THE MARCH OF CIVILIZATION
1. The Meaning of World History.
World history is the story of the rise and growth of civilization. It began when people made
their first appearance in the great drama of life and is still going on with its end far in the future. Its
progress may be likened to a stream which, starting far back in the hills, winds along, now fast, now
slowly, here turned aside by some obstruction, there joined by a new rivulet, but always growing
larger until at last it becomes a mighty river. Like this stream, we shall find civilization, too, flowing
peacefully and quietly until it reaches some obstacle, something corresponding to a hard stratum of
rock; then it breaks into rapids and hurls itself along violently until once more it reaches the level
country.
As we look at this dramatic story of the past, we shall see that, like the stream, civilization,
although constantly gaining new material, still retains much of the old. Moreover, just as the growing
stream continually brushes aside obstacles to its progress with increasing ease, so does civilization
surmount difficulties today with greater ease than in former times thanks to its accumulated wisdom.
2. How Can Civilization Be Defined?
In North America we are too ready to measure civilization in terms of material progress and
frequently overlook its real nature. We forget that mighty as is our present advance in science and the
applied arts, the past may show accomplishments that rival it closely.
In the jungles of Cambodia and of Central and South America are found the remains of
forgotten civilizations, with buildings so massive and carvings so superb that we stand before them in
awe. In the valley of the Nile, tower pyramids which suggest engineering difficulties perhaps
unequalled in modern experience. In the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates are the ruins of an
irrigation system quite unsurpassed by any today.
In the museums at Cairo and Naples rest surgical instruments thousands of years old, which
must have rivaled in their original delicacy those of the present. In the old astronomical observatory at
Peking stand bronze instruments which date back many centuries and still almost duplicate ones now
in use in the great observatories of the world.
Surely if material accomplishments are a true index of the progress of civilization, we shall be
compelled to admit that society has not advanced as far as we would like to believe. But the real
civilization of a people is determined not so much by their material development as by their ideals and
motives, revealed through their daily life and relations with one another and the rest of mankind.
If we view with sympathetic eyes the various customs and models of life set forth in the
following pages, we shall find that civilization has been a cumulative process, although a slow and
difficult one. We shall see that once upon a time all mankind was divided into small, hostile family
groups, somewhat like the wild tribes still found in parts of central Africa and South America. We shall
observe the expansion of friendly relations among peoples until at last there are signs leading us to
hope that “Peace on earth, good-will towards men” is destined to become the guiding principle of
society.
3. Why We Study World History
The purpose of our study of world history is to discover what the struggles of the past have
contributed to our present civilization, and to see what lessons we may draw from these struggles to
help us solve the problems which now vex society. If we will but pause to think how much of our life
depends upon the past, we shall be surprised by the greatness of the influence of peoples and
persons long since dead.
We shall realise at last how great is our responsibility for continuing what is good and rejecting
what is bad.
We shall see that our only safe method of determining the good from the bad is by observing
how things have worked in the past. And so it seems that world history is the record of man’s great
experimental laboratory, where many mighty social problems have been solved and where the
experimenting is still going on while we are furnishing the elements and assisting in the reactions.
This is our great responsibility. What civilization shall be in the future depends upon how well we do
our part.
4. The Sources of World History
For the study of the past we must depend upon two kinds of records - man’s writings and the
things he made. Both kinds are fragmentary. Since he began to make things long before he learned
to write, the earliest part of this story will depend largely upon articles that he lost or mislaid in the dirt
of the floor of his cave home, or in the refuse heaps outside his dwelling. Sometimes too, he buried
things with his dead, and the tombs have furnished much valuable information concerning his mode
of life even long after he learned to write.
Man’s written records give us more insight into his mode of thinking and ideas, but even these are
frequently misleading. Often the earliest events in the life of a people were handed down by word of
mouth for centuries before men learned to write, so naturally many mistakes crept into the record in
this way. As a general rule, we find that the nearer in time the written record is to the fact itself, the
more correct it is.
QUESTIONS
1. Why are there 12 figures on a clock face instead of 10? Think about it as you consider that we use
a decimal system of notation (going by 10’s), some rely on using their ten fingers to count, and most
of the math is based on the numbers 1-10. Where does 12 come from? How is this an effective
method of keeping track of time?
2. Prepare a paragraph to explain the following:
Question: “How do you determine whether a person is civilized?”
a) What does it mean to be “civilized”
b) What does it mean to be “uncivilized”
c) How would someone become “civilized”
3. What do you consider to be the ten (10) most important characteristics of todays Canadian
Civilization?
4. If some catastrophe should destroy Vancouver tomorrow, what physical evidence could be found
on the site in the year 3000 to prove that we were a “civilized society? List three (3) items.