Considerations of Earth Catastrophes and "Resets"

Our Very Ancient Origins: catastrophe and survival

Educated prehistoric speculation considering modern information and discoveries. Catastrophic comet impacts. Most recent major Earth catastrophes. Prehistoric astronomical activity and knowledge such as that encountered at the Gobekli Tepe site. Underground living and cultural "resets." 

 RCS

From Peon, to Pawn, to Active citizen?

We can still learn from the Russian revolution:

                    The Russian revolt of 1905 included mass political unrest. That is there was wide consideration of  the nature of Russian governance. It also included terrorism, strikes, military mutinies, and urban demonstrations. Republicanism and democracy were designed to limit the worst of these happening. Republicanism and democracy both demand considerable practice by a wide spectrum of practice by the citizenry. The overwhelming majority of the Russian people had very little of such practice. The revolt did lead the tzarist government to establish, on paper, a limited constitutional monarchy including a duma. A duma is a parliament. Most Russians did not see these changes as being helpful to them. A great many Russians did not see them at all.

Republic, Democracy, and Governance

                        The use of democracy was designed to prevent the worst of the above. Many Europeans, Americans, and others saw republicanism as an important step toward democracy. Many saw democracy, probably correctly, as beyond the ability of most citizens and prospective citizens. It was hoped that more widespread education and the wide participation in managing a republic would lead to the development of a wide swath of populations with the ability to govern themselves. I have believed that the educated practice of democracy was able to maintain a stable, practical, and adaptable form of governance. In the last several decades I have seen populations less and less ready, willing, or able to maintain their republics.

Tsar Nicolas II and Sergei Witte

                    The October manifesto of 1905 was issued by Nicolas II. Sergei Witte was influential in its production. It pledged to grant civil liberties to the people including: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and provide broad participation in the duma. No law could come into force without the consent of the Duma. The Tsar retained veto power. Good for Witte. This aimed for much improvement.

                      However, the Russian people had not participated in this development. The were not ready for this particular change. They not been party to a conversation, to a dialogue. The change was both to early and too late. To early for the people's state of readiness, and too late to stop their revolt. 

                    Nicolas II was, Nicolai Alexandrovich Romanov. He was the last Tsar of the nearly 400 years of the Romanov dynasty rule of russia. Sergei Witte was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian empire, replacing the Tsar as head of government. Witte had a good understanding of the use of republicanism, but may have lacked enough understanding of all the powers extent in Russia at that time.

Imperialism, capitalism, republicanism, and democracy

                    As time went on imperialism and capitalism did not seem to work for them and they had not learned to work republicanism or democracy. They did call democracy social democracy in an effort to assure that it was meant for all. A nice step. Citizens of the USA have had many good historical reasons for abdicating republican and democratic responsibilities, duties, practices, and rights. People elsewhere such as those of the rest of the Americas and much of Europe have done some abdicating of their own for reasons of their own. May republican and democratic practices continue.

                    The still well organized powers in Russia brutally suppressed constitutional law, congressional power, freedom of religion, assembly, speech and participation in duma/congress and other such leftist movements.  

                    Tsar Nicolas II abdicated in 1917. The Russian people were unprepared to govern, governance was collapsing. Powerful people tried to use war to pull the country together. They failed. The people began, it is said, began to look to the far right and the far left for working governance. The happy medium, the golden mean was lost. The they knew too little of governance.

                    The Bolsheviks, a small well organized group of persons with some thoughts of governance, took over. They were mostly a small faction of the Marxist Russian Democratic Worker Party. They were well organized and founded the Soviet Union.

                    The Russians had a lot to learn about self-governance and still do. We to still do. Our will to practice being a republic a democracy or anything n between. We seem to lack the will to practice any sort of governance or to even speak of it.

                Still the Russians were a Russian enough people to withstand counter revolution, experimental economic policy, rapid expansion, war, Stalin, and more war. It was brutal. Not everything has been always brutal, but so far war has. Ignorance itself  very often seems brutal. 

