Chapter 23 - Capitalism and Culture

Wrapping up with our reading for the semester the class is reading about Capitalism and Culture. This is also known as The Transformation of the World Economy. When the term globalization is brought up most peopler referring to the immense acceleration in international economic transactions that took place in the second half of the twentieth century and continued into the twenty-first. I asked my roommate what she thinks about the term globalization and she said it is the spread of ideas and innovation between countries. I agree with her that it is the process of international integration originating from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. Many people have come to see this process as almost natural, certainly imminent, and practically unstoppable. The first half of the twentieth century are about wars and the Great Depression. The aftermath of World War II was very different. The capitalist victors in that conflict, led by the United States, were determined to avoid any return to such Depression-era conditions. In 1914, the United States convened the Bretton Woods Conference to plan post war economic growth and stability. From the first through the 20th of July 1944, 730 minister from 44 Allied nations got together and hammered out an agreements to create three economic organizations. The first organization is the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development known as the World Bank. The second s the International Monetary Fund. The last is the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, which became the World Trade Organization in 1995. The Bretton Woods system of state led economics was very successful until 1971 when the US pulled out, opening the way to a market led economic system. However in 2013 economists and some politicians are calling for a Bretton Woods II the as a solution to current economic problems stemming from the 2008 crash. On page 1154, there is a figure that demonstrate Brazilian Feminism. The world is now shifting to a new idea and new openings for women so that their voice can finally be heard. This figure is demonstrating a protest macho culture and violence against women in San Paulo, Brazil in mid-2011 desired to counter the assumption that female victims of rape were responsible for those attacks because of how they dressed. The women in the figure are marching as "sluts", wearing revealing clothing, while arguing the "transformation of the world by feminism." The yellow sign declares: "It's my body."

On the last few pages of the textbook, the visual sources illustrates a heartbroken image about the globalization. This image shows a diverse group of women standing in rows folding jeans endlessly. By looking at their faces it looks like they do not want to be there working for hours and hours nonstop. Studies say globalization has led to "the most remarkable spurt of economic growth in world history from $7.1 trillion in 1950 to $55.9 trillion in 2003. Also, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased from 3 to 1 in 1820 to 86 to 1 by 1991. Similar gaps are seen in medical care, availability of drinking water, educational and employment opportunities. Overall, the globalization has been a dramatic change both positive and negative. Negative because there has been a down hill change about the workforce and positive because the world is now looking into the cultural change and the countries are now starting to accept the changes between women and men. With everything that has started in the 1940s it made an important impact in the twenty-first century.

Chapter 22 - Documents Visual Source 22.1

In today's reading we are focusing on chapter 22 documents and it is on the African National Congress. This was also known as the ANCa national liberation movement. It was formed in 1912 to unite the African people and spearhead the struggle for fundamental political, social and economic change. For ten decades the ANC has led the struggle against racism and oppression, organizing mass resistance, mobilizing the international community and taking up the armed struggle against apartheid. The African National achieved a decisive democratic breakthrough in the 1994 elections, where it was given a firm mandate to negotiate a new democratic Constitution for South Africa. The African National Constitution's key objective is the creation of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society. This means the liberation of Africans in particular and black people in general from political and economic slavery. It means uplifting the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the poor. This visual document display an image of the flag of the ANC is made of equal horizontal bands of black, green and gold. The black strip symbolizes the people of South Africa who, for generations, have fought for freedom. The green symbols their land. The gold represents the mineral and other natural wealth of South Africa, which belongs to all its people, but which has been only a small racial minority. In the background there are people marching to fight for their rights and land. Overall, this poster represents the struggle against the United States because of how much the Africans have fought for their rights, but it did not pass until later on because of the United States. This action reminds me of Cesar Chavez doing the Civil Rights Activist where he and many people were trying to fight for their rights.

