Chapter 20 the collapse a t the center, including world war, depression and the rebalancing of global power. the European civilization was in crises in 1914 they had a lot of global power but there was a lot off conflict in the homeland.  We had world war 1 a European civil war with global implications that was marked by massive casualties, the expansion of offensive military technology beyond tactics and means of defense, and a great deal of disillusionment with the whole idea of "progress". This war ended by the treaty of Versailles placing great penalties on Germany which is sad to have caused WWII.  Many horrific events occurred after this time period and caused a great split among nations. the World endured the great depression wit the collapse of the stock market  in 1929 and economies continued to falter until l the out break of the second world war.

Scientific revolution

I have always been so fascinated with the scientific revolution, perhaps it is my love of experiments or science in general. The scientific revolution questioned everything. They observed, measured, experimented and formulated hypothesis and theories about why things were the way they were . they were set about proving or disproving their hypothesis or the ideas of the ages. During this time the world changed.  Ideas about human society, government, and religion and culture began to be questioned. Many thought that if they had been wrong about the nature of the universe they could be wrong about other things, importantly the rights of man. Ideas found I the scientific revolution and the enlightenment laid foundation for modern worldviews of rationalism and secularism. The thinking around enlightenment led  rulers to advocate natural rights as equality before the law and freedom of religion. Long  terms significance in Europe altered ideas about the place of humankind within  the cosmos and challenged the teachings and authority of the church. Three major developments that came from the scientific revolution were scientific method, democracy and separation of powers.

I really enjoy the visual sources at the end of each chapter. as an artist it is always interesting to see the different tools, sculptures, and ways people of the times recorded and interpreted their lives. in reading about  the Florentine codex of the Aztec culture. It was interesting how they reflect a breath of the culture and not just one perspective.  I also find it interesting hoe the tell stories of conquest and omens of disaster or how the omens became interpreted.

Religion like politic is always a touchy subject, with so many different religious beliefs and practices there is hundreds of interpretations and ideas about what is the right/holy thing. Exploring the similarities  and differences between the big five seminal thinkers was a very interesting activity and read. Each had a set of beliefs and followers. Each  also had or has some sort of written documentation for followers or it was a guide on how to be and what to believe in about them and their teachings. Even being so far form each other they all managed to capture many of the same things in practice, vales, beliefs and in the way people interpreted what they were doing and teaching. I believe the similarities came thought in the way  people became connected, traveling for food, trade, exploration,  and religious travels. They interacted with each other, learned about each other and brought that back to their respected homes and communities sharing with them the outside world for them to adapt or not.

With the advancement of commerce and culture there were many great things that came about and yet there was also certain consequences of this growth. A consequence that I found particularly interesting is strayers example of "Phesant s in the Yangzi River delta of souther China sometinmes gave up the cultivation of food crops, choosing to focus instead on producing silk, paper, porcelain, lacquer-ware, or iron tools, much of which was destined for the markets of the silk roads." (Strayer,321) while these decisions helped the trade routs it tricked down and hurt the farmers and drove the gap between class systems and poverty levels.  It also raises cause for concern because we can lose precious forms of cultivating and agriculture.  Food is essential to survival of any society and not knowing how to do tis or teach our children can drastically alter our state of being and our survival rate.  I believe we are beginning to see this in todays society with obesity on the rise and a lack of knowledge and education of the general public of not only where their food is coming form but how it is grown. event though technology and commerce is important for economic growth, it is also important to remember the commerce and culture of our resources needed for survival.  not just resources for wealth and power.
 It is also very interesting to compare the  transit of silk goods thousands of years ago to now, although  some of the  materials have changed the methods of who the workers  and the poverty gap seems to be alarmingly similar. "Although the silk trade itself was largely in the hands of men, women figured hugely in the process both in terms of supply and demand. for many centuries, Chinese women, mostly in rural areas, were responsible for every step of the ingenious and laborious enterprise of silk production" (Strayer  320)  There are so many similarities when I compare  my current job to this past history. Many workers other contires come form rural parts of the contry to work and  a high percentage of them are women. This really makes me thingk about the evolution and change if thre really is any going on or are we still stuck in old cylcels of how things used to be? How can we change and progress forward and not oppress people? how can we become equal, workin to gether to survive, live on and better our envoirnmet without depleting resources and lives.

The Early classical era is filled with so many amazing stories of growth, war and art. I am always amazed at the early architecture and building  created with such simple tools ad systems. yet with great growth comes more power and destruction. in these developing times the war and divisions that were created due to this expansion were massive but the birth of new languages and culture is seen throughout the world and brought about by this city to empire growth. it is astonishing that the Roman and Chinese empires being so far apart did well at the same time and had similar populations and areas and di not have any direct contact. This seems to prove our similaraties as humans and the  way in which we grow.

First Peoples

I enjoyed last class discussion and activity around the epic of Gilgamesh. it is so interesting the metaphors used and how it can still be compared to todays life situations. I also found our discussion around hunter gathers and migration. it was very helpful to discuss  what is a valid piece of supporting evidence.

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I think I did it.... woo hoo for blogs!