I would say yes, that is true, but we have an equally long history of doing things differently. We are not inevitably an aggressive species. De Waal is director of the Living Links program at Yerkes Regional Primate Center and a professor of psychology at Emory University, both in Atlanta. His studies show that monkey and chimpanzee societies are based on the resolution of conflict. For example, when there is a conflict between two individuals, the other members of a primate colony become upset and settle down only when the opponents have reconciled.
Chimpanzees literally kiss and make up.
Former opponents actually become closer friends than they were prior to the conflict. De Waal sees this as evidence that human aggression did not evolve as an antisocial instinct, but instead is meant to be a tool of competition and negotiation. If you put millions of chimps in a city like New York, it would be a bloodbath. That we as a species manage to put millions of people in a city is truly remarkable. De Waal's report on primate studies appears in a special section of the journal Science dealing with violence.