Scientific Revolution

Reading about the scientific revolution allowed me to see why the Catholic Church wanted to shut down the beliefs of the famous philosophers and scientists. While reading about the achievements of philosophers and scientists such as Descartes, Newton, and Galileo, I couldn’t help but think back to the philosophy class I took last semester. I took my first philosophy class my freshmen of college and San Francisco State and I did fairly well in that class. When I was told that I needed to take another philosophy class at Notre Dame, I knew that this class wasn’t going to be easy. Sure enough my professor had my classmates and I doubt everything that I have ever believed. He had us question everything that is happening. This reminded me of how the Catholic Church must have felt.

            The Catholic Church must have known that as soon as the scientific revolution sinks in, they are going to lose control of their people. Their subjects will be taught new things and they will soon doubt God. Just like the people of the Church, as soon as I started learning how to questions the information around me I couldn’t stop. As much as I hated challenging the facts that were given to me, I knew I had to ask questions. I knew that I couldn’t continue to live in a naïve world because that is how you get taken advantage of. The scientific revolution was able to grow because there were people that wanted to learn, as much as people hate change, people would learn to adjust. It doesn’t matter if these scientists and philosophers made any sense to them, as long as the doubt is placed in people’s mind, people will learn to question the world around them.  

Religion in Early Modern Societies

I never paid close attention to how religion has impacted our world. Growing up my parents taught my siblings and I the rituals of Buddhism, but they never really explained what we were doing, so I wouldn’t count myself as Buddhist. Then a friend of my introduced me to Christianity, although I don’t know much about the practices of Christians, I do know a lot more than what my parents taught me. With that said, it was interesting to see how differently Christianity spread from Spanish American and in China. In Spanish America, the citizens didn’t have a choice as to whether or not they were going to convert. The Missionaries took over and forced the Spanish Americans to convert. If I were the Spanish Americans, I would have thrown a fit. It must have been horrifying to see outsiders come into their land and just start knocking over their idols and religious images.

            While the missionaries in Spanish America was busy taking over the citizens of Spanish America, the missionaries in China were trying to become one with the Chinese. Missionaries in China knew they had to play it smart because the Chinese would not just give in to such new teachings. I think it would have been interesting to read more accounts of how the missionaries in China assimilated into Chinese cultures just to spread Christianity.  While reading about how the missionaries tried to assimilate into Chinese culture, I started to wonder how long it took them to learn how to read and write in Chinese. It must not have been easy to leave home and try to be part of a new culture. 

Global Commerce Part 2

Whenever I read about slavery, I can’t help but think about how much these people must have suffered. This leads me to think about how different the world really is. Strayer made some very interesting points in tonight’s reading assignment. The first fact that I found interesting was when he mentioned the only reason why African Americas were the best bet in being slaves was because they were not Christian, and they did not die due to European diseases. When I first read these two points I was appalled. I couldn’t help but think if the slaves were converted to Christianity then millions of lives would have been saved. The Europeans believed that Christianity was a reason for not being put to work and that was why Europeans were never used as slaves. So now I wonder, if some of the slaves were to be converted by their owners would that have made them free? Would that have saved them from such misery?

            The second point that I found interesting was when Strayer brought about the story about how slave traders were victims themselves. It’s had to feel pity for people that are ruining the lives of the slaves. While I was reading the story of the slave traders being tricked into getting drunk and then having them thrown over the ship, I couldn’t help but think that these were the same tactics that the slave traders used to get their slaves. They should have known better than to trust the merchants because all the people involved in the slave trades are selfish people. They are only looking out for their best interests. 

Global Commerce

While reading about the commerce that used to be traded back in the 1450-1750, it made me think about how different the lives of the citizens used to be. When people needed supplies they would have to wait until the boat travels to their destination before they can buy and trade their supplies. In our modern day society, we have trucks that travel through well-paved routes and we have planes that can get our goods to wherever they need to be. I couldn’t image what it would feel like to live in a time where there is bloodshed over natural resources. At one point in the reading it stated that “15000 people were enslaved or left to starve…virtually the entire population was replaced with Dutch” (440). The Dutch killed the people of the Banda Islands because they wanted to take over their Nutmeg trade. It is ridiculous how so many people died due to the greed and needs of others.

            The numbers of death that resulted in other countries taking over smaller islands was horrifying but it does remind me of how we get our goods in America today. In the United States we don’t believe in harsh working conditions and we definitely don’t believe in child labor. But if we think about how we actually get our clothing and electronics we are not better than the other countries. We may not be murdering people to get what we want, but there have been many deaths due to harsh conditions in factories and just the fact that people are being overworked. It’s sad to say that while the world’s commerce has improved immensely, we still lack a proper way to function without human labor. 

Sweet Nexus

As I was reading Source Ten about how Mahommah Gard Bauquaqua was being sold as a slave I couldn’t help but think about how similar it is to human sex trafficking. Bauquaqua described his path so well that I could image girls and boys being sold for sex and slavery. I think the information that had the greatest impact while I was reading the story was the fact that his own friends and villagers betrayed him. It’s hard to comprehend how the people you love and care about can betray you like that. As I was reading these stories I couldn’t help but think about how the authors seem to justify slavery. They don’t seem to think that slavery was morally wrong, The Europeans cared more about whether or not sugar should be taxed then the people that were beaten to death if they didn’t work fast enough. It’s hard to think about how common sugar has such a bad history to it. 

Empires and Encounters:

While reading about how other Empires took over their fellow nations, it was good to read about someone that did some good. Akbar, who was Mughal India’s most famous emperor, was a man that understood change. He tried to incorporate the Hindu lifestyle with that of India and for a while it seems like it was doing good. The Hindus continue to live in India because they were not being chased out and they were not look down upon. For a man of his time, Akbar was a man filled with knowledge. He knew that if he would try and convert the Hindus to the Islamic culture there would be resistance and death. Instead of putting his people’s life in danger he accepted the fact that it would be better for him to incorporate everybody’s lifestyle into one. It makes me think about how lucky I am to be living in the United States. The United States allows people the freedom to practice their religion, but not everybody accepts this freedom. We still hear about people shooting up temples and churches. It’s sad to see that some people are still stuck in a prejudice mindset.