Blog #4

The Native American peoples who hunted, trapped, process, and transported fur products had various benefits at the beginning. For example, the Hurons exchanged approximately 20,000 to 30,000 pelts mostly beaver, to receive copper pots, metal axes, knives, cloth, firearms, and alcohol. Because these items were valuable, it strengthened the Hurons relationship with neighboring peoples. These goods also enhanced the Huron chiefs by providing them with gifts to distribute among their followers. The fur trade protected the Native Americans from the extermination, enslavement, and displacement.

Although they were only protected for a certain amount of time, they were not protected from the diseases that the Europeans carried. About half of the Hurons perished influenza, smallpox, and other European-borne diseases. Furthermore, the fur trade generated warfare.

Even thought the Native Americans became enmeshed in commercial relationships with the Europeans, they ended up being dependent on European trade goods. Tools such as iron tools and cooking pots replaced those of stone, wood, or bone and gunpowder weapons took place of bows and arrows. European textiles proved more attractive than traditional beaver and deerskin clothing and flint and steel became more effective for starting fires than wooden drills. In the end, traditional crafts were lost because the native peoples were not able to gain corresponding ability to manufacture the new items themselves.

Blog #3

The slave trade was the only component of international network that shaped human interactions during 1450 and 1750. The Europeans made their way into an ancient spice trade of the Indian Ocean, developing new relationships with Asian societies. Silver enriched Western Europe and made its way to China where it allowed Europeans to participate in the rich commerce of East Asia. Hunting and trapping fur-bearing animals transformed natural environments and human societies. The twin creators of a global network gave rise to new relationships, disrupted old patterns, brought distant people into contact with one another, and enslaved others.
Europeans encountered an ancient and rich network of commerce that stretched from East Africa to China. They were aware of the wealth that was commercially networked. The motivation for this massive effort was the desire tropical spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and pepper which were widely used as condiments and preservatives. Underlying this growing interest in Asia was the more general recovery of European civilization. European's population was growing again and it national monarchies were learning how to tax their subjects more effectively and to build substantial military forces equipped with gunpowder weapons. Eastern goods had trickled into the Mediterranean through the Middle East from the Indian Ocean commercial network. The source of supply for these desired goods were in the hands of the Muslim. Muslim Egypt was the primary point of transfer into the Mediterranean basin and its European customers. The Italian commercial monopolized the European trade in Eastern goods. A further problem for Europeans lay in paying for Eastern goods. Because of an economical less developed Europe was attractive in Eastern markets, Europeans were required to pay cash, gold or silver, for Asian spices or textiles. The Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, and British collectively contributed much to the new regime of globalized trade.

Blog #2

A small Russian sate conquered a number of neighboring Russian-speaking cities and incorporated them into its expanding territory. Over the next three centuries, this small Russian state extended Russian domination over the vast tundra, forests, and grasslands of northern Asia and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Because of the Russian expansion, it brought numerous Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians, and Baltic peoples into the Russian Empire. Russian attention was drawn to the grasslands south and east of the Russian heartland, an area long inhabited by various nomadic pastoral people, and people who were organized into feuding tribes and clans to the recent disappearance of the Mongol Empire. The Russian Empire took shape in three centuries. A line of wooden forts offered protection to frontier towns and trading centers as well as to mounting numbers of Russian farmers. Political leaders and educated Russian frontiers defined the empire in grander terms by defending the Russian frontiers, enhancing the power of the Russian state, and bringing Christianity.
The Russian military brought both the steppes and Siberia under Russian control. Russian authorities demanded an oath by which native peoples swore the monarch of the Russian Empire. They also demanded a tribute paid in cash or in kind. This meant enormous quantities of furs that are extremely valuable. The most transforming feature of the Russian Empire was the Russian settlers because their numbers over-whelmed native peoples giving their lands a distinctive Russian character. The loss of hunting grounds and pasturelands to Russian agricultural settlers and local people became dependent on Russian market for grain, sugar, tea, tobacco, and alcohol. Required fees and permission to cross agricultural lands occurred if pressures encouraged pastoralists to abandon their nomadic ways.
With a multiethnic empire, Russians diminished as a proportion of the overall population and remained politically dominant. Non-Russians such as Ukrainians and Belorussians were predominated and vast territories of Siberia and the steppes had small populations. Because Russia was one of the great powers of Europe, it was the wealth of the empire, rich agricultural lands, valuable furs, and mineral deposits that made Russia dominant. The Russians created an empire similar to the Western Europe in terms of conquest, settlement, explotation, religious conversion and feelings of superiority.
The Chinese pushed deep into central Eurasia and the Turko-Mongol invaders from Central Asia created the Mughal Empre bringing Hindi South Asia within a single Muslim ruled political system. The Ottoman Empire brought Muslim rule to a large Christian population in southeastern Europe and Turkish rule to largely Arab populations in North Africa and the Middle East. Therefore, the expanding of Asian empires reflected the energies and vitality of their respective civilizations and gave rise to profoundly important cross- cultural encounters.

January 20, 2015 Blog #1

Intro to part four:

An Early Modern Era?
In the "early modern era" the most obvious expression of globalization was in the oceanic journeys of European explorers and the European conquest and colonial settlement of the Americas. The Atlantic slave trade linked Africa to the Western Hemisphere, while the global silver trade allowed the Europeans to use the New World's metals to purchase their way into the ancient Asian trade routes (Strayer 611). This exposed the diseases, people, animals, and plants causing it to be known as the Columbian exchange. This created a network of interaction across the Pacific and Atlantic ocean with global implications. Christianity was then carried by the missionaries all throughout Europe making it become the world religion (Strayer 611).

In later generations the thought of "modernity" appeared in multiple places around the world. The most obvious modern sign was the cultural development that took place in Europe where the Scientific Revolution transformed. Europe was not the only one that experienced modern growth, China, Japan, and India experienced it as well.They experienced the population growth when Eurasia recovered from the Black Death and Mongol wars and as the American food provided nutrition (Strayer 611-12).

A Late Agrarian Era?
Many Europeans ruled the Americas and took control of the sea routes. The Europeans were soon to be taking over the planet. Human economies was powered by animal and human muscles, wind, and water. None of this new technology like factory based production or steam power were displaced for them(Strayer 612-13). No matter where they were leadership was provided and so was privileges. There was no parties that controlled the govern, there were Kings and nobles that did that. Now, some people want to live like it was in the earlier ways such as following traditional principles rather than having to deal with what is new.

Chapter 13: Political Transformations
 Europeans hold a significant geographical advantage over the rest of the world particularly Asia due to its location. It is closer to the Americas as suppose to the potential Asian competitors furthermore the fixed winds of the Atlantic blew steadily in the same direction. Therefore allowing mastering of navigation and air currents to the American continents. Furthermore due to the flourishing markets of the Indian ocean and its rich natural resources there was no incentive for Asians and Middle-Eastern peoples to venture across their borders.
Due to European superiority having conquered Africa and some parts of Asia the colonists were exposed and have developed immunity towards foreign diseases. Upon to their arrival Americas, the Native Americans were long isolated from the Afro-Eurasian and Asiatic endemics causing a great population decline as they were incapable of combating disease (90% of the population was lost), thus giving the Europeans a great advantage in conquering the American peoples.
Hence, due to the severe loss of Native Americans, there was an acute labor shortage. However, this allowed for the importation of slaves from Africa, and the colonists to flow into the American continents. Along with the influx of inhabitants, trade was administered between all colonies, bringing in a variety of plants, livestock and peoples; transforming the landscape to adhere the European way of life.

Hooray! I completed my first post.