Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction (pg. 747-755)

There are three factors that have magnified the human impact on the earth. For example, world population quadrupled in the 20th century consisting of massive use of fossil fuels, and enormous economic growth. There was an uneven spread of all three over the world, but economic growth came to appear possible and desirable almost everywhere. This lead to human environmental disruptions becoming a part of global proportions. Because of the doubling of cropland and corresponding contraction of forests and grasslands, numerous extinctions of plant and animal species, air pollution in many major cities and rivers, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) thinned the ozone layer. By 2000, scientific consensus on the occurrence of “global warming” as the result of burning of fossil fuels and loss of trees. 

Environmentalism began in the 19th century as a response to the Industrial Revolution. It only became a global phenomenon in the second half of the 20th century which began in the West with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Actions came from the grass roots and citizen protests. In Germany, environmentalists entered politics as the Green Party where environmentalism took root in developing countries in 1970s–1980s. This tended to be more locally based, involving poorer people, more concerned with food security, health, and survival, and more focused on saving threatened people, rather than plants and animals. Environmentalists sometimes have sought basic changes in political and social structure of their country.  

Women's issues in the Presidential Race

These two articles discuss the issue about free birth control for women. Personally, this issue is pointless and shouldn't even be a main concern right now. There are more important issues going on in the world that need to be attended to. I can take a stand fr both sides of this issue, but I believe that it shouldn't be a huge issue like it is now. There can be different methods and solutions that can benefit most people in this situation. It is more of a religious point of view then a political view.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/03/poll-birth-control-not-top-election-issue-for-us-voters/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/10/obama-birth-control-compromise-defuses-religion-issue.html

Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction (pg. 740-747)

Modernity presented a challenge to the world’s religions. It provided advanced thinkers from the 18th to 20th centuries who believed that supernatural religion was headed for extinction. There was a sharp decline in religious belief and practice in some places which eventually spread scientific culture that convinced small minorities that the only realities worth considering were those that could be measured scientifically. But the most prominent trends of the last century have been the further spread of major world religions, in new forms, and their attacks on elements of a secular and global modernity. Buddhist ideas and practices were well received in the West. Christianity spread even further; majority of Christians are no longer in Europe and the United States. Islam also spread widely because of religious pluralism on a level never before seen. Fundamentalism is a major reaction against modernization and globalization. It has developed in every major religious tradition

with many features of the modern world that appear threatening to established religions. Fundamentalists have responded with selective rejection of modernity and actively use modern communication technology. The term “fundamentalism” comes from U.S. religious conservatives in the early twentieth century; called for a return to the fundamentals of Christianity. 

                                                                   

"Arab Spring" of 2011

This article emphasizes women's equality to men. Tunisian women have benefited/changed the world in multiple ways and are unrecognized about it. Personally, I never realized what an impact these women had until reading this article.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/opinion/pelosi-women-africa-democracy/index.html

Chapter 24 Accelerating Global Interaction (pg. 734-739)

The Globalization of Liberation: Comparing Feminist Movements. During the 20th century, the idea of liberation traveled around the world. In the 1960s, there was a protest movement around the world that suggested a new global culture of liberation in the United States. This included civil rights, youthful counterculture, and antiwar protests in Europe. These protests in Europe consisted of protests against unresponsive bureaucracy, consumerism, and middle-class values. In the communist world, there was an attempt to give socialism a human face in the Czechoslovakia  movement which was crushed by the Soviet Union. Furthermore, in China the Cultural Revolution development was the idea of a third world dream of offering an alternative to both capitalism and communism; cultural renewal third world ideology exemplified by Che Guevara. This was an effort to replicate the liberation of the Cuban revolution through guerrilla warfare in Africa and Latin America among all the liberation movements, feminism had the most profound potential for change rethinking of basic relationships between men and women began in the West in the 19th century.

