The Early Modern World - Spaniards and Mestizos

Interesting how the Spaniards conquered the Americas and how cruel they were to the natives, the Spanish Crown still encouraged settlers to marry into elite Indian families. Cortes, for example the conqueror of Mexico, fathered children with two of Moctezuma's daughters. This I found very interesting that during the next 300 years of the colonial era "mestizo" which is a mix of Spanish and Indian grew substantially becoming the majority of the population in Mexico in the nineteenth century.

Mestizos were largely Hispanic in culture, however the Spaniards still looked down at them. They regarded them as illegitimate for they were not born from "proper" marriages. Interesting, the mix of Spaniards with the Indians made was is now Mexico. The Spaniards treated the local natives very poorly and basically forced them to learn Spanish and into Christianity. They had to move to cities to work for wages, and their diet had changed. Maize, beans and squash was one of the Indian's main diet and is still today in Mexico. We use Maize for a lot of different foods like Tamales, tortillas, "Platillo de Maize". Still today we use these staple foods in my household. Beans and tortillas are always a must in every dish no matter what.

How the Europeans came to the Americas, and what the indigenous peoples had to go through, all the suffering, diseases, forced into labor and ripping them from their own unique world of living. To me it is very cruel. Today, even though a special set of political rights have been set by International organizations such as the United Nations to protect the Indigenous peoples, still you can see the effects of what played out in the past.

When I look back and see how human kind has been very cruel to one another just for ones own benefit and "power", I find it hard to come to a realization that, we as humans have a long way to go in just being kind to one another. As you learn about history of the world, and how humans have behaved, it just does not make sense to me. We all should be one and be kind to one another for there is only one World and we need each other to survive and evolve as humans to our next world.

 

The Renaissance in Europe

It was truly amazing to me when I read more and more about the Renaissance period in Europe and how it all came about.  I often wonder on how this happened and learning more about the artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael whose painting and sculptures were far more naturalistic in portraying the human body. When I was visiting Rome about five years ago, I was able to see magnificent paintings and sculptures these artists have done first hand.

I often wondered why they would have religious themes to their art and only working for the churches at times. Now I know why....

The renewed cultural blossoming known to European history as the Renaissance. The blossoming celebrated and reclaimed a classical Greek Tradition that earlier had been obscured or viewed through the lens of Latin or Arabic translations.

All this began in the vibrant cities of Italy between roughly 1350 - 1500. The Renaissance reflected the belief of the wealthy elite that they were living in a wholly new era. Far removed from the confined religious world of feudal Europe. Educated citizens of these cities sought inspiration in the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. They were "RETURNING TO THEIR SOURCES" as they put it. Their purpose was not to reconcile these works with ideas of Christianity. The elite patronized great Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

The Mongol Clan or "Civilization"

It is interesting to me to learn how the Mongols made the most stunning entry in the thirteenth century. The Mongols basically took over the largest land-mased empire in all of "Human History."  They conquered from the Pacific Coast of Asia to Eastern Europe. Although, people don't really agree in the ways Mongols had conquered these countries. Basically it was done by submission and almost very barbaric. The Mongols did not have their own religion nor did they impose it on others. What is very interesting to me is that the basically moved around in caravans and were very wealthy in their time. Some Mongols themselves became absorbed into the settled societies they conquered. The Mongol empire lasted for 300 years. During this time Mongols used different strategies to induce enemy surrender.

Chinggis Khan, and his sons and grandsons constructed an empire that contained China, Korea Central Asia, Russia, much of the Islamic Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. Basically Chinggis Khan had a mission to "unite the whole world in one empire." Mongol warriors were very ruthless on how they would defeat every army, capture every fort, and bring down walls of every city they encountered. The Mongols were feared but many and interesting enough they were very small compared to; for example China where there was 100 to 1 Mongol. The Mongol armies were simply better led, organize and disciplined that those of their opponents.

The Mongols were also very strict in their ways of training and how they trained their armies. They were very loyal and discipline to their leaders and how the leaders reinforced this was by making sure that; should one or two members of a unit desert in battle, all were subject to the death penalty.

As I read more about the Mongols and how they survived economically because, the Mongols themselves produced little of value for distant markets, nor were they active traders. They were smart about promoted international commerce largely so that they could tax it and thus extract wealth from more developed civilizations.  For example Chinggis Khan would often pay well over the asking price in order to attract merchants to his capital of Karakorum. They also providing financial backing for caravans, introducing the weights and measures, and gave tax breaks to merchants that would follow them to their capital.

Interesting to know that the Mongols were not a civilization but were known as a clan. However, when you really think about it the Mongols, I believe they were a civilization They had a system of their own, that worked for them and believed in.

Economic Globalization

From the famous Silk Road network across Eurasia and the trans-Saharan trade routes, this is a reminder of how world history, that exchange among distant peoples is not altogether new and our roots of economic globalization lies deep in the past. Our history of exchanging goods among communities occupying different ecological zones has long been a prominent feature of human history.

This is very interesting even today, we continue to monopolize where we can find a product or service in the world. For example, the production of particular products, in China such as silk or spices in Southeast Asia that others found valuable. It was through long-distrance trading that enabled humans and linking and shaping distant societies and peoples. Trade shaped the structure of societies and became the means of social mobility. Interesting enough that Political life also was sometimes transformed by trade. You can definitely today see that in our current society of this going on. Whether on the internet or agriculture, we are now much more sophisticated.