BLOG #15: Chapter 12 - The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century

Chapter 12 was interesting because it focused on the world in the Fifteenth Century but I was more interested on the sections of the Paleolithic persistence on Australia and North America and the section on the Inca Empire. In the Paleolithic Persistence it talked about how Australia changed overtime but more slowly than their agricultural counterparts and how the paleolithic way of life still had a sizable and variable presence in the world of the fifteenth century. I was interested in the Inca empire because like China the book mentioned that they erected a rather more bureaucratic empire. They had the top ruler which was their emperor who had absolute power. I liked reading about how the state owned all land and resources and how subjects werwe grouped into hierarchical units because I like learned about how different political systems and governments worked in past empires compared to ours in America today.

BLOG #14: CHAPTER 11 - PASTORAL PEOPLES ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

This Chapter was interesting, I found it actually a little different than most of our readings. I learned that the "revolution of domesication" began around 11,500 years ago and I also learned that this involved both plants and animals. I learned that here people began to combine farming with animal husbandry and here powerful and impressive civilizations developed on this foundation with great populations. I also learned that Pastoral societies had less productive economies and they supported smaller populations. Here people lived in small scattered encampments compared to villages, towns, and cities. They organized themselves in kinship-based groups where they claimed a common ancestry. This is similar to back home because we seperate different areas of our island into villages and we too gather with our related clans or families that also absorb unrelated people into the community.

BLOG #13: CHAPTER 8 - CHINA AND THE WORLD

CHAPTER 8 WAS AN INTERESTING READING BECAUSE IT SPECIFICALLY FOCUSED ON CHINA AND WENT THROUGH THE RE-EMERGENCE THAT TALKED ABOUT THEIR GOLDEN AGE, THEN TO HOW THEY PUT THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM INTO THEORY THEN INTO PRACTICE AND THEIR CULUTURAL INFLUENCE, BUT WHAT I FOUND REALLY NEAT WAS WHEN THE CHAPTER COMPARED CHINA TO KOREA, VIETNAM, AND JAPAN. STARTING WITH THE GOLDEN AGE, HERE CHINA "RE-GAINED" UNITY DURING THE SUI DYNASTY WHICH WAS FROM 589-618. HERE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CHINA LINKED ECONOMICALLY. AFTER THE SUI DYNASTY CAME TWO OTHER DYNASTIES THAT WERE KIND OF BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE SUI DYNASTY AND THESE DYNASTIES WERE KNOWN AS THE TANG AND THE SONG DYNASTIES. THIS ERA WAS KNOWN AS THE GOLDEN AGE OF ARTS AND LITERATURE. HERE CHINA BLOSSOMED IN SETTING HIGH BARS FOR POETRY, LANDSCAPE PAINTING, AND CERAMICS. MOVING ONTO THE TRIBUTE SYSTEM WHICH FELL MORE SO IN THE HAN DYNASTY IN 200 B.C.E TO 200 C.E., HERE CHINA REPRESENTED CIVILIZATION. EDUCATED CHINESE INDIVIDUALS SAW THEIR SOCIETY AS SELF-SUFFICIENT WHERE THEY REQUIRED LITTLE FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND OTHERS SOUGHT FOR CHINAS WELL BEING. THEREFORE CHINA WAS KNOWN AS THE "RADIATING CIVILIATION" DUE TO SHEDDING THEIR GOODNESS ON NEARBY BARBARIANS. 

BLOG #12: CHAPTER 10 ; THE WORLD OF CHRISTENDOM

While reading Chapter 10 I learned first that Yao Hong, who was actually a Chinese woman, made an impact on the growth of Christianity in China. I was rather surprised to read this because I didn't expect to start the reading off with a woman having an impact on the growth of Christianity in China due to the time frame the chapter is based off of which is 500-1300. I was not surprised to read that Latin America was perimarily under Catholic reign, many people converted to Protestant Christianity because I am personally Roman Catholic myself, I grew up going to church with my family every sunday and I got baptized as a baby into the religion and went through the process until recieving Communion or Confirmation in high school. I have experienced family members, more so distant family members, converting from the Catholic faith to specifically the Protestant Christian faith denomination. I was surpsied to read that Christianity contracted in Asia and Africa but also expanded to not only Western Europe but Russia although in The Conversion of Russia section it mentioned that they were the Orthodox Christian demonination I was also surprised to read that.that Europse was the principal center of the Chrisitan Faith. And it was cool to read in the Conversion of russian section how the religion reflected the regions cultural diversity because Russia's a lot different in today's society. One thing that really caught my attention was at the end of the chapter was The section about the plague because it seems I have  been talking about and learning about plagues these past two weeks in all of my classes and it just interests me more now to learn about the Black Death because it minimized the human population by so much and took us almost 300 years to reboot back to what the population was prior to the plague.

