Blog #4
I was surprised to learn that Africans actively participated in the slave trade. I always presumed that the slaves were captured by Europeans who were raiding the shores. I never thought that Africans were going around enslaving other Africans. I always assumed that Africans were on the same side and were against the Europeans. What shocked me the most was reading about how one European captain mistreated an African King and was physically punished by the king's guards.
Chocolate was a much bigger luxury than I had previously thought. It is amazing how something that we take for granted meant so much only a couple hundred years ago. The affects of drinking the chocolate amazed many of the Elite Europeans, but are common knowledge now. I found the chocolate parties that were held by the Spanish Elite very interesting.
I would relate the coffeehouses of the time to today's bars. At the time drinking coffee and chewing/smoking tobacco were considered vices and were looked down on by most religions. That is very similar to the way that most religions view bars that sell alcohol. Smoking tobacco and drinking coffee were associated with unwholesome and promiscuous behavior. This also sounds a lot like the way that people view others who attend bars.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Blog #3 Economic Transformations
In this section of the reading, the book says that the Atlantic Slave Trade was not the only way the cultures were being mixed in the world. With the silver coming from the Americas, Western Europe was able to buy its way into the Asian trade commerce. Furs from the Americas helped their cause even further.
I am surprised that the Portuguese were able to create a trading post empire in the Indian Ocean. The book says that the Portuguese were able to forcibly create trading posts in areas such as Mombasa in East Africa, Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and Malacca in Southeast Asia. I do not understand how the merchants in the Indian Ocean did not have a form of protection against pirates or attacking ships. The Portuguese deserved what they got for trying to create a monopoly on the spice trade to Europe. They were being greedy and it backfired on them in a major way. The Portuguese have still not been able to recover.
I found the Spanish brutality on the the Philippines Islands interesting. The spanish had constant hostility towards the Chinese because of the resistance to Catholicism. The Spanish often had to put down revolts and murder Chinese immigrants. What surprises me is that at one point the Spanish killed over 20,000 Chinese, which was almost the whole population on the islands. I feel that an event such as this would be more widely known.
In this section of the reading, the book says that the Atlantic Slave Trade was not the only way the cultures were being mixed in the world. With the silver coming from the Americas, Western Europe was able to buy its way into the Asian trade commerce. Furs from the Americas helped their cause even further.
I am surprised that the Portuguese were able to create a trading post empire in the Indian Ocean. The book says that the Portuguese were able to forcibly create trading posts in areas such as Mombasa in East Africa, Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and Malacca in Southeast Asia. I do not understand how the merchants in the Indian Ocean did not have a form of protection against pirates or attacking ships. The Portuguese deserved what they got for trying to create a monopoly on the spice trade to Europe. They were being greedy and it backfired on them in a major way. The Portuguese have still not been able to recover.
I found the Spanish brutality on the the Philippines Islands interesting. The spanish had constant hostility towards the Chinese because of the resistance to Catholicism. The Spanish often had to put down revolts and murder Chinese immigrants. What surprises me is that at one point the Spanish killed over 20,000 Chinese, which was almost the whole population on the islands. I feel that an event such as this would be more widely known.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Chapter 13 + Handout
In the textbook the author asks the readers if Russia should be considered an Asian or European country. My personal opinion is that Russia should be considered Asian. My reasoning behind this is Russia is always fighting against the western part of the world. This divides the globe into an east vs. west rivalry. Another reason is the origin of the country. The country started taking over large amounts of land from many different nomadic tribes in Serbia. These nomadic tribes were very different from the people of Russia. I believe that because a lot of these tribes were absorbed into the Russian society, they were able to change the society into an empire that resembled the rest of Asia.
Another topic during the reading was following a single commodity through out history. This method of watching the economy shows how and when commodities were able to spread through out the globe. Sugar was chosen as the commodity that was followed. During the late medieval period sugar was only available to the high class elite in Europe. Sugar had already been in popular use in the Ottoman Empire. Once Europeans had started creating sugar plantations in the Americas, the availability of the drug sky rocketed. The hard manual labor and high death rate of slaves forced an increase in the use of slaves. The huge demand for sugar was one of the reasons for its huge success as a commodity. Once sugar had spread to the middle class during the eighteenth century, the world had gained a sweet tooth that cemented sugar as a necessary commodity.
In the textbook the author asks the readers if Russia should be considered an Asian or European country. My personal opinion is that Russia should be considered Asian. My reasoning behind this is Russia is always fighting against the western part of the world. This divides the globe into an east vs. west rivalry. Another reason is the origin of the country. The country started taking over large amounts of land from many different nomadic tribes in Serbia. These nomadic tribes were very different from the people of Russia. I believe that because a lot of these tribes were absorbed into the Russian society, they were able to change the society into an empire that resembled the rest of Asia.
Another topic during the reading was following a single commodity through out history. This method of watching the economy shows how and when commodities were able to spread through out the globe. Sugar was chosen as the commodity that was followed. During the late medieval period sugar was only available to the high class elite in Europe. Sugar had already been in popular use in the Ottoman Empire. Once Europeans had started creating sugar plantations in the Americas, the availability of the drug sky rocketed. The hard manual labor and high death rate of slaves forced an increase in the use of slaves. The huge demand for sugar was one of the reasons for its huge success as a commodity. Once sugar had spread to the middle class during the eighteenth century, the world had gained a sweet tooth that cemented sugar as a necessary commodity.
Monday, January 19, 2015
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