HISTORY TIME!

Leslie's post: 9) Chapter 18 contains some powerful images. Why do you suppose Strayer chose to include these specific images? How do they illustrate concepts introduced in this chapter? Choose one image and a) describe it, b) explain how it illustrates a concept from the chapter, and c) give your general thoughts about the image, as you might do in the context of a small in-class discussion group. The images you can choose from are (your version of the textbook may use different titles and page numbers):             An American View of British Imperialism (p.790)             European Racial Images (p.791)             Map 18.2 Conquest and Resistance in Colonial Africa (p.796)             Colonial Violence in the Congo (p.803)  ...

1)  What was The Great Dying? Cite examples and details from the historical record in your response. Could this be considered a genocide? Why/ why not? The Great Dying was a massive demographic collapse   among the Native Americans. They had a major effect on the populations that they came in contact with as well.  These places included the Caribbean islands, central Mexico, the Mayan highlands of southern Mexico and central America, and the Andes Mountains. The Great Dying was brought up of multiple infectious diseases and sicknesses that followed one after another for more than a century and a half.  I can't imagine dealing with unknown disease for a CENTURY AND A HALF.  Mind blowing. It began when new disease pathogens were inadvertently introduced to American Indian populations by early Spanish and Portuguese invaders. Owing to the long separation between the western and eastern hemispheres, the Native Americans were not immune to these diseases that they ...

Why did the Scientific Revolution occur in Europe rather than in China or the Islamic world? Europe’s historical development as a reinvigorated and fragmented civilization arguably gave rise to conditions particularly favorable to the scientific enterprise. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Europeans had evolved a legal system that guaranteed a mea sure of independence for a variety of institutions — the Church, towns and cities, guilds, professional associations, and universities. This legal revolution was based on the idea of a “corporation,” a collective group of people that was treated as a unit, a legal person, with certain rights to regulate and control its own members. Most important for the development of science in the West was the autonomy of its emerging universities. By 1215, the University of Paris was recognized as a “corporation of masters and scholars,” which could admit and expel students, establish courses of instruction, and grant a “license to teac...

What drove European involvement in the world of Asian commerce? The most immediate motivation for this massive effort was the desire for tropical spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and, above all, pepper — which were widely used as condiments and preservatives and were sometimes regarded as aphrodisiacs. A fifteenth-century English book declared: “Pepper [from Java] is black and has a good smack, And every man doth buy it."  Other products of the East, such as Chinese silk, Indian cottons, rhubarb for medicinal purposes, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, were also in great demand.

In what ways did European empires in the Americas resemble their Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman counterparts, and in what respects were they different? Do you find the similarities or the differences more striking? "European innovations in mapmaking, navigation, sailing techniques, and ship design — building on earlier models from the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and Chinese regions — likewise enabled Europeans to penetrate the Atlantic Ocean. The enormously rich markets of the Indian Ocean world provided little incentive for its Chinese, Indian, or Muslim participants to venture much beyond their own waters. Europeans, however, were powerfully motivated to do so. After 1200 or so, European elites were increasingly aware of their region’s marginal position in the rich world of Eurasian commerce and were determined to gain access to that world. Once the Americas were discovered, windfalls of natural resources, including highly productive agricultural lands, drove further e...

Debate with Tony! Tony's statement: Here’s the statement : “The first half of the 2 nd millennium AD marked a period of rebirth in China that was just as significant as the Renaissance in Europe.” You may argue FOR or AGAINST. (For this debate, assume the first half of the 2 nd millennium AD refers to approximately 1000-1500 AD.) Tony's point FOR:  I would argue FOR this point. My most important fact to back this up in support of the statement, is China's innovation. The Silk Road's changed the worlds economy forever. The different resources among the different climates and regions of the Silk Road created the need for humanity to rely on each other. This goes such a long way in the history of humanity, I would indeed argue, this time period in China was as significant as the Renaissance in Europe. My response AGAINST:  Within Europe, there were indeed many (national/regional) renaissances, not just one. Chinese intellectuals evidently felt compelled ...

Breathing; such a crazy thing we take advantage of.  I've learned to "breathe" a lot more within the past few years.  It's always nice to just take a step back, relax, and breathe.  With a lot of anxieties these days, breathing has helped me more than I care to admit.  It is something we don't really think about, but especially with everything going on these days, it is something that I think we've noticed more, and noticed we take it for granted. Within my profession, I teach certain group exercise classes; a breathing class happens to be one of them.  Well, a breathing and stretching class.  It's crazy to me how many people don't take the time to step back and breathe; and it's also crazy how much the class helps them.  Breathing is a necessity, but it is also a privilege in a sense.  We as humans deserve the right to breathe, whether it be metaphorically speaking or in the actual sense.  While I do not, and will not ever understand th...

PROS:  1) Mongols assisted with the re-invigoration of cross Eurasian trade. 2) Mongols increased communication throughout Eurasia. 3) Mongols trade flourished with lots of spices and different cuisines. 4) Mongols were open and welcoming to different religions. 5) Mongols built canals that improves transportation and communication. CONS: 1) Mongols were brutal; killing almost one million people during their empire.   Not only did the Mongols kill the people they have conquered, they completely destroyed all evidence of living. 2) Mongols empire did not last very long. 3) Mongols were responsible for spreading the plague; they traveled throughout many countries which brought growth in the deathly plague. 4) Mongols were not interested in architecture, because they were nomads. 5)  Mongol campaigns in Northern China caused extensive destruction and numerous architectures and art were destroyed.

       "The word  Christendom generally refers to the global community of those who adhere to the Christian faith, with religious practices and dogmas gleaned from the teachings of the Bible. Spread throughout the world, Christendom consists of literally billions of people among many nations and peoples of various ethnicities." The earliest vision of Christendom was a vision of a Christian theocracy,  a  government  founded upon and upholding  Christian values , whose institutions are spread through and over with  Christian doctrine . In this period, members of the Christian  clergy  wield  political authority . The specific relationship between the political leaders  and the clergy varied but, the national and political divisions were at times subsumed under the leadership of the  church as an institution . This  model of church-state relations  was accepted by various  Church leaders ...

I was angry to read about the Women in the Song Dynasty.  It made me to sad to read this because it is something that is still very prevalent in China, and that is sexism.  I do understand the roles than men and women played back then, and men did serve a higher purpose because of their skills.  I realize that back then women were degraded, and not allowed to do many thing, but it angers me that not much has changed. “The boy leads the girl, the girl follows the boy; the duty of husbands to be resolute and wives to be docile begins with this.”  For men, masculinity came to be defined less in terms of horseback riding, athleticism, and the warrior values of northern nomads and more in terms of the refined pursuits of calligraphy,  scholarship, painting, and poetry. Corresponding views of feminine qualities emphasized women’s weakness, reticence, and delicacy. Women were also frequently viewed as a distraction to men’s pursuit of a contemplative and in...

      What I found quite interesting was just learning about the Silk Road in general.  I find that the idea of the Silk Road was very fascinating to see such a large trade span across so many areas of land.  It went across China, Middle East, forest lands of Siberia, grasslands of Central Asia, India and the Mediterranean Basin.  "The Eurasian landmass has long been home to the majority of humankind as well as to the world’s most productive agriculture, largest civilizations, and greatest concentration of pastoral peoples. Beyond its many separate societies and cultures, Eurasia also gave rise to one of the world’s most extensive and sustained networks of exchange among its diverse peoples, known as the Silk Roads, (284)." To have something that large and yet so sustainable and productive is mind boggling to me, especially so long ago when they did not have the technology and resources like we do today.  To build something like that and maintain i...