The early modern period encompasses roughly 300 years of history, but within this brief period emerged the modern world as we know today. The foundations for national boundaries, the existence and confirmation of faraway continents, the establishment of colonies all took place in this period, and it was a time when globalization in the modern sense came to appear. This period was the harbinger for the interconnected society which we live in today, and it was made possible by enterprising nations and adventurous individuals who chose to navigate the known world and aggregate the knowledge of the cultures therein. The collection of knowledge was aided by the arrival of new and more accurate maps which lead the way for future generations to …show more content…
Maps have defined boundaries and helped keep peace for centuries, but as the world grew smaller due to the advent of inter-continental trade, they came to embody the globalized culture existent today. A vivid example of a map which depicted this interrelation is Father Matteo Ricci’s world map form 1602, which depicted the world in a very truthful manner. This map is important for many reasons in itself, but it was the first map of the world in Chinese, meant entirely for China’s consumption and as such held China as the center of the map. To the Chinese, Ricci's map had once a geographical value beyond computation , for it was the first time they had the opportunity to envision what the world was like beyond their borders. In contemporary maps, China always appears to the right, always to the east, but in this map of the world, it is depicted in the center, with the Americas in the east. Father Ricci noted the Sino-centric vision of the Chinese and accordingly positioned Asia in the middle of his map so that it would not be rejected by Chinese scholars. As this map was produced for the express purpose of being a western tool molded to eastern fundamentals, in essence to provide the Chinese with the capability to understand where it is that they stand in the world, as they converse with s foreigner from thousands of miles away. Edward Rothstein, of the New York Times, noted that this was the first eastern map to showcase America, pioneering in its presentation of
In the contemporary society, there are an increasing number of people paying great attention to child’s behavior. At the same time, a hot debate has also appeared, revolving around this topic. Some people believe that child’s behavior is a reflection of their home life. However, in the story “Burn Yours Maps”, was written by Robyn Joy Leff, he totally disagrees with this point. In his story, the protagonist, Wes wants to be a Mongolian and imagines his life as a nomad Mongolian. This idea from him doesn’t come from his family, neither from his mother nor father. None is Mongolian in Wes’s family, even his grandpa Firth was telling stories to Wes, but he never referred to Mongolian. It is clearly to see that Wes, himself wants to be a Mongolian without any reflection of his family. Leff uses two points of view and an emotional writing technique to support his arguments. The most important point is that the conflict between three main characters through the whole story. Wes’s father, Connor wants to prevent him to be a Mongolian and his mother, Allies kind of understands her son and tying to persuade Conner and protect Wes in her own way at the same time. Leff also uses conversation between Conner and Allies to express that Wes’s behavior is not reflection form them. In the end, Leff uses his unique emotion writhing technique to show that even Wes’s parents are not support him to be a Mongolian, he still insists his own idea to be what kind of person that he wants
The Origins of the Modern World by Robert B. Marks is a book about the historical changes that have happened in the period of 1400-1850. He shows that how Asia is the center prior of the 1800s not the standard Eurocentric and it 's a polycentric world in term of the world trade. In the Origins, he focuses on the economic history where geographical on China, India, and England. In the beginning of the book he starts with a summary of "Rise of the West" where he say " the west as dynamic, forward looking, progressive, and free, and Asia as stagnating, backward, and despotic. After that he started building up or narrating the historical events in five-chapters based on an his vision of the world history, and he does it in a way that makes the reader agree with him to get the main key of the historical concept such as conjuncture. Also he takes about the most advanced societies across the Eurasian (China and England) and the two economic structures ( biological old regime and trading networks). He also takes the importance of the Indian ocean and he sees it as the "most important crossroads for global exchanges of goods, ideas, and culture" when Europe was " a peripheral, marginal player trying desperately to gain access to the sources of wealth generated in Asia. He brings a very good evidence that pictures the traditional China 's technological and Naval superiority, of the "well-developed market system" in Asia. Also he showed he superior quality of the Indian cottons and the
In 1493, Columbus wrote a letter on his voyage back to Europe, describing the newfound continent as “many islands inhabited by men without number”. The letter was published throughout Europe, thus spreading the discovery of America quickly. According to the map in document D, the letter originated in Lisbon on March 14, 1493. Within the year, it traveled to eight major cities across Western Europe, published in over five different languages. Without the printing press, the news would have taken years to circulate Europe, as information often did before the invention. Due to the rapid communication of the news, the Waldseemuller’s world map from 1507 included America and other major geographical discoveries. It was “the first known map to record the existence of the American continent”. The Waldseemuller illustrates a diffusion of information because the publication of Columbus’s letter allowed the cartographers to incorporate America on their maps. Thus, the printing press had a major effect on discoveries in the 15th century. The discovery’s publication on the map inspired other aspiring explorers. Ultimately, exploration clearly represents Renaissance worldviews, as Columbus’s discovery is a prime example of its relevance during the era. These major discoveries symbolize the passion for exploration and curiosity many Europeans
The author, Robert B. Marks introduces the book, The Origins of the Modern World by introducing the reader to a global narrative of the origins of the modern world starting from 1400 to the present. The book presents the rise of the west as an issue of globalization of Asia, Africa, and the New World. Throughout the book, we see the connection made by the author between the environmental condition and the present economic status of a particular place. By the end of the book, readers are able to understand and reason out what created and solidified a gap between the east and the west, industrialized and non-industrialized and parts of the world that today are defined as the modern world.
