In Chapter four Strayer discusses all of the different empires and how they came to be. The Eurasian Empires Strayer talks about are the Persian Empire, Greek Empire of Alexander the great, The Roman Empire, The Chinese Empire, and India. Strayer gives his opinion on why he thinks Empires have always been fascinating. A few reasons he states are, because size was imposing, satisfaction in witnessing the fall of the mighty when the empire collapses, and just how important the empires were because of how humans before the twentieth century all lived in Empires. To be honest I haven't learned much about all the different Empires so it was interesting to read and learn a little bit about each one. It was interesting to me that a lot of our cultures and values present today, started within these empires. It gives us insight on how certain cultures came to be today. The most interesting part to me was reading about the differences in the Roman and Chinese Empires and how they were not really connected but had a lot of similarities. They both started off so small and then ended up becoming huge and controlling almost half the world's population. I feel like this is still true to this day.
Chapter five discusses the Eurasian Cultural Traditions. Some of the big religions Strayer talks about are Judaism, hinduism, Confucianism, buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity. I don't know much about religion. I have never been very religious so anytime I get the chance to even learn a little bit about the different religions in the world I find it intriguing. I like how in the book Strayer gives a little chart of all the different religion and then a basic idea of what that religion is.
Chapter Six basically outlines the Eurasian social hierarchies. Strayer starts off by telling us about the Chinese society, then the class and Caste in India, then he goes on to talk about Slavery. It is interesting to me that slavery goes back this far in our history. All of these civilizations Strayer talks about had some form of slavery, the reasons for it were interesting to me. Because slavery has been apart of our society for this long I don't think it will ever really go away completely.
Chapter 7 is about Africa and the Americas in the Classical Era. Strayer tells us a little bit about how Classical Era civilizations are not just European, they consist of The Americas and Africa. The Americas were known as the Maya and Moche. Africa was known as Meroe, Axum, Niger river valley. As Strayer goes into more detail on these civilizations it is fascinating to compare them to the European ones he already spoke about. I found the African cultures very interesting.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Journal Reflection 1
I have not taken a History course in maybe 5 or so years and even then it was US history. The last time I studied world history was in High School. This course is definitely going to be somewhat of a challenge but a great way to refresh my memory! Like most classes in the beginning reading the syllabus was very overwhelming. I really did not know what to expect - I do like how the class seems like it will be more hands on then most classes I've taken in the past two years.
The first three chapters were interesting because I don't know very much about early world history.
Chapter 1 (The Paleolitic era) focused on the beginning of the "Homo Sapien" which is the and how they emerged over 200,000 years ago. It was interesting to read about how the Hazda of Tanzania are one of the last "gathering and hunting" societies on earth and how they are likely to vanish sometime in the near future. It is crazy to me that when that happens it will mark the end of what was "Universal human existence." Strayer talks about how it is wrong to ignore the first 200,000 years of human existence, I would have to agree. In some ways I feel I am one of these individuals who have chosen to "ignore" the first 200,000 years. I hope to change this because this is how we came to be today. Strayer tells us in chapter one how much archaeology tells us about the people who lived back then. He also explains to us how they settled and created our first human societies.
Chapter 2 talks about what we call the Neolithic era also known as the "Agricultural revolution." I have family who are farmers in England and this chapter reminds me of how important agricultural really is to our society. It is sad to me that only 5 percent of Americans still live on farms, and these statistics are from 12 years ago, makes me wonder what it would be now in 2012.
In Chapter 3 Strayer talks about "The Emergence of Civilizations" Strayer tells us how civilization came to be and how it was a global phenomenon. The chapter talks about the 6 major civilizations and explains how our civilization got here today. I found this chapter pretty interesting because it touches on many of societies issues that we have today, such as gender equality. It is interesting to learn that back then women were more or less equal to men. Chapter 3 gave great insight to what more is to learn in this class.
The first three chapters were interesting because I don't know very much about early world history.
Chapter 1 (The Paleolitic era) focused on the beginning of the "Homo Sapien" which is the and how they emerged over 200,000 years ago. It was interesting to read about how the Hazda of Tanzania are one of the last "gathering and hunting" societies on earth and how they are likely to vanish sometime in the near future. It is crazy to me that when that happens it will mark the end of what was "Universal human existence." Strayer talks about how it is wrong to ignore the first 200,000 years of human existence, I would have to agree. In some ways I feel I am one of these individuals who have chosen to "ignore" the first 200,000 years. I hope to change this because this is how we came to be today. Strayer tells us in chapter one how much archaeology tells us about the people who lived back then. He also explains to us how they settled and created our first human societies.
Chapter 2 talks about what we call the Neolithic era also known as the "Agricultural revolution." I have family who are farmers in England and this chapter reminds me of how important agricultural really is to our society. It is sad to me that only 5 percent of Americans still live on farms, and these statistics are from 12 years ago, makes me wonder what it would be now in 2012.
In Chapter 3 Strayer talks about "The Emergence of Civilizations" Strayer tells us how civilization came to be and how it was a global phenomenon. The chapter talks about the 6 major civilizations and explains how our civilization got here today. I found this chapter pretty interesting because it touches on many of societies issues that we have today, such as gender equality. It is interesting to learn that back then women were more or less equal to men. Chapter 3 gave great insight to what more is to learn in this class.
Monday, May 14, 2012
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