vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Maya civilization
The Maya political landscape was highly complex and Maya elites engaged in political intrigue to gain economic and social advantage over neighbours . In the Late Classic , some cities established a long period of dominance over other large cities , such as the dominance of Caracol over Naranjo for half a century . In other cases , loose alliance networks were formed around a dominant city . Border settlements , usually located about halfway between neighbouring capitals , often switched allegiance over the course of their history , and at times acted independently . Dominant capitals exacted tribute in the form of luxury items from subjugated population centres . Political power was reinforced by military power , and the capture and humiliation of enemy warriors played an important part in elite culture . An overriding sense of pride and honour among the warrior aristocracy could lead to extended feuds and vendettas , which caused political instability and the fragmentation of polities .
European colonization of the Americas
Norse journeys to Greenland and Canada are supported by historical and archaeological evidence . A Norse colony in Greenland was established in the late 10th century , and lasted until the mid 15th century , with court and parliament assemblies ( þing ) taking place at Brattahlíð and a bishop located at Garðar . The remains of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland , Canada , were discovered in 1960 and were dated to around the year 1000 ( carbon dating estimate 990 -- 1050 CE ) . L'Anse aux Meadows is the only site widely accepted as evidence of pre-Columbian trans - oceanic contact . It was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1978 . It is also notable for its possible connection with the attempted colony of Vinland , established by Leif Erikson around the same period or , more broadly , with the West Norse colonization of the Americas .
Nubia
In 2300 BC , Nubia was first mentioned in Old Kingdom Egyptian accounts of trade missions . From Aswan , right above the First Cataract , the southern limit of Egyptian control at the time , Egyptians imported gold , incense , ebony , copper , ivory , and exotic animals from tropical Africa through Nubia . As trade between Egypt and Nubia increased , so did wealth and stability . By the Egyptian 6th dynasty , Nubia was divided into a series of small kingdoms . There is debate over whether these C - Group peoples , who flourished from c. 2500 BC to c. 1500 BC , were another internal evolution or invaders . There are definite similarities between the pottery of the A-Group and C - Group , so it may be a return of the ousted Group - As , or an internal revival of lost arts . At this time , the Sahara Desert was becoming too arid to support human beings , and it is possible that there was a sudden influx of Saharan nomads. C - Group pottery is characterized by all - over incised geometric lines with white infill and impressed imitations of basketry .
Maya calendar
By the Maya mythological tradition , as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions , the deity Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendar system to the ancestral Maya , along with writing in general and other foundational aspects of Maya culture .
European exploration of Africa
In 1677 , King Frederick William I of Prussia sent an expedition to the western coast of Africa . The commander of the expedition , Captain Blonk , signed agreements with the chieftains of the Gold Coast . There , the Prussians built a fort named Gross Friederichsburg and restored the abandoned Portuguese fort of Arguin . But in 1720 , the king decided to sell these bases to the Netherlands for 7,000 ducats and 12 slaves , six of them chained with pure gold chains .
Atlantic slave trade
Although many of the initial Atlantic naval explorations were led by Iberians , members of many European nationalities were involved , including sailors from Portugal , Spain , the Italian kingdoms , England , France and the Netherlands . This diversity led Thornton to describe the initial `` exploration of the Atlantic '' as `` a truly international exercise , even if many of the dramatic discoveries were made under the sponsorship of the Iberian monarchs '' . That leadership later gave rise to the myth that `` the Iberians were the sole leaders of the exploration '' .
History of Kenya
Remarkable prehistoric sites in the interior of Kenya include the archaeoastronomical site Namoratunga on the west side of Lake Turkana and the walled settlement of Thimlich Ohinga in Nyanza Province .
Columbian Exchange
These earlier forays into the enslavement of people laid the foundation for the future trans - Atlantic slave trade . Like other enslaved people , the Taíno and other enslaved Indians had periods of rebellion . Indigenous peoples in what is now known as New Mexico resisted early Spanish colonization and enslavement , resulting in the Acoma Massacre under Juan de Oñate at Acoma Pueblo . In recounting this event , it was said ,
Mesolithic
While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in the archaeology of China , and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized , Mesolithic was introduced later , mostly after 1945 , and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China . Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as `` Early Neolithic '' .
European exploration of Africa
Africa is named for the Afri people who settled in the area of current - day Tunisia . The Roman province of Africa spanned the Mediterranean coast of what is now Libya , Tunisia and Algeria . The parts of North Africa north of the Sahara were well known in antiquity . Prior to the 2nd century BC , however , Greek geographers were unaware that the land mass then known as Libya expanded south of the Sahara , assuming that the desert bounded on the outer Ocean . Indeed , Alexander the Great , according to Plutarchus ' Lives , considered sailing from the mouths of the Indus back to Macedonia passing south of Africa as a shortcut compared to the land route . Even Eratosthenes around 200 BC still assumed an extent of the landmass no further south than the Horn of Africa .
