Week 2

There was a lot to take in this week. In starting off with the chapter on the first civilizations, people of this time period were just trying to establish a better way to live with the amount of people inhabiting the land. There were six areas that became “civilized” areas on earth around 3500 B.C.E. One area was in Egypt known as the Nile Valley civilization. This I think is the most popular civilization since most people think of Egypt when they think of the first group of people to start a combined way of living with each other. I thought the environment of this civilization really helped out the people. By having the Nile River they had a great source of water for their agriculture. They were also next to the Mediterranean Sea that also gave them another source for food. Another area was the Mesopotamia civilization located near what is now Iraq. In reading about this civilization the people must have had a hard time living due to not being able to control the dynamics of their environment. The other civilizations were the Indus Valley located in what is now India, the Chinese civilization in China, the Notre Chico in what is now Peru, and the Olmec in what is now Mexico. Civilizations early on also seemed to take on a patriarchy approach to running their people making men the dominate gender of women.

The next chapter covered Eurasian empires. The Greek empire seemed to be very powerful covering much of the areas along the Mediterranean Sea. A very popular figure in Greek history was Alexander the Great around the time of 333-323 B.C.E. The Roman Empire then followed with having a strong hold over many European areas extending into England, Spain, France, and southern Germany. Like the Romans, the Chinese also extended their power west. They also constructed the Great Wall of China to keep out people they considered uncivilized. Like all empires that came before these empires eventually fell allowing for new groups of people to conquer the areas.

The following chapter spoke about Eurasian Cultural Traditions. In China, there was a person called Confucius. This man thought he was able to solve China’s problems at the time. His way of thinking was that people in power were to be good to the people below them in society. The people low on the social status were to obey and since it was a happy genuine exchange there was supposed to be harmony in this civilization.  I liked how this way of thinking was laid out, however this way of thinking did not last. Daoism was another way of thinking and ran agents Confucianism in some ways. Daoism encouraged individualism and natural behavior. Moral improvement was not to be considered for this way of thinking.  The chapter then continues on about religion such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity. I liked how they gave a brief history of each of these religions. This chapter was kind of an explanation of civilizations ways to worship God and how religions started to spread across Eurasia.   

The next chapter talked about Eurasian Social Hierarchies. This got into classes of people. In China, a landlord was a wealthy person because land was worth a lot. Unfortunately, governments would make them borrow agents the land they already own and eventually making them give some up later. Peasants started to be a label for people of Chinese civilization. Most people back then in China were peasants and many could barely survive. There were also merchants who were given the stereotype of being greedy and only concerned with having lavish things. The chapter then goes into slavery. In comparing slavery in early Greek-Roman civilizations to how slavery was in America, race was not a major factor in Roman society. American slavery came to be associated with Africa which is where most slaves came from during the transatlantic slave trade.