Chapter 24: Accelerating Global Interaction (pg. 723-734)

I thought it was interesting that the discussion of Barbie and Ken dolls shows the power of global commerce today. It also shows the reaction to the values represented by Barbie and Ken elsewhere in the world, such as Iran. Iran created new dolls, Sara and Dara, that portrayed Iranian Muslim values and practices. However, the Sara and Dara dolls and the Barbie and Ken dolls were all manufactured in China. During the 20th century, a web of political relationships, economic transactions, and cultural influences brought the world together. By the 1990s, the process of accelerating engagement was known as globalization. Globalization has a long history upon which the 20th century globalization was built. The pace of the globalization increased rapidly after World War II. The term "globalization" refers to international transactions. This has come to seem inevitable to many since 1950. The global economic linkages contracted significantly in the first half of the 20th century, especially between the two world wars. The capitalist winners of WWII were determined not to repeat the Great Depression. After the global economic transactions, they quickened dramatically after WWII led to re-globalization.

Chapter 23 Independence and Development in the Global South (pg. 691-720)

I find it interesting that Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for treason, sabotage, and conspiracy. It's even more interesting that in 1994 he became South Africa's first black president. In the 20th century Decolonization was very important. The newly independent states experimented politically, economically, and culturally. These states were labeled as third world countries during the cold war. Today they are now more often called developing countries or the Global South. They include a large majority of the world’s population and suffer from enormous challenges. I think it is wrong that there was a destructive impact of colonial rule in the 1st and 2nd waves. Not only were people suffering from racism, but their borders were re drawn based on how the British thought it should be. Their culture, religion, and economy were taken over and over powered by the British. Gandhi became a very significant leader in India because he joined a movement to fight for racial segregation there. He also developed a notion of India that included both Hindus and Muslims. This notion was an active but nonviolent movement. The British were not happy with this so they responded with repression and concessions. Not everyone agreed with Gandhi so there was conflicts there as well. Arguments arose but eventually South Africa won freedom from Great Britain in 1910. But its government is controlled by a white settler minority. 

Gandhi and MLK Quotes

 Mahatma Gandhi: "Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong."


Martin Luther king Jr:  "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals." 


These two quotes are similar because they both relate to nonviolence. Both quotes refer to nonviolence as a weapon because it doesn't hurt anyone but can still cause damage and defeat enemies. It requires great discipline to follow nonviolence and love is also required. You have to be at peace with yourself to be successful and overcome enemies/obstacles in your life. For over centuries violence hasn't solved anything. Both Gandhi and MLK have discovered that nonviolent actions can solve any conflicts if they are followed through correctly. 

Chapter 22 The Rise and Fall of World Communism (pg. 675- 689)

Communist revolutions drew on the mystique of the French Revolution. They got rid of landed aristocracies and the old ruling classes which involved peasant upheavals in the countryside and educated leadership in the cities. I thought it was interesting that the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions all looked to a modernizing future, but there were important differences. Examples consist of communist revolutions that were made by highly organized parties guided by a Marxist ideology. The middle classes were among the victims of communist upheavals, whereas middle classes were chief beneficiaries of French Revolution. 

During the cold war it was a battle between the communist and communism parties. It is still questionable today if the Soviet Union or the United States won. The Revolutionary Path led to a part of reform which relates to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution had reforms which created change in non violent ways. These reforms eventually led to a Revolution. 

Handout Massaro Section 6 (The Dignity of Work, Rights of Workers, and Support for Labor Unions)

Along with the rights of workers and unions go a number of important responsibilities. Individual workers have obligations to their employers, and trade unions also have duties to society as a whole. Union management in particular carries a strong responsibility for the good name of the entire union movement. Workers must use their collective power to contribute to the well-being of the whole community and should avoid pressing demands whose fulfillment would damage the common good and the rights of more vulnerable members of society. However, wages paid to workers are but one of the factors affecting the competitiveness of industries. Thus, it is unfair to expect unions to make concessions if managers and shareholders do not make at least equal sacrifices. The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation.  

