1492 - Princeton University Press Home...
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180° 150° 120° 90° 60° 30° 0° 30° 60° 90° 120° 150° 45° 45° 75° Tropic of Cancer Arctic Circle Equator 3000 BC 500 BC AD 500 2000 BC 1250 BC AD 1492 Spread of writing by: Mixtec Zapotec Maya Olmec Epi-Olmec Ogam Runic Etruscan Latin alphabet Mycenaean Linear B Greek alphabet Egyptian hieroglyphic Minoan hieroglyphic Nabataean Kufic Sabaean Cyrillic Luvian hieroglyphic Ethiopic Elamite pictographic Sumerian pictographic Cuneiform Proto-Canaanite alphabet Phoenician-Canaanite alphabet Aramaic Indus Valley script Tibetan Brahmic Mongol Korean alphabet Japanese script Chinese pictographic Chinese logographic 1492 the spread of the world’s major writing systems to 1492 The adoption of writing marks the end of a society’s prehistory. Writing has been invented independently many times during world history and is a natural expression of the human capacity for abstract and symbolic thought. Writing was a response to growing social and economic complexity and as such it is often considered one of the defining characteristics of civilization. The earliest known writing system was the Sumerian pictographic script which developed c. 3400 bc. In the 3rd millennium the pictographs were gradually refined and simplified, developing into the cuneiform script. The Sumerian scripts were adopted widely. Sumerian pictographic was adopted by the Elamites and perhaps inspired the Indus valley pictographic script. Cuneiform was adopted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Elamites Hittites and Persians among others. Despite its superficial similarity, the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, which developed c. 3100 bc, was probably invented independently of Sumerian pictographic. Its influence was limited to Nubia, Minoan Crete and the Hittite empire. Mesoamerican writing was also based on hieroglyphs, though only the Maya script could represent all aspects of spoken language. The earliest Chinese writing, which appeared c. 1200 bc was a pictographic script. Continually refined, this developed in the first millennium bc into a logographic script which is directly ancestral to the modern Chinese script. The only script to develop in the Pacific region, the undeciphered 18th- century Rongorongo script of Easter Island, was also based on pictographs. The hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts have thousands of characters and are difficult to learn. This limited literacy to a small elite of professional scribes. In the 16th century bc, the Canaanites invented the much simpler alphabet with only 22 characters representing consonants. All modern alphabets, except possibly the Korean, ultimately derive from the Canaanite alphabet. Western alphabets include characters for vowels as well as consonants, a refinement introduced by the ancient Greeks. Of major civilizations, only the Andean did not develop a system of writing. In this region information was encoded in knots on devices made from coloured strings known as quipus. The earliest evidence for the use of quipus, from Caral in Peru, dates to around 3000 bc. Sumerian pictographic THE AMERICAS EAST ASIA SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA MIDDLE EAST AFRICA EUROPE 3000 BC 2000 BC 1000 BC AD 1 1000 Brahmic Proto-Canaanite alphabet Elamite pictographic Luvian hieroglyphic Egyptian hieroglyphic Minoan Linear A Mycenaean Linear B Minoan hieroglyphic Cuneiform Indus Valley pictographic Aramaic Nabataean Sabaean Phoenician Chinese pictographic Chinese logographic Japanese Korean alphabet Southeast Asian scripts Cyrillic Runic Kufic Arabic Ethiopic Greek Etruscan Latin Ogam Mongol Tibetan Modern Indian scripts Olmec Zapotec hieroglyphic Mixtec Maya hieroglyphic Epi-Olmec Sumerian cuneiform script on a clay tablet. Chinese cursive script, used from Han dynasty times for writing informal documents quickly. Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription from the 4th century bc. Maya hieroglyphs in a page from the 11th- or 12th-century ad Dresden Codex. Roman inscription from the emperor Trajan’s reign in the Latin alphabet. Peruvian quipu, used for encoding information in knotted coloured strings. A Sanskrit text written in the Indian Brahmic script. Runic inscription from Sweden, early 11th century ad. 114 Copyrighted Material
Transcript of 1492 - Princeton University Press Home...
