Ch. 16 P. 1

What caught my interest in this part of the reading is that Strayer mentions that science was almost like a ‘new religion’ to people at the time.  I believe that in some ways science can be classified in present day as a religion.  Before people segregated into different religions around the world and competed against each other to try and spread their religion.  Presently, religion is sort of a past time to many people and most of us use technology for a wide variety of ways; to predict the weather, to hear about the rest of the world, to entertain us and most importantly to defeat enemies as a whole nation.  In these same manners religions in earlier centuries did the same thing.  In some religions there were sun gods and crop gods, and now we know exactly what the weather is going to be like because of our scientific advancements in technology. 

Ch. 15 P. 2

On page 452 Strayer quotes that the Europeans viewed Africans as, “an inferior race, or better still, not even human.”  He also comes to quoting that Africans had “attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals.”  Now this really pushed my buttons because if there are any rational human beings left, we know that these are some of the largest irrational views towards any race.  The thought that there are still people in this world that still think this way towards many races just makes me sick.  Unfortunately these thoughts cross the minds of some in this day and age and there is not much that we can do if their minds are set like this, but I can tell you that the ones that need help are the one that still think this way towards any race, not just Africans. 

Ch. 15 P. 1 Reading

What angered me in this reading is that none of the empires really cared for anything either than their own benefit and well being.  They did not even take in consideration what they were doing to these established environments such as in North America.  Europeans and Russians did not realize the extent of the harm that they were creating for the natural environment which could have lead, if it did not, to the extinction of animals in certain regions simply for fur and comfort of the wealthy back home.  As our discussion in class to the Apple products, there are many more products being made that are currently influencing a society in a negative manner.  Some include some of our beloved name brands and jewelry.  What makes us guilty is that we know where most of these items are produced and how, we just simply don’t have the guts to do anything about it to try and change it.  In the least of the cases we should stop using these certain products, but we don’t simply to look nice according to our society which is the saddest part. 

Ch. 4; Sweet Nexus: Sugar and the Origins of the Modern World

The introduction of mass production was clearly exemplified in the sugar industry in the Americas as well as in Europe.  What ticked me off the most was that even though people were aware of the treatment of the slaves, who were the ones that worked the fields in the Americas, they did not bother to do anything.  This brings about some of the problems that we are currently facing and the problems that some activist groups are trying to resolve.  In the current day, there are many companies that continue to exploit their workers who have no choice but continue working in the same manner because they either work or die of hunger.  Of course, the treatment that some of these employers give their workers are not the same as they were back then, it still includes horrible working conditions, low wages and hazardous exposure to chemicals in certain situations.  All of this only benefits the so called ‘big fish’ of the company whose aim is to increase the profits. 

Ch. 14 (pg. 417-30)

What angered me throughout this reading is that in every conquered territory, the conquerors imposed some type of forced action onto the area inhabitants.  For example, an oath had to be taken by everyone that Russia conquered.  In that oath, the natives swore to submission of the tsar as well as money demand.  In other empires such as the Ottoman, it brought to parts of Europe Muslim rule.  The only thing that I find better or less harsh as Strayer stated was that Russian and Chinese empires did not make the natives slaves and made them work to death.  They did make them change religions, learn a new language and demanded certain things like money or goods but at least they were not immediate changes such as complete land takeover and slavery.  What also helped keep the native populations alive was that they all had been exposed to many of the diseases that the conquerors carried. 

Ch. 14 P.1

The early modern world brought upon one of the largest shifts in trading and population that the world would come to know.  Not only did Europeans expand their empires to the Americas where no one had previously explored thoroughly, but they brought an enormous change in population.  As Europeans arrived in the fifteenth century, so did infections and illnesses which brought upon the decline of the Native American Indian population.  Another factor for the Indian’s decline was the inhumane treatment of the Europeans towards them in agricultural work.  In other parts where the Indians were scarcer, Europeans brought Africans as slaves to do the agricultural work and most were to die after a few years of arduous work.  During the early modern world the major regions of power were located in Mesoamerica and the Andes.  This started shifting in the nineteenth century to the United States as it became a highly developed country.