Civilizations

[sarah32]

"Civilization" can sometimes refer to human society as a whole, as in "A nuclear war would wipe out Civilization" (see End of civilization) or "I'm glad to be safely back in Civilization after being lost in the wilderness for weeks." Additionally, it is used in this sense to refer to the global civilization. Such a usage is often found in the context of discussions about so-called "globalisation," again often used in a normative sense. Critics of "globalisation" reject such a coupling of the terms, saying that what is called "globalisation" is in fact a form of "global corporatisation" and that other forms of globalisation are possible, (for example, in respect for International Human Rights, and the Geneva Conventions against torture of political and prisoners of war). Violations of such international principles today are widely considered "barbaric." The descriptive sense of "global civilization" would consider, with William McNeill's thesis of "the Rise of the West," that at least since the age of the great voyages of discovery of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan, that the world comprises a single socio-economic and political system (see "World Systems Theory"). Recently it has been suggested that there are in fact three waves of the globalisation of civilization.The First Wave: was associated with technologies of "Wind and Water" energies. Leadership of this phase passed from Spain and Portugal to the Netherlands, and then Britain, in what Lewis Mumford calls the Eotechnic phase.
The Second Wave: was associated with technologies of coal, iron and steel, and steam power. (See "Industrial Revolution." Lewis Mumford refers to this as a "Paleotechnic" phase. Leadership was contested between England and France in the first half of this period in the Napoleonic and Revolutionary Wars, linked in part to the contest between old and new technological and social systems.
The Third Wave(of which we are approaching the end), is based upon the technologies of oil, electricity, plastics, chemicals, and the automobile. Mumford refers to this as the age of "Neotechnic" civilization. Like earlier phases, world leadership of this phase was contested, initially by Germany and Britain, then by Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
In each case, the transition between one technology and the next has required an often revolutionary reorganization of society, and these revolutions have had social, economic and political dimensions as well as technological ones.
It is argued that contemporary global civilization is beginning to undergo another transition, beyond the dependence on oil (See "Peak oil") once again towards sustainable or renewable technologies not dependent upon parasiticdependence upon fossil fuels. The current War on Terrorism in this context has been claimed by a number of writers to be a part of such a transitional pattern, where existing great powers first try to monopolise the declining stock of depleting strategic resources.

This is in general what civilization means .. every day , a user will pick a civilization , a culture and we'll discuss it ...

[sarah32]

The term civilization (British English also civilisation) has a variety of meanings related to human society. Most often it is used to refer to "complex" societies: those that practice intensive agriculture; have a significant division of labour; and have population densities sufficient to form cities. "Civilization" may be used more broadly to refer to the sum, or current extent, of human accomplishment and spread (human civilization or global civilization).

civilisation - a particular society at a particular time and place.

[Justin]

Well, After lots of thinkin... i thought talkin' about the Maya's civilisation... The Maya speakin' ppl r spread all over regions such as rivers, forests or somewhere in dirt places... These regions shared many comparisons.. their environment spreadin' n distributions resulted of many languages which r related BUT UNIQUE 2 define the Maya groups.. i think it's based on the following reason which is "understanding each 1 another"... so basically long story short, the Maya Groups today r tryin 2 merge their languages 2 form a united 1 (mmm... like a family tree...)...
I remember hearing about this issue on Discovery channel months ago...
so guyz what do u think? Is it bad that One religion or let's say "group" gets splitted n divided? What do u think the reason is?


... Share Wit' Us

[sarah32]

