Chapter 12

       In Chapter 12, The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century, the most interesting part, in my opinion, was the section on the Iroquois people. Like the Mongols, the Iroquois people were a more progressive people that aren't given the credit that they deserve. "The Iroquois League gave expression to values of limited government, social equality, and personal freedom, concepts that some European colonists found highly attractive" (565). The Iroquois people were an extremely interesting group of people because the equality and respect that they believed in extended to their women, unlike many societies both then and today. The book says, "Such equality extended to gender relationships, for among the Iroquois, descent was matrilineal (reckoned through the woman's line), married couples lived with the wife's family, and women controlled agriculture and property. While men were hunters, warriors, and the primary political officeholders, women selected and could dispose the leaders" (565). It is interesting to see how much this society differs so largely from our own just because instead of marginalizing and oppressing women, they chose to value them and integrate them as important members of society.

Chapter 9

      In Chapter nine, The Worlds of Islam, the book covers the birth of a new religion, Islam. "Islam took hold in the cities and deserts of the Arabian Peninsula" (412). The Arabian Peninsula had been occupied for a long time by a group known as the Bedouins, a nomadic group of Arab people. The Bedouins recognized a variety of gods, ancestors, and nature spirits and held above everything bravery, loyalty, and hospitality. The location of Arabia also held a significant importance. Arabia was located next to the trade routes that connected the Arabian Peninsula to the rest of the Eurasian Continent via the sea routes by way of the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The connection to the trade routes "gave rise to cosmopolitan commercial cities, whose values and practices were often in conflict with those of traditional Arab tribes" (413). The long distance trading connected them to the rest of the world. Some of the Arab people were starting to explore the possibility that Allah/Yahweh was the only God and that the other lesser gods were more of idols instead of actual gods. Some people believe that this sudden interest in monotheism was a hint that the Arabs were moving toward other religions, such as Judaism or Christianity.

Chapter 10

     In Chapter 10, The Worlds of Christendom: Contraction, Expansion, and Division, I think that one of the most interesting sections was on African Christianity. The churches of Africa, like many in the Middle East, found themselves "on the defensive and declining in the face of an expanding Islam" (467). Christianity was, however, thriving quite nicely in Egypt, and had become the most common religion by the time of the Muslim conquest around 640. Many people found that the Arab governments were less oppressive than their former Byzantine 'overlords.' In Africa, there was no separation of church and state and many kings served as priests and Christian bishops held state offices. The Nubian armies defeated Arab attacks multiple times before entering into an agreement with Muslim Egypt in order to protect the outpost of Christianity.

Chapter 7

     Chapter seven, Commerce and Culture, focuses on the three main trading routes on the Eurasian landmass; the Silk Roads, the Sea Roads, and the Sand Roads. The Silk Roads were primarily relay trade routes on which people carried hides, furs, livestock, wool,  amber, and primarily silk for trading. Most of the goods on the Silk Roads were high-end products intended for the wealthy. Because of the Silk Roads, the production of silk spread beyond China as the demand grew astronomically. The Silk roads held a magnificent significance to the Eurasian continent, not just because it promoted trade throughout the different countries, but also because it facilitated the spread of both Buddhism and disease through the continent. The Silk Roads promoted the spread of culture and contact all across Eurasia.

Chapter Six

In this chapter, the book focuses on Africa and America. I found the sections on Africa more interesting than the American ones. I thought that it was interesting because there was more cultural background in the sections on Africa, focusing on the Bantu people. The section on the culture of the Bantu people focuses on the rain forest of Central Africa, in Batwa. I thought this was interesting because I have always found the rain forest to be captivating; learning about the dynamic and the dichotomy of the different people and animals that live there has always been intriguing to me.

I thought that chapter three was interesting, because while it was about a variety of different Empires and Civilizations in Eurasia, I have always enjoyed reading about the Greek and Roman Empires. I do not know why, but Greek and Roman art, history, mythology, and architecture have always interested me more so than any other ancient civilization. Greece was made of city states and, like the Persians, "The Greeks were an Indo-European people whose early history drew on the legacy of the First Civilizations" (122). This is extremely significant because in a short 400 year period, "the civilization of Sparta, of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeus and Apollo took shape and collided with its giant neighbor to the east" (122). I think that Greece is extremely interesting due to it's rich and interesting history.

In the documents of chapter two, the question that I chose to respond to was, "How Does the Epic of Gilgamesh portray the gods and their relationship to humankind?" (93). In short, the gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh are portrayed as spiteful and very unsympathetic of the human race, much like the Roman gods and goddesses. The excerpt clearly states that, "The gods agreed to exterminate mankind" (95). In their attempt to destroy the humans, the gods made their own lives miserable and they created circumstances that were negative, even for themselves. From this excerpt I can very easily assume that the gods and the people had a very negative relationship wherein the gods saw the people as more of a burden than anything else.

In chapter two, i think that the most interesting part of the chapter was the section on the erosion of equality. I think it is interesting that the hierarchies of class and gender were pinned as the two top causes of inequality in ancient societies. I thought it was interesting because it still stands to be true today in modern society. The book says, "Upper classes everywhere enjoyed great wealth in land or salaries, were able to avoid physical labor, had the finest of everything, and occupied the top positions in political, military, and religious life" (p.71). This caught my eye because other than the part about religious positions this is extremely true. In modern society, the 1% consists mostly of political figures and CEOs that control 90% of America's wealth and are, therefore, able to avoid massive amounts of work that they, themselves, should be doing; instead, they pay the rest of the poorer population to do this work for them. I also thought the hierarchies of gender was interesting because, as a woman, I can strongly identify with the fact that we live in a male-dominant society wherein women are oppressed. The book says that women were "largely limited to the home" which still stands to be for the most part true. It is interesting to see that while we have progressed as a society, combatting inequalities by both class and gender, we have not actually come too far.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what these blog posts are supposed to consist of. Today I read the remainder of Chapter One of Ways of the World.  The chapter focused almost entirely on agriculture, which was not, personally, very interesting. The chapter focused on the emigration of the homo sapiens from Africa into the surrounding areas and them learning to cultivate and domesticate plants and animals. While these developments are very impressive and a grand achievement that have lead to the life we are able to live today, they are not very interesting to read about. The most interesting part of the reading, in my opinion, was the portion that focused on Nissa's account of Paleolithic people and how Hunters and Gatherers live. I thought it was interesting because instead of being a subjective account of how an anthropologist thinks the Paleolithic people lived, Nissa's account is almost a direct account of how they lived in the past as she has lived the same way as they did for the entire duration of her life. I especially thought that it was interesting when she talked about marriage in her community. I thought it was interesting because it was quite different to marriage in our own society, but at the same time it was still quite similar. I thought it was interesting that the women were able to leave their husbands as they saw fit, because while it is legally permitted in today's society, it is still extremely frowned upon. There were other similarities and differences (such as building the "marriage hut"), but that was the one that was, personally, the most striking.

First post is officially done!