Very First Blog Post Test

Chapter 18: A Second Wave of European Conquests and Documents

Colonial Encounters in Asia, Africa, and Oceania 1750 - 1950 The capitalistic culture birthed by the Industrial Revolution set up European second-wave colonial initiatives. Europeans discovered that foreign investment and global imperialism was beneficial to their economy. The industrial era also influenced Europeans to develop a sense of secular superiority that caused them to diminish their perceptions of other cultures and view them as uncivilized, animal-like savages. Nineteenth century colonialism was distinctive from first-wave initiatives in several ways. For example, Europeans justified their superiority and acts of conquest through "scientific racism" (Strayer 799). Socially, political forces like tax-collection and class status divides were deeper integrated, like the British appropriation of the traditional caste system in India. Europeans even established a tribal Africa that sharpened the Western "we" versus "them" divide of "weaker race...

Chapter 19: Empires in Collision

Chapter 19 is unique and deserving of its own chapter, because while European imperial efforts affected China, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan, they shared notable similarities and occurred in ways that would reform their political, economic, and social environments. This was a culture of modernity that moved closer toward the concept of secularization, but a focus on human rights. These places already faced internal conflict, so dealing with European aggression and culture was a challenge, yet it helped influence fresh ideas for society. I thought it was very smart of Strayer to call China's conflict a "reversal of fortune" and a "victim of its own earlier success" (834-835). From World History I up to this point, Strayer taught me that China experienced a golden age of accomplishment because of their creation of a successful, resourceful, civilization they established during the classical era. We even just wrapped up our discussions on European desires to get a...

Chapter 23: Capitalism and Culture

The opening story of Chapter 23 is the story of many women who are victimized by sex trafficking. I read about this in Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky, and it discusses all about how women hold up half the sky, yet they extremely victimized when they are promised jobs as dishwashers in vulnerable times and then forced into prostitution in places such as Cambodia and red light districts where there is a high concentration of sex services in a particular area. This is a result of globalization, the term used to describe the process of interaction and integration of worldwide economies on a global level, driven by international trade and investment. This story illustrates why globalization is controversial. Globalization is a new term, but an old process. Several factors contributed to economic globalization, this process of "immense acceleration in international economic transaction" (Strayer 1024) in the second half of the twentieth century. One...

Cat's World History II Blog

Search This Blog