ESSAY CEMETERY

  Video 1: The Great Divergence -- Why? The term Great Divergence was coined by the historian David Pomerance. Across Eurasia, the East diverged from the West. If we look at per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product), there wasn't much GDP growth difference between the West and Asia in 1500-1820. However, in 1820-1870, Western GDP really grows whereas in Asia it declines slightly. In terms of total GDP, the two regions weren't very different in the initial period. However, in the later period, the difference is really stark: Europe is producing much more. In 1500, Asia was the biggest producer in the world, producing over 60% of the world's products whereas Europe produces 17%. As time goes on, this balance flips (by 1913) and Europe overtakes Asian production. The similarities between Asia and the West in 1700-1750 Basic scientific discoveries (gunpowder, higher mathematics) Manufactured goods (ceramics) Population centers Financial capacity Growth constraints + Malthusian tr...

Video 1: Lucky Americans In this video we'll discuss the implications of the revolutions in the Atlantic World on the rest of the world. The British, the Spanish and the French in the 1790s Early 1790s: The war of the First Coalition 1796 - 1801: The war of the Second Coalition in France. During this period Spain rules over most of North and South America. Brazil was occupied by Brazil. The West Indies were occupied by France, England and Spain. The French West Indies was experiencing a slave revolt which deprived them of the goods of that region. The Spanish hold over its colonies was considered weak during this period. By the 1790s Charles 4 was the monarch of Spain. Manuel Godoy became a lover of the Queen, and Charles the king allowed himself to be influenced by Godoy. The British saw an opportunity to make a move against France: they attacked Saint Domingue from their colony in Jamaica. They also tried to conquer Buenos Aires. Both attempts failed. Frustrated by their failures...

Video 1: The Diffusion of Authority Diffusion of authority = the factors that affect authority. Knowledge, (military) force, and money are factors that create authority. Power used to be in the hands of kings and armies, knowledge was the domain of the Church (I guess we're talking about Europe and the West) and money was divided up between the two. Knowledge : The printing presses enabled knowledge to be more widely disseminated. The first encyclopedia containing practical knowledge was compiled and disseminated. Spiritual knowledge was disseminated as well (although Islam preceded Christianity as a religion that saw spiritual knowledge as a common right). Universities were also being created and growing, and they contributed to the formation and distribution of knowledge. Military force and war : to have bigger battles, armies grew and non-nobles became soldiers. Money : There was a need for many banks and companies because of the trade boom. Trade allowed for the creation of the...

The following are my lecture notes for Week 1 of the Coursera course  The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 . Video 1: The Study of History Figuring out the facts of history is challenging and not straightforward. Answering the questions about what happened isn't easy. In this course, we'll explore why things happened, and not just what happened. The facts are the circumstances, but the interesting things are the choices people made, as well as examining what didn't happen. Video 2: The Great Divide The traditional life = rate of change is slow. Modern life = rate of change is high. The rate of population growth dramatically changes in the late 1700s. Before and after = the great divide. The world was very populated first in Europe, and then the Americas and Africa became more populated. The Malthusian trap = more people but less stuff to go around. The amount of stuff is constant (really?), so overall poverty increases. This was the case until around...

Mukherjee calls America a myth. Mukherjee is a naturalized citizen and had to prove her worth to become one. She was born in Calcutta, India and never expected to naturalize, but to return home to marry the man her father picked for her. When she first arrived in Iowa for two years to study it was very homogeneous but now, 35 years later, it is so diverse that there's a cultural   or identity crisis regarding foreigners. In India this was unheard of, because classification matters above all and decrees precisely who each person is. Mukherjee herself was defined by her ancestry, caste and homeland. One day she spontaneously married her Canadian husband. For ten years she felt like an expatriate, and wrote a book that was an expression of this. After 14 years in Canada she decided to become an immigrant instead of an expatriate and moved to America with her family. Canada was hard because it was very racially exclusivist. America on the other hand held the appeal of its egalitari...

This short story is summarized in bullet points for no good reason. Events ·        It's a hot dry summer. Tony's friend Leon comes back from the army. He is drinking. ·        A state cop punches Leon in the face ·        Leon is admitted to the hospital with broken teeth and get stitches ·        Tony dreams about the cop who has white round eyes on a ceremonial black mask instead of a face ·        Leon gets better but wants revenge and Tony tries to dissuade him ·        Tony sees the cop in a gas station store and Leon says he is just as good as the cop ·        The cop follows them and they pull over. He makes them get out of the car. ·        Tony knows he can't look at the cop's eyes. He tries not to but then looks at ...