Ch.'s 17, 18, & 20

Blog: Ch’s 17, 18 & 20

I really enjoyed reading chapter seventeen because it is a great example of Strayer’s method of reflecting how events throughout history influence and ignite other events and ideas oceans away.  The spread of these European ideas was enabled by the Chinese invention of the printing press: “newspapers, books, and pamphlets” (pg. 500).  This mode of communication was utilized by abolitionist efforts in Britain in the late eighteenth century, provoking religious, economic, and political sentiments against slavery.  Interestingly enough while slavery had become unpopular in Britain, racial superiority was exercised throughout the British colonies of South Africa.  Racial separation developed for years into the nineteench and twentieth century. This system of inferior housing, educational systems, and public facilities was termed apartheid. 

In reading about the Haitian Revolution, and the renaming of Haiti after the natives had gained independence from Europe, I was shocked to learn that some natives referred to themselves as “Incas”  (pg. 509).  Strayer does not expand on this and this was the first time I have heard a historian state this fact.  This begs the question, how would Incan natives, who demographically belong to the Andean region, end up in an island in the Caribbean?  One would reasonably assume that since the Andean region and Caribbean islands were both under Spanish colonial control, Inca natives could have been relocated by way of slave trade.  But this assumption does not coincide with the Atlantic Slave trade of the time, flowing east to west.  Before the arrival of the Spanish to Haiti, there were natives on this island.  So, where did these natives originate from?  Flipping back to Strayer’s map of early planet population, humans did migrate from North America into South America about 12,500 years ago, also migrating to the Caribbean islands.  But this preceded the emergence of the Incas in the 1500’s.  I would be interested in researching any archaeological or linguistic evidence in Haiti that may link the natives to the Quechua speaking Inca people. 

In reading about the industrialization of the United States I was intrigued on the topic of socialist movements.   I often wondered why this idea never took root in the United States since we echoed many European ideas of that time.  I always chalked it up to our strong capitalistic roots, but this was never satisfactory to me.  Why did working class frustrations in Europe, during the Industrial Era, spur trade unions and socialism, yet the United States which was struggling with the same social struggles, did not appeal to these reforms? Strayer points to the American Federation of Labor, the major union organization at the time, did not align with any political party.  The second answer Strayer indicates, is land owners were less likely to be attracted to socialism and the United States (thanks to many land grants) had greater land owners than that of our Industrialized cousins in Britain.  The final answer that Strayer gives in response to this question is the sharp class and racial divides at the time, not found in the more homogenous Britain. 

Ch.'s 14, 15, & 16

Blog:  Ch’s 14, 15, & 16

Learning history as a child from a very Eurocentric viewpoint, I learned of the European dominance over the remainder of the globe throughout the modern era.  China seemed to be this very foreign and long enduring country, very separate from the rest of the developments and actions of European powers.  What I have enjoyed about reading Strayer, is he makes it very clear that China has remained a fulcrum in the world economy since they arose as a civilization in the Ancient era.  Chinese tea, silk, porcelain, and South East Asian spices motivated Western European powers to search for other ocean going routes, bypassing the Muslim dominated merchant routes of the Indian Ocean.  Strayer states that “Europeans were increasingly aware of their marginal position in the world of Eurasian commerce” (pg. 406).  This statement holds a lot of weight.  Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe had lost its dominance in the Eurasian affairs, and had no domestic product of interest to trade with.  If Europe had maintained competitive market dominance since the emergence of markets, such as I was under the impression,  in my younger historical learning,  then European powers would have had little incentive to venture outside of their own waters.  Europeans wanted access to the products of China but had nothing of interest to trade with.  The result was emerging new world colonies, in which their native populations, their land, and resources were exploited for European market advantage.  Strayer quoted a prominent world historian, “Without a New World to deliver economic balance in the Old, Europe would have remained inferior, as ever, in wealth and power, to the great civilizations of Asia” (pg. 409).  One could argue that the U.S’s thirst for foreign products derived from the European intensification of Capitalism during the early Modern Era. 

Commerce and mercantilism was expedited through the discovery of silver deposits in Spanish America Bolivia.  Potosi, Bolivia was the primary export site for silver during the early Modern Era.    85% of the world’s silver came out of Spanish America during the early Modern Era by the use of slave labor.  If you look at early Spanish drawings of Potosi, including the drawing Strayer included on page 443, and compare to present day photos of Potosi, one can see how the mountain of Potosi has depleted by centuries of mining.  Yet who really benefited from the new supplies of wealth found in the New World?   With Europe’s hunger for splendor and Chinese products, the majority of this new found and exploited silver bullion made its way into China by way of Manila.   Europe finally had a product to trade with.  The silver fed the Columbian exchange and Europe’s Industrial Revolution but the majority of the silver was used to pay for Asian goods that the French, British, and Dutch desired.   Strayer quoted a Portugese merchant from 1621, which I believe can still be applied to today’s economy, “silver wanders throughout all the world…before flocking to China, where it remains as if at its natural center” (pg. 443).  Europe finally acquired the goods of China and enjoyed the splendor and lifestyle its goods and products represented.  Yet with the benefit of hindsight, Europe acquired material goods that were consumed or depreciated in value while China benefited in the exchange for silver as this bullion became the basis of many economic systems, only appreciating in value.   

   

               

Ch.'s 11, 12, & 13

Blog Ch.’s 11, 12, & 13

The Classical Era was characterized by its complex civilizations and the empires and religions they spurred.  Islam accomplished all of this in the later portion of this era.  It’s prophet, Mohammed, claimed Islam as an Arab religion by directing all prayer to Mecca.  Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, was not only a religious leader but also a political and military leader.  Islamic armies engaged the Persian & Bysantine Empires.  It’s territory spread from Spain to India into Europe, China, and North Africa.  Large scale conversion to the Muslim religion took place where there was Arab populations. 

Strayer discusses the role of women within the Arab Empire and in the context of the Quran.  The Quran made women and men equal in that they would both receive forgiveness and reward from Allah if they surrender themselves to Allah (pg. 314).  But the Quran does not create such equality in the context of marriage.  Similar to Confucian ideas, the Quran states that good women are obedient.  But the Quran spells out such discipline for disobedience such as admonishing women and sending them to bed beaten.  I do not agree that God, Allah, what have you, would advocate violence in a marriage, or any setting.  But Strayer is careful to explain that stringent patriarchy was already prominent in the region and not necessarily a product of the Muslim faith.  He mentions the cultural custom of clitorectomy and honor killings of women “by male relatives for violating sexual taboos” (pg. 316).  Honor killings?!  This sounds like sanctioned murder.  I wonder if this is the tradition that has contributed to bride burnings in India?   

I thought it interesting that although Muhammad’s wife, Aisha, played a visible public role, this practice was frowned upon my Islamic men in the years after Muhammad.  Women also became veiled.  “The second Caliph asked women to offer prayers at home” (pg. 314).  I have been to a mosque in Santa Clara during Ramadan and women were allowed to worship in the same room as the men, but for the sake of modesty, worshipped behind the men.  As bowing in front of worshipping men would make the women feel uncomfortable and may present a distraction for the men.  It was not meant to be separatist or hierarchical. 

As the empire grew so did the seclusion and veiling of women.  This is similar to the foot binding in China which restricted women to the home.  “Separate quarters within the homes of the wealthy were the domain of women” (pg. 315).  Women were not allowed to immerge from this separate quarter unless veiled.  I find that women of or from affluence throughout history, tend to be more restricted.  Women of lesser means had fewer restrictions and a greater role in public life as they had to go to the market. 

The Pastoral societies were less patriarchal as they lived in small encampments and therefore supported a smaller population (pg. 334).  I would prefer to occupy this type of society as women held higher status and contributed to animal husbandry of the smaller animals, hunted on horses like men, and worked leather into clothing.  Even though this lifestyle was arduous and impermanent, women were not restricted and were considered equal contributors.  Strayer perfectly depicts the lifestyle of the Pastoralists, “a life largely dictated by local environmental conditions and based on turning grass, which people cannot eat, into usable foods and energy”  (pg. 336). 

Ch. 8, 9, & 10 Blog

Ch. 8, 9,  & 10 Blog

The Classical Era:  The Spread of Civilization, Commerce, and Culture

The spread of civilization was propelled by interaction through trade networks such as the Sea Roads of the Indian Ocean, Silk roads linking pastoral and agricultural peoples across Eurasia, and the Sand Roads which linked interior West Africa with the peoples of the Saharan.  In the America’s there is evidence that the distant civilizations of North and South America engaged in commerce.  I was amazed to discover that items native to Mesoamerica were found in Chaco Canyon.  I have studied Chaco Canyon before but had not learned of the findings of macaw feathers and shells from Mesoamerica at Chaco Canyon.  This is a great distance these items would have had to travel by foot through much desert terrain.  It demonstrates the long distance commercial relationships of these distant civilizations.  