Chapter 22 - The End of Empire

In today's reading, Strayer discuss about the freedom towards the African American and Asian Independence. The phrase "Third World" is of a Cold War origin referring to that area of the world that was neither part of the Capitalist West nor the Communist East. In the textbook Strayer mention the third world as the "Global South", recognizing that the southern hemisphere is poorer than the northern hemisphere while recognizing that the Global North owns the Global South some help because of the former exploitation of the South's capital minerals, labor, and land. In 1900, European colonial empires in Asia and Africa came as permanent features of the world's political landscape. In the late 1940s was the first dominant breakthroughs occurred in Asia and the Middle East when the Philippines, India, Burma, Pakistan, Indonesia, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel achieved independence. The time period from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s was the age of African Independence as province after province, in total of fifty into what is now called freedom. Towards the end of empire in world history the European colonies in the Americas threw off British, French, Spanish, or Portuguese rule during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the Americas, however, many of the colonized people were themselves of European origin, sharing much of their culture with their colonial rulers. In this case, the African and Asian struggles of the twentieth century were very different, for they no only claimed political independence but also declared the vitality of their cultures, which had been submerged and denigrated during the colonial era. During the twentieth century, many empires collapsed. The Austrian and Ottoman empires departure following World War I, giving rise to a number of new states in Europe and the Middle East. The Russian Empire also unraveled, although it was soon reassembled under the sponsorship of the Soviet Union. Next was the World War II that ended the German and Japanese empires. Then, African and Asian movements for independence shared national self determination. On page 1094 is one of the most widely recognized and admired picture in the global struggle against colonial rule was India's Mahatma Gandhi. In this photo Gandhi is sitting crossed-legged on the floor, clothed in a traditional Indian garment called dhoti. Near him is a spinning wheel, symbolizing the independent and nonindustrial India that Gandhi sought. Gandhi was born in Gujarat, Hindu family and was alive from 1869-1949. He got married at age 13 and embraced an opportunity to study law in England at 18. He became a lawyer in 1893 and accepted a job in South Africa. Gandhi was the primary leader of India's Independence movement and also the architect of a form of non-violent civil disobedience that would influence the world. This part of Gandhi's life amazes me because even though he got married at a young he still had a goal and he achieved it with his hard work. Throughout Gandhi's life he experienced racism. This did not stop him but instead made him become a stronger person by organizing his first mass civil-disobedience campaign, which he called "Satyagraha" (truth and firmness), in reaction to the Transvaal government's new restrictions on the rights of Indians, including the refusal to recognize Hindu marriages. Majority of his actions did not make the government stop Gandhi, however this did not make him stop either but he still kept on going until he accomplished his task to create an Indian Independence movement for equality.

Chapter 21 - Revolution, Socialism, and Global Conflict

In today's reading, chapter 21 talks about the revolution, socialism, and global conflict. A Frenchman, and Englishman, and a Soviet Russian are admiring a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Frenchman says, "They must be French: they're naked and they're eating fruit." The Englishman says, "Clearly, they're English: observe how politely the woman is offering fruit to the man." The Russian replies, "No, they are Russian communists, of course. They have no house, nothing to wear, little to eat, and they think they are in paradise." This statement is a joke between the Soviet Unions as a means of expressing in private what could not be said in public. A major theme of those jokes involved the deceit of a communist system that promised equality and abundance for all but delivered a dismal and uncertain economic life for the many and great privileges for the few. The Soviet Union was a single-party Marxist-Leninist state. It existed from 1922 until 1991, and was the first country to declare itself socialist and build towards a communist society. It was a union of fourteen Soviet Socialist Republics and one Soviet Federated Socialist Republic which was Russia. Global communism also known as world communism, a form of communism that involves international scope. The long-term goal of world communism is a worldwide communist society that is stateless, which may be achieved through an intermediate term goal of either a voluntary association of sovereign states or a world government. Modern communism found its political and philosophical roots in the 19th century European socialism, inspired by the teachings of Karl Marx. Most Europeans socialists came to believe that they could achieve their goals peacefully and through the democratic process, those who defined themselves as communists in the 20th century disdained such reformism and advocated uncompromising revolution as the only possible route to a socialist future. Soviet Union called Russia in and was the first country to experience such a revolution. In 1970s, almost one-third of the world's population lived in societies governed by communist regimes. The Soviet Union was by far the world's largest country in size, and China, the world's largest largest country in population.

