Chapter 13

During the week of Thanksgiving, my world history class was supposed to read chapter 13 in Ways of the World. Worlds of the Fifteenth Century is the title for the chapter. In this chapter it speaks of the fifteenth century trying to refurnish the devastation left from the Mongols. As we can recall, the Mongols destroyed Europe and China leaving them with a broken civilization. In order to spring back up to their original society, they had to take new steps to achieve greatness. In the beginning of the fifteenth century the agriculture was the first to take rise. In North America, Africa, Amazon River Basin, and Southeast Asia settled small village-based communities to catch up on their revenue. All of these societies had no authority, forcing the unequal opportunities for different classes and sexes. To narrow it down I will focus first on the small village-based communities. To start off, in Mesopotamia, the city of Benin contained small highly centralized territorial states. Ewuare was the warrior who ruled Benin. He replaced the kinship with political authority, to sustain the society longer and to create order within the civilization. They were high in demand for trade, and Ewuare often ordered the people to make sculptures of Benin, which they are still known for today. Another civilization, located east of the Niger River settled the Igbo people. The book did not speak much of them but one interesting fact that I grasped was their idea on trade. The Igbo people refused to trade because they believed in their own kinship groups. The book referred to them as “stateless societies.” Within these two civilizations that I have mentioned: the Benin society and the Igbo people, they seem to have traded with themselves to create revenue for their societies. They also traded with Africa to provide their people with cotton cloth, fish, copper, iron, and decorative objects. They were both culturally unified, which means they practiced the same traditions and religions, and eventually they both discovered and practiced the trait of slave trade. In the Americas, the book focuses on the Iroquois civilizations, which is directed in now in the state of New York. The Iroquois people developed a full agriculture most likely due to the different lands they were surrounded by. They adopted maize and bean farming techniques that originated in the Americas. Agriculture was the primary economic activity that kept their civilizations alive and thriving.

The rest of the chapter discusses the similarities and differences in China and Europe. Their civilizations seemed to have more differences than similarities. For instance they took voyages for different reason. China took voyages for the distance, they took it as it is; whereas, Europe took voyages for a specific destinations. They look for regions or cultures to stop at. By both of their voyages, traditions and religions came back with them. This is what the Chapter 13 is mostly describing. It signifies the fourteenth centuries tragedies and eludes on the resurrection that the fifteenth century achieved. The fifteenth century was bringing back life to all of the civilizations. Without the hope that the people had during the fifteenth century, the world may have been a different place. We have to thankful for the success that the fifteenth century made.

The Mongols

On Monday the 19^th in World History class, we discussed Chapter 12 in Ways of the World, called, “Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage.” This chapter is about the Mongol Movement and their impact they had on the classical era. As the class was conversing over the Mongol’s way of living during 1200-1500, we were asked the questions of what makes up a civilization. After minutes of debating the answer in our heads we verbally spoke them aloud to our fellow classmates. The answers we came up with were: complex economy, trade, common language/culture/religion, city/city-states, a system of government, technology, agricultural base, specialization/surplus, social hierarchy, and military. Now since we came up with quite few answers our Professor Andrews left us to discuss whether the Mongols were a civilization. They indeed held more than half of these characteristics to be considered a civilization. The only unclear point about the Mongols being a civilization is that they had no true land to themselves, they owed none of their own property. Also, the Mongols were very brutal and violent to the civilization they conquered and took over their land. When the lecture was over Professor Andrews left us to come to a conclusion about whether or not historians think that the Mongols symbolize barbarians?

            At first this questions was easy for me to answer. The more I thought about it the more complicated the question became. Historians often described barbarians as being brutally violent, which I absolutely true. The evidence that can proof this statement is the fact that they wipeout China, Russia, and Persia. They killed people in a horrible fashion, and were not very stable, although, the Mongols did have a wonderful military. As the more I started elaborating on this question of the representation of the Mongols symbolizing barbarians the more I started to believe that historians just state it how they believe it, which made me second guess myself. Due to the violence they used to destroy the other civilization causes people to think they acted like barbarians; however, I would agree. By slashing and killing other groups just to inherit their land was a way that they resembled barbarians. By the way they traveled and road horses showed how developed they were in technology. The saddle for the horse was a huge significance in the world because it brought a time of change and trade for across the Eurasian continent. Also it brought warfare to the lands because it was a huge advantage for them to conquer their enemies. Another aspect to proof that they were not barbarians it the fact on how organized the Mongols were on how they went about their military force. As soon as they would destroy the civilizations they were capturing they would take over the land but absorbed the lands original religion and culture. Though the Mongols were barbaric, the one’s they conquered, such as the Chinese, Persia, and Russia still easily influenced them. When the Mongols overtook china they became interested in their poetry and calligraphy. In Persia when the Mongols destroyed their civilization they became farmers instead of nomadic people. Also, when the Mongols conquered the Russian, they allowed the Russian rulers to still be in charge and they eventually evolved into Kipchaks- a Russian confederation. All in all, the Mongols did have barbaric characteristics in the way they destroyed other civilizations, they had more of a civilized way of life.

