Intro to Part 4

Historians often categorized a time period to keep everything organized. The early modern era was from the years 1450-1750. In the early modern era there were signs of early beginnings of globalization and markers of the modern world. An expression of globalization can be found in the journals of the European explorers during the time of the Atlantic slave trade. Because of the slave trade, it connected a route from America to West Africa, which let trade increase, and the trade markets around the world work together. “Modernity” first appeared in Europe with the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution helped transform how people viewed the world and the understanding of traditional Christianity. Europe seemed like the most powerful continent at the time, they were not dominant in everything. China and Japan were dominant of the merchants in the market and Africa was in control of the slave trade operations.  In the next three centuries society entered an era where older agrarian societies were still being developed. Nations were not always going into the “modern” way of thinking. Instead they tried to think like the past and of early ways, and although Europe seemed promising in world leaders, they soon fell during these next three centuries.

It was interesting to read that most all continents on the east side of the world had their fare share of work. With Europe, they ruled most of the seas and Americas. With Asia, they had many merchants and operated the missionaries in Europe, and Africa conducted the slave trade. No one was dominant over anyone, except for the Americas, which at the time had no power. But the three big continents were all doing something and had their own little power within their society.

Chapter 12

A lot of significant events happened in the fifteenth century. We first read about the Paleolithic people. These people were hunter and gatherers and learned much from the outsiders. Over at the Islamic world, the most notable empire of the fifteenth century was the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a great empire with a professional culture and economy, and had a diverse amount of people. To the east, the Safavid Empire was introducing a separation of political and religious ideologies. Across the ocean we go to the Americas. In the Americas there was the Aztec and Inca empires. In the Aztec empire, they had a powerful and well-structured empire with an estimate of 6 million people. The Aztecs were known for their sacrificial rituals in order to please their gods.  More to the south was the Inca Empire. The Incas were more of a bureaucratic empire, meaning their government was not elected.

In the Incas women were also important to their civilization. Women with special skills in textiles, metal goods, and other related skills were taking away from their homes as young girls. These young girls would be trained in Inca ideology and be trained to be a hard worker. After reading that I thought that they would be sent back to their homes, but they were taken away as a young girl. So once older, they do not have any children or a husband to go back to. So instead they would be given away to men as wives. Some would become priestesses and were known as “wives of the sun." It is a good thing that we do not follow the same ideologies as they did in the fifteenth century.

Chapter 5

       In ancient China, they had a unique world where it was run by the state. All males ran the political power in China. They had a system where officials were trained as scholars and were taught in many different subjects. Their outfit could distinguish each position. Senior officials were dressed in robes and were treated as if they were king. Most of these officials came from wealthy families in China. In China, there were three main classes. The Landlord class was the richest and had the most power throughout China. The Peasants were families of two to three generations that were stable and able to support their own family. Although lower than the landlord class, they were still honored and respect. The Merchants were the poorest and the ones who were not respected by others. Slavery dated back to the Roman Empire and is unavoidable in human history. Slavery is the ownership by a master, and was never a good thing. Slavery was all around the world, and in each place, the system worked a bit differently. In the Greco-Roman empire, it had a large amount of slaves and had much to do with their history. But, unlike American slavery, the Roman had a vast variety of slaves, not only one ethic group.

       Slavery was never a good topic to talk about in school but it was important because it helped up understand why our country is the way it is today. But while learning about slavery here in America, we tend to think that slavery only happened here in America, but that is not the case. Slavery had been happening way before, like we see here with the Roman Empire. But in this case slaves were treated a bit better and had more respect by their master.

Chapter 11

Pastoral societies focused more on agricultural works than economical stuff. This society also believed in equality with women. Women often had a higher status, and had equal responsibility just like men. Caring for the food children and smaller animals was common with women in these societies. Another feature about pastoral societies was their mobility. Since they were always on the move, they were proficient on knowing where to grow food and gather water supply despite the seasonal changes. Their military was also something that gave them great advantage despite their small population. The pastoral societies were the first to introduce horseback and camel riding, which is referring as mounted warfare. Out of all the pastoral societies the most remember able one was The Mongol Empire. They were the largest empires in human history, but they offered not much new beliefs to the world. No new religion or civilization. They focused more on ancestry work. The one responsible for the rise of the Mongol Empire was Temujin. Temujin rose to power and became ruler of a unified Mongol nation. He created a powerful army and conquered much of Asia with no problem. The downfall of the Mongol Empire came along with the plague. The plague was responsible for many death, and closure of the Central Asian trade route. With this, the Mongol Empires population decreased and slowly made the empire disappear.