BLOG #11: THE WORLDS OF ISLAM

Chapter 9 was a lot easier to keep up with and read than the earlier Chapters that we read throughout the beginning of the semester. I say this because it focused primarily on the worlds of islam and I just felt like it was more direct and did not jump around as much, and that's the kind of readings I primarily understand more. What I found interesting in this reading was learning about Muhammad, I knew that he believed that he was Allah's messenger but I did not quite realize the impact he had on the Islamic world until I read this chapter. I also learned that he lost his parents at a young age and aroudn his mid-twenties he had a religious experience where he was convinced he was Alahhs messenger, so I learned he had this experience in his mid-twenties. This chapter was very different from the other Chapters because it spoke very little compared to the other chapters about Christianity. It did meantion it here and there but in the world of Islam it seemed to be a little of the population due to a lot of people convertining for reasons like taxes. 

> THE BIRTH OF A NEW RELIGION:

- THE HOMELAND OF ISLAM:

--BESOUINA: LIVED IN FIERCEL INDEPENDENT CLANS AND TRIBLES, OFTEN ENGAGED IN BITTE RBLOOD FEUDS WITH ONE ANOTHER

--RECOGNIZED A VARIETY OF GODS, ANCESTORS, AND NATURAL SPIRITS

--VALUED PERSONAL BRAVERY, LOYYALTY, AND HOSPITALITY

--GREATLY TREASURED EXPRESSIVE ORAL POETRY

--ARABIA WAS LOCATED ON THE PERIPHERY OF TWO ESTABLISHED AND RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS: THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND THE SASSANID EMPIRE

--JEWS AND CHRISTIANS

-THE MESSENGER AND THE MESSAGE

--MUHAMMAD IBN ABDULLAH (570-632 B.C.E)

--BORN IN MECCA

--QURAYSH FAMILY

--LOST HIS PARENTS

--HAD A POWERFUL, OVERWHELMING RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE THAT LEFT HIM CONVINCED THAT HE WAS ALLAH'S MESSENGER TO THE ARABS

--BROUGHT TO THEM SCRIPTURE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

--MONOTHEISTIC: ALLAH AS THE ONLY GOD, ALL POWEFUL CREATOR, LORD SUSTAINER OF WORLDS

--QURAN: PILLARS OF ISLAM = FIVE REQUIREMENTS

--FIRST PILLER = "THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD, AND MUHAMMAD THE MESSENGER OF GOD"

--SECOND PILLER = RITUAL PRAYER, FIVE TIMES A DAY

--THIRD PILLER= ALMSGIVING, REFLECTED THE QURAN'S REPREATED DEMANDS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE BY REQUIRING BELIEVERS TO GIVE GENEROUSLY TO SUPPORT THE POOR AND NEEDY OF THE COMMUNITY

--FOURTH PILLER = MONTH OF FASTING DURING RAMADAN

--FIFTH PILLER = ENCOURAED A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

>THE MAKING OF AN ARAB EMPIRE

-WAR, CONQUEST, AND TOLERANCE

--BYZANTINE AND SASSANID ENGAGED

--STRETCHED FROM SPAIN TO INDIA = ARAB EMPIRE

--TRIBAL RAIDS

--SUFFERED PERIOD EPIDEMICS OF THE PLAGUE THAT DECIMATED THEIR URBAN POPULATIONS

-CONVERSION

--SOCIAL CONVERION = MOTIVATED MORE BY CONVENIENCE THAN CONVICTION

--CONVERTS COULD AVOID TAX, JIZYA

--IN PERSIA: CONVERSION ABANDONED NATIVE LANGUAGE, ADOPTED ARABIC, CAME TO SEE THEMSELVES AS ARAB

-DIVISIONS AND CONROVERSIES

-WOMEN AND MEN IN EARLY ISLAM

>ISLAM AND CULTURAL ENCOUNTER: A FOUR-WAY COMPARISON

-THE CASE OF INDIA, ANATOLIA, WEST AFRICA, SPAIN

>THE WORLD OF ISLAM AS A NEW CIVILIZATION:

