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.).