Chapter 7
Chapter 7 symbolizes the beginning of globalization. why one might ask? The producing of goods for people thousands of miles away began. The silk road was the catalyst into modern day globalization. picture a person living in Europe that asks someone in the middle east, hey where you get these plates? China was the place where the nice plates were made, and that is why we call it china. Many more things in this era still shape the way that society is formed today. For example, The reason why the Spanish decided to "discovered" the new world is because Columbus wanted to find a route to china that would undercut all the people along the silk road that would drive the prices of goods up.
Now that one mentions the new world, the "discovering" of this section of the world was not quite a discovery. people already lived here, called it turtle island but didn't communicate with people from other continents. Just because the Europeans arrived does not mean that the societies were not advanced. I would have like to hear about the cultures in the Teotihuacan area after the Mayans, and further info on the Pochteca trade routes. Sadly written history was destroyed by the Spanish upon colonization.
At the same time, the trade routes from Africa into the rest of the world are undermined. The Ghana, Mali and the Swahili had trade routes to the Sahara, which had access to the Mediterranean sea. I enjoyed reading this part the most because it was first time in my life that I learned that African trade was important in the Middle ages. This is something that needs to be put into more history books. African societies were more than self centered and dancers. I enjoyed this chapter.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Chapter 6!
The topic of this chapter is commonalities and variations. The chapter opens up with very shocking ones unfortunately. The world's population was very unevenly distributed. More than three quarters of the world populations lived in Eurasia, which made me wonder why the scale was so tipped during those times. The answer might likely be development, and what resources each land mass and/or civilization had to work with.
The second thing that jumped to my attention was the methods of ruling, since the Nubia civilization had women rule, which provided diversity among the society. In the other side of the spectrum, the Axum civilization administrated loosely, well sort of. Instead of collecting taxes this society wanted people to make tribute payments. In the middle of the spectrum, the Niger river civilization had no central power.
The maya Civilization is something that comes to no surprise, they collapsed because of warfare, and I have read this many times, watched documentaries, but I wonder what we would know about the civilization had we as a society have Mayan books and scriptures in abundance today.
One thing I did not comprehend on this reading was the collapse of Teotihuacan, because the book states that the city collapsed around 650. As someone who studied history in Mexico during grade school, we were not taught this. We were actually thought that the civilization evolved, due to the diversity of the Nahua, the Otomi, and the Totonac peoples. Unfortunately, world history undermines indigenous groups of present day Mexico that were smaller than Aztecs and Mayans, and of course the 1st ones which were the toltecs. For example, When people say Mexicans have Aztec blood I do not relate to it, because my Indigenous roots lie in the Purepecha civilization, which was not conquered by the Aztecs.
The topic of this chapter is commonalities and variations. The chapter opens up with very shocking ones unfortunately. The world's population was very unevenly distributed. More than three quarters of the world populations lived in Eurasia, which made me wonder why the scale was so tipped during those times. The answer might likely be development, and what resources each land mass and/or civilization had to work with.
The second thing that jumped to my attention was the methods of ruling, since the Nubia civilization had women rule, which provided diversity among the society. In the other side of the spectrum, the Axum civilization administrated loosely, well sort of. Instead of collecting taxes this society wanted people to make tribute payments. In the middle of the spectrum, the Niger river civilization had no central power.
The maya Civilization is something that comes to no surprise, they collapsed because of warfare, and I have read this many times, watched documentaries, but I wonder what we would know about the civilization had we as a society have Mayan books and scriptures in abundance today.
One thing I did not comprehend on this reading was the collapse of Teotihuacan, because the book states that the city collapsed around 650. As someone who studied history in Mexico during grade school, we were not taught this. We were actually thought that the civilization evolved, due to the diversity of the Nahua, the Otomi, and the Totonac peoples. Unfortunately, world history undermines indigenous groups of present day Mexico that were smaller than Aztecs and Mayans, and of course the 1st ones which were the toltecs. For example, When people say Mexicans have Aztec blood I do not relate to it, because my Indigenous roots lie in the Purepecha civilization, which was not conquered by the Aztecs.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Chapter 4/5
On one side we have the positive shaping to history, Jesus Buddha and Confucius, whom with their teachings they influenced the people. Jesus taught people to love thy enemy, and promoted forgiveness and peace. Jesus influenced what we know today as the western world, since many events in history have been influenced by Christianity. This set of teachings flourished during the roman empire, and later by the holy roman empire.
Buddha was born in India to a wealthy family in the warrior class. He was raised to not see the real world, only the world of abundance and lavishness. When he discovered the world he did not see, he set out to find meaning and fulfillment. this eventually led him to nirvana, the state of liberation. This set of teachings were revolutionary, because they defied the caste system and influenced many millions of people.
Confucius was a philosopher, whos teachings promoted morality as a person, as a government, and as a relationship between two people. His teachings influenced society in an institutional level, since he influenced how the Chinese government ran during the Qin dynasty. The analects were at some point the most studied book in china, making Confucius one of the most influential eastern leaders.
On the other side, we have the development of classism. Classism is the segregation of the poor and the rich. This is labeled based on power, wealth and occupation. India created the caste system, in which people could not progress in their socioeconomic status through their life, while china had a landlord system that treated peasants unfairly. Seems as if the institutions took control during this era, and have been as is ever since.
On one side we have the positive shaping to history, Jesus Buddha and Confucius, whom with their teachings they influenced the people. Jesus taught people to love thy enemy, and promoted forgiveness and peace. Jesus influenced what we know today as the western world, since many events in history have been influenced by Christianity. This set of teachings flourished during the roman empire, and later by the holy roman empire.
Buddha was born in India to a wealthy family in the warrior class. He was raised to not see the real world, only the world of abundance and lavishness. When he discovered the world he did not see, he set out to find meaning and fulfillment. this eventually led him to nirvana, the state of liberation. This set of teachings were revolutionary, because they defied the caste system and influenced many millions of people.
Confucius was a philosopher, whos teachings promoted morality as a person, as a government, and as a relationship between two people. His teachings influenced society in an institutional level, since he influenced how the Chinese government ran during the Qin dynasty. The analects were at some point the most studied book in china, making Confucius one of the most influential eastern leaders.
On the other side, we have the development of classism. Classism is the segregation of the poor and the rich. This is labeled based on power, wealth and occupation. India created the caste system, in which people could not progress in their socioeconomic status through their life, while china had a landlord system that treated peasants unfairly. Seems as if the institutions took control during this era, and have been as is ever since.
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