Chapt. 13 15th Century

Arguably, the 15th Century is considered to be one of the biggest major turning points in human history. Set around this time and before, nomads had wandered the continents, traveling from one land to the next, in order to survive. The once hunters/gatherers eventually settled on different pieces of land, where food and water were plentiful, to establish communities of people sharing a common language, provide a trading network, and soon a governing system. These governing bodies started as chiefdoms that eventually evolved into a more complex government with high ranking officials setting the laws and restrictions for the newly formed civilizations. Europe and China saw this progress becoming more efficient and benefitial for their people. Europe, especially, gained a lot from their prosperous Agricultural Revolution, with their new farming techniques and food processing. What I found interesting, though, was reading about the different farming styles developed in Australia before the 15th Century. A dispute over whether the environment in Australia wasn't sustainable for farming was made to suggest the natives created a different method to growing crops and food. Indeed, they did; they developed a technique to burn the underbush in order to make hunting easier and grow plants. This was known as "fire-stick farming." However, these Australian tribes weren't in established communties as were their Eurasian and American counterparts.

When one looks at China and Europe, they can see the vast similarities and differences of economical and social stability in both civilizations. At the time of the Ming Dynasty, China grew tired of Mongol rule and sought to put their old country back on its feet. They looked to the old traditions of past dynasties for a more centralized government and began rebuilding the canals. Their economy had recovered and China became more prosperous with its cultivalation restored, improving the irrigation systems, and so on. At one point, it was believed that if China was to continue to prosper, she must make contact with the outside world and start expeditions to share their customs. The plan was turned down, as others felt that China was too "self-sufficient" to need other nations' trades or customs. Considering how China did well on its own, Europe was widely divided with each country having its own government, set of laws, trade systems, and militaries. The strive for more wealth and power often led to conflicts between Europeans, so that one can ripe the benefits of having an economic advantage over others. The most interesting period to bring Europe out the plague, the dark ages, and conflicts was the Renaissance. It was the time when people broke away from the Christian faith to come up with individual ideas and focusing more on the people. Renaissance artists did work mainly on contemporary matters; Michelangelo and Leanordo da Vinci wanted the focus of their master pieces to be on the natural human body, not what would be expected. Then, of course, there was Columbus's 1492 voyage to America or when it was known as the New World. No one then realized how huge of an impact his journey would have on the rest of the world, not just European civilization. Interestingly enough, a man named Zheng He wanted to expand China's customs and culture to the outside world, but not like Columbus and other Europeans, who sought the need to take to satisfy their country's growing power. Though Zheng was forgotten for some time and Columbus is now highly regarded in the Western history, it was unimaginable back in their time to see what endless opportunties their voyages would bring back to their homeland and the rest of mankind (trade, commerce, alliances, etc.).     

Vikings and Polynesians

When reading about the Vikings and Polynesians, it became rather interesting to me how both groups were not as history has perceived them. Vikings were not always barbaric as we'd like to thing they are with their weapons and brutal attack tactics; the Polynesians are a group that I'd never heard, but it so happens that they share some common ground with their European counterparts.

In the past, historians had difficulty uncovering what life as a viking was all about. They usually depended on some form of written records, describing the ways of the culture, and the impact it had on its neighbors and enemies. Most of the time, what was written usaully was pretty biased as they were scribed by people, who were literate and quite dispassioniate of those they portrayed as illiterate savages. Western Europeans referred to the Vikings as Normans, men who came from the north. This is one of many names given to the Vikings as much of the old world didn't know what to make of them. Thus was written the narrow perception that Vikings were nothing more than vicious savages. Thankfully, we've soon found that archeological remains and other studies have helped to clear up any questions historians had (and still have) about the Viking way of life. Vikings were, for the most part, a 'material culture" that made siginificant technologies to allow themselves access to trade, commerce, and to travel the world they eventually conquered. They expanded not just all over Europe, but in parts of North America from Greenland to the icy lands of Canada. This makes them the first whites to step foot on the North America continent and before Columbus in 1492. However, this move was only partial compared to the large expansion the Vikings made from the Caspian Sea to the Labrador, the eastern part of Canada. Originally, the Vikings were all from Scandinavia, a region established by people from the late Roman times. This region consist of Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians - Germanic people of different nationalities, but shared a common language. Their lifestyle limited them to a strain of crops that grew rarely during the harsh cold seasons. Though Vikings were not farmers, they engaged in herding, hunting, and trapping prey for their survival. In a sense, they were free men, with the exception that there were regional lords or Jarls, as they were called, who ruled the small, individual propteries of land. It soon came time when the Vikings needed to expand on their daily supply of food and to enhance their way of life. The most interesting aspect of the Viking culture was their use of transport to conquer other lands. Known as "longboats", these sea crafts were put into effect before the Viking Age with unique characteristics. Each one was tall, matching, and large with a curved bow and stern  to allow for a great number of men to board. The sail and mast came much later as the Vikings realized the need to power through a storm or be pushed swiftly by the wind. Once the Vikings had their longboats, they set out to gain power and wealth. With each land they conquered and colonized, the trade market boomed throughout every Viking held city and commerce vastly expanded. It all but collapsed when Knut the Great of Denmark nearly succeeded in bringing the Vikings together as one great northern empire until he died. Not only that, but many local groups became more independent and some converted to Christianity, thus depriving each other of their common language and identity.

