3/28/14 Weekend Homework Assignment

Niall Ferguson's TED Talk Question: Which factors led to the Great Divergence, and how did the Westerners gain an advantage over the rest of the world, allowing them to dominate Easterners?

Answer: Niall Ferguson believes that there were six major aspects about the Western civilization that set the Westerners ahead of the Easterners and led to the Great Divergence.  Ferguson chooses to represent these six characteristics, competition, the scientific revolution, property rights, modern medicine, the consumer society, and worth ethic, as metaphorical "apps," which seem simple on the outside, but contain a great complexity.  There were hundreds of kingdoms within each state during the 1500s in Europe, which provoked innovation and bettered society, whereas in the eastern half of the world, there were far fewer states that required one to pass civil service exams before being able to compete amongst each other.  Western science gave man control over nature through the experimental method, allowing men to apply physics to ballistics, allowing for better weaponry.  However, in Eastern Asia, there is not as much technology or scientific discoveries.  Having the rule of law based on property rights made the difference in between the Eastern and Western hemispheres.  Having more land open to the people rather than passed down hereditarily resulted in more land being used, helping push the Western world ahead of the Eastern world.  Modern medicine aided in fighting infections diseases and increased life expectancies by almost two percent in the Western world rather than in the Eastern world, where there was no concept of medicine.  This allowed for population growth in Western portions of the world, while disease and plagues decimated Eastern populations.  Consumer society was far greater in Western parts of the world, so that people were able to buy the goods produced by businessmen, thus giving a purpose to the industrial revolution.  However, in Eastern portions of the world, people were more inclined towards poverty such as Mahatma Gandhi, who was in a way, a proponent of poverty.  Work ethic can only arise if institutions are present to create the will to work.  In the western half of the world, people originally had better work ethics than people in the Eastern half of the world.  This may have primarily been because there were more institutions in the Western half of the world than in the Eastern half of the world.  It is for these six reasons that the Eastern half of the world fell behind the Western half of the word, resulting in the Great Divergence.


The Stages of a Revolution in <2 Sentences Each:

1. Stage 1: The community is split into two groups of people; those who support the person in authority, such as the king or ruler, or those who are rebelling against the authority.  The schism is result to an unfair taxation or the ruler's inability to rule, thus angering its constituents.
2. Stage 2: The factions are again split into moderates and radicals, and the vast majority of the population supports the moderates because the radicals are...too radical; however, the radicals have a greater sense of righteousness, which enables them to take over and instate terror.  
3. The Final Stage of Revolution: In the final stage of revolution, the community begins to moderate itself and shun those who are radicals, causing in most cases a dictatorship to be reinstated in which members of the previous ruling council are brought back.  Imperial nationalism is a direct consequence of the fervor of the radicals diminishing.

Adam Smith Questions

1. Are there any cases in which people venture in to the economy or start a business for the general good?  What reasons would people have for doing this?
2. Why do only beggars choose to "depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens"?
3. Is there any occupation you believe has more people who base their actions on the well-bring of society more than others?

Islamic Empires Map 3/18

Olaudah Equiano on the Middle Passage

Prompt: On the basis of Equiano's account, what measures did the crews of slave ships take to ensure maximum profits from their business of transporting human cargoes?

Answer: According to Olaudah Equiano's account, to ensure the greatest potential profits from their business of transporting human cargoes, the crews of slave trade ships took many precautionary measures.   To ensure that they would receive the maximum reward for their slaves,  crews of the slave ships needed to make sure that the slaves were in prime condition.  Thus, they forced the slaves on their ships to eat, whether the wanted to or not. Those who resisted the food were severely flogged as a result.  To prevent potential slaves (or sources of money) from jumping overboard into the ocean, crews of slave ships whipped those for hours who attempted to jump off the boat, thus dissuading others from following the examples of others.  When several slaves perished by jumping into the waters, the crews began to lock up the slaves under the deck and chained.  These were the primary measures taken to ensure that the crews of slave ships obtained the maximum profits from their business of transporting human cargoes.

Born With a Silver Spoon Reading Questions

Questions: Where is the silver going? Where is it coming from? Who are the major players in the 'silver trade'?

