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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 14: Economic Transformations (First Half)

Europeans and Asian Commerce Europeans wanted to get involved on the world of Asian commerce because of the desire for wealth in spices, and metals, their recovery from the Black Death, and to explore Christianity. The Europeans sailed to India for the first time during the voyage of the Portuguese sailer Vasco de Gama, and they wanted to do so in a way that bypassed Muslim and Venetians. First the Portuguese made their way into the Indian Ocean network. But realizing their goods and economy were unattractive and lagging in Asian markets, they established the "trading post empire" where they could forcefully control commerce and sell their shipping services, making use of their advancement in naval technology. The Spanish too decided to make a voyage to get into Asian wealth, discovering an "archipelago of islands" (607), naming it the Philippine Islands after Spanish king Phillip II, and taking over and establishing colonial rule there, rather than commerce (as t...

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...

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