Qing Dynasty

Ill be doing a power point tomorrow in class

The Qing Dynasty

In the reading it said that the officials and people in charge were very strict and harsh to the townspeople and local people. They demanded more taxes and labor. They were worried that if they were soft and kind to them then that may effect how strong the military recruit for the military would be. They wanted to keep the "fighting spirit of the Mongols." (p.423) They said that "people of noble rank," (also on page 423) were exceptions to the strict ruling. They did not have to pay the extra taxes. The reading also mentioned that the rulers would mock the Chinese by wearing hairstyles that they would wear and gold on their hats with peacock feathers.

I decided to research more about the "noble people" and figure out what they looked like.

The people worn many different things depending on rank and occasion. They had court robes that were worn for semi formal to formal events. And the dragon was a symbol of the emperor and you could only wear it if you had passed a civil service exam or if the emperor gave you permission. Surcoats were also worn but mostly by the imperial family. They were like the court robes and they were worn with medallions. Medallions were also another item you need to get approved by the emperor before you wore it. The Manchu dress was an informal dress and I think it could be worn by underclassmen.

People wore not only robes and dresses but they wore hats. The hats came in all sorts of different styles. One style was for winter and another for summer. But most of them consisted of fringe or threading on the top of the hat with a knob. The knob was a symbol indicating the status or ranking of the wearer. For the officials they could add peacock feathers to their to make them more distinct but again with approval from the emperor.

Women were given foot bindings to wear. They were used to immobilize the women so that they could not leave the house. This also kept them from leaving their husband. The way a women would walk with bound feet was supposedly attractive and a sign of beauty. The girls would start wearing the extremely painful and uncomfortable foot bindings starting at the age of three!

This just amazed me. I couldn't imagine having to wear painful foot bindings at the age of three and being immobilized more most of my life! I found this information from this site here.

Video Blog!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjRfxSuwhI0

Comparing and Contrasting the Incas and the Aztecs

Tonight I read about the Inca Empire and as i was reading i realized they refered to the Aztec Empire a lot, so I decied to compare and contrast their similarites and differences.

The first similarity i discovered was that both of the empires went from "rags to riches" which means they started off lacking everything and did not have a good economy, to their economy exploding through the roof and they had all the necessities they needed. They had all the military they needed for conquering to make their states the biggest ever. The next similarity i found out was that that like the Aztecs the Incas developed a strong outer relationship with the "american web" but there techniques of having a strong economy was completely different. The Incas conquered by delivering a labor service such as textiles producing goods, to win the land. By making it more of a trade rather than a conquer the Incas were more successful. Both of the Empire's principles were gender balance, the two genders would do things differently but they both practiced in equal ways. But as both empires become more proactive on making their armies stronger the gender became imbalanced and not equal. But the Incas discovered a way to fix that, they had a two Rulers, one male and one female. So even thought the two empires were similar they were completely different as well.

The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire was a well organized empire. The Emperor was at the top; because he was the descendant of the sun god he was divine. Then there were the provinces governors and other offices. As we know many empire that we've learned about are with men holding offices. Women weren't thought as smart or they thought they had no ability. However, in the Inca Empire they did hold offices one of them being a chosen woman. They were selected girls that were taken and brought up with an education. Became priestesses or married high officials. How were these girls chosen from many? And what were their roles in society? It couldn't have been that easy could it? I did a bit a research and came upon article that allowed me to understand more fully.

The article "Chosen Women of the Inca Empire" explained that they were taken from their families at the age of ten. They were selected by beauty and those who were considered to have ideal perfection were sacrificed. The others were taken to Cuzco to receive an education. After this was completed they were given as wives to officials, some of the high ranking girls became secondary wives to the Emperor. Others served/assisted at temples. However most were weavers and food producers. They would cook for the people that worked for the states. These people would work for the state as a payment. Or sometimes the chosen women would even give them clothing. As mentioned a lot of the chosen women were married to high members of society, or became priestess. They all received supply of food and clothing constantly and they didn't have to perform labor work. But not all chosen women received this. Some became single and lived in secluded areas with other chosen women denied the opportunity to marry. They could do nothing about this since they left their families and so had no family support and on top of that they had no say in selecting a husband. Those found by the Inca authorities to have a relationship with a man were buried alive with their lover. As you can see the chosen women did have some advantages but they also have their disadvantages.

