Civilization: Culture, Ambition, and the Great Game Between Man and Nature

Where should the story of civilization begin? Are they the four famous ancient civilizations, the Greeks and Romans who founded Western civilization? Is it the invention of writing, the creation of art, or the rise of cities? This unique history of civilization breaks through all these traditional historical narratives. The well-known historian Fernando Armesto casts his sights on large areas of little-known civilizations: the Sami people who live in symbiosis with reindeer in the ice fields, the Bushmen who follow nature in the desert, the Sioux Indians who established a horseback empire on the Great Plains, and the Chinese Fujian people who sailed on the monsoon... Relying on his extensive knowledge in the fields of archeology, geography, ecology and other fields, he experimentally divided civilizations into 9 types and 17 living situations based on environmental factors, and reviewed the various possibilities of interaction between humans and nature: how do people in different environments creatively compete with nature, how do they transform the environment, adapt to the environment, or suffer environmental backlash? How do civilizations become rich and diverse in their respective environments, and how do they develop, die, or merge through exchanges? In fact, civilization is not limited to specific regions and ethnic groups. Fernando Armesto boldly appreciates the great achievements of those civilizations that are often ignored: the splendid Khmer civilization in the tropical rainforest, the Batamaliba people on the Sahel grasslands with their extraordinary architectural abilities, and the Inca people in the Andes Mountains who faced multiple environmental obstacles but still expanded into a great empire... Civilization originates from human beings' desire to transform nature, and may be born from any environment inhabited by humans. The essence of civilization is the relationship between us as a species and nature, and the degree of civilization must be measured by the conditions we have. Only by looking at the world can we have a world view. Let us put aside our self-centeredness, abandon the prejudices of the times and culture, follow Fernando Armesto, travel through tens of thousands of years of history, peek into the details of civilization, overlook the whole world, and embark on a "hard-core global travel" based on the deep logic of human civilization!