HazelWorldHistory

The friendship and love between Francoise and Julie did not start out as just that. It sounded like there was a lot of disagreements with one another, and it was their commitment to their same beliefs that drew them together. A lot of our hallmarks were somewhat described in the first paragraph, and it is interesting to read that it was the French that somewhat influenced these beliefs.  While reading about Francoise’s life, it is not quite what I had pictured her life to be. She was raised by her grandparents, although her parents lived with her siblings nearby? Why was she the only one that wasn't raised by her parents?  Another funny point is the tax reform mentioned. I mean it sure does sound similar to tax issues that are so alive and breathing today. Looks like we still have not figured out the perfect equation to taxes. I supposed tax will always be an issue, because there will always be people who are unhappy and those who are not.  Francoise’s dad wa...

Christianity has been around for quite a long time, and it is interesting to read about all the changes it went through, the good and the bad, and just how other beliefs assimilated Christianity into their own to make a new blended version. Not all ideas that were created out of Christianity were accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, in fact many other new beliefs challenged the church. I myself was born and raised Catholic, but was baptized last year in my non-denomonational Christian church. It is interesting to hear how other Christian denominations came about. Some of Luther's beliefs are valid and are still becoming the reason people are either switching churches, religion or leaving religion all together. This personally resonated with me, since I had my reason for leaving the Catholic church as well. A lot of the issues, such as women roles, are still discussed in church and in society. Women in ministry is still very much frowned upon, and there is still a gap between ...

Europeans wanted to find a route to India, because they wanted to get in on the spice trade, they wanted to grow their population after the Black death and Muslims controlled a lot of the trading in the East. Europeans couldn't trade with the big boys since their product wasn't of any value, so they found themselves paying for goods. What is interesting is that Europeans did not dominate in trade, I never even knew that other countries and Muslims were dominant during that time. How can europeans get in on the trading game? Portugal knew they couldn't keep up with those other traders, so they decided to start charging people to use sea lanes. They were weak in trading and decided be the bullies. They had the means and it was the only thing they could control. They created a trading post empire, where traders were required buy a pass and pay duties or else they wouldn't be allowed to pass. Of course this would not last long or go well with the other countries. It just wa...

Asian conquest was a lot different from how the Americas was founded. Portugal wanted to explore the route to India, but mostly to grow back is population after the Black Death. Muslims also controlled a lot of the goods, and they weren't too fond of each other. Europeans didn't have anything appearing to trade, so it made it hard to compete. They realized there was no one in charge or the sea lanes, so Portuguese saw this as an opportunity to control the commerce. They could not compete with the other traders, so they decided to control the trade paths. They used their naval power to block those who did not pay taxes, but they could not stay in control, so many slipped away from the government and assimilated with the people where they set up their bases. Colonization started gain popularity with territories that were weak. Spain settled in the Philippines and saw that the people did not have strong military support, so Spain colonized the Philippines. There was no real thre...

This chapter really introduced ideas that were not as well known. When I think of expansion, I only think of Columbus discovering the Americas, what happened to Native Americans and the African slave trade. Since it was a horrible time, those parts of the discovery are what I remember mostly. I knew there were changes back in the Old World, but most of the history I have learned only focused on the New World. The Western Europe empire was said to be a lot different than the changing Europe back home, which makes sense since they had the "freedom" to do things differently than back in Europe. What drove Europe and why were Europe the ones to discover the Americas? The proximity of their location made it easier for them to cross the ocean. Europe was closer to the Americas. Also it made sense that since Asia was dominating the trade, they didn't need to look anywhere else, which is something I didn't know. Most of what I was taught was that Europeans wanted to leave t...

It's interesting how we like to label things and put them into groups. We label a certain period of time something, but it really doesn't do it any justice. I agree with the book and how the name of these eras leave a lot of what happened during that time out.  Discovering the Americas is usually what we remember. Trading became a global expansion and sadly so did the selling of slaves. I was never familiar with any other trading, since a lot of the focus was on Europeans. It was interesting to read how different religions made its way into other regions of the world. 

Completed the first blog for WH! :)