In document 21.3, talks about Living through Industrialization during the 1930s, an enormous process brought huge numbers of peasants from the countryside to the cities. Many of the workers found their way by learning new skills. In this document, it mentions some of the workers statements about their disappointment or they were celebrating their new possibilities in life. These sources come from letter written to newspapers or to high government officials, from private letters and diaries, or from reports filed by party officials based on what they had heard in the factories. An example is a letter in a newspaper from a Tatar Electrician. He said, "I am Tatar..." Throughout this personal letter Tatar was saying that Russian people were not allow to think about education, or getting a join a state enterprise. Now that he is a citizen of the USSR, he has the right to a job and education. Overall, I believe this is a great opportunity to turn the table around and to open doors for those who are not allow to dream about going to school or getting a decent job.

Chapter 20 - Collapse at the Center & Documents

In today's reading, Strayer introduce a new chapter about the World War, Depression, and the Rebalancing of Global Power that is taken place from 1914-1970s. The first World War happened from 1914-1918. A World War is a war involving many or most of the world's most powerful and numerous countries. A World War I veteran, Alfred Anderson, said, "I was told that I was fighting a war that would end all wars, but that wasn't the case." What he said is true because there are many wars that occurred after the World War I and there are many wars that happened that would end all wars. The World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war centered in Europe that began on the 28th of July 1914 and lasted until the 11th of November 1918. It was followed by the economic meltdown of the Great Depression, by the rise of Nazi Germany and the horror of the Holocaust, and by an even bloodier and more devastating World War II, a struggle that surround much of the world. More than 70 million military, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. Since 1500, Europe had militaries that were in excellent conditions and the marvels of its Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. However, great things did not last long for the Europeans and WWI was their starting point that conflicted everything. During WWI, there were many propaganda advertisements. Propaganda is an information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular cause or point of view. One of the propaganda that I am going to talk about is "Women and the Great War." This shows a woman putting on her working coat and hat to get ready to work making equipments for men to use during the war. The poster says, "These women are doing their bit. Learn to make munitions." WWI temporarily brought a halt to the women's suffrage movement as well as to women's activities on behalf of international peace. Most women on both sides actively supported their countries' war efforts, as suggested by this British wartime poster, inviting women to work in the munitions industry. Before women were not able to work, but when WWI started men had to leave their wife and children to serve their country. Now no one is working in the factories so women are stepping up to take the men's place and work. In one of the documents, document 20.1 talks about Hitler on Nazism and what Hitler had to do with WWI. Adolph Hitler published his political views well before he came to power. Hitler was born in Austria and he captivated a profound form of German nationalism, which he retained as a profoundly disappointed veteran of WWI. Next, Hitler joined a radical group called the German Workers Party, where he start to gain his powerful abilities. Soon Hitler wrote an autobiography about his political and social philosophy and titled it Mein Kampf (My Struggle). In his autobiography he starts off dictating the book to Hess while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Overall, this chapter discuss about the transition from the first war to the Great Depression where everyone had to go through the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in history of the Western industrialized world.