Chapter 10

As we read further along the history book called Ways of the World, Chapter 10 is called, The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected and Divided. When I read the chapter’s title I had to look up the word Christendom because I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what the word meant. So I look it up and the Merriam Dictionary defines it as the part of the world where most people are Christians — sometimes used in the old-fashioned phrase in all of Christendom. I put the two together and the chapter discusses the Eastern European religious beliefs and the Western European religious beliefs. The Byzantine Empire is associated with the east and Latin/ Constantinople’s Empire is associated with the West.  The two sides had one religion Christianity, but within the religion they believed different things.  Constantinople had a political court that they believed represented “God’s Court” because the authorities symbolized the “peer of apostles.” They were a centralized state. When Eastern Europe heard of this court the Turkic Ottoman Empire invaded Constantinople, in 1453. This came a time when different beliefs started to split the church and state in Europe. It was known as Caesarpapism because Caesar was in head of the state during that century. The split between the two religions were evident in the Orthodox Christianity because they believed that the Roman had “right thinking” due to disbelieve they had towards idols displaying in the churches. They also influenced the Byzantine life styles in all aspects.

            To understand the difference in Orthodox and Catholic religions I will explain it in an easier pattern. To begin, communion is an annual tradition that churches strongly belief in. It is a way to remember Jesus’ death. In the Orthodox Church, they partake in communion by uses leavened bread to symbolize Jesus’ body. The Catholic Church uses unleavened bread. Also, within the churches, the Catholics had many statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, The Orthodox saw this as a sin because they believed the statues were used as idols, which in their religion they were not suppose to have any idols. In their community Catholics believed that men should never shave, so many men had long beards; whereas the Orthodox shaved their beards because they saw it as appearance does not matter.

            Another difference in the two religions was their location. The Orthodox parted on Western Europe and the Catholics were on Eastern Europe.  On the western side of Europe they were seen as Barbarians because they were muscular, and not as well organized as they were on the eastern half of Europe. When the roam civilization fell in 476 the population decreased leaving the existing people with little to work with. They imitated the Roam hierarchal status with their popes, bishops, priests, education foundation, and welfare functions. In their everyday living I associate their society as a democratic party because they had popes that provided security for families and individuals. They provided for everyone just like how democrats believe one person overall who takes care of everyone. This chapter, Chapter 10, brought several topics to narrow down the differences in Europe. Although I only specified small issues they dealt with, it still supports the objective. To understand more differences take a look at the chapter, it brings up several more interesting facts to the topic.As we read further along the history book called Ways of the World, Chapter 10 is called, The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected and Divided. When I read the chapter’s title I had to look up the word Christendom because I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what the word meant. So I look it up and the Merriam Dictionary defines it as the part of the world where most people are Christians — sometimes used in the old-fashioned phrase in all of Christendom. I put the two together and the chapter discusses the Eastern European religious beliefs and the Western European religious beliefs. The Byzantine Empire is associated with the east and Latin/ Constantinople’s Empire is associated with the West.  The two sides had one religion Christianity, but within the religion they believed different things.  Constantinople had a political court that they believed represented “God’s Court” because the authorities symbolized the “peer of apostles.” They were a centralized state. When Eastern Europe heard of this court the Turkic Ottoman Empire invaded Constantinople, in 1453. This came a time when different beliefs started to split the church and state in Europe. It was known as Caesarpapism because Caesar was in head of the state during that century. The split between the two religions were evident in the Orthodox Christianity because they believed that the Roman had “right thinking” due to disbelieve they had towards idols displaying in the churches. They also influenced the Byzantine life styles in all aspects.

            To understand the difference in Orthodox and Catholic religions I will explain it in an easier pattern. To begin, communion is an annual tradition that churches strongly belief in. It is a way to remember Jesus’ death. In the Orthodox Church, they partake in communion by uses leavened bread to symbolize Jesus’ body. The Catholic Church uses unleavened bread. Also, within the churches, the Catholics had many statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, The Orthodox saw this as a sin because they believed the statues were used as idols, which in their religion they were not suppose to have any idols. In their community Catholics believed that men should never shave, so many men had long beards; whereas the Orthodox shaved their beards because they saw it as appearance does not matter.

