Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7

Chapter 4:

Strayer looked at Eurasian empires in this chapter. He defines empires as "political systems that exercise coervice power" and he goes on to state that are the "...more aggressive states, those that conquer, rule, and extract resources from other states and peoples." (p. 98) He compared the Persian and Greek Empires, and the Roman and Chinese Empires, and discussed the Indian Empire.

The Persian Empire had 35 million people in it where the Greek Empire had 2-3 million. The Persian Empire was lead by "absolute monarch kings" and the Greek Empire was led by individual city-states. (p. 99-101)

In the Roman Empire the "patricians, wealthy class," (p. 109) were in charge while the State was in charge in the Chinese Empire. Both of these empires used their military to build their empires. Though both of these empires were strong, they both collapsed and failed. The reasons for failure are thought to be that: they were "too big, over extended, too extensive to be sustained by available resources, diminished...authority of the central goverment, (and) disease." (p. 117)

Strayer briefly discussed the Mauryan Empire in India. He focused on the emperor, Ashoka, and discussed his teachings. Ashoka was known for his carvings on "rocks and pillars" and his "nonviolent...toleration," but his ideas did not survive after his death. (p. 120)

Chapter 5:

This chapter discussed the "Eurasian Cultural Traditions" of China, the Middle East, and Greece. In China there was Legalism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. In the Middle East Zoroastrianism and Judaism brought about the idea of one god instead of many. In Greece, the society decided to focus on "natural laws" and "a system of moral and ethical life" rather than the mythical gods. (p. 141) Strayer concluded the chapter with discussing how Judaism lead to Christianity, and Hinduism lead to Buddhism.

Chapter 6:

Strayer zoomed in on the "Eurasian Social Hierarchies" in this chapter. Specifically, he reviewed the hierarchies of China and India, slavery and civilization, and patriarchies.

China has four classes: the elite officials, the landlord class, the peasants, and the merchants. Indian also had four classes but within those classes there were subclasses of "Jati's, occupationally based groups" (p. 163) that lead to many subclasses within each class. The four classes in India were the: Brahmins, Ksatriya, Vaisya, and Sudras.

Strayer defines slaves as "those owned by another" person. (p. 165) Slaves have been prevelent in human society. Strayer discusses how the slaves were treated and what they could do in Greece, Rome, China, India, and Persia.

Strayer states that patriarchy was "In all of the classical societies...(and) men ere regarded as superior to women, and sons were...preferred over daughters." (p. 170) He goes on to discuss how patriarchy differed in China to that of Athens and Sparta.

Chapter 7:

In this chapter Strayer discusses Africa and the Americas. In Africa he reviews the societies in the Nile Valley, on the Niger River, and in Bantu. In Mesoamerica he reviews the societies of Maya, Teotihuacan, the Andes, and North America.

In the Nile Valley the Meroe specialized in "....merchants, weavers, potters, ... masons, .... servants, laborers, .... (and) slaves." (p. 186) The Axum focuses on agriculture such as "... wheat, barley, millet, and teff...", and "the arts". (p. 187)

In Africa, the Bantu society move south and interacted with other societies where they thrived, and had several advantages. Strayer focused on their advantages of: being an agriculture society instead of a gathering and hunting society, their immunity to disease, and their iron abilities that made tools.

In Mesoamerica the Mayans were strong in math and astrology which lead to the "solar year". They used "pictographs and phonetic/syllabic" writing and language, and had a water management system. The Teotihuacans had a complete city with items such as "... roads, markets, apartments, a water system, (and) complex art." (p. 195) The Andes societies had access to ocean food sources. One society had an "elaborate temple complex" while the other had a "complex irrigation system." (p. 198) In North America the Ancestral Pueblos has "pit houses" and the Eastern Woodlands had "large earthen mounds." (p. 201-203)

Part 1 Chapter 1,2,3

Chapter 1: The first human societies, Paleolithic, were small and moved a lot as this was a necessity for survival. They hunted and gathered to survive and would move to where the supplies were that they needed. They did not accumulate much of anything due to the fact that they moved around so often. Though they had to move a lot, they did not have to work as hard for what they needed. These societies depended on "mobility, sharing, and equality" (p. 26) to survive as they had to work together; men hunted and women gathered.

My husband and I often toy with the idea of going "back" to living as humans used to: farming, hunting, creating our own shelter, and not being dependent on others for our survival. People often think we are crazy for wanting to do this, but what satisfaction would come from supplying our own food and shelter, and not having to answer to anyone else. When I read about how these societies formed I wonder how difficult it was, and when I have "a day" I often wish that we could live in a simpler time as I would prefer to work harder for my food and shelter than to do with some of the day to day issues.

Chapter 2: The agricultural societies, Neolithic, were able to "deliberately" cultivate plants, and "tame and breed" some animals. (p. 36) They were able to "transform corn from a plant with a cob of an inch or so to...about six inches. Now the people planted and farmed instead of hunting and gathering.

As the agricultural societies grew they also changed the areas that they were in. They "caused soil erosion and food shortages", and also brought good and animals to areas that did not have that type of food or animals." (p. 40-41)

I find it amazing that people were able to be ingenious enough to find ways to increase the size of corn, and to be able to cultivate plants on their own. I wonder if this was an accident that happened over time or if they deliberately experimented with the grain to try and increase the size of it.

I think about the same thing with the taming and breeding of animals. What happened to make them want to control this? I think on this area they must have realized that they could eat better if the animals were close to them which in turn would have caused them to breed them.

When I think about living in an agricultural life I think about what I would have to learn now to live this way. We have not lived through generation after generation of farmers, and now there are so few, how do we learn? When my husband and I talk of wanting to farm and live self sufficiently I tell him that I need to stop working so that I can learn to do all of the tasks to survive on our own.

Chapter 3: The first civilizations developed in three places: Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Peru. The Peruvian civilization did not develop in the same way that the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations did. They did not farm grains, create pottery, or write; but it is believed that they "used a 'quipa', series of knotted cords, for accounting purposes." (p. 57)

The next three civilizations that developed were the Indus Valley civilizations, Chinese civilizations, and the Olmec civilizations.

Overview of the civilizations: agriculture was used by all six of the first civilizations. Where there were agricultural societies there were cities, and as these formed the civilizations also started to divide themselves into various classes of "wealthier, status, and power." (p. 64) Slavery also developed where there were civilizations, but not how we think of it today. Slavery during this time was not limited to the "black" or "African", it could have been anyone.

A note on slavery, I find it interesting that many don't know that slavery existed before the America's did it, and that it wasn't a "black" or "African" thing. After reading this chapter I asked my children, seven and nine, about slavery and when I told them that it happened so long ago and not just to the "black" or "African" they were very surprised, and they have supposedly learned about slavery.

The other area of this chapter that I found intriguing was on the hierarchies of gender. Today this hierarchy is so engrained in us that it can cause surprise and even anger when a woman is dominant or strong or vise versa. Along from this, I would find it refreshing to live in a time before this existed and to be able to live in an "equal" society.

My First Blog

This is my first blog, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing...