Extra Blog Post

The Mongols

I really enjoyed learning about the Mongols. They weren't known as a "civilized" group but they were known as the "alternative civilization" who were the catalyst for change in other major established civilizations. They enhanced trade, ruled empires after empires although they had to forced them out and changed them. After each of their reign, these established civilizations, such as China and Russia, reunited and kicked them out. Although the Mongols did not construct elaborate cities, enduring empires, a written language, or monumental works of art or literature but they left an incredible mark on the historical development of the Afro-Eurasian hemisphere. For pastoral nomads like them, living was easy and fighting was a piece of cake. The fact that they their house were moveable and every time enemies would attack, they couldn't find them because they could pick up and leave. Their strategy of ruling empire wasn't the best but they influenced civilizations after civilizations.

Blog Post #10

The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century

What's interesting is how people of the fifteenth century interacted with each other. According to Strayer, they all lived in different and self-contained communities. However, they were somewhat connected through overlapping webs of influence, communication and trading. One of the main webs of influence is the webs of empires that were brought together different people and their cultures. For example, Christians and Muslims encountered each other in the Ottoman Empire just as Hindus and Muslims in the Mughal Empire. Religion was one of the webs that connected them as well. Christianity provided a religion for people from England to Russia, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy bear hardships but was shattered by Christians of the Latin West. Buddhism remained the link among China, Korea, Japan and parts of Southeast Asia, although it vanished from South Asian homeland. Moreover, are the established patterns of trading roads. It occupied people of different environments of different parts of the world producing different goods of people in the fifteenth century. This is why the silk, sea and sand roads were very important at the time. I'm also surprised to see my homeland (Samoa) was part of the trade that happened during the time. As Strayer said, they connected and exchanged of mats and canoes with other Pacific islanders.

Blog Post #9

The Worlds of Islam

Islam is the new monotheistic that pushed Christianity out of Asia and Africa. The Islam religion believed in the prophet of Muhammad. It was believed that he was called by God to deliver his message. He married an older women named Khadija and had six children. Muhammad taught Muslims the word of the Quran. From my perspective, the Quran is like Christianity's Holy Bible. It was Muslims way of life and rule book. Speaking of the Quran, Christianity and Islam had similarity beliefs. Both believed that their is no one but God or Allah who is the creator of the world. Moreover, similar to Christianity's ten commandments is Islam's five pillars. The five pillars included their declaration of faith, obligatory prayer, compulsory giving, fasting in the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage in Mecca. Mecca is known as the holiest city of the Islamic faith just as Jerusalem is the holiest city of Christianity. Islam is known as a model for Islamic in the present whereas fundamentalists view it as achievements of science for more open engagement with the West and the modern world. The history of Islam contributed to the proud and prosperous cosmopolitan civilizations that spread throughout the world. It reveals to us a world of great diversity and debate to this day forward considering what's going on.

Blog Post #8

The Worlds of Christendom

Christendom is the worldwide body or society of Christians. As a religion, Christianity went through contractions and eventually expanded. It diminished in Asia and Africa but expanded in Western Europe and Russia. The cause of Christianity contractions in Asia and Africa is Islam. Islam was another monotheistic religion just like Christianity and it started in the Middle East. It spread across the Afro-Eurasian world, creating a powerful empire and the emergence of a cosmopolitan Islamic civilization. This left Europe as the principal center of the Christian faith. The expansion of Christian, by default, centered in Europe and Anatolia. After the Mediterranean frontier between the Islamic and Christians world's stabilized, the Muslim invasion into Christendom finally lifted. Within this space of time, the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe took place. The Byzantine empire built Christendom on the Roman past civilizations and continued. I learned that civilizations have contractions and expansions that sometimes made it possible for certain civilizations to remain standing. Although some civilizations may disappeared but there's a chance that another civilization can built on what they left behind and the world of the Christendom civilization showed proof of that.