The Polynesians had no writting system to be preserved for our eyes, nor were they most understood culture to have ever existed. The European discovery of these people didn't occur until the sixteenth century and by that time, most Polynesians had lost their identity and memory of their actual origins. They spoke a language somewhat close to the Austronesian tongue and made pottery, which symbolize much of what their culture once was. Polynesians grew fruits and plants, but were not farmers. They had their share of domesticated animals, but similar to the Vikings' situations, none of it was enough. Their people made use of canoes to travel back and forth between near by islands, but these crafts were not meant for long journeys out into the Pacific. Polynesians switched their canoes with their newly developed vessels to counter the problem of long ocean voyages. These vessels were much like true ships, with platforms, wide decks, huge sails and masts for the strong winds to carry them for long distances. Many were well settled in the lands they dwelled in, but from east to west, each Polynesian group had its own religious practice and worship, distinctive in a number of ways. None in this culture had any grudges towards one another, as they were all dependent on each other and way too far to reach in the case of war-like strageties. Much like the Vikings, though, the Polynesians went into decline and Peruvian slavers came to destroy their way of life. No one lived to keep the memories of this culture alive.           

Chapt. 12 Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage

The history of the earliest civilizations all began with the spread of nomadic tribes, seeking fertile land with enough supply of water to make a living. Originally, nomads wandered the regions of Eurasia, settling in one area and then moving on to the next when conditions proved to be unbearable. Eventually, many nomads established themselves in small communities which paved the way for expansion into cities and then society. However, not all tribes were situated in cities; the Mongolians were known to have created a civilization that had cities or empires to expand their way of life. They made use of the land they lived by using their livestock for food producing and transportation. Thus, these people are remembered as pastoral nomads - tribes who had their cattle as their means to survive. Pastoral societies were rather small and more community based when it came down to raising the livestock. They weren't as productive, but their unique techniques of herding cattle assured them a plentiful supply of food and useful transportation. Everyone shared a common ancestry and there arose nobles or the wealthiest of the pastoral people, depending on who had the largest flock. Women were highly regarded in the pastoral way of life and many were political advisors or involved in military affairs. They were as skilled as the men on horseback and could make anything from skin to leather-made material. The role of pastoral women, though, was frowned upon by some Western writers and Chinese scholars at the time. One great characteristic the pastoral tribes had was their capability to mobilize their villages if they needed to find a safe, better land. Of course, they couldn't survive on their own without the interaction with their other agricultural neighbors. Food, goods, and luxury items were available within the neighboring farming communities. Tribal feuds often existed between the pastoral people as maintaining enough wealth to build armies and establish a political system were difficult to put together. The pastorals then spread out to the different religions in the regio, such as Christianity and Islam, to help become acquainted with other people's ways. Pastoral life styles began to change as all tribes came together to form a centralized political system, which created civilizations that became empires in India, Persia, and China. Perhaps the largest land based empire to arise out of Eurasia was the Mongolian empire. The Mongols had a truly, fascinating culture with shamans whom they used to predict the empire's future and the outcome that followed. Mongolian troops went out all across Eurasia, allowing the empire to settle in those lands and make it their own. The military was not as large as most, but with dedicated leadership of their ruler, Chinnggis Khan, the Mongolian armies were far more organized, better led, and many worthy men from various tribes were mixed within the units. The Mongolian empire soon expanded its borders as far as Western Europe, creating a vast system of trade and cultural network. It came with a price, though, as the plague start up in much of Eurasia, then on to China, and finally most of Europe. Nomadic existance is one source that historians have attempted to try to interpret. It was hard at first for the most advanced civilizations then portrayed the nomads as bloodthirsty barbarians, who's only thought was to bring chaos to others and leave destruction in their path. Due to no record of any written language, historians have had to rely on "less-than-unbiased observers" for what is remembered of the nomadic tribes thousands of years ago. Many have concluded, however, that no matter how history tells it, nomads set the foundations for civilization by adapting to inhospitable environments, creating many tools, provide technological innovations, and make use of livestock as the first means of transporting themselves throughout the region. If it hadn't been for them, where would society be today?

