Chapter 21, 22, 23 & 24

WW Part 6 – Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24

Chapter 24

I like the way that the book describes globalization as a “ … process of accelerating engagement among distant peoples […] widely known as globalization”. It seems that one of the main purposes of humanity is to “engage distant people”. We were able to see this through the silk roads, the different conquests, the voyages, new discoveries of land, and more. People were able to exchange cultures, religions, technologies, and ways of ruling, along with many other things. Globalization was implemented very early in world history, even though today, people think of globalization as an economic growth at an international level.

After WWII, people introduced a new concept called “re-globalization”, because after the war, people had to re-organize and circulate the goods, capital, and people again (pg. 725). But it seems that history has repeated itself, because now, the economy is in bad shape and it is time to reconsider the term, “re-globalization”.

It is very interesting to see the indicators of re-globalization (pg. 728), and it makes me wonder how much money, more or less, has been made from early 2000’s until now, and what should be done to re-introduce the re-globalization concept.

By looking at the Map 24.2 (pg. 729), I ask my self this question - how come not everyone is benefiting equally from this economic development? You can clearly see the global inequality and the countries that are benefited the most. How can we explain that the higher the population is in a country, the less economic developed they are?

It is also interesting to see how in the book, the United States are referred to as an American Empire, even though the United States don’t see themselves that way. If we compare it to ancient empires, it is true to say that they are not expanding through the conquest of land, but they are actually expanding through their innovations, and different types of products. The books refers to this as an “empire of production” (pg. 733)

But globalization doesn’t pertain solely to the global economy. It also refers to the different ways people had expressed their ideas in a much more global level. These new ideas and concepts had a very crucial impact around the world, one example being the feminist movement, and the wanting of equality as a human being. It is amazing how greatly women were able to fight for the same ideals, even with a distance as a barrier. Also, the spread of religion globally, and the fight to keep the basic and fundamental beliefs, without having modernity interfering with it, is also fascinating to me. And lastly, another concept that intrigues me is the “globalization of environmentalism”. I think people around the world are still trying to grasp the concept of “being green”. This topic is still relatively new, and we need to keep working on it until the concept spreads globally for our benefit.

Chapter 17, 18 & 20

Blog #5 – WW - Ch 17, Ch 18, Ch 20

         It is interesting to see how the Atlantic Revolutions happened in a chain reaction, and how the people that initiated these revolutions were some how connected through the same ideal and different events that influenced one another. The ideas of the Europeans enlightened many, and the news of the beginning of the Atlantic was quickly spread across the ocean in newspaper, books, and pamphlets. The ideals of equality, free trade, religious tolerance, republicanism, and human rationality were in the air. Today, we experience the same ideals from the Atlantic revolution with the same passion, and in given cases, with the same violence. Such as before, we are experiencing a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests. We hear about civil uprisings, international protest movements against social and economic inequality and political changes. I don’t agree with the whole idea of a revolution, but at the same time I think it is necessary if the outcomes may be good ones, such as the abolition of slavery.

         I always thought that the industrial revolution was initiated in the United States, but I later found that it actually started in Great Britain. But why Great Britain? It seems that everywhere around the world people were experiencing technological and scientific flourishing (pg 529), but I guess there were several factors that contributed to these ideas. I was not too far from reality because the United States were next on the list for this Industrial revolution. I was surprised to read that “Ford” was one of the pioneers of the industrial revolution. Another interesting fact was how Russia approached the industrial revolution in a different way. For others, theor approach was based more on the economic and social aspects, while Russia approached it through modern military forces, and a new education system. Even though the industrial revolution had a positive outcome, the means that were used were not the best. Child abuse, child labor, and finding workers for a cheap salary were some of the abusive treatments in the industrial revolution.

How is it possible that in the 19^th century, Europe is experiencing a second wave of conquests? I don’t know if it was a good thing, but at least it was not as violent as the other times, but still force was used and the destruction of plantations and huts were made. Also they used their military forces as a threat, for that reason people surrender and become part of their ruling. I think people wanted to avoid violence and surrender, but also saw, privileges and good social status. Some how it was at win, win situation at least with the nobles. One thing I didn’t enjoy reading is about the forced labor. I don’t understand how these people used such cruel punishments. They never thought that by taking care of their employers, they would be able to produce more? The cutting of their hands – was that necessary? How are they going to keep doing their jobs and producing the way their bosses wanted?

Chapter 14, 15 & 16

Blog #4 – WW – Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16

         Being born in Peru, and reading about the European Empires in America, brought back memories from when I was in school. We learned that the Spanish came and settled in Peru. As the book WW mentioned, “ We (Spanish) came here to serve God and the King, and also to get rich” (pg 406). But they forgot to mention that they also came to destroy and kill. And I am not referring to just people. I am referring to our culture, beliefs and values. The Spanish brought sickness and diseases. It leads me to wonder why history books don’t call it what it should be called, which is, in my opinion, a genocide. When the Incas become in contact with the European and African diseases, they died in great numbers. Unfortunately, the Incas were dying also from hunger, and were not able to take care of each other. As far as the Columbian exchange, I am not so sure it was an even exchange. It seems that the Incas contributed more to this exchange than the Spanish.

