Panel 1 - The long duration of the story
This first panel of the exhibition is dedicated to history throughout history. Six double posters are presented with an upper illustration depicting historical scenes that are explained in the lower poster. It starts with hunter-gatherer societies, continues through peasant societies, hierarchical societies, the state, feudal society and industrial societies.
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1. Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-Gatherer Societies
With populations barely exceeding fifty individuals, these societies subsisted through hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants. They were fundamentally nomadic, with each band roaming an extensive territory and seeking shelter in caves or overhangs.
Farming Societies
Over many thousands of years, they learned to raise animals and grow plants. This changed their lives, as it improved the way they got food. Thanks to this new knowledge, they began to live in one place and their communities grew.
2. Farming Societies
Farming Societies
After thousands of years of close interaction with nature, these societies discovered ways to domesticate animals and cultivate plants. This revolution, driven by the development of new techniques and knowledge, enabled a notable improvement in food supplies and facilitated population growth. People were then able to settle in defined territories from which they could control these new productive activities.
3. Hierarchical Societies
Over time, societies grew larger and more complex, becoming increasingly sedentary. Social structures underwent stratification, dividing groups according to their roles within society. Consequently, a ruling class emerged, exercising economic and ideological control for its own benefit over the rest of the population.
4. The State
The State
The evolution of great chiefdoms gave rise to the birth of the state, characterized by a strong and centralized administrative organization. The ruling elites possessed the power to compel the population to pay taxes, which sustained the administrative needs. This system was organized around a tributary structure in which coinage served as the primary fiscal instrument, and its minting was the exclusive prerogative of the ruler.
5. Feudal Society
Feudal Society
The crisis of the state model initiated during the late Roman Empire led to the dismantling of public power, paving the way for the emergence of a new social model: feudalism. This system was based on unequal relations, where dependent peasants were obligated to pay rent and perform labor and personal services for a class of landowners comprised of the aristocracy and high clergy.
6. Industrial Societies
Industrial Societies
The rise of the bourgeoisie and industrialization heralded the arrival of a new social and economic system that solidified during the 19th century. This system was predicated on a high degree of productive activity, facilitated by mechanization, characterized by substantial private capital investment and a salaried workforce. The landscape transformed with the emergence of industrial zones formed by factories surrounded by worker settlements, where laborers began to organize themselves as a new social force.
