Chapter 23 Economic Globalization

After reading chapter 23, it came to me that not that many people in the world of the early twenty-first century remain untouched by globalization. With this in mind, globalization has bound various people together and made each and every one of us more alike. We all seek health, wealth, and prosperity that modern science and technology promise, but there's still an enormous gap in wealth between the rich countries of the global north and south. All of this is due to the recent rift in human community. Globalization has changed a lot of things around the world, some for good and some for bad.

Chapter 22 (Islam)

I thought the reading on chapter 22 (on Islam) was very interesting. Ali was against the fact that women had unequal rights. She moved to different countries and traveled to see that women in her religion were being treated unequally. This is why she began to disagree with the views and beliefs on women and their rights from her religion. I don't agree with the rights and views people have in Islam over women either. She then went to express her feelings over her religion on a letter saying that she wished she could change some of her family members views to see how bad women are being treated and aren't having the equality they should have. This makes me think so much how over the years women have been fighting and getting more equality for their own rights and for a change to do what they are believed they can't do.

Chapter 22 (The global south on the global stage)

After reading this chapter, I realized how much Europe had ruled or controlled. They basically took over Africa and some of Asia. It wasn't till the middle and late 1990s that these two decided that they had enough of European control. Africa was finally able to get independence. Nelson Mandela was one of the most influential people in Africa. He was put in prison for trying to speak up for his people and their rights. The government didn't like his message, so he was prisoned for more than 27 years. When he finally got out, he concluded his speech as a free person. Soon he became the first black African president, and tried to get his message to other countries that were being controlled by European powers. The 1990s were a time where every 10 years something was going on around the world. From wars, to natural disaster, to countries taking over other countries, to changes that changed history, etc. I believe Mandela was a very honest and strong person to go to prison for so long but never lose hope for his dream and views on his country and be able to push for those rights once he came out of prison to change history in South Africa and gain independence after being ruled for so long by European powers.

Chapter 21 (Communism)

The modern world found its political and philosophical roots in the 19th century, which was inspired by the teachings of Karl Marx. By the 1970s, most of the world's population lived in societies governed by communism regimes. World War II sparked and extended communism among many countries. In the aftermath of the WWII, many communist parties played various roles in European countries. Revolutionary communist movements began and even threatened to establish governments in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru, and elsewhere. 

Additionally, during the cold war, the Warsaw Pact brought the Soviet Union and Eastern European communists States together in a military alliance. This alliance was designed to counter the threat from the Western capitalist countries of the NATO alliance. Communism was something that changed many countries and began many revolutions. China and Russia were two countries that upheld revolutions that changed a lot of the first half of the century. 

Chapter 20 (2 world wars)

The two world wars changed human kind in many ways. Many people during the twentieth century tried to over take countries or even attempted to exterminate a group of people. For example, Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews in the Holocaust. This was one of the worst things marked in history that happened. During this time, many countries were scared to be attacked and lose. The U.S. was one of the countries that began to test and develop bombs that would demolish anything for miles. They successfully dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. This was another change in history, because not only did this kill off a whole city, but it made it unlivable after due to the radiation it spread. The early twentieth century and the two world wars were times where it must have felt like hell. So many countries and leaders were coming up with ideas to end one another, and the U.S. was the one who basically stopped everything due to its development of such a strong bomb. I'm glad I wasn't part of such a terrifying time, but a time where all the nations come together now and make decisions for everyone's good.

Changing China (Ch.19)

During the 1800s-1900s China was becoming a semi colonial society, and foreign powers stepped up their aggression against China. This conflict marked the beginning of what Chinese still describe as a "century of humiliation". During this time, China wasn't just dealing with Europe, their population was growing and they didn't produce enough for its people. With China having a big population, they lacked crops, which led to starvation. All these factors led to rebellions and China having more pressure.
During the revolution, something that really caught my attention was the women that fought with the soldiers. This was something never heard of or seen before, so it was something that changed many views for people during that time. China went through many negative factors during the 1800s-1900s, which makes sense why they described this time as a "century of humiliation".

Scramble for Africa

One hundred years later, after Britain had lost its 13 colonies in America, Spain and Portugal had lost most of South America, a second wave of colonization took place. From 1880-1900, every corner or place of the earth was claimed by one or other European power. Africa saw the most dramatic colonization during this time. It was called the "scramble for Africa" because of how Africa was divided up like a cake split between european leaders. European nations saw Africa as ripe for the taking. They began to export civilization to a continent which they regarded as undeveloped. This colonization was in reality driven by commercial interests, since Europe would benefit enormously from its exploitation of Africa.

Chapter 17 (pg. 862-877)

The industrial revolution was a time when there was many new innovations that were changing the daily lives of everyone. The industrial revolution gave us the middle class, new technological advances, political restructure, etc. Communism was able to bring everyone down to equal levels. Even though there was a lot of great things from this revolution, there was some negative factors as well. Some of those negative factors were child labor, pollution and harsh treatment on workers. These were things that may have killed a lot of people. Pollution was at its high due to all the factories. People were working tremendous hours and getting treated like animals. The industrial revolution brought a lot of lessons that helped all of us look back and change for good.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes from 1760-1840. This was a period where production switched from hand production, to methods of machines. The industrial revolution was one of the biggest turning points in history. Almost every aspect of the daily life was influenced in some way. This revolution began in the UK and most of the important technological innovations were British. The standard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history as well. Living during this time was a really special time. The economy was growing and there was new technological advances that were making life easier for everyone.

