Capitalism and Culture

The idea of capitalism has spread throughout the wold. It is the foundation of America's economy and is growing into other economies. Countries that had communist economies shifted into a capitalist one. The rise of capitalism came from World War II. Because it brought such havoc on the countries, America compensated by using capitalism to recover economically. The more people that work, the more money they make, the more money they can spend, and the more they can be taxed. America leads the charge of capitalist economy because they believe in the economic benefits and the social ones as one. Feminism rose too from capitalism. A capitalist economy needs people to work and put money into it. With this in mind, women are considered a necessity in the work force because that means more money can be made and more can be spent. Fundamentalism came about as well during the capitalist push. A capitalist society brought progression which gave freedom for other areas of society to progress as well specifically in religion. Most fundamentalist people believe in the literal form of their religion but with such a progression, people were able to progress from fundamentalist religion to being open to interpreting with cultural context. As the societies advance, people start to think more long term. The environment now came into consideration and the impact we as a people have placed upon it. Now we have new ethics and standards in place to protect the environment from the pollution we have contributed. People now think the long term impact of what they do affecting the environment that was not present in history. The visual sources depicted the good and bad of capitalism. One shows how globalization, the push for working to make money to spend, has turned people into becoming shells of humans. This picture is a bunch of women working in a row in a sweat shop in China (Figure 24.1). The second picture glamorizes globalization and consumerist economy with a man and woman on a motorcycle driving along the spring trail (Figure 23.2). This is meant to show how it's good to spend money and how life can be great if one works hard for it, the American Dream. The third picture shows a person with a skeleton mask and a sign saying how a free economy actually is just code for free to exploit people (Figure 23.3). A free economy, a capitalist society, where people can make as much money as they want with no limit or care as long as they work for it has holes. People can take advantage of the system and exploit others to get to a wealthy position. The last picture is just a map of globalization, a map with the countries that are the most lit (Figure 23.4). This is meant to show how the world is always moving, always busy working doing something never resting. Globalization through capitalism and progressive movements have changed the world for the better but we can not forget our dark past.

Considering islam

Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. In some countries it is considered a sacred practice but in others it is something to be feared. For example in present day America we now have a growing population that is Islamaphobic. Why is that? Because people are misinformed. They make generalizations of it based on propaganda and misinformation. These documents are meant to portray how Islam truly has affected today's countries with little bias.

In document 22.1 it talks about how Turkey post-Ottoman Empire attempted to remove Islam in their politics and society. The author, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, writes about his perspective of Islam. He addresses that Islam is an important religion but in its foundational principle, it means accepting the differences of others including difference of religious opinion (Strayer 1121). Atatürk wants to remove the aspects of Islam in public government that contradict this religious freedom, including the caliphate that dictate people to practice Islam.

In document 22.2 it talks about how Iran took the opposite approach. They decided to take on Islam into their government and make it the standard religious practice. Author Ayatollah Khomeini writes a plan to establish how Islam can be incorporated into government practices. His views seem to be borderline extremists because he declares that the government should be adamantly against enemies of Islam, the westerners.

In document 22.3 it talks about Islam in a progressive manner post 9/11. 9/11 was a tragic event in America. On 9/11/01, thousands of people died in terrorists attacks by hijacking planes. These attacks were motivated by Islam extremists in the middle East. The author Kabir Helminski writes to show America how people who follow Islam are not all extremists like the terrorists. He writes about the good principles of islam and how it is meant to be progressive. Muslims are not inherently evil they just want to follow God using Islam as their path to get there. They do not want to force followers.

In document 22.4 it talks about how Islam is being abandoned. There are outdated principles of Islam like arranged marriage that are still practiced and forced upon young people. This author Ayaan Hirsis Ali writes to communicate how he was used to growing up in a Muslim culture. But she has grown to become secular and question it. He became enlightened to some of what she considers Islam's heinous teachings. Religion in general is becoming an outdated practice in his eyes.

Religion no matter Islam Hinduism Christianity Judaism or any other religion is becoming obsolete. People now are questioning it and starting to develop their own understanding of the world without the need to follow something.

