1.It is true that agriculture has been one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind due to the impacts it has brought to the world. Due to the competition between humans and animals agriculture has brought dependence and food security against the ever diminishing natural resources. Agriculture led to the invention of fire that has had substantial positive effects on the human livelihood in terms of domestication and other uses of fire. The invention of transport and communication means has also had big and positive impacts on the human life to a bigger magnitude. These inventions have enabled easy and fast transportation and communication that has made the world a global village. If agriculture was not invented so many species would have faced extinction due to competition over limited natural resources. This invention was not by accident but resulted from man’s futile endeavors to survive on natural resources which was becoming tiresome and unfruitful due to diminishing of the resources. Agriculture invention was inevitable as it was the only means that could guarantee humans their survival and livelihood.
2.The basic principles of governing a state or a people ought to be written down for the merits they offer in written form. A written document surpasses an unwritten document for the following reasons. It offers reference any time people need guidance and directions in matters affecting them. This reference is credible and justified in its use since the document cannot be easily altered as in the case of the unwritten document. Changing this document would require involvement of all people and a full support from them. This document cannot be manipulated by anyone to suit their self-interests and recognizes the fundamental roles and rights of the governed and the rulers. Having written laws would have by a better percentage advantaged the average Babylonian in that their rights would be well stipulated and the ruler’s roles clearly outlined such that no one would take advantage of the ruled. The identity of various groups in Babylon would be considered from all angles and their special needs would be observed in the rulers governorship.
Chapter 3,7,9 & 10:
1.Egypt and Mesopotamia developed their agriculture and civilization along the river banks but this was not the case in Native America. In Egypt and Mesopotamia agriculture and civilization was highly favored by natural factors for instance presence of plants and animals for domestication, availability of water from the rivers, good climate and soils that favoured agriculture which were entirely effected due to lack of food. In America civilization developed differently due to presence of immigrants from Britain who had experienced agrarian revolution in their country. These immigrants had better skills in agriculture and civilization from their country hence America did not need to start from scratch. This civilization lacked a basic factor of involving the natives of America in the process which impacted negatively to the development process. It also lacked originality in that all civilization, methods of agriculture and plants and animals reared all came from Britain, the natives were forced to embrace the culture from Britain. However, this development was intended and had to happen due to the enclosure system embraced in Britain that forced some Britain citizens go out to look for land. Agrarian revolution in Britain led to civilization in America resulting from the many immigrants who were looking for land after being rendered landless in their native country.
2.Emperor Augustus the first emperor in Rome restored the empire by implementing a number of social, moral and political reforms to improve the lifestyle and values in Rome. He reinstalled the pride, religion and the priesthood in the society bringing a revived religion. This emperor was considerate over the plight of the homeless, aged, sick and foreigners and he therefore established a home in the palace to offer to these disadvantaged groups. This attempt was quite different from the modern attempts where the rulers try to resettle the homeless by offering them land and other resources. His compassion towards these groups is one major similarity between his approach and the modern approaches towards resettlement of the homeless. The emperor addressed the issue of materialism and consumerism sternly as he did not take it lightly. He condemned the corrupt tax collectors and administrators and requested them to peacefully resign if they did not observe honesty in their work. He changed how appointments procedure, a thing that helped reduce greed and extortion. He sternly condemned greed “if ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace”. Up to date the world is widely invested with corruption a thing that has collapsed many governments.
Chapter 11,22 & 28:
1.The Spaniards considered the Native American culture low and barbaric basing their argument from their home cultures. Their religion practices and savage practices looked barbaric to the Spaniards. Since the Spaniards were Catholics they considered the natives religion as barbaric. They considered themselves good since they were religious and hence viewed the Native Americans as savages. The American culture was however civilized in the manner they carried out their activities and observed their religious practices for a harmonious living.
2.Spain’s and Portugal’s claim of controlling and exploring the rest of the world was based on their quest and position held by the two countries in the front of exploration. They based their argument on the number of their citizens who had gone out for exploration and discovered many overseas sceneries and lands. The two countries were in the forefront of making new explorations in the world reason they laid claim on most explorations done for instance by Columbus. This rush never resulted in warfare between the two countries because explorations were on different routes and they further got into agreements on exploration therefore controlling warfare and wrangles between them.
Chapter 12 & 13:
1.Trade is one of the key aspects of interactions that breed good relations and development between the trading partners. Besides the profits earned from trade it also offers other diverse and greater opportunities and avenues to those involved and their respective societies. Trade offers a platform where exchange of cultures take place hence promoting diversification of cultures and economic activities of people. There’s development of urban centers that play a major role in terms of development. Transport and communication systems and infrastructure are developed and improved in the process of carrying out trading activities. Therefore, trade offers more benefits than demerits to a society.