Handout Massaro, Section 5 (Property Ownership in Modern Society: Rights and Responsibilities

Property is a general term for rules governing access to and control of land and other material resources. Because these rules are disputed, both in regard to their general shape and in regard to their particular application, there are interesting philosophical issues about the justification of property. Modern philosophical discussions focus mostly on the issue of the justification of private property rights as opposed to common or collective property. Private property refers to a kind of system that allows a particular object like a piece of land to particular individuals to use and manage as they please, to the exclusion of others. Though these exclusions make the idea of private property seem problematic, philosophers have often argued that it is necessary for the ethical development of the individual, or for the creation of a social environment in which people can prosper as free and responsible agents. I thought the comparison about a mortgage was very helpful because that's something I can understand and relate to.  

Chapter 22 The Rise and Fall of World Communism (pg. 659-674)

The Berlin Wall was breached on November 9, 1989. It was built in 1961 to seal off East Berlin from West Berlin. This became a major symbol of communist tyranny. Communism had originally been greeted by many as a promise of liberation. Communist regimes had transformed their societies and provided a major political/ideological threat to the Western world. I went to Berlin in 2006 so I was able to actually see where the wall was. So reading about it is interesting to me because I have witnessed the location.  

The cold war started in 1946 and ended in 1991. There was a scramble for influence in the third world between the United States and the USSR. There was a massive nuclear arms race and then it collapsed. Communism had its roots in nineteenth-century socialism, inspired by Karl Marx. Most European socialists came to believe that they could achieve their goals through the democratic process. Those who defined themselves as “communists” in the twentieth century advocated revolution. “Communism” in Marxist theory is the final stage of historical development, with full development of social equality and collective living. At communism’s height in the 1970s, almost one-third of the world’s population was governed by communist regimes. The most important communist societies by far were the USSR and China. I didn't find this surprising because the USSR and China had a lot of power and control. Communism also came to Eastern Europe, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, Afghanistan. None of these countries had the industrial capitalism that Marx thought necessary for a socialist revolution. Therefore, communist parties took root in many other areas. 

Intro to Part Six and Chapter 21

During the 20th century, it carried on from the past and developed distinctive characteristics. Whether it was a combination of the old and new merits the designation of a separate era in world history will be debated for a long time to come. When I was reading, what really caught my eye was when it talked about WWII and it discussed Hitler's attempted extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust and the United States' dropping of atomic bombs on Japanese cities which marked something new in the history of human conflict. I found this interesting because both events are so tragic that they have become famous in history and had an impact on human conflict. Another phenomenon that occurred is the communism which is a blending of the new and the old. The great revolutions of the 20th centuries derived from long-standing conflicts in Russian and Chinese societies. These events shape the future and tell stories of the past.In chapter 21, the last veterans of World War I are dying. There was disappointment that it wasn’t the “war to end all wars," but now the major European states have ended centuries of hostility. The “Great War” (World War I) of 1914–1918 launched a new phase of world history. It was “a European civil war with a global reach” and between 1914 and the end of WWII, Western Europe largely self-destructed. The modernization and Europe’s rise to global ascendancy had sharpened traditional rivalries between European states this is when both Italy and Germany. By around 1900, the balance of power in Europe was shaped by two rival alliances: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria, Italy) and the Triple Entente (Russia, France, Britain). These alliances turned a minor incident into WWI. 

                      

Chapter 20 Colonial Encounters (pg. 607-614)

I thought it was interesting when the African man from Kenya talked about his successful life because he got an education. Today, so much emphasis is put on students getting a good education so they can have a successful job and support themselves. It is true that a good education will get you far in life if you apply yourself and have the motivation/determination to do something. I feel like this has to do with anything in life as well. The book says that people tried to dress,act,and talk like Europeans. This is because the Europeans were successful and other people want to be like them and be successful as well. So when they see someone doing something different they want to do the same thing as well and copy what others do. Religion also plays a role in people's lives. Christianity was being spread to Africa were there it became "Africanized." Personally, this means that they have adapted another culture but they still have their own traditions and combine their religions and believes. Ultimately, having a good life includes accepting and adapting to new and different ideas and motivating yourself to go out and make a change to the world.

