Chapters 13-15

Chapter 13
Location, location, location. This seems to be one of the main points of Chapter 13. The European countries closer to the Atlantic Ocean had an advantage over Asian countries by their sheer proximity to being closer to the ocean, therefore closer to the Americas. Throughout the chapter, location is a huge factor. Spanish conquests of the Aztecs, acquisition of slaves from Africa, and even the start of the Russian empire all happened how and when they did partially due to where the land was they wanted to rule.


Chapter 14
This chapter was emotional hard to read. I still cannot believe that as a whole, slavery was ever thought to be acceptable and that people were a commodity. It's appalling. The abhorrent conditions of slave ships, the abuse slaves endured, and the impact on African cultures that lost so many of their people, the idea is staggering. It was interesting to read that 45% of slaves disembarked in Brazil, that is a new statistic for me. I imagine that history in Brazil looks similar to ours, in the area of slave trade, but on a larger scale.

Chapter 15
To me this chapter was all about change. The Protestant Reformation changed an entire religion and how people thought about their world, and their church, causing many to branch off from the traditions of the Roman Catholic church. Many cultures 'borrowed' ideas from their oppressors or new cultures they encountered, picking and choosing what to incorporate into their own cultures,  changing the original culture. Science began to be practiced more widely, though scientific findings were still suspect by many people.