History of West Africa
Based on stylistic similarities with the Nok terracottas , the bronze figurines of the Yoruba kingdom of Ife and the Bini kingdom of Benin are now believed to be continuations of the traditions of the earlier Nokite culture . Serer
Olmec
Olmec culture was unknown to historians until the mid-19th century . In 1869 the Mexican antiquarian traveller José Melgar y Serrano published a description of the first Olmec monument to have been found in situ . This monument -- the colossal head now labelled Tres Zapotes Monument A -- had been discovered in the late 1850s by a farm worker clearing forested land on a hacienda in Veracruz . Hearing about the curious find while travelling through the region , Melgar y Serrano first visited the site in 1862 to see for himself and complete the partially exposed sculpture 's excavation . His description of the object , published several years later after further visits to the site , represents the earliest documented report of an artifact of what is now known as the Olmec culture .
Pre-Columbian era
Also known as the Omagua , Umana and Kambeba , the Cambeba are an indigenous people in Brazil 's Amazon basin . The Cambeba were a populous , organized society in the late Pre-Columbian era whose population suffered steep decline in the early years of the Columbian Exchange . The Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana traversed the Amazon River during the 16th century and reported densely populated regions running hundreds of kilometers along the river . These populations left no lasting monuments , possibly because they used local wood as their construction material as stone was not locally available . While it is possible Orellana may have exaggerated the level of development among the Amazonians , their semi-nomadic descendants have the odd distinction among tribal indigenous societies of a hereditary , yet landless , aristocracy . Archaeological evidence has revealed the continued presence of semi-domesticated orchards , as well as vast areas of land enriched with terra preta . Both of these discoveries , along with Cambeba ceramics discovered within the same archaeological levels suggest that a large and organized civilization existed in the area .
Sahara
During the Neolithic Era , before the onset of desertification around 9500 BCE , the central Sudan had been a rich environment supporting a large population ranging across what is now barren desert , like the Wadi el - Qa'ab . By the 5th millennium BCE , the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia , were full participants in the `` agricultural revolution '' , living a settled lifestyle with domesticated plants and animals . Saharan rock art of cattle and herdsmen suggests the presence of a cattle cult like those found in Sudan and other pastoral societies in Africa today . Megaliths found at Nabta Playa are overt examples of probably the world 's first known archaeoastronomy devices , predating Stonehenge by some 2,000 years . This complexity , as observed at Nabta Playa , and as expressed by different levels of authority within the society there , likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt .
European colonization of the Americas
As more nations gained an interest in the colonization of the Americas , competition for territory became increasingly fierce . Colonists often faced the threat of attacks from neighboring colonies , as well as from indigenous tribes and pirates .
Ecological imperialism
In 1607 , English settlers arrived in North America and established the Jamestown colony in Virginia . Though at first it seemed the colonists would not survive the harsh conditions of the New World , ultimately it was the natives who could not survive the diseases of the Old World . `` The colonizers brought along plants and animals new to the Americas , some by design and others by accident . Determined to farm in a European manner , the colonists introduced their domesticated livestock -- honeybees , pigs , horses , mules , sheep , and cattle -- and their domesticated plants , including wheat , barley , rye , oats , grasses , and grapevines . But the colonists also inadvertently carried pathogens , weeds , and rats . '' The introduction of these foreign species upset the balance of native species and severely hurt the way of life of the native population .
Pre-Columbian era
When the Europeans arrived , indigenous peoples of North America had a wide range of lifeways from sedentary , agrarian societies to semi-nomadic hunter - gatherer societies . Many formed new tribes or confederations in response to European colonization . These are often classified by cultural regions , loosely based on geography . These can include the following :
Blond
In 2009 and 2014 , genomic study of Tarim mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present - day Xinjiang , China , showed that they were also a product of a Corded Ware admixture and were genetically closer to the Andronovo culture ( which split from Corded Ware culture ) than to the Yamnaya culture or Afanasevo culture .
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants , animals , culture , human populations , technology , and ideas between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries , related to European colonization and trade after Christopher Columbus 's 1492 voyage . Invasive species , including communicable diseases , were a byproduct of the Exchange . The changes in agriculture significantly altered and changed global populations . However , the most significant immediate impact of the Columbian Exchange was the cultural exchanges and the transfer of people between continents . Furthermore , a byproduct of the Columbian Exchange was the Atlantic slave trade , where as many as 12.5 million enslaved African people were forcibly transferred as a labor source to other regions .
