Chapter 24 Part 1

This section mainly is talking about Globalization. It says that globalization most commonly refers to  to international economic transactions. Globalization has come to seem inevitable to many ever since 1950. Global economic transactions quickened dramatically after WW11. World trade sky rocketed and money became highly mobile globally. International credit cards, short term investments, and foreign direct investment came about. Economic globalization brought about the immense creation of wealth allowing life expectancies to rise and infant mortality to decline, literacy rates increase, and overall a decline in poverty.

Chapter 23.

From this chapter and class discussion, I learned about the 1st and 2nd waves on Colonialism which were from 1850-1900's and Independence not being founded until the 1940's-70's in different countries. The impact of colonial rule came in a variety of different aspects. Some of these included racism, culture, economy, religion, and many more. There are two terms for the global south which are 3rd world countries, and developing countries, or those which have been previously exploited. This chapter talks about some of the different leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi from India, and Nelson Mandela from South Africa. These two countries were being ran by the British but by different nationalist organizations. In India the Indian National Congress and in South Africa, by the African National Congress.

Gandhi & MLKJr.

Gandhi is a legend and is known for his strong religious faith and for following principles of non-violence to achieve great ends. Gandhi will forever be known as a great leader and inspiration for generations to come who want to achieve peace worldwide. Mahatma Gandhi inspired the very famous, Martin Luther King Jr. who shared many of the same ideas and practices as Gandhi. Many of Gandhi's quotes are found to be about peace and love as the following:


"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won."-Gandhi

"Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."-Gandhi

MLK Jr was very inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's practices and beliefs of love and peace.


“I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go.” -MLKJr.


"Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."-MLKJr.

Living Justice, Thomas Massaro/ Section 7

What I took from this section on Colonialism and Economic Development is that, Catholic/ Christian teachings call their followers to be aware of the large and disturbing gaps between the world's richest and poorest lands. The Church insists that all people have a moral obligation if not to act on it, then to at least  care deeply about world poverty and try to do all they can to address this horrible thing in humanity. The other thing Catholic social teaching calls us to do, is to 'ponder the causes of these problems and to offer suggestions for improvement and ways to make our world a better place, free from the disparages of poverty and inequality. Just as this section says, progress is measured by baby steps and with each and every person taking baby steps to making our world a better place, eventually we will reach that common ground we want have, which is equality and a better life for all people on our earth!

Intro to Part 6 & Chapter 21.

The 20th century marked the beginning of crisis in the modern world! Political crisis through WWI & WWII, and Vietnam and Cold Wars. Economically the world went through what we call the Great Depression and faced mass genocide through the Holocaust. Nuclear threat also came about as a huge deal this new 20th century. The causes of this First world war were things such as system of alliances, presence of empires and new industries. Things began to escalate because of the new developments in technology and weaponry. We talked about what total war is, which is when war includes everyone, even civilians. This is when you know things are going to be bad. World War I faces off between Germany, Austria, and Italy vs. Russia, France, and Britain. Dun dun dun!!!

Ch. 22 Communism in Russia & China (pp. 659-674)

This section introduces the Rise and Fall of world Communism in China and Russia. Communism found its way into 19th century European socialism through the teachings of Karl Marx and spread its roots through the Soviet Union to China and Eastern Europe. Communist movements of the 20th century drew from the earlier French revolution, which suggested that new and better ideas could be constructed by human actions. China and Russia's periods of communism shared similarities but also contrasted immensely from each other. Where Russia's period of Revolution lasted only a single year with massive social upheaval, China, with the help of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and new leader Mao Zedong, communism had a different presence than it did in Russia. Over all, the spread of communism in China seemed to be a bit more successful than the spread of communism in Russia.

