War Loving Continent
In his book, The Incredible History of India’s Geography , Sanjeev Sanyal writes that the Harappan civilization appears to have faded gradually , not in a big bang. The archaeological evidence doesn’t show any signs of slaughter consistent with a big invasion. He wonders if climate change was the culprit instead, making previously fertile areas arid? Or perhaps a major earthquake caused the course of river(s) that fed the civilization to change, in turn killing off the cities slowly? Regardless of the cause, the gradual non-violent fading away of Harappa stands in sharp contrast with how the Roman Empire collapsed: with violence. As Rome grew weaker, its enemies kept invading, often winning, always looting and destroying. For example, by the Goths. The contrast in how the two faded reminds me of the point that Peter Frankopan made in his terrific book, The Silk Roads . All through history, he writes, kingdoms fought wars with each other. But it was only in Europe that kingdo...