Renaissance in China

After reading about China, I think it is fair to say that China had a renaissance as significant as the European one. In order to have a renaissance, the civilization has to have a classical era, then a fall, and then a rebirth of the classical era. China had a classical era, with seminal thinkers like Confucius. Then they had a fall around 220 AD with the Han dynasty. Then, it can be clearly seen that they rose again during the Tang and Song dynasty. I personally don’t believe economic success helps prove they had a renaissance but China during this time period did have economic success. Also seen in this era is major discoveries by China such as gunpowder, paper, and the iron plow. The renaissance is a rebirth. Seen in this era is a rebirth of seminal thinker’s ideas. Buddhism and Taoism were two major seminal thinker’s ideas reborn during this era. All of these examples point to the fact that China had a renaissance as significant as the European one.

Reading Blog #10

One thing that really interested me in chapter 12 was The Waldseemüller Map of 1507. In this photo it shows that Africa and Europe are the center of the earth, and America is just a small sliver of a land mass. It is interesting to me that in just a small amount of time how much we have learned about our earth, and even past our earth into space now. Also interesting to me is how far Portugal traveled to be involved in the Sea Road. Map 12.3 shows the sea route of the Portuguese all the way around Africa into the Indian Ocean. The book talks about the sailor Vasco da Gama, a sailor that I had heard about before but I didn’t know too much specific information about. The book talked about his voyage around South Africa, along the East African coast, and how with the help of a Muslim pilot, he made it into southern India after crossing the Indian Ocean. Overall I think reading about Europe in the 15th century was the most interesting to me, most likely because that is my origins.

Reading Blog #9

In chapter 9, Islam was discussed, not only as a religion but also as an empire. The islamic empire is one of the best examples of showing that the classical era did not end in 500 AD. One way that this is the case is in conquest. The Mongols and the crusaders both came in conquest against Islam and this is one of the characteristics of the classical era. Spanning more than one continent was another characteristic of the classical era and Islam was the first global civilization according to Strayer. This shows that they were also a classical era civilization. Lastly Islam had cosmopolitan centers, another characteristic of the classical era. One cosmopolitan center was Baghdad, established in 756 AD. this date shows that Islam was a classical civilization after 500 AD. This shows that the classical era did not end until way after its established date. Reading this chapter really opened my eyes up to this fact, and that is what made it most interesting.

Reading Blog #8

One thing that caught my eye in chapter 10 was map 10.4. In this map it showed where the catholic christians were, the orthodox christians, the muslims, and the pagans were. It also showed the crusades but this wasn’t what I really noticed. I found it interesting that west was the catholics then to the east of them was the orthodox christians, and then the muslims. I found it interesting that it wasn’t all mixed through, it followed a west to east pattern. I also found it interesting that at this time Russia was predominantly orthodox christian, I had just never known that before reading this book. Also interesting to me was how reason and faith began to contradict each other, they did not go hand in hand. Students in a monastic school in France asked their teacher to provide proof for the existence of God based solely on reason, and thus the divide began. Overall learning about how christianity spread in this chapter was interesting.

Reading Blog #7

Chapter 7 was interesting because it touched on things that I had heard about and also things that I had never heard about before. The thing that I had heard about before was the silk road. I had never heard about the sand road or the sea road before this text though. One interesting thing that was traded that one normally does not think about is disease. A disease that was transmitted by sea trade plagued Athens and caused about 25% of the army of Athens to die. Small Pox and Measles affected the citizens of the Roman Empire and Han dynasty through the Silk Road. In most of my previous world history classes I only learned about the silk road because it pertained to the western world, but Strayer focuses a lot on the whole world in his textbook, and therefore focuses on the eastern world also. This is why he includes the sand road and the sea road. The sand road focuses mostly in western Africa. Gold, slaves and salt were major things traded on this road. This chapter focused on trade was overall very interesting because it focused on all areas of the world, not just the western world. 

Reading Blog #6

One thing that is interesting about the Americas is how much they accomplished, and how much culture they had, for how little of them there were. Occupying over 25% of the world, the Americas never had more than 8% of the population between 400 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E. The Maya people are some of the most interesting of the Americas in this time era. The Mayans have been tracked back to as far s 2000 B.C.E. with ceremonial centers that would be in present day Guatemala and the Yucatán region of Mexico. By 1000 B.C.E. there were already concentrated population centers and monumental architecture like the site of El Mirador which was home to tens of thousands of people. El Mirador was a temple like pyramid that was one of the largest in the world. The mayans are even more well known for their accomplishments in the first millennium. Between 250 C.E. and 900 C.E. intellectuals developed the concept of the number zero and place holding allowing for complex calculations. They were also able to plot the cycles of planets, predict eclipses, and construct calendars. The mayans were also the reason that many people believed the world would end in 2012. Also interesting in the Americas was the mound building cultures versus the ancestral pueblo cultures. The Pueblo Bonito was a major accomplishment for the Ancestral Pueblo people. Also interesting was how astronomy affected these American people. There were highly skilled astronomers in the Chaco elite. Also interesting was how turquoise ornaments became a feature of commerce in that area. All of these things together only scratch the surface of the major civilizations at work in the Americas.

Reading Blog #5

Reading the preview to unit 2, I was excited to learn that we would get to learn about Alexander the Great, as well as the Roman Empire. These are some of the major civilizations from this time and they both accomplished some major feats. Also interesting is that the total population of Greece and the Aegean basin was just 2 million to 3 million, which, compared to the Persian Empire, is just a small amount. With just a small amount of people the Greeks were able to arguably accomplish more than the Persians. The Greeks also had a lot of land per person compared to the Persians. The greek colonization map compared to the Persians looks a lot bigger. I am referring to map 3.1 and map 3.2 in the world history textbook. Lastly, I found really interesting the Roman Republic. The Romans took great pride in their political system because they thought they had more freedom than their neighbors who were ruled by autocrats. Their empire building process took over 500 years but it was one of the biggest the world has ever seen. This time of history is one of the most fascinating to look at because of the magnitude of everything that happened.