thamsworldhistoryblog: week 6

Questions of the week!!

1. What impact did Western education have on colonial societies?

                Western education made a huge impact on colonial societies because it was a gateway to get out of any oppression that was present. Education was obtained through missionaries or by government schools that created new indenties for these colonial societies. To learn how to read and write was seen as having a super power back then. Funny as it is, education still symbolize as a gift from the gods in most counties that don’t have free education like the United States. However during the colonial times, education was seen as a ticket out of forced labor. On a positive note it can be seen as access to “high paying positions at government bureau cries, mission organizations, or at business firms.” Besides receiving a better job it can lead to social mobility, elite status in their community, goal to achieve, and being an equal to the white race. This is pretty much the best it can get for anyone who receives education is trying to get a better life during the colonial times. Those who seek and received education would embrace the European culture by following their fashion, culture, and also speaking English or French.  For instance, my mom was born and raised in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Her was out was influence of the west. Her parents forced her to go to school and to learn English and French. Although, they were not rich my grandparents worked hard enough to place my mom in school. It paid off because when the north was moving into the south, my mom fled the country to America. My mom assimilated to the entire American life here with her English and continued her education. My mom firmly believed that with education she would be seen as an equal and with respect. The west continues to impact the world. I know that in Vietnam my own family is paying for private education to have their kids be able to attend school here in America and hopefully find a job that will provide high income.  Just looking back into the colonial societies, it still shows that education played a high role then as it does now.

2.  How did Britian's middle classes change during the nineteenth century?

                During the nineteenth century, the middle class have evolved into wealthy factory, mine owners, bankers, and merchants. The life of the middle class was benefiting the most during the industrialization. Most middle class would slowly assimilate into the aristocratic life that would buy into “country homes, obtaining seats in parliament, sending their sons to Oxford or some great university, and would accept nobility titles from Queen Victoria.” The kicker from this is how women were being treated as homemakers who would stand behind their men in all actions. By standing by their men, women would have to create an emotional haven for men from the capitalist world. Women played a huge role in playing the center of the family and carrying the respectful job of being the shopper of the family. It’s funny because women still carry the same job and responsibility from the industrialization time. Unfortunately, women are trying to break this mold of this fragile piece of furniture into the bread maker. Women are showing their education and level of skills in the work force. How is it that during the entire time of history women never grew into a dominant figure? Answer because we are not given the chance and opportunity to grow within society. On the other hand, those who were in the labor class did not get any further then working til the death. Manuel laborers suffered the most from working tremendous jobs that were overcrowded, smoky not sanitary, poor water supplies, low wages, child labor, and long hours. The labor class worked long and hard to get very little. There was a complete separation line between the rich and the poor or the middle and labor class. Once again history does not change much . The middle class will make more money and the labor class will continue to work hard and make very little. Sometimes there is always the small percent of those who are able to leave the labor class and make something out of themselves. Soon enough there will be protest that will erupt in the labor class and cause major social changes. Protest will come from change of religion, inequality and rights. Every good thing will come to a end and something new will arrive.

week 5

Questions of the week!!
1.       How did the North American and Siberian fur trades differ from each other? What did they have in common?
Let’s start off with how the North American fur trades became a global trade. North America was now facing the expansion of the European growth.  From the Dutch to the British traders, they were all seeking to find areas that they can start looking for fur and deerskins. Ideally the Europeans were not very much into the commercial trappings or hunting for these commodities. The Europeans learned a technique where they waited for the Indians, the Native Americans, to bring over these items to their “coastal settlements or to a trading post in the interior of North America.”  The European merchants were trading guns, blankets, metal tools, rum, brandy, and any other items they had for the fur and deerskin. The need for deerskin was rising with the need of fur because it was used in the leather industry. The Europeans did see the Native Americans as cheap labor force. Native Americans were not paid in silver, but were paid in material items. However, the Siberian fur trade gave Russia a new outlook in the commerce trading. As North America’s supply of fur was depleting, Russia had abundant animals that had fur. It became their “soft gold” which was highly wanted between merchants.  China and Europe had their hands in Russia with private merchants who were buying the fur with gold and silver. As the Russian expansion grew across the Siberia, the Russians decided to impose taxes on males who were between the ages of eighteen to fifty years old. The tax was payable in furs.  The Siberian fur trade was bringing in revenue for the Russians who were dominating as a Russian Empire. On the other hand, what the North American and Siberian fur trade had in common was the consequences of these fur trades. European merchants and traders brought in disease to these foreign lands which started to kill off small populations. The Europeans brought over small pox and influenza to the Huron in North America.  Both sides had their indigenous people very dependent on foreign goods such as alcohol.  Either way the fur trade business did bring in different cultures and goods to foreign lands, but also brought in diseases that the indigenous people were not immune to.

