I think I enjoyed reading chapter 10 and starting to learn the beginnings of the classical era the most out of the semester. In my Religion class today we talked about the classical era and christendom being accepted by the Roman Empire as the official religion in 313 and I liked already knowing the backstory and history that lead to this event. Also I thought it was interesting about heretics and how in small private communities someone who didn't agree with the group was automatically outcasted as a heretic. If that was the case today I don't think anyone would have any friends or family at all. Another thing that I found interesting in this chapter was the split in the Roman Empire.
I have a hard time remembering which states and countries are involved with the East and West because I get my directions messed up like my left and rights. However I did find it interesting to learn about the nitty gritty details of each directions path after the split of the roman empire. In the East, Constantinople was where the new capital was moved to and the Byzantium and orthodox christians were on the rise. I always get confused between the Orthodox Christians and Greeks and the Ottoman Empire I think that their names sound similar to me so I was a little lost during this part of the class however I still enjoyed learning about the differences between them and the catholic church. Another thing that I found interesting in the split of the empire was how big of a role science played in forcing this split to be even greater and greater. Science created a large split between the empires and excommunication because of christendom.
In chapter 8 and 9 I enjoyed learning about the routes of trade through Europe and Asia as well as the tribute system in theory and in practice in China. I thought that the influence that these trade routes and tribute systems left on these continents was an important part of the building blocks to how they interact and exists as continents today. I feel like today with the United States offshoring technology and work into China it resembles a similar past that the chinese faced with the Mongols and tribute system. A type of system where one party is taking advantage of the other which ended in death and conquering. Hopefully nothing bad comes from America offshoring work to China and surrounding countries.
All in all I enjoyed the way in which Strayer presented his textbook for the most part which I think is hard for historical writers, especially textbook writers, to keep the attention of those who don't initially have any interest in history of the world. The only thing that I didn't enjoy about Strayers text was that I felt most chapters dragged on in the examples of many different aspects to whatever that chapters topic was. I feel like when studying this book in one semester there is so much material to cover and when reading about things that are not discussed in class it is sometimes a struggle to pick out the important points of information that should be remembered compared to the less important forgettable information.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Mongols
When debating over the Mongols in class I was a little disappointed that my luck put me on the side defending them for their barbarian and crazy ways. I was hoping to argue for the point that while the Mongols had some faults they should be still classified along with the other civilizations that we have categorized earlier in the semester.
Some key points that I took into consideration when preparing for the debate were the qualities that have characterized a civilization. The points that we had come up with earlier in class included that of a complex economy, trace, a system of centralized government, a common language and culture among the people living in the community, cities, city-states or some type of urban based community, advanced technology as well as writing and documentation for the happenings during those times. Agricultural base and large scale populations were other important aspects in civilizations as well as specialization and surplus, control of a water source or multiple water sources, social hierarchies among "governmental"officials or rulers of that civilization as well as spirituality and a common belief system among those living in these places and lastly was a military or type of protection system to warn off dangers and massive wipeouts through killings of the entire community.
When analyzing these points and trying to determine if the Mongols were or were not a civilization I came to terms to believe that they were indeed a civilization but an adapted one at that. They had advanced technology and militarily uses through learning the specialization of creating saddles to ride horses. They acquired skills and spirituality from those who they conquered and didn't force those new conquered people to conform to Mongol beliefs. They had a varied agricultural base with the main product being livestock which also doubled as a mobility utilization. They also used the meat and blood from their livestock to live off of. The Mongols had an organized system of government through the Khans and their centralized government was an adaption to the normally recognized capital city of a civilization. Normally capitals could be picked out instantly because of the high importance and effort put into showing the divinity and excellence of these high ranked officials but the Mongols had an adapted view. Being nomadic they moved constantly and had no time to set up a centralized capital. They also had a large scale population, control of water where ever they migrated to and advanced war tactics including a germ-fare that locked people in their city walls with infected bodies to kill them slowly.
The other side of the argument was much weaker and did not have as many points to defend those of the side claiming the Mongols to be a civilization and I think that was clear in our struggle during the debate. Points that should have been addressed I thought were interesting and hadn't thought about them until our professor pointed them out; does it matter if they were a civilization and how successful were the mongols at passing on their genes.
Some key points that I took into consideration when preparing for the debate were the qualities that have characterized a civilization. The points that we had come up with earlier in class included that of a complex economy, trace, a system of centralized government, a common language and culture among the people living in the community, cities, city-states or some type of urban based community, advanced technology as well as writing and documentation for the happenings during those times. Agricultural base and large scale populations were other important aspects in civilizations as well as specialization and surplus, control of a water source or multiple water sources, social hierarchies among "governmental"officials or rulers of that civilization as well as spirituality and a common belief system among those living in these places and lastly was a military or type of protection system to warn off dangers and massive wipeouts through killings of the entire community.
When analyzing these points and trying to determine if the Mongols were or were not a civilization I came to terms to believe that they were indeed a civilization but an adapted one at that. They had advanced technology and militarily uses through learning the specialization of creating saddles to ride horses. They acquired skills and spirituality from those who they conquered and didn't force those new conquered people to conform to Mongol beliefs. They had a varied agricultural base with the main product being livestock which also doubled as a mobility utilization. They also used the meat and blood from their livestock to live off of. The Mongols had an organized system of government through the Khans and their centralized government was an adaption to the normally recognized capital city of a civilization. Normally capitals could be picked out instantly because of the high importance and effort put into showing the divinity and excellence of these high ranked officials but the Mongols had an adapted view. Being nomadic they moved constantly and had no time to set up a centralized capital. They also had a large scale population, control of water where ever they migrated to and advanced war tactics including a germ-fare that locked people in their city walls with infected bodies to kill them slowly.
The other side of the argument was much weaker and did not have as many points to defend those of the side claiming the Mongols to be a civilization and I think that was clear in our struggle during the debate. Points that should have been addressed I thought were interesting and hadn't thought about them until our professor pointed them out; does it matter if they were a civilization and how successful were the mongols at passing on their genes.
Recent readings and paper
From the readings discussed in class today I thought it was interesting how they related to our research paper due Friday. Before starting my research for the possibility of other migrators who could have settled in America first I always assumed that Native Americans were the original people and never gave much other thought to it. However my opinion has definitely changed and not just because I had to pick a side for our paper to argue. I do believe that it is possible for Coastal peoples to have traveled from East Asia down the coast following kelp forests and eventually settling in America. I also believe that these people could have had some relation to the Chinese and Zhang's exploration missions in the 15th century. I think it's interesting to consider when thinking about the original settlers of certain places of the world and I have learned to think about it differently through an almost outside of the box way from this class. I knew that people had migrated from Africa some thousands of years ago but I never considered or really thought that everyone at one point originated out of Africa. Now that we have come to the end of the semester I can appreciate the migration paths that many of these people had to endure if they wanted to go to a new location.
Another point that I found interesting was the section on the Chinese and how they pulled out of exploring the world through conquests in boats as did the Europeans. I do agree with what the text says that China could have imposed their whole culture on the world if they hadn't withdrawn themselves from these excavations so quickly. I wouldn't go as far to say that it was the Chinese error but I do agree with the text's opinion that it was a mistake that definitely affect people on a global perspective both thousands of years ago as well as today.
Things that lost my attention when I was going through this chapter were the parts about the Ottoman Empire. I feel like whenever I learn about them I find myself forgetting everything about them in the following semester or whatnot. They are the one empire that has never left a lasting mark on me and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing yet. Civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt and other first civilizations will always have an impact but you would think that through the accomplishments and expansion of the Ottoman empire they would too leave an everlasting impact. Maybe I have just shut them out because whenever I seem to be learning about them it is at similar times with Greek and Roman societies and my interests just lay in what those civilizations and empires had to offer over those of the Ottoman empire. Hopefully if I take another History course in the future I can fix this problem with always shutting out the Ottoman empire from staying in my head for more than a few days or week because they did have great accomplishments and conquered and expanded across Europe in a vast way.
Another point that I found interesting was the section on the Chinese and how they pulled out of exploring the world through conquests in boats as did the Europeans. I do agree with what the text says that China could have imposed their whole culture on the world if they hadn't withdrawn themselves from these excavations so quickly. I wouldn't go as far to say that it was the Chinese error but I do agree with the text's opinion that it was a mistake that definitely affect people on a global perspective both thousands of years ago as well as today.
Things that lost my attention when I was going through this chapter were the parts about the Ottoman Empire. I feel like whenever I learn about them I find myself forgetting everything about them in the following semester or whatnot. They are the one empire that has never left a lasting mark on me and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing yet. Civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt and other first civilizations will always have an impact but you would think that through the accomplishments and expansion of the Ottoman empire they would too leave an everlasting impact. Maybe I have just shut them out because whenever I seem to be learning about them it is at similar times with Greek and Roman societies and my interests just lay in what those civilizations and empires had to offer over those of the Ottoman empire. Hopefully if I take another History course in the future I can fix this problem with always shutting out the Ottoman empire from staying in my head for more than a few days or week because they did have great accomplishments and conquered and expanded across Europe in a vast way.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Ch 9
I like how Strayer has adapted this mission of trying to stray from a Eurocentric type of view towards a more true world history perspective but I'm having some issues with that in chapter 8 and 9 as well as some other parts of the book. I can agree that his book has adapted a wider view of the term world history but it is still seemingly Eurocentric in the fact that most of what he covers shows impacts on "Eurasia." Maybe I haven't been reading clear enough and I'm missing the impacts on America and other countries or maybe he switches focuses from Eurasia to America and other countries in later chapters. So far it seems all that he has covered is the Maya or Olmec that were in Mesoamerica.
That being said I found chapter 9 to be very interesting especially the parts around women in the Song Dynasty. I remember learning about the binding of their feet in my freshman history class in high school and it always stuck with me as such a weird and obscene thing to me but to them it was what they considered normal. It makes me think of what they would consider weird and obscene if they were still alive today, social networking and internet relations would probably be considered completely insane if they time traveled to our century. Another thing that I found interest in the Song Dynasty was how even though it was less than a golden era for women since it was still ruled by a patriarchal society and there were set restricts from Confucianism and growing economies women still had new opportunities. They were allowed to work in and even own restaurants, they sold fish and vegetables in local markets as well as working as maids, cooks, and dressmakers. While women may have been cast to keep separate in every domain of life through Confucianism they still had a variety of opportunities which I did not anticipate to read about.
The last thing in thing in chapter 9 that struck me was the final section on Buddhism and how to India this was and is still probably their biggest gift to China. Buddhism entered via the Silk Road in the first and second centuries taking root in 300-800 ce and it still remains today. That's amazing to think about how a culture can spread through trade routes and take root and grow in a completely different country. The growth of chinese buddhism provoked resistance and criticism within the chinese state and destruction began against foreign religions in 841-845 but Buddhism did not disappear because of this, it remained an important element of popular religion. It is also amazing to think about in 12-14,000 years what might remain from our societies that can have impact on the following generations. Hopefully we can leave enough of our planet for societies to continue to grow and develop in 12 to 14 thousand years!
That being said I found chapter 9 to be very interesting especially the parts around women in the Song Dynasty. I remember learning about the binding of their feet in my freshman history class in high school and it always stuck with me as such a weird and obscene thing to me but to them it was what they considered normal. It makes me think of what they would consider weird and obscene if they were still alive today, social networking and internet relations would probably be considered completely insane if they time traveled to our century. Another thing that I found interest in the Song Dynasty was how even though it was less than a golden era for women since it was still ruled by a patriarchal society and there were set restricts from Confucianism and growing economies women still had new opportunities. They were allowed to work in and even own restaurants, they sold fish and vegetables in local markets as well as working as maids, cooks, and dressmakers. While women may have been cast to keep separate in every domain of life through Confucianism they still had a variety of opportunities which I did not anticipate to read about.
The last thing in thing in chapter 9 that struck me was the final section on Buddhism and how to India this was and is still probably their biggest gift to China. Buddhism entered via the Silk Road in the first and second centuries taking root in 300-800 ce and it still remains today. That's amazing to think about how a culture can spread through trade routes and take root and grow in a completely different country. The growth of chinese buddhism provoked resistance and criticism within the chinese state and destruction began against foreign religions in 841-845 but Buddhism did not disappear because of this, it remained an important element of popular religion. It is also amazing to think about in 12-14,000 years what might remain from our societies that can have impact on the following generations. Hopefully we can leave enough of our planet for societies to continue to grow and develop in 12 to 14 thousand years!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Comments
1. Annie's Blog:
I thought you gave a good summary of the chapter. I think that if people haven't had the chance to take History classes they might not know that many American traditions that we celebrate have found their roots in China, India and the Middle East. Good observation!
I thought you gave a good summary of the chapter. I think that if people haven't had the chance to take History classes they might not know that many American traditions that we celebrate have found their roots in China, India and the Middle East. Good observation!