Ch. 20 pp. 589-606

This section basically talked about the different waves of Colonialism. The first wave was in North and South America by Spain and Portugal (Iberia) and England and France. This wave resulted in a major demographic change in the county with increasingly huge numbers of people rapidly multiplying. The intent of this wave of colonialism was to stay in North and South America which is why the travelers brought their families and wives. The second wave was the wave on Colonialism in Africa and Asia. This wave was drastically contrasting to the wave in North and South America. This wave was deliberate, whereas the other wave was accidental. And it was by B=Germany, Belgium, Japan, England, and the US (non-Iberian). The demographic change was very little in this case and the travelers came temporarily to administrate, not to settle.

Ch. 20 pp. 607-614

This section starts with a header that reads, "Believing and Belonging: Identity and Cultural Change in the Colonial Era. This section talks about the changes that education brought in the western era and how this newly discovered way of life created a new identity for many people. This change brought on the escape from forced labor, access to better jobs, social mobility and elite status. Religion also changed and many converted to Christianity especially in New Zealand, The Pacific Islands, and non-muslim Africa.  Many became very attracted to Christianity for numerous reasons. It was associated with modern education, it gave opportunities to the young, the poor, and women. Christianity began to be Africanized. Some demonized their old gods, independent churches were established, but Christianity did not have the same impact on India. Although Christianity did lead intellectuals and reformers to define Hinduism and Hindu leaders to offer support to the spiritually sick.

Industrialization continued. Chapter 18 pp. 541-556

Industrialization quickly spread to continental Western Europe. By the 1900's it was established in the US, Russia, and Japan. The outcomes were very similar in each country it became established in.American industrialization began with New England textiles but began to explode after the Civil War. By 1914, the United States was the world's leading industrial power. Serious social divisions rose out of industrialization. The growing gap between rich and poor grew larger, there was constant labor of the working class, slums arose, and socialism was labeled as "un-American." In Russian, the Industrial Revolution was launched by the 1890s. Russia's Revolution focused on railroads and there was fewer but larger factories than in Western Europe. The Russian Revolution broke out in 1917. This brought the most radical socialist groups to power, led by Vladimir Lenin. Russia was the only country in which the industrialization led to social revolution. The Industrial Revolution was definitely an unexpected outcome of circumstances. It has been found that Europeans have used their development of industrialization to claim superiority over all other countries. Overall, industrialization was a huge break though in World History that has ultimately changed everything and determines how we live our lives today. (:

Industrial Revolution: Chapter 18 pp.527-541

This section is about The Industrial Revolution. This revolution was ultimately one if the most significant elements of Europe's modern transformation. It transformed European society, pushed Europe into a position of global dominance and also drew on the Scientific revolution. How did the Industrial Revolution come about? It lies in an increase in numbers of people and also the utilization of fossil fuels which generated large portions of energy which became available to for human use. The greatest invention in the Revolution was the steam engine. The Industrial Revolution had different impacts on different kinds of people, but ultimately it was an amazing breakthrough in our world.

Echoes of Revolutions Ch. 17 pp.507-524

The French Revolution sparked violence and massive slave revolt began in 1791. The power gradually began shifting to the slaves who were led by former slave, Toussaint Louverture. This Haitian Revolution is looked upon as the only completely successful slave revolt in history. It renamed the country Haiti, declared equality among all races, divided up plantations for farmers. This revolution also sparked horror among whites, and increased slavery in other places. This also sparked Latin American revolutions in the Spanish colonies. In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain and portugal which forced most of the Latin Americans to take action. By 1826, most all Latin America was independent. After it all, Latin American countries became increasingly impoverished and underdeveloped, whereas the United States grew more wealthy and stable. All of these outbreaks of revolutions caused many smaller outbreaks in Europe and Russia. But after it all, slavery was largely ended in the world between 1780 and 1890. By 1914, universal male suffrage was commonly seen in many places around the world. Feminist Beginnings were developing in places especially in Europe and North America. So do you think all these Revolutions have more pros or cons in the end? I would have to say pros because look where we are now compared to then, things would only seen to gradually get better over time....or so we can pray that they do.