            Another difference in the two religions was their location. The Orthodox parted on Western Europe and the Catholics were on Eastern Europe.  On the western side of Europe they were seen as Barbarians because they were muscular, and not as well organized as they were on the eastern half of Europe. When the roam civilization fell in 476 the population decreased leaving the existing people with little to work with. They imitated the Roam hierarchal status with their popes, bishops, priests, education foundation, and welfare functions. In their everyday living I associate their society as a democratic party because they had popes that provided security for families and individuals. They provided for everyone just like how democrats believe one person overall who takes care of everyone. This chapter, Chapter 10, brought several topics to narrow down the differences in Europe. Although I only specified small issues they dealt with, it still supports the objective. To understand more differences take a look at the chapter, it brings up several more interesting facts to the topic.

Ch. 8

Part Three: An Age of Accelerating Connections from 500-1500-Chapter 8 called Defining a Millennium, in Ways of the World, goes into detail how different cultures, religions, diseases, and trades spread through the world. The exchange in Eurasia diminished the economic self-stuffiness of local societies such as gatherer- hunterer people because more technology and a surplus of food started happening. They needed a new system to keep up with the speed of things. The trade shaped the peoples lives because it provided them with nutrition, jobs, housing, interaction, and revenue. In return it also had an effect on the societies as well such as the vast cultures, languages, religions, technology, plants, and politics.

            The Silk Roads in Eurasia connected the pastoral people with the agriculture people- example gatherer-hunterer. However after exchanging such goods, the location of the societies greatly mattered because lets say they traded maize. Maize can only grow on flat and dry lands; the rain forests would not be able to take ton the role of farming maize. So the trade of the people had to be decided before they do the exchange. The biggest trade that people seemed to do was the trade of silk, the book called it Silk Roads. The silk transferred from the east to west. Silk was in high demand for almost all societies. Silk resembled: high status, wealth, currency, and trade. Within the exchange of the good also provided the chance to expand religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Cultures were also affected in the trade of silk because it was past on from pastoral people to China, East and Central Asia, and India. What I found most interesting is when Eurasia would trade with Asia they picked up certain aspects of the Greeks. The book mentions that Buddha has similarities of the Greek gods. This made me shocked because I never put the two artworks together. I always thought they looked completely different but maybe because like the Greeks, Buddha actually has human characteristics; and at that time most all other artwork of civilizations had no human resemblance. Another thing that came with the opportunity to trade were the different diseases. The diseases followed the Eurasia route. I liked how the book put significance to the pros and cons of this exchange because it made you think in two ways. One aspect of the spread of diseases is that people saw a pattern in the diseases so they were able to find a mechanism to fix it; also, immunities started happening so that people got use to the sickness. But for the con side the book went into detail about different scenarios of the devastation the diseases caused such a the Bubonic Plague and the Black Death that hit the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. In America their diseases affected their animals by domesticated animals due to the little interaction they had with the Eurasian Route.

            Sea Roads across the ocean were made mostly in the Indian Ocean. They were able to trade with Venice, Italy because of the water that surrounded the city. The trick they used to pick up speed was called monsoons. Monsoons are wind currents that people began to take advantage of the wind shifts. The trade made across the Global oceanic system established in1500 also impacted societies by cultures, especially the Greeks to India. The root religion practiced in Southeast Asia was Hinduism and Buddhism. Again India affecting the Greeks was a very odd fact for me because I never put these two civilizations together.

Ch. 8

Part Three: An Age of Accelerating Connections from 500-1500-Chapter 8 called Defining a Millennium, in Ways of the World, goes into detail how different cultures, religions, diseases, and trades spread through the world. The exchange in Eurasia diminished the economic self-stuffiness of local societies such as gatherer- hunterer people because more technology and a surplus of food started happening. They needed a new system to keep up with the speed of things. The trade shaped the peoples lives because it provided them with nutrition, jobs, housing, interaction, and revenue. In return it also had an effect on the societies as well such as the vast cultures, languages, religions, technology, plants, and politics.

            The Silk Roads in Eurasia connected the pastoral people with the agriculture people- example gatherer-hunterer. However after exchanging such goods, the location of the societies greatly mattered because lets say they traded maize. Maize can only grow on flat and dry lands; the rain forests would not be able to take ton the role of farming maize. So the trade of the people had to be decided before they do the exchange. The biggest trade that people seemed to do was the trade of silk, the book called it Silk Roads. The silk transferred from the east to west. Silk was in high demand for almost all societies. Silk resembled: high status, wealth, currency, and trade. Within the exchange of the good also provided the chance to expand religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Cultures were also affected in the trade of silk because it was past on from pastoral people to China, East and Central Asia, and India. What I found most interesting is when Eurasia would trade with Asia they picked up certain aspects of the Greeks. The book mentions that Buddha has similarities of the Greek gods. This made me shocked because I never put the two artworks together. I always thought they looked completely different but maybe because like the Greeks, Buddha actually has human characteristics; and at that time most all other artwork of civilizations had no human resemblance. Another thing that came with the opportunity to trade were the different diseases. The diseases followed the Eurasia route. I liked how the book put significance to the pros and cons of this exchange because it made you think in two ways. One aspect of the spread of diseases is that people saw a pattern in the diseases so they were able to find a mechanism to fix it; also, immunities started happening so that people got use to the sickness. But for the con side the book went into detail about different scenarios of the devastation the diseases caused such a the Bubonic Plague and the Black Death that hit the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. In America their diseases affected their animals by domesticated animals due to the little interaction they had with the Eurasian Route.