It was good to read about the Pastoral societies and how women had an equality role in society just like men. Like men they were responsible with a good amount of work. They brought food to the table and at the same time took care of the children and animals that they owned. Most women also did heavy work that we would see men do today. They rode horses just like men and repaired broke items around the house. 

Chapter 9

In this chapter we learn about the world of Islam and a new religion. Muhammad Ibn Abdullah was responsible for the creation on this new religion. Abdullah believed that he was the messenger of Allah. He believed he was responsible to delivering the message of the Quran. The Quran demanded social justice and wanted to return to the older values of Arab tribal life. After delivering the message of the Quran Abdullah gained followers from his city of Mecca. By gaining these followers Abdullah was able to create a new society that changed Arabia. Once Abdullah died the new Islamic state came under control and a new faith began. With this transformation in Arabia it started to spread throughout the Afro-Eurasian world. Other civilizations started to adapt to this new state and felt the need to learn the Arabic language. This spread also affected other countries in the neighboring regions. In India, because of the new religion much faith was brought to northern India. In Anatolia more and more Muslims started to settle here which created a greater cultural weight. In West Africa, because of Muslim migrators, trades increased as well as merchant communities. In Spain, because of it’s rich agriculture, it was the perfect place for Muslims to settle and work with Christians and Jews that were in the Spain region.

Learning about Muhammad Ibn Abdullah reminded me much about learning about Jesus. Muhammad was closely related to Jesus because of what he did. It was interesting to know that there was more people out there just like Jesus. Muhammad believed in his God and did anything to prove his faith in Allah. Because of this Muhammad gained a lot of followers and was able to create a new religion.

Chapter 8

China has been an important factor to the whole world. Today many say that China can be the most powerful country of the twenty first century. The chapter begins talking about China’s history, dating back to the Han and Sui dynasty. We read about how these dynasties functioned and how they eventually lost power and collapsed. Because of the success that China had with it’s growing country, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan tried to work with them. All three countries borrowed major elements form the Chinese to use as their own. Both Korea and Vietnam adopted beliefs such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, and they participated in China’s tribute system. During the Tang and Song dynasties, China’s economy growth had an impact outside of their borders. Techniques such as salt production and papermaking spread throughout Europe and Asia. At the same time China was helping the rest of the world, China was also being influenced by its economic growth. China learned new techniques from Vietnam and India, which also helped China’s population spread to the southern region of the Yangzi River. 

The most interesting fact I read here was about the foot binding. During the Song dynasty, foot binding became popular throughout all of China. Foot binding is wrapping a female’s foot tightly for different reasons. It could be for dancing reasons, or to make their feet “smaller”.  Foot binding was also to tell apart from the high-class women to the middle or low class women. This was something not easy to read because it mentioned that the binding would often break the foot because of how tight it was. I find it amazing to believe what women would do for what they believed in. they would go to the extreme in order to make themselves look and feel better than everyone else.

Chapter 6

In this chapter we explore the civilizations of the Americas and Africa. In Africa one of the first civilizations to emerge was the Kingdom of Meroe. Women, often co-ruling with a man, mainly ruled the city of Meroe. Evidence shows that farming and herding were practiced, and that it was a rainfall-based agriculture. Around 100 C.E. the Kingdom of Meroe declined, mainly to do so with deforestation. With the fall of Meroe, it allowed a new Kingdom to come along, which was Axum, a Christian Kingdom. Axum was a highly productive agriculture and filled with unique sculptures. Across the ocean we go to the Americas. In the Americas the main civilizations were the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas. The Mayan were intelligent citizens that were mainly based in Northern Guatemala. The Mayan were largely responsible, for example the Mayan calendar and mathematical system. At the same time the Mayans were doing well, the Aztecs were flourishing with their city in north Mexico. The city of Teotihuacan was the largest city in America, with an estimate population of 200,000. Many of these cities were powerful and important to future civilizations.