Safavid Empire Research

I chose to research the Safavid Empire.

After coming into power, the Safavids had a very young ruler, Shah Ismail who was about 14 or 15 years old. By 1510 he controlled all of Iran. Shah had decided that the state's religion would be Shia Islam, which was not common in Iran. Therefore, he chose to use persuasion and force when attempting to convert this mostly Sunni population. In his attempt to fully convert these people, Shah hired scholars from Shi'ite countries to form a religious elite. These scholars ended up "tools" of the government.

The Safavids were not a very welcoming or tolerant society. They persecutes Sunnis as well as Shi'ites with different beliefs and many other religions.

The Safavids were definitely a theocracy; mixing religious and political powers. Most of the people within this empire were very content with their new religion and had many festivities. Although this empire had a lot of religious faith, they slowly became a more secular government.

Most importantly, the Safavids took advantage of their geographical positions, being located at the center of trade routes. They became more and more wealthy due to the trade between the Islamic world and europe.

The Ottoman Empire

The Islamic Empire, after some time, was finding some unification within four states. One of these states was the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire could be called at one point the most powerful empire in the world. It was composed of Turkish warrior groups that had found a new beginning in Anatolia. Over time, the Empire grew until it covered much of the Anatolia peninusula,  gone deep into southeastern Europe, and had conquered a large Christian population. This was only the beginning. After this, the Ottoman Empire expanded its control to a lot of the Middle East, the coasts of North Africa, land around the Black Sea, as well as even farther into Eastern Europe. Few could hold a candle to the Ottoman Empire. The Turks were now established as dominant over the Islamic world. The Ottoman truly asserted themselves as the top dogs when they seized Constantinople from the Christian Byzantines. After this victory, the Ottoman Empire expanded to become the next Roman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was the strongest of the states that split apart from the once glorious Islamic civilization. By the mid 1400s the Ottoman Empire was in control of much of the Anatolian peninsula and ventured deep into southeaster Europe, controlling a large Christian population. Later, the Ottoman Empire expanded to the coasts of North Africa, much of the Middle East, as well as the lands around the Black Sea. All this said, the Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in world history. This empire showed the dominance of the Turks over the Arabs. 

The Empire represented a change in power, as the Turks defeated the Christian Byzantines at Constantinople in 1453. They were to be the world's next dominant power after the Roman Empire.

However, east of the Ottoman Empire, another state from the original Persian Empire was gaining power, the Safavid Empire. The Safavid Empire's long term  decision was to follow a Shia version of Islam. Over time, this gained support, and defined the identity of the Persian culture.

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was created by a Turkic warrior group that had migrated into Anatolia. The territory of the Ottoman Turks included much of the Anatolian peninsula, southern Europe, coastal north africa, and the lands surrounding the Black sea. they acquired a large christian population in southern Europe. The Ottoman empire was one of the greatest lasting from the fourteenth to the twentieth century. It was very economically and culturally sophisticated, possessed a huge territory and incorporated many diverse people. The Ottoman Empire represented the Turks as the dominant people of the Islamic World, now dominant over many Arabs who had initiated Islamic faith more than 800 years earlier. The Ottoman empire siezed Constantinople in 1453, then in 1529 the Ottoman empire was rapidly expanding and attacked Vienna in Central Europe. Islam was expanding at the expense of Christendom.

