Monday, February 24, 2020

Discuss the contributions of iron technology to the process of state Essay - 1

Discuss the contributions of iron technology to the process of state formation in Bantu Africa - Essay Example The Bantu community had the notion of a ‘big man’ who was enchanted with grasping of new opportunities. Such an idea led to the development of political establishments as chiefdoms regrouped. It is believed that three main kingdoms that inhabited the western savannas came into being through this method. They include the Kongo, Luango, and the Tio. Importantly, copper trade in the contributed to the development of major commercial market routes and major markets that expanded the territories of the existing political establishments. For instance, the Malebo Pool along River Zaire began through such a process. Furthermore, copper rich areas were regarded as ‘capitals’ headed by a ‘paramount chief’. The paramount chief was surrounded by a close circuit of a court of title holders who performed rituals and emblems within certain principalities. Archeologically, along the Zaire valley iron and copper deposits had been discovered. In areas such as Bok o Songho-Mindouli area, political establishments were related to the large deposits of iron and copper (Alimen). The emergence of these kingdoms in the 14th to 17th the century occurred more or less simultaneously as a result of iron technology. To begin with, the Mbundu Kingdom was established in the 16th century, and it controlled most economic resources and commercial routes in the south of the Kongo. As a sign of the political power they wielded, the Mbundu Kingdom used a piece of iron as an emblem and mark of their authority. This piece of metal was known as ‘ngola’. It is known that towards the end of the 15th century a holder of that emblem established a major kingdom. In subsequent centuries, the emblem played a significant role in the slave trade (Alimen). Towards the end of the 18th century, the Mbundu had organized a large commercial network of together with Portuguese immigrants whose trading caravans reached as far as the Lozi and Lunda Kingdoms. The kingdoms developed a royalty form of a

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Love in Indian culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Love in Indian culture - Research Paper Example The same is especially applied to humans, where love enjoys central place in their life and activities in general. There are multiple types of love observed by the humans, which include spiritual love, natural affection, physical attraction and carnal desires and others. Spiritual love is generally viewed to be one’s sheer feelings of reverence for the deity, faith, scriptures and the holy personalities in which one has established profound and unflinching belief. The individuals maintain love for their faith, and even sacrifice their lives for the cause of faith. Moreover, the parents’ deep feelings for their children could also be stated to be the example of the purest and selfless love. While elucidating the love between the young members of society, it becomes evident that the adolescents start developing the love emotions along with their physical and mental growth (Lv & Zhang, 2012:357). The love generally appears while the development of unseen attraction towards the members of the opposite gender. It is the time when the individuals witness tremendous excitement with the imagination of feeling the person of opposite gender close to his/her heart, though sometimes far from the eyes; almost the same is the situation with the south Asian cultures. South Asian cultures, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are unanimously declared to be the conservative and religious-minded societies of the world. An overwhelming majority of these states is the follower of Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity, all of which regard morality, chastity and virtuousness to be the essential parts of everyday individual and collective human life. Since the religions these societies have adopted lay stress upon love after marriage, pre-marital dating is strictly discouraged by the social values. As a result, the mixing of the members belonging to opposite genders in public is not approved by these societies (Orsini, 2006:52). Henc e, the concepts of dating and physical contacts are not very open and common in these cultures. Not only this that families impose severe restrictions on their female members to have any contact with boys before marriage, but also deviation from the same invites wrath of fathers and brothers, who do not hesitate in killing their daughters and sisters provided they find them meeting with the adult males beyond the marital-knot. It is therefore still mostly the marriages are arranged by parents and elders in these conservative societies (Dasgupta, 1998:968). Although globalization has introduced significant alterations in the concept of love and dating, and the educational institutions offering girls and boys education facilities under one roof, which have increased the level and frequency of meetings between the young and adult couples to a great extent. However, still the trend of dating and physical encounters are confined to the elite stratum of society consists of politicians, in dustrialists, feudal lords, civil and military bureaucrats, corporate class and showbiz communities, which maintain seldom care for religious cults, social norms and moral values in their individual and collective life (Orsini, 2006:221). Nevertheless, the Indian and Pakistani cultures still do not allow open illicit sexual relationship in society. It is therefore the immoral, adulterer and dissipation-inclined politicians and actresses aptly become the target of the