                    The great mass of the Russian people seemed to move from being peons to being pawns. Oh, when will the ever learn. When will we ever learn to play our own game? When will we ever learn to take care of ourselves. When will we learn to govern ourselves?

                    There is a lot for all of us to learn and remember. We do not have to make ourselves learn and remember. Practice can do us very well. When we practice being a peon we can become a very good peon. When we practice being a pawn we can become a better pawn. When we practice being a republican we can become a good republican; that is if we remember what a republican is and have learned the nature of a republican. 

                    There is a lot for all of us to do. Thank goodness there are plenty of us to do that which needs doing. We still have memories of co-operation. We also have some knowledge of practice. With a bit more practice in citizenship we can be more effective citizens. We could even practice democracy together so as to learn how to better do democracy. 

                    I could use a good editor.  I could use some good help from you. I could also use a million dollars or even a hundred thousand. Maybe a good night's sleep would do me well. Bye for now.

                    Thank you for reading!

                                                                                        rcs

The Word is "boycott"

Word Power Has a History

Irish Origen:

                The Irish Land Wars are the source of the introduction of a powerfully useful word into the English language.

              

                 In 1850 Irish persons formed the Tenant Right League in Ireland to demand reform to the land law of Ireland. It was a law not of democratic origin. This organization and demand was followed by about 40 years of unrest in Ireland as well as to some learning and reform. 
                

                The word in question is the surname of a landlord so disliked by his tenants that he was refused labor to harvest his crops, as well as refusal to service shops, laundries, and other facilities. The social excommunication of Mr. Boycott led to his name being used to describe it. Boycotts have worked well as nonviolent protest measures. 
                

                Check out the the Home Rule League of Ireland online. Doing so could contribute to your political education. Then go on to check the Irish Land League. Doing so could add to your understanding of political organization. Check out Gandhi  on the use of resistance and organization to achieve social ends. Well reasoned and presented protests have been a useful social power. The Irish National League may be interesting to check out, but may prove complicated by the source of your information. 
                   

As an educator:

                 Due to my background as an educator I feel the need to add, is that one thing you need to learn is that you are responsible for ruling yourself. In Ireland that has been called Home Rule. It does seem best to begin at home. You can blame your father, wife, mayor, or President, but that, I have found a waste of energy. Where you are concerned you are the authority and the boss, and the doing is yours to do. You will have your results.
               

                 We have a lot to learn about politics and our own history. History is how we learn what works and and what doesn't. It's mostly the experience of others, but we each have our own history. Politics can be called how we cooperate to get doings done.

Understanding and meaning:                    

                A instructive synonym for boycott is ostracize.

                An example of boycotting is the American boycott of  English goods during the American Revolution such as the Boston Tea Party. This was mostly the refusal to accept English goods, especially to buy them.

                So, to boycott, can refer to social or political action to initiate change.

                Boycotting may well thought of as organized and strategic as a campaign to protest by ostracization so as to initiate or maintain change.

                                                                                                RCS

 

Toward an Exploration of Baltic History

 The Baltic Sea and People Too

                        Balts were anciently influenced by cultures call Scythian, Slav, and Celt. I am no longer sure of the nature of a Celt. It is probably say that a celt is Indo-European. You may not be very sure of the nature of a Scythian. We seem to have some learning to do. For now, let's put it off until later. Balts were also influenced by amber and the amber trade.They were probably influenced by everything else in their time and place. That certainly includes their geography.

Their Geography

                    The Baltic Sea is and has been an important feature on the face of Earth and on the course of our history; how could it not influence the people around it and on it. I am just getting oriented to it; let me pass on the little I am learning. A map can help. I believe that I have included one somewhere on this blog.

                    The Baltic Sea opens on the Atlantic Ocean and is in the northwestern part of Europe, It has a complex geography, history, and present. Here I hope to begin a look at its early history and prehistory. However, it seems best to begin with a bit of geography. It has been called a brackish inland sea the geological history of which is difficult to clarify.

