The Conquest of Civilization (selections)
By James Henry Breasted
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1926
Publisher's introduction
James Henry Breasted (1865-1935) was a premier US orientalist, archæologist and historian. He
wrote extensively on ancient civilizations. As a founder of the Oriental Institute at the University
of Chicago, which began in 1922 with a grant from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., he contributed to the
development of the idea of a "Western Civilization" by broadening the definition of Europe's
cultural roots to include the entire "Near East" - well beyond the traditional fixation on just
Greece and Rome.
From the Forward of The Conquest of Civilization
The fact that man possessed the capacity to rise from bestial savagery to civilization. . .is the
greatest fact in the history of the universe as known to us. . . . This amazing new capability. .
.disclosed a kind of buoyancy of the human spirit. . .
But a laboratory for the study of man's [emph. in original] career from the earlier traces of his
existence. . ., through the far-reaching generosity of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., such a
laboratory known as the "Oriental Institute," has now been developed at the University of
Chicago. Its object is to furnish the funds and facilities for the investigation and recovery of the
early human career. . . [The OI publications] are intended to contribute toward a more nearly
complete recovery and understanding of the evidence of man's gradual conquest of civilization
[there follows a discussion of how the publications of the OI are reserved to a scientific élite, but
Breasted intends his present work to illustrates how scientific conclusions can be reshaped for
mass consumption.]
Of perhaps the most far-reaching consequence among newly discovered sources [is that] the
earliest home of civilization was thus unquestionably the Near East, the contiguous area of
northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia, whence its fundamentals passed to southeastern
Europe [Greece]. Civilization arose in [the Near East], and early Europe obtained it there. . . The
leading religion of the world - the one which still dominates Western civilization to-day - came
to us out of the Orient.
From pp. 111-116
We are now in a position to define in its largest terms the scene of the evolution of civilization
and to place geographically the region which brought forth the culture we have inherited. . . (p.
111).
The Great Northwest Quadrant [including all Europe, southwestern Asia and northern Africa]
has been until recently the scene of the highest development of life on our planet.
The population of the Great Northwest Quadrant, from the Stone Age onward, has been a race of
white men of varying physical type. The evolution of civilization has been the achievement of
this Great White Race. . . .(p. 112).
The type of man with straight and wiry hair, round head, almost beardless face, and yellow skin a man whom we call Mongoloid [context shows he means the Chinese]. . .did not develop
civilization until long after civilization was already. . .far advanced in the Northwest Quadrant.
On the south of the Northwest Quadrant lay the teeming [interesting choice of words: it literally
means swarming microorganisms or sexually prolific] black world of Africa, separated from the
Great White Race by an impassable desert barrier [not only is the separation of black Africa and
the Mediterranean a myth, but the suggestion that the Sahara separates Egypt from Africa
supports the idea that "Africa" is a matter of skin color, not geography]. . . and unfitted by ages
of tropical life for any effective intrusion among the White Race, the negro and negroid peoples
remained without any influence on the development of early civilization [Enlightenment
geographers had assumed that tropical life makes one lethargic, but Breasted subtly converts this
into a more explicitly racist assumption that a tropical environment eventually alters one's genes
to result in less boyancy of spirit than the Great White Race]. We may then exclude both of these
external races [i.e., the great bulk of the world's population] from any share in the origins or
subsequent development [n.b.] of civilization [in a note Breasted qualifies this by noting that the
Chinese have been significant for modern European history.]
The Great White Race. . .includes a considerable range of types [to which belonged] the
Egyptians (not withstanding their tanned [sic] skins), doubtless also the Semitics, and of course
the [Mediterranean peoples] long loosely called "Aryan" because of their speech, which of
course has no necessary connection with race (p. 113). [Notice how Egyptians and Semitic
people in general are incorporated into a White (Caucasian) race, and that the concept "Near
East" tends to distance Egypt from being essentially African].
Chinese civilization was geographically so remote that. . .it had no direct connection with the
main stream of civilized development of which we of the west are a part. . . India received a
great impetus from the west [following upon Alexander's conquest]. Chinese civilization must
have received its material basis in agriculure and cattle breeding from western sources. . . (p.
114). [It didn't occur to Breasted that Chinese, Africans or Indians might have been able to create
civilization on their own].
This culture diffusion. . .was obviously going on for thousands of years around the Old World
center (p. 116).
Extent of Colonialism
(1939)
****
Great Britain
Area in Square Miles 94,000
France
212,600
Belgium Netherlands Germany (1914)
11,800
13,200
210,000
Population
45,500,100
42,000,000 8,300,000 8.500,000
67,500,000
Area of Colonies
13,100,000
4,300,000 940,000
1,100,000
790,000
Population of Colonies 470,000,000 65,000,000 13,000,000 66,000,000 13,000,000
SOURCE: Mary Evelyn Townsend, European Colonial Expansion Since 1871 (Chicago: J.P.
Lippincott Company, 1941), p. 19
Percentage of Territories Belonging to the European/US Colonial Powers
(1900)
Region Percentage Controlled
Africa
90.4%
Polynesia 98.9%
Asia
56.5%
Australia 100.0%
Americas 27.2%
SOURCE: A. Supan, Die territoriale Entwicklung der Euroaischen Kolonien (Gotha, 1906), p.
