WW Chapter 6: Commonalities and Variations

     The first major point of conversation in this chapter is the major comparison between the three major supercontinents: The Americas, Africa, and Eurasia.
     The first major difference we stumble upon was the huge difference in population among the three. It doesn't surprise me that most of the human population resided in Eurasia. Assuming the estimates are correct, Eurasia accounted for more than eighty percent of the world population. Africa consisted of eleven percent and the Americas between five and seven percent. This doesn't surprise me because most of the future civilizations we learn about, such as ancient Rome, Greece,medieval England and so forth, are all located in Europe. In addition, there were a bunch of different dynasties in Asia.
     The Americas were different from Eurasia and Africa because they lacked animals that could be domesticated. People in the Americas were, as Strayer says, Hunter-gatherers. Even when Agriculture seemed like it was going to overtake the Americas, many people were against changing a lifestyle that they had grown accustomed to. In other words, why fix something when it's not broken.
     The Americas were also much more secluded from Eurasia and Africa. Since Africa was located much closer to the Eurasia regions than the Americas, they had the fortune to interact with Europe, especially northern parts of Africa, such as Egypt.
     We then move on to learn about the Meroë, the city south of Egypt, which became the center of the Nubian civilization. The Nubian civilization was governed by a very powerful monarch. It also consisted of people with many different roles- merchants, weavers, potters, and of course servants. Women were also portrayed as having equal status as men in sculpture's.
     Axum is considered the emergence of a brand new civilization, unlike Meroë. Axum was located on the Horn of Africa (modern day Eritrea and Ethiopia). Their agriculture methods were primarily based on plowing. Axum was a very artistic place. If you were an artist, this would be where you would live. I would definitely live here. People would construct huge obelisks primarily for graves for royalty. This civilization is very much under-recognized...It is not mentioned a lot when you talk about major civilizations; however, the Romans considered it to be the third largest civilization at the time, behind them and the Persian Empire. Thanks to connections, Axum later in the fourth century, was introduced to Christianity and adopted it.

   

WW Chapter 5: Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa

     Caste. To me, this word represents the economic division between people. Usually it's the barrier dividing the rich and the poor. In some cases, like in ancient civilizations, caste was divided up into categories such as: peasant, merchant, knight, royalty, etc. However, nowadays it's the low income, the middle class, and the wealthy (to me anyway). The reason I bring this up is because the chapter starts out with a quote that states "Caste has no impact on life today". The man who said this was Chezi K. Ganesan. 

     Personally, I completely disagree with this. Caste has had a major impact since it first originated. To this day, castes are one of the major influences on our societies. Can people move up in the world? ABSOLUTELY! Is it easy? ABSOLUTELY NOT. People are still born into a family that is part of whatever class they're a part of. Some are just luckier than others. However, just because you're born into a wealthy family doesn't necessarily make you a good person. On the contrary, people with more power usually tend to abuse of the poor and not help them at all. For example, I saw an independent film about the economic crisis going on. It was a film by Michael Moore. He went around asking powerful people in the government to have their children enlist to the army. The majority of them never even glanced his way. Those that did take the time to speak to him simply took the brochure, nodded awkwardly and walked away. This, along with various other reasons, is why I believe caste has always had a major impact on our societies.

     Going back to the content of the chapter, the first society we look at is China. China consisted of a government with state officials that were all men. These men represented the best of men who were willing to put the government first. The government was much more important to them than their own families and their religion. 

     In China wealth meant land...and land meant power, or at least a bit of power. The more powerful Landlord you were in China, the more things you could get away with, such as not paying your taxes. This would only make it worse for peasants. Speaking of peasants...

     Peasants are always the lowest class in any society. This represented most of the Chinese populations. However, China is a rare case in which Merchants were the most oppressed peoples. They were forbidden to do things like wear silk clothing, ride horses, or carry weapons.

     The next place we take a look at is India. We're talking about Caste as Varna. It originated from an encounter between Aryan invaders and the darker native people.

     This type of caste system consisted of four different caste levels. The top being Brahmins, which consisted of priests who helped the world function. The next were the Kshatriya. They were warriors in charge of protecting society. The Vaisya, commoners who cultivated the land. At the very bottom were Sudras. They were primarily servants to the upper class. There was a completely different set of caste system in urban areas know as the jatis.

     The third civilization we looked at was Rome. They had an incorporation of slavery. They had a huge portion of their population that were slaves and people that were considered horrible human beings. The usual forms of rebellion and resistance were present. People would work poorly, fake illness, run away, you name it. I would probably do the same.