2. Ben's Blog:
I agree with your last paragraph when you talk about how trends move from continent to continent through evolution and growth. I also think that it's amazing and as you said monumental. While you mentioned that of it begging the question of a universal driving force my interpretation is that of globalization. I think that idea describes the process in your last paragraph the best.
3. Hannah's Blog:
I think it's interesting how she talks about how all good things must come to an end, specially with Greece. It was a power that has left so many traditions and different aspects of culture behind it's unfortunate that this good empire and power had to come to an end.
4. Chris' Blog:
I agree with what you said about the Persian empire becoming too consumed with becoming a superpower. It seems to be a constant reoccurring factor in World History textbooks. I think that's why I have a similar interest as you in Greek history over the Persion failures of conquests. I also think it's interesting how you brought up Strayer commenting on US being the new Rome before we talked about it in groups today, good job!
5. Courtney's Blog:
5. Courtney's Blog:
I think what she says here about human beings all having one thing in common, agricultural revolution, is very true. While many civilizations have different religious practices or cultural differences everyone still developed through similar ways of the agricultural revolution and I think that's an interesting concept.
-Rachel
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Midterm prep
Prepping for the midterm tomorrow morning:
Paleolithic Era: 200,000-12,000 years ago.
1. We evolved as homo sapiens
2. We developed technology through basic stone tools.
3. Socially, we formed ourselves into small groups of gatherer-hunters.
4. We migrated out of Africa to almost all other continents, the idea of globalization.
Paleolithic Era is known as the Old Stone Era
Neolithic Era: 12,000 years ago.
1. We out competed all other species of homo.
2. We developed advanced tools for more complex purposes
3. Socially, we formed ourselves into small agricultural communities.
4. Human population was complete.
Neolithic Era is known as the New Stone Era or Agricultural Era.
Ancient Era: 3500 BC- 500 BC
1. We competed against ourselves for power, wealth, status leading to social hierarchies.
2. Writing developed.
3. Civilizations and city-states developed creating an agricultural surplus.
4. Interaction between people from different continents increases due to trade.
The development and growth from era to era created an everlasting effect that is still in effect today. What one generation or era learns is adapted to fit a new generation or era. The qualities of life and technologies that brought beneficial aspects to one era are adapted and changed to fit the new needs and qualities of life of another generation or era. This idea is what is so significant about human development starting 200,000 years ago. Homo sapiens developed from gatherer-hunters who lived in small bands of 20-25 people to huge civilizations and nations that spread across the whole globe today. Our technological, social, and cultural advances all have their roots in the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Ancient eras but as they did 200,000-12,000 years ago they adapted to change the technology and social way to fit their current quality of life. It's an interesting part of humanism and development as a species in general.
I wish that for our midterm we were allowed to bring a small outline or flash card of key points we wanted to discuss in our answers since there is so much material that has the possibility of being covered. It aso worries me that preparing for all 12 of these short answer questions for only 6 or 7 to be put on the midterm I haven't studied the right material. It's hard to gauge exactly what is important for such a broad range of questions, especially the contrasting and comparisons of the first civilizations. We'll see how day one of the Midterm tomorrow turns out, hoping for the best.
Paleolithic Era: 200,000-12,000 years ago.
1. We evolved as homo sapiens
2. We developed technology through basic stone tools.
3. Socially, we formed ourselves into small groups of gatherer-hunters.
4. We migrated out of Africa to almost all other continents, the idea of globalization.
Paleolithic Era is known as the Old Stone Era
Neolithic Era: 12,000 years ago.
1. We out competed all other species of homo.
2. We developed advanced tools for more complex purposes
3. Socially, we formed ourselves into small agricultural communities.
4. Human population was complete.
Neolithic Era is known as the New Stone Era or Agricultural Era.
Ancient Era: 3500 BC- 500 BC
1. We competed against ourselves for power, wealth, status leading to social hierarchies.
2. Writing developed.
3. Civilizations and city-states developed creating an agricultural surplus.
4. Interaction between people from different continents increases due to trade.
The development and growth from era to era created an everlasting effect that is still in effect today. What one generation or era learns is adapted to fit a new generation or era. The qualities of life and technologies that brought beneficial aspects to one era are adapted and changed to fit the new needs and qualities of life of another generation or era. This idea is what is so significant about human development starting 200,000 years ago. Homo sapiens developed from gatherer-hunters who lived in small bands of 20-25 people to huge civilizations and nations that spread across the whole globe today. Our technological, social, and cultural advances all have their roots in the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Ancient eras but as they did 200,000-12,000 years ago they adapted to change the technology and social way to fit their current quality of life. It's an interesting part of humanism and development as a species in general.