The End of Empire

In today's society we do not have open empires. We may have countries that act like empires in terms of being a superpower but no set empires like the Ottoman or British empire. Empires ended because the oppressed people under the empire decided to revolt. There were multiple revolutions occurring simultaneously amongst the empires in early 1900s. African and Indian people were the main peoples that revolted against their rulers. In India, they revolted against the British empire. Their revolution was a journey instead of a quick event. This revolution introduced new tactics for change such as non-violence. Gandhi rose up and gave new rise to non-violent peaceful protest and civil disobedience. On the other hand though sometimes the initial revolution from their "mother" country can be violent and one revolution is not enough. For example in South Africa, they did originally revolt from the British empire in order to take their independence. However, the result from the first revolution was another power taking control and oppressing South Africans again specifically black Africans. Another revolution needed to take place for all people black and white to have equal independence and rights. In order to get equality there was horrific violence, wars, and there is still instability in political/societal structure in Africa. The main result of these revolutions was ultimate freedom. Freedom is great but it does not solve everything. There were various issues that still came up despite earning freedom. Once the empire left, they took away their structures of society, economy, government. The people who were once under someone that had control of everything now had to rebuild for themselves. It was a struggle. Structures and cultures changed in all the freed countries including in Turkey and Iran. New culture of Islam developed because the old form of culture was now no longer forced upon the people from the British. Freedom from old ways allowed new ideologies to rise up. Being free is something we as Americans can take for granted. It may not solve all the problems in the world but it sure a good place to start.

The Fight of Communism

Communism is an economic philosophy conjured to counter the economic philosophy of capitalism. During the 1970s, communism was the regime in 1/3 of the world (Strayer 1030). This came from revolutions in countries who were brought capitalism. Russia (USSR), China and plenty of others that still hold to communism today. Communism brought equality of income for all people. It allowed equalization for societies under this regime. However, this harsh equality frustrated some people. It kept them in a box of having to earn a specific amount of money for their family and then having the leftovers given away for their country. This is a way of socialism. A more extreme form of it. Communism had some benefits that capitalism didn't like feminism. Alongside the revolution from capitalism and embracing communism, USSR took on feminism. Marriage became a practice amongst two consenting adults, divorce was easily accessible, women had opportunity for jobs and education of their choosing (Strayer 1046). These benefits of communism were great but it did not sit well with Americans. It was one reason the Cold War arose between USSR and America. Their differences in philosophy communism vs capitalist. This war lasted for decades. There were plenty of scares with attacks of nuclear technology and military presence in colonies of the fighting countries. In result of this, it showed other countries what their philosophies were really like. During the war, negative propaganda of the opposing philosophies were shown and it pushed other nations to think through if they want to keep their communism. China and USSR ended up abandoning the practice and kept some form socialism but forgone the extreme philosophy. Documents were written in place to record the advance of communism and the Cold War. A five-year plan arose in USSR by Stalin of how to take on communism (Document 21.1 1070). Some fruits of communism were also written like personal accounts of communism affecting people through industrialization (Document 10.3 1074). Visual pieces were made to express the greatness of communism too. Glorified depictions of emperor Mao of China (Strayer 1084), a regular Chinese worker (Strayer 1083), and many other propaganda art was made to show how communism has brought prosperity and that China needs to keep it. But personal documents were also written to record the fear the Cold War brought to USSR and America. They feared of dying through the other country attacking all the time (Document 10.4 1076). No matter the economic philosophy anyone embraces, I think each should be to their own. Most war starts from one enforcing their beliefs onto someone else. If everyone was happy with their own, maybe conflicts wouldn't arise as much?

