Journal Part 4

“Never before in human history had such a large scale and consequential diffusion of plant and animals operated to remake the biological environment on the planet.” (Strayer, 625)

During my reading I found this to be a really profound statement and my interested was sparked throughout the following chapters of part 4. I found this statement interesting and really appreciated the way he held as somewhat of a theme throughout the chapters. I enjoyed the information Strayer provided about the crops and animals that were making their way around the world. I would have never guessed that potatoes are not native to Ireland, but come from the Americas and sugar was not native to Brazil. This may be naïve of me or show my lack of previous knowledge regarding the world history.

I also enjoyed the way Strayer provided a clear mapping of the early modern empires and the people. I never knew where the term “mulatto” came from and I am assuming the vast majority does not as well. The information regarding the Russian empire and how at the time the other empires were crossing the ocean and Russia just expanded around these. The empire is still currently intake the other empires have become their own civilizations.

The trading that was happening during the early modern era was also quite interesting to me. Like the Dutch having the monopoly on the trade of nutmeg, mace and cloves imported from Indonesia and exported to India and Europe for up to seventeen times what they paid. I have learned about the fur trade in the past, but I never really grasped the importance of it and the impact it had globally or even in the America with the Native American and the tools they were able to trade beaver pelts, which also introduce or at least supplied them with alcohol. The slave trade – this had the most profound effect of all the trades and still hard to hear about today because of the injustices done to the human race. The population information provided by Strayer regarding the trade was mind blowing. In the 1600’s Africa population made up about 18% of the populations and by the 1900’s because of the slave trade it represented 6%.

And of course their era of science and enrichment laying the foundation for some of the modern greats that may not have changed history without the knowledge of the people who came before them. I guess that is how history works though!

It has been interesting to move into the modern era and make connections that I didn’t know where there previously.