I wish that for our midterm we were allowed to bring a small outline or flash card of key points we wanted to discuss in our answers since there is so much material that has the possibility of being covered. It aso worries me that preparing for all 12 of these short answer questions for only 6 or 7 to be put on the midterm I haven't studied the right material. It's hard to gauge exactly what is important for such a broad range of questions, especially the contrasting and comparisons of the first civilizations. We'll see how day one of the Midterm tomorrow turns out, hoping for the best.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Chapter 4.... and handout synop
The preface and combination of Chapter 4 when I was scanning through before actually diving into reading it seemed a little daunting and well, boring. I've been finding it easier to take notes on what I'm reading and then going back to highlighting points that our teacher covers in class which I have in my notes. I found this method to be most helpful for the next chapter because it shows me what I've focused on too much and what I seemed to skip over in a daze.
Out of Chapter 4 the most fascinating thing to me were the points about the Greek Golden Era. The 50+ years that followed after the defeat of the Persian allowed for a transformation from small competing city-states of Greek to come together and unify for a common purpose. This common purpose extended into a peace period where what developed would go on to be the most remembered thing about this Greek civilization. Like Prof Andrews mentioned in class the Golden Age of the Greeks gave way to the start of famous Greek culture, including the Parthenon, Greek theatre, philosophy and some of the greatest Philosophers, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, etc...
The play off the Golden Era I think allowed for the writings of our handout regarding the war between the Persians and Greeks. Before the peace period that came after this war there would not have been the unity or cohesion between the city-states of Greece for a document like this to exist. It's amazing to think that if one event had not had occurred that another event would not have either, as in the case of this war. If it had not occurred no document would have been written as I said before.
This golden era struck my attention most I think because it was what I happened to remember from my 7th grade World History class. I remember tracing maps of the Greek peninsula and the land mass, Peloponnesus stuck in my head and when it was brought up in class brought me back to the time of easy 7th grade classes... which I know miss compared to these college classes. However while I think that the Greek Golden Era is extremely fascinating I still can't help but wonder what other civilizations existed around them that Paleontologists or Archaeologists have not discovered.
Going back to the first wave of first civilizations I still have an interest in the Indus Valley civilization, like I said before they were a people of over 40,000 citizens! That's a huge number that cannot just go unnoticed as magnificent. I start to wonder if at the time of the Ancient Greeks and Persians if there were civilizations that existed in the Americas, Australia, or various parts of Africa. Maybe this is just me speculating and not being as well knowing in World History as our Professor but it still always makes me wonder to how many other civilizations existed in these similar time periods that have too gone unnoticed.
Out of Chapter 4 the most fascinating thing to me were the points about the Greek Golden Era. The 50+ years that followed after the defeat of the Persian allowed for a transformation from small competing city-states of Greek to come together and unify for a common purpose. This common purpose extended into a peace period where what developed would go on to be the most remembered thing about this Greek civilization. Like Prof Andrews mentioned in class the Golden Age of the Greeks gave way to the start of famous Greek culture, including the Parthenon, Greek theatre, philosophy and some of the greatest Philosophers, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, etc...
The play off the Golden Era I think allowed for the writings of our handout regarding the war between the Persians and Greeks. Before the peace period that came after this war there would not have been the unity or cohesion between the city-states of Greece for a document like this to exist. It's amazing to think that if one event had not had occurred that another event would not have either, as in the case of this war. If it had not occurred no document would have been written as I said before.
This golden era struck my attention most I think because it was what I happened to remember from my 7th grade World History class. I remember tracing maps of the Greek peninsula and the land mass, Peloponnesus stuck in my head and when it was brought up in class brought me back to the time of easy 7th grade classes... which I know miss compared to these college classes. However while I think that the Greek Golden Era is extremely fascinating I still can't help but wonder what other civilizations existed around them that Paleontologists or Archaeologists have not discovered.
Going back to the first wave of first civilizations I still have an interest in the Indus Valley civilization, like I said before they were a people of over 40,000 citizens! That's a huge number that cannot just go unnoticed as magnificent. I start to wonder if at the time of the Ancient Greeks and Persians if there were civilizations that existed in the Americas, Australia, or various parts of Africa. Maybe this is just me speculating and not being as well knowing in World History as our Professor but it still always makes me wonder to how many other civilizations existed in these similar time periods that have too gone unnoticed.
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