European Struggles

Europe was the center of tremendous growth but they were not impervious to hardship. Early 1900s was a hard time for Europe. World War I, Great Depression, World War II and other conflicts within and outside Europe. World War I caused discourse because there Europeans were split on the decision. Not everyone was willing to volunteer themselves or be drafted into a war especially one they may not agree with. The army men were not allowed to return home until four years of service. From this lack of support, Europe authorities learned to use propaganda to lure people into agreeing and supporting war later on in World War I. But for the second World War, propaganda did not as easily win supporters. Before getting World War I, there was the Great Depression. This was a big hit on capitalism. Many were going bankrupt, left homeless, unemployed and struggling to just survive. The Depression spread from America to European countries with a capitalist based economy. This discouraged other countries, Italy, Germany and Japan (Strayer 1006),  from adopting the western way of democracy. Then the second world war emerged. Genocide, gross acts of injustice, radical changes of social and economic infrastructure took place. Asia was the first place where war arose. It started with an dissatisfied super power, Japan but when war rose in Europe, the dissatisfied power was Nazi Germany (Strayer 1006). The famous attempted genocide of the Jews took place in Germany but other events were occurring as well. There were revolutions in the colonies Europe held. Europe had to deal with their own people they conquered rebelling as well as in fighting of Germany. To deal with this many documents and artworks arose to promote the importance of these wars. Hitler wrote an authentic autobiography and his plan to restore Germany after their devastation in World War I (Strayer 1018). Japanese authority wrote principles to keep during World War II regarding rulers, loyalty and fighting  (Strayer 1021). Beside documents, to get points across to support or discourage war, images were produced and spread. Some were in support and used to raise nationalism within the countries (Strayer 1026-1027,1029). They depicted bright colors, empowerment of minorities i.e. African-Americans and women to lure people into agreeing with war. However there were others that were in opposition of war. These depicted blood, gore, sadness, and chaos (Strayer 1030, 1032). Despite the great progress Europe made, this time period was steps of regression with war and Great Depression.

Empires in Collision and Rising

Not many empires last forever. Some fall down in defeat from other countries others implode. Two empires that were strong but fell were the China dynasties and the Ottoman empire. Both empires conquered many countries, were wealthy, revolutionized industry, and transformed those they came in contact with. Despite their accomplishments, these empires could not last. For China what led to their downfall was "the collapse of the imperial system followed by a vast revolutionary upheaval led to communist regime," (Strayer 947). In other words the discourse within the country led to China collapsing. Today they are more unified and a top exporter of goods that other developed countries buy. For the Ottoman Empire their downfall came from World War I. This war also caused divisions within the empire leading to their downgrade to one country, Turkey (Strayer 947). Turkey is a self-sufficient country but no where near as powerful as those before them, the Ottoman Empire. There was not only falling of empires there was creation of new ones. One country that rose above was Japan. They rose because they became modernized and adapted to the changing times. New technology, culture, and economy has evolved because of Japan's growth. With each empire rising one falls. When an empire falls, its people need to figure out how to recover. Those involved in the rebuilding of the country of the empire that fell recorded their experiences and ideologies to make their country better. Falling empires gives an opening for reform. One country that changed from its fall is China. China's citizens responded to the fall by offering solutions for reform. There are documents (Document 19.2) that give new ideas to reform education structure, including the aspect of examination (Strayer 961). Other people don't necessarily give specific areas in need for reform rather they address the overall need that China needs to rebuilt in order to have a better future. One author Sun Yat-Sen in Document 19.4, addresses that revolution overall is necessary for growth especially during a fall (Strayer 964). Empires rise and fall but what matters is how a country responds to the fluctuation in power.

Colonial encounters in Asia and Africa

Europe was the supreme authority of the world. Their colonization had long lasting effects on the regions they conquered: Asia and Africa. Europeans changed the demographic, economy, and political structure of foreign lands through bringing their own ideologies. Some ideologies they brought were: Christianity, western education, slavery, and economical structure. The lands Europe conquered either embraced or heavily rejected them. The latter was expressed through rebellions. Secondary effects from colonization were progression of women's rights, immigration, and new racial identity (Strayer 911).With colonists coming into the foreign land, there was mixing between colonists and locals which created new races of Eurasian or European/African mix. Europe empires had distinct features, such as "centralized tax-collecting bureaucracies, new means of communication and transportation, imposed changes in landholding patterns, integration of colonial economies into a global network of exchange, public health and sanitation measures and the activities of missionaries," (Strayer 891). The primary documents in this chapter are some of the recorded responses to European colonization. Some embraced it in India like Prince Feroze Shah's declaration The Azamgarh Proclamation where he praises British ruling (Strayer 918). Others in India like Mahatma Gandhi eloquently spoke against British rule calling colonization or "civilization" as something that turns Indians away from God and their own traditions, losing themselves (Strayer 920). Colonization has profoundly impacted and changed history with various types of responses both positive and negative.