Early Modern Commerce in products

This chapter was mainly on different trade routes that were being used all over the world to trade resources from one country to another. Commerce was a big change that became a big movement for globalization. Commerce between countries allowed new relationships to occur among people, enriched some, disrupted old patterns empires had, and some countries even enslaved people. The most important trading source that become very significant was silver, because it gave birth to a global network of exchange. Overall, the ideas of this chapter is how commerce worked within the countries during the time.

Feb 16 Echoes of Atlantic Revolutions

During this time, people were sparked by many ideas, specially during the enlightenment. The enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century became increasingly critical about slavery because of the natural rights every person had (liberty and equality). Due to this, people began to think that the idea of slavery was wrong. Not only did the Atlantic revolution and enlightenment spark a change in views for slavery, but it also gave the rise of feminism. This was a time where things were changing more for good than for bad. Many people were coming together to get justice for those who had no voice, which was the slaves. The Haitians were the ones who were able to motivate others to stand up and rebel. After all the fighting and standing up for slaves, they were able to get freedom, which eventually led to the movement of the feminist and helped them make moves to shine and rise.

Founders Week Activity

On Tuesday, I went to the event in the chapel where Michael Fox talked about his life and experiences. Michael explained how he came to meet Sister Dorthy Stang and the impact she made in his life when he met her. Sister Dorthy Stang changed the way Fox viewed things and was greatly influenced in a very positive way. Fox also talked about how "mother earth" was dying. Fox basically dreamt about his mother dying. He mentioned about several different things like; the coming of the comic christ, ecological awareness, the big picture and other experiences. The thing that caught my most attention was when he talked about "the lessons in the amazon". He explained how their chapel was the three in the backyard, and how people were tortured or killed for trying to protect the Amazon. Fox believed the Amazon people were very brave and courages for facing tough realities and deaths daily... I enjoyed this event because of the experiences Fox went through and how Sister Dorthy Stang was able to help him out when he met her.

Atlantic Revolutions

The Atlantic Revolutions were a revolutionary wave in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was associated with the Atlantic World during the era from the 1770s to the 1820s. Independence movements in the New World began with the American Revolution, 1775–1783, in which France, the Netherlands and Spain assisted the new United States of America as it secured independence from Britain. These revolutions were mostly successful. The revolutions began to spread widely the ideals of republicanism, the overthrow of aristocracies, kings and established churches. In addition, they showed that the modern notion of revolution, of starting fresh with a radically new government, could actually work in practice. 

Colonial Empires in the Americas

Portugal seems to be the first Europeans to colonize the americas. Portugal was also one of the first imperial states to grant independence to its colonies in the Western Hemisphere. I believe that the Portuguese explorers played a significant role in opening areas in the region for further exploration and exploitation by other imperial states, including the introduction of the modern slave system. They basically did some good things and some bad things during their time colonizing. 

The Birth of Modern Science

I believe this was a time where many things were being discovered and spread throughout Europe. Many people were trying to force the attempt to practice christianity, while others were making Europe's scientific revolution. I feel like this was a very interesting time to be alive, because there was no technology like todays. Imagine trying to study the stars and doing science things without the equipment we have today? It would be super hard. I believe people during the modern science life were very curious. Curios people tend to be a bit "weird" or different, but they always come to discover important things.

The Early Modern World

This is the era the Europeans "wake-up", expanded, and began to build empires. The interconnection of the Eastern and Western hemispheres made possible by transoceanic voyaging marked a key transformation of this period. Technological innovations helped to make transoceanic connections possible. Changing patterns of long-distance trade included the global circulation of some commodities and the formation of new regional markets and financial centers. Increased trans-regional and global trade networks facilitated the spread of religion and other elements of culture as well as the migration of large numbers of people. Germs carried to the Americas ravaged the indigenous peoples, while the global exchange of crops and animals altered agriculture, diets, and populations around the planet.

Slavery

January 28, 2016

Chapter 14 

Between 1500 and 1866 there was a tremendous human slave trade going on. It was mainly African societies that were being brought from across the Atlantic Ocean and to the Americas. During this time, slavery was generally accepted as a perfectly normal human enterprise. Over the years, slavery was past down for generations, and there was little hope of eventually having freedom for the new generations. A lot of Europeans died like flies when they went to get more slaves, since they lacked common tropical diseases. Africans were giving their own people to the Europeans because they were exchanging their people for goods like European and Indian textiles, cowrie shells, metal goods, fire arms and gunpowder, tobacco, alcohol, and various decorative items such as beads. 

I believe this had to be the worst time to live as a human. I mean, who would want to be controlled by someone you don't even know. I don't understand why people would do such a thing.

In my opinion, I hate reading about slavery and how it all happened because of the way people (the slaves) were treated. How could we do such things to each other. I don't understand why Europeans saw Africans as something less or different. They are humans too, just of different color. I'm glad this is something from the past, because everyone (mostly everyone) learns from it and tries to change so it won't happen again.

Once upon a time... The end.