This article is about the archaeological site. For the civilization it belonged to, see Norte Chico civilization

Caral, or Caral-Supe, was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. Caral is the most ancient city of the Americas, and is a well-studied site of the Caral civilization or Norte Chico civilization.

History[link]

Caral was inhabited between roughly 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE,^[1] enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares.^[2] Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known.

Archaeological findings[link]

The Caral pyramids in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.

Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. Archaeologist Ruth Shady further explored the 5,000 year-old city of pyramids in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheater and ordinary houses.^[3] The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres (607,000 m²) and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at roughly the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.

Pirámide Mayor[link]

The main pyramid (Spanish: Pirámide Mayor) covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet (18 m) tall. Caral is the largest recorded site in the Andean region with dates older than 2000 BCE and appears to be the model for the urban design adopted by Andean civilizations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia. It is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of Andean civilizations and the development of the first cities.

Among the artifacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labeled a quipu. They argue that the artifact is evidence that the quipu record keeping system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Evidence has emerged that the quipu may also have recorded logographic information in the same way writing does. Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.

No trace of warfare has been found at Caral; no battlements, no weapons, no mutilated bodies. Shady's findings suggest it was a gentle society, built on commerce and pleasure. In one of the pyramids, they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornets of deer and llama bones. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads.

They also found evidence of drug use and possibly aphrodisiacs. One theory suggests that the coca they found may be evidence that Caral sprung up as an organized coca growing and distribution centre.

Caral spawns 19 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile (80 km²) area of the Supe Valley. The find of the quipu indicates that the later Inca civilization preserved some cultural continuity from the Caral civilization. The date of 2627 BCE is based on carbon dating reed and woven carrying bags that were found in situ. These bags were used to carry the stones that were used for the construction of the pyramids. The material is an excellent candidate for dating, thus allowing for a high precision. The site may date even earlier as samples from the oldest parts of the excavation have yet to be dated.^[4] The town had a population of approximately 3000 people. But there are 19 other sites in the area (posted at Caral), allowing for a possible total population of 20,000 people for the Supe valley. All of these sites in the Supe valley share similarities with Caral. They had small platforms or stone circles. Shady (2001) believes that Caral was the focus of this civilization, which itself was part of an even vaster complex, trading with the coastal communities and the regions further inland – as far as the Amazon, if the depiction of monkeys is any indication.

Panorama of Caral Site

360° Panorama of Caral

Musical Instruments[link]

Another notable find on the site was a collection of musical instruments, including 37 coronets made of deer and llama bones and 33 flutes of unusual construction.^[5] The flutes were radiocarbon dated to 2170±90 BCE.^[3]

See also[link]

• Cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region
• Iperu, tourist information and assistance
• The Lambayeque pyramids at Túcume and Batán Grande also in Peru
• Tourism in Peru

References[link]

1. ^ Eurekalert.org, "Oldest evidence of city life in the Americas reported in Science, early urban planners emerge as power players" Public release date: 26-Apr-2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science
2. ^ NYtimes.com, "Archaeological Site in Peru Is Called Oldest City in Americas" Public release date: 27-Apr-2001 The New York Times
3. ^ ^{a b} Shady, R. Haas, J. Creamer, W. (2001). Dating Caral, a Pre-ceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru. Science. 292:723-726. doi:10.1126/science.1059519 PMID 11326098 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
4. ^ Civilization lost? | csmonitor.com
5. ^ Clint Goss (2011). "The Development of Flutes in the Americas". Flutopedia. http://Flutopedia.com/dev_flutes_americas.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-13. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Caral-Supe

• Official website features 3-D renderings of major monument.
• Caral quipu
• Transcript of BBC Horizon program about Caral
• "The mother of all civilisations", The Times of India, 16 Dec 2007, retrieved 2007-12-19.

Video[link]

• Caral. Searching the origin of civilisations. 49.03 minutes. BBC Learning

Coordinates: 10°53′37″S 77°31′13″W / 10.89361°S 77.52028°W / -10.89361; -77.52028

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Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin (1903–1967), or Lal Mia, as he is commonly referred to, was a prominent Bengali politician in the Indian National Congress or the Congress Party and later the Muslim League. Lal Mia was one of the personalities who was instrumental in the Anti Colonial Movement against the British in Bengal. He also contributed heavily in the promotion of Bengali culture and literature. He was closely associated with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Rabindranath Tagore.

Early life and family[link]

Chowdhury Abd-Allah Zaheeruddin Lal Mia was born on the 30th of November, 1903 at the Moyez Manzil Palace in Faridpur into an aristocratic Muslim zamindar family. He was the eldest son of Chowdhury Moyezuddin Biwshash, the philanthropic and revolutionary Zamindar of Faridpur. Lal Mia passed his matriculation exams at a young age of only 12. A meritous student, he got himself admitted into the presitgous Aligarh Muslim University in 1918. His political involvement had started from that the same year and soon he became one of the earliest student leaders of Bengal. During his time in Aligarh, he joined the Indian National Congress as its youngest member.