Primary Sources of Industrialization

Industrialization has certainly changed the modern world. It has given us the middle class, political restructure, technology, and new economic principles: communism and capitalism. People of all ages contributed to Industrialization. This included children. During the Industrial Revolution there were no child labor laws or any labor laws in place to protect the workers. In Elizabeth Bentley's testimony of 1831, she states that she started working at a factory at just 6 years old. I remember being that young. I was in school playing on the playground riding my bike learning my shapes carefree. Imagine at such a young age to be working like a 45 year old adult today. It's amazing how legislature and culture has changed so much since then. Without laws protecting children from working, I think in greed people would subject others below them of the middle class to this treatment. Middle class was not easy to reach. It was quite difficult but soon the dream came, one could start at the bottom and later be on top in upper class. In the document of Only a Weaver, it perfectly describes how endless the struggle towards upper class really was. This weaver worked and worked everyday alongside many others with the same dream. They would get the same small wage with long hours with no end in sight. It was unfair. So to combat this capitliastic ideal, Karl Marx decided to come up with a new idea communism. In The Communist Mainfesto, it describes how the classes actually tore apart the industrialized countries. Communism brought everyone down on an equal playing field. Without industrialization there would be no such thing as communism or capitalism. All the primary documents provide a small window into the life of a regular person in the Industrial Revolution. There are good and bad things that came from the Industrial Revolution. We especially in America like to highlight the positive parts of history and the Industrial Revolution is no exception. Instead of constantly talking about how great it was that capitalism came about, we should start talking about the embarrassing parts like child labor, harsh treatment of workers, and pollution that came. This way we can learn not to make these mistakes again especially in our new technological revolution.

Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution has impacted current technology, politics, economy and societal structure. It was a time of advances and new discoveries. Europe specifically was the first to find coal and the first to figure out uses for it. With coal they learned how to harvest energy for them. This led to the engine being developed. Soon after, they learned how to use oil natural gas and nuclear to get energy. New developments in industry lead to higher levels of efficiency. Having more efficient forms of transportation with the coal engine means one could more ship products in a smaller time frame. Besides energy, there were strides in agriculture. In Britain they were one of the first to do: “crop rotation, selective breeding, lighter plows higher-yielding seeds,” (Strayer 834). Because of this there was a higher output of food therefore keeping food prices low and allowed for less labor-intensive work (Strayer 834). Because of having less of a necessity for manual labor jobs in farming, this freed up people to pursue passion like politics and business. This came to a creation of a caste system based on income. Farmers were considered lower class business owners considered middle class then upper class was the aristocrats. The Industrial Revolution did not just occur in Europe. There were other Industrial Revolutions in the US, Russia, and Latin America. These Industrial Revolutions actually led to political revolutions too. The people who were oppressed were enlightened by the Industrial Revolution and started to question why they were under someone’s rule. The Industrial Revolution gave inspiration for overthrows of government by the people and led to establishments of socialism and democracy. Having the Industrial Revolution is an example of great strides in the human species with learning how to use the environment around them as well as learning more about themselves (Strayer 859).

Echoes of Revolution

The Atlantic Revolutions echoed in other countries. Countries like "Poland, Latin America, Philippines, China, Ottoman Empire and British-governed India," (Strayer 798) were inspired by the Haitian, French and American revolutions to revolt against their rulers. Beyond the revolutions inspiring other revolutions, other effects of Atlantic revolutions were the abolishing slavery, redefining nationalism, and the feminism movement. With these revolutions there were benefits and also negative consequences. The benefits of these revolutions included changing ideas of "oppression, exploitation, and privilege," (Strayer 810). The successful revolutions were able to reestablish these ideals and are still around to the present day. However to those who weren't successful in these revolutions there were some nasty consequences. Revolutions created tension within the country. Citizens fought against one another creating divisions leaving them vulnerable to outside countries overpowering them again. Wtih each revolution, it lead to a change in not only ideals but also the entire structure of the country. New ideas of what "freedom and independence" took on new meaning. Many of these freed countries from the country ruling them had to define what being truly free is. Like Document 16.2 "Rights and National Indpendence" they had to decide what each man's right is. This led to the question of which "man" gets these rights and what defines someone as eligible for freedom like Document 16.3 "Rights and Slavery." Only certain people were considered worthy to be free while others like slaves were not worthy to have these rights. Atlantic Revolutions changed ideals, society structure, and basic principles of freedom but it certainly did not fix everything in terms of equality, stability, and unity.

