Class notes

Class Notes 

• Russia was primarily focused on expanding to Siberia because of the large amount of land to be used. Wealthier class people from Russia worked with the Natives to acquire the fur coats for warmth. 
• Portugal men came from bearing sugar, making Native men work. African slaves were later imported. Primarily males
• You had a life expectancy of 7 years working on plantations. 
• Spain used Naive men to mine silver. 
• very little mixing of racial groups in North America
• 1348= Black Death/Plague
• 1400=Renaissance/ re-birth of the classical greek humanism. a refocus on the worldly experience of being human. Before the renaissance there was more of a spiritual experience (more godly). Afterwards, there was a shift of focus more towards art and commerce. 
• Europeans were looking for new markets but instead they found a new continent. 
• 1492=Columbus sails the ocean blue

What were the three models of economic development Europe used?

Developing Markets
3 models

1. Portugal: trading post empire 
1. protection
2. piracy
2. Spain in the Philippines: take land outright (why Philippines?)
1. proximity
2. goods- spices
3. silver
3. The Company Model
1. Great Britain
2. private companies sent to gain interest in different areas.
3. If the company fails no skin of the nose of the government, if it succeeds great. 

Chapter 14

Economic Transformation

• The first part of chapter 14 already has me emotional. Speaking of slavery and poor treatment. 
• Slavery was not the only way humans interacted in the early modern era, due to new trading different countries and parts of the world such as Europeans and Asians made connections/relationships due to the trading of spices.
• Silver created connections between China, Western Europe, and Spanish America.
• It is interesting to see negative and positive relationships develop between countries such as Spain and the Philippines once the Spanish realized that they were behind in the "race" for gaining riches in the East.

Part 2:

• Our lives compared from those of the past are very different yer very similar. We are human beings and will always behave as so, but we continue to advance our world every single day.
• the global circulation of goods; an international currency; production for a world mar- ket; the growing economic role of the West on the global stage; private enterprise, such as the British and Dutch East India companies, operating on a world scale; national governments eager to support their merchants in a highly competitive environment all connect the 21st century to the early modern era making them similar. differences included scale and speed.
  
• slavery lost its legitimacy during the 19th century. 
• early modern globalization was powered by humans and animals rather than machines and technology. 

Chapter 13

Political Transformations
*Why was it so easy for Europeans to conquer the Americas?

• "imperialist" becomes insult, no longer a term that goes hand in hand with pride. 
• Three centuries of early modern era
• By mid 18th century Europeans branched their empires throughout most of the Americas.
• Once the Americas were discovered, people of all sorts were determined to get their for many different reasons. (wealth, freedom, curiosity, land, etc)
• Europeans were advanced their technology through ship designing, sailing, and navigating the sea. They had an advantage moving across the Atlantic with ease. They were able to transport people and goods efficiently across great distances.
• When the Europeans arrived in the Americas the germs and diseases they carried devastated Native Americans and their societies soon leading to the European population outgrowing the natives.  90% of the populations was wiped out. (diseases were often started from animals spreading to humans)
• The Little Ice Age occurred during the modern era, where temperatures reached low stages. This affected overall life on earth.
• The great dying and the Little Ice Age created a labor shortage leading to the Columbian Exchange. The network of communication, migration, trade, disease, and transferring of plants and animals was all generated by the Europeans. This connected four continents.
• The Spanish conquest of the Aztec/Inca empires allowed Spain access to wealthy, urbanized regions in the Western Hemisphere. 

~Reading of the Great Dying was hard for me. Although the spread of the diseases wasn't an intentional or malicious act by the Europeans it was awful and I felt bad for the Natives.
~I believe that it was easy for the Europeans to conquer the Americas because there was nobody else to really challenge them for it. China was worried about themselves, as well as Russia trying to expand into Siberia.
~Cultural Exchange!! 

~Old ways of doing things were brought to America by old societies/cultures where people from very different parts of the world joined to make new ways of doing things. The modern age grew from several different sources. There is a lot more to it than what we were taught in our high school history class. While some empires stuck to their old ways of business I think Europeans really led the way and sparked the flame to begin a new way of life, the early modern era.

EDIT: Notes after this point were taken in class

• Russia was primarily focused on expanding to Siberia because of the large amount of land to be used. Wealthier class people from Russia worked with the Natives to acquire the fur coats for warmth. 
• Portugal men came from bearing sugar, making Native men work. African slaves were later imported. Primarily males
• You had a life expectancy of 7 years working on plantations. 
• Spain used Naive men to mine silver. 
• very little mixing of racial groups in North America
• 1348= Black Death/Plague
• 1400=Renaissance/ re-birth of the classical greek humanism. a refocus on the worldly experience of being human. Before the renaissance there was more of a spiritual experience (more godly). Afterwards, there was a shift of focus more towards art and commerce. 
• Europeans were looking for new markets but instead they found a new continent. 
• 1492=Columbus sails the ocean blue

What were the three models of economic development Europe used?

Developing Markets
3 models

1. Portugal: trading post empire 
1. protection
2. piracy
2. Spain in the Philippines: take land outright (why Philippines?)
1. proximity
2. goods- spices
3. silver
3. The Company Model
1. Great Britain
2. private companies sent to gain interest in different areas.
3. If the company fails no skin of the nose of the government, if it succeeds great. 

Intro to chapter 4

Early Modern Era

• Columbian exchange: created new networks across the Atlantic and pacific oceans. Religion spread, new ideas and technology spread. Cultural Exchange.
• Scientific revolution took place in Europe and was considered one of the most early signs of "modernity"
• The modern population grew and developed as a result of the recovery from the Black death. Foods from the americas provided nutrition to support a large number of people. 
• Population doubled in the world between 1400 and 1800.
• Cities began to urbanize and commercialized economies centered in large cities. 
• Many economies/cities found themselves producing not for their local economies but for those far out. (cultural exchange)
• "gunpowder revolution"
• Europeans had control of the Americas as well as the sea routes, they did not have total control. Their military and political power was limited in Asia and Africa. China and Japan controlled the European missionaries and merchants. Islam spread rapidly rather than Christianity (Europeans religion)
• Europe was not the powerhouse of the world nor did it have much potential to become one. 
• Gender equality wasn't in the picture. 
• Societies still operated in old traditional ways. 
• Male landowners still remained at the top of the social hierarchy. 
• 1450-1750 can be looked at as a late agrarian era and an early modern age.
• Some people were hesitant to adopt the new ways and urged societies to build off of old traditions and ways of living
• Europeans did not always lead the way to the modern ideas. 

First Post

All done :)