            Something important that I read in this article was the Mayans. The Mayans were important because of what they did in their civilizations. They invented the concept of zero and a mathematical system that we use today. They also explored around with astronomy by looking at the stars and gathering information by doing so. Today we have a lot of tools to look into space to make conclusions, and the Mayans were able to do the same with just their eyes. Their structures were also something that it fascinating to look at, such as Tikal. Today Tikal is seen as a monument and symbol that represents the Mayan civilization.

Chapter 4

First we start off learning a bit about China and it’s relations with Confucianism and Daoism. After so we are given classical cultural traditions from Chinese thinkers. The Legalist answer is the solutions lays in rules and laws. Ones actions would be justified by reward or punishment. The Confucian answer was being superior to one less of you. The Daoist answer had to do with being one with nature. Breaking away from politics and social activism. After, we read about different types of religious beliefs such as Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism. Hinduism is the belief of many gods and goddesses. Closely related to Buddhism, it spread quickly throughout south Asian religious tradition. Zoroastrianism was an emphasis on the free will of humankind. People following Zoroastrianism believed that one must choose between good and evil. Born in Israel, Judaism was the belief of only one god, a god called Yahweh. Hebrews devoted themselves to this new religious belief, giving Yahweh all of their loyalty just as he demanded. Five hundred years after these beliefs, came along Jesus and Christianity.

Reading about Jesus is always interesting because of what he did during his lifetime.  A baby born from a virgin mother turns out to be the Son of God. He wields the powers of God, making everyone believe, and not believe in him. Little known fact is that Jesus never had the intention of creating a new religion. His goal was to introduce his own traditions onto other people. And because of that, Jesus was able to gain many followers and unwilling create his own religion. All of his followers believed in Jesus to be the Son of God. Also, his resurrection after three days increased his followers and gave him greater connections with them.

The Writings of Master Han Fei

This document was on how to be an affective leader. Master Han Fei believed in a mandate of heaven: "No country is permanently strong. Nor is any country permanently weak." Throughout the document, there is a strong emphasis on the importance of obeying laws. His two main "handles" or ideas were chastisement and commendation. He would praise the right and punish the wrong. "Ministers are afraid of censure and  punishment but fond of encouragement and reward."

Book of the Dead

This document is basically about proving ones pureness in the afterlife. A line that I found compelling is “I have not filched the offerings in the temples. I have not purloined cakes of the gods.” This shows us how desperate for food some of the people where that they were willing to steal the offerings people had put out for the gods. In general I find this document very interesting because it names all the bad things one could have done in their lives but did not do. I like how it ends saying “I am pure. I am pure. I am pure. I am pure.”

The Epic of Gilgamesh

This version of Gilgamesh is different than the one we read in class. A constant theme throughout the story is the fear of death and dying. "Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? ... As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice." This quote shows us how they thought nothing was permanent so so might as well enjoy ones life. Another theme that is shown in this story is the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Reading on Nisa

As I was reading this article I found it very interesting how she describes her kind of people (Paleolithic people) as those “who live in the bush.” They were hunter-gatherers and had no technological advances. This is shown when she says, “No donkey … I still carry things myself in my kaross.” Also, how she blames God for everything bad that happened in her life. Since she doesn’t know, she seeks answers to why her loved ones died, and it is easy for her to blame god. She sees god as being evil and against them instead of being a supreme being. This is shown when she says, “God is the one who destroys. It isn’t people who do it. It is God himself.”

Chapter 1

Many people think humans were the first to inhabit the Earth, but what they do not know is that there were different hominids that inhabited the earth for thousands of years before us. I agree with Strayer in the fact that we cannot simply ignore Paleolithic and Neolithic people. If it were not for them and the technology they created, the other hominids would not have something to build from. Just because they did not write, does not mean they did not exist. I find it fascinating how they had the knowledge needed to domesticate these animals. Also, how they stopped relying solely on animals as their only source of food, but also learned they could grow plants. When they made this discovery they no longer needed to travel from one place to another, now they could build their civilizations around these plants. Lastly, how they were able to migrate to different places such as Eurasia, Australia, etc. This just shows how intelligent they actually where because they were able to come up with some sort of boat that would not only get them where they needed to go, but also to carry all the materials necessary for their survival. I believe the shift from hunting to farming was the most important because humans nowadays continue this because we still grow plants; I could not imagine us as being hunters.