-NETWORKS OF FAITH, EXCHANGE

BLOG #10: CHAPTER 7 ; INTRO TO PART THREE - COMMERCE AND CULTURE

Intro to Part three and Chapter 7 were an interesting read. I learned a lot from these readings starting with the fact the long-distance trade had a time where it became “more important than ever” which was in 500-1300. In this time, it linked and shaped societies and peoples. I also learned about how commerce altered consumption and shaped daily life. Trade also had many impacts on societies such as: diminishing economic self-sufficiency in local societies, becoming means of social mobility, capacity to transform political life. Trade also had an impact on wealth in many societies. I learned that Silk Roads had economic and political consequences such as: civilizations giving up on food crops to focus on producing silk and this had an impact on the lives of ordinary farmers. Also, that it had an impact on culture and that Buddhism spread widely through central and east Asia due to these roads. I also learned that disease had an impact on a spike in Buddhism and Christianity, and it also prevented the Byzantium from reintegrating Italy INTO ITS VERSION OF A RENEWED roman empire that encompassed the Mediterranean basin. I also learned that the tang and song dynasties were when change re-established itself as an effective and unified state. I also learned that donkeys were used to transport gold for short distance and camels for longer distances. I thought this reading was more interesting because I did a closer reading than I have done on the other chapters, and I took notes on my blog while I was reading which made my reading take about 25-30 minutes longer, but I feel like it was worth it because I understood the chapter in much more detail than before. I liked how I could understand the positive impact of the Silk Roads and also the consequences. It was also cool to see how Buddhism really flourished through the silk roads and how even though the spread of diseases was a bad thing, it saved Italy but also weakened Christendom from standing against Muslims. I think this is relevant to today’s society because we do a lot of trading and transporting things, and a lot of shipping. From books for school, to dog food, to clothes. Back home on Guam we used to have a lot of poisonous insects found and spread throughout the island from ships and the department of agriculture had to inspect the insects and do all they could to demolish the species on the island. There was also an incident where a certain kind of snake was transported from somewhere in the world to Guam and it started to eat up our Islands COCO or KOKO’ birds, which was an important symbol on the island, and the KOKO’ or COCO birds are now an endangered species and are not typically seen throughout the island anymore. We also had a spread of rhino beetles in which are beetles who dig to the root of our Coconut trees and kill them, Coconut trees are important on Guam not only because they island like, but our ancestors utilized Coconut trees as their source of life and used it for food, fires, to build huts (which were their homes back in the day) and as clothing. The Rhino beetles have killed many of our Coconut trees back home and many of them have fallen onto the roads or have been cut down because they were dead, and now the island is doing their part on trying to kill or keep all rhino beetles away from the coconut trees and re-planting Coconut trees around the island because it is an important part of our culture and we still use them today for cultural dances, to weave, and for cooking.

NOTES ON OCTOBER 22, 2017:
- 500-1300: LONG DISTANCE TRADE BECAME BECAME MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER BEFORE IN LINKING AND SHAPING DISTANT SOCIETIES AND PEOPLES
- LONG-DISTANCE TRADING WAS MORE INDIRECT: A CHAIN OF SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH GOODS TRANVELED FATHAR THAN INDIVIDUAL MERCHANTS
- COMMERCE OFTEN ALTERED CONSUMPTION AND SHAPED DAILY LIFE
- TRADE ALSO IMPACTED THE WORKING LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE: ENCOURAGING THEM TO SPECIALIZE IN PRODUCING PARTICULAR PRODUCTS FOR SALE IN DISTANT MARKETS RATHER THAN FOR USE IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES
- TRADE ALSO DIMINISHED THE ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF LOCAL SOCIETIES
- TRADE BECAME A MEANS OF SOCIAL MOBILITY IN SOME SOCITIES 
- TRADE ALSO HAD THE CAPACITY TO TRANSFORM POLITICAL LIFE
- WEALTH AVAILABLE FROM CONTROLLING AND TAING TRADE MOTIVATED THE CREATION OF STATES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD AND SUSTAINED THOSE STATES ONCE THEY HAD BEEN CONSTRUCTED
- COMMERCE POSED A SET OF PROBLEMS TO GOVERNMENTS EVERYWHERE
- **AZTEC EMPIRE- TRADE LEFT IN PRIVATE HANDS**
- **INCA EMPIRE- TRADE CONTROLLED BY THE STATE**
- **TRADE BECAME A VEHICLE FOR THE SPREAD OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS, TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS, DISEASE-BEARING GERMS, AND PLANTS AND ANIMALS**