Where is the sliver going to?

During the 16th century, during which international trade began its boom, China was the predominant buyer of silver in the world.  China accepted from and traded for silver with numerous silver-exporting countries such as Japan and Spanish America.  The importance and abundance of silver trade in China is accurately depicted in many writings and writers from the time period.  For example, Godinho was a Chinese writer who described China as the world's silver suction pump.  The Chinese particularly wanted this precious metal because the market value of silver throughout China was double its value

elsewhere, thus a valuable commodity.

Where is the silver going from?

The predominant sellers, or producers, of silver during the beginning of international trade were Spanish America, which included areas such as Mexico and Peru.  These areas were able to produce up to 150,000 tons of silver between 1500 and 1800 because they had the greatest quantity of silver.  In comparison to areas such as Europe, which may have exhausted their silver resources or never had them in the first place, silver reserves in Spanish America were plentiful.  The indigenous already had mined for much of the silver, and they served as slaves.  This increased labor in Spanish American mines led to a boom in production of silver in Spanish America.  

Who are the major players in the silver trade?

In the beginning time period of the silver trade, the dominant players were the Spanish Americans, Europe, and China.  During this period of time, the Europeans (most notably the Spanish) established colonies in Mexico and Peru.  They forced the indigenous people to mine silver for them, and the silver that they extracted was sent to two major places.  Much of the silver was sent straight back to European colonies, while lesser, though equally substantial, amounts were used in trade with China.  Thus, China, the Spanish American Colonies, and Europe were major players in early silver trade.  

Explorers HW 3/28

Prompt: Does Columbus deserve his own holiday? Why does he have one? Should we reconsider?

Everybody regards Columbus Day, Monday, October 18, as the day which students have off from school, but most fail to recognize its actual importance.  Columbus Day marks the date at which Christopher Columbus and his crew aboard the Santa Maria reached the Americas for the first time (assuming that Menzie's argument is invalid!).  Technically speaking, historians are not 100% sure that the "discovery" of the Americas occurred on October 18, 1492.  However, I believe that this date is in fact important, regardless of whether it is the actual date during which Columbus found the Americas.  Columbus day, in effect, is symbolic of discovery as a whole, not only as it relates to Columbus and his "discovery" of the Americas, but also discoveries of places and technologies that have improved the world we lived in today.  I think that Columbus Day is an integral aspect of American culture, as it gives Americans a sense of pride and dignity.  However, it can also be seen from a negative perspective.  Columbus Day also marks the date after which the Native American inhabitants began their decline as a result of foreign invasion.  But that is not the question.....Whether or not Columbus Day is the most important holiday to exist is a matter of perspective and judgement, but it is for certain that Columbus deserves some form of recognition of his feat of discovering the Americas.  Of course, this is a hotly debated topic as some states recognize Columbus Day on a larger scale than others.  Even Spain, which is not remotely located in the Americas, observes their own form of Columbus Day.  Regardless of what others say, I believe that we owe Columbus respect - without him, we wouldn't be where we are today!

First DBQ Reflection

Today in class, we took our first Document-Based Question (more commonly known as the DBQ), and the results were quite conclusive.  I was extremely familiar with the content, primarily because we went over the material in class the previous day.  As far as answering the questions and coming up with the right answer is concerned, I felt as though I was fully prepared.  The most problematic error that I faced while writing the DBQ was time-related.  After the time was called, I had only finished discussing the eight documents.  I was able to start writing the "why is the source credible?" section, and all of the ideas were implanted in my mind; however, I was unable to finish this section as well as the additional source document.  Therefore, it is safe to conclude that I took too much time writing the document analyses.  This has been a reoccurring problem, not only with the DBQ, but also with other essays I have written.  I had all the knowledge I needed to score well on the essay, but the time was my downfall.  I feel that writing practice essays, especially when being given the material in advance is an awesome way to get to know the style of writing we have to be accustomed to, since it is distinct from the Change and Continuity Over Time and Compare/Contrast Essays.  This also allows us to work on out time management and other skills without having to worry about the actual information.