What I found most interesting (Chapter 7)

For what I found most interesting with this weeks readings, was really different parts of the entire 7th chapter. In the very beginning I love the story Strayer uses to describe the delivery of the Apple iPod back in 2004. It is hard to believe that some people would consider that story to have a extremely slow shipping process compared to some of the shipping technology we have now a days. Commerce is one of many ways that ancients societies and modern day societies were able to thrive and grow. I do remember learning in prior history classes, that different regions of the first societies had specific surplus of resources in those specific regions. For example on page 282, Strayer points out how older societies were able to monopolize some of their resources such as silk in China, spices in Southeast Asia or incense from Arabia. Obviously now a days we see more competition with commerce products, but back in the early days of the world, regions were still developing and competition of goods didn't quite exist yet. 

I really enjoyed reading about the Silk Roads and how they came to be. My Asian history isn't the greatest so this was a great time to really learn more about the Asian culture. It was very interesting to learn about the different climates along the Silk Road and how they affected trade. I never know that the different climates prevented agriculture from thriving in some areas, and this really opened up the need for trading goods. The Silk Road took off once powerful states gave the merchants security in their duties. I was amazed to learn how the Silk Road created a complete circle route which went from Mongolia all the way across Asia to the Caspian Sea. As the times got better, so did the variety of goods that circulated on the Silk Road. Personally I think this makes a whole lot of sense. With increased security, wealthy families and elite's probably felt much safer using the Silk Road for commerce and trade. Once higher end items are being traded, this just allows the Silk Road and its travelers to thrive even more. And these high end goods also played a role in naming the Silk Road. China was able to monopolize the production of silk. Silk was even used as forms of payment protection to fend off barbarians, along with its obvious uses for clothing for example. 

The last topic I will touch on are the very interesting and amazing Sea Roads. Traveling overseas is something I really took for granted up until last year when I went to Europe. We are so lucky to be able to get goods from other countries and to be able to visit these countries. The current pandemic has really made me appreciate the privilege to travel. I believe the Sea Roads were very innovative. To be able to tremendously increase the amount of resources to bring for trade or sale, was a huge boost the economy of the world back then. More product being transported on the ships, means that cheaper shipping became available, as well as growth of the Sea Roads and economies themselves. The best part of the Sea Roads to me was how the roads were able to connect even more societies than the Silk Road. This to me was a huge contributor to the advancement of the world, and we still use the same type of goods transportation today.

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