Matthew Fox Lecture

Matthew Fox is an accredited author and philanthropist. He has gone on numerous mission trips, started various universities, and redefined religion in an educational setting. Straight out of college he wanted to start his own university that focused on teaching spirituality which in his mentality is teaching to do good. He had students who would later become outstanding figures in Notre Dame de Namur like Marlene Denarto and the famous Dorothy Stang. Fox's students were a part of Sister Sacred Heart and Notre Dame which were joined by a shared priest. Sister Dorothy Stang, a foundress of Notre Dame later went on to do amazing things specifically the Amazon. Her goal was to protect the murder or in Fox's words, raping the Earth specifically the Amazon. Dorothy was latered murdered by the same people who murdered the Earth. One man who attended her memorial stated that she was not buried but planted into Mother Earth. Dorothy's courage and love for doing good for all life, human and not human, has engrained core values into the Notre Dame de Namur University which are: "community, diversity, excellence, goodness, integrity, justic, learning, and service," (Notre Dame de Namur University). She and the other foundresses displayed these qualities in their charity and philanthropy. They set an example for Notre Dame de Namur students and hopefully beyond that life is not just about living for oneself, it is about advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

Century of Revolutions

The late 1700s and 1800s were a time of revolutions. Many empires and dynasties collapsed under the people they once controlled rising against them. These revolutions redefined the world. However the revolutions that made the most impact on the world occurred in the Atlantic. They changed the raining countries mainly the reining countries in Europe: Britain France and Spain (Strayer 782). Revolutions challenged old ideals of authority, "liberty, equality, free trade, religious tolerance, republicanism, and human rationality," (Strayer 783). Old ideologies were that kings were by God given their power of authority. Revolutions challenged this. With seemingly weaker people rising up, they challenged kingship by saying there could be a new way to run themselves. They don't have to be from God, rather they could be chosen by the people. The idea of freedom was called into question as well. The countries that Britain France and Spain controlled soon saw that they weren't free at all. They were under another authority. Same goes with the idea of slavery. Those who were in control thought that slaves did not deserve to have liberty or freedom, they were thought as less than. Becdause of this ideology, slavery lasted throughout history. The Atlantic Revolutions mainly strived  for equality by challenging ideals (Strayer 784). The goal of many revolutions whether North American, French, Haitian, Spanish-American, were to be truly free.

Science in the Early Modern Era

Along with the advancement of religion, a new ideology arose, science. Religion was the default answer to life's questions. One big question was, why is there a massive plague (Black Death)? One who was religious in the early modern would say it's because the people have done something to displease God therefore, God is punishing with a plague (Strayer 750). However, there were a subset of people who were not satisfied with such an answer. They went searching elsewhere, into science. Religion could only answer the spiritual questions but for the rational mind, people went to science. Before modern day science came to be, if one was not religious, they would seek answers from philosophers. Philosophers were educated people however they did not have the answers to everything. This is when the Scientific Revolution came. The Scientific Revolution, like Christianity, started in Europe and spread to Asia and the Americas. The big difference between science and religion is scientists drew from other cultures and religions. Religion claims to be the sole answer to everything. The idea of science faced opposition because it was seen as going against God. It jeopardized Catholic religious authority because people began to question their answers, challenged them, and turned to science instead (Strayer 742). Skeptism of religion is what lead to this Scientific Revolution. It conincided with the Enlightenment movement. The Enlightenment is for oneself alone to question and find their own answers to their questions. This movement also gave rise to new thinkers who asked questions. Scientists and thinkers of the Enlightenment were similar in their thirsts for knowledge. However they differed because some Enlightenment thinkers still fell back to religion for answers whereas scientists didn't. Despite the differences, both movements were able to progress in peace. Without the Enlightenment or the Scientific Revolution, we would not have concrete answers to life's questions. For example, without science or the enlightenment, William Harvey would not have learned circulation of blood and heart function therefore we would not have modern medicine to understand abnormalities in the circulatory system (Strayer 743). Many thinkers have come from these movements. Despite the opposition they faced, we now have modern day science and we owe that to the brave individuals who dared to question the norm.