254
Modern History Sourcebook:
Sir Henry M. Stanley:
How I Found Livingstone, 1871
[Tappan Introduction]: David Livingstone was a celebrated African explorer and missionary. After many years in
Africa, he was lost sight of, and it was generally believed that he was dead. James Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the
New York Herald, sent the young reporter, who was afterwards known as Sir Henry M. Stanley, with an open account
in search of him. After two years of searching, during which Stanley's reports--printed in the Herald--served to
energize public interest in the exploration and conquest of Africa, the following scene took place according to
Stanley's account.
We were now about three hundred yards from the village of Ujiji, and the crowds are dense about me. Suddenly I
hear a voice on my right say, --"Good morning, sir!"
Startled at hearing this greeting in the midst of such a crowd of black people, I turn sharply around in search of the
man, and see him at my side, with the blackest of faces, but animated and joyous---a man dressed in a long white
shirt, with a turban of American sheeting around his woolly head, and I ask: --"Who the mischief are you?"
"I am Susi, the servant of Dr. Livingstone," said he, smiling and showing a gleaming row of teeth.
"What! Is Dr. Livingstone here?"
"Yes, sir."
"In this village?"
"Yes, sir."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure, sure, sir. Why, I leave him just now."
"Good morning, sir," said another voice.
"Hallo," said I, "is this another one?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, what is your name?"
"My name is Chumah, sir."
"What! are you Chumah, the friend of Wekotani?"
"Yes, sir."
"And is the Doctor well?"
"Not very well, sir."
"Where has he been so long?"
"In Manyuema."
"Now, you, Susi, run, and tell the Doctor I am coming."
"Yes, sir," and off he darted like a madman.
But by this time we were within two hundred yards of the village, and the multitude was getting denser, and almost
preventing our march. Flags and streamers were out; Arabs and Wangwana were pushing their way through the
natives in order to greet us, for, according to their account, we belonged to them. But the great wonder of all was,
"How did you come from Unyanyembe?"
Soon Susi came running back, and asked me my name; he had told the Doctor that I was coming, but the Doctor
was too surprised to believe him, and, when the Doctor asked him my name, Susi was rather staggered. But, during
Susi's absence, the news had been conveyed to the Doctor that it was surely a white man that was coming, whose
guns were firing and whose flag could be seen; and the great Arab magnates of Ujiji---Mohammed bin Sali, Sayd bin
Majid, Abid bin Suliman, Mohammed bin Gharib, and others---had gathered together before the Doctor's house, and
the Doctor had come out from his veranda to discuss the matter and await my arrival.
In the meantime, the head of the expedition had halted, and the kirangozi was out of the ranks, holding his flag
aloft, and Selim said to me, "I see the Doctor, sir. Oh, what an old man! He has got a white beard." And I---what
would I not have given for a bit of friendly wilderness, where, unseen, I might vent my joy in some mad freak, such
as idiotically biting my hand, turning somersaults, or slashing at trees, in order to allay those exciting feelings that
were well-nigh uncontrollable. My heart beats fast, but I must not let my face betray my emotions, lest it shall
detract from the dignity of a white man appearing under such extraordinary circumstances.
So I did that which I thought was most dignified. I pushed back the crowds, and, passing from the rear, walked
down a living avenue of people until I came in front of the semicircle of Arabs, in the front of which stood the white
man with the grey beard. As I advanced slowly towards him, I noticed he was pale, looked wearied, had a grey
beard, wore a bluish cap with a faded gold band round it, had on a red-sleeved waistcoat and a pair of grey tweed
trousers. I would have run to him, only I was a coward in the presence of such a mob---would have embraced him,
only he being an Englishman, I did not know how he would receive me; so I did what cowardice and false pride
suggested was the best thing---walked deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said:--"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
"Yes," said he, with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly.
I replace my hat on my head, and he puts on his cap, and we both grasp hands, and I then say aloud:
--- "I thank God, Doctor, I have been permitted to see you." He answered, "I feel thankful that I am here to welcome
you."
I turn to the Arabs, take off my hat to them in response to the saluting chorus of "Yambos" I receive, and the Doctor
introduces them to me by name. Then, oblivious of the crowds, oblivious of the men who shared with me my
dangers, we---Livingstone and I---turn our faces towards his tembe. He points to the veranda, or, rather, mud
platform, under the broad, overhanging eaves; he points to his own particular seat, which I see his age and
experience in Africa have suggested, namely, a straw mat, with a goatskin over it, and another skin nailed against
the wall to protect his back from contact with the cold mud. I protest against taking this seat, which so much more
befits him than me, but the Doctor will not yield: I must take it.
We are seated---the Doctor and I---with our backs to the wall. The Arabs take seats on our left. More than a
thousand natives are in our front, filling the whole square densely, indulging their curiosity and discussing the fact of
two white men meeting at Ujiji---one just come from Manyuema, in the west, the other from Unyanyembe, in the
east.
Conversation began. What about? I declare I have forgotten. Oh! we mutually asked questions of one another, such
as: --"How did you come here?" and "Where have you been all this long time?---the world has believed you to be dead."
Yes, that was the way it began; but whatever the Doctor himself informed me, and that which I communicated to
him, I cannot correctly report, for I found myself gazing at him, conning the wonderful man at whose side I now sat
in Central Africa. Every hair of his head and beard, every wrinkle of his face, the wanness of his features, and the
slightly wearied look he wore, were all imparting intelligence to me---the knowledge I had craved for so much ever
since I heard the words, "Take what you want, but find Livingstone!"
Source:
From: Eva March Tappan, ed., Egypt, Africa, and Arabia, Vol. III in The World's Story: A History of the World in
Story, Song, and Art, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914), pp. 393-398.