First Nations
A 1999 discovery of the body of Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi has provided archaeologists with significant information on indigenous tribal life prior to extensive European contact . Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi ( meaning Long Ago Person Found in Southern Tutchone ) , or Canadian Ice Man , is a naturally mummified body found in Tatshenshini - Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia , by a group of hunters . Radiocarbon dating of artifacts found with the body placed the age of the find between 1450 AD and 1700 AD . Genetic testing has shown he was a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations . Local clans are considering a memorial potlatch to honour Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi .
Italian Empire
The Italian Empire ( Italian : Impero Italiano ) comprised the colonies , protectorates , concessions , dependencies and trust territories of the Kingdom of Italy and , after 1946 , the Italian Republic . The genesis of the Italian colonial empire was the purchase , in 1869 , by a commercial company of the coastal town of Assab on the Red Sea . This was taken over by the Italian government in 1882 , becoming modern Italy 's first overseas territory .
European colonization of the Americas
Ten years after Columbus 's discovery , the administration of Hispaniola was given to Nicolás de Ovando of the Order of Alcántara , founded during the Reconquista . As in the Iberian Peninsula , the inhabitants of Hispaniola were given new landmasters , while religious orders handled the local administration . Progressively the encomienda system , which granted tribute ( access to indigenous labor and taxation ) to European settlers , was set in place .
Jamestown, Virginia
From 1936 J.C. `` Pinky '' Harrington worked on the NPS 's excavations at Jamestown . In 1954 John L. Cotter took charge of field projects at Jamestown , conducted with the site 's 350th anniversary ( 1957 ) in mind . Cotter worked with Edward B. Jelks and Harrington to survey the area 's colonial sites . In 1957 Cotter and J. Paul Hudson co-authored New Discoveries at Jamestown . Cotter contributed , along with Jelks , Georg Neumann , and Johnny Hack , to the 1958 report Archaeological Excavations at Jamestown .
North Africa
The cave paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer , north of Tamanrasset , Algeria , and at other locations depict vibrant and vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa during the Neolithic Subpluvial period ( about 8000 to 4000 BCE ) . Some parts of North Africa began to participate in the Neolithic revolution in the 6th millennium BC , just before the rapid desertification of the Sahara around 3500 B.C. due to a tilt in the Earth 's orbit .
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution , Neolithic Demographic Transition , or Agricultural Revolution , was the wide - scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement , making possible an increasingly larger population . These settled communities permitted humans to observe and experiment with plants to learn how they grew and developed . This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants .
Hawaii
Based on archaeological evidence , the earliest habitation of the Hawaiian Islands dates to around 300 CE , probably by Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas Islands . A second wave of migration from Raiatea and Bora Bora took place in the 11th century . The date of the human discovery and habitation of the Hawaiian Islands is the subject of academic debate . Some archaeologists and historians think it was a later wave of immigrants from Tahiti around 1000 CE who introduced a new line of high chiefs , the kapu system , the practice of human sacrifice , and the building of heiau . This later immigration is detailed in Hawaiian mythology ( mo ʻolelo ) about Pa ʻao . Other authors say there is no archaeological or linguistic evidence for a later influx of Tahitian settlers and that Pa ʻao must be regarded as a myth .
History of New Mexico
The history of New Mexico is based on both archeological evidence , attesting to varying cultures of humans occupying the area of New Mexico since approximately 9200 BC , and written records . The earliest peoples had migrated from northern areas of North America after leaving Siberia via the Bering Land Bridge . Artifacts and architecture demonstrate ancient complex cultures in this region .
French colonization of the Americas
The French were eager to explore North America but New France remained largely unpopulated . Due to the lack of women , intermarriages between French and Indians were frequent , giving rise to the Métis people . Relations between the French and Indians were usually peaceful . As the 19th - century historian Francis Parkman stated :
Illinois Confederation
When French explorers first journeyed to the region from Canada in the 17th century , they found the area inhabited by a vigorous , populous , Algonquian - speaking nation . What we know today about the Illinois is based on the historical account Jesuit Relations , written by French Jesuits . The missionaries who lived among the various native nations wrote the Relations and sent the reports back to their superiors in France . One name for an Illinois Confederation tribe , the Cahokia , was used as a name for a French settlement , now Cahokia , Illinois , near what are now called the Cahokia Mounds , the remains of a large pre-Columbian city . However , it is currently unknown whether the Illinois Confederation peoples , including the Cahokia , have any relationship to the earlier native builders of the mounds civilization .