The Five Themes of Geography are: Location – Absolute points on a map or grid or Relative to where something may be; Place – The physical and/or human characteristics of a locations; Human/Environment Interactions – How humans have impacted the landscape or environment; Relationship between places Movement – How humans interact on the earth (i.e. how they communicate over distance (short or long)) and Regions – a unit of space that has commonalities defined by physical, human and environmental geography. The Explorers of the New World may have not known what the Five Themes of Geography were but they quickly learned. Of the five themes the ones that they all took advantage of was the physical Location and Place as they learned to navigate
During the period of 1492 to 1750, Europe experienced drastic changes during their Age of Discovery. As a result of contact and colonization, Western Europe’s economy, political, social, and military systems changed, but also maintained certain aspects that enabled them to build strong civilizations. Such changes include increased (international) trade routes, more centralized governments such as monarchies, decreased unifying influence of the Catholic Church, and increased interest in military conquest and expansion.
Immediately after the Classical Era of World History, the period that came along was the Postclassical Period. This period, within the year 500 CE and 1450 CE, was built up by “third-wave civilizations”. In other words, it was built up by large empires characterized by constant patterns of change, trade, and considerable changes in technologies. In 1492 CE these civilizations got global, meaning that the interactions among these different societies stopped being regional. Two empires who were very important during the Postclassical Period were the Byzantine Empire and China. Geographically these civilizations were far apart, but as they developed, they became two of the most influential empires of the time. Also, as they developed they
Changes are an important part of history, and a natural part of life. In the case of geography throughout history, the world has made many changes to its borders and who has grievances with one another. From the High Middle Ages of olden Europe, to the twentieth century, change has occurred. These changes have unified and broken ties between countries and regions time and time again throughout history. There are many forces that push toward and against unity throughout time. The world map became what is today because of both unity and division marking change in the past.
Between the years 1492 through 1750 a new world was discovered that was before unknown to the eastern hemisphere. New contacts were formed in the Atlantic world due to the discovery and colonization of the Americas and later African slave trade, which were both very major events of this time. These interactions mainly affected Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas, whose economies were broadened and social structures further developed and altered as a result.
I decided to sketch a map of Langley High School, which is the high school I attended from 2011-2015 in McLean, Virginia. While I have lived on the Colgate campus for almost two years, I find that I am not as familiar with Colgate’s campus due to its large scale compared to my high school campus. I attended Langley for four years, and I often spent a majority of my days at school, both during school hours and after for sport’s practices and games. As a result, I became very familiar with the layout of the campus, the function of different areas, and the overall dynamic of the school, both socially and culturally. Now that I am a Langley alumni, I went back to visit during Thanksgiving break 2015 and 2016, and was able to observe the school from an outside perspective. Through my observations, I became aware of different aspects of Langley that I had not noticed as a student. For example, the different in the tense and stressful dynamic of the second floor, and the more relaxed feeling of the bottom floor was something I did not notice until I walked through the halls after graduating. Additionally, the clear hierarchy and social divisions that exist as a result of grade differences was more prominent as a non-student. In my sketch of Langley, I represented more socially important spaces by drawing them to a larger scale, and less important spaces to a smaller scale. I also indicated the changing role of a space throughout the school day by using different
4.1 The degree of global interconnection greatly increased after 1500 CE at which point it started to include the Americas, and parts of the world it had not before. BEfore this time period the globe was only connected in the eastern hemisphere and places were not as open and involved with one another everywhere. After this time period trade of materials, people, and crops became more prominent and new things were introduced to new areas, this was mainly due to the introduction of water based trade and the introduction of the Americas to the rest of the globalized world.
The 15th century marks the start of a revolutionary time for Europe. As the European nations began to try to stabilize themselves by building up their economies, governments, and societies a phase of new religions and the conflict that would come from them would occur, thereby altering Europe and the lives of all its people. But, the period of greatest success, wealth, and expansion of knowledge, truly stems from the Age of Exploration. Which reached its pinnacle in 1492. The year 1492 best represents the greatest turning point in European History from the 15th - 17th centuries because, the revolutionary expansion into the rest of the world and the vast change brought about from New World discoveries implemented into Old World lifestyles,
One of the consistent themes of history has been the increasing connectedness of humankind. From the first river-valley civilizations to today’s intertwined world, one of the hallmarks of the past — and one that continues to this day — has been increased globalization. While the 20th century represented one of the greatest advancements in human interaction, it was not a wholly new event. Examples of globalization can be seen throughout history, like in the movement of pastoralists, Indian Ocean trade, and the Columbian Exchange.
Human activity is influenced by two opposite forces, globalization and local diversity. Globalization is the trend of increasing interaction between different societies. Local diversity is the trend of a society focusing on local development and growth. Maps are used to display real world places, human interactions and physical data on a two-dimensional surface
4.1 Describe the degree of global ‘interconnection’ after 1500 CE compared to before 1500. What were the overall effects of this change in global interconnectedness?