Chapter 20 Colonial Encounters (pg. 589-606)

European cultural conquests lasted between 1750 and 1900 which was focused in Asia and Africa rather than in the Western Hemisphere. It featured a new number of players which included Germany, Italy, Belgium, United States, and Japan. The construction of the second wave European empires in the Afro-Asian world, like anywhere were involved with military force or the threat of using it. New technological advances in weaponry such as machine guns and rifles were created which increased the firepower and provided advantage for countries using them. I thought this was interesting because with any new technological advances, countries use them to overpower weaker countries and take control over them. It goes to show that new inventions change the world, sometimes for the better or sometimes for the worse. It mostly depends on how people use them and if they abuse the power that they have. For example, there is a chart on page 593 that shows in 1900, several of the great population areas in Asia had come under the great colonial control of Britain, the Netherlands, France, the United States, or Japan.

Adam Smith's Theory of the Invisible Hand

 Adam Smith came out with an analysis of market trends of production and consumption. He concluded that the markets have an inherent potential of becoming efficient. It is as if there was an invisible hand that guides the market to a level that is good for society. His theory has remained throughout all of economics, even after two hundred years. That in a free and unregulated market, where anybody can become a producer or a consumer, people's demand of different goods and their production of the same good will be equal, and the allocation of their resources for production and consumption of different goods will be optimal for the welfare of the society. Demand refers to the willingness of people to pay a price for a particular good. when the demand is more, the market price of a good rises, thereby making it attractive for more producers to start producing. The entry of new producers increases the supply, and in turn reduces the prices.

Chapter 18 Revolutions of Industrialization (pg. 541-556)

The Industrial Revolution spread to continental Western Europe and by the end of the 19th century, it made its way to the United States, Russia, and Japan. New technologies and sources of energy generated vast increases in production and spawned an unprecedented urbanization as well. Different histories, cultures, and societies ensured that the Industrial Revolution unfolded variously in the diverse countries in which it became established. Differences in the pace and timing of industrialization, the size and shape of major industries, the role of state, the political expression of social conflict, and many other factors have made this process rich in comparative possibilities. American industrialization began in the textile industry of New England which had a growing domestic market, and its relative political stability combined to make the United States the world's leading industrial power. The United States also pioneered techniques of mass production, using interchangeable parts, the assembly line, and "scientific management" to produce for a mass market.
A difference between Russia and the United States lay in the source of social and economic change. The United States changed from the society as farmers, workers, and businessmen sought new opportunities and operated in a political system that gave them varying degrees of expression. By 1809, the Russian Industrial Revolution was launched and growing rapidly. It focused on railroads and heavy industry and was fueled by a substantial amount of foreign investment.

Chapter 18 Revolutions of Industrialization (pg. 527-541)

"Industrialization is, I am afraid, going to be a curse for mankind..." Ghandi, the famous Indian nationalist and spiritual leader said this. I think by this statement he means that the people of his culture were treated unfairly. Once different countries adapted to industrialization, small-scale, village-based, handicraft manufacturing ways of modern industry were abandoned. Ghandi tried to prevent this from happening but was unsuccessful.
The Industrial Revolution reached a great acceleration in the rate of technological innovation, leading to an enormously increased output of goods and services. New sources of energy were used, such as coal fired steam engines and later on petroleum-fueled engines. Early signs of the technological creativity that spawned the Industrial Revolution appeared in the eighteenth century Britain, where a variety of innovations transformed cotton textile production. The biggest breakthrough was the steam engine, because it provided an inanimate and almost limitless source of power beyond that of wind, water, or muscle and could be used to drive any number of machines as well as locomotives and oceangoing ships. Eventually the Industrial Revolution spread beyond the textile industry to iron and steel production, railroads and steamships, food processing, construction, chemicals, electricity, the telegraph and telephone, rubber, pottery, printing, and much more.

