Laura's Online Journal

In Chapter 22 , the title is " The End of Empire " and rightly so.  How empires no longer served the purpose and the intentions of the people.  While there is much in this chapter, I was more in tune with the section on India terminating British control of their nation. This section highlighted the beginnings and unfortunate ending of one of the greatest figures who ever set foot on this earth, Mohandas Gandhi.  I had some basic initial knowledge of Gandhi as a peacemaker who tried to unite India and the religions that encompassed within it into one group that could coexist in harmony.  But there was much more to his story than I had anticipated.  Growing up as a shy boy into the one responsible for gathering the masses to fight for their independence in India was just so awe-inspiring.  I had mentioned in previous posts about the power of a single person.  We tend to believe the phrase, "What could one person do?"  Maybe it is our view of the w...

In this series of chapters, what I found most interesting was the comparison of the Chinese, Ottoman, and Japanese Empires.  Europe had a strong influence on the way these Empires conducted business, even to the point of forcing their will upon them.  China was a very good example of that. I find it ironic that China, with all of its technology and intelligence, found itself conquered by the Europeans at that time and never truly recovered from that.  China grew in population, yet was unable to accommodate this influx of people.  Resources were scarce and so were opportunities.  With the economic state in disarray, peasants revolted.  This event caused the necessary use of monies and other resources to defend itself from its own people that in the end, the state had significantly weakened.  This opened the door for outside influences to enter, and that's exactly what they did. The Ottoman Empire was no less fortunate.  It went from being a pow...

I am going to do something quite different this time around.  Instead of blogging about each individual chapter, I think I will blog about the one thing that stuck with me after I read the hundred pages or so of text. So here you have it . . . Atlantic Revolutions.  I never heard this term before.  Every time a battle was mentioned in previous texts, it was always given its own name.  So I thought what exactly is meant by Atlantic Revolutions?  There was a wave of wars that occurred in the Atlantic World during the 18th & 19th centuries.  So, what is meant by the Atlantic World?  Well, these events happened in the Americas, Europe, France, and Haiti. There was much emphasis made about the "echoes" of the Atlantic Revolutions.  This word captured it all and covered much more than these battles that took place within a specified time frame.  After all, many actions in life causes "echoes" as well.  Prior consequences can influence ...

Chapter 13 , " Political Transformations " focused on the early modern era, basically from 1450-1750). The empires in Europe, the Americas, China, and Russia were the focal points in the discussion and how the influence of the Ottoman Empire spread its influence into many of these regions. The Great Dying was a horrific point in time for the Native American peoples.  The isolation they shared from the Afro-Eurasian inhabitants caused them to lack the immunity needed to withstand the diseases that were introduced to them by foreigners.  This was similar to the Black Plague where a substantial amount of the population was wiped out almost overnight.  In this case, up to 90% of the Native American population was annihilated.  Then, add to this the Little Ice Age that produced extremely cold temperatures, in return affecting food production in crops and droughts in other areas. Much suffering was endured by many regions. The "Columbian Exchange" was a network of tra...

Chapter 12 , " The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century " went into many comparisons between different empires, highlighting their struggles and victories accordingly. So in keeping with the goal of this journal, one event in time that actually resonated with me was regarding China.  It baffles me as to the ingenuity that this empire held to be able to become one of the most influential empires in the world and yet it chose to keep to itself, so to speak.  It's like an empire within a bubble, wanting to keep everyone out but functioning just fine on its own.  Not being dependent on outside forces.  After the devastating consequences suffered from their previous Mongolian rule, China rebuilt their nation and became whole once again. This event that I am referring to is the implementation of their immense maritime excursions.   Under Emperor Yongle's reign and for the next 28 years afterwards, there were hundreds of ships on voyages with thousands of crew members a...

Wow, Wow, and Wow!   Chapter 11 focuses on "T he Mongol Moment " and it was mind-altering.  In my younger years, I had heard about Chinggis Khan and had associated him as a ruthless barbarian killer.  Cold-hearted.  After I read about his beginnings, my impression of him changed.  Weird, I know, but true. I thought about the struggles he went through as a young boy with the death of his father and a mother who fought tirelessly to provide for him.  His example of perseverence, however violent his methods eventually became, was one of respect.  To think that this one young man with no schooling or education whatsoever, managed to create, as the text states, "the largest land-based empire in all of human history" is unimaginable. In the past, I have heard people say, "What can one person do?"  Well, this is a prime example of that.  If we really take the time to look, we will find many one-persons in our history.  And usually these in...

"The Worlds of Islam" is the topic for Chapter 9 .  I was a little hesitant to read this chapter at first because there is just so much talk in the media these days about the Islamic influence in the world that it can be a bit overwhelming at times.  So to have an entire chapter on Islam was just too much on top of all of the other commentary I hear on a daily basis.  But nonetheless, I did want to understand exactly what is the core message of Islam, how it came to be, and how it continues to impact the world today. My knowledge was very basic.  I knew that Muhammad was the originator of this religion and that the main message was one of peace and unity with Allah.  As my reading progressed, the expansion of Islam was like the rushing waters across land masses.  It seemed to infiltrate at an increasingly rapid rate.  This seems to be the case even today. I understood from the text how Islam was changed here and there in different regions to fit th...

