Chapter 13
In the reading there are three factors that are described as advantageous:
1. Their states and trading companies enabled the effective mobilization of both human and material resources.
2. Their searing technology which allowed them to cross the Atlantic with growing ease, transporting people and supplies across great distances.
3. And finally, their ironworking technology, gunpowder weapons and horses.
(pg 557)
These were definitely key factors in colonizing and taking over.
As the reading continues I had not realized just how many people were essentially killed because of the new diseases that were introduced to them. Native Americans were loosing up to 90 percent of their population, double digit populations plummeting into just over 1 million. I remember learning how disease did in fact affect cultures, but never to this extent.
The section that really captivated me was "Colonies of Sugar". I could not believe the conditions they were demanded to work under. "The heat and fire from the cauldrons, which turned raw sugarcane into crystallized sugar, reminded many visitors of scenes from Hell"(568). It was also interesting to see the different dynamic between the slaves that were taken to Brazil/Caribbean's to those in North America.
Lastly, the topic of The Ottoman Empire. This section was towards the end of the chapter, and I was already too heavily invested in the plantation life. What I did find interesting was the lack of push back from the people when they came over. "Many of these Christians had welcomed Ottoman conquest because taxes were lighter and oppression less pronounced than under their former Christian rulers"(585). It was not until later when the Ottoman seemed to "siphon off" young boys that I think it started to click.
1. Their states and trading companies enabled the effective mobilization of both human and material resources.
2. Their searing technology which allowed them to cross the Atlantic with growing ease, transporting people and supplies across great distances.
3. And finally, their ironworking technology, gunpowder weapons and horses.
(pg 557)
These were definitely key factors in colonizing and taking over.
As the reading continues I had not realized just how many people were essentially killed because of the new diseases that were introduced to them. Native Americans were loosing up to 90 percent of their population, double digit populations plummeting into just over 1 million. I remember learning how disease did in fact affect cultures, but never to this extent.
The section that really captivated me was "Colonies of Sugar". I could not believe the conditions they were demanded to work under. "The heat and fire from the cauldrons, which turned raw sugarcane into crystallized sugar, reminded many visitors of scenes from Hell"(568). It was also interesting to see the different dynamic between the slaves that were taken to Brazil/Caribbean's to those in North America.
Lastly, the topic of The Ottoman Empire. This section was towards the end of the chapter, and I was already too heavily invested in the plantation life. What I did find interesting was the lack of push back from the people when they came over. "Many of these Christians had welcomed Ottoman conquest because taxes were lighter and oppression less pronounced than under their former Christian rulers"(585). It was not until later when the Ottoman seemed to "siphon off" young boys that I think it started to click.
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