Olmec
In part because the Olmecs developed the first Mesoamerican civilization and in part because little is known of the Olmecs ( relative , for example , to the Maya or Aztec ) , a number of Olmec alternative origin speculations have been put forth . Although several of these speculations , particularly the theory that the Olmecs were of African origin popularized by Ivan van Sertima 's book They Came Before Columbus , have become well - known within popular culture , they are not considered credible by the vast majority of Mesoamerican researchers and scientists , who discard it as pop - culture pseudo-science .
Gulf of Mexico
In 1517 , Francisco Hernández de Córdoba discovered the Yucatán Peninsula . This was the first European encounter with an advanced civilization in the Americas , with solidly built buildings and a complex social organization which they recognized as being comparable to those of the Old World ; they also had reason to expect that this new land would have gold . All of this encouraged two further expeditions , the first in 1518 under the command of Juan de Grijalva , and the second in 1519 under the command of Hernán Cortés , which led to the Spanish exploration , military invasion , and ultimately settlement and colonization known as the Conquest of Mexico . Hernández did not live to see the continuation of his work : he died in 1517 , the year of his expedition , as the result of the injuries and the extreme thirst suffered during the voyage , and disappointed in the knowledge that Diego Velázquez had given precedence to Grijalva as the captain of the next expedition to Yucatán .
New Spain
In the colonial period , basic patterns of regional development emerged and strengthened . European settlement and institutional life was built in the Mesoamerican heartland of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico . The South ( Oaxaca , Michoacan , Yucatán , and Central America ) was a region of dense indigenous settlement of Mesoamerica , but without exploitable resources of interest to Europeans , the area attracted few Europeans , while the indigenous presence remained strong . The North was outside the area of complex indigenous populations , inhabited primarily by nomadic and hostile northern indigenous groups . With the discovery of silver in the north , the Spanish sought to conquer or pacify those peoples in order to exploit the mines and develop enterprises to supply them . Nonetheless , much of northern New Spain had sparse indigenous population and attracted few Europeans . The Spanish crown and later the Republic of Mexico did not effectively exert sovereignty over the region , leaving it vulnerable to the expansionism of the United States in the nineteenth century .
Indo-Roman trade relations
Han China was perhaps also involved in the Roman trade , with Roman embassies recorded for the years 166 , 226 , and 284 that allegedly landed in Rinan ( Jianzhi ) in northern Vietnam , according to Chinese histories . Roman coins and goods such as glasswares and silverwares have been found in China , as well as Roman coins , bracelets , glass beads , a bronze lamp , and Antonine - period medallions in Vietnam , especially at Oc Eo ( belonging to the Funan Kingdom ) . The 1st - century Periplus notes how a country called This , with a great city called Thinae ( comparable to Sinae in Ptolemy 's Geography ) , produced silk and exported it to Bactria before it traveled overland to Barygaza in India and down the Ganges River . While Marinus of Tyre and Ptolemy provided vague accounts of the Gulf of Thailand and Southeast Asia , the Alexandrian Greek monk and former merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes , in his Christian Topography ( c. 550 ) , spoke clearly about China , how to sail there , and how it was involved in the clove trade stretching to Ceylon . Comparing the small amount of Roman coins found in China as opposed to India , Warwick Ball asserts that most of the Chinese silk purchased by the Romans was done so in India , with the land route through ancient Persia playing a secondary role .
Colonial history of the United States
As Bonomi ( 1971 ) shows , the most distinctive feature of colonial society was the vibrant political culture , which attracted the most talented and ambitious young men into politics . First , suffrage was the most generous in the world , with every man allowed to vote who owned a certain amount of property . Fewer than one - percent of British men could vote , whereas a majority of American freemen were eligible . The roots of democracy were present , although deference was typically shown to social elites in colonial elections .
Ancient Egypt
The Badari was followed by the Amratian ( Naqada I ) and Gerzeh ( Naqada II ) cultures , which brought a number of technological improvements . As early as the Naqada I Period , predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia , used to shape blades and other objects from flakes . In Naqada II times , early evidence exists of contact with the Near East , particularly Canaan and the Byblos coast . Over a period of about 1,000 years , the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley . Establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis , and later at Abydos , Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile . They also traded with Nubia to the south , the oases of the western desert to the west , and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East to the east . Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest - known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols , such as the white crown of Egypt and falcon .
Nubia
In the New Kingdom , Nubians became indistinguishable in the archaeological record from Egyptians .
Mesolithic
The terms `` Paleolithic '' and `` Neolithic '' were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865 . The additional `` Mesolithic '' category was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866 . Westropp 's suggestion was immediately controversial . A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate : the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow , he said . A European school led by Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later .