SILK ROADS: EXCHANGE ACROSS EURASIA
- SILK ROAD TRADING NETWORKS PROSPERED MORE WHEN LARGE AND POWERFUL STATES PROVIDED SECURITY FOR MERCHANTS AND TRAVELERS
- FLOURISHED AGAIN DURING THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES - BYZANTINE EMPIRE, MUSLIM ABBASID DYNASTY, AND TANG DYNASTY
-TECHONOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS: YOKES, SADDLES, STIRRUPS
- MOST LUXURIOUS GOOD: SILK WHICH SYMBOLIZED EURASIAN NETWORK OF EXCHANGE.
- SILK = CHINA IN 3000 B.C.E OR EARLIER
- 6TH CENTURY - KNOWLEDGE OF PRODUCING RAW SILK SPREAD BEYOND CHINA
- CENTRAL ASIA AND SILK - USED AS CURRENCY AND ACCUMULATING WEALTH
- CHINA AND BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND SILK - SYMBOL OF HIGH STATUS, LAWS PASSED THAT RESTRICTED SILK CLOTHING TO MEMBERS OF THE ELITE
- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES: 
-- YANGZI REIVER DELTA GAVE UP CULTIVATION OF FOOD CROPS TO FOCUS ON PRODUCING SILK, PAPER, ETC. 
-- IMPACTED LIVES OF ORDINARY FARMERS
---CONDUIT OF CULTURE:
- BUDDHISM: PRODUCT OF INDIA, SPREAD WIDELY THROUGHOUT CENTRAL AND EAST ASIA
--OWED MUCH TO THE ACITIVITES OF MERCHANTS ALONG SILK ROADS.
--MERCHANTS PREFERED ITS UNIVERSAL MESSAGE
-SOGDIANS: LANGUAGE BECAME MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION 
-- FOUND IN BUDDHISM THAT LARGER, WEALTHY, AND PRESTIGIOUS CIVILIZATION OF INDIA
---DIEASE IN TRANSIT:
-PARADOXICALLY: THESE DISEASES MAY WELL HAVE STRENGTHENED THE APPEAL OF CHRISTIANITY IN EUROPE AND BUDDHISM IN CHINA
-BOTH OFFERED COMPASSION IN THE FACE OF IMMENSE SUFFERING
-BUBONIC PLAGUE
-PLAYED A BIG ROLE IN PREVENTING BYZANTIUM FROM REINTEGRATING ITALY INTO ITS VERSION OF A RENEWED ROMAN EMPIRE ENCOMPASSING THE MEDITERRANEAD BASIN
-ALSO WEAKENED THE ABILITIY OF CHRISTENDOM TO RESIST MUSLIM ARMIES FROM ARABIA
- BLACK DEATH: IDENTIFIED VARIOUSLY WITH THE BUBONIC PLAGUE, ANTHRAX, OR PACKAGE OF EPIDEMIC DISEASES: FROM CHINA TO EUROPE
- THE EXCHANGE OF DISEASES GAVE EUROPEANS A CERTAIN ADVANTAGE WHEN THEY CONFRONTED THE PEOPLES OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE TO EURASIAN DISEASES

SEA ROADS: EXCHANGE ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN
--WEAVING THE WEB OF AN INDIAN OCEAN WORLD:
- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL REVIVAL OF CHINA
- TANG AND SONG DYNASTIES: CHINA RE-ESTABLISHED AN EFFECTIVE AND UNIFIED STATE, ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED MARITIME TRADE
- SUDDEN RISE OF ISLAM, SUBSEQUENT SPREAD ACROSS MUCH OF THE AFRO-EURASIAN WORLD
- ISLAM WAS FRIENDLY TO COMMERCIAL LIFE
--SEA ROADS AS CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE IN SOUTHEST ASIA:
- SRIVIJAYA: CONNECTION BETWEEN COMMERCE AND STATE BUILDING
--SEA ROADS AS CATALYST FOR CHANGE: EAST AFRICA
- GOLD, IVORY, QUARTZ, LEOPARD SKINS, SOMTIMES SLAVES
- SWAHILI: COMMERCIAL CENTERS THAT ACCUMULATED GOODS FROM THE INTERIOR AND EXCHANGED THEM FOR THE PRODUCTS OF DISTANT CIVILIZATIONS
-GENERATED CLASS-STRATIFIED URBAN SOCIETIES WITH SHARP DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN A MERCANTILE ELITE AND COMMONERS