Intro to Part 3

The civilizations of old (Rome, Han Dynasty China, the Mayan culture,etc.) have all had their share of progress and turmoil. With each end to these societies, historians have come to mark the end of the classical era and name the new one, the "post classical" era. There has been debate, however, on how historians create a new identity for a new millennium, without having to insult anyone. This came up when some thought of naming the new era medieval, but was eventually turned away after much fear of it becoming too Eurocentric. On the other hand, the new "third wave civilizations" brought new ways of life that created stability, prosperity, and progress for people to endure. Continents everywhere experienced vast changes in the new upcomong civilizations in terms of their economic status, culutural ideals, and established political systems. Eurasia has these kinds of progresses swarming everywhere, but the most dominant civilization that ever brought people close to its ideals was Islam. This society encompassed Egypt, India, Perisa, Mesopotamia, and much of the interior of West Africa. The Byzantine empire stretched as far as where Roman Empire once had its ground, conquering much of the Mediterranean. Much like their predecessors, though, the new empires eventually crumbled, leaving the way for individual kingdoms to be formed and led by kings. Thus, the start of Western European civilization began. With these individual kingdoms, there came postive and negative interactions between the neighboring civilizations. Goods, products, and new ideas were exchanged back and forth, while war and disease crumbled the nations for some time. During these cross cultural interactions, three mechanisms were created for the significant transformation of the lives of people and the societies they dwelled in. Trade was a highly essential mechanism that brought goods and various products to many communities. Economic opportunities grew vastly with the necessary trade routes established between the kingdoms. One such disadvantage, however, was the distance between civilizations that were really far from each other. This was an issue for the West African kingdom of Ghana and the Easterb African Swahili cities on the coast. Empires come as number two for the reason that they provided stability, structure, and most of all, security. The key to maintaining order within a society or empire was the ruling power of a single political system; one that ensure everlasting prosperity for its people. Technology added greatly to the progress made in each civilization, as well. Lastly, as new ideas were important to help societies advance, it was the willingness of merchants, travelers, migrants, armies and so on who went out into the world to stimulate change. Even with the spreading of their wealth and knowledge, these people were often changed by their experiences by converting into another religion or becoming part of the new society they ventured into.

Chap. 11 Worlds of Islam

The Islamic culture has a truely interesting history that has impacted many of its surrounding neighbors and how they maintain order in society today. Much like its counterpart, Christianity, the Islamic religion began in a tiny civilization in the Mediterranean and Middle East, unlike the other the religions that had already sparked in the well established civilizations of China, Persia, and Greece. These early stages of Islam were started by a small band of Jews within the Roman Empire, whereas in Arabia, the religion spread throughout the desert and many cities. For many long years, only nomadic tribes wandered about the Arabian peninsula, herding their sheep and camels during the seasonal migrations. Constant rivalry flashed between many tribes for who could have what land or where one could travel. They worshipped nature in the forms of certain gods, personal bravery, group loyalty, and hospitality as their way of maintaining harmony with each other. Villages soon sprang up around oases, the mountains, the northern and southern regions of Arabia, which later developed into vast cities and small kingdoms within the desert. Order was established, but even then, not everyone agreed with one another's ideas or practices. One group, the Meca grew wealthy and strongest when they began to tax the trade routes that fed the tribes' seasonal times of migrating their livestock. Many small tribes and different individuals (refugees, outcasts, etc.) joined the Meca, but thankfully the growing power of wealth was in the hands of a few ruling families. This is when Muhammad comes to play his part in Islamic history. Muhammad, a man born in Meca, lived a rather good life, with the exception that he had a tremendous religious experience that made him feel withdrawn from society. He believed himself to be the Isamic god's (Allah) messenger to the Arab people to comission them to a scripture, written in their own language, of their language and belief system. While Muhammad fancied himself to be much like the prophets before him (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.), this call to faith was nothing more than a way to provoke people to come back to the old days or worship. For one to sumbit to Allah, if they were to be promised a paradise after death, they had to live by harsh terms. Wealth was held from people, the poor exploited, rates of interest were high, business deals were corrupt, women abused, and widows and orphans were neglected. This called for a community for all believers, the umma. With everyone together sharing the same beliefs, tribal, ethnic, or even racial identities were eventually lost. Later on, what are called the Pillars of Islam, were created to stress the requirements of how all believers should worship Allah. They called for daily prayers, acceptance to the idea that Allah is the true God and Muhammad the messenger, equal distribution of wealth, no lust for food or anything during Ramaden (the 9th lunar month of the islamic calendar) Finally, there's the assembling of all believers during rituals and leading away from a life of greed and selfishness. It was a very demanding religion, but for most followers, they could not see who else they could look to but their one own god, Allah. Even so, Muhammad came into conflict with many wealthy families on whether he was really delivering the message of God correctly to the people. This made Muhammad and his loyal band of believers to flee Mecca, in order to spread their religion to the other kingdoms and hope to sustain the existance of their type of society.