                    At the risk of muddying the waters I will say that the Baltic Sea could be called the Baltic Lake. Its opening to the Atlantic is not large and it has several rivers flowing into it, including the Oder, Vistula, Neman, Daugava and the Neva. Snow melt, rain, smaller rivers and streams add to the fresh water of great lake Balt. So, it is much like a great sweet water lake made brackish by an opening to the Atlantic.

                    Still, it has been called a sea marginal to the Atlantic ocean. That Sea drains into the Atlantic through the Danish Straights by way of the little Kattagat sea. This Baltic Sea includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, and the bay of Gdansk.

                    In the Baltic Sea is the little Kattagat sea. Kattagat refers to an area of rather shallow sea bounded by the Jutland peninsula in the west, the Danish Straights and the Baltic Sea to the south, and the shores of Sweden to the east.

                    More names and places then one can easily remember. Expect to see them more here and to hear them in your future.

The Gulf of Bothnia

                    The word "bothnia" seems to have once referred to lowland shores. The Gulf of Bothnia still has some lowland shores. However, that land has continued to rise since its release from its Ice Age burden of ice. We are looking a lands and waters in what is considered the far north. So, the waters of the Gulf still freeze over in winter.

                    I could benefit from more research in the histories of Sweden and Finland to find much of the history of this Gulf. Here is a tiny taste of that history. Ottar an early Viking adventurer may have referred to the Gulf as the Kven Sea. A Danish navigator may have referred to it as as the Mare gotticus in the 15th century. Bothnia Bay may be called a northern landward extension of the gulf of Bothnia.

The Gulf of Finland 

                    This gulf is the eastern branch of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland on north and Estonia on the south, and on to Saint Petersburg, Russia, Where the River Neva flows into it. Other major cities on the Gulf are Helsinki and Tallinn. Wikipedia reminded me of this.

                    In the early post Ice Age the Gulf of Finland was preceded by the Littoriana  Sea. hat sea stood as 30 feet above present sea level. By some 4,000 years ago that sea receded to near present levels.

    

Archaeology:

                    Archaeologist have found that the lands along the Gulf of Finland began to be settled in about 9,000 BC. To me writing about archaeology is much like writing a history. So, we do seem to be moving in the right direction. That is we are moving a bit beyond geography and more toward history. Onward. As early as 1905 AD eleven neolithic settlements had been found along the Gulf. Early culture of about that time include: Finnic, Esti/Chud, Votes, Izhorians,, and Korela. There is much to learn about each of them.

                    Later. from about 700 AD: through 900 AD East Slavs, Ilman Slavas, and Krivichs had settled along the Neva river and the Gulf of Finland. They practiced agriculture and animal husbandry and so, marked a change in culture.

Between about 700 AD and 1,200 AD, the River Neva and the Gulf were part of the waterway from, say, Scandinavia to the Byzantine Empire. I consider that last sentence to be a historic fact until I find strong evidence to the contrary. This was much the development of and the final flourishing of the "Viking Age." That is a leadership position in what became Russia and lead to attacks on the Byzantine Empire. Of course Norsemen were viking elsewhere as well.

                    After about 850 AD historic information from this arena becomes more abundant.  About that time The Gulf was controlled by Russians(Russian-Vikings) we might say. They maintained this control until 1219 when the Danes took control. Around this time the city of Reval was established on what has been called the area of Tallinn. There is plenty to learn about this are with plenty of interesting details. The historical record is increasingly complete from about 750 AD.

Gulf of Riga:

                    The Gulf of Riga lies between modern Latvia and Estonia on, of course, the Baltic sea. I hope to learn more of this gulf area through the histories and archaeology of the histories of Latvia and Estonia. You can help me with this by using the "comments" just below this essay. An investigation of the early days of the cities of Riga, Parnu, Jumala, and Kuressaare could help.

