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.

Mughal Empire

The most interesting thing I found about the reading last night was how the Mughal Empire went from a place where Muslims and Hindu's could get along into a place that was so hostile toward the main religion in the empire. The quote that I found most shocking was the by the Muslim philosopher Sirhindi. "Because of their utter stupidity women pray to stones and idols and ask for their help". It shows how some in the Muslim religion thought so little of women and any religion that wasn't theirs. It is surprising and shocking that these views could spread throughout and empire and that in a short amount of time people could start believing this extreme and morally wrong views. I find it interesting that the Mughal Empire went from a place of excepting all religions to not because all the other societies we have studied either were religiously tolerant or weren't. This is the first time I had heard of an empire being religiously tolerant and then in a short amount of time, becoming intolerant.

Muslims and Hindus in the Mughal Empire

Two people that were talked about in the reading that I found particularly interesting were emperor Akbar and emperor Aurangzeb.  Emperor Akbar made many changes to help integrate the Muslim and Hindu religions.  He brought many Hindus into the political-military elite, allowed for the building of Hindu "temples as well as mosques, palaces, and forts", and also tried to ease some of the harsh Hindu restrictions directed towards women, including encouraging widows to get married again, and sati, which was when "a widow followed her husband to death by throwing herself oh his funeral pyre". However, some Muslims disagreed with what Akbar was doing, and were opposed to his new policies.  Emperor Aurangzeb completely disagreed with all of Akbar's changes to help with the integration of the two religions.  He completely "reversed" all of his changes, which was called the policy of accommodation.

Jahangir Memoir

I found it very interesting that Jahangir celebrated the jewish holiday of sukkot. I found sit very interesting because it is a unique holiday to the hebrew people and the Hindu state in which he ruled does not celebrate it. While the hindu religion is very tolerate of other religions, the resemblance it has to hebrew is sticking. No meat on the holidays and no obstruction of other religions are jewish morals as well. while the views on liquor where different there seems to be a resemblance to how the two religions were run

Colonial Societies

Being a woman, living in one of the three main colonial societies after the Columbian Exchange would have been difficult.  However, if I had to choose one society, I would choose to live in the British colonies in North America.  Although woman were treated poorly in some way in all three of the colonial societies, woman were able to have families and live with them, where as in the colonies in Brazil and the Aztec colony, families were not widely accepted.  However, still woman were not treated equal to men in this colonial society.  They were not allowed to become ministers or be educated like men in the colonial society.  Also, if I lived in the British colonies in North American, my family would be able to own their own land rather than be owned by someone of a higher rank or nobility like in the other two colonies.

colonial societies

Women in the three colonies mentioned in tonights reading were very restricted in their societies. The three colonies that arose from the Columbian exchange were the British colonies, Spanish colonies and the colonies in Brazil. These colonies each had heir own differences and similarities between each other in relation to their women rights. The Spanish colonies intrigued me during the reading. In the Spanish colonies, the women shared the racial privileges as their husbands did, but they were  said to be weak, and needing male help and strength. They were also viewed as links to male wealth, honor and status to their future generations. The males in this society thought there to be very few women fit to be theirs in regard to sexuality.  This led to the beginning of a  mestizo, or mixed-race, population. This was the beginning of unions between Spanish men and Indian women. This society was very interesting in my opinion.

Being a female in the three different main colonies was much different then being a man in these colonies. Men had rights and were not told what they could and could not do based on their gender. Each colony had their different and similar ways and rules that women were expected to follow.  All three colonies had rules against women owning land. No matter what colony a woman lived in they were not looked upon with respect or equality.  For example in Brazil they did view women as their sole purpose to be mothers and husbands. I am surprised by that the women were not just advised against staying home with their children and husbands but also sometimes not allowed to.  That is the opposite of the British Colonies because there women were strongly encouraged to stay home and be mothers and house wives. The way the British Colonies thought the women there should act is what I would have presumed to be true about them all.

Comparing Colonial Societies

3 different colonial societies arose after the Columbian exchange the south american colonies, the Spanish colonies and the British colonies and all 3 colonies women were raped abused and looked down upon. as a woman of European descent, I would choose the British colonies in North America, in all 3 colonies I would have been locked down upon by men and could not own land. However, in British colonies I would have been able to get married and have children and stay with my family my husband would own land  instead of a king or noble family owning our land so that we could have a say over our lives. I also would be able to attend school or become a minister. in the colonies in brazil women were passed around and not allowed to stay with their children and live with their family. the colonies  in south america were under great control of Europe and i would not want to live there.