Chapter 19 - Empire in Collision

In today's reading, it is talking about the European Empires going in for the final kill of the Middle East and East Asia. The China's Century of Crisis began in 1793-1911, about an emperor Qianlong was the last great Manchu emperor. The 19th century marks the end of China's greatness agricultural and military decline, combines with administrative and economic collapse led to higher taxes and peasant unrest. The picture on the left of the first page on the reading caught my attention while reading this chapter. It made me wonder and I think it is talking about groups of the European, Middle East, and East Asia trying to come together to form a treaty and be fair with one another however, it is not working because the man with the knife just cut the pie in half. This French cartoon is called Carving Up the Pie of China. It is from the late 1890s, the Great Powers of the day starting from the left the woman is Great Britain's Queen Victoria, the man is Germany's Kaiser Wihelm, the next man is Russia's Tsar Nicholas II, and the female figure having her hand on the Russian guy represents France, and finally the guy at the far end right is the Meiji emperor of Japan. The Germany man is dividing China, while a Chinese figure behind them tries helplessly to yell, "STOP" for cutting his country in half. There are multiple conflicts between Europe, Middle East, and East Asia. The British Opium Wars was in 1839-1842 and 1856-1858, led to the Taiping Uprising, in which China lost 20 to 30 million people, gained an ever increasing deficit, and surrender to foreign occupation. Frederick Townsend Ward was one of the White/Europeans fighter for the Manchus against the Taiping rebels. In 1895, China lost in a war with Japan and lost control of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan, and in 1898-1901 the internal uprising called the Boxer Rebellion led to Western including USA powers controlling China. The 19th century was not a pleasant one for China not the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. In 1872-1881 the Chinese government sent Chinese Education Mission about 120 Chinese students to America to study Western subjects with the understanding that they would return to China to help to reform the government. The Ottoman Empire, "Sick Man of European" was still the central political fixture of a widespread Islamic world. Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, which was to cut off Britain from India was beginning of a series of invasions into Ottoman territories that Muhammad Ali conquered Egypt in 1808 and established an empire lasting until 1952. Now shifting to the Modernization Japanese Style, the technologies gave Japan an advantage and opportunity to change their country to become a more rapid environment. While reading this section, I realized there were a lot art. Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts artworks, expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill. I think Strayer included the art in the reading to let the reader not just read and try to understand the reading, but also visualize the reading. Most people can understand the reading well with pictures, while others cannot so when the art is illustrated in the text they can see to make connection with the text. For me I am a visual learner so when I see pictures of the map or how it was like in the past I have a better connection because I can see people's emotions on their face or how difficult it was like living without technologies.

Chapter 18 - Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa

In today's reading it is about The Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa that began in the 1750-1950. The first wave was aimed at American however, the second wave aimed at Asia and Africa. One of the most major points that occurred during The Colonial Encounters is Industry and Empire. During the Industry and Empire, new economic needs found solution abroad. This created the need for extensive raw materials and agricultural products such as bananas from Central America, rubber from Brazil, meat from Argentina, cocoa and palm oil from West Africa, and gold and diamonds from South Africa. By the 1840, Britain was exporting about 60% of its cotton-cloth production, sending millions of yards to Europe. Between 1910 and 1914, Britain was sending about half of its savings overseas as foreign investment. Another main point to The Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa is the Race and Culture. Europeans had defined others largely in religious terms, now they adopted the idea and techniques of more "advanced" societies. This means it is precedented by wealth, and used both to produce unsurpassed military power. It is not surprising that their opinions of other cultures dropped sharply. European eyes to the status of tribes led by chiefs as a means of emphasizing their "primitive" qualities. Still Europeans used the device of science to support their racial preferences and prejudices. Going onto the second wave of European conquests, between 1750 and 1914 was a second and quite distinct round of conquests: Asia and Africa. Construction of these new empires in the Afro-Asian world, involved military force. India and Indonesia, grew out of earlier interactions with European trading firms. British East India Company took advantage of the fragmentation of Mughal Empire and facilitated penetration for them. Also, Dutch acquisition of Indonesia was also as traders and alliances. Slowly without a plan, soon they had conquered the islands. Under the European Rule Australia and New Zealand, both taken over by the British during the nineteenth century, were more similar to the earlier colonization of North America. Also, diseases that reduced by 75%. United States practiced a policy of removing exterminating Indian people.