Blog Post #7

An Age of Accelerating Connections

The Age of Accelerating Connections define a millennium and the third-wave civilizations. This is the starting of something new, the enhanced development of something old and the continuation of blended well established pattern in the world history. The largest new third-wave civilizations was Islam. It began in Arabia during the 7th century c.e. The Arab people started building their empires and later offered a religion. It then became known to other civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and more. It was also known as an unique cosmopolitan civilization that came close to uniting all mankind under its standard. Other old civilizations were reconstructed during the third-wave civilization. This included the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire continued to embrace the eastern half of the old Roman Empire, also the patterns of Mediterranean Christian civilization until it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. More variations of establishing, continuing and renewing of older traditions in the Western Hemisphere and Western Europe.

Another important development is the establishing of trade routes and roads. The three main roads were known as silk, sea and sand roads. The silk road relay trading in China across to Eurasia. It was use by traders to trade culture and spread disease as well as goods. The sea road relay trading across the Indian ocean. It was cheaper than the silk roads and boats could carry trading more than camels spreading the Indian culture as well as goods. Last but not the least is the sand road. It was use to trade through the Sahara and the Mediterranean world using camels. It traded ivory, slaves and gold as well as other goods. The significant of these trading roads was to make trading possible and easy.

Blog Post #6

Africa 

Africa's population during the Agricultural Revolution was 11 percent compared to Eurasia, 80 percent and America between 5 and 7 percent. Africa, geographically, was placed adjacent to Eurasia which meant that some of its parts interacted with Eurasian civilization. One that made all three supercontinents the same was their lack of animal domestication. However, one thing that differentiate Africa from Eurasia is it's distinctive environmental feature: bisected by the equator, it was the most tropical of them all.

One of the most interesting civilization in Africa is Meroe. A little bit of background of how Meroe came about is when Egypt fell under the Nubian civilization which later on was the center of the city of Meroe. It was governed by a monarch, under at least 10 women with a male co-ruling. Although, there isn't enough evidence to prove it, but I can say that it wasn't all patriarchal. Although it was known for its riches as well, Meroe seemed to steered clear of warfare, except the first time they fought Egypt. It's interesting compared to the twenty first century we now live in. Countries with riches tends to want more and that's why we have war. More or less. Moreover, Meroe came to an end. It declined due to deforestation. Population grew and they began chopping and chopping trees until there was none. It shows, as discussed in class as well, the lack of understanding the importance of natural resources and that it needs to be saved. This can be one of the things that the twenty first century needs to learn from. 

Blog Post #5

Chapter 3: State and Empire in Eurasia/North Africa

The collision between the Greek cities and Persia started when a  group called "Ionians" revolted against the Persians. Persia at the moment was known as the world's largest empire. The Ionians were a number of Greek settlements who were under the Persian ruling as it's empire extended its domination to the west. The Ionians demurred the Persians domination, so with the support of the Athens, they act upon their dissatisfactions. Outraged with the riot, Persians launched "major military expeditions" to generally punish the Greeks and particularly the Athens for supporting the riot. Despite the Persians lost, its empire was still the largest empire in the world.

The Greeks, however had an ardent impact from the war especially the Athens, who assisted in winning the battle. The Athens gained so much pride when they defeated the Persians. From the Greeks perspective, their victory against the Persians made their men have the courage to fight for what they valued so much, for freedom. Moreover, their victory also radicalized Athenian democracy and was the Golden Age of Greek culture. During this period, the temple of Athena was built, theater was born from the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Whereas, Socrates just began his career as a philosopher and an "irritant in Athens." Furthermore, the Persians only grew to be cruel than they were before. The Persians represented Asia and despotism and created an imperialism of its own. This lead to many more complications that followed.

Both the Greeks and the Persians encounter consequences and complications after the war. The Greeks victory led to motivation for it's men to fight for freedom and for what they believed in. The Persians had more reasons to be aggressive and continued to be cruel. There was another war later on but that led to the defeat of the Athens and the Greeks exhausting themselves. In later years, the Greeks glory days ended but the spread of its culture just started.