Investigating the Founders of the Mughal Empire

After reading the textbook that did not have to much information on the Mughal Empire i decided i wanted to investigate what the Mughal Empire really was, I found a website and this is what I learned:  

Babar was the Governor who help start the empire in 1526, he basically got the empire up and running. He was not in-charge for that long only four years, after he resigned his son, Humayun, was the leader of the Mughal Empire.  He is the one who babied the Empire and gave it the fundamentals to make it last, but the real leader was Humayun's son Akbar the Great.  He is the one who took charge and made the empire thrive and succeed. He was smart and blended the religions together so that more people would join the empire which grew all the way to Afghanistan. In 1605 Akbar was replaced by his son, Salim, who was know as the more environmental and artsy leader who took joy in the gardens and the pieces of artwork.  In 1627 Salim's son, Shah Jahan, took the position. He was in control of the greatest, richest empires in the world, he is the one who left behind the Taj Mahal and cities like Delhi.  After his death his four sons battled it out for throne, Dara Shikoh, and Aurangzeb.  Aurangzeb was more in control and he lasted until 1707, but after that the empire started to decrease and become less strong and finally in 1857 the Mughal Empire collapsed 

I learned a lot more about the Rulers from the link than the book, so sometimes it is more useful to go farther than what the book tells you.  

The Ottoman Empire

While I was doing the reading in the book, I noticed a few interesting things regarding Islam and the numerous other religions present in the empire. First of all, the religions lived side by side, tolerant of each other and peaceful. Second of all, the Muslim rulers of the empire even funded some of the churches, not forcing the Christians or Jews to convert to Islam. As I read this, I mentally compared this situation to the situation of the present. In the Middle East, the radical(and I stress that I mean radical, not mainstream) Muslims have not been so tolerant of western religions and western ideals. In fact, people have died or have been killed because of the lack of tolerance towards their religion, or have at least been threatened or persecuted. This is an interesting parallel. Radical Muslims have been talking about reestablishing Islam as the religion of a giant empire, just like the Ottoman Empire. For some reason, this time around, not everyone is welcome and accepted, and the rule would definetly be stricter if the radicals have anything to say about it. In the Ottoman empire, the Muslims were establishing themselves as a world power, and didnt only want to intimidate people. They also wanted to make friends with the other religions to keep the peace. Now, it seems to me that the radicals are using scare tactics to keep their advantage and make themselves more well of than anyone else to establish themselves as the world power once again. Comparing these two time periods have helped me to understand what the empire was trying to accomplish and how their methods worked. Now I can better understand what is happening in my world today.

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was the largest state in the Islamic World in the 1500s. It was created by a variety of Turkic warrior groups in the 14th century. Little did they know at the time that they're creation would last for hundreds of years (up until the early twentieth century). Rapidly expanding, the Ottoman empire became one of the most powerful empires, if not the most powerful, during the 15th century. The Ottomans signified the beginning of the Turks becoming the dominant people of the Islamic world. They even ruled over the Arabs who were the creators of the Islamic faith. The two main goals of the Ottomans were to bring unity back to the Islamic world and to serve as the protectors of the faith. Before the Ottomans came along, Christendom had, for a long time, been overpowering the Islam world. However, the formation of the Ottoman Empire caused the tides to turn. The empire was so powerful that it was able to seize Constantinople and end Christian Byzantium altogether. With these christians out of the way, Ottomans took over as the successors to the Roman Empire. Constantinople was not the end of siege from the Ottomans. They continued to conquer cities all throughout Europe and expand both politically and with their military for quite some time. Europeans began to fear the "terror of the Turk."

The Mughal Empire

As I was reading, I came upon a passage I found interesting it was about how the Mughal emperors were able to keep the great number of Hindu in line. How was it that the Mughal Empire was able to do this? And if they were able to keep stability between the Hindu and Muslims how is it this empire went into a decline?

