Ajah’s Spring WH Blog

         A pandemic is defined as pertaining to a disease that has effected either an entire country or the world. While COVID-19 has been stated to have originated in China, cases all around the world and the rapid spread has impacted countries such as Italy and the United States of America. Cases have increased by the thousands, along with deaths we well. Over 3.42 million cases have been traced around the world, with the United States alone suffering from 1.15 million of those, not even considering cases where people can be unaware that they have it or the cases not reported.          Even if this disease were to only have impacted China alone, it would still be considered a pandemic when it becomes a concerning issue of an entire country. Yet, with no one originally taking the announcements of the disease serious, and people still being reckless with shelter-in-place orders, cases will only increase over time.   ...

After reading chapter 15 on cultural transformations I learned many things. One thing I learned was the conflict between Christians and Protestants. To start off Christianity was divided internally between the Roman Catholics of Western Europe and the Eastern Orthodox of Eastern Europe and Russia. On the outside, Christianity had been cautious and defensive towards Islam. Islam had forced out Christian crusaders in the Holy Land by 1300 and captured the capital of Eastern Orthodoxy in the Ottoman seizure of Constantinople in 1453. The Protestant Reformation began in 1517. Martin Luther began the reformation by offering a public debate with a document called the Ninety-Five Theses. This document highlighted the faults of Christianity. During this time most people were already skeptical about corruption within the pope, clergy,  and the churches spending. For women, Protestanism didn't offer them more freedom than Christianity but within Protestanism the worshiping of female figures ...

In the second half of Strayer's chapter 14, he talks about the Atlantic slave trade. The slave trade began in the 1500s and ended in 1886. The main people that come in and out of the slave trade were the Africans. Within the slave trade the Africans didn't farewell. For most Africans, their roles were sugar cane, plantain workers. Unlike the Native Americans, the African workers had some built up immunity towards the diseases the Europeans had and tropical diseases. Another plus for the Europeans was that the Africans were available in vastly large numbers. The Africans were also influential in adding their culture to the Americas. Since they were brought here by force the culture changed shocked many of them and we also gained their cultural experiences as well.

In the first half of chapter 14 Strayer talks a lot about trading. For example, Strayer talks about the spice trade. The spice trade happened in the Indian Ocean and tropical spices were most favored. Some spices that were commonly sold in the spice trade were cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper. Chinese silks, Indian cotton, and jewels were also sold in the trading network. Recovering from Black Death Europe's population began to flourish again. Monarchs in Spain, Portugal, England, and France began to tax the subjects and build their military forces to keep up with its growing population. The Portuguese also wanted a cut in the trading network. The Indian Ocean Merchant ships were not heavily armed and the Portuguese saw that as an opportunity to gain control over them. However, they never gained more than half of the spice trade. The Europeans settled on the Phillippines. The indigenous people of the Philippines were forced to relocate to Christian based communities. They...

One section that stood out to me in Chapter 13 was the section titled "The Columbian Exchange." In my last blog post, a touched on the Columbian exchange a little bit. In place the people who lived before 1492. Within these groups were African. people, indigenous people, and European people. These people played a key role in the Columbian exchange by bringing things to exchange. A negative thing that was exchanged through it was a disease. The Columbian exchange was very important because of the many things that were exchanged through it. They also brought animals and crops such as rice, corn, potatoes, and fruits. The animals they brought were cattle, horses, pigs and etc. These animals were important because they made ranching possible. The crops such as potatoes and corn were especially important because the nutrition provided from them and the mass number that could be produced made it easier to sustain fast-growing populations.

In Staryer's intro to part four, he talks about what is said to be an early modern era. This era happened between 1450 and 1750. Strayer also mentions that within the three centuries there were signs that marked a modern world. Some of the signs were the beginning of genuine globalization, elements of distinctly modern societies, and a growing European presence in world affairs. For globalization, the trade routes were a clear example of it. For Africa, the Atlantic slave trade permanently linked them to the Western Hemisphere. However, for the Europeans, had to use the global silver trade to buy their way into ancient Asian trade routes. The Columbian exchange was a massive trade of plants, animals, diseases, and people. However, people called missionaries carried out the word of Christianity passed Europe. The spread of Christianity was great and became a world religion. China, Japan, India, and Europe all experienced population growth. Foods like corn and potatoes helped support...