SAND ROADS: EXCHANGE ACROS THE SAHARA
--COMMERICIAL BEGINNINGS IN WEST AFRICA
- CLOTH, GLASSWARE, WEAPONS, BOOKS
- TWO ECOLOGICAL ZONES:
--THE SAVANNA GRASSLANDS-PRODUCED GRAIN CROPS SUHC A MILLET AND SORGHUM
--FOREST AREAS-ROOT AND TREE CROPS SUCH AS YAMS AND KOLA NUTS
--GOLD, SALT, AND SLAVES: TRADE AND EMPIRE IN WEST AFRICA:
-GOLD: TRANSPORTED BY DONKEY THEN BY CAMEL
- IN RETURN RECIEVED: HORSES, CLOTH, DATES, SALT
- ORDINARY WOMEN: CENTRAL TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND WEAVING
- ROYAL WOMEN: IMPORTANT POLITICAL ROLES, ORAL TRADITIONS, MYTHOLOGIES
- SLAVERY

BLOG #9: CHAPTER 6 - COMMONALITIES AND VARIATIONS

Chapter 6 was cool, I thought that the continental comparisons was a neat part of the beginning of the Chapter. I liked how they pointed out how Eurasia took up 85% of the world population at the time, Africa 10%, The Americas 5%, and Oceana less than 1%. I also learned that there weren't any animals available in the Americas at this time, so there weren't animals walking around pulling carts or pulling plows. I figured it must have been very different in the Americas compared to Eurasia at this time, also in Africa as well because they lacked just as many animals as the Americas lacked until of course the animals were domesticated. I also thought it was crazy how the Americas weren't as developed as Africa and Eurasia, because today the Americas are a lot more developed than a huge chunk of the world. Also, the text mentioned that Eurasia and Africa had access to iron tools and weapons but did not mention the Americas, so that was news to me too. It's crazy to think how undeveloped the America's were because we now live in a society that is so technology based, we have cars, we have phone, public transportation, etc. and just how different it is from back then compared to now. They literally started from the bottom. I learned a few more things from this part of the chapter, I knew already that North Africa was basically a part of the Roman Empire but I didn't think twice about them producing wheat and olives. I also learned that the Nubian Kingdom of Kush conquered Egypt at some point of time. I found that rather more surprising because like.... Egypt is Egypt....but then I found they only ruled over Egypt for about a century. I also think it’s cool to find out why civilizations declined and the Meroe Kingdom declined because deforestation, which I'm convinced was the problem with a lot of civilizations come to think of it they didn't have their heads wrapped around the fact that deforestation would happen but I'm pretty sure at this time they didn't know what deforestation was, they were probably like omg no more trees. Later in the reading I saw that the Americas developed the most “elaborate writing system” and that this system used pictographs and phonetic/syllabic elements. Boy, was I happy to read this, Eurasia +3, The Americas +1! Towards the middle of that paragraph I read that these writings were either carved in stone or written on bark paper. The carved-on stone I understood because kind of caveman kind of not, mostly not. But I had no idea what bark paper was, but then I looked up the definition and images of it and it all made sense, so I basically knew what bark paper was I just never knew the name of the paper I have been seeing around all my life LOL. Reading onto the Maya Civilization I thought it was dope how they had “state shamans” that were able to mediate between humankind and the supernatural because during the time of St. Augustine they looked at the bishop as they messenger between heaven and earth or something like that. Also, back home on Guam we have what people think of them as witchdoctors, and they are actually called Suruhanus or Suruhanas, and they are “the gifted” back home where they can see, speak to, and communicate with the spirits back home in which we call taotaomona’s, the Suruhanus/Suruhanas back home could “see your soul” and they didn’t do what people call today “black magic” they were healers and meant good when communicating with the spirits. Usually we would go to them when we got sick from the spirits and they would give us medicine (which does not taste that great what so ever) but it cleansed out our body.

OCTOBER 14, 2017: (ADD ON TO BLOGS; MIDTERM STUDYING; READING OVER PEERS BLOGS)
- POPULATION SPREAD OUT
- RISE/DECLINE
- NOT EMPIRES
- DISTRIBUTION GEOGRAPHICALLY