Reflective Essay For The Honors World History Midterm

1. What fundamental factors drew the Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and colonization of the New World? What was the impact on the Indians, Europeans, and Africans when each of their previously separate worlds “collided” with one another? What caused the shift from indentured servant to African slaves as the dominant labor force in the southern colonies?

6. What specific actions did Hammurabi take in his attempt to provide for the good order of society and the basic welfare of his subjects?

World History in Context, written by David Christian (2003), questions the context of world history as well as the complexity of human history and the societies with which they live. In Christian’s article he argues that looking at world history in its global context, rather than one specific moment in history, is the way it is intended to be interpreted and allows historians to recognize reoccurring patterns and themes. World history is meant to be an unbiased account of only one specific species, humans (Christian 2003, 437-438). Historians often struggle with this challenging topic and tend to produce works extremely biased, usually towards stable ‘western civilizations’ and

When it comes to modernization, the paths taken by Japan and China were strikingly similar. Well, I say paths taken, however I would argue that it was more along the lines of them being forced upon paths out of necessity in order to survive in a world in which the Western powers of Europe and the United States were increasingly encroaching and interfering in East Asia. The paths I will be looking at for these two nations will both begin with the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan and the Kangxi emperor in China, and several aspects of how these nations and forms of governance operated, as well as large changes in governance. I will look at how these two nations and the West interacted, and how their interactions began to change as time went on. From

1. Humans first appeared on Earth during the Paleolithic Era. The evidence of burial grounds, stone tools, and other items shows a general migration path of humans out of Africa, and support the theory that these groups were nomadic hunters and foragers. Early humans were mobile and could adapt to different geographical settings from savannah to Ice Age tundra. Anthropologists infer that these bands were relatively egalitarian.

The significance of the republic policies were great, they brought a lot of growth in the 20’s allowing the market to strive over lots of trading and the purchase of shares, but was also an unstable market, as the government had no control over what it did and was left up to the

1. The Columbian Exchange was when diseases, crops, cattle, and other aspects of life were transferred between the existing civilizations of the Western and Eastern hemispheres. This also brought new diseases to each location, killing natives as they were not immune to such illnesses due to lack of exposure. Population increased as new crops and animals increased the global food supply. Mercantilism resulted in increased colonialism due to the economic success of the Columbian Exchange.

During the Post-Classical Era, the sacking of Baghdad in 1258 by the Mongols and the fall of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks greatly impacted and shaped the economy and political moves of Europeans, the Mongols provided important trade connections between Europe and Asia where, not only the trade of goods flourished but, also knowledge and technology, however as Mongol power declined and the Turks, who the Europeans saw as a threat, finally conquered the weakened Constantinople, they also cut off Europe’s overland trade route to Asia and the Middle East, prompting the expansion of Europe’s maritime trade routes and encouraging exploration.

6. Nationalism can be both a unifying and disunifying force in many different ways. One way nationalism was a unifying force was that it brought people together who were not loyal to the king and did not want him to rule. Many of these people we known as liberals and radicals. Since they were not loyal to their kings they were instead loyal to their people or to those that they shared a common bond with. Nationalism was also able to unify masses of people. Specifically nationalism was able to unify the country of Italy when nationalist in Italy had looked for leadership form from the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Italian states, Piedmont-Sardinia. Another country that was also unified by nationalism in the mid-1800's was the country

Q6. During the time, many Latin American countries were slowly trying to find their way to a democracy. A democracy is a government by the people. A democratic way of life includes practice such as free elections, citizen participation, majority rule, minority rights, and a constitutional government. Many nations would begin to follow the democratic practices as well as beginning to accept their own democratic forms of government; however, to achieve a democratic government it would take years. The struggle for democracy in other nations would occur well beyond the 21st century. DUring this time, countless nations were breaking free from authoritarian rule and turning to democracies instead. More specifically, it would spread widely throughout

Throughout the 19th and 20th century, imperialism was a common force used by Europeans against ethnic countries. They used a superior demeanor implemented by social darwinism to convince natives that their way of life and international affairs were uncivilized in order to gain control of their land for selfish economic interests. Although the Europeans promised a progressive society by establishing colonies, they also forced civilization, stole resources, and stripped away culture.

Religion and economics influenced the development of medieval Europe and Japan through Religious pastors, trade routs that went different places, pastors that went on trade expeditions, and leaders that put their own spin on society.

2. In groups, students will design and create a poster containing facts about the Trail of tears

The two historical documents, Narrative of Lavinia Bell written by an anonymous author in the Montreal Gazette and the Letter to an English Abolitionist by James Henry Hammond, shared their strong opinions on the important issue of slavery. These documents were written in the 1800’s during an era of progressive changes. One can identify similarities and many differences in their opinions, motives, and goals for their writings. I believe Bell’s account was written to show the perspective of slaves’ brutal view, compared to Hammond’s letter justifying slavery and the rights of the slaveholders.

During the first four weeks of class, we have learned about a copious amount of material both in and out of the classroom. We discussed the topic of history as a whole, as well as the syllabus and expectations in the introductory class. In subsequent classes, we discussed topics including Christopher Columbus’s role as either an explorer or an exploiter, the significance of the slave and spice trade, and the reformation in Europe. Outside of class, we have read an abundant amount of information out the assigned book “World History Volume Two the Easy Way”. We have covered topics that span from the reformation in Europe all the way to the Spanish conquest in South America and the foundation of the thirteen colonies. We also have examined an article written by Mark Twain that ties in with the slavery segment which we covered in class.