Chapter 16, 17, 18

As a result of the Atlantic Revolution new ideas and values began to form. The investment in humanity and the ideas of liberty, equality and tolerance began to take shape. This began a reform and it is referred to as the "democratic revolutions". The Atlantic Revolutions had a global impactful and encouraged change. This marked the beginning of the abolishment of slavery, equality for women and voting rights. I feel like this is one of the most important things to come out of this Revolution. The core ideas of equality and tolerance took shape and and has been modeled ever since. I feel like the people in this era were very insightful and understood the need for equal treatment for all. I wish that in today's world people still valued the fundamental ideas of liberty, equality and tolerance. We are living in a world that has started to shift away from this mindset and  we have taken for granted the rights that have been afforded to us.
The French Revolution was impactful to women's rights because women were active participants in the revolution. Women took a stand and made demands. The demands were not met, but their actions began to see the need for change and equality and this began the start of feminism.  During the time of 1780-1890 the end of slavery began to take shape. This era of enlightened thinkers began to think of slave practices as dergotory  and a violation of rights.  The Atlantic revolutions  could be noted for the abolishment of slavery, the beginning of a nation, and the beginning of feminism.


Many of the readings have been about a time so long ago. Now, as we are getting further in the book the times period doesn't seem so far back. There are issues in the chapter that are still issues today. For example, global warming. The Industrial revolution and the burning of fossil fuels marks the direct human impact on global warming. Long ago, there were romantic poets named William Blake and William Woodsworth both could see the harmful effects of the industrial revolution and what it was doing to the environment. The rivers were becoming cesspools and the pollution in the air was causing respiratory illness. The poets wrote urging a return to the "green and pleasant land" of an earlier time. They were insightful and observed what was happening to the environment.

Eurocentric ideas started in Europe because Europe was innovative and it had the desire and need for revenue. Britain was the base and it moved from there. The middle class benefitted the most from the Industrialization and the laboring class suffered the most.  This time brought change and social protests. Karl Marx was a very important advocate for reform.

As I am reading through the chapters I am beginning to feel hopeful that change is on the horizon. However, chapter 18 changes my optimism. It is a very Euro centric chapter and it makes me cringe to read how people behaved because they felt superior. The picture on page 791 shows images of several heads to classify shapes and sizes. It concludes with the white skulls are larger so the white people are more advanced. Further, biologist began to rank races by making a hierarchy of them and of course the result was the whites were ranked on top and the less developed races were beneath them. (p.792) They state "race is everything" the people  felt like it was there duty to civilize all the races. The mentality and the way the Europeans went about the "so called" ranking and civilizing  people is very disturbing to read. The hurtful practices and slogans used are offensive, "kill the Indian and save the man."(p.797). I find the brutality and the destruction, especially in Congo, horrifying. All of this destruction and abuse stems from greed! The Euro's depleted the resources of these countries to advance themselves.

Further, we see more evidence of global warming with the development of agricultural practices that produce large amounts of methane gas. This time frame marks the beginning of an issue that is still going on today, and that makes me realize that this time frame was not that long ago in the overall big picture.

The chapter ended with some hope- not everyone would let the Euro way of thinking take over. Many fought back- especially in religious practices and culture. The core values and traditions of many cultures could not be swayed and the missionaries were forced to adapt and let people still have their  beliefs.