            Sea Roads across the ocean were made mostly in the Indian Ocean. They were able to trade with Venice, Italy because of the water that surrounded the city. The trick they used to pick up speed was called monsoons. Monsoons are wind currents that people began to take advantage of the wind shifts. The trade made across the Global oceanic system established in1500 also impacted societies by cultures, especially the Greeks to India. The root religion practiced in Southeast Asia was Hinduism and Buddhism. Again India affecting the Greeks was a very odd fact for me because I never put these two civilizations together.

AnnieRooMorgan: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Classical Era Variations, chapter 7 in Ways of the World, elaborates on the continents Africa and America. It goes into great detail of civilizations that brought together what we now know as Africa and America. To start off, Africa’s and America’s civilizations occurred between 500 B.C.E.-1200 C.E. Africa’s population was 11% of the world and America had 5%. These were the smallest continents during the time, because most of the population was in Europe and Asia.

            Africa is described as a massive land mass. It is the most tropical continent because it is located right in the middle of the equator. Arica had many civilizations, cultures, and societies due to the different geographies of the continent. Because of its close location to Europe they were able to trade with them. They also imitated Rome’s belief in Christianity; although, they put there own ideas into the religion such as St. Augustine during 354-430 C.E. Africa had many distinct civilizations that included Moroe near the Nile River Valley, Axum that took over the Moroe civilization, and Bantu located in Nigeria. Moroe civilization is south of Egypt in the Nile River Valley. They existed from 300 B.C.E. to 100 C.E. They often traded and fought with Egypt, which lead to competition with each other. They were governed by monarchs and had religious leaders that they buried. They were also known for sacrificial victims. They were a rainfall-based agriculture unlike the Axum civilization that was a plow-based farming system. For both of the civilization they were dependent on iron that provided trade for the both of them from Europe. One reason Axum is important is because they had their own language called Geez. Because the two were both reliant on the product of iron, by the Moroe burning too much wood for the use to melt iron and by Axum having deforestation in their region caused the two cultures to collapse. Bantu, in Nigeria, took over the gatherer-hunter people’s way of life. They brought in many cultures, trade, and population. They brought ideas to the civilization such as witchcraft that later introduced the idea of sacrificial rituals. They were known as the original “civilizers” of the earth.

            Now to go on to America, known as Mesoamerica. America had little interaction with any other continents because of its desolate location. America had two major civilizations: the Andes and Mesoamerica. They were from Mexico to the northern Central America. Because of their many microclimates they had plenty of competition between the two in their chiefdoms, cities, and diversity. The two civilizations grew maize, beans, chili, peppers, and squash. Within these two major civilizations were small civilizations: the Maya, Teotihuacan, Andes, Moche, and the Chavin. The Maya were located in Guatemala in 2000 B.C.E. They were at a high intellectual achievement because they had their own math system, writing system, and their idea of stargazing. Teotihuacan located in the Valley of Mexico, was a planned society in 150 B.C.E. Much of their civilization is unknown but one thing they are known for is their enormous palaces, temples, plazas and pyramids. They were the “city of gods.” The Andes civilizations were a mix of the Incas and Norte Chico societies. Located in the mountains, Andes had many rivers running through it that provided irrigation and cultivation for them. Chavin located in Peru had a small-scale irrigation, but luckily they had the opportunity to trade with the Amazon and the coast. Last but not least the Moche civilization replaced the Chavin’s civilization after they fell. One thing they are known for is there fertilizer, which they called “guano”. Another important aspect of them was their skillful craftsman. 

Chapter 6: Social Hierarchies

Eurasian Social Hierarchies is the title for chapter six in Ways of the World. The chapter describes how China, India, and Rome established hierarchies within their civilizations. To begin, I will describe how China developed their hierarchy. They first created an examination for the civilians to take so that they would be able to find a job. If one did not take the examination, they would be considered low class. Within this examination, hierarchies were already created. By providing jobs for the one’s who passed the exam, meant that they have the opportunity to be wealthy and own their own slave. The majority of China was not able to take the exam causing the lower class to be the majority of the society. Another hierarchy is represented in this civilization. It is the duty of the landlords. Landlords were able to sell land and profit of off it. They were the elite of China, known as “ scholar-gentry.” China was not the only civilization that created hierarchies, but it is one that I found most interesting.