Its a shame that Haiti is still feeling the effects of the French colonization. Its such a beautiful country but its over shadowed by its poverty. Its surrounded by the most beautiful turquoise water that I have ever seen but its being over shadowed by poverty. France for many years extorted it will take a few more centuries to ever recover. Having visited Haiti its hard to ignore the impoverishment of the country. Although my family and I were in the tourist part, there were plenty of citizens begging for money or asking to purchase little trinkets. I do admire the Haitian resiliency in kicking the French out of there and reclaiming their land. Unfortunately it came at a cost. The French imposed a tax that the Haitians could never pay off. Once a rich country, now in deep poverty. As the book illustrates, "Widely regarded as the richest colony in the world, Saint Domingue boasted 8,000 plantations which in the late eighteenth century produced some 40 percent of the worlds sugar and perhaps half of its coffee." The only coveat that I see is that the so-called "wealth" did not benefit the native people. He land was rich but the native people were not. At present day Haiti is still trying to find there way. The neigboring Dominican Republic whom they share the island even with distance themselves from Haiti. Now that a natural disater occurs, there has to have world wide aid to help with the devestation. No thanks to France on assisting.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Part 4
Part 4 The Early Modern World
As much as I learned about slavery, it still amazes me how it happen, how long it happen & how it still plays a part in current times. At first goods were traded then human beings. The justification for this was that Africans were sub human. Therefore the slaves were brought over to do the labor work that no others wanted to do. They were taken to thee sugar plantation and endured hard labor. One thing that was interesting to me me was where the word "slave" came from. According to the book, "Initially, Slavic-speaking peoples from the Black Sea region furnished the bulk of the slaves for the Mediterranean plantation, so much so that "Slav" became the basis for the word"slave" in many European languages." I never thought of where the name came from because its such a horrific tragedy, the name is insignificant.
I have mixed feelings about how the slaves were treated. Although not all slaves had the hard labor some were in the house or helping in the store. Whether in the fields or in the house it doesn't matter, there was nothing good about slavery. Africans were taken from their home, stripped of their families and language and taken against their will to a foreign placed and was dehumanized. What was "good" about that?
As much as I learned about slavery, it still amazes me how it happen, how long it happen & how it still plays a part in current times. At first goods were traded then human beings. The justification for this was that Africans were sub human. Therefore the slaves were brought over to do the labor work that no others wanted to do. They were taken to thee sugar plantation and endured hard labor. One thing that was interesting to me me was where the word "slave" came from. According to the book, "Initially, Slavic-speaking peoples from the Black Sea region furnished the bulk of the slaves for the Mediterranean plantation, so much so that "Slav" became the basis for the word"slave" in many European languages." I never thought of where the name came from because its such a horrific tragedy, the name is insignificant.
I have mixed feelings about how the slaves were treated. Although not all slaves had the hard labor some were in the house or helping in the store. Whether in the fields or in the house it doesn't matter, there was nothing good about slavery. Africans were taken from their home, stripped of their families and language and taken against their will to a foreign placed and was dehumanized. What was "good" about that?
Monday, June 1, 2015
Chapt 3
I learned fairly quickly in my first year in college, that my previous teachings vastly differed. I feel that in High School (well at least in my High School)we were only taught about Slavery, WWII, and the Civil Rights movement.
Now that I have a better understanding of the Roman Empire, I'm able to relate some of their practices to our modern society. Similar to the Romans, U.S. has their share of conquering weaker states. So are we Rome? If we're not Rome we are pretty close. We invade and make our presence known. Although there are similarities with the rise of the Roman Empire and the rise of the U.S.; some Historians refute the comparison. As the author Strayer mentioned," Historians frequently cringe as politicians and students use (and perhaps misuse) historical analogies....."(pg144) I view the Romans as fearless. They conquer fearlessly but they also take advantage of the weaker states. The U.S. started with only 13 colonies and eventually ended with 50 states. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears in order for these empires to be as dominate as they were/are.
During the rise of the Roman Empire, the Romans were able to build an army to evade the smaller states. The Romans invaded and destroyed smaller states to make an example to the rest. Other than displaying the characteristics of a bully, the Romans offered citizenship to the citizens they conquered.
Now that I have a better understanding of the Roman Empire, I'm able to relate some of their practices to our modern society. Similar to the Romans, U.S. has their share of conquering weaker states. So are we Rome? If we're not Rome we are pretty close. We invade and make our presence known. Although there are similarities with the rise of the Roman Empire and the rise of the U.S.; some Historians refute the comparison. As the author Strayer mentioned," Historians frequently cringe as politicians and students use (and perhaps misuse) historical analogies....."(pg144) I view the Romans as fearless. They conquer fearlessly but they also take advantage of the weaker states. The U.S. started with only 13 colonies and eventually ended with 50 states. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears in order for these empires to be as dominate as they were/are.
During the rise of the Roman Empire, the Romans were able to build an army to evade the smaller states. The Romans invaded and destroyed smaller states to make an example to the rest. Other than displaying the characteristics of a bully, the Romans offered citizenship to the citizens they conquered.
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