Early Modern Era Religion

The early modern era was a time of religious growth. The big religions at the time that arose were Christianity, Hindu, and Muslim. A reoccurring theme with these religions is fragmentation. With Christianity for example, Christianity took one form, Roman Catholic Christianity, however soon it branched off into another form, Protestantism. There are many differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism but the main one is Catholicism is geared towards regulations, rules, and hierarchy whereas Protestantism is based on religious text and has a more spiritual approach. This split is called the Protestant Reformation. It was founded by Luther who disagreed with the Catholic church authority and decided to create his own religion. Both Catholicism and Protestantism is still practiced in present day. Together they form Christianity. It was spread throughout Europe and Asia during the early modern era. Simultaneously in the Asian world, the religion of Islam was being spread. This religion focuses on adding their practices to current ones (Strayer 735). It makes it easier for one to convert to Islam. However, as time went on it became hierarchal like Catholicism (Strayer 735). There were Islamic authority similar to Catholic priests. Later, people in Asia began to question religion as a valid explanation for everything in life. They were curious about the world around them. This lead to development of Confucianism. It is more fact based and focused on questioning and precision (Strayer 738). It became a Segway into a new ideology, modern science. People during the modern era believed the god(s) controlled everything they can and can't see. Once people questioned, skepticism ensued and people broke off religion. Religion was key in conquests of other countries. It became justification for Europe to conquer other countries. The justification was that people needed to be converted to their religion whether Christianity or Islam .However, established religion was also what gave way to science. If people didn't question religion as the end all answer, there would be no science. Religion has played big roles in history. It is what caused wars, conquests, developments, the good and bad of history. There are disagreements of what is the right religion or even if religion is necessary. Everyone has their own belief and I believe we should keep it that way. Nobody should have the right to force their ideology onto someone but I believe we have the right to have freedom to express our own religion or ideology. Without religion, life today would be drastically different.

The Dark Side of Commerce: Atlantic Slave Trade

Commerce has brought many great products, advances in technology, new wealth, prosperity and more. But it has also brought a dark side of history, slavery. The industry of slavery began through the Atlantic Trade. Europeans came into Africa looking for something to trade, originally they found sugar. It was a brand new sweetner much sweeter than the traditional honey, they had to have it. However, sugar had to be grown. The Europeans did not know anything about sugar therefore they decided to make the natives, the Africans, grow and harvest it. Europeans did not pay them therefore kickstarting the development of slavery, work without any benefit. Slavery grew from there. Colonists in the Americas saw they needed labor for harvesting cotton but did not want to pay anyone. This lead to importing Africans into the Americas for free labor. Slaves were treated horribly. They were beaten, raped, transported in crowded corriders, they were treated so badly, the average slave would last for 7 years before dying under the horrific conditions (Strayer 688). It was not just the colonists of the Americas that enlisted slaves. Many other kingdoms, including kingdoms in Africa, allowed and encouraged slavery of Africans such as the Kingdom of Kongo and Asante (Strayer 705,707). Slavery is a part of the dark history we would all like to forget. But it happened. There is nothing we can do it about. No doubt has it shaped our perceptions of Africans in present day. Racism, prejudices against a race especially those of African descent, exist because of slavery. However, we as the next generation can change that. We don't have to make the same mistakes our founding fathers did. Even if it's the small things like speaking up against a racist joke, we can change the culture of racism. We are all humans with many different backgrounds. All it takes is just to acknowledge our history, learn from it, and change.

