When Asia Was The World Chapter Summaries

This paper will compare and contrast these two civilizations concerning two of the major elements of society: government and religion. These two areas are important when examining the impact of a particular civilization, because they provide two different perspectives on a particular culture. While the examination of politics allows the power and influence of culture to be understood, the analysis of religion allows the cultural influence of people to be traced. In this paper, the similarities and differences between the governments and religions of Ancient Greece and Rome will be examined, as well as the impact that these civilizations had on one another. Finally, this paper will discuss the impact that these civilizations have had on

Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Imperialism was at an all-time high during European expansion movement through Asia, India, and Africa. If I was to be from Asia, in this time era, I would seek out many other options to avoid imperialism. I would picture the situation in a way that allowed me to talk to Europe’s head power of expansion. I believe that Asia could co-opt European ideas, but still keep their way of life economically and politically.

I like your comparison and contrasting analysis between the Mesoamerican, Peruvian and Greek civilizations. I agreed when you mentioned about how new society influence by Greek’s democracy. For my point of view, this form of government by far the most influential significant contribution of ancient civilizations. Religiously, they are similar, both worshipped unnatural and natural being. Moreover, the centrality of most ancient civilization is their religion and beliefs, from that, it was the way how they grew their society.

The video on Southwest Asia (the Middle East) mainly focused on conquest, consolidation, expansion, degeneration, and conquest again. This sequence repeated for over a thousand years until it was a common pattern for the history of war in Southwest Asia. Empires, including the Assyrians, Persians, and Parthians, would fight for land such as Babylon. Most of the time, they would successfully conquer the area until another empire fights for that same land and takes it

As any other society, India and Greece underwent changes that transformed their thoughts, beliefs, social order, and their idea about this world. Most of these changes were experienced during the Axial Age and the Age of Iron. These periods in history made people question themselves about topics such as life, the world, death, the soul, etc. People attempted to answer these questions through ideas, philosophies, and myths.

Civilization has been shaped by many things throughout its progression in the world. One of the most important assets to civilization and the fundamental values in which our world is today is Philosophy. The thought provoking and outward thinkers of the past invited different perspectives that provoked movements that have inspired luxuries that are enjoyed today like democracy, advanced medical technology, and freedom of expression in the forms of art. This would not have been possible without the introduction of formalized education that were introduced in the first universities that were introduced in the Middle Ages in Europe. The progression of educational reform has assisted in further cultivating and shaping society and has created the

Chapter six introduces the music of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is composed of eleven countries: Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, and Timor-Leste. The cultures are shaped by weather patterns, which generally stay the same year-round. As many as 200 ethnics group can be found throughout Southeast Asia and so, many different types of music can be found. The area is known for using bamboo and bronze to make instruments. Among the island nations, Indonesia is consist of over 13,000 islands making it the largest archipelago in the world.

China has influenced the societies of East Asia for a long time. All of China’s dynasties show signs of strength and weakness that influence Eastern Asia. Considering that East Asia is mainly China it shows that China is a powerful and strong country. China is such a big country in East Asia that it basically dominates all of the other countries of East Asia. China is a big part of East Asia that all of their dynasties show examples of what China has become today.

Religion and philosophy have been argued upon throughout history. Philosophers and religious leaders have opposing views about how society should behave and be controlled. Just as there are many different religions, there are also many different philosophies each with their own idea about how society should behave and governments should rule. Each philosophy also has a different opinion of human nature. Chinese philosophy began in the fifth century BC with Confucius and changed and evolved as other philosophers built off Confucian ideas and challenged Confucian ideas. Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi are three different philosophers from Chinese history who have three opposing views in their philosophical ideas of society and human nature. These three philosophies are Confucianism, Mohism and Legalism.

The “Pivot to Asia”, or rebalancing, was created as a strategic move to place the United States in the center, of what is recognized as to where the majority of economic and political history will occur in the 21st century. More than half the worlds population resides in Asia, making its development essential to American economic and strategic interests (Lily Kuo, 2015). Benefits of the “Pivot” for the US will greatly increase economic, diplomatic, development, and security ties with the region, and in part be advantageous domestically. Over the years, strong ties have been implemented and strengthened through alliances, trade, values, immigration and family links. There is concern that the “Pivot to Asia”, has been neglected, however, there

Zheng He was a great Chinese explorer and fleet commander. He commanded seven major expeditions to explore the world for the Chinese emperor and to establish trade in new areas. He commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. He was born into a Muslim family, however towards his adulthood, he became religiously eclectic. However on his expeditions, he spread Islam in Southeast Asia. From that, Islam continued to spread in Southeast Asia in different forms such as trade, travelling preachers, and immigration. He is said to have led China to become the superpower of the Indian Ocean, which is considered the world's most important crossroads of trade, in the 15th century. In present-day,

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (d. 1048) was one of the great polymaths of the pre-modern Muslim world. A scholar trained in multiple disciplines, Biruni benefited from royal patronage to pursue his research and writing. He belonged to a scientific community that shared his values and shaped his outlook. He forged a method for comparative inquiry and analysis based in Islamic epistemology but not limited by it. Biruni was a research scientist and more: a self-conscious and self-critical comparativist. For Biruni, comparison provided a distinctive heuristic purpose: to eradicate common misconceptions, in this case, misconceptions about Hinduism among Muslims, and in its place to promote a better acquaintanceship between two religious

In the readings, there are many trends regarding ancient concepts of law, government, and social structure. The code of Hammurabi played a significant role in Mesopotamian law, while the Nile River had a large part in the development of Egyptian civilization. In addition, the Hebrews moved toward pure monotheism and the Persians enhanced the Near Eastern model of monarchical government. “The evidence reveals that on the one hand, peoples then living in the Near East, Africa, and the Mediterranean developed their own distinctive beliefs, mythologies, customs, and sense of identity. On the other they shared many attributes such as large populations, the use of writing, devotion to religion, and economies based on trade and agriculture.” (Lualdi, 15) Overall, each society had similarities and differences in their way of life, but some are key to showing the maturation of the area as a whole.

Over the past decades, the East Asian countries have experiences massive economic growth for the policy change from protection centred to export promotion. Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong would be the good examples of this. According to Krueger (1997), during 1950s and 60s, it was the general consensus that “import substitution” was the basis for the development, however, Asian countries that applied free trade and promoted export has risen rapidly starting from Taiwan, which transformed from a “high-inflation, inner-oriented, aid-dependent economy” to “major exporting economy”(Krueger 1997). Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore followed similar transformation at the same time period as called “East Asian miracle”(WorldBank 1993). Moreover she points out that those who transformed from inner-oriented to export-driven countries has become more resilient to dept crisis than other countries who did not. After 1979’s oil price surge, the huge economic recession attacked global market. In this crisis, countries with higher dept-export ratios could recovered its growth rate faster than those with inner-oriented manufacturing. (Krueger 1997)

     A pattern that was common among the ancient civilizations of China, Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India was that most of them started as a dictatorship, a monarchy, or a dynasty. Eventually, most of them changed to a democracy, republic, or to class systems. Almost all of the civilizations had one or two great leaders. For example, Egypt had King Tut, Greece had Alexander the Great and Rome had Julius Caesar.