It is so interesting to me that one of the largest land animals of South America at the time, the llama, never made it to North America.  Although my experience and exposure to the llama is minimal, I understand domesticated llama’s could be good pack animals and provide good wool for making blankets and textiles.  I thought the diffusion of the llama would have matched that of maize corn, which originated in Mesoamerica and reached all the way to southwestern and eastern North America and much of South America.  Yet the dense tropical forest of Mesoamerica and the narrow Panama isthmus would have made it difficult to drag an Andes native animal such as the llama all the way to North America. 

Another surprise to me was in learning how different the Buddhist monasteries were along the Silk Roads juxtaposed to the traditional monasteries which shunned materialism.  Foreign merchant communities introduced Buddhism to northern China in the first century B.C.E.  The Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Road became wealthy as they were often built by Buddhist merchants.  The traditional begging bowl of the monks, were no longer utilized and became more of a symbol.  This doesn’t even sound like Buddhism to me.  Strayer also states, “Sculptures and murals in the monasteries depicted musicians and acrobats, women applying makeup, and even drinking parties” (223).  These luxuries do not align with Buddha’s teachings of three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and egolessness.  But this displays how religions and cultures were adapted and changed once introduced into another region.  In this instance the Buddhist monasteries were providing “culturally familiar places of rest and resupply for merchants making the long and arduous trek across Central Asia” (pg. 223).

It is also interesting how China adapted Buddhism into their civilization.  Buddhist monastic life conflicted with the Confucian tradition of family values.  The Confucian and very Chinese social homogenous order contradicted Buddhist “concern for individual salvation”  (pg. 263).  So what was China’s solution to this very individualistic and popular religion entering their civilization?  China filtered and translated the religion to adapt to their traditions and culture.  By changing the Indian concept of morality and translating it to “filial submission and obedience” (pg. 263), the Chinese could recognize these notions and abide by them.  And in the historical tradition of gender inequality (please excuse the sarcasm), China adapted the Buddhist ideal of a husband supporting his wife translating it to “husband controls wife” (pg. 264).  The diffusion, borrowing, and filtering of culture by way of commerce throughout the Classical Era is fascinating. 

Blog # 2 – Chapters 4, 5, 6, & 7

As we learned in previous chapters, early neighboring civilizations engaged in regular diplomatic or wartime, interaction, resulting in a diffusion of culture, traditions, and religion, assimilating some of these ideas into their own civilizations.  This practice still occurs in today’s societies.  I wanted to further explore this natural transmission of religious ideas and traditions from one religion to another.  Religions are not disjointed from one another; they borrow and build upon long established and accepted ideas. 

What many think are original traditions to their own religion, actually precede it.  An example of this in history, from what I distinguish, is the influence Zoroastrianism has had on the Hebrew Torah and therefore the Christian Bible.  Chapter five states several interesting examples of religious doctrine that are maintained in Christianity and in other religions.  It was the first monotheistic religion, varying greatly from the polytheistic competing religions of its time and time thereafter. 

            Zoroastrianism maintains dualism of good and evil.  Ahra Mazda is the god of light, superior to all other deities.  Angra Mainyu is the evil spirit who opposes Ahura Mazda.  This idea of a supreme God and the evil counterpart can also be found in Judaism, Christianity, and the Muslim faith.  This dualism is also a theme throughout the Gospel of John.  The cosmic struggle between Ahra Mazda and Angra Mainyu, “would be decided in favor of Ahura Mazda, aided by the arrival of a final Savior who would restore the world to its earlier purity and peace” (Strayer, 139).  Sound familiar?  The Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic traditions all refer to a savior as the Messiah.  Zoroastrianism also had dogma of a final judgment day, resurrecting bodies who aligned with Ahura Mazda, being rewarded eternal life.  So I think that many Christians may be surprised to find that these religious ideas are not unique to Christianity.  The Persian prophet of Zoroastrianism, Zarathustra, originated these ideas in the sixth or seventh century B.C.E., possibly a few hundred years earlier.  This predates the Hebrew Bible by almost 500 years and Christianity by 700 years.  Strayer explains how this diffusion of religious traditions took place when “tiny Hebrew communities lived a precarious existence in a religion politically dominated by the large empires of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia” (Strayer, 140).          