Chapter 17 Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes (pg. 507-524)

The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic.The revolution was one of the two successful attempts, along with the American Revolution, to achieve permanent independence from a European colonial power for an American state before the 19th century. Furthermore, it is generally considered the most successful slave rebellion ever to have occurred in the Americas and as a defining moment in the history of Africans in the New World.
The Spanish–American Revolution was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. Revolts against Spanish rule had been endemic for decades in Cuba and were closely watched by Americans; there had been war scares before. 

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery. In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. The Dominican priest who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first European law abolishing colonial slavery in 1542, but was forced to weaken these laws by 1545. 

Chapter 17 Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes (pg. 504-507)

In 1789, Act Two in the drama of the Atlantic revolutions took place in France. It was closely connected to Act One in North America. It consisted of representatives of three "estates", or legal orders, of pre-revolutionary France: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. Representatives of the Third Estate soon organized themselves as the National Assembly, with the sole authority to make laws for the country. That revolution was quite different from its North American predecessor. Members of the titles nobility-privileged, prestigious, and wealthy-resented and resisted the monarchy's efforts to subject them to new taxes. Ordinary urban residents, many of whose incomes had declined for a generation, were particularly hard hit in the late 1780s by the rapidly rising price of bread and widespread unemployment. More radical revolutionary leaders deliberately sought to convey a sense of new beginnings. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was temporarily turned into the Temple of Reason, while a "Hymn to Liberty" combined traditional church music with the explicit message of Enlightenment.

Chapter 17 Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes (pg. 499-504)

I have never heard of the Haitian Revolution and I thought it was interesting that it was the first successful slave revolt in history. Further revolutionary outbreaks shook various European societies. This had an  impact on the Atlantic world. The armies of France invaded Egypt, Poland, and Russia where they brought new ideas for change. These ideas made an effort to abolish slavery and extend the right to vote and to secure equality for women. Various revolutions in North America, France, Haiti, and Latin America separated and influenced one another. The Atlantic basin had become a world of intellectual and cultural exchange as well as one of commercial and biological intercourse. The ideas derived from the Europeans Enlightenment  and were shared across the ocean in newspapers, books, and pamphlets. The heart of these ideas consisted of human politics and social arrangements that could be engineered and improved by human action.

Chapter 16 The European Moment in World History (pg. 491-497)

I thought it was interesting that William O. Swinton wrote the book An Outline of the World's History which is a book for students that discussed the race to which we belong, the Aryan, which has always played the leading part in the drama of world progress. Other civilizations were believed to be static and unchanging. Why was this? Europeans called them "backwards" peoples and regions were headed in the European direction or doomed until distinction. Europeans arrived in the Western world where they brought something unique, special, or superior about them or their culture. This caused everyone else to struggle and overcome their inadequacy to catch up. The 19th century rule was the "European moment" when the Europeans were clearly the most powerful, most innovative, most prosperous, most expansive, and most widely imitated people on the planet. I found this very interesting. How did they come to this power? And why were they feared so much?
An explanation could have been that Europe occurred within an international context. It was the withdrawal of the Chinese naval fleet that allowed Europeans to dominate the Indian Ocean in the 16th century, while Native Americans' lack of immunity to European diseases and their own divisions and conflicts greatly assisted the European takeover.

What is Enlightenment?

Enlightenment is a person's emergence from their self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another.  It is so easy to be immature.Thus, it is difficult for any individual person to work themselves out of the immaturity that has all but become their nature. They have even become fond of this state and for the time being is actually incapable of using their own understanding, for no one has ever allowed them to attempt it. But that the public should enlighten itself is more likely; indeed, if it is only allowed freedom, enlightenment is almost inevitable.Nothing is required for this enlightenment, however, except freedom; and the freedom in question is the least harmful of all, namely, the freedom to use reason publicly in all matters.