2. What roles did Europeans and Africans play in the unfolding of the Atlantic slave trade?Europeans and Africans at the time shared one common goal which was to make profits through human exchange or purchasing of slaves. The Europeans did not have to go through warfare to capture Africans and make them slaves to be purchased. African elites, merchants, and political elites were all involved with operating a large Atlantic Slave Trade on the coastal side, West Africa. All the Europeans had to do was wait at the coastal lines on their ships or their settlements for the Africans to come and sell off humans as slaves to them.  African authorities were pretty much dealt as an equal to the Europeans and also had the full control over the slave enterprise.  High ranking Africans would take over small societies that had no protection and used what was capture as items to be sold. Africans played such a huge role on entering the slave trade because they were not afraid to sell their own people for foreign goods such as “tobacco, cowrie shells, beads, and Indian textiles.” The greed made neighboring kin ship societies fight each other for domination and control. While doing so, the Europeans had the upper hand in it all. They did not have to do the hard work, but needed to entice these African elites with goods.  Slowly West Africa was becoming the area of high slave trade. Personally just reading this material makes me think of human trafficking. Even till this day, humans are still being sold as sex slaves around the world. The greed of wealth is always on top of mind regardless of the consequences. The Europeans knew what they were doing with the African Elites with all their goods. There are small fables that are talking about how Europeans were so greedy that they would trick African Elites or Captains to their ships for drinks. Once the Africans were drunk, the Europeans would sink their canoes before robbing them and capturing the slaves. This just portrays on how Europeans have thought about how they will use their power in an alluring way. Plus most Africans who were slaves would rather die then leave their native lands which did happen from jumping off ships.    

Week 4

1. How did the rise of Islam change the lives of women?- Chapter 11

                Reading the question itself makes people mad because women lost their own right as an individual. As Islam grew as a religion so did its practice on how women should be treated in public and at home. Let’s start where the Quran states “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them.” Pretty much says hey since I have the money and if you’re a women I will posses you and I’ll be the authority. It slowly gets worse by how women started to lose their value. The Quran continues with adding on more restricitions on how women were not able to have more than one husband, must pray behind their husbands at mosques then moved to praying at home only, women of the upper class had to use another method to get around as a sign of separation between man and women, women started veiling themselves at home and in public, and it started to become extremely hard for the lower class women who didn’t have the luxury to have a servant to do the chores. These women in particular had to be shameful and leave the house for work or going shopping. It has gotten extreme on how it started at the religion, but it became a way of life for the Middle East to treat women as if they have no rights or soul. Marriage was seen as a contract between man and women, where men had the total upper hand in everything. Men were seen as the authority, divorce is done through men, have a four wife limit, and the Quran seem to put them on an upper pedestal. The one subject that seems to irk people is the “honor killing” where male relatives are given the right to kill women in their family or have a female circumcision done if the women violated a sexual taboo, but its okay for men to have four wives. I get that in the Islam religion that women are seen in a different life more of a sacred one where women should be covered up and seen not as a sexual object. However eliminating rights and making women seem like their seductress is not fair as well. It’s outrageous to me that women in this society are okay with living like this and how their everyday life depends on the authority of a man. It pains me to know that even still today honor killings are happening in the Middle East and there is no protection for women. Perhaps for those who come from wealthy families, but the women who are less fortunate would have to live a life of pain and suffering. In my opinion, the rise of Islam was a huge negative impact to women.

2. How did the Mongol rule China? In what ways were the Mongols changed by China? Chapter 12

                Mongols in the south part of China wanted to be “less violent and more accommodating to the local population." The Mongols secure the landowners with their estate in order to receive their support or to be neutral during the takeover. The idea of accommodating and unifying China, gave the Mongols the right to the Mandate of Heaven even if they were foreign rulers. The Mongols were very accommodating especially where they took in the practice of the “Chinese administrative practices, the taxation techniques, the postal system, and the Mongols gave themselves a Chinese dynasty name, the Yuan, which means great beginnings.”  Although they were accommodating, the Mongols were still hash and treated the Chinese like slaves. In China, Mongols had their own set of rules where there was no intermarriage, Chinese scholars were not allowed to learn the Mongol scripts, they disregarded the Chinese examination practice, used foreigners to serve as official, and the Mongol had laws that just discriminate against the Chinese. Women during the Yuan dynasty also stop the practice of the feet binding and acted more freely with men at official meetings. Women  did not have the standard where they should be reserve and act like a delicate flower in the Confucius practice.  As time continued, the Mongols were very respectful to merchants who did majority of the trades. Reading about how Mongols had an upper hand a certain point makes me happy a bit because they were always seen as a barbaric clan, but the Mongols are interesting on how they did everything in reverse to the Chinese. When the Mongols rule in China it was different because they heavily rely on foreigners to act on as the law officers and seen them in a greater light.  Merchants had a better title and not seen as people at the bottom of the hierarchy list. In reverse, I do believe China did change the Mongols into more educated people in the concept of being a better ruler and creating a dynasty that had meaning of change.