Strayer, Introduction to Part 5 and Chapter 17 pp 491-504

"My dear philosopher doesn't this appear to you to be the century of revolutions?" (page 500) For many centuries there were multiple revolutions that were distributed through out the world. One in particular that has had an effect on the Americans, was the North American Revolution ( 1775-1787). This was trying to help them break away from the british empire to become its own, also known as the United States of America. One thing that was a huge problem was the equality of the people in America. Slavery was subsided in the northern hemisphere but was still a big thing in the south. With that saying, when it came to voting for things such as laws or people to run the country, black slaves and women were not allowed to vote. It really bothers me to know how much Europe had control over so many different colonies, which resulted in many revolutions for people to fight for what they wanted. This relates to the anecdote they had at the beginning of the chapter. Having the Chinese riding empty bicycles to symbolize the death of the Chinese who were fighting for their democracy was a sad thing to picture. It's sad to see a colonial has so much power over people that they take everything they have for granted.

Strayer,Chapter 16 pp. 477-488

In the second part of the chapter it states that, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes and Newton were the first to bring science into the religion aspect. Who really brought the scientific revolution together was Sir Isaac Newton who founded the modern laws of mechanics and motion. This helped with the notion of the world being ruled by mathematics instead of angels and spirits. Its prime location where science took place was in Europe. Seeing how something so major as the scientific revolution is a since of power that Europe had to build them. Knowing that they were already on top of others , establishing this big topic helped them with power. In my view as a science major, I believe that the scientific revolution does play a role on the outlook on nature. The way things have been founded and confirmed would not be the way it was without science.

Strayer, Chapter 16 pp. 461-477

In this beginning part of the chapter it first begins by saying that Christianity was established in the Americas, Philippines, Siberia, China, Japan, and India. It was very limited in Europe in the early modern era. Once it was brought to the European attention it helped with political and economic expansion. There was one particular section that really made me upset, when it spoke about this notion of war due to Catholicism. "It was a horrendously destructive way, during which, scholars estimate, between 15 and 30 percent of the German population perished from violence, famine, or disease." (page 465) In my view religion should never be a focus on violence. Me being religious and catholic I feel that following Gods word should never have any type of connection toward hurting others. Rather you should be loving your neighbor and finding peace.

Strayer, Chapter 15 pp. 449-458

In the beginning of the chapter we see the start of the slave trade that was through the Atlantic Ocean that dealt with the Europeans and Native Americans. The only benefits of this was the introduction were religious ideas, musical and artist traditions. This was one of the biggest expansion of human beings.  Having such a large amount of black slaves coming into the Americans help with the establishment of sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. This was when a lot of racism was established between "blacks" (which I believe is not the proper name, just like white is not the proper name) begin to come into affect. With the difference of color, bone structure and stability of their body there were many things being said about black slaves. This has always been a hard topic for me. Being "black" we are always looked at differently because out of all different races we are the darkest. They way blacks were treated at this time always makes me upset. They were bleeding their own sweat to do things for others just to be able to bring their whole family to America. Not being treated fairly and still have no say so in what they can and what they can not do. Not only were they hurt while working for their slave owners but also the slave boats that brought them to their plantations. At the end of my view point  of slavery I have never liked it and never will.

Strayer, Chapter 15 pp. 433-448

In this chapter we learn about the slave trade. There were many countries involved such as : Europe, Asia, Western Europe, North America and Siberia. This shaped the human interactions between 1450 and 1750. There were many connections being made such as between Europe and Asia and Spain and the Philippines. Between Europe and Asia their main form of trade were spices, such as; cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves and all types of pepper. Not only did this help with trading between countries but it also helped with countries beginning to gain power. This kind of relates to how China has power over the United States today. Since most of the US products are made from China they have power over us since we owe them the money in order for things to be made. I feel like trade is a great resource to get new things but it also starts conflicts between countries when it comes to dictating power. I believe trade should not have to do with power but strictly being able to trade something you have for something else. 

Sweet Nexus: Sugar and the Origins of the modern World.

The beginning of sugar began in India, in the fourth century, but was better known in China. It began its global expansion through the Muslims. With this introduction of sugar it began to be a luxury because the process of it. It was always made in large scales, it could be grown in hot areas. Once it was the fifteen century sugar was then introduced in souther Spain and in Portugal. It wasn't until the eighteen century where sugar was then used as a sweetener for drinks such as; coffee, cocoa and tea. One thing while reading that really got my attention was when it said "...sugar consumption among the average citizens showed not their wealth but their poverty and lack of adequate nourishment." (page 91) What I didn't understand was that sugar was a form of poverty and not wealth. I guess in a way of such a large consumption it has because it grows so much at a time it wouldn't be worth a lot. But, since it was used as a luxury items in some cases I would believe it was more known as a wealthy and high class item. One of the main things that help the production of sugar were slaves.

Strayer, Chapter 14 (pp. 417-430)

The second part of this chapter we begin to see a different side of an empire, the Russian Empire. Showing the difference of how it was just going east or west. In the east it was very slowly produced, they were known for gathering and hunting for their food. Not trading and being more out there like other empires. Since they didn't have anything such as weapons or any big seller they didn't get a lot of trade. The other part of Russia had many things that helped in trade such as grain, sugar, tea, tobacco and alcohol. Which was one reason why the Russian Empire was so wealthy. What I thought was interesting was how they compared it to the upcoming of China and India. It was like everything that each empire was doing was a competition. Yes, that was the case for many reasons but at the end of the day each empire was just trying to make it better to live in.

Strayer, Chapter 14 ( pp.403-417)

" Columbus was a perpetrator of genocide..., a slave trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero." ( page 403) From when you are in elementary school you are taught about all the great things Columbus has done for us. That he is the one who found the world. We have been depicted such a lie that now it is not a nation holiday like for instance Martin Luther King Jr day. During this chapter we learned that the Europeans had a great deal on the establishment of the country. For instance like it stated Spanish, Portuguese, British and French all have one major thing in common which is that they were controlled by the Europeans, even financially. My view is that this is one reason people feel that the modern era was really the European era because they controlled not only people but economic abilities and countries.

Introduction to Part 4

In this brief introduction, we were really put in the mind to think about the fact of Modern era being known as the European Era. There have been big debates on whether this should be the case. For instance with the Europeans putting them selves on the list of continents. The only reason they were able to do this was because they were the dominants at this time. I believe this will be a good discussion to talk about, while there are many defense on why it is the European era it is only viewed that way because the people who are saying that are European. While we aren't really able to see the second point of the actual modern era.