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.

2 civilizations comparisons

The Indus River Valley was a unique ancient civilization and it stood out from the Egyptian civilization in a few ways. One way was the systematic grid pattern of the cities layout that the Indus Valley had. The Indus River Valley also had substantial walls made from mud bricks. This contrasts from the Egyptian layout of cities. For the most part the cities were spread out on a line, mostly following the Nile river. Another difference is the writings in these ancient civilizations. In the Indus Valley, pictographs was used for writing. A fish would typically be drawn as a fish. In Egypt, hieroglyphs were used and these were a series of signs that were used as words and consonants. The picture drawn was not the actual representation. The last major difference between these two civilizations was the hierarchy of them. In the Indus River Valley there does not seem to be some social structure or hierarchy. In ancient Egypt there was a major hierarchy starting with the Pharaoh and working its way down to slaves. Both of these civilizations were fairly successful despite there many differences.

Reading Blog #3

One interesting thing that was kind of covered in the last chapter but ties into this chapter is how different civilizations became civilized all around the same time. This includes the civilizations in Mesopotamia such as Babylon, all the way to civilizations in South America called Norte Chico. Also interesting was the writing in ancient civilizations. It is interesting that each civilization came up with their own writing systems, for example the Sumerians had cuneiform, the Egyptians had Hieroglyphs, and Chinese civilizations had pictographs. I would have thought that all of the writings would have been fairly similar to each other as these civilizations all became civilizations at the same time, but this was not the case. Also interesting is that after 5500 years, almost none of these ancient writings are around anymore. Most civilizations have developed the modern day alphabet. Lastly interesting was the differences between city states, such as Sumer, and the large one area nations such as Egypt. Sumer had about a dozen or more city states, so it was not really one unified civilization like Egypt might have been. Egypt was a cosmopolitan urban center where it had one center and around it was an agricultural base. Both, while different, were exceptional ancient civilizations that flourished in their areas.

Blog Post #4

Document 2.2 Law and Justice in Ancient Mesopotamia: If you knew nothing else about ancient Mesopotamia, what could you conclude from the Code of Hammurabi about the economy and society  of this civilization in the eighteenth century B.C.E.? What kind of economy prevailed in the region? What distinct social groups are mentioned in the code? What rights did women enjoy and to what restrictions were they subject?

Looking just off of the Code of Hammurabi, it looks like the economy was mostly based off of a coinage system. This is more advanced than a bartering system which is really cool for a early civilization. It also shows that in the workforce, laziness is not accepted at all. If a field is hired out for at least three years then the person who has working the field now owns it. It also looks like there is a bartering system in place. Law 271 says "If any one hire oxen, cart and driver, he shall pay one hundred and eighty ka of corn per day..." This looks like a bartering system because instead of coins being traded for a service it is corn.

Slaves are a major part of the code and they are treated like property. There is a big difference in laws between free men and slaves. The only difference between laws 198 and 199 is what happens if a freed man loses an eye or gets a bone broken, and if the same thing happens to a man's slave.

Women were treated mostly like property in this time. Rule 132 says that a man's wife will have to jump into the river for her husband even if she didn't do anything wrong. Also in many of the rules the wife as no opportunity to leave the marriage but the husband can pretty much at any time. One rule that kind of goes towards women is if a man does not have intercourse with her she is not a wife to that man. Also a woman can be pardoned by her husband in some instances.

Overall rules are favorable to free males, while all other people are subject to much harsher punishments that are unjust.

Reading Blog Post #2

As a science major, one thing that interests me is evolution. The book mentions how in the "Agricultural Revolution," humans started to direct evolution. The example the book gives is how farmers directed corn cobs to go from 1 inch to reach 6 inches. Sometimes what we think of as unintelligent people were actually really intelligent. Another mind blowing thing of the Neolithic age was it occurred more than once in many different areas of the world. It occurred separately in China, Mesoamerica, eastern North America, and other places including the Fertile Crescent. It is also believed that all of these areas went through this evolution at the same time.  Also interesting is how even in the neolithic era, women were equal to men. Currently women fight to gain equality but just looking back at earlier times one can see what it takes for women to be equal. One relationship that begins to develop is the relationship between technology and freedom. As time goes on in the neolithic age, technology becomes more advanced, and there are more slaves. This is because people do not have to worry about where there next meal will come from all of the time, so they can begin to build societies. With these societies came slaves.
Nisa's story shows that people now and paleolithic people are not so different. Nisa talked about how when her brother was really young she would play with him, but when he got old enough to run and play they started to be mean to each other. This relates to many siblings including myself. Everything seemed simpler back then. To Nisa the only thing that seemed to matter was eating. She would be super happy when her dad would bring home food. Most people expect their parents to bring home food now, its not "wondering all day if I'll get to eat or not." Also in modern time people complain when they don't get the newest phone or something of that nature. Back in Nisa's time, people were content. Marriages for Nisa seem very similar to marriages now. For Nisa she got dressed up, and there was dancing and it was a celebration. This sounds very similar to marriages now in this age. One thing that was different was Nisa learned to love her husband instead of loving her husband before marriage. The way Nisa sees God is a way many people, not all, see God. Nisa sees God as someone who takes people away from her, which is a common response by a lot of people in mourning. One thing that is weird is how in Nisa's life, affairs were completely ok. Overall Paleolithic people don't seem that different than people today.

Reading Blog Post #1

The analogy the book used of World history books to Russian nesting dolls was very interesting. The book says that all historical accounts are in some larger context, as a story inside of a story unfold, just like a Russian nesting doll. The book in the prologue emphasizes the word connections. It talks about how distant peoples have connections throughout history. Often history repeats itself so connections can be made both across the globe and across time.
It is interesting that Africa has not had a lot of archeological research yet the world believes it to be the origin of humans. Also it is interesting that time and climate have erased much of the record of these early people. It would be fascinating if archaeologists had more evidence on what the early people would have been like. Also intriguing is one of the things that separates humans from earlier species is the fact that they hunted instead of just scavenged. What is mind blowing is how fast humans have evolved in relation to the time span of the universe. The universe is believed to be about 13.7 billion years, and in about 250,000 years humans have gone from lone nomads, to paleolithic societies, to the modern societies seen today. Interesting is the fact that todays societies work to keep people free, yet people were never freer than in Paleolithic times.  Sometimes by looking back at the past, problems of today can be fixed. The book notes that people typically lived no longer than thirty-five years of age which is kind of scary actually. Overall the past is very interesting in learning how in just a short amount of time people can change so dramatically.

Yay - I'm done!