Chapter 17 - Documents

In today's reading it was on documents about the Industrial Revolution. A document is a written, or a printed primary source that provides information or evidence. I enjoy reading documents more than reading the text because I get to have a better understanding of the people's situation in the past. The documents focuses on a certain topic and expands useful evidence and information throughout the reading. One of the documents that caught my attention is the Visual Sources: Art and the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution not only changed in politics, literature, and economy, but also in the work of visual artists. Not many people appreciate and notice the art work. The pictures that are shown in the documents are about the Industrial Revolution technologies. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution and a growing global empire had generated for many people in Great Britain feelings of enormous pride and achievements. The exhibition, held in London, was housed in a huge modernistic structure made of iron and glass and made within nine months. This exhibition attracted more than six million guests and contained 14,000 exhibits from all around the world. The first art is called "The Machinery Department of the Crystal Palace". This illustration illustrates the iron rail factory and the high class families are being educated by the teacher. In the second picture, "The Railroad as a Symbol of the Industrial Era". This shows a middle class family in a railroad compartment, returning home from a vacation. The view out the window shows a telegraph lines and St. Paul's Cathedral, a famous feature of the London landscape. There is a reason to why the artist put the background as that and I believe the artist wanted to illustrate that the family is on their way back home to Britain. The last picture is called "Inside the Factory". This is a great illustration because it basically sums up the lower class lifestyle inside the factory. It presents a strongly contrasting image of factory life in this photograph of women and children at work. I noticed how there are only one men in the factory and he is the instructor. Lewis W. Hine was the one who took this photo and interviewed the children. When he asked one young girl her age, she responded: "I don't remember. I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." A twelve-year-old boy told Hine that he wants to learn, but can't because of work. Compared to the children in the Railroad they look a lot happier than the ones working in the factory. The women and children look depressed and forced to work like they have no options. When looking through these pictures I feel heartbroken towards the children and women because they are being treated poorly. Young children should get their education but they are too busy work at a young age in order to help with their families. Not to mention that they get paid half of what the men are getting. Overall, the Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing process but also a changing lifestyle towards the women and children.

Chapter 17 - Revolutions of Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where the major changes focused in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport, and technology. Overall it had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then slowly spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. It was also the major dramatic change in the world where humans learned how to dominate the natural environment and extract wealth from it and eventually influenced all in some way. Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labor and machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanization of the textile industries, the development of iron making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. During the Industrial Revolution era there was a girl named Ellen Johnson known as the "Factory Girl". Ellen was born in 1835 to a working class family in an industrializing Scotland. She worked in a variety of textile mills throughout her life, lived as a single mother, and became a published poet. Ellen's father, a stonemason, decided to emigrate to America. Her mother, however, refused to join him and remarried an abusive man who forced Ellen to start working in a factory. This caused Ellen to have the thought of running away from home multiple times. At the age of 16, Ellen successfully ran away to Airdire, where she made some friends and stayed for six weeks. There, Ellen earned the reputation of a "fallen woman". During that time she gave birth to her daughter, Mary Achenvole. She was not ashamed, but rather proud and found new hope in pursuing poetry as a way of making money. She also began to write poetry for the "penny press", inexpensive newspaper of the region. On another note, the "Factory Girl" came from a poor family and worked her way up to be someone important. She used her skill and interest and did what she enjoys the most. Ellen reminds me about the sisters at Notre Dame because it is a similar situation. Summing up Hallmark Seven talks about developing holistic learning communities which educate many. Ellen was once a factory girl and became a poet writer. She educate many people through her art of works by writing and telling stories about her childhood.

Chapter 16 - Atlantic Revolutions, Global Echoes

The Atlantic Revolutions were a revolutionary wave in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This revolutionary was associated with the Atlantic World during the era from the 1770s to 1820s. There are four revolutions; The North America Revolution, The French Revolution, The Haitian Revolution, and The Spanish American Revolution. During the Echoes of Revolution the main focus was on the abolition of slavery, nations and nationalism, and feminist beginnings. From 1750-1850 was a century of revolutions. Political revolutions occurred in North America, France, Haiti, and Spanish South America. The Columbian Exchange accelerated cultural diffusion and led to radical ideas. Majority of the ideas were inspired by the Enlightenment thinkers. By 1750, the Atlantic basin was the center of cultural, intellectual, and biological exchange. The enlightenment ideas shared through newspapers, essays, pamphlets, and books. When people start reading these articles, it made them to began believing they could finally shape the world around them. The abolition of slavery occurred during 1780 to 1890, a transformation in human affairs as slavery and widely practice. The Enlightenment thinkers in the eighteenth-century Europe had become increasingly critical of slavery as a violation of the natural rights of every person, and the public pronouncements of the American and French revolutions about liberty and equality. The Haitian Revolution was followed by the three major rebellions in the British West Indies, all of which were harshly crushed, in the early nineteenth century. Secular, religious, economic, and political came together in abolitionist movements, most powerfully in Britain, which brought growing pressure on governments to close down the the trade slaves and then to ban slavery itself. Around 1807, Britain ban the sale of slaves within its empire and also in 1834 liberate those who remained enslaved. In 1888, Brazil was the last to bringing more than four centuries of Atlantic to an end. Planation owners actively resisted the onslaught of abolitionists. Near the end of the Atlantic slavery, it marked a rapid turn in the world's social history and in the moral thinking of humankind.

