Chapter 17: The Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes

The Atlantic Revolutions

The Atlantic Revolutions came about right after the Enlightenment, which must’ve been anticipated. People were seeking out the truth and throwing out inherited knowledge. The idea to improve social conditions by changing the current political and social arrangement was surely to follow. The main idea behind the Atlantic Revolutions was “popular sovereignty”, which means a government that is separated from the church and established tradition. It was a push for new leadership, where liberty, equality, free trade, religious tolerance, and human rationality are present. Within this new governance, philosopher John Locke brought the idea of “social contract”. The social contract is the agreement between the rulers and ruled, with serving its people as the main priority.

What I found interesting about the social contract is that it was basically an agreement between the middle class white men. The black slaves, women, Native Americans, and men without properties did not benefit from this agreement. In other words, the newly formed liberty did not create equality. 

The Scientific Revolution and Scientific Discrimination

A New Way of Thinking: The Birth of Modern Science

From religion, today’s reading shifted its focus on science. The Scientific Revolution to be exact. The Scientific Revolution occurred between the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. It was a time when people decided to explore outside of religious scriptures and culturally inherited wisdom. The scientific concepts that emerged were a huge eye opener since the facts that were discovered were very different to what they currently believed in. In their conquest for the truth, the scholars had to knock down the foundation of their knowledge and understanding and basically had to start from scratch. This reminds of Descartes’ “Meditation on First Philosophy” where he encouraged skepticism and to never trust something like your senses if it deceived you even just once. The church did not see the Scientific Revolution as something that was driven by their motivation to figure out the truth but more of a rebellion. Religion in fact was the reason why scientific development was not significant in some areas of the world like the Islamic especially since the Europeans actually derived their scientific concepts from the Arab medical texts, astronomical research and translations of Greek classics. Science and religion naturally contradicts each other and we still this until now.

The part of the reading that caught my attention was how science was used to legitimize racial and gender inequality, also called scientific racism. The textbook mentioned Voltaire on his view on Enlightenment from the Scientific Revolution but it didn’t mention his support on scientific racism. He believed that the Africans evolved from monkey while the Caucasians were created from the image of God. One of the biggest events in history that is connected to scientific racism was the Holocaust. We can see in this occurrence how knowledge can be manipulated and become dangerous. If scientific racism is to progress, I see it as something like the movie “Gattica”. One of the lines in the movie says that it was “a world where they have discrimination down to science” as the technology enable them to read an individual’s genomes and phenotype. 

Chapter 15: Part I - Global Commerce (1450 - 1750)

The first part of Chapter 15 talked about the European and Asian commerce, the silver and global commerce, and the "world hunt": fur in global commerce.

There are two things that I got me particularly interested throughout the reading. The first one is the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, and the second one is the European and Indian fur trade. As someone who was born and raised in the Philippines, it was interesting for me to read about my country's role in the globalization during the early modern era. Because the Philippines was made up of hundreds of small islands, it was culturally diverse and organized with small and highly competitive chiefdoms. Being found by the Europeans at such estate, it was easy for them to take over. The book mentioned Magellan, as the voyager that discovered the Philippines representing the Spanish crown. From what I remember, he was portrayed as a hero and savior in my history books in the Philippines. It was as if the Native peoples didn't know any better and he was the person that opened their eyes to the truth about life. I have a few thoughts of why he was viewed as a heroic figure. One, was that because our books, and the education of the native people, was mandated by the Spanish themselves. Therefore, just like how the Europeans tried to justify the Great Dying by saying that it was an occurrence that is by the will of God, they portrayed themselves in the books that they used to teach the native people as heroes. The other one is the enforcement of Christianity. Prior to the introduction of Christianity, the religion that the native people had was animism, where they worship inanimate objects or phenomena. When the Spanish conquerors taught the natives about God, and considering how Christianity considers people that worships inanimate objects as sinners, the native might have seen the Spanish as their saviors, making them realize of their sinful way of living.