         It seems that people were able to trade freely (pg 435), until the Portuguese decided to forcefully control the commerce. Why didn’t they join the trading peacefully? It was a good thing Spain challenged Portugal (pg 437), not by force, but with another expansion to the Philippines island. Ultimately, it was the Dutch and the English that overtook and displaced the Portuguese, often by force (pg 439). Everyone one had the necessity of showing off his or her power. It would have been much easier if they created a system of commerce together that worked out for everyone.

I believe that the commercialization of furs, silver, textiles and spices had a great impact in global commerce, but was it necessary to add human beings into the commercialization? Why did we have to continue trading slaves? And why was Africa the primary source of slave labor? Was it because of their color? Maybe not, according to WW “Africans were skilled farmers, they had some immunity to both tropical and European diseases; they were not Christians; they were relatively speaking, close at hand and they were readily available…” (Pg 451) What is ironic is that today, people of color, such as Africans, are associated with laziness, being slow, and not wanting to work. And back then they were the perfect match to do any type of work.

         I didn’t know that Catholicism and Christianity, before the Protestant Reformation, were the same thing. I remember that a friend of mine once asked me if I was Christian or Protestant. I said Christian, and then he asked me what Catholic Church I went to. I responded by reminding him I was a Christian not a Catholic, in which he said they both are the same thing. He totally confused me. But after reading chapter 16, I now have a better understanding of what he meant. With this new information, I have to say that I am a protestant, and share with Luther the same understanding of salvation that comes through faith alone. I know that these ideas are still a challenge to the Catholic Church. I remember my mom asking the bishop of our church things about the bible, and him telling us that he didn’t think a Catholic church or Catholicism is for us anymore. Those types of responses lead Catholics to search for other alternatives.

Chapter 11, 12 & 13

I see Islam as a religion created by man. Muhammad presented himself in the line of earlier prophets (pg. 304) but who made him a prophet? Who chose him as the messenger of God? I see Islam as a very structured religion, putting aside the relationship with God. The requirement of the believers, called the sixth pillar, impose too many guidelines for new converters.

         Muhammad could be seen as a dictator. He forced citizens to contribute to a payment made to support the poor. In WW, it is also mentioned that Muhammad acted harshly to suppress the Jewish, exiling some and enslaving, or killing others (pg 307). It seems that the Arab empire was built successfully in great majority on religious beliefs. Islam was seen as a social conversion, unlike Christianity, which was based on faith. Unfortunately, with death of Muhammad, there were some divisions within the Islamic community. I wonder what criteria or requirements were held by elders in appointing the next leader within the Islam.

         The Mongols always had an extremely bad reputation, but in chapter 12 it seems that they were not that bad after all. For all of its size and fearsome reputation, the Mongol empire left a surprisingly modest, cultural imprint on the world it had briefly governed (pg 342). Mongols were a pastoral society. They served as a bridge to bring other civilizations into far more direct contact than that in earlier times (pg 342) Mongols were able to grow, maintain their people together and conquer other civilizations because of their loyalty to their military leaders. They were very smart, while in China they used Chinese administrative practices, techniques of taxation and their postal system (pg 348), but never adopted their culture or beliefs. In Persia they used their sophisticated bureaucracy, rebuilt damaged cities and repaired neglected irrigation works (pg 351) In Russia, Mongols were not able to do much other than exploit and dominate them for the steppes (pg 352). Mongols created a trading circuit that linked the Afro-Eurasian world (pg 354). In addition, Mongols also facilitated diplomatic relationships from one end of Eurasia to the other (pg 354). Learning more about the Mongols changed the previous outlook I had on them.

        

Chapter 5

As the civilizations started to settle, they were able to create different cultural traditions. Thinkers started to arise, questioning the human and spiritual side of things. As mentioned in the book WW, I believe that people have a capacity to improve; and as a teacher I support Confucius’ ideas of emphasizing in education because it is the key to moral improvement. I didn’t like how Ban Zhao twisted the ideas about education for girls, and how women were inferior compared to men. He also said that if girls had to study it was because they could “learn to be better prepared to serve their husbands” (WW – page 130). Religion became a very important part of their cultural traditions even though there were some religions that started as movements questioning the way of living. Each society adopted these different forms of religions and adapted to them according to their own way of seeing and doing things. That is why (I believe) religions have been distorted. But on the positive side, religion was this new tradition that helped societies in unity and togetherness and gave women a chance to be part of these new rituals.

Chapter 10

It hard to define what Christianity is now, and even harder to define what it was before because as Christianity was expanding, it took different shapes and forms having as a result different branches within the same Christianity religion. For me Christianity is not a religion, is a personal relationship with God. Christianity is a religious conviction based on faith. It is hard to try to understand Christianity within human reason “Christianity provided a measure of cultural commonality” (WW pg 269) something that everyone can identify with.

Chapter 9

China, China, China. I was not surprised to read that China was “the most urbanized country in the world” (WW page 244) It seems that China was always ahead of the game. Papermaking was one of the biggest contributions of China to the world. What I don’t understand is why it took so long for paper to get to Spain, France, Germany and England.

