Spain and the Philippines

I had never learned about Spain colonizing the Philippines before so this was interesting and new information for me. I didn't find it surprising that they conquered and structured the society in the Philippines similar to the way they did when the conquered the Americas. I did find it surprising however how it talks about revolts that happened when this occurred. I also found it interesting how the place the Filipino revolters would go to became the capital of colonial Philippines. I am confused as to how and why it would have been different for them here than it was where they were living prior because Spanish settlers still controlled the capital. I also found it interesting that the Spanish were hostile to the Chinese that settled in the Philippines and were bringing more economic prosperity. I know this was mainly due to the fact that the Chinese wouldn't convert to Christianity, but you would think the Spanish would be able to put this fact behind them due to the way the Chinese were helping the colony grow. It shows how stubborn the Spanish were, but also how they took religion so seriously that they couldn't even appreciate the economic growth of their colony.

A Portuguese Empire of Commerce

The Portuguese Empire created a "trading post empire", which means rather than controlling large territories or populations, they wanted to control commerce, or trade, by using violence and not by economic competition, in an attempt to take over Indian Ocean commerce.  However, the Portuguese failed to do so, and began to get involved with carrying Asian goods and selling their shipping services, as they had trouble selling their own goods.  The Portuguese became largely involved with the Asian population because the Asian traders were in greater numbers than the Portuguese, even in their own major settlements.  The Portuguese "trading post empire" quickly began to decline by the year 1600.  Many other European countries did not want the Portuguese to dominate Indian Ocean commerce, causing them to also be against the Portuguese attempt to take over the spice trade of Europe.

Empires of commerce

This was the worst passage in have read from this text book so far. The writing was bland and there was not a lot of information displayed. The information was displayed in a boring way where interesting facts were few and far between. The passage was vague and did not even mention many of the massacres that the Portuguese participated in. While the book mentions one  it is hard to believe that there was only 1 in that 100 year period. While there is a little more information the Spanish the lack of pictures detailing the trade outposts and routes made this a very hard passage to learn from.

European and Asian Commerce

Trade was a very important part of life in Europe and Asia. One of China’s main products was Chinese Silk.  Indian cotton, rhubarb used for medical reasons, emeralds, rubies and sapphires were all in high demand.  Different types of food and spices also became really popular for trade. The spices were cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and cloves and most importantly pepper. Pepper was the most popular spice. The European and Asian Commerce was an important time in history.

Europeans and Asian Commerce

what drove European involvement in Asian commerce?

What technology allowed them to dominate?Slave trade along with new relationships with silver obtained from the Spanish. the europeans encountered a   net work of commerce, wealth and trade network that stretched into china. the greatest motivation was th tropical spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves, all paper, Chinese silk, Indian Cottons, rhubarb, emeralds, rubies and sapphires. interest was growing beause of the recover of the european population after the black death they were learning how to tax subjects and ruled a military with substantial weapons. 

Muslims and Christians in the Ottoman Empire

In the reading the topic of women rights and social life caught my attention. I knew a little bit about the Turkish women rights prior to the reading, and reading about how they changed under the Ottoman Empire was intriguing to me. The elite Turkish women under the Ottoman Empire were secluded and often veiled. These women were also not included in the imperial censuses. The fact that they were not including caught my eye in particular. In my opinion every being should be counted as a human being, men being equal to women. The Muslim reformers also sought to restrict these women religious gatherings. Everyone should have the right to attend religious ceremonies irregardless of gender. These women were able to keep some of their rights. These retained rights included having property rights. These differences in women rights under the Ottoman Empire were very interesting.

The Ottomans

I thought the give and take between the Turks and the Christians was interesting. At first the book made it seem like being a Christian in the Ottoman empire was a good life with fewer and lesser taxes and less oppression. Still being a female Christian in the Ottoman empire had an advantage because you could go to a Muslim courts in order to have more rights. Though it still is unfair that women did not have enough rights in the Christian religion to go the a christian court, it is still amazing that they had that opportunity. Also being a Christian, male or female, would have been awful as a parent. Many sons in Christian families were torn away from their families by the Turks in order to be converted to the Islamic faith, taught Turkish, and go on to become a part of their administration or their military. All in all being a part of the Christian faith in the Ottoman empire would have been great if you were not planning on having a family or rather keeping one together.