Lal Mia married Begum Sayeeda Khatun Chowdhurani, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the legendary warrior King of Mysore. The couple had three sons and eight daughters.

Lal Mia's brothers, Yusuf Ali Chowdhury, Mohan Mia, Enayet Hossain Chowdhury and Tara Mia also became eminent politicians in the British Raj and during the Pakistan era. He is also related to former Bangladeshi minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, former lawmaker and BNP leader Chowdhury Akmal Ibne Yusuf and former lawmaker and Jatiya Party leader Kamran Hossain Chowdhury.

Politics[link]

Lal Mia had become a fully registered member of the All India Congress, from 1918, while he was still 14, becoming the youngest person to ever hold an official position in the party. He became an active member of the planning committee of the Congress Party from the same year, and Khilafat Movement since 1919 and member of Civil Disobedience Movement and General Secretary of Faridpur Committee of the movement since 1931. Mohandas K. Gandhi had appointed Lal Mia to spearhead the movements across Faridpur and East Bengal.

Lal Mia was one of the principle financial backers of the Congress in Bengal. The Annual Conference of the Bengal Central Congress was held in Faridpur in 1924 and was arranged by Lal Mia. The conference was attended by leading independence leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das, Sarojini Naidu and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Lal Mia developed a deeply personal relationship with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who would regularly visit Lal Mia's family residence Moyez Manzil in Faridpur. He was also close to Jawaharlal Nehru and the two men were imprisoned together in the Arambagh Fort during the Quit India Movement in the early 1940s. Although belonging to two different parties, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah maintained good personal relations with Lal Mia. He was present with all the leaders at the Midnight Hour^{[disambiguation needed ]} of the Partition of India and Pakistan.

Lal Mia was immensely admired by the three premier leaders of Bengali Muslims including Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. Sher-e-Bangla regularly visited Moyez Manzil and the family's other residence Biwshash Bari.

In 1936, Lal Mia was elected to the upper house of the Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was also elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. From 1943, he became an executive committee member of the All India Muslim League until partition after which he was elected to the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1962, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan. From 1962 until 1967, he served in the cabinet of President Ayub Khan holding various portfolios in different times as Minister of Health, Labour and Social Welfare. He was also the Chief Whip of the Muslim League during this period in the National Assembly.

He was also the only member of Ayub Khan's cabinet who supported the demand for the autonomy of East Pakistan and interceded on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

At the grass roots level, Lal Mia had been the Chairman of Faridpur District Council for 20 years. He had been the Founder President of Faridpur Improvement Trust in 1950. Lal Mia had also been the main initiator in the establishment of the Anti-Riot & Relief Committee and All India Muslim League Relief Coordination Committee in 1946-47 and he was appointed the General Secretary of the committee. He had also been the Founder of the Calcutta Cloth Rationing Advisory Board in 1943, President of Central Primary Education Board of Pakistan in 1951 and President of District School Board of Faridpur in 1946. He had also been Chairman of several associations and organizations such as the Farmer’s Association of Bengal in 1931, Assam Youth Association in 1931, and Murshidabad National Students Union also in 1931.

Lal Mia published many articles criticizing British rule and organized meetings and rallies among the youth of Calcutta ever since his adolescent days. He organized and funded a series of conferences in grand scale in Faridpur mainly, and in other parts of East Bengal to promote support for the freedom struggle and increasing participation of East Bengal is in the struggle.

Promotion of Bengali culture[link]

Lal Mia had been immensely close to Rabindranath Tagore, the man described as the Shakespeare of Bengali Literature and the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize. Such was the level of their relationship, the great poet treated Lal Mia as his own nephew and gave him the nickname Korli Krishna.

Lal Mia also promoted folksinger Abbas Uddin by arranging several small concerts for him in Faridpur and other districts, introduced renowned Sufi writer Motahar Hossain to Rabindranath Tagore and the elite of Calcutta and promoted his works in those circles. He supported the endeavours of Kabi Jasimuddin and Kazi Nazrul Islam, and also wrote two books of spiritual poems himself. He had also been unanimously elected President of the Writer's Guild of Pakistan in 1961 for his immense patronage of literature. He also organized the first Memorial Conference on Rabindranath Tagore across India after the death of the great poet. He also had a volume of the Quran written in letters of gold on parchment.

Lal Mia also heavily promoted the Bengali film industry in its early days and was the first president of Bengal Motion Pictures. He set up a cinema hall in Faridpur, the first in Bengal outside Calcutta.

Death[link]

Lal Mia died on 7 April 1967 in Cox's Bazaar where he had suffered a heart attack while swimming. He had been accompanied by several grandchildren and other family members at the time. He is buried on the grounds of the magnificent Moyez Manzil Palace in Faridpur.

See also[link]

• Yusuf Ali Chowdhury
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Subhash Chandra Bose
• Bangladeshi Political Families

References[link]

• http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/12/04/d41204150392.htm