Week Three

During this week I found it particularly interesting how the slave trade impacted Africa. They were introduced to corn which added calories to their diet, decreasing mortality rates. On the other hand they were losing a large fraction of their male population. This meant that the females of the area had to take over, therefore the women took over the work force. 

In chapter 15 we were able to learn about the globalization of Christianity. At first this religion was limited to Europe and the world wide religion was Islam. Christianity motivated political as well as economic expansion for Europeans. They created missionaries that were meant to spread the Christian message. The Portugese missionaries were mostly located in Africa and Asia. The Spanish and French missionaries were located in the Americas. Many people converted but those who considered themselves Confucian, Buddhist, Hindu or Islamic usually resisted the Christianity message. 

In Spanish America most Native Americans had been baptized or considered themselves to be Christian by the 1700's. This meant that women who had been priest or spiritual specialist had to retire since Christians believe that those are male roles. Europeans were the first to impose their religion on the Native people. Conquistadores before them allowed people to maintain their own traditions and their own ways of life. 

We also got to learn about China and India. Neither one of these experienced dramatic culture or religious changes, though there were slight ones. One of the new concepts was Neo-Confucianism which has a Confucian framework with a Buddhist and Daoism insight. There was also a new movement called Kaozheng which mean "research based on evidence". This movement seeked truth from facts which was critical for the founding of Confucian Philosophy.