HISTORY OF ASSYRIA

Ashur and the Assyrians: from 2000 BC

Since about 2000 BC the Assyrians, a Semitic group, have worshipped their god Ashur at a shrine on the Tigris known by his name. The city of Ashur has had periods of influence, trading and conquering westwards into Turkey, but the Assyrians have also often been subject to more powerful groups from those…

HISTORY OF ASIA

The mountain ranges of Europe and Asia

When the great land masses of Africa and India collide with Europe and Asia, about 100 million years ago, they cause the crust of the earth to crumple upwards in a long almost continuous ridge of high ground – from the Alps, through Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to the Himalayas. This barrier will…

HISTORY OF ARMS AND ARMOUR

A Stone Age spear: 250,000 years ago

An elephant dies, in what is now Germany. It has between its ribs a shaft of yew. The point has penetrated the elephant’s hide because it is hardened, by heating in a fire. It is a spear, dating from the Lower Palaeolithic era – the earliest human weapon to have been discovered.

As soon…

HISTORY OF ARIANISM

Alexandria and Arius: AD 323-325

The heresy associated with the name of Arius, a priest in Alexandria, is the most significant in the history of Christianity. It concerns the mystery at the very heart of the religion – the Trinity.

The problem for the early church has been that the Gospels talk of God and of Jesus (who describes God as…

HISTORY OF ARGENTINA

Vice-royalty of La Plata: AD 1776-1810

For the first two centuries of the Spanish empire the vast region draining from the Andes to the river Plate at Buenos Aires is the least regarded part of Latin America. It lacks the gold or silver which attract adventurers across the Atlantic to Mexico and Peru. There is no…

HISTORY OF THE ARABS

Gindibu and his camels: 853 BC

Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, fights a major but inconclusive battle at Karkar against his enemy, the ruler of Damascus. An Assyrian scribe, recording the event in cuneiform, notes the impressive size of the enemy forces: 63,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, 4000 chariots and 1000 warriors on camels. The men…

HISTORY OF ARABIA

An empty quarter

Arabia is the huge peninsula lying between northeast Africa and the bulk of continental Asia. Its long southern coast faces across the Indian Ocean towards India. So it is well placed for trade.

But until the 20th century the region has had no other natural advantages. The centre is a desert, as inhospitable as…

HISTORY OF ANGOLA

Angola and slaves: 15th-19th century AD

Little is known about the early history of the Angola region, stretching south from the mouth of the Congo. The inhabitants are living a neolithic existence until the arrival of Bantu migrants from the north, bringing iron technology in the first millennium AD.

When the Portuguese begin trading on the west…

HISTORY OF ANDEAN CIVILIZATION

Civilizations before 200 BC

The Chavín culture, dating from around 900 BC, has long been considered the first civilization of south America. But in recent decades archaeologists have revealed far earlier centralized societies in the Norte Chico region of Peru, along the Supe river. Aspero was the first of many such sites to be…

HISTORY OF ANATOMY

The birth of biology: 5th – 4th century BC

The Greek philosophers, voracious in their curiosity, look with interest at the range of living creatures, from the humblest plant to man himself. A Greek name is coined by a German naturalist in the early 19th century for this study of all physical aspects of natural life – biology, from bios…

HISTORY OF ANATOLIA

Centre of innovation: from 7000 BC

The high plateau between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean is the setting for many of the most significant advances of neolithic man and his successors in the early stages of civilization.

In the use of metals Anatolia is regularly first, or among the first. Copper implements are found here from…