be spread to other parts of the world—their worlds—themselves. Just because they go unrecorded by mainstream history does not mean they did not happen. Just because their accomplishments are not remembered or lost does not mean they did not exist.