Foundresses' Week Student Lunch with the Sisters

During lunch with the sisters the students ate and talked about courage, life and the NDNU Hallmarks. I think this event is a great way to have the students get involve with the campus and community. I had an interesting talk with one of the sisters. It was a good feeling to talk to another person I did not know because I was telling her about my life and goals. She was like an advisor for me because she gave me advices and guide me to the right direction. At the same time I was learning about the foundresses' sisters Julie Billiart and Franchise Blin de Bourdon how they all started the foundation. Learning about the sister's accomplishments inspired me to do what it takes to achieve my goals. Other than interacting with the sisters I also talked to the professors and staffs at NDNU. It was a great way to meet new people and eat tasty food. Overall the environment was a positive vibe and it was a great experience to have.

Julie Billiart & Francoise Blin de Bourdon

The two sisters whom found Notre Dame de Namur are Julie Billiart and Francoise Blin de Bourdon. Julie Billiard was born in 1751 in Cuvilly, France and attended a small school in her village. Soon she had to stop going to school and start working to help support her family. Throughout her childhood she loved to help so she helped in the fields with the hay making and enjoyed speaking to the other villagers. Unfortunately, Julie lived through the horrors of the French Revolution and became paralyzed for 23 years due to a shock after her father's shop was broken into and merchandise was stolen and ruined. Lucky her great friend, Madame Pont, brought Julie to chateau at Gournay-sure-Aronde. However, the revolutionaries were hunting for Julie and she hid in a hay cart. During this time, Madame Baudoin introduced Julie to Francoise Blin de Bourdon, who was to became a close of friend of Julie and the co-foudress of the Sisters of Notre dame de Namur. Francoise was born in 1756 in Picardy, France. Unlike Julie, Francoise was educated first by governesses and later at the Benedictine and Ursuline schools. Prior to the Revolution, as Vicomtesse Blin de Bourdon, Francoise had devoted her life to the good management of her estates and to caring for the poor and sick. After the death of Robespierre, Francoise was freed from custody and her friend, Madame Baudoin, brought Julie Billiard and her niece, Felitite to Amiens. Francoise helped Julie by reading and feeding her. Francoise and Julie became great friends and became the two foundresses' sisters at Notre Dame de Namur. Before I did not know much about the fundraises' sister, but now after reading and going to Notre Dame de Namur University I learned about what the sisters had accomplish. The University serves the students and the community by providing excellent professional and liberal arts programs. The school itself is a diverse and all together a learning community that challenges each member to carefully apply values and ethics to their personal experiences. The sisters created a learning and developing environment to the University and inspired many people the core values of having  a community, diversity, excellence, goodness, integrity, and serving. These are all great aspects to have and I believe when people follow this then they will be successful in life. What I have been observing when I got to the campus is the excellent professors, advisors, and staffs. They all work hard to encourage students to be successful after graduation.

Chapter 16 - Atlantic Revolutions, Global Echoes 1750-1914

We are shifting gears from the Enlightenment to the American Revolution. The American Revolution started in 1775 to 1783, where it was known as the war of independence who was carried by the American colonies against Britain influenced political ideas and revolutions around the world. This war was between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies on the North American continent. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution, by which the colonists overthrew British rule. In 1775, Revolutionaries captured and controlled each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up the Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. The following year, they formally declared their independence as a new nation, the United States of America. In 1778, European powers would fight on the American side in the war. Meanwhile, Native Americans and African Americans served on both sides. Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside largely to avoid them due to their relatively small land army. Early in 1778, after an American victory at Saratoga, France entered the war against Britain; Spain and the Netherlands linked as allies of France over the next few years. Finally, the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ended the war and recognized the dominance of the United States over the territory surrounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. Yet another war to bring peace to the world. What would the world be if there was no war to be fought? Would there be treaties to set boundaries? 