2.Muslims developed science and medicine fields due to harnessing people of different ethnic backgrounds into one through the Islamic culture. It had thinkers and innovators who set their endeavors in the science and medicine fields and invested heavily on them leaving out other activities that they used to practice. The Christian Europeans did not bias themselves in line with some specific activities. They were diversified and therefore could not specialize in specific activities. The Muslim community strived to sustain themselves in the field of science and health aspects.
Chapter 15 & 16:
1.China and Rome had similarities which mostly are seen due to their time of existence, location as well as the type of rule used. Both empires lasted almost the same periods of time and were considered powerful in their zones due to conquests they made. They were fully centralized and had high levels of civilization in the manner they carried out their duties and their livelihood. These were as a result of the individual leader’s commitment and application of law on their subjects. These two empires represent some empire building process that when implemented yields positive results to the empires life. This is clearly evident from the emperors rule and struggle to deliver on their people.
2.The Southeast Asia never solidified into one unit due to a number of reasons. This was due to the vastness of the region and hence bringing it under one ruler as an empire was difficult due to existence of diversified cultures that were combative and social practices. The region had also taken side in the warfare between America and Britain regarding Japan hence they could not as a block unify for a common goal. Their cultures and ideological differences hindered their unification.
Chapter 18, 20 & 21:
1.Feudalism in Japan and Europe had similarities and differences. Feudalism in Europe had a hereditary system of land ownership an aspect evident in the Japanese feudalism. Peasants in both countries never had a probability of owning land since land belonged to the ruling families. The offspring’s of the noble and the samurai irrespective of their capacity to lead qualified to rule through birth. In both it is evident that birth sealed the fate and destiny of individuals ignoring their struggle to better their lives. Similarly there existed some differences; since centralization was less in japan than in Europe land ownership was the nobles in Europe owned land fully unlike in Japan where the Samurais never owned but acted as the custodians of the land.
2.The medieval political organization viewed societies as unorganized groups unlike before where societies were viewed as organized states. Therefore, the societies had to be considered in terms of political terms based on the form of political organizations that existed in a particular society. Today societies view politics having separated them from Christianity as a independent entity in its jurisdiction. Renaissance has therefore increased diplomacy and development of political systems due to increased democracy.
Chapter 23,25 & 29:
1.During the protestant reformation the process was aimed at reformatting or restructuring how they carried out their mandate and duties. It aimed at reforming the beliefs and the manner of doing things from the Catholics. It resulted as a splinter group and lobbied for new reforms. Therefore we cannot term this as a revolution since there was no forced overthrow but a process of reforms that bore the change. The term reformation refers to a process of reforming a way of doing things to effect desired new changes while revolution involves use of force to effect desired changes.
2.Absolutism is a political system whereby a monarch had absolute powers over the subjects. This system bestows absolute powers and privileges of the rulers over their subjects. This system is characterized by luxurious living of leaders as a way of distinguishing them from their subjects. Power flows bureaucratically from the highest office, the king or queen and trickles downwards. The rulers have armies to enforce law and other traditional institutions are suppressed in praise of the monarch. An example of an absolute power is the Vatican City and Saudi Arabia. These monarchs have same characteristics in terms of power distribution and luxurious living.
Chapter 24, 36 & 37
1.The Ottoman Turks and the Europeans both persecuted the religious groups they found in their empires. The European treated the religious minorities better than the Turks who were terribly mistreated the religious minorities in their empires. Europeans were more benevolent than the Turks based on the kind of treatment the latter gave to the religious groups. They were considered inferior denominations in the empire.
2.Scramble and partition of Africa into colonies was done by the powerful nations who were considered powerful in terms of economies and warfare. However, there were other strong countries that never got involved in this rush for instance Russia and USA. At the time this scramble was beginning the two countries had not attained pride that the other countries felt. This process was seen as a quest to service their pride by acquiring more colonies but these countries saw it as an expensive process as they were still struggling to dominate the world economically and in warfare. They did not engage in the rush due to the reasons raised above. Chapter 42:
1.During the World War 1 entry of USA in this war made Germany to call for peace in the Versailles Treaty. This war was being fought in two fronts and USA supported Britain to protect their economic and their citizens. If USA failed to enter into this war both fronts would have continued to forever since their main aim was to create dominance over the allies on the other war front. There could have never been a peace agreement like the one signed after Germany realized that their enemies had gotten support from the USA. Were it not for the entry of USA Germany could have not given in.
2.Propaganda is passage and sharing of information selectively to serve ones agenda and self-interests. It is different from political statements, public announcements and advertising in that in propaganda, doctored information is trickled to the masses with aim of achieving an ulterior goal. We consider this term propaganda due to the usage it has had in history from the world wars that broke out as a result of propaganda passing. Calling anti-drug campaigns and anti-smoking campaigns propaganda is right as this war against drugs is selectively done by the organizations given this mandate while at the same time advertising on usage is increased on the media to increase their relevance.
References:
Adler, P. J., & Pouwels, R. L. (2012). World civilizations. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