French Revolution. Chapter 17 pp504-507

This section is about the French Revolution. The French government was facing bankruptcy because the government had attempted many times to modernize the tax system and make it more fair for the lower classes, but it was opposed by the more privileged classes. King Louis XVI made an effort to raise taxes by calling the Estates General. In 1789, third estate representatives broke loose and declared themselves the National Assembly. This assembly drew up the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and launched the French Revolution. This revolution was driven by social conflicts. Nobility resisted monarchic efforts to tax them, middle class resented aristocratic privileges, poor suffered from inflation and unemployment, and the peasants were oppressed. The Enlightenment ideas gave people a leeway to  articulate grievances but the Revolution was far more violent than the American Revolution. Effects of this revolution included slavery being abolished for a while, the ending of hereditary privileges, the king and queen being executed, and the Terror which killed thousands and thousands of people.

North American Revolution Chapter 17 pp. 499-504

This section on the Atlantic Revolutions and their Echoes focuses specifically on the North American Revolution. The American revolution was a conservative political movement which aimed to preserve, rather than gain new colonial liberties. There were few who thought about breaking away from Britain before 1750. Onto the 60's, Britain made a new drive to control the colonies and get more revenue, since they needed money for global war on France. No significant social transformations came with Britain's independence. Many americans thought that they were creating a new world order and the US Constitution was one of the first lasting efforts to put Enlightenment political ideas into practice.

Intro to Part 5 pp. 491-497

This introduction passage starts off by telling us the themes that have been discussed in previous chapters and themes that are going to be explored in the following chapters.. These themes include the creation of a new kind of human society, or "modern" society, which was the outgrowth of the Scientific, French, and Industrial revolutions. And how these societies generated many of the ideas that have influenced human behavior over the past centuries. The second theme is about how these societies show enormous power over mankind. This introduction talked about how Europe has been a centralized part of history since almost forever, and especially since the 19th century and the "European movement." This passage says that 'some scholars have suggested that events of 20th and 21st centuries have marked the end of European centrism. It goes on to talk more about other countries and how Europe isn't the only one who deserves recognition and study.

What is Enlightenment? Immanuel Kant

I agree with many others when saying that this reading was difficult, but most of Kant's readings are difficult to understand. You have to take the time to read and re-read most of his passages. After going over the packet in class, I began to understand and deeply think about what some of the main points of this passage were. I was assigned to read and write about the passage that says,
          "An age cannot bind itself and ordain to put the succeeding one into such a condition that it cannot      extend its knowledge, purify itself of errors, and progress in general enlightenment."
What I think this passage means is that every era or age should be able to experience and decipher things for themselves. The age before them cannot set anything for sure because each person needs to be able to develop their own methods or knowledge, and be able to make its own errors in order to be enlightened.

Chapter 16 pp. 461-477

What caught my attention about this chapter was learning about how much of an influence and how widespread Christianity was throughout the 1500's and on. The Protestant Reformation played a huge part
in history and caused serious divisions came about between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox sects. The Protestant Reformation put forth a new understanding of Christianity and coming to the faith and also questioned the authority of the pope. The Protestant reformation also provoked a Catholic Counter reformation. Ultimately Christianity spread like a wildfire through out the whole world, affecting many many people and converting many also. I find is amazing and ultimately awesome that Christianity is still very widespread throughout our world today and I am proud to call it my religion.

Chapter 15 part 2

I always dislike reading about the Atlantic Slave trade because I am reminded how terribly the slaves were treated. It's crazy to read that around 1.8 million people died during the transatlantic crossing and millions more died in the process too. The slaves that were plantation workers were denied any human rights at all by the European slave traders. Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade lay in the Mediterranean and with the production of sugar. Sugar was a dangerous and labor some area of work. Africans became the main source of slave labor because they had some immunity to disease, were not Christians, and were readily available. 80 percent of the slaves ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean and about 15% of the slaves died in the middle passage.

