ABSTRACT
European imperialism in Africa, supported by racist ideology and claims that they were bring civilization to the continent, was horrific. Human sacrifice was used by Spanish conquistadores to justify conquest and helped the European invaders rally local allies in their campaign to destroy the Aztec Empire. The students were discussing a textbook passage about the origin of different hominid species, including biologically modern humans, in the East African Rift Valley. The discussion was meant to be a very brief introduction to a lesson that would primarily focus on Stone Age culture and set the stage for the Neolithic Revolution, the discovery of agriculture, and the beginning of river valley civilizations. Most global history teachers are committed to respecting human cultural diversity. Philosopher and historian Ernst Cassirer and many anthropologists argue that religious belief, which was initially inseparable from magic, provided early human groups with a way to explain what was to them a largely incomprehensible world.