Pashtuns (Pashto/Urdu/Persian: پشتون Paštūn or پختون‎ Paxtūn, also rendered as Pushtuns, Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns), also called Pathans(Urdu: پٹھان‎, Hindi: पठान Paṭhān) or ethnic Afghans (Persian: افغان Afğān)) are an ethno-linguistic group with populations primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan and in the North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their Pashto language and adherence to both Pashtunwali (a pre-Islamic indigenous religious code of honor and culture) and Islam.
Pashtuns have survived a turbulent history over several centuries, during which they have rarely been politically united. Pashtun martial prowess has been renowned since Alexander the Great's invasion in the 4th century BC.Their modern past began with the rise of the Durrani Empire in 1747. The Pashtuns were also one of the few groups that managed to impede British imperialism during the 19th century.Pashtuns played a pivotal role in the Soviet war in Afghanistan(1979–89), as many joined the Mujahideen. The Pashtuns gained world-wide attention with the rise and fall of the Taliban, since they were the main ethnic contingent in the movement. Modern Pashtuns have been prominent in the rebuilding of Afghanistan, where they are the largest ethnic group, and are an important community in Pakistan, where they are the second-largest ethnic group.
The Pashtuns are the world's largest (patriarchal) segmentary lineage tribal group.The total population of the group is estimated to be at least 40 million, but an accurate count remains elusive due to the nomadic nature of many tribes, the practice of secluding women, and the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979
The vast majority of Pashtuns can be found in an area stretching from western Pakistan to southwestern Afghanistan. Additional Pashtun communities live in the Northern Areas, Azad Kashmir, and Karachi in Pakistan as well as throughout Afghanistan. There are smaller communities in Iran and India, and a large migrant worker community in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Important metropolitan centers of Pashtun culture include Peshawar and Kandahar. In addition, Quetta and Kabul are ethnically mixed cities with large Pashtun populations. With 1.5 million Pashtuns, the city of Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the world.
Pashtuns comprise over 15.42% of Pakistan's population or 25.6 million and in Afghanistan are 42% of the population or 12.5 million. Though no official census has been conducted in Afghanistan for decades, some higher estimates place speakers of Pashto at 60% to 65% of the population. The exact measure of all of these figures remains uncertain, particularly those for Afghanistan, and are affected by approximately three million Afghan refugees (of which 81.5% or 2.49 million are ethnic Pashtuns) that remain in Pakistan.An unknown number of refugees continue to reside in Iran. A cumulative population assessment suggests a total of over 40 million.

Culture

Pashtun culture was formed over the course of many centuries. Pre-Islamic traditions, probably dating back to as far as Alexander's conquest in 330 BC, survived in the form of traditional dances, while literary styles and music largely reflect strong influence from the Persian tradition and regional musical instruments fused with localized variants and interpretation. Pashtun culture is a unique blend of native customs and strong influences from Central, South and West Asia.

Language


The Pashtuns speak Pashto, an Indo-European language. It belongs to the Iranian sub-group of the Indo-Iranian branch.It can be further delineated within Eastern Iranian and Southeastern Iranian. Pashto is written in the Perso-Arabic script and is divided into two main dialects, the northern "Pukhtu" and the southern "Pashto".
Pashto has ancient origins and bears similarities to extinct languages such as Avestan and Bactrian. Its closest modern relatives include Pamir languages, such as Shughni and Wakhi, and Ossetic, and has an ancient legacy of borrowing vocabulary from neighboring languages including Persian and Vedic Sanskrit. Invaders have left vestiges as well as Pashto has borrowed words from Ancient Greek, Arabic and Turkic, while modern borrowings come primarily from English.
Fluency in Pashto is often the main determinant as to whether there is group acceptance as to who is and is not considered a Pashtun. Pashtun nationalism emerged following the rise of Pashto poetry that linked language and ethnic identity starting with the work of Khushal Khan Khattak and continued with his grandson Afzal Khan (author of Tarikh-e Morassa, a history of the Pashtun people).
Pashto has national status in Afghanistan and regional status in Pakistan. In addition to their mother-tongue, many Pashtuns are fluent in Dari (Afghan Persian) and/or Urdu as well as English.

Religion


Pashtuns are predominantly Sunni Muslims, most of them followers of the Hanafite branch of Sunni Islam. There is a small minority of Ithna Asharia Shia Pashtuns largely concentrated in Afghanistan.
Studies conducted amongst the Ghilzai reveal strong linkages between tribal affiliation and membership in the larger ummah (Islamic community), as most Pashtuns believe that they are descendants of the aforementioned Qais Abdur Rashid who is purported to have been an early convert to Islam and thus bequeathed the faith to the entire Pashtun population. A legacy of Sufi activity remains common in Pashtun regions as evident in song and dance. Many Pashtuns are prominent Ulema, or Islamic scholars, such as Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan who translated the Noble Quran and Sahih Al-Bukhari and many other books into English.Lastly, non-Muslim Pashtuns are virtually non-existent as there is limited data regarding irreligious groups and minorities.