Chapter 15 - The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment

In this section it talks about the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. Throughout reading the concept question is why did the Scientific Revolution occur in Europe rather than in other countries for instance China or the Islamic World. The Scientific Revolution appeared during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology and chemistry changed views of society and nature. The Scientific Revolution began in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century, leading the intellectual social movement also known as the Enlightenment. While the Europeans was trying to attempt to spread the Christian faith others were trying to understand the tradition of the Christian faith. By the 20th century, technologies and science had become a widespread that it largely lost its association with European culture and turned to the chef symbol of global modernity. Such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, modern science became a universal worldview, open to all who could accept its establishments and its techniques. Medieval Europeans thinkers thought differently. They thought the earth was stationary and at the center of the universe, and around it revolved the sun, moon, and stars entrenched in ten spheres of transparent crystal. The major thinkers and achievements of the Scientific Revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). He thought about the sun and solar system that the earth was involved with. The next well know thinker is Isaac Newton (1642-1727). He studied about calculus and the formulated concept of inertia and laws of motion. When reading this section a question I had was what does it mean by modern. In my opinion, I think when the writer uses the term modern means that it is slowly shifting to the new era with all the technologies, art, and science. The Scientific Revolution was the start of the science and mathematization. This Enlightenment made a huge impact in today's society.

Chapter 15 - Cultural Transformations 1450-1750

Ursula de Jesus was born in a wealthy Spanish colonial city of Lima, Peru in 1606. Ursula is the daughter of Juan Castilla and Isabel de los Rios. Isabel de los Rios was a slave leaving Ursula to inherit her mother's status. As a child, Ursula has entered a life at the lowest rung of Spanish colonial society. Due to the fact that her mother was a slave Ursula was luck to have a second chance to have a better life. Her mother's owner was a wealthy  aristocratic woman and around eight years old Ursula lived under her mother’s owner. Ursula was sent to live in the home of her mother's owner and was raised with a reputation for piety and religious visions. Years later, Ursula accompanied a third woman into the Convent of Santa Clara, where Ursula spent the rest of her life with. She also found a place for herself in the world of colonial Peru and Latin American Christianity. Ursula became a slave herself and found herself attending to the personal needs of her mistress and practicing common women labor such as cooking, cleaning, and attending the sick. Even though she was a slave, her mistress was in the high status and allowed Ursula to dress well. During that time, Ursula was known to have a reputation of vanity within the convent and liked to dress well. Ursula saw herself as self-centered, temperamental and vain. In 1642 was a turning point in Ursula's life. When she was out washing her clothes at a well she fell over and lost balanced. She prayed and prayed and lucky she gained her balanced back. For the remainder of her life, Ursula de Jesus sought a life of religious spirituality. In 1645, one of the nuns of the convent purchased her freedom. Although she was denied the ability to become a nun because of her race, she remained at the convent as a donada. She stated that she experienced divine visions, particularly with the souls in purgatory who sought her intercession to gain their release. Throughout her life time, she was notable for her mystical visions and her claims of communicating with the souls of those who died and went to purgatory. She felt she had the ability to do so because of her near death experience. A diary of her visions and life experiences was created between 1650-1661. Throughout Ursula's personal journal she recorded complaints about the demanding nuns and how she was spat upon and ridiculed. She endures an excessive amount of work and chores when compared to the other pampered nuns. Despite the fact that Ursula de Jesus was freed slave and completely devoted herself to serving God was never able to come out of the hovering shadow of discrimination. She was still treated differently for her Afro-descent and dark completion. Often times she showed her vulnerability in her diary when she questioned God why did she have to be the one who suffered. In the end, Ursula died in 1666 and her funeral was attended by many people. She was buried beneath the chapel of the convent she had served.  

When reading this documentary in the textbook about Ursula de Jesus background story made me interested in learning more about the religious about Christianity. At first I have never heard of her name before, but after reading the question I have for Ursula that what motivate her to start journaling about her daily life. Surprisingly her owner was not mad about Ursula doing this. In what ways did Ursula shape her own life and overall the historical forces. 

