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.