Intro to part 3 & Ch. 7: Culture and Commerce

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The intro to part 3 basically describes how difficult it is to determine when one era of history ends and when another begins. I find this incredibly interesting because many people feel as though we are in a time like this right now. Many people consider now in 2018 as postmodern, and many disagree. The intro also discusses something old, something new, and something blended, which I also see parallels to with our situation today. It is hard to define the characteristics of major civilizations, as they vary so vastly across the globe right now. Life in America varies greatly from Communist China.

Ch 7 mostly discusses 3 types of roads, sand, silk, and sea. The Silk Road was the only famous commerce path I had previously heard of.  Famous for connecting Eurasia and particularly in the transportation of the commodity of silk, this trail also spread many other things, such as ideologies. Buddhism was one of the main things spread via the Silk Road. Unfortunately, though not everything spread via this road was positive. The road contributed to widespread diseases, killing many. This directly contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. The Sea Roads were paths through the Indian Ocean connecting the mainland with man different islands. They traveled from Africa, the Mediterranean, Arabia, India, Southeast Asia, and China. Hinduism was founded in southeast Asia from diffusion via these sea roads. This trade route via boat was able to carry many large items such as timber. These good were not only for the elite, but the everyday people. People living in these port cities around the indian ocean had vast opporunity for buying and selling, and it was probably one of the most exciting places to live at the time. Lastly, they discussed sand roads, which was the trade route through the Sahara desert, selling various things including gold and slaves. Items were carried by camels, horses, donkeys, and slaves. People traveled at night instead of during the day. The weather was better at night, as well as the stars helped people to navigate. Another part of this was to befriend and travel with nomads, who could help them along their travels.

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