Chapter 16: Religion and Science pg. 461-488

I found it interesting that Christianity was forced upon children in school. It was mandatory for them to take it and learn about this religion. I find it unfair and that religious beliefs shouldn’t be forced upon you. You should learn about it because you believe in it, not just because someone is telling you to understand it. Justice was served because the teachers were defeated for teaching mandatory intelligent design.

Europeans were in charge of the globalization of Christianity and the emergence of modern sciences. Asian, African, and Native American peoples determined if Christianity would be accepted, rejected, or transformed as it entered new cultural environments. Islam continued a long pattern of religious expansion and renewal even when Christianity became to compete with it as a world religion.

Christianity was largely limited to Europe at the beginning of the Modern Era. Christianity was divided between the Roman Catholics of Western and Central Europe and the Eastern Orthodox of Eastern Europe and Russia. This was the defensive mechanism against an expansive Islam.

Martin Luther was a German priest who debated about abuses within the Roman Catholic Church by posting the document the “Ninety-five Theses.” It was for the people who were critical of the luxurious life of the popes, the corruption and immorality of clergy. His ideas provoked a schism within the world of Catholic Christendom, for they came to express a variety of political, economic, and social tensions as well as religious differences.

On page 464, there is a chart of the Catholic and Protestant differences in the 16^th century. I found it very helpful to compare and contrast their beliefs with authority, rules, clergy, prayer, and many more. On page 466, there is a map of the reformation of Europe in the 16^th century. The rise of the Protestantism added another set of religious divisions, both within and between states, to European Christendom, which was already sharply divided between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Some Europeans wanted to spread Christian faith to corners all around the world. Europe’s Scientific Revolution is a vast intellectual and cultural transformation that took place between the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Careful observations, controlled experiments, and the formation of general laws, expressed in mathematical terms, became the standard means of obtaining knowledge and understanding in every domain of life. The Scientific Revolution altered ideas about the place of humankind within cosmos and challenged the teachings of the authority of the church.

Europe’s historical development as a reinvigorated and fragmented civilization arguably gave rise to conditions uniquely favorable to the scientific enterprise. Europeans had evolved a legal system that guaranteed a measure of independence for a variety of institutes. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church achieved some measure of autonomy from secular authorities, making Europe quite different from the Islamic world, where the separation of religious and secular law gained little traction.

On page 480, there is a chart about the major thinkers and achievements of the scientific revolution. I thought it was pretty cool because you get to see who discovered what and how times and achievements have evolved. 

Chapter 15 Global Commerce (pg. 448-458)

On page 454, there are two charts about slavery. The first chart  describes the rise and decline of the slave trade. I was surprised of the increase of slave trade during the years 1701-1850. It's interesting that from 1451-1675 the numbers were pretty low. What was the event that caused the numbers to increase so rapidly? And why did the the numbers stay consist and then suddenly drop?
The second chart is the destination of slaves in the eighteenth century. I thought that the U.S. had the most percentage of slaves. So I was shocked to discover that the Caribbean and Brazil had the highest percentages. Why did they have the highest percents?

Chapter 15 Global Commerce (pg. 433-448)

The very first line in the chapter from the guest book of Cape Coast Castle made me realize how lucky I am. Slaves were treated so poorly and lived in such harsh conditions that they probabaly hated thier lives and despised the people who ruled over them. I am very grateful that times have changed and people aren't suffering as badly as they used to.
Some goods that were at a high demand include: cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper which were used as condiments or preservatives. Other products of the East such as Chinese silk, Indian cottons, rhubarb for medical purposes, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires were also in great demand.
There is a line that says silver "went around the world and made the world go round." This increased supply of a precious metal traveled from country to country and people wanted to have it. It became an obsession to obtain silver and live life based around it and what you could buy or sell for it. In it's global journeys, silver transformed much that it touched. It's wealthy European elite lived in luxury, with all the goods of Europe and Asia and their disposal. People would travel for weeks on end to get silver. Greed consumed the people and of course they wanted to obtain something of great vaule even if it meant putting their lives in danger.