Chapter 14 - Commerce in People: The Atlantic Slave Trade

    The Atlantic slave trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th-19th centuries. The majority of those enslaved that were transported to the New World, many were on the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, were the West Africans from the central and western parts of the continent sold by other western Africans to western European slave traders, with a majority of being captured directly by the slave traders in coastal arrest, and brought to the Americas. Many slaves were taken to South America than to the north. The South Atlantic and Caribbean economic system started producing commodity crops, and making goods and clothing to sell in Europe, which led to an increasing amount of numbers of African slaves brought to the New World. This was crucial to those Western European countries which, in the late 17th and 18th centuries, were striving with each other to create overseas empires. Before 1500, the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean basins were the major arenas of the Old World slave trade, and southern Russia was a major source of slaves. Most slaves would work in their owners' households, farms, or shops. Many slaves worked hard labor and on top of that were being treated badly by their owners while the others slaves were lucky enough to have a decent caring owners that will treat the slaves as a human being. When talking about history the most common topics that come up is slaves. When reading this chapter, I remembered how badly slaves were being treated. Slaves were not being treated as a human being but was treated as monsters. The Americans and Europeans shipped the slaves in a ship where the slaves barely have any room to move or go use the restroom. Slaves were shirtless and were lined in rows in order to fit as many as possible in a small ship. Throughout the slave trade the year that began to increase slaveries was in 1751-1850. After 1851-1866, slaves that were imported from Africa decreased by a whole lot. If I were to go back in time to change one thing I would change the usage of slaves. I would ask the owners if slaves did not exist how would the owners and their families survive in rough conditions. 

Chapter 14 - Economic Transformations Commerce and Consequence

This reading made me wonder whether would it be different in today's century if these events did not happen. In what different ways did global commerce transform human societies and the lives of individuals during the modern era be like? During voyage (1497-1499), Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama, European sailed to India for the first time. Portuguese learned fast. They learned that most Indian Ocean merchant ships did not have secruities. Early in the 15th century, there was no major power in position to dominate the sea lanes, and the many smaller-scale merchants generally traded openly. Portuguese took this opportunity and for their ships could outgun and outmaneuver competing naval forces, while their onboard cannons could devastate coastal barricade. The Portuguese created the Indian Ocean what is known as a "trading post empire" so they can aim to control commerce not territories. Even thought Portuguese were smart they did not have their merchants sell because they had the traditional Red Sea route to the Mediterranean blocked. Portuguese soon became to be involved in carrying Asian goods to Asian ports, selling their shipping services due to the fact that they were unable to sell their goods. By 1600s, Portuguese trading went down hill. Everything was too late and the trading post empire was in trouble. Soon, the Spanish came and helped Portuguese. During the time, both British and Dutch trading companies changed the societies they encountered in Asia. In the early 17th century, British and Dutch entered the Indian Ocean. Soon enough they both took over Portuguese and things start to go smooth afterwards. I wonder what it would be like if there was no wars. Would there still be a treaty? Now a days there are still wars going on around the world. Without wars life would be boring and there would not be anything to fight for.

Colonial empires in the Americas

     While educating ourself about world history, we ask if we are still in the modern world. But what does the term modern mean? Modern relates to the present or what is happening now opposed to the past. World history has a variety of eras to cover and in this lecture I am going to be learning about the Paleolithic Era to Modern Era. In today's reading of the big picture, countries are starting to be modernized. China, Japan, India, an Europe are experiencing their first step on becoming the modern population growths as Eurasia recovered from the Black Death and Mongol wars. Other than the countries are finally turning turning into a modern world. The food products are also. For instance, corn and potatoes are starting to grow and provide nutritions to support the people on land. Moving forward to the 18th century, Japan became the one of the most urbanized societies in the world with Edo housing with over a million of inhabitants. Going into chapter 13 that talks about the Political Transformation Empires Europeans and African start to bring in their plants, animals, and wheat. Crops were needed to be picked from the ground so the farmers needed slaves. African American families became the farmers slaves and worked day and night. The slaves worked on sugar to produce estates in horrendous conditions. On the other side, the women were working in the urban areas but mostly for the white female owners where the women were just did some domestic chores. As time flew by, the Europeans transformed by its American possessions far more than China. The Europeans gained resources from their empires corn, potatoes and wheats in order to form gold, silver and land.

World History 2

YAAY, I'm done! :)