I came upon a site that gave me my answers. The article in BBC "Aurangzeb" said that the empire came down because of Emperor Aurangzeb. Before his time there was a tolerance policy which allowed Muslims and Hindus to live at peace with one and other. Also there was no taxes to non-Muslims. Then when Aurangzeb came into power he brought the empire to its highest but it also fell profoundly afterwards. Aurangzeb broke the tolerance policy and tore down Hindu shrines he also started taxing the Hindu subjects. During his time his military power was at its highest but he had conquered to much land causing unstability. Also because of the conflict between the Hindu he gained more enemies. Even though the Emperor Aurangzeb brought the Mughal Empire to its highest and largest, after his reign the Mughal went into a down fall.

Strayer Ottoman/Safavid summary

In our reading, the book focused on the Ottoman, Safavid, Songhay, and Mughal Empire. All these great, powerful empires made a big affect on the Islamic World and is sometimes considered as a "second flowering of Islam." 

The Ottoman Empire grew around the early fourteenth to twentieth century covering the Middle East, some of Africa, and Eastern Europe. Throughout the time of control, the Ottoman carried with them quite a large group of the Christian population. Since this empire started a new phase of the combination of Christendom and Islamic world, Ottoman also included many diverse people. During the same time, a neighboring state begin to expand forming the Safavid Empire. This empire had a religious split of the Sufi and Shia, two types of the Muslim religion. Since the terroritory, laws, and religious aspects were so different, the Ottoman and Safavid empire continued a rivalry for years. 

Similarly to how the Ottoman and Safavid Empires had a large division, yet political success, there were two other empires that faced a common situation. In West Africa, the Songhay Empire emerged and was the lead way of the trans- Saharan trade routes. They were addressed as the center of Islamic learning because of the empires economical goods and strategies. Just like how the Ottoman Empire combined to religions, Christianity and Islam, the Mughal Empire did the same thing combining Islam and Hinduism. They strived to create a partnership in both this people and further helped each other in wars using each others soldiers. These four empires brought the Islam world to higher political status, and economical success, and religious background.

Blog It! reading 378-382

Connect:

In this reading, it talks about how the Ottoman Empire was very successful and how the Ming Dynasty was one of the two empires that was able to match its power and wealth. I know about the Ming Dynasty because of the homework from the other night. Me, GG, and Lizzie were the group that researched Asia and we found some important information about the Ming Dynasty in China that was important from that time. I know about this and know that it was very successful at that time and that they were trying to remove all reminisce of the old Mongol ways and how they ruled. They did not like how they ruled back then and were ready for a change. This helped me understand the Ottoman Empire and see how it was compared with the Ming Dynasty.

Later in the reading, they also mentioned how the Ottoman Empire initiated new connections between religions mainly with Islam and then how the Mughal Empire initiated connections between Islam and Hinduism. In the Ming Dynasty time they also went through a time when they changed the religion up a little bit. They involved Buddhism and Confucianism and encouraged Confucianism. All of these dynasties experienced changes and alterations in their religions.

While reading this section i also wondered how a small Turkish tribe came to be so popular. It happened right after the fall of the extremely powerful Roman Empire and the two are connected. After the fall of the Roman Empire from attacks on all fronts, there was absolute chaos for 100s years. During a time like this, it is perfect for someone to take over since everyone is looking for a leader. This is what the Ottomans did. In 1453 was a milestone because the last remaining city in the Eastern Roman Empire (Constantinople) was destroyed. Constantinople is where Constantine moved the Capital. This was a political move, so that Rome could feel better associated with the troublesome east. Constantinople survived many attacks, but the Ottomans finally overtook it, renaming it Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire, like the Roman Empire, started out small and over time accumulated more and more land until they because an international super power. Of course eventually they fell like all Empires at the beginning of the 20th century. One of the reasons empires like this can fall is because they stretch themselves out too much, but feel invincible because of all of the power. This leads to an almost rot from the inside of the empire. Also food becomes a Major problem when one empire controls so much because so many people rely upon them for a constant food supply. Rome dealt with this by having Sicily be their bread basket and basically they imported most of the food from Egypt in the extremely fertile Nile Delta. Rome was well situated because it was reasonably close to the coast in the huge Mediterranean Sea. This sea also has fairly calm waters so food can be imported from far away places like Egypt and not go bad or overboard.

