World History With Les

Hey guys, hope you had a good weekend! Here is my response to Claudia's comments on the photo from page 803.  Claudia,  I think that Strayer was definitely looking to characterize the extend of the violence in the Congo. More than that though, I believe he was looking to put a face on it. It is one thing to hear about something, but it is another to really see it. I also believe that this is why he chose a picture of boys with healed amputations. There are many more graphic photos that Strayer could have chosen. I think that a viewer being able to stare at a photo and take it all in is important if you're portraying a deep message. The picture was perfectly scaled for the audience. 

1) What was The Great Dying? Cite examples and details from the historical record in your response. Could this be considered a genocide? Why/ why not?               The great dying refers to the rapid decline of the indigenous population in the Americas chiefly as a result of disease imported by Europeans. The Native Americans were isolated from Africa and Eurasia by geography, and as a result did not carry immunity to many diseases. At the start of European contact with the indigenous people it is estimated that the population of the Americas was 60-80 million. This number declined quickly by about 90 percent (Strayer, 2016, p. 558-559). I would not consider this a genocide. I don’t know that the Europeans had an understanding that the illnesses they brought to the Americas would impact the native population differently than it did themselves. I think for the term genocide to be applied there needs to be intent.    2) What did native Siberians and native Americans have in common in te

             The acceptance and receipt of European sciences in Asian civilizations during the early modern era was sporadic. Some sciences were embraced while others were widely ignored. An excellent example is the excitement over European techniques derived from Jesuits regarding astronomical predictions and observations such as eclipses. The Qing dynasty also expressed great interest in cartography techniques, and improving the calendar. For the most part, China did not care about Western Medicine at all.               Some reasons for this relate to the ability of Chinese scientists to relate European breakthroughs to their country’s own accomplishments. A prime example of this is European mathematics. Some Chinese mathematicians had to convince their cohorts that European math was really based upon Chinese math, and for this reason it was acceptable to integrate their techniques. This is just an example of China though.               Japan gave European sciences a different recept

Distributing moral responsibility for the Atlantic Slave trade is a complex task. I believe it is a task in which historians play an important role. That is not to say that historians should play the only role. Historians help to provide facts as well as context to our past.    It is an unfortunate fact that slavery has been a part of human history going back to some early gathering and hunting societies (Strayer, 2016, p.622). That said, The Atlantic Slave trade was involved in horrors of humanity not previously seen on that scale in slavery. Who is to blame?    Should we blame the Mediterranean world for introducing Europe to sugar? No, I don’t think we’ve found a viable scapegoat there. Perhaps blame can be placed on the Ottoman Turks for stifling the flow of Slavic-speaking peoples from the black sea? After all, Slav is the basis for the word slave in many European languages (Strayer, 2016, p.623). No, I don’t think that’s it either.     Maybe we can look to the Portuguese explorer

New Zealand is home to the Maori. The Maori are famous for the Haka and wicked face tattoos. Side story, when my dad was a Green Beret in the army he lived in a Maori area for a period of time. Towards the end of his time there, they offered to give him a traditional tattoo. He had to decline because he thought the army wouldn’t care how significant an honor it was, all they would see was an unauthorized tattoo.  Back to the point, what was happening in New Zealand in the Early Modern Era? The answer is a lot, because New Zealand had only just been discovered and inhabited in 1200 or 1300 C.E.! Polynesian navigators found their way to New Zealand, and were the only people there until the Dutch arrived in 1642. The Dutch really got around in the Early Modern Era.  The Dutch arrival to the area, also gave birth to the name of the current country. New Zealand comes from the Dutch name NIEUW Zealand. Prior this, the polynesian population called the area, well apparently the internet doesn&

The Mongols had a bad wrap Pro:  The Mongols created a vast trade network that was also utilized for sending messages. The Mongols promoted incoming trade by offering merchants markups on their goods as well as tax breaks. Additionally, merchants were afforded protection along the trade routes. This network encouraged trade between a greater area of Europe and Asia than had occurred previously, and arguably influenced the trade relations that we see today.  Mongols left almost nothing in written word for historians. Nearly everything we know about Mongols is written from the perspective of the people they conquered, or based upon Archaeology. In the end, the Mongols were beaten back by the agrarian societies and, the victors wrote history. It is not difficult to understand how they may have been written in a harsher light. Look at how the impact of Russian rhetoric against one of their greatest leaders influenced how he was viewed in Mongolia until as late as the 90s. 

         Christendom is the worldwide society of Christians. In a historical sense, it refers to the rise of Christianity as a geopolitical power during the medieval and early modern period, primarily in Europe.          Christianity was not always the powerhouse religion of Europe. Prior to the 7 th century A.D. Christianity had spread throughout Eurasia and Africa. Sometime after the death of Muhammad, Christianity contracted. Large Muslim conquests played a huge role in this. Although Muslim rulers often allowed Christians to practice their religion, they were considered second-class citizens. Another possible reason for conquered people converting to Islam was the prestige of the conquering people. Islam carried an air of success to these regions.  An easy way of looking at it is an association with the fall of Rome.           Obviously this was not the end of Christianity. Let’s cut to the year 1000. Christian kingdoms had been able to hold off most invasions by this poin

Oliver, I challenge you! This makes me feel a little bit like  Pokemon trainer.  The period of rebirth in China from approximately 1000 to 1500 A.D. was not as significant as the Renaissance period in Europe. This is not to say that this referenced period of time in China was not significant. It is difficult to stand up to the many leaps in knowledge, art and generally the humanities that occurred in Europe. In particular, the major productions of art standout to me, such as: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling Raphael’s Frescos  The Last Supper The Mona Lisa These works of art are still inspiring people today. The Vitruvian Man, while not specifically meant as art became a great model for proportion in art and architecture. Until this day, it is still considered a great artistic achievement to create with these proportions.  Art was not just a pastime for the elite in the Renaissance. Look at Da Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a lawye

I came up with four talking points regarding China.

             I was surprised to read about how the understanding of monsoon patterns increased trade between India and East Africa. I had long known about the significant trade that occurred between the two areas, but I had never thought about the weather. When I learned Swahili, we had a culture day every Friday that was dedicated more to traditions and behavior and less to language. A part of this was food. Every week I learned to cook something new. What I quickly discovered was a striking similarity between Indian food and Tanzanian food. My instructor explained to me that this was because of the long history of trade between the two areas.               Another item related to weather, and definitely geography that was surprising to me was the impact of the North South orientation of the continents on trade routes in the Americas. Strayer previously mentioned this, but it was discussed more in terms of agriculture. Obviously being separated from Eurasia and Africa meant t

            I was disappointed to read that Romans felt silk clothing was too revealing of women. During the first century C.E. Seneca the Younger wrote about how strangers on the street were seeing as much of a woman’s body as her own husband (Strayer, 2016, p. 287). It also makes me think back to reading about the caste system in India, where women of lower castes were not allowed to cover their breasts in the presence of members of higher castes as a sign of subordination (Strayer, 2011, p. 202).              It is not really either of the above examples that disappoints me. It is this idea that I had that the sexualization of the female form and condemnation of clothing was because of the puritanical roots of the society. Reading Strayer has made it abundantly clear that women have been shamed because of their bodies, and turned into sexual objects from a relatively early point in the history of civilization.               Certainly our global civilization has made great