Until I read Chapter 14 I had no idea that Europeans had so thoroughly impacted the Americas. Though I knew about certain things, such as spread of disease and the influence of trade, I had no idea about the absolute transfer of plants and animals to The Americas. It's interesting to think about what South America might have looked like had this not taken place. I was also surprised at the percentage of slaves that were sent to the Caribbean and Brazil as opposed to North America. Though the conditions of the slaves in the Caribbean were pretty abominable, they had some chance of freedom and a chance to blend Into society more than those in North America. Perhaps if slaves here had been able to have such opportunities race relations in the U.S. Would be different. The establishment of the Russian Empire was also interesting. Russians settled Siberia much like the Chinese settled other areas. They Russified the Indigenous siberians, who learned the Russian language and became Christians. By doing this, the Russians were able to maintain control over large areas and peoples. The Siberians Identified themselves with the Russians and caused little resistance.

I will be doing my final project on same-sex marriage. The following are my interview questions: 1. When and where were you legally married? 2. What difficulties did you encounter before you were married? 3. How has being legally married alleviated those difficulties? 4. Have you encountered a different set of difficulties by being married? 5. Generally speaking, what kind of response do you get from people when they Find out you are married? 6. What do you feel is the best way to defeat Proposition 8 in California? 7. Same-sex marriage is gradually being accepted state by state. Do you feel That same-sex marriage should be a state mandate or federal mandate? 8. Why is it important to you to be legally married as opposed to having a Civil union or domestic partnership? 9. Do you see parallels between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and The issue of same-sex marriage? 10. What do you see as the long-term results of the acceptance of same-sex marriage?

I found the chapter on Islam especially interesting. Besides giving me a historical perspective on Islam, this chapter provided some insight that is relevant to our dealings with the Middle East today, especially regarding women. It seems that originally, the Quran was written with the idea that women were equal in some aspects, though like Confuscianism, women were expected to obey and honor their husbands. By the middle of the 8th century, however, women were becoming separated both physically, in separate living quarters and emotionally by veiling. It seems that the minimizing of women has continued. for example, in Saudi Arabia women cannot drive themselves. They have also come under the extreme power of all males in their family, not just husbands. Some of the worst abuses of women took place under the Taliban. Regarding the Mongols and Ghinggis Khan,I found it amazing that he was able to defeat such superior civilizations as China and Persia. His use of dividing clans and tribes into military units and establishing loyalty and discipline seemed to be Ghinggis Kahn's biggest strength. Ghinggis Kahn was also willing to share the same hardships as his men, which also created a sense of loyalty. Part of their method of maintaining power was to slaughter entire populations that seemed to difficult to rule. Such an event took place in Baghdad. I found it interesting, however, that while Mongols in China were eventually driven back to the steppes, Mongols in Persia Were eventually absorbed into Persian and Islamic culture. It seems that the Mongol Empire suffered some of the same causes of it's demise as the Roman Empire. The area ruled by the Mongols was just too vast to keep under control. Also, much of it's society consisted of slaves who eventually resisted and ousted the Mongols.

     As I read about the postclassical or third-wave civilization era, I couldn't help but compare the impactof  this era on human development with the impact that the neolithic era had on human development. The neolithic era involved the spread of agriculture while the postclassical era
involved the rapid spread of commerce.
     Both eras lead to the stratification of societies. Those who could store more crops and food reached
a higher status.  During the third-wave civilization era, those who could import fine products such as silk and gold, reached a higher status. Likewise, both eras lead to the spread of disease, though during the neolithic era many of the diseases came from housing animals in close proximity with humans while
during the postclassical era, disease was spread from human to human. Another similarity is that both North and South America were impacted by these two eras at a much slower rate than the rest of the world. This was due, in part, to the movement between the northern and southern hemispheres, which had very different weather  conditions. Civilizations in the Americas were blocked from each other by geographical barriers such as rain forests. They also lacked beasts of burden such as horses or camels
to carry materials from one place to another.
     Another very interesting aspect of the postclassical era involved the spread of religions. I was not aware that Islam spread to Africa while Buddhism spread to Asia through trade during this particular time. Buddhism spread via the Silk Road while Islam spread through trade on the Indian Ocean.

I have attached an article about early Roman shipping. Archeologists have discovered evidence that
early Romans went further out to sea then first thought. They didn't just hug the coastline.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/ancient-roman-shipwrecks-greece_n_1552492.html