Chapter 4: Culture and Religion

     The introduction to chapter four recalls a story of someone returning home to China and having a celebration in tribute to an ancestor's birthday. During 500 BCE, all of Eurasia came up with some certain form of cultural traditions that became well known throughout all of Eurasia.

     China, as one of the first civilizations, was, also, one of the first to come up with Mandate of Heaven. Mandate of Heaven was essentially this belief that people were appointed rulers by whatever God it is that they believed in. THey believed God allowed them to be the leader to the Empire and that people had to follow and do whatever it is that leader told them to. Unfortunately, the Chinese fell to an era of war and destruction.

     In response to this violence, many people, Legalist thinkers, believed that the only sensible way to resolve all the violence consuming their Empire was writing down and following laws. They would also try and come up with ways to enforce these written laws. Along with this, they would add a punishment and reward system.

     On the contrary, Confucius' answer was to treat everyone with a sense of kindness. Unlike enforcing punishments or rewards, he compared the many relationships that people may have. He then went on to say that, for example, a father should treat his children nicely and instead of commanding them in a harsh way, to be polite. In return, Confucius believed this would result in more obedience on the part of the kid. 

     Confucius believed that the only way that this was going to work was if people were much well more educated.

     Another solution that arose during this time was the belief of Daoism. Daoists essentially believed that one's actions had to be a result of the spur of the moment. They had to be natural and not planned out. Compared to how Confucius was more focused on society, Daoism was a bit more far fetched and was applied to things such as exploring and wandering the unknown. They believed that people should stray from society and social interaction with rulers and citizenship, and that they should "align themselves with the way of nature".

     The chapter goes on ahead to talk about how Christianity and Buddhism spread. We are told that neither Jesus Christ nor Buddha ever intended on creating a worldwide religion. They believed that they were humans just like everyone else and that any one who believed in the religion strong enough could replicate what they had accomplished.

Chapter 3 Reflections

     The second part in our textbooks begins with the introduction to second wave civilizations. Immediately we are shown a graph of the human race and its population at the time. From 3000 BCE to 1500 CE, the population grew to a maximum of around four hundred million.
     The third chapter begins by asking the question, "Are we Rome?" I immediately think, of course not. How could we be Rome? Then after a thought or two, I begin to wonder, if the Romans had one of the biggest empires in history, then I guess today the United States would be an example of that. While the Romans did eventually fall, we haven't fallen just yet. Sure, it seems like this country is slowly falling apart with crisis looming around every corner, but it is definitely not as drastic as the Roman Empire's demise. So I guess in a way, the past really is part of the present as well.
      The first Empire we take a close look at is the Persian Empire. At their best, the Persians were the biggest Empire in the world and dominated everything around them. They placed governor-like people in power in each of their provinces.
      Next were the Greeks. They appeared at around 750 BCE. For being such an iconic ancient civilization, the Greeks had a smaller population compared to the Persian Empire. Their population estimated at around two and a half million. Unlike Persia, the Greeks had hundreds of small city-states. They were particularly smaller in size in comparison to the provinces of the Persian Empire. These city-states would often have many conflicts with one another. I personally believe that this seems like they had small fights over things people in this day and age wouldn't put much thought into. After all, they did believe in the same Gods and spoke the same language. It intrigues me and I still wonder why they used to bicker at one another all the time.
     However, this bickering would stop every four years. This was all thanks to the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games first emerged in 776 BCE. As we all know, these games had a huge impact on the world, since we still have different cities host the event every four years. Unfortunately, some city-states were too big to give up their fighting. I think they felt as if they had a sense of power, or position above every other city-state. These included Athens, Sparta, and Corinth.
     Perhaps the most astonishing thing that we have discovered about the ancient Greeks, is the fact that people were granted citizenship. Along with citizenship, gave, in a way, a right to vote and have a voice politically. Maybe they didn't vote like we do in this day and age, but they could make decisions for themselves.
     The next empire that came along was the Chinese Empire. Unlike a sense of unification, like the Greeks, the Chinese Empire emerged as a result of waring states in the Chinese regions. Qin Shihuangdi (means first emperor) was a leader of a state and had set up a very promising government. His mission was clear, he was going to wage one last giant war against the other states in order to unify China. What amazes me is that he accomplished his goal in just ten years.
     The final major empire mentioned in the chapter is India. It first emerged as a small collection of towns and cities. However, as time went on they had one of the strongest militaries around. With a population of approximately fifty million, it's not hard to understand why.
     Overall, I think each civilization had a pretty good run, unfortunately some empires, like the Indian Empire, weren't given the opportunity to last longer than they really did.