So it shouldn’t be surprising that we can also find a Babylonian religious tradition in the Hebrew religious texts.  “In 586 B.C.E. the kingdom of Judah came under Babylonian control”  (Strayer, 140).  We were briefly introduced to Hammurabi in Chapter three.  He reigned Babylon from 1792-1750 B.C.E.   I’m not sure of any of you have learned of the Code of Hammurabi?  Well it is one of the oldest deciphered writings on a stone stele consisting of hundreds of law codes such as, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”  These are Old Testament traditions found in the Hebrew texts.  Furthermore, this Code of Hammurabi is depicted on a cuneiform stone tablet.  The Babylonia sun god is bestowing upon King Hammurabi the law codes.  [An image of these stone tablets can be found on Google Images. ] We find this story again in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament with God handing Moses the Ten Commandments.  So one can see how the Code of Hammurabi, which pre-existed the Hebrew Bible by about 1300 years, is a prime example of the adaption and diffusion of religious beliefs and doctrines over history. 

  

I think it’s amazing that our Homo sapien ancestors were around 200-250,000 years ago occupying the earth with other Homo genus such as Homo neanderthalensis, Homo erectus, and homo heidelbergensis.  This means that the different species may have interacted and possibly interbred.  Could this mean Homo sapiens were a result of two other species breeding?  Our species out competed and survived the other species, but Homo sapiens were the latest to emerge in the context of world history.  Homo erectus walked the earth for nearly three million years.  Our time on earth is just a fraction of the erectus period.  It’s unfathomable to think where our species, or this earth, will be in another 2.5 million years. 

96% of Homo sapien existence was spent during the Paleolithic Era, 200,000 years ago, forming into small hunting and gathering groups.  This type of existence meant following the migration of animals and gathering plants when in season.    One would think that this unsettled hunting and gathering lifestyle must have been precarious and exhausting.  Pottery to store surplus food is a technology of the Neolithic Era coming into existence with the agricultural revolution.  I get anxious if I can’t simply reach in my cupboard and create a meal out of items on hand.  I understand how ideological it is to project my modern life of convenience onto the Paleolithic era and so I must also imagine how free people must have felt as well, with no boundaries confining them.  With no permanent settlement, Paleolithic people were free to pick up in search of more recourses.    

An interesting outlier to this traditional nomadic lifestyle are the Southern California Chumash Indians.  The hunting and gathering Chumash Indians settled in permanent villages forming complex societies and economies for several centuries following 1150 CE.  What confined the Chumash to the Santa Barbara coast and channel islands was the overhunting of inland deer and the invention of the planked canoe (tomol) allowing for travel between the islands and deep sea fishing.  So at first I was confused.  Did the Chumash qualify as people utilizing Neolithic ways of life due to their permanent settlements?  Or did the Chumash qualify as Paleolithic due to their hunting and gathering lifestyle?  Because the Chumash were hunter gatherers and did not engage in agricultural planting and harvesting, they are classified as engaging in Paleolithic tools and lifestyle.  The people of the Americas did not adapt to the settled agricultural lifestyle due to the lack of indigenous large animals such as the cattle or horse used in the Afro-Eurasian lands for plowing.  The Chumash were unique in that they settled in a resource rich area and maintained gathering and hunting, relying more on fishing.

So here’s another variation for you.  What do the nomadic herders, or pastoral societies, qualify as?  They occupy mostly un-farmable land such as deserts or arctic tundra.  They are mobile with their herd following the seasons of available vegetation.  Are the pastoral people engaging in Paleolithic or Neolithic lifestyles?  One would again think that since they do not participate in permanent settlements, that they are Paleolithic, but one would be wrong.  What supersedes the settled vs. unsettled lifestyle is how the group of people acquire their food source.  Pastoral societies engage in and rely on “animal husbandry” for meat, fur, and milk.  They are not hunting these animals, they are raising them.  If the agricultural revolution was characterized by the domestication of plants, so too then are the pastoral people engaging in a form of agriculture by domesticating animals.  Therefore the nomadic pastoral societies are classified as Neolithic.