Bay of Gdansk:

                    The Bay of Gdansk has a lot of history which may include my Prussian, Polish, and German ancestors. The Vistula river flows into theBay. Some consider the Bay as extending to Russian Kaliningrad and the coast of Lithuania. I hope to learn of the happenings and doings in this area from the earliest times until Rome moved its first amber.

Kursenieski:

                        There be Kursenieski on the Bay! They have been their long. They call their language Curonian. Some linguists have seen it as related to Latvian. They have been called Prussian Latvians. Who are these people? Who were they? They lived on a well visited sea coast near the outlet of a well navigated river; so have been subjected to much social and cultural activity and change. I suspect that they were an important prehistoric people. Can you tell us more about them. I hope to live long enough to post more about them here.

    

Kattagat Sea:     

                    Let me Travel back toward where the Baltic Sea meets the Atlantic ocean. That is near to the "little" Kattagat sea. The name Kattagat may be of Swedish origin. I seem to remember having head of an ancient queen Kattagat who may have been a Swede. This Sea certainly is a Scandinavian area. 

Jutland:     

                    The Jutlandic peninsula juts into the Kattagat and is part of Jutland. The Peninsula and perhaps all of Jutland Called Cimbric or the Cimbric Peninsula and is now part of Denmark. Jutes and Cimbri have lived there.

        

                    Jutes have been named among powerful Germanic invaders of England. Was this naming a Roman idea? It seems that there may be some confusion over this naming. But there seems to be good reason the peninsula is called Jute. It was an area of Jute movement and trade before, during, and after the Roman Empire. If you believe me wrong, please tell me about it. Anyway there the Jutland Peninsula is at the Kattaga Sea.

Cimbrian:

                     Wait a minute! We have a varied lot of people to learn about and the Cimbri are one of them and they seem to have been on the Jutland Peninsula before the the Jutes. Many have thought that the Cimbri were what we have called Gauls Celts. Anyway I believe that this peninsula was once called the Cimbrian peninsula. We have more to learn. We need more archaeological and historical evidence.

                    We humans do seem to get around a lot and it seems that includes the Cimbri. I am finding that for a very long time there was a mostly seasonal migration from part of the Baltic Sea area and from part of Britain as least as far as the Iberian peninsula. So, there was probably movement from peninsula to peninsula, Cimbric to Iberian and back. It sounds right, but I a feeling some amazement. 

                    I also find that there was even a Cimbrian military expedition against 1st century Rome! Who are these Cimbri? Who were they. Could they have been visitors to Ireland as early as the early Bronze Age? 

                    Some say that there were Belgians of Cimbrian origin. Romans may have called them Germans, but then they called nearly everyone of the area German. We are not very clear about who Celts were other than that they were almost certainly what we have called Indo-Europeans. However that may be, a people who seemed much like Cimbri, but whom some called Celts joined Carthaginians to resist Rome. I wish you could help me to learn more.

                    OK it seems about time to publish this. I intend to gather more information. Might I get some from you. Remember this blog and its associated blogs were designed to have some interactivity. 

                    Please do try to help to correct the errors or misapprehensions I make. Try using the "comments" app below.

                    Thank you for reading.

                                                                                Richard  S

 

Sea Going Culture Connecting Scandinavia to North America Before 5,000 BC

How the Red Paint people became the Antique Maritime Culture. These are the earliest deep sea fishermen we know about dating back to about 5,500 BC. They were also sea mammal hunters too. There are many 

hints suggesting that the can be much more.

Japan: Our First Glimpse

Urbanized 

                    The evidence suggests that Japan has been inhabited continually for about 30,000 years, that's since the Upper Paleolithic. You probably know that it is an island nation in the Pacific ocean not far from the east coast of China. You may not know, that although it is a relatively small country, that it is also an archipelago of over 6,800 islands, the 11th most populated country on Earth, and the most urbanized in the world.

                    The people we have called Japanese call their country Nippon and sometimes Niho. Perhaps we could call them ipponese.