I also found the European and Indian fur trade interesting because of its heavy impact in the Indian culture. The Europeans didn't pay the Indians with silver or any monetary form for the fur but paid them guns, blankets, metal tools, rum, and brandy. This trade goods, especially rum and brandy,  are the ones that left a heavy impact in the Indian culture, and we still see its effects until now. Prior to the fur trade, the Indians were not exposed to alcohol. It was very easy for them to develop an addiction because there was very little time to adjust and it was easily available. A quote from the Iroquois leaders in the book says, " These wicked Whiskey Seller, when they have once got the Indians in liquor, make them sell their very clothes form their backs... If this practice be continued, we must be inevitably ruined."(p.448). This statement claimed to be true until now. Here is a link to the NY Times article I read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/us/wind-river-indian-reservation-where-brutality-is-banal.html

Part II of Chapter 14: Empires and Encounters

Countering Eurocentrism

One of the biggest debate among scholars and students is the idea that early modern era evolved from European Empire and is therefore a constitution of the European culture. It's true that their ways of expansion is unique and played a big role in the modern society, but at the same time that the Europeans were building their Empire, the Russian, Chinese, Mughal and Ottoman empires were also being built, yet their stories are often not as well highlighted. 

Among all the other Empires built around the same era, I found the making of the China Empire interesting. First off, they didn't force their culture into the native people. In fact, they tried to preserve their culture like in Mongolia, where they fear that their "soft" ways might compromise the Mongols' fighting spirit and will therefore weaken their military power. Buddhist monks, people of noble rank, and associated with monasteries were given tax and labor service exemption. They also didn't see themselves as having power over the people that they have taken over but rather talked about the invasion more as a unification of the poples of the central Eurasia.

The new Chinese empire lasted for eighty years, and I think that the key to their long reign was their respect for other culture. The way I see it, there was probably little resistance from the native people because the conquerers didn't try to change the way they were living their lives. It's when people that are trying to take over tries to change things that are very important to us like religion and when they introduce epidemic diseases that we see outrage and resistance from native people. 

The European Expansion and The Great Dying

One of the empires built during the Early Modern Era and is considered most prominent is the European empires in the Americas. It was distinct because the Spanish did not conquer their neighboring territories until later on but started their expansion in the Caribbean. By the 18th century, they have taken over the most of the Americas. 

There are certain factors that contributed to European expansion. One of them was geography. Europe, compared to its Asian competitors, is much closer the Americas. The air currents was also in their favor with the Atlantic wind blowing in the same direction. It was also easier for the Europeans to find allies in areas they were trying to conquer since there was already a division present within the local societies.    Their greatest advantage was the native's inability to build resistance because among the plants, animals, and people that the Europeans brought over was diseases that they had no immunities and practically wiped out society after society. This event is called the Great Dying and described by one scholar as the "greatest tragedy in the history of human species".

The diseases that brought about the Great Dying are called Old World Diseases and includes chicken pox, malaria, measles and yellow fever. During the Great Dying, up to 90% of the Native American population died. The peoples of the Caribbean Islands disappeared 50 years after Columbus' arrival. 

Regardless of all the disadvantages that the Europeans had during their expansion, what might have greatly contributed to their success was their motivation. The Europeans have summarized their motives of expansion by saying, "We came here to serve God and the King, and also to get rich". 

I thought that it was interesting that the epidemic that the Europeans brought about became their greatest advantage during their colonization. It was very sad to think that an entire human population was almost wiped out because of the selfish motivations. 

Introduction to Part 4: The Early Modern World (1450 - 1750)

The Big Picture

The Early Modern Era was three centuries long and lasted from 1450 to 1750. The term "early modern era" means that there was early signs of modernization such as the beginning of globalization, the sprout of individual modern societies and the expansion of the European affairs throughout the world. The latter was the most obvious illustration of globalization. One of the most important event during this period was the Columbian exchange where not only was the mass transport of plants and animals carried over people and diseases all over the world as well. Europeans retained power over areas they conquered by pushing Christianity to local people. Russians advanced to the Pacific thru Siberia while China branched out deeper into Inner Asia and the Ottoman Empire took over part of the Middle East, North Africa and Southeastern Europe.

Another sign of modernity is the spread of American food such as corn and potatoes to China, Japan, India, and Europe. Ironically, world population more than doubled even with the spread of disease and stunted growth of African population due to slavery. The Scientific Revolution in Europe was the most obvious sign of modernization as members of high society changed their view of the world, approach to knowledge and understanding of traditional Christianity.

There was an obvious suggestion of signs of movement towards the modern era but European world domination and fully modern societies were not a "sure thing". Europeans may have governed the Americas and the world's sea routes but they didn't have much power in mainland Asia and Africa. Islam was the fastest growing religion in Asia and Africa, not Christianity. 

Since it was only the beginning, there was still a clear sign of the past era. Some people in European, Islamic and Chinese societies refused to embrace modernization and urged to revert back to traditional living. In ways, it may be more proper to call this era as a mixture of the what was new and old.


Source:
"Ways of the World: A Brief Global History" by Robert W. Strayer, pages 397-399. 

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