Chapter 18 (pp.
879-912)
Chapter 18 dealt primarily with colonial encounters in Africa and Asia. This includes the second wave of European conquest in which European countries fought over African lands and partitioned almost the entire continent during what has come to be known as the Scramble for Africa. Europeans found enemies of who they were trying to conquer and allied with them. While some Africans resisted European policies, some found employment, security, and status in the European led military and some officials were able to have power on the local level. Small, Western-educated class emerged and some traveled abroad to be educated as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. While there was some African cooperation there was significant scientific racism which claimed that darker skinned people are not able to be as intelligent as whites. In South Africa, there was a large European population and soon race became a part of the legal system. A large result of the Scramble for Africa was the racial separation as Europeans identified, or created, tribes and relegated them to defined territories.
Chapter 17 documents
(pp. 862-877)
The document that had the strongest effect on me was the interview with an English factory worker. Through the course of this interview you learn that the now 23-year-old began to work in the factory at the age of six and that she would work from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. They received little to no time to eat and no time for breaks. The par of this interview that really shows the way children were treated was the fact that if they were a little to slow or late then they would be severely beaten. On often occasions these beating left marks but their parents would say nothing for fear of their child losing the much needed job. It is for reason like these that there are now child labor laws in place, though in certain countries they are not adhered to and children still work in these horrible conditions.
Chapter 17 (pp.
827-861)
Chapter 17 focuses on the Industrial Revolution and it effects. I chose to focus the effect it had on social classes. The social classes prior to the Industrial Revolution were two major classes: the nobles and peasants. During
the industrial revolution, the peasants split into two new classes, the
middle class and the working class. The middle class was composed of businessmen who built the factories and bought the machines. Those in
the middle class had the right to vote and be represented in
parliament. This class grew in numbers and wealth, and soon the middle
class started to become as powerful and rich as the upper class. The
working class was in fact the poorest of the social classes. It was made up of
people who could not make enough money farming and had to work in
factories instead. They worked in the factories for up to 16 hours a day, 6 days
a week and earned low wages despite the fact that the work caused them injuries and
sometimes death. Children younger than 10 also worked in the factories and were hired because the factory owners didn't have to pay them well and they could crawl under the machines to fix or collect broken pieces. The working class houses were overcrowded,
causing lots of disease to spread.
Chapter 16 (798-811)
This section deals with the "echoes of revolution" the spread across Europe and the Americas. As a result of the influence of the Atlantic revolutions, three major movements rose to challenge oppression and exclusion, the abolishment of slavery, nationalism, and the feminist movement. Slavery loses its legitimacy and largely ends due to Enlightenment thinkers, religion, it was no longer essential for economic progress and the destruction of slave rebellions. The main argument in the abolishment of slavery was the fact that slavery was a violation of every person's natural rights. Though it became illegal, many still resisted the abolition of slavery and a result was the Civil War and while slaves were freed they were given no land and no political equality. Nations and Nationalism led to the idea of the "Nation". People were no longer common subjects of a ruling dynasty, but citizens of a nation, bound by blood, culture and common experience. Though this marked the beginning of governments begin to claim to act on behalf of their nations. Feminist beginnings led to challenging patriarchy and women began to question why they were though to be inferior to men. Women sought equal education, professions and the right to vote. The feminist movement faced medical and academic opposition such as, women pursuing individual goals are sacrificing family and the nation and are essentially being selfish. However, feminism went global and spread to nations like Brazil, Mexico, Japan, China, Russia, and the Islamic world.
Chapter 16 (pp. 781-797)
Chapter 16 is about the numerous Atlantic revolutions that took place. While this chapter focuses on many, I decided to focus on the connections between the French and Haitian revolution. Both inspired by the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution
maintained its original goal of independence while the French Revolution
went to the extremes and lost its original goal for creating a new form
of representative government. Both completely threw out their former governments and were led by deeply influential people Maximilien Robespierre and Toussaint Louverture. These revolutions started by the ideals created during the Enlightenment led to mass riots and revolts. Both countries hoped to achieve political and legal equality among the people with no one in an elite position. The strongest connection is that since Haiti was under French control at this time, the French revolution led to less strict control over the Haitian which gave them the opportunity to revolt.
Chapter 15 (pg.
740-752
)
Chapter 15 focuses on the cultural changes that occurred within the modernizing time and this section focuses primarily on the changes that became known as modern science. One of the much discussed topics at this time was women. Society had begun to question women's nature, their role in society, and the appropriate education to be offered to them. Jean-Jacque Rousseau was quoted as saying that he believed were not only fundamentally different from men but also inferior to them. He also believed that the education offered to women should be wholly relative to men. This is interesting because at this time it was wealthy Parisian women who hosted gatherings for male Enlightenment thinkers yet, few, if any of them were feminists. The British writer Mary Wolllstonecraft rebutted Rousseau's remarks by calling the utter nonsense and stating that until women are rationally educated then the progress in human virtue and knowledge would need to constantly be checked. It is just interesting that in this age of great philosophical progress and growth that women were still viewed as less than their male counterparts.
Chapter 14 (pg. 687-699)
These pages still discuss commerce but they focus on the commerce of people, i.e. the Atlantic Slave Trade. Since the actions of the Atlantic Slave Trade are often discussed, I decided to take a strong look at the consequences the slave trade had on Africa. The first consequence of the slave trade was that population in Africa slowed at a time when other nations expanding demographically. In 16o0, Africa accounted for 18% of the world population but by 1900 this had decreased to 6% and in this time there was little economic growth as those making money from the slave trade did not invest in their country. Another consequence was moral corruption as court proceeding were often manipulated to create more victims for the slave trade. The most interesting consequence to me was an unbalanced gender ratio as the Atlantic Slave Trade preferred male slaves to female slaves. This unbalanced ratio led to at least three significant changes to Africa. The first is that the women's labor demand increased and the second was that in certain regions men were granted the right to marry multiple wives. The last change was that in some regions, women took the opportunity to exercise power and increase their wealth. This was sometimes done by marrying European fur traders.