IV. 5

This excerpt caught my attention for a couple of reasons. 1) How it states one of the aspects of human nature and 2) how relevant it is to our past history and even today. It has always been in the nature for us to strive for progress in fields of science, prosperity, power, etc. Whatever we can lay our hands on and put into meaningful use, it's ours! No questions ask. While the world has its share of people and governments who care for others, there are those who seek to triumph over who they consider inferior in order advance as a society. Competition and wars have left their marks for who lost or gained the most out of it. Anyone can recognize that with the best riches or economic stability, man can seek to prosper and endure as a species. The empires of old (Egypt, Persia, Roman Empire) sought to expand their cultures out into the world so they can make great advances in stabilizing the lives of their people and to enrich cultural apsects. For some time, these empires fought over what they claimed to be rightfully theirs, not giving up even the slightest inch of land to their enemies. This is connection to the verse in the excerpt "...The superior man does not, even for space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue." This idea was passed on to nations who created empires, fashioned in a similar but different way of how the Persians, Egyptians, and Romans maintained control over their territories. Nowadays, with empires as a thing of the past, people in general work to support themselves and their families financely and economically. Sadly, some can't afford to stay stable above the poverty line and end up in poor houses or in the streets. Anyone else who lives in a nice home as middle class people go to work and do what's neccessary to stay on top of their bills, so that their children can get educated and eventually live on their own. Many of the rich, however, use their money for their benefits and create taxes upon those below them financely. It's sad and many feel that there should be some kind of balance between the rich, middle class, and poor. The 'riches' stated in this excerpt may pertain to everything we want to progress in life - money, a job, and satisfying lifestyle. If there's any proper way to avoid going the opposite way of where we want, education and work are the answers for future success.

Chapter 2 Writing and Power: Defining World-Views

We may not think about it as much, but it truly is fascinating how much of an effect literature has had on society - the laws we make, the common language we share, and the history we create. It started out between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraq when various forms of writing were first put on stone, clay, tablets, and papyrus in the many ancient towns in that area. Even before that, though, cultures in Egypt, North America, Australia, and Nigeria had different forms of "writing" that started the age of written communication. Egyptians told their history by painting pictures on their temple walls to indicate the thoughts and actions of the people in the paintings. This is known as ideographic writing or thought writing. Another form of writing is phonetic writing, the ancestor of writing that we use today. It's mainly signs (letters in our writing) that represent a sound and combines with another sign to make the sound come out of a word. Western Europeans created a new form of phonetic writing, using the Roman alphabet to create new words and give them usage. I had no idea, until I read this chapter, that the Roman alphabet originally had only 21 signs (letters). It eventually expanded to 26 letters, but that section of the chapter didn't explain why. Most likely the need for more letters to create more words came up among the scribes back then. The nice thing about phonetic writing is that it requires memorization for only a few signs, which can be grouped to make new sounds, as well as new words. It made sense to me that historians highly benefited from the earliest forms of writing so they can study and understand more about the people back then, their culture, their way of life, the events that took place, and so on. Ancient writings allowed historians the opportunity to read how people back then interpreted the world, the role of humans, and the universe itself. This eventually led many to believe that there was some kind of creator that build the universe and created humans for a purpose no one can quite uncover. The Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist religions came out from the ancient times when certain people began to think this creator(s) had given them life and for that, they felt the need to pay their respects and thanks for the life they cherish. This has given many religious followers a reason to think about why they're here in this world or so their religion says. Some religions, such as Buddhism, believe that people can live and relive again, depending on the direction they went in life. The belief of reincarnation has been widely adopted by many Buddhist followers since then. Yet, for all the progress and agonizing events that earlier humans went through, literacy has improved people's way of thinking for thousands of years. It has given them the knowledge to interpret and question the laws they abide by, as well as provide new ideas to improve the status quo. Sadly, not every part of the world, is so strong in literacy to understand enough to take a stand against the actions created by their government or society. Even today, we still have quite a ways to understand the relationship literacy has with politics and economics.