Chapter 14, Part 2

In the second reading of chapter 14 I really enjoyed reading about the Atlantic Slave trade. I think in order for the world to not repeat mistakes that were made in the past we have to learn about our past no matter how painful or gruesome it might be. The Atlantic Slave is discussed by Strayer as being between 1500 -1866 and it was were human beings from all over took about 12.5 million people from African societies and shipped them across the famous Middle Passage were they deposited about 10.7 million of them in the Americas. Strayer talks about the death of these people being around 1.8 million just during the voyage to the Americas while many other deaths also came from the capturing of these people. While this event in history is a gruesome one to read and talk about, I feel like it is important for everyone to be educated on this. Because during the time period it was a common thing to own slaves and have another human being as your property, many people went along with this way of life instead of objecting to it. Therefore, for individuals today it is important to be educated on just how wrong and unjust this was and how no person should be treated like this or enslaved. Therefore, while reading Strayer and looking at the way he portrayed this particular part of history, I enjoyed it because he is straightforward and gets to the point of what happened rather than being too soft about it or too harsh about it. The chapter goes on to discuss in detail exactly what the slave trade was like and how it became what it was. Throughout the rest of the chapter he keeps the information valid and necessary rather than adding too much flavor or keeping it too dull. I can’t help but wonder how things in this world would have turned out if someone had put a stop to slave trade before it ever become such a worldwide phenomenon.

Chapter 14, Part 1

During this chapter I was intrigued to learn how manipulation and the power of wanting to be involved in something says a lot about the history of this world and the power that people fought so hard for. In this chapter Strayer talks about how the Portuguese wanted to be involved in the Indian Ocean Trading that was going on between countries but had nothing to trade or contribute that countries didn’t already have. Therefore, Portugal took this opportunity to inform the countries that there was no projection for them out in the dangerous seas and therefore Portugal would offer protection from place to place in order to be apart of the Indian Ocean Trade. This particular idea that Portugal created and enforced was called the “trading post empire” and was the first kind of piracy that was invented during this time period. It was the first kind of pirating that was happening because Portugal was bullying other countries into letting Portugal “protect” them from dangerous things, yet Portugal was really protecting the other countries from themselves. It was the first kind of idea that was used by almost threating other countries. If they didn’t cooperate with Portugal they were going to face major consequences. So this particular part of chapter 14 was interesting to me because I felt like it said a lot about history is going to play out after this and how after being bullied for so long other countries will probably soon retaliate. And soon enough the Portuguese trading went down hill and the Spanish came to help support the Portuguese in the trading post. However, I start to wonder if events played out differently, and Portugal had something to trade at first rather than “protection services” would the outcome of what happened to them still be the same?

Chapter 13

As I read through the intro and chapter 13, I was intrigued by how Strayer portrayed the Early Modern Era as being through 1450 -1750 since the idea of “modern” wasn’t really considered back then. Additionally, the introduction of modern started with big events happening like the Scientific Revolution, the significant growth in world population, new foods being traded between the newly found America and other countries, and the making of new weaponry with the idea that gunpowder was now valuable. Additionally, this intrigued me because the term modern can be used in so many ways and in todays definition of modern, I’m not sure if this description of the time period would be the first to cross their mind. They might think more about Industrializing or things that involve mass manufacturing or supplying. Overall, I did enjoy reading about how Strayer describes the early modern time period and thinking about how that relates to the people who read his work today. He does a good job of keeping it simple while providing the correct information to keep it interesting to people.

Yay! I'm Done!