I was looking forward to reading this particular chapter, Chapter 10 titled " The Worlds of Christendom" .  As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I am a practicing Catholic and am always striving to learn more about my faith.  However, history in general has never been an easy read for me and that includes portions related to how my Catholic faith came to be. The main topic that I was eager to read about was regarding the Eastern Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Catholic Church.  Last semester, I took a class in which my final presentation in the course was on the Crusades.  This subject was also briefly described in the text as well.  I find that points of view will vary depending on the sources that are being referenced.  This is fine, because all points of view should be taken into consideration and respected. In my research, the Crusades began because Emperor Alexius who ruled the Byzantine Empire asked Pope Urban II for help since the Se...

Chapter 8 titled "China and the World" was exactly that, a description of how China's influence spread throughout the world and how the world influenced China as well. After reading this chapter, I couldn't help but wonder why China never became the leader of all countries.  We look at the United States as the world power, but China definitely was the head of many "firsts" that changed the way others lived their lives.  The movable type printing press, first established by the Chinese, was given credit to Johannes Gutenberg who was probably unaware that it had already been discovered elsewhere.  We all know it now, though.  The production of salt by solar evaporation spread to Islamic countries and Europe.  Papermaking was the highlight of it all for this innovation spread to Korea, Vietnam, Japan, India, Islamic countires, Spain, France, Germany, and England.  How one country, China, altered the way of living of so much of the world is absolutely phenom...

I can't believe just how much I am learning in these chapters.   Chapter 7 dealt with "Commerce and Culture".  How interesting to read how the civilizations expanded because of the different trade routes that were available at specific times in history. There was the Silk Road originally established in Eurasia which - as we know- was where the bulk of the human population resided.  It was named after the commodity that was being sold.  Women played a very important role here since it was them that had to take care of the silk worm environment so that the silk could be produced.  They acquired the silk and wove the fibers into thread to make the luxury materials that everyone wanted. Then there were the Sea Roads which used the Indian Ocean as the means for trade among China and eastern Africa. Finally, there were the Sand Roads which were used to transport goods and services across the Sahara Desert.  This trade route joined North Africa and the Medi...

I'm trudging along, finally finished Chapter 6 and it wasn't easy.  I don't know why this chapter was difficult for me to complete.  I had my momentum going from the beginning of the readings and then Chapter 6 came along and stumped me. The three main civilizations that were discussed were Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania which, by the way, I have never even heard about.  I honestly didn't know of a region known as Pacific Oceania in any of my studies growing up.  I'm still learning new things, I guess. After reading about 35 pages in this lesson, the theme that emerged from the pages for me was the fact that no matter how simple or complex a civilization was formed or even how long it lasted in the world's span of time, they always came to an end.  People that were once so vibrant and full of life were wiped off the face of this earth with almost no trace whatsoever.  These were people that had families of their own, day-to-day struggles and ...

The title of Chapter 5 is "Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa".  So the main topic discussed here was the caste system in India, the unjust selection of individuals in China who could be selected for positions of civil service, and finally, slavery as it was in the Roman Empire.  There was also the view of the patriarchal societies in these regions and more specifically in Athens, Sparta, and Greece.  Basically, it boils down to women being subordinate to their male counterparts and restricted in their daily lives. I have looked over my previous posts and had a habit of summarizing the chapters instead of just giving my opinion of the content.  So I will try to change it up as such in this blog post.  Bear with me. As I have pondered the material, what stands out for me is the word "patriarch".  In all of these societies, males dominated over women and children and it was just accepted.  This was the way it had always been and would co...

Chapter 4 speaks mostly about the religious practices in different regions.  The text begins with the introduction of Confucianism and Daoism. Confucius' actual name was Kong Fuzi and he was born in 551.  He was an everyday person who lived thousands of years ago in China.  He was born from wealthy parents.  During this time, China was going through turmoil.  There was much disorder in the land, and Confucius believed that he had the answer to all of China's troubles.  His profound way of thinking was what set him apart from other forms of understanding and, in turn, became a leading culture in China. Daoism was started by a figure named Laozi.  Whether this person actually existed isn't known for certain, but the Daoism way of thinking did make its mark and moved forward in China. Confucianism and Daoism were opposite ways of thinking.  Confucianism thought was patriarchal and viewed the family in hierarchical terms.  It focused on educa...

So, as I've previously mentioned, History has never been one of my strong points.  Chapter 3, while interesting at best, did have me flipping pages back and forth to the map illustrations just so I could visualize exactly where all of the cities and empires that the chapter was referring to were situated. The text begins this chapter with the Persian Empire, which was the largest and perhaps greatest of empires that ever existed.   The map depicting the area that this empire encompassed was amazing. The Persians, ruled by a king, were able to acquire more and more land through their conquests making them unsurpassable. The Persians created a successful system of government that was the foundation for future administrations to follow.  There were officials that ran certain departments, so to speak, such as tax collecting, record keeping, etc.  It is from here that I can see the origins of the systems we have in place today.  They also tried to promote the cus...

I have never been much of a history enthusiast.  I always wanted to be but had a difficult time organizing all of the information.  In the end, everything was intermingled and nothing made any sense.  Now that I am much older, things seem to fall into place with a bit more ease than in my younger years.  I can actually retain information now for my own knowledge and not just for an exam.  I appreciate my current learning experiences in a much more enriching way. One thing that seems to pique my interest, according to the textbook reading, was that the first homo sapiens came to originate in Africa.  Catholic Theology is a passion of mine and so right away, I connected this information with the story of Creation and the Garden of Eden.  I wanted to find the connection from the Scripture passage of the whereabouts of the Garden of Eden and the textbook reference to Africa to see if a correlation could be made. In Genesis 2:  10-14, the follo...

I finished creating my blog.  Yeah!!!!