I was writing a short story about the Sioux set in the 1600s and really dove into the details of how they lived their lives. As I wrote the story I couldn’t help but think that the grandchildren of the characters in my book would have a clash of cultures that would dramatically change to their lives.
That got me to thinking – “What group of people had the biggest change in their living situation in history?” I quickly created a list and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some but I thought it might be interesting to compare peoples at the two ends of a long lived life.
Roman born in 310 – 390 - The Roman had been the dominant power in the west for four centuries and while they had periods of unrest had always come back stronger. Life in Rome was great if you were a citizen and peaked in the first century around 1.5 million people. By the year 300, the population had declined by at least half that but Constantine showed the empire still was formidable. Two things he did changed everything – First he created an eastern capital and also made Christianity the official religion. Constantinople meant that the grain that Rome had depended on in the past would be going elsewhere and was one reason for emigration. Non-christians were persecuted with additional taxes and other methods throughout the empire so that the Roman Gods were set asided. By the end of the 4th century Rome had decreased in size to around 200,000. Alaric took the city a few decades later and looted much of what remained. Two centuries later only around 20,000 people were left to farm around the ruins of the once great capital.
English born in 400 – 480 - The English were is a special situation as they were one of the last to be conquered by the Romans so the influence wasn’t as great. When the Romans left in 410 they left behind great roads, buildings, aqueducts, and other engineering projects that the people left behind had no idea how to maintain. There wasn’t a school that taught English or Latin along with any engineering/mathematics study and soon the country was falling into disrepair. The only learned people were the priests and they Christianized the populace. All authority was localized and few thought much beyond their next meal. A feudal society was set up of landowners that had the poor working for them. Cooperation formed slowly but was sped up by the invasions of the Angles and the Saxons from the continent. Battles raged over the next two centuries but eventually the country was as much Saxon as Roman British.
Sioux born in 1830 – 1910 - They were essentially a hunter-gatherer society that ranged from Minnesota to the Dakotas. Horses and guns had been introduced by the whites a few centuries early and created a massive change on their society as possession of either gave the owner a great advantage over other tribes. The Sioux had seen white traders but the only impact on their lives at the time was the push west from the gun toting Chippewa into their former territory in Wisconsin. As the whites pushed west, the Sioux also got guns which made them a feared enemy by all who faced them. The high point was the Battle of Little Big Horn but it was the beginning of the end. They were surrounded and those that didn’t return to the reservation escaped into Canada. White settlers took their land as the area set aside for them was decreased and many integrated into American society. Those that didn’t were left on a reservation system totally dependent on government handouts as the ecosystem that allowed their former way of life was gone.
American born in 1790 – 1870 - The United State was a small country with uncertain borders coming off a war with Great Britain. The government was new and most were unsure of its success. The population was 4 million and comprised of a small area on the east coast. Over the next eighty years the country grew at a rapid pace to become the worlds most productive country with a population of almost 39 million. It had just undergone a bloody Civil War which proved to all that the Union would last while the borders of the country now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The country had gone through the industrial revolution and over the next century dominated the world commercially.
Japanese born in 1850 – 1930 - The Japanese were a feudal society that was big enough to keep foreign powers out until 1853 when Commodore Perry of the United States forced them into a trade treaty. This only opened Japan to trade but the most dramatic change was the adoption of western thinking. Within twenty years the shoganate power was stripped and the Emperor made a figurehead as it’s military leaders used technology and an able Japanese public to transform the country into the modern age. By 1900, the Japanese were able to defeat the Russians and by 1930 they were racing across Asia, bent on dominating the region.
American born in 1900 – 1980 - Americans in 1900 thought they lived in the best time possible. The country was certainly growing and the future was definitely bright. The next eighty years brought not only the outrageous idea of manned flight but eventually to someone landing on the moon. Mathematics was made easier by counting machines then computers. Farming production was increased so that a majority of Americans living on farms left so that only >1% do it today. Cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago boomed in population. Photography and motion pictures were invented and made so simple that anyone could do it. I think it is safe to say that someone born on a small farm in 1900 and died in an air conditioned house in the suburbs in 1980 would look back on their life in wonder at just how much had changed.
I know my list is centered too much on America and its spiritual ancestors but I don’t know enough about Persian, Indian, and Chinese culture to speak much about it without a lot of research. As I reviewed the list it dawned on my the huge gap in my lists. As I tried to think of something in between I considered the Turks as the Islamic Arabs changed their society, Italy in the Renaissance, Spain during the Inquisition, and the British during the Industrial Revolution. They would have been great additions but they didn’t represent a total shift of an area culturally, militarily, and economically like the ones I listed.
One other thing I noticed is that my two early inclusions are bad while the ones afterward were considered improvements (with the notable exception of the Sioux).
If I was part of one society and had to pick the one I’d like to have been gone through I’d have to say a Roman in 400 AD. The Sioux went through a horrific time at the hands of the Americans but their former living situation never came close to the luxry that the Romans experienced. That had to come as quite a shock to the Roman nobility.
The best societal change would have to be the Americans in the 20th century. With our current struggles let’s hope we don’t see a repeat of what the Romans went through though I’m guessing there are a few Sioux that would smile.
