Atlantic Revolutions that layed the building blocks of current modern societies

The Atlantic Revolutions were the building blocks of modern society as we know it today. It was in these revolutions where the ideas of liberty, equality of all (with regards to white males) and religious freedoms began to take shape and stick in society. These ideas were far from the aristocracies of the past in where the upper class of citizenry ruled and were the only group allowed in the shaping of society through the political process. During the North American revolution, the 13 colonies fought back against the British rulers in order to break away and created their own government that was created to give power to the local people and take it away from the British Government. The revolution was about maintaining their independence that they were already accustomed to and make it official that they were an independent nation without British Rule. They were assisted in gaining their independence by the French who helped fight together with the colonists to create the nation that has become the United States of America. Some of the current ideas of freedom were written in the declaration of independence and the constitution of the United States of America. The French revolution followed the American Revolution but was of a different flavor due to the nature of how it came about. Where the colonists fought against a distant power that was a sea away, the French revolution was against the current ruling class that was oppressing the lower classes of people. The lower classes of people rose up in a violent fashion and eventually killed off the ruling monarchy and turned into chaos for a while. This was the direct result of the ideas of freedom of individuals from oppression and the freedom of representation within the government. During this revolution, the equality of gender roles were raised as there were some women that were given political authority which did not happen during the previous North American Revolution. This gender equality idea was eventually to be raised by the feminist movement in which women were to be seen as equals to men. The Haitian revolution was significant as being the first revolution where the oppressed people gained total control after the end of the revolution. It was the only revolt in which the Slave fought and gained their independence along with becoming the ruling party of the area.       

The interesting facts about West African Slavery and its effects on African Societies

While reading about the effects of the slave trade in Africa it was interesting to note the outcome of both the West African civilizations and where the slaves ended up. The impact was different depending on which region of the continent that you looked at. It was also noted in the readings that it was the outcasts from the society that ended up becoming victim to the slave trade. The different societies sold into slavery the people who they saw held no value to their societies. In some instances it is noted that the societies that sold their own into slavery also partakes in the ownership of slaves. They look at those that they keep as slaves as the prisoners of war or sometimes they were criminals so it was deemed ok to have them. It was also very interesting that the majority of slaves that were sold from the West African coast did not make it to Spanish America but were sold to Brazil and the Mediterranean for the sugar crop that needed to be harvested. The business of slave trading was looked at a nothing more than that of any other form of trade in the world. It was deemed as a need that the people who were involved in it saw that they were fulfilling for the rest of the world. During the early years of the trade it was deemed as necessary for them to partake in this in order for them to get what goods they desired from the oversea merchants. They saw it as providing a good for a good that was needed by each party involved in the trade. I was also surprised to read that the word slave is derived from earlier Slavic people who were used as slaves for the Mediterranean plantations. It was after the “Slav” slaves were no longer available when the West African slaves became the main source for the people to the world. Overall I believe that we in the western culture of the United States have a certain bias when we talk about slaves and through the reading of the chapter it helped to give a broader understanding of some of the history of slavery in the more modern world.

Pastoral Peoples

In reading about the pastoral peoples it was very interesting how they adapted to the different regions that enveloped the Mongol Empire. Depending on their need and what was available to them by geographical region, they made different choices that changed the way they interacted with the civilization that they were interacting with.

In some instances they maintained their life on the outskirts of the civilization and only interacted when they went to gather what they required and then returned back to the steppes to live. In other instances, the Mongols actually became acclimated in the new civilization that they were conquering and took on their customs and traditions. And yet in other instances they improved the infrastructure of the civilization in order help gather support of the lands that they invaded.

In each instance though, the Mongols conquered the civilizations in a very violent way which sometimes included wiping out everyone that lived in the area they conquered. They demanded their conquered people to serve as slaves and moved the tradesman that they conquered around as they saw fit in order to do jobs that they saw as necessary. If the people did not submit then the Mongols would completely wipe them out and destroy their homes and villages.

One interesting fact was the way that the Mongols treated their females compared to other civilizations. The Mongols put the females on an equal footing and let them socialize freely. They did not seek to control their females as the conquered civilizations sought to do. The treatment of the females among the Mongols was looked at in disdain by all of the civilizations that they conquered.

In each of the different areas of the empire, it seems that the Mongols were not able to maintain their structure without having a strong leader to keep them aligned. When their strong leaders were gone, each of the tribes fell back into warring with each other which eventually ended their rule of the largest land based empire in the history of the world. 

Late Classical Era - Trade routes that fostered the reach of religion

The third wave of civilizations included the time line between 500 – 1500 C. E. This was a time of great trade that both increased the scope of influence of different thoughts regarding both religion and political structure. There were multiple roads that fostered trade between different civilizations and different regions of the globe. The routes included over land and by sea. The land routes were helped along by the different types of animals that were able to assist with the transport of goods for commerce. The people that traveled the routes engaged in commerce trading their goods for different types of goods that they would bring back to their homeland. Sometimes, the travelers would end up staying in the different lands helping to spread their ideas about their type of religion that they practiced and different types of political ways from the area that they traveled from.

Following the trade routes also lead to different diseases spreading to different geological regions. They were particularly devastating in communities that had not built up immunities to the diseases. Some parts of the world lost up to half of their population in a very short amount of time due to the black plague that was spread from rats that carried the plague.

During this time of history, the spread of Islam became larger as Islam actively encouraged trade. Other religions that spread during this time were Buddhism and Christianity. A lot of the materials that were traded were the luxury items that were for the affluent in the different regions of the globe. This trade also helped transfer different technologies from the area of origin to where the materials were used.

The effect of trade during this period of history was a catalyst to the exchange of ideas and the migration of thought that continued the evolutionary process of different civilizations.