Art: The Benin Kingdom

Jared Diamond discusses the reasons why geographical and environmental factors lead to a more rapid progression of certain civilizations throughout history. The book Guns, Germs and Steel portrays an argument that due to some societies’ access to an area witch contains sufficient amounts of wildlife and climates that are easily inhabitable, these societies developed into more advanced ways of living much easier and also earlier than societies who lacked these geographical attributes. These beneficial geographical attributes promoted the growth of technological improvements in weapons, religion, and farming.

Economically they didn’t have the vast trading networks that the Europeans had. They did have some reginal trade but not across the entire continent. I think had they had a larger trade system they could have helped each other out technologically increasing their ability to resist some of that conquest.

2. The people of the Eastern Hemisphere developed long-distance trade more extensively than did the societies of the Western Hemisphere becuase the Western Hemisphere did not develop the extensive long-distance trade as did the East.

Using the Hofstede model of comparison, I will be comparing the culture of my home country, that is, the Republic of Benin and the United States of America. First, I will do a little background of Benin and the USA. Benin is located in West Africa and is in between Togo and Nigeria. Its official language is French mainly because it was colonized by France during the colonial period. Its population is 10 million and it is considered a developing country. On the other hand, the USA is located in North America. Some of its neighbors are Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. Its population is 321 million and English is its official language. The USA economy is the world's largest national economy. The location, population, national language and

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Mesopotamians developed specialized crafts and supported private entrepreneurship. They also were involved in foreign and domestic trade.

Royal Arts of Africa show traditional work from the most historic tribal civilizations. Throughout centuries, African Art has enriched royal stature, authenticated noble influence, and honored past and present rulers. The Kom of northwest Cameroon, included in these historic tribal civilizations, molded statues symbolizing their very own royal families and prestige attendants of their kings’. The “Royal Figure” is a prime example of this kind of artwork that has lived through the Kom Kingdom’s history. This piece is constructed out of multiple mediums including wood, Indigo beads, raffia cloth, and iron, but beneath these materials lies a much deeper meaning. Symbolism, daily functions, history, and culture were all brought forward when

They crafted wooden ships that have influenced us today. They founded cities on some of the main Eurasian trade

Art of the Egyptians and Africans express ………………………..In art, style is a characteristic, or a number of characteristics that we can identify as constant, recurring, or coherent.(Art Terminology 1) Artists express their emotions through their art-making, their finished product will reflect that emotion. They might also create a piece of art that makes the viewer create an emotional response. Emotion is any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc.(Dictionary 1)

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

The canal and railroad systems, which grew up in the North, facilitated a much larger volume of trade and manufacturing while reducing costs a great deal. Great cities sprang up throughout the North and Northwest, bolstered by the improvement in transportation.

They left behind complex society and were building towns while the rest of the civilization was still unsophisticated. This tells us that they were very smart in business and were able to make money by producing businesses and towns.

Northern societies have the advantages derived from coalescing indigenous groups into autocratic societies over that past 500 years. This allowed them to dedicate a large amount of resources to meet the needs of each society. As they used technology to improve their lifestyle, they were able to trade with each other for both goods, services and knowledge. This transference of knowledge between each other is what led to a huge

they were attached to the centre of power, because they influenced the king more than

I have chosen to do African tribal art. Tribal art has three primary categories african art, art of the Americas, and oceanic art. The designs can be woven into different fabrics or dyed into different colors. The threads are sewn to create patterns such as stripes. The time period from when it began was around the 19th century. The pattern was created in West Africa. At the end of the 19th century a machine was created to help make the cloths, but the machine would leave cracks, small lines and dots where the dye would seep through. I chose this culture because I liked the designs that they do, I like the details. Some interesting facts are that no two designs are ever the same, originally it started out as putting wax on cloth then dyeing