China had power but still was not able to keep Korea, Vietnam or Japan under its domain. But instead China was able to influence these countries with their culture, religion and ways of seeing and doing things. Korea, Vietnam and Japan chose to adopt and modify some of these Chinese ways and opted to keep their own individuality and identity. They were smart enough to adapt things according to their own needs. That’s why now a days these Asian countries are so different but similar at the same time.

Chapter 8

I see commerce as another way of expansion. Humans are curious by nature. I can see that the curiosity to see more and explore other places is a human necessity, and this could be how the long trade was incorporated in empires/civilizations. These civilizations found ways to get to other places; they traveled by sea and across the dessert to not only exchange goods. They were able to trade culture, religions, language and diseases (on the bad side). Small cities were able to stay in the loop on what was happening in the big cities. The most popular goods they traded were silk and I wonder if the trade of silk was one of the first steps in introducing “fashion” into society. It’s amazing how this delicate fabric was used to differentiate power among the elites.

But what is intriguing for me is how traders were able to communicate and understand each other, what took traders so long to get to the Americas if a trading phenomenon was in place, and why the Andes and the Mesoamerica did not trade with each other.

Chapter 7

It is interesting to learn how these big empires played and important role in our society, but I find more fascinating to learn how these other small empires/cities also played and important role in history. It seems that these other empires/cities were more exclusive, and they were not interested in expanding, but to take care of their own. For these societies bigger did not mean better or more power. Their way of seeing life was very different. For example, they were not influenced by a specific religion, their gods, because they thought that divine power came from nature. I noticed that there are some traditions or customs from the Andean civilization that are still used in these modern times in Peru, and that is the usage of the “shamans”. One thing that I regret is not been able to explore and visit more of the different Andean civilizations that are mentioned in the book WW.

Chapter 6

Hierarchies were a big part of these empires, and even though there were some rulers that tried to close the gaps between the higher and lower classes, it was impossible to do. Unfortunately the separation of the higher class and the lower class in the economic aspect caused a lot of discrimination among the lower class society pushing people (mainly poor) to survive by becoming robbers or bandits. But hierarchies were not just based on the economy, but also based on the birth order and social groups. But what bothered me the most was that women were always considered as lower ranked in society. Women had to be under the submission of their fathers, or husbands or sons, and were commonly kidnapped and used as slaves. In most cases women were secluded and the freedom or equality given to them was very structured and with limitations.

Slavery was seen in China as “status symbol” (WW pg. 166). The Greeks thought it was a good thing to have slaves. Even poor people had slaves. I don’t understand what the purpose of having slaves was. I wonder how these slaves were treated. In India being a slave was more of a punishment to criminals, which I find more understandable.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

          It seems that in the classical era civilizations were able to settle, and improve what they already had, and build up on it. These different empires let cultural diversity be part of their societies.

Greeks wanted to keep the unity within their surroundings and created the Olympics, which I find to be contradictory because it seems that the Olympics would only create more rivalry. In the Greek empire, cultural diversity was included as part of their society and at the same time they struggled with discrimination, same as with our actual society. Religion was spread in the Roman empire first among lower class, and I believe this happen, because with all the changes happening the lower class were the ones suffering the most and started to look for a divine power to help them through all the suffering. Language was also improved; Latin was the root for Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian – no wonder how as a Spanish speaker I am able to understand most of these languages.

Why did other civilizations not follow Egypt's example about how to treat their women? Back in the origins of the first civilization in Egypt there was no need for a women's movement. I really enjoyed reading, that at least in one civilization, women were treated as equal as men. Due to this practice I believe that Egypt was probably the most civilized city at that time. Unfortunately now women in Egypt have adopted some of the Mesopotamia customs and their women now wear veils and are segregated from men at school and work. What happened? How come Egyptians stopped believing that men and women had the same rights, and took away from women the right to do things men can do?

There are about 5000 types of potatoes around the world, and in Peru, where I am from, exist about 3000 types. The potato was introduced to humanity during the Neolithic Era / The Revolution of Agriculture,  3000 - 2000 B.C.E  years ago. The potato was a very important source of food for the people who lived in the Andes region. These people learned different techniques to grow and store it.  Nowadays the potato is big part of our Peruvian culture. In Peru and in other places around the world there are Potato International Centers (CIP) where they keep making scientific investigations to learn more of the benefits of its consumption. On May 30th of every year we celebrate  the "Day of the potato" in Peru, where through expositions, fairs and other events, people can try the different varieties of potatoes, which are used in different Peruvian dishes.

The Paleolithic society reminds me of the neighborhood where I grew up. The Paleolithic society consisted of small communities- they had twenty to fifty people (neighbors), same as my neighborhood. They had a strong relationship with each other, same as my neighborhood where everybody knew everybody else: we participated in the same social events, cared for each other, and also if a child misbehaved everyone knew about it (mainly the parents). The only difference between both, the Paleolithic society and my neighborhood, was that we did not move from place to place as a group, but we did it individually. And when the community started to expand it was hard to keep track of everyone and the strong relationships started to weaken.

Here we go.....

First time doing this...let's see what happens