History Repeats Itself: Rome compared to the modern day U.S.A

Rome began with the majority of goods and crops being produced by small farmers, or plebians. These farmers used paid manual labor to produce their crops. Although the prices for produce were relatively high, the economy was also high and the wealth was somewhat distributed. As the Rome republic and eventually the Rome Empire progressed, Rome gained a huge amount of land and riches through it's expansion. Although Rome allowed each conquered society to keep their culture and form of government, each conquered area had to pay taxes to Rome. In these ways Rome as an empire became very wealthy. This wealth however, was not widespread. Mostly upper class families acquired their wealth and the plebians remained somewhat poor. The wealthy families began building and buying latifundias, huge estates, and used slaves as the manual power to produce crops. Slaves were an efficient and cheap choice for latifundias because they required minimal expenditure. The use of slaves in latifundium however, gave the plebieans a disadvantage. Plebeians had to pay their workers and such whereas latifundium only had to supply food and a place to sleep. Therefore latifundium prices dropped whereas plebieans prices for produce remained the same. Therefore, the small plebeian farmers were being put out of business as the latifundium were creating a monoply. This is similar to what happened recently in U.S history. When America began, American's produce needs were being fulfilled by small farmers. However, as you see in this day and age not only are huge farms being created and run by minimally paid workers, other industries are becoming that way also. Just like in Rome American companies are striving to find the cheapest labor so that their production fees will be less than their competitors. Just like in Rome, American companies are turning to foreigners for this cheap labor.( Although they are not turning to slaves) Just like Rome, America is one of the most successful countries of the world, and therefore can turn to less succesful countries, such as 3rd world nations for it's labor. In this way, history has repeated itself. If empires and civilizations reach a certain age and have dealed with certain difficulties, than the empire realizes certain things such as what is the most cost efficient for the empire. In that way history repeats itself because naturally, large empire follow a certain path.

Sparta vs. Athens

In my opinion Sparta and Athens are both equally corrupt. In American schools it is common for Sparta to be created as the "bad" city-state and Athens to be portrayed as the knowledgable one. My reasoning is Athens was the city-state that taught and tried to personally better themselves educationally. The teachers who are teaching Ancient Greek history mostly agree with this method of teaching and learning and that is why they work at schools. So according to my reasoning, Athens is automatically the good guy. If you compare Athenian direct democracy to American representative democracy today you will find major flaws within the system. Athenian democracy immediately eliminates slaves and women as candidates for cititzens. Before Pericles foreigners were rarely offered cititzenship although Athens greatly profited from foreigners crafts and goods. Socrates is a great example of the backstabbing side of Athenian democracy. Even assemblymen who argued Socrates was innocent called for his death. In Athenian democracy (and arguably today also) this method of government can be persuasive and pressuring beyond natural amounts. Many historians believe that Athen's democracy was the first in the history of the world. If you look at the world today where there are cases of moderately uncorrupt democracies such as the United States, countries such as Iraq cannot even become democratic. This shows that one of the first democracies could hardly be anything but barely democratic in those days and ages. Sparta, however is very open about it's control. Everything was ordered by the two kings and his advisors with no say from the people. Boys were sent to the barracks at age 7 and taught to steal. But is that so much worse as a so called fair democracy which really contains and premotes and sly behavior. Naturally, democracy is a form of government that promotes corruptness. People are all supposed to have a say in the government, but naturally some people want more of a say then others. People are voted on to represent the people, but what if those representatives put on a fake front for the public. Really, without strict rules and restrictions it is hard for a democracy to become what it is supposed to be: government by the people. Women in Greece is an example of how Athenian democracy was limiting. Women were forced by society to stay secluded in doors and leave all political activities to their husband. Athenian democracy was direct and therefore they could not take into consideration every person in Athens' view. Therefore Athens had to restrict who could be cititzens or not and created a very unequal political system. Women in Sparta however had much bigger opportunities in Greece and had much more freedom. In all these ways Sparta and Athens are mostly the same in the amount of equality and virtuosity they offered.

Greek's Polis

Greek City-States. This is a good website for interesting and useful knowledge on Greek Polis.

British teacher is freed. This event shows the clashing of cultures and what it can lead to. The interaction between cultures can result in many possible ways. In this case values were in conflict. Gillian Gibbons was in Sudan of her free will teaching students at Unity High School. Protesters wanted Gibbons dead because her students in their classroom voted on naming a Teddy Bear Mohammed. This shows how much religion in Sudan means to some people there.

AP World History Course

World History

"The purpose of the AP World History course is to develop greater understanding of the evolution of global processes and contacts, in interaction with different types of human societies. This understanding is advanced through a combination of selective factual knowledge and appropriate analytical skills. The course highlights the nature of changes in international frameworks and their causes and consequences, as well as comparisons among major societies. The course emphasizes relevant factual knowledge deployed in conjunction with leading interpretive issues and types of historical evidence. The course builds on an understanding of cultural, institutional, and technological precedents that, along with geography, set the human stage. Periodization, explicitly discussed, forms an organizing principle for dealing with change and continuity throughout the course. Specific themes provide further organization to the course, along with the consistent attention to contacts among societies that form the core of world history as a field of study."

"World History." College Board. 27 Nov. 2007 .

Buddhism's Spread in Southeastern Asia

I believe that Buddhisms spread throughout Southeastern Asia was seemingly innocent, but when you uncover the facts, quite power driven. Japan is the best example of it's power driven qualities, because of the strict rulers. Rulers justified their actions and inheritance of the throne by Buddhism. China also exhibits this Buddhism as a way to gain power. The Toba who ruled northern China during the Northern Wie dynasty (386-534) added Buddhist aspects to their traditionally shamanistic cults and even went so far as to have themselves worshipped as reincarnations of the Buddha. If the people were Buddhist believing, and the rulers were reincarnations of the Buddha, than the people would be more respectful and loyal to the people. Just the same way that the Ancient Civilizations' rulers such as the Shang and Egyptian civilizations had themselves ruled as gods to retain power, the Toba added a new and revised "Mandate of Heaven" to help support their rule. In all three areas: China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism was brought by monks (monks originating from both inside and out of the country) who had some sort of power and connection to the ruler. Without this Buddhism would not have been spread, or even noticed.

Syncretism of Buddhism in Southeast Asia

Buddhism reached China first, then Korea and from there to Japan. This lesson was one that could be directly related to "Geography is Destiny". Japan was the piece of land farthest to the North, and to top that off it was an island, and therefore needed ships or boats to bring trade to it. Until trade became just as proficient across water than across land, Japan would recieve all goods and ideas after China and Korea. In the case of Buddhism Japan already knew about Buddhism's success in other countries such as China, so they were much more willing to try it out. Korea and China however needed missionaries who performed prophecies and magical spells to "wow" (impress) audiences to gain support. Japan, however, had a smoother transition to Buddhism as the idea spread across the land and gained awareness. That smooth transition however, did not mean that Buddhism did not become corrupt. Rulers began using Buddhism to justify power however after the first ruler ruled with Buddhism there was an epidemic and all believed that this epidemic was a cause of Japan's switched beliefs. This is another example of "Geography is Destiny", because epidemics do follow that theory (see "Guns, Germs, and Steel" for more information.) Even though Korea, Japan, and China all had trouble at first with Buddhism, this religion became one of the main religions in all three of these areas.