Chapters 17-18-20

Chapters 17-18-20

In my opinion, the phrase that would sum up these three chapters is, “Liberty and justice for all… sort of.”  In Chapter seventeen we are introduced to the era of “revolution” and to the “enlightenment” theorists putting their money where their mouth is.  It all begins with the American Revolution in North America.  The Declaration of Independence is enacted and the British are defeated unifying the 13 colonies into the United States of America.  The Declaration of Independence was the first of its kind document, in that it guaranteed all citizens certain rights and equality… sort of.  It certainly did this for white males, but not so much for women and far less for slaves or any other ethnic group.  France quickly followed suit and many others, such as Haiti, México and South America defeated Spanish and Portuguese rule.  As a natural progression to the idea of all men being created equal, slavery was soon seen around the world as directly violating this rationale.  Slavery was soon abolished in the United States and elsewhere.  The attention was now aimed at universal suffrage and equal rights for women, which also occurred in phases around the globe.

Independence was exercised differently from country to country with different results.  The United States was exceptional in that what it was creating was a brand new nation made up of a diverse cultural background.  They knew what they didn’t want and went about making it happen relatively unhindered.  In Haiti, México and South America, the sizeable native or mixed populations resulted in a different outcome.  They had to recreate trade agreements and figure out what they were going to export and import.  They relied heavily on financing from abroad and eventually made it work, but did not come close their economic achievements pre-revolution.  By comparison, the power and wealth that the United States was building was and is unequaled.

The Industrial Revolution that followed transformed the globe.  It multiplied outputs of goods and services exponentially.  It also created unbelievable wealth for those pioneering countries.  What it mostly created was GREED.  This greed led to a new wave of colonization in Africa that resembled that of North and South America before their independence.  Africa was quickly divided up among a few different nations.  What followed was an era of unbridled slavery and brutal domination of the native Africans by the colonizing nations.  It made me sick to read all the atrocities that the natives endured in the name of capitalism.  It blows my mind how someone who is supposed to be educated and a Christian could possibly rationalize what they did in the name of the almighty dollar, pound or peso.  What was awesome was how the natives came to realize that education was their salvation.  The colonists soon realized their error but by then it was too late.  The Africans’ western education, along with the new grouping of tribes was used as an instrument of unification.  The colonizers’ grouping the natives by commonalities into tribes was meant to be derogatory, but it actually gave them a reason to come together and help one another.  It was really inspiring to see that despite the colonists’ best efforts to subjugate them, the native Africans were not going to be defeated.

Chapters 14-16

Chapters 14-16

The two words I would use to best describe these chapters are “globalization” and “knowledge”.  In chapters 14 and 15 we see the global colonization and trade over virtually every inch of the planet, from Siberia to South America and everywhere in between.  The conquest and colonization of the Americas as well as the forcing of itself into the Indian Ocean trade market made Europeans a force to be reckoned with in the early modern era.  Many other empires saw prosperity and growth as well, like China, the Ottomans and Russia to name a few.  Not all was sunshine and roses.  The human toll was devastating in many parts of the world, but none more so than in the Americas. 

               As a Mexican-American, what I found most interesting about this week’s readings is how the different cultures evolved in the Americas.  I’ve always known that my parents and the majority of the people from where my parents originate in México are creoles or mestizo.  A small percentage of the population is actually native.  Here in the United States, the natives are also a very small percentage of the population but unlike México and Central and South America, there really aren’t any mixed race populations to speak of.  I’m not saying there aren’t any, but nothing comparable to what we now call Latin America has.  I had never really thought about this, but it probably explains why whenever people ask me what nationality I am and I reply, “Mexican”, they are astounded.  They can’t believe that someone fare skinned can be full blooded Mexican.  Now I realize that I’ve never thought of it from their perspective.  In the United States, the colonists did not mix with the natives to the same degree that the Spanish did in México and Central and South America and this is because the colonists that arrived at Plymouth Rock came with their women and the Spanish did not.  Therefore, I will no longer be so critical of people who are taken aback by nationality.  J

               In Chapter 16 we see the different world religions solidify their place in history and the world, but the most interesting to me was the perfect storm that led to the scientific revolution of this era.  The author asks, “Why Europe?”  I was wondering the same thing; why not in the great empires of China or Islam?  The answers seem so obvious now.  China was too focused on education for civil service only and the Muslims were only interested in the study of the Quran.  Europeans on the other hand, were not oppressed by religion for the first time in a long time.  They had the time and interest to pursue other ideas and methodologies.  During this era many of the fundamental theories and discoveries made in math, astronomy, geometry, anatomy and more are still those that we learn today in the twenty-first century.  I think this is incredible.  China, Japan and the Muslims didn’t feel compelled to pay any attention to what the Europeans were doing for some time, but they eventually came around.

CH. 8-10

Chapters 8-10

Reading the descriptions of the various “Third Wave Civilizations” of the post-Classical Era, reminded me of watching a sequel to one of my favorite movies.  Like Grease 2 for example, Stephanie and Michael were likeable enough and like the original, was full of song, dance and teenage angst.  You enjoy the movie while it is playing, but somewhere in the back of your mind you are constantly comparing them to Sandy and Danny and taking note of all that is different.  Some differences were good and some were bad for both Grease 2 and the third wave civilizations.

China and Africa’s sequels were definitely better than the originals.   In China, its land and marine trade flourished as well as its agriculture, art, religion and manufacturing.  China produced massive quantities of silk and porcelain for distribution all over Eurasia and Africa.  The introduction of camels to Africa enabled access and passage through the Sahara Desert.  A great deal of gold, ivory and especially slaves were exported and traded via the sand roads of the Sahara.

In none other than Western Eurasia does my metaphor about the sequel fit best.  This time period could have been broken down and called, “Rome II”, “Rome III”, “Rome IV”, etc., etc.  The first would be what was left of the Roman Empire in Western Europe.  It became scattered politically and the one unifying thing was Christianity.  Christianity became the political force in Western Europe.

Byzantium, or “Rome II”, was very interesting.  They referred to themselves as Romans and even called Byzantium the “New Rome”.  They did however eventually abandon the roman language of Latin, opting for Greek.  In their desire to separate themselves from the old Rome, they differentiated themselves via their religion.  Christianity was very much a part of their political and social lives.  They called their form of Christianity, Orthodox, which means “right thinking”.  It is clear that they believed they were superior to the Western Europe Christians.  They believed their emperor was appointed by God himself and did not see the Roman Pope as the one true leader or monarch of all Christendom.  Byzantium was eventually defeated by the Ottoman Turks and Islam took over much of the population.

The “third Rome” emerged with the fall of Byzantium.  A group in Kievan Rus, current Russia, led by Prince Vladimir of Kiev decided to adopt Orthodox Christianity as its religion and way of life.  It has survived in this area to present day and which is the “Russian Orthodox” which most of us have heard of.  This area was soon conquered by many different groups, such the Germanic peoples, Visigoths, Franks and more.  It was definitely an era of sequels, each one getting a little less impressive and shorter in length, but their legacy remained.  Kind of like each of the Rocky films.