Thursday, January 19, 2012

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. 

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