Handout: Ch. 4 Sweet Nexus: Sugar and the Origins of the Modern World

I found the phrase "people produce what they do not consume, and consume what they do not produce" confusing. I'm still unclear by what it means.
In the 4th century, sugar was discovered by Greek conquerors in north western India. Ancient Europeans called it "Honey from reeds."  Sugar became a luxury good that was introduced into western Asia and Europe in the later Middle Ages. By the 15th century, sugar was being grown in southern Spain and in Portugal. The Portuguese brought the sugar plantation from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. There they used African enslaved labor to work the crops. I found this very racist and unfair. It's annoying when people are aware of the discrimination and don't do anything about it. It's not right to degrade people based on skin color or where they are from. The African slaves had to plant, weed, and harvest the cane. The conditions they lived in were nasty and brutal.

Chapter 14 Empires and Encounters (pg. 417-430)

While the Western Europeans were creating empires in the Americas, the Russian Empire was beginning to form. Eventually the Russian Empire became the world's largest state. Because of Columbus, the state of Moscow conquered neighiboring Russian cities and involved them with expanding the territory. Moscow was originally under Mongol control until Moscow became the center of the Russian Empire.This empire became very successful and offered economic and social improvements. By the end of the 18th century, Russian settlers overwhelmed the native people. The Russians started to take over other local countries and populate the land with their own people. Because the Russians conquered different lands, the empire became very mulitethnic. Obviously, the Russians created an empire like the Western empires in terms of conquest, settlement, religious conversion, and feelings of superoprity.
China built an empire on the northern and western frontiers that enlarged the size of the country. The Chinese conquests along with the Russian Empire transformed Central Asia. China's domination sparked a clash of the nomadic pastoralists and settled farmers. The India Mughal Empire was a result of Central Asian warriors, who were Muslims in religion and Turkic in culture. The Nughal Empire was an encounter of two of the world's great religious traditions.
Along with the Mughal state, the Ottoman Empire was the result of Turkic warrior groups. The Ottoman state was converted from a small frontier to a powerful empire. This empire represented the growing of Tukic people becuase they now had a large number of Arabs. Like the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire was a cross-cultural empire between the Islamic world and Christendom.

Chapter 14 Empires and Encounters (pg. 403-417)

  The European colonies, Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, and Dutch were very significant with the empire building across the Western Hemisphere. Throughout these empires, old societies were destroyed while new socities were created. Countries such as Portugal, Spain, Britain, and France were located aorund the rim of the Europe. This made them closer to the Americas and the wind currents blew in the same direction they were going which made it easier to travel and trade. As for China, the wind currents blew against China which made it difficult to travel and China was already developed and had a strong economy so there wasn't any need to explore.
There are negative and positive views about Christopher Columbus. He was hero by discovering a new world and he brought western culture and civilization to this new land. He provided assistance in helping the people use thier land effectiviely and how to manage it. So for this, Columbus was a crucial factor in farming and modernizing the other lands. However, upon his arrival up to 90% of Native Americans died. Their bodies couldn't handle diseases because they were never exposed to it and their immunities weren't strong enough. Because of his new ways of living he brought to the Native Americans, most of them died from starvation because they didn't know ways of searching for their food. In my opinion, I still look at Columbus as a hero because he made advancements towards life and other lands. It is unfortuante that millions of people had to die as a result of this but it is part of the cycle of life to adapt to new and different things that occur in the world. Today, we have created medicines for diseases and have multiple ways of getting food to stay alive. Without Columbus, people would never have learned to adjust to ways of living and advancements in the medical field would never have been discovered.