180°150°120°90°60°30°0°30°60°90°120°150°
45°
45°
75°
Tropic of Cancer
Arctic Circle
Equator
3000 BC 500 BC
AD 5002000 BC
1250 BC AD 1492
Spread of writing by:
Mixtec
Zapotec Maya
OlmecEpi-Olmec
Ogam
Runic
EtruscanLatin
alphabet
Mycenaean Linear BGreek alphabet
Egyptianhieroglyphic
Minoanhieroglyphic
NabataeanKufic
Sabaean
Cyrillic Luvianhieroglyphic
Ethiopic
Elamitepictographic
Sumerian pictographic
Cuneiform
Proto-Canaanite alphabetPhoenician-Canaanite alphabet
AramaicIndusValleyscript
Tibetan
Brahmic
Mongol
Koreanalphabet Japanese
script
Chinese pictographicChinese logographic
1492the spread of the world’s major writing systems to 1492
The adoption of writing marks the end of a society’s prehistory. Writing has been invented independently many times during world history and is a natural expression of the human capacity for abstract and symbolic thought. Writing was a response to growing social and economic complexity and as such it is often considered one of the defining characteristics of civilization.
The earliest known writing system was the Sumerian pictographic script which developed c. 3400 bc. In the 3rd millennium the pictographs were gradually refined and simplified, developing into the cuneiform script. The Sumerian scripts were adopted widely. Sumerian pictographic was adopted by the Elamites and perhaps inspired the Indus valley pictographic script. Cuneiform was adopted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Elamites Hittites and Persians among others.
Despite its superficial similarity, the Egyptian hieroglyphic script, which developed c. 3100 bc, was probably invented independently of Sumerian pictographic. Its influence was limited to Nubia, Minoan Crete and the Hittite empire. Mesoamerican writing was also based on hieroglyphs, though only the Maya script could represent all aspects of spoken language. The earliest Chinese writing, which appeared c. 1200 bc was a pictographic script. Continually refined, this developed in the first millennium bc into a logographic script which is directly ancestral to the modern Chinese script. The only script to develop in the Pacific region, the undeciphered 18th-century Rongorongo script of Easter Island, was also based on pictographs.
The hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts have thousands of characters and are difficult to learn. This limited literacy to a small elite of professional scribes. In the 16th century bc, the Canaanites invented the much simpler alphabet with only 22 characters representing consonants. All modern alphabets, except possibly the Korean, ultimately derive from the Canaanite alphabet. Western alphabets include characters for vowels as well as consonants, a refinement introduced by the ancient Greeks.
Of major civilizations, only the Andean did not develop a system of writing. In this region information was encoded in knots on devices made from coloured strings known as quipus. The earliest evidence for the use of quipus, from Caral in Peru, dates to around 3000 bc.
Sumerian pictographic
THE AMERICAS
EAST ASIA
SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
AFRICA
EUROPE
3000 Bc 2000 Bc 1000 Bc aD 1 1000
Brahmic
Proto-Canaanite alphabetElamite pictographic
Luvian hieroglyphic
Egyptian hieroglyphic
Minoan Linear A
Mycenaean Linear BMinoan hieroglyphic
Cuneiform
Indus Valley pictographic
AramaicNabataeanSabaeanPhoenician
Chinese pictographic Chinese logographicJapanese
Korean alphabet
Southeast Asian scripts
CyrillicRunic
Kufic Arabic
Ethiopic
Greek
EtruscanLatin
Ogam
MongolTibetan
Modern Indian scripts
Olmec
Zapotec hieroglyphicMixtec
Maya hieroglyphicEpi-Olmec
Sumerian cuneiform script on a clay tablet.
Chinese cursive script, used from Han dynasty times for writing informal documents quickly.
Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription from the 4th century bc.
Maya hieroglyphs in a page from the 11th- or 12th-century ad Dresden Codex.
Roman inscription from the emperor Trajan’s reign in the Latin alphabet.
Peruvian quipu, used for encoding information in knotted coloured strings.
A Sanskrit text written in the Indian Brahmic script.
Runic inscription from Sweden, early 11th century ad.
114
Copyrighted Material
