this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
36 points (100.0% liked)
History
23106 readers
65 users here now
Welcome to c/history! History is written by the posters.
c/history is a comm for discussion about history so feel free to talk and post about articles, books, videos, events or historical figures you find interesting
Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember...we're all comrades here.
Do not post reactionary or imperialist takes (criticism is fine, but don't pull nonsense from whatever chud author is out there).
When sharing historical facts, remember to provide credible souces or citations.
Historical Disinformation will be removed
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm pretty sure it happened many times? Not all cultures are rampaging hordes like the west Europeans, though even then given enough time and contact conflict becomes more likely to arise.
For essentially peaceful first contacts, the Chinese treasure fleets of the Ming Dynasty come to mind. They sent out their voyages six times, traveling around the southeast Asia and the Indian ocean (to India, Arabia, east Africa, and Iran). They had varying degrees of prior contact with many of those they visited, but further out as they went further west and south they only knew the routes. Other than some minor anti-piracy activity, overthrowing a Sri Lankan king who was engaging in piracy against Chinese trade partners in favor of an ally, and helping an ally in Indonesia (in Sumatra) reclaim their throne from an usurper, it was primarily peaceful and mutually beneficial on all sides. Gifts and tribute were exchanged, and ambassadors and samplings of goods from previously known but not directly contacted regions returned with the fleets.
There is also history of peaceful trade (probably with no real reason for conflict) between Indonesians (Makassans) and pre-colonial, aboriginal Australian societies.
Yeah, like most nations of Australia traded normally with technology exchange across the continent (and from the Polynesians and Makassans as you note), with only limited conflict
Didn't like 30% of people in Arnhem Land die violently?
Though maybe that's internal clashes?
My source for the data: Keeley (1996), Gat (2006) and Bowles (2009) Source that my source quoted: Warner, A Black Civilization, pp. 157–8 Comment: Warner estimated 200 violent deaths of a population of 700 men. total population was 3000 but he mentions no violent mortality of women and children. Bowles (2009) calculated the number for adult mortality due to violence/warfare. Keeley (1996) also quotes a share of violent deaths of 28% for the male Murngin population (his source is Harris 1975. Culture, People, Nature. 2d ed. New York: Crowed.)
It's hard not to respond with hostility when the citation provided is Keely (1996) War Before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage (you know it's gonna be racist shit), using a word for the mob that live there that's about half a century out of date.
Have you read those sources?
Have you wondered to yourself how a white Brit in the 1930s estimated the number of deaths in a small part of Northern Australia, and have you then wondered how that's relevant to 60,000 years of living in a contact because the Europeans came and almost wiped everyone already there out?
Anyway I'm downloading Warner's 1937 book so I'll reply again to shit on it.
Interesting...
The extra history on Indonesia tells a very different story about how botched the Chinese intervention in Indonesia was. They ended up helping the original "usurper's" son back to the throne because of several misunderstandings and deceits. Unless they are also oversimplified things.