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Ch 5 Inequality

Chris Parkin HST Andrews   In China the landlord class were a class of rich families whom owned large amounts of land.  The central government did not typically like this because the rich tended to refuse to pay taxes and since they were often able to form their own armies they had the power to fight back against the governments attempts at collecting.  This left the tax burden heavily on the poor.  Although Wang mang tried to stop this by ruling that all large properties would be taken by the government broken up and given to the poor he was unable to enforce this and was later killed. The second class in china were the peasants which made up most of the population.  They were typically at the mercy of pests, floods, drought, hail and never had enough to support themselvs.  Peasants were also required ot donate a month of labor to the government for certain projects and young men to serve in the military. Merchants were hated by the chinese.  ...
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Ch 6 Civilizatons of Africa

Chris Parkin HST Andrews                Africa was known known to be one of the most tropical continents of the known world.  Although some areas were fertile and great for agriculture others were desert and barren or received long rainfalls and long dry periods leaving the soil unfertile.  The Jungles held parasite with diseases.  Some of the known civilizations at the time were formed in the Uper nile valley, Northern Ethiopia, nile river valley and in east africa the swahili civilization.  The Nubian civilization live in the Nile river valley which was south of egypt.  The city of Meroe was the capitasl of the Nubian peoples.  In the city were merchants, weavers, potters, and masons as well as servants laborers and slaves.  The manufacture of iron and weapons was a booming industry in this area.  The city benefited greatly from the trade routes as they had access to gold, ivory and other goods from th...
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Ch 7 Commerce

Chris Parkin HST Andrews                  The Silk roads were well know by nations through out the globe and also still now in history as one of the most important trade routes.  The roads extend through china, india, the middle east, the medditeranean, eastern russia and central asia.  The areas to th north were typically that of the pastoral peoples which were unhosptable lands for agriculture and the areas to the south were mainly agricultural lands.  The Silk roads foster the trade between the two civilizations proving horses and hore technology and wood to the south and foods and silk goods to the north.  The roads flourished best during times where large empires protected it from all sides.  Typically china protected the east and through time the west was protected by the romans, the byzantines and the muslim abbasids.  Eventually the mongols at one point possesed the whole of the silk roads.  The ...
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Chapter 9 Islam

Chris Parkin HST Andrews        The story of Islam and its coming to be I find extroardinarily interesting.  Muhhamad as a child was an orphan who was raised by his uncle.  This placed him low in social status.  During this time the people living in the areas of Mecca and Medina lived in tribes some smaller than the others.  Muhammads uncle was a trader and so Muhammad also became a trader as he grew up.  His Wife was actually a rich widow whom was a client of his.  Once muhammad had his first vision he became convinced that it was a message from god.  He would later have several more visions.  Muhammad wanted to spread the word of the one true god and turn the people away from their polytheistic views.  He also wanted to stop the blood fueds between the clans.  Later Muhammad was ejected and persecuted by the meccan people.  He went to medina where he and his new religion were welcomed with open arms.  ...
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Ch 10 Blog The worlds of Christendom

Chris Parkin HST Andrews               In this chapter the major topic in my eyes was about the Byzantine empire.  The Byzantine empire started off as the eastern part of the Roman empire.  This Territory covered Syria, palestine, North Africa, greece, the Balkans and anatolia.  Its military consisted of a Navy which covered the mediteranean and the black sea and by law were allowed to raise individual armies from the peasants and farmers they conquered. After the western half fell Byzantium and the city of constantinople held the glory of its Roman and Greek tradition.  Constantinople became the head quarters of the orthodox christian church where the caesar was both ruler and head of church. although different than the catholic church.  The emprire fell in 1453 to the ottoman empire before hand it was a live and vibrant place.  The empire chose to mirror the Roman structure of roads, taxation systems, centralized admi...
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Ch8 Blog

Chris Parkin History Andrews                 Chapter 8 was very intersting to me as we learn how developed china would become at such an early stage in human history.  Under the Sui dynasty Chinas Northern and Southern halves were connected by an intregal network of canals.  This Allowed china to move products freely through the country by boat.  Following the Sui were the Tang and Song dynasties.  Which were built on the Sui principles of unity.  This caused a rebirth in the country and would later be known as Chinas golden age.  This time promoted great literature, painting, cermaics and landscaping.  Neo Confucianism came to rise in the country which promoted education.  The government was divided into six different ministeries inclding a censorate whose purpose was to  check on the competence and ability of public officials to do their jos. Schools were established to prepare all boys equally fo...
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Ch 11 Blog

Chris Parkin HST Andrews            The Pastoral people long lived a nomadic life.  They lived in the Mongolian steppes above china and through history have played a major role in that territory.  The pastoral peoples lived in movable tents and grew sheep and goats for their meat and furs.  They travelled to different areas for their animals to graze.  The chinese provoked the people in this area for a very long time until xiongnu formed a united people and fought the chinese military forcing the emperor of the Han dynasty to admit openly that they as civilizations were equal.  There were many times in history where the chinese empire fluctuated in strength and the people of the steppes took over control of northern China.  When the mongolians became united by Chinggis Khan things would dramtically change.  The Mongols united under one powerful ruler and their ability to form a military on horsback gave them the advant...
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