Blog #5

In the reading about The Early Modern World, I found several things to be interesting.  In the first part I found the Sugar Production to stand out, the impact of the Slave Trade in Africa, and the Birth of Modern Science.  These three things brought an interest to me as I read along.
        In the first part of the reading, what caught my eye were the colonies of sugar.  I found it interesting how profitable sugar was and how many different things can be used by sugar.  The Europeans used sugar for spice, as a sweetener, medicine, sculptured forms as a decoration, and preservatives, sugar was used in many different ways.  Sugar production had been pioneered by the Arabs, and was brought to the Mediterranean. Once the Europeans were able to understand how to produce sugar, they brought it to the Atlantic island then soon after to the Americas.  But once the British, French, and Dutch took over the Portuguese planters, they made the Caribbean a highly productive sugar-producing colony. It was interesting that the production of sugar was the “first modern industry in that it produced for an international and mass market, using capital and expertise from Europe, with the production facilities located in the Americas” (413).  But with all the new development also lead slave labor, the slaves were brought from the Atlantic and Africa. With many different racial and ethnic make-up, brought disease.  It said in the book that “The work is great and many die” (414).  I found that quite disturbing, that they would import slaves just as they would import food.  Just the thought of slaves being treated like they were nothing was quite disturbing even though the sugar production was very profitable.
Going along to the next chapter, it continued along the lines of the Slave Trade.  What stood out to me was the fact that during the 1600s, Africa made the world’s population 18 percent, and dropped down to only 6 percent a hundred years later. I could not believe have drastic the population went down due to the slave trade that was going on. While other countries were expanding such as China, Europe and other regions, Africa growth slowed down. This led Africa not having any new technology, any new agriculture or industry in order to grow.  During the time of the slave trade, the book said that people in Ghana, for example were people that went out in groups; mothers did not let their children outside, when they saw the European ships.  That was no way to live, for them to even be afraid to go outside because there was a possibility they would be put in the slave trade.  I can only imagine what these people had to go through, and how their life was put on hold, and weren’t able develop as a society.
Moving along I found interesting was the Birth of Modern Science.  The Scientific Revolution was a transformation that took place during the mid-sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. This Scientific Revolution led to men of science to no longer rely on speculations of ancient philosophers. It also led to “a combination of careful observations, controlled experiments, and the formulation of general law, expressed in mathematical terms, became the standard means of obtaining knowledge and understanding in every domain life” (477).  The ones that created this scientific revolution were, Copernicus from Poland, Descartes from France, Galileo from Italy, Newton from England, and many more.  It’s interesting that if in different classes other than History, how often theses scientist have been brought up.   This revolution had challenged the thinking’s of ancient social hierarchies and political systems.  The revolution brought people a new understanding to how things work rather relying on what was told from people that were higher than them, now they had facts.
Though the topics I talked about are different I believe they had a huge impact on our world today.