Chapter 15 (pp.433-448)

  This chapter was mainly about trading between different countries and people. It talked about the East India Trading Companies. Both the Dutch and India entered in early 17th century. They displaced Portugal and competed with each other. The Dutch settled in Indonesia, the English in India and the French settled also. The Dutch East India Company controlled shipping and production of cloves, cinnamon, and mace. It forced people to only sell to the Dutch, and it destroyed the economy of the Spice Islands. The British East India Company wasn't as sophisticated as the Dutch Company. The British navy gained control of the Persian Gulf and The Arabian Sea and established companies in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. In Asian commerce the Europeans were no military threat. In the case of Japan there was expulsion of missionaries, the Japanese were barred from travel abroad, Europeans were banned, except the Dutch, and Japan was closed off from Europe from 1650-1850. The Silver and fur trades were HUGE! Silver was discovered in Bolivia and Japan in mid 16th century. Spanish America produced about 85% of the Worlds silver. There was a growing demand for silver in China and the bulk of silver supple ended up there. Silver enriched the Spanish monarchy but Spain fell and lost dominance when the value of silver fell. The Japanese profited from silver, and the Tokugawa Shoguns used it to defeat rivals. There was intense competition in North America for fur. The Europeans traded with the Indians and the Russians competed with the Siberians.

Chapter 14 pp. 417-430

I find it fascinating how much of an impact that empires ultimately had on the making how our world is today. While the making of the Russian Empire was in progress, Moscow began conquering its neighboring cities and there was pressure to convert to Christianity. The expansion into Siberia was for the opportunity of getting furs. This expansion resulted in epidemics since the Siberian's weren't immune to the diseases that were being brought in. The Russians ultimately outnumbered the natives in the lands they were taking over. Products such as fur, agricultural land, and minerals helped progress Russian empire. Expansion turned Russia into a very militarized state. The Russian empire remained intact till 1991. The Asian empires were  regional, not global and the creation of these Asian empires did not include massive epidemics.There was a 80 year long Chinese conquest from 1680-1760. Russian and Chinese rule turned Central Asia to poverty. India was united by the Mughal empire. 20% of the population was Muslim, where the rest was Hindu. Emperor Akbar brought many Hindus into the military elite, and created a state cult that stressed loyalty to himself. There was destruction of some Hindu temples. The Ottoman empire was the Islamic's world's most important empire. Jewish refugees from Spain had more opportunities in the Ottoman empire.

Chapter 14 pp. 403-417

1450-1750

Significant empires: European colonies- Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, & Dutch.

Russians constructed what was the world's largest territorial empire making Russia an Asian & European power

Qing dynasty: people who practiced Islam, Buddhism and animistic religions.

Modern era was an age of empire. 

European Empires in the Americas.
European Advantage.
-Simply closer to the Americas than any possible Asian competitor.
After 1200: Europeans were increasingly aware of their marginal position int he world of Eurasian commerce and were determined to gain access to that world.

Drove the relentlessly expanding imperial frontier in the Americas.
  -Poor nobles found opportunity to gain wealth and status in the colonies
  - Missionaries were inspired by crusading zeal to enlarge Christendom
  - persecuted minorities in search for new life.

The Great Dying:
 greatest concentrations were the people who lived in MesoAmerican and Andean zones, which were dominated by the Aztec and Inca.
-Because of the lack on content that the Native American people had to the people of Africa and European's, when they came into contact with them, they didn't have any immunity to their diseases.

The Colombian Exchange: 
The Great Dying created an acute labor shortage and certainly did make room for immigrant newcomers. BOTH European and African.
  BOTH brought: Wheat, sugar, grapes, and many veges and fruits. Horses, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep

American food plants represented about 20% of total of China's food production.

Interacting Atlantic world connecting 4 continents.
- Western Europeans were clearly the dominate players in the the Atlantic world, and their societies reaped the greatest rewards.

Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas: 
  Mercantilism.