Islam and Comparing China to Europe.

I actually found the cadence of reading these three chapters a little difficult and choppy. We jump from paying attention to the rise and spread of Islam, to a rapid overview of the changes occurring during the Medieval Period leading into the modern period. I won't address my thoughts on Chapter 9 here as I did so last week, because I apparently can not follow instructions. That said, I did re-read the chapter just to see if I had really missed anything. I did appreciate being able to re-read the chapter after we had discussed some of the information class. For me one of the most interesting things to read about was "Pastoral Peoples" I had never though of the Mongols or Huns in this manner. The way I read this the empire the Mongols built was the first time we truly had a global economy, in as much as it encompassed the entire known world at the time. It was also interesting to read that it was most likely the Silk Roads that brought plague around the Eurasian world. I had only ever thought of it in terms of coming via ships, not that it also travelled over land, for me it was an interesting correlation to the way HIV travelled around the world. I also very much appreciated the comparison to the colonization of the Americas to that of the Mongol conquests. The similarities are unnerving. In looking at the worlds of the 15th century I appreciated reading about how Paleolithic Hunter Gatherer societies persisted (and I believe to some small degree still do) in Australia, but also in the Americas. I like the way Strayer implies that it is possible those societies really saw no reason to change the way they lived. Being part Algonquin I was raised hearing about the five nations and that in some parts of our version of Democracy in America was based originally on the ideas and tenants of the Iroquois League. Strayer while jumping around did help me to see all of the civilizations and somewhat compare them. From Mind dynasty China working to erase the legacy of the Khans and return to their roots, to the creation of the Europe we in the West grew up studying. Also in looking at the Mexica and Aztec societies, truly getting a sense of why the Aztecs believed so strongly in sacrifice. Or the fact that women had parallel roles in both Mayan and Aztec societies. I really liked his question of What If? What if the Chinese had continued their seafaring explorations and expanded their Empire, how different would our world look today? Makes me think about that Netflix show "Man in the High Castle".