Transforming the World Through Commerce

Commerce is what distinguishes the "old world" versus the "new world," (Strayer 670). In the old world, most countries were isolated. One grows up in a certain culture dependent on the country they are born in. Then this culture is passed down to future generations. However, in the new world, countries now started to interact with each other. They started to trade ideas, fur, food, textiles, money, weaponary, people, even other countries. This is known as commerce, otherwise known as large scale trading. The first regions to participate in commerce were Europe and Asia in the Indian Ocean commerce. Asia had many goods that the Europeans wanted, spices, silver, gold, cotton silk, people. Europe however had nothing of interest to the Asians (Strayer 673). This led to the Europeans, specificaly the Portuguese to use force. In essence they cheated the trade system. They used their powerful naval forces and strategic militray manuevers to conquer small Asian states to create posts for trade. They stole and ransaked. This became the norm, Europeans would come into weaker countries and steal their goods. However not only did the Europeans steal goods, they stole people. After, a new commerce emerged, the Atlantic Slave trade, where Europeans would capture people from African societies (Strayer 687). These African people would be transported mainly to the Americas to live their lives as slaves. The Americas were "discovered" by the Europeans then later colonized for American goods. After they colonized, slavery boomed in the Americas. Slavery not only took form in simple manual labor. It now had many forms. One slave could working in a household while another could be a sex slave. There were slaves in farms, businesses, even as high as in military and politics (Strayer 688). Slaves were fundamental in the developing American economy, they were free labor. With free labor, work could be done without losing profit. This was obviously great for the slave owners but horrible for the slaves. Slaves were treated as non-human demeaned to status of animal. Soon the Europeans and Americans realized this harsh treatment of slaves was inhumane and therefore outlawed slavery. However, the ideas of people who were once slaves, African Americans, are present today. Many African Americans are victims of stereotypes, discrimination, and ill treatment because the preconceived notion that African Americans are inhuman is still present today. In America especially, even in present day, there are unarmed African Americans who are shot without any consequence. This is because the Atlantic Slave trade brought not only people but ideas of a whole people. Despite this, there are some positives from this commerce. Africans brought into America brought their culture. They brought their food, language, spices and more. Their culture is alive in America. We would not have that without the Atlantic Slave trade. Commerce has brought great ideas, new cultures but it also had negative consequences like slavery and ill conceived notions of a group of people. One can not grow crops without growing weeds. Same with commerce, one can not only take the good from it, some bad must come of it too. This way we can learn from commerce what we want as a people and what we need to reject.

Modern Era: Empires

History is broken up into different eras: Paleolithic -> Neolithic -> Ancient -> Classical -> Modern. The modern era in my opinion is one of the most complex eras. It stands for evolution. People of this era gave rise to: "the beginnings of genuine globalization, elements of distinctly modern societies, and a growing European presence in world affairs," (Strayer 611). These great milestones were achieved through the rise and strengthening of empires. One empire that arose in the modern era is the Europeans. During the classical era, Europe had a massive societal decline. Europe's society rebounded because they got a revamp in attitude through the Renaissance movement. Europeans focused on the human form, how powerful how graceful how complex humans truly were. They began to believe in their superiority again as not only humans but as a people. Their new found confidence is what led to their rise in power. Europeans began to conquer the Americas. Europeans begun to believe their religion, knowledge, and overall culture was above the Native Americans.  This led to new advances in culture, technology and agriculture. The European empire was not the only empire that grew. Their neighboring continent housed a new empire the Chinese empire. It was ruled by many but the three main ones were: Qing Dynasty, Mughal, and Ottoman. The Chinese people like their European counterparts made some conquests. However, the Chinese empire did not focus on expansion as much as Europe. China specifically focused on defenses by building the Great Wall. They were inward focused making sure the people they were ruling were in line and keeping everything contained. This ultimately led to their downfall. Empires are truly strong if they are willing to adapt. As time passes, things change. If an empire is sedentary in their ways, they will fall. The people the Chinese controlled died out and because they did not evolve with the changing world, they fell behind. They did not have sight of the modern era. They were stuck in old times. The modern era stands for evolution. When one doesn't change one can't grow. That is why the Chinese empire died out before Europe. The Chinese were cowardice, stayed stagnant while the Europeans took risks and made strides to grow.

First Entry

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