World History Fall 2018

Ch. 11 discusses the Mongol empire. I found this very interesting because I had heard of Genghis Khan but new little to nothing else about it. I learned that the Mongol Empire was massive, taking over all of Eurasia, however, no new languages formed and there was not a spread of religion. The Mongols were a small population of people with a small economy. They did not have technological superiority over others, its main and basically, the only strong point was its military. The Mongols continued to conquer, using conquered people as slaves and military members. Those who refused to surrender to the Mongols were killed. Essentially they exploited all those who were conquered. It is really amazing how such a small and economically weak civilization was able to conquer such a massive amount of land. I was also surprised that Genghis Khan was not an elite, and his come to power was somewhat unusual. Overall, the chapter about the Mongols was very interesting and somewhat shocking to me. It...

Ch 8 discussed China in the Classical Era. China had been a major civilization since the Ancient Era, and continued to flourish into what is now called "The Golden Age" of China. During this time there was immense economic growth. This growth came from a variety of things, including trade, technologic/engineering developments, many new inventions, and Vietnamese drought proof rice which supported the growing population. During this time there was also a rebirth of Confuscionism, used to restore order in Chinese society. This also, however, had a negative impact on women - particularly elite women, who previously had been given more freedom. Foot binding was one of the popular traditions that returned. China also utilized a merit system, called the examination system, to select political leaders. This system was entirely based on your performance, and it no longer mattered what your family lineage was if you performed well. China also had a tribute system, which was a way of p...

Ch 10 discusses Christendom. Christendom began in the year 0 when Jesus was born. As Jesus accumulated more followers, the Roman Empire felt continually threatened by him and decided to kill him. Once Jesus was dead his followers were persecuted, yet his people still practiced. His followers held secretive sessions in basements and other hidden locations to continue to practice Christianity. Eventually, the Roman Empire made the drastic change to make Christianity the official religion. There was no separation of church and state at the time. Once they made this decision, the Roman Empire then also determined the dogma on what Christianity was, and what should be read and practiced, as well as peoples interpretation of it. People who agreed with these beliefs were then tortured and killed by the government. The second big change the Roman Empire made was by Constantine and his move of the capital to a new city named Constantinople around 400 AD. Moving to the East made it easier to def...