                    The people on the Japanese islands were beginning to take on some of there present characteristics by about 17,000 BP. At that time they lived in villages, hunted, harvested the country-side, practiced some agriculture, and fished ocean, and stream.

Jomon:

                    Their homes are recognizable by being constructed partially below ground level. They used baked clay vessels that are some of the earliest dated anywhere in the world to so early a time. We have called these people Jomon and there culture has been recognized as having lasted for well over 10,000 years.

Yayoi:

                    In historical times, about 1,000 BC, another people began to enter islands of the archipelago and began to intermingle with Jomon people. I believe the southernmost of the islands were the first they entered and began to move into other islands from there They may have come to the main Japanese islands from Okinawa.

                    By 660 BC thes Yayoi people had brought their culture to most of the islands. They brought metal work, wet rice farming, and a new style of  pottery, most of which seems similar to that of China and Korea. In fact, by this time the son of Amaterasu had founded a kingdom in central Japan. The royal line of that kingdom is the one which exists in Japan today. By the way, I believe that most Japanese now refer to Amaterasu's son as, Emperor Jimmu.

                    We have a lot to learn. 

                    I hope to write more about Japan soon. Please remind me to do so.

                    Thank you for reading.

                                                                                        rcs

        

Click on Pages to Six Other Intros.

 One Vision of History

                    For other visions of history see special "Pages" of this blog site.

        

                History of what? Historians have typically found it interesting and often useful to see human activity as falling into a grand variety of  topics such as economics, baseball, archaeology, gardening, politics, games, anthropology, sex, law and literature. Your interest probably has a recorded history.

                I am interested in a variety of our doings. Who we are and how we are doing have often been high on my list of interests. Our deep roots and that of which we have been capable also often attract me. However, I have also been diverted by giants, dragons, alchemy, and extinction events.

                History has been thought of as  record of how people have met their desires and needs. One may write a history of her morning breakfast. Some may want to call that herstory. However, if she claims that it is honest and true it may well called a history. Let me repeat, she may call it a story. However, especially if it represents an attempt at honesty, it can be called a history as soon as it is published. We often want to read a history which is record of the instructive. Wise men and women have long felt that a familiarity with that record is useful in guiding their actions to success. A good history could direct you well.

                Many have found that ignorance of the past is predictive of failure in the present. Our knowledge of history can orient our actions of today to better effect.

                Our history is often the record of how we got where we are. But some see much of history as a kind of photographic snapshot; as sort of a stop action to allow better observation; a way which can enhance the quality of our observation of a happening and so improve our interpretation and understanding of that happening. At times a history can be a useful way of reviewing a record of, or interpretation of what we do or done in a given circumstance. The result could provided useful direction for rebuilding an engine without the customary tools. A give history may provided an even more helpful and powerful orientation.

                It is good to remember that a man called historian may be a damn liar.

I my experience most historians intend to be helpful. Some succeed more than others.

                A doing which is is set down as history may have occurred 20,000 years ago or at breakfast this morning. Let me add that historically a history has had to have been written by an observer or an interpretation of an observer. More simply, history was done in a time when writing was available. History may not always depend directly on reality. Reality is scarce. We do very much like our history to be and may reject it if it is not a pretty good attempt to be honest.

                A decent historian depends very much on evidence. That history is often very aware that the quality of evidence varies. He very often likes to be informed by reliable documentation. Some say that a history must have documentation and I very much appreciate documentation. However, during most of the time we are learning about there is no documentation available to us. Geologists look into times that preceded most life on earth and tell us of their findings. I find that account of the past a kind of history.  Archaeologist uncover and and date mostly man made stuff. They interpret and document their findings. I call their findings prehistory.

                I like chronology. I interpret it and analyze it and can enjoy the work of others who do the same. the quality of a historians work is important, appreciated, and subject to our analysis and interpretation.

                I enjoy the story in history. I like it better when it is positively useful. I most often find it best when it helps me to approach reality.

                You may enjoy the the introductory "Pages" here.

                Thanks for reading.

                                                                                                            rcs