This Isn't my Blog Entry

This isn't my blog entry I just want to know what people think the answer to this question is.

Why was the Ottoman Empire so successful? Why did the economy and culture all of a sudden become more sophisticated?

Response to Elle's, "Muslims, Christians, and the Ottoman Empire."

Elle, a few comments on your investigation.

You began by asserting that Islam (specifically the Ottoman Empire) and Christianity became more strict and responsible as time passed. However, you provided no evidence to support your claim. Instead, you quickly moved on to discussing Columbus' explorations of the New World, and the harshness of devshirmes; neither of which relates at all to the development of responsibility or strictness in Christian or Muslim civilizations.

In fact, I would consider the kidnapping of young children to be an irresponsible act, yet it continued for roughly half of Ottoman history. The devshirme system only fell out of practice in the 17th century because these positions were only available to slaves, and those who were already at the upper echelon of society wanted to maintain political control within their own families (instead of giving away positions of power to slaves). Therefore, the Devshirme system fell apart due to a thirst for worsening the imbalance of power, not because the Ottomans strived to become a more responsible society.

Also, I find it difficult to accept your notion that an entity can become more responsible and strict simultaneously. When one becomes more responsible, strictness loses its purpose because they are sensible enough to make wise decisions. This concept is analogous to raising a child; as it grows up you don’t need to have as many rules for it, because it becomes more and more capable of taking care of itself.

Lastly, if you have evidence supporting the claim that the Ottoman Empire or Christianity (although due to its widespread nature and diversity, it could prove difficult to pinpoint its specific characteristics) became more strict and/or responsible as it developed through modern history, I’d love to hear it.

Muslims, Christians, and the Ottoman Empire

As I read the pages about Muslims, Christians, and the Ottoman Empire, I realized that as each religion and empire progressed. They became more strict and more responsible about how to rule. In the beginning, around the 1300s, they the Ottoman empire started in northwestern Anatolia, which comprises most of modern day Turkey. After about 3 centuries, the Ottoman turks took over almost half the world; Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe. They came together to create the world's most significant empire.
Around the time that the Islamic religion was overtaking almost every continent, Christopher Columbus in 1492 sailed to the Americas and became the first European to discover the Americas. There he found Native Americans and learned how to live on a new piece of land. He tookover the new land and called it home.
In addition, later on the Ottoman Empire started to allow Christians into their "elite" empire, but they were not treated the same as they treated the Jews. The Balkan Christians were required to hand over a certain amount of young boys who were removed from their families and forced to learn Turkish. After that, they were "usually" converted to Islam, but however it wasn't mandatory. After the young boys had been trained, they would then be ready for the civil administration or military service. As many families didn't like giving up their child, there was a benefit to it. The devshirme as they called it, meant that their family would take one step higher within the Ottoman Empire.
Lastly, the Ottoman Empire was a very manipulative type of government. For every young boy they took, that family would have to pay their cost into becoming higher in the empire. Therefore, the empire kept getting richer and richer.

Parenting & Food: Eat your peas. Or don't. Whatever.

Investigate:

This article is in response to child obesity and other eating disorders. The parents are trying to find out how to regulate their child's eating habits so that they stay healthy. School are now serving less high sugary sodas and fewer fatty, greasy foods. This article is written to parents who are trying to protect their child's health. The article states that parents who tell their kids to diet are more likely to have obese children. The article recommends parents to involve their children when it comes to shopping for food and preparing meals. It also says that not allowing certain foods can cause the children to want it more because it is "off limits."

Frank Bruni, the author of this article, recently wrote a book called "Born Round. The Secret History of a full time eater." This book is a memoir about him and how he was born "with a big stomach" and how he was raised influenced his eating.