Chapter 7

One thing that I learned about was the Silk Roads. I learned about the "inner" and "outer" Eurasia. China, The Middle East, and the Mediterranean, had urban centers, states, and empires that were known as "outer" Eurasia. Between these areas of particular land was considered "inner" Eurasia. One religion that was mentioned was Buddhism. Buddhism was on the spread along the Silk Roads. The Silk Road had some diseases that included smallpox and measles. There was also the Bubonic plague that occurred between 534 and 750 C.E. This plague could killed thousands of people in a single day. We then move to the West Africa. We see caravans of camels that carried gold and salt. Camels had a big influence on how products were transported. Men were satisfied with positions of "patriarchal" power, while women were involved in agricultural and crafting work. Lastly, wealthy western African cities made trade centers, and structures of culture, education and religion.

Chapter 6

Something that I learned from this chapter was about Agricultural revolutions and complex societies. The fact that new products  were emerging through agriculture made complex societies become possible. I also learned about Egypt and Nubia. The Nile river made connections with Egypt and Nubia last long. Both of these cultures were influential to one another. At one point Nubia conquered Egypt. I found fascinating how obelisks were as high one hundred feet and how the Romans recognized Axum as a powerful empire. I also found interesting how people with skills in crafting with iron were considered important. Then we moved on to the Maya. The Maya had a flourishing empire between 250 and 900 C.E. Staying in the region, I learned about Teotihuacan. I learned that this city had impressive and sophisticated architecture, and how it mysteriously collapsed in 650 C.E.

Culture and Religion/Eurasia and North Africa

 As one of the first civilizations, China believed in legalism. legalism is the concept of rules and laws through "a system of rewards and punishments." I find this interesting because to keep the people in order, they provided high rewards. To keep them from staying out of trouble, they provided heavy punishments if necessary. What I also found intriguing was the Confucian answer to restoring order. Confucius was from a aristocratic family. He suggested that strong moral people should teach people how to behave, and that goodness should be part of all relationships. The text mentions Siddhartha Gautama. We read a book ab out him senior year of high school. Basically he taught that to end suffering we have to get rid of desire.

Chapter 3

One thing in found interesting was that the Persian Empire was the largest empire in the world in 500 B.C.E. Their empire was essentially run by a monarchy. When the king dies the people have to shave their heads as a sign of mourning. Persians believed in a God known as Ahura Mazda. The Conquest reached from Egypt to India obtaining new languages, cultures, and states. Moving on to the Greeks. The population consisted of nearly 3 million people. Unlike the Persians, the Greeks had a society where the people had some political say on what goes around. We can see this today with totalitarian regimes and democratic countries.

First Civilizations

The term " civilization" was created due to the Agricultural Revolution. This is interesting because out of the Industrial Revolution we obtained more mass beneficiary products and out of the Agricultural Revolution we obtained a term. This term comes from the word cities which is important to this particular part of the chapter because in this section of history, societies started to see an increase in population. It's also fascinating because out of this particular revolution we obtained Pyramids, temples, palaces, sculptures, literature, complex calendars, gender hierarchies, and even slavery. All these concepts and structures are seen in today's modern society. We still see pyramids in Egypt, we see palaces in India, we see well written literature in England, we still these unfortunate gender hierarchies and we went through period when slavery was still used, especially here in America. What also caught my attention was the idea of states. In order to keep people calm and in order the concept of a state was created. Unlike most countries today, these states were ruled by a king. These "totalitarian:" regimes were common in this period of history. Although these societies were under totalitarian rule, there were still check and balances. These checks came from "the temple" and  the "private economy." Like today we live in habitative environments in order to survive.  The same concept applied back then. Civilizations lived by water to ensure they had foos to eat and water to drink.

"Neolithic"

The Neolithic era is where new plants were blooming and the meddling and breeding of certain animals. I find this interesting because we see these effects today. We see chickens and cows being farmed for the sole purpose of feeding us unhealthy food. The difference between wild and man raised  animals as that they produce more of what they can be used for. Cows produce more milk, sheep produce more wool, and chickens laid more eggs. We could possibly see this also with dogs. Just like we are similar  to apes, dogs are similar to wolves.  This process is known as domestication.  An issue with domestication is that humans, animals and plants alike get dependent in certain aspects. Plants and animals maintained by humans won't be able to survive like its wild counterpart. Humans are dependent of plants and animals to eat. We evolved from these ancestral creatures to what we are today. Furthermore, Global Warming was an asset in the past compared to today. Today global warming is seen as an eventual mankind killer. In the Agricultural Revolution global warming was useful for the creation of new plant specious and "resource-rich areas." Just as there were flourishing communities, animals and plants were also becoming extinct. These extinctions are the same as present time because this was a natural warming. Today were seeing the extinction of plants and animals, dryer land due to man made pollution. Who knew that  disaster today would be a beneficial factor back then. In the Neolithic Times there existed a concept known as chiefdom. This is basically a government structure to maintain order. Unlike today, leaders of these societies didn't punish people to sustain obedience, they used generosity to keep their followers happy. This Neolithic and agricultural time brought upon the idea of tampering with animals, plants and other humans as well. This era was the birth societies that implemented rules maintain order. 

"First Peoples"

I find it interesting that the human race was created about 250,000 years ago. Our undeveloped ancestors were born in the continent of Africa. From Africa these homo sapiens started to migrate to what we call today Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This migration occurred about 45,000 years ago. About 20,000 years ago, our homo sapien ancestors learned to hunt with spears and bow and arrows. Migration from Indonesia to Australia occurred about 60,000 years ago. Around this time is when the boat was starting to be used. In 1788, the Australian population was about 300,000 with the people speaking over 250 languages. Migration to the Americas occurred about an average of 20,000 years ago. The most recent migration was to the Pacific Ocean islands, which occurred about 3,500 years ago. These places include: the Pacific Basin and the Island of Madagascar. Paleolithic societies consisted of about 20 people. These Paleolithic individuals were freer from oppression and tyranny than people today. Paleolithic societies had leaders but not with any kind of power. People who were hunters had more leisure time than people in agricultural and industrial societies. Paleolithic societies   believed in a feminine superior not from this world. A natural global warming occurred in which plants and animals that couldn't live with the ice age could now flourish. This warming also increased the human population. People in Japan were the first to figure out pottery.