Journal Entry #1
There is so much going through my head. I am laying in the place I call home for possibly the last time ever. Well, hopefully I want everything to go well. I am about to start my journey on the silk road. Although I will truely miss home a lot it offers so much with such rich history. Ecbatana is an ancient city in Iran. Ecbatana is the capital of Media and is currently the summer residence of the Achaemenian kings and one of the residences of the Parthian kings. (“Ecbatana”)Which is a huge deal; everyone here is talking about it. People worship these Kings like how I worship Allah. Oh by the way, I am Islamic. I mean I am sure that can be assumed consisting always everyone is this area is also Islamic,(“Ecbatana”) this is nice because I really fit in. I mean I would still show respect to Allah if everyone around me doesn’t. I know on my journey people will be all different religions. Which will be different but I will get used to it because Allah will be with me the whole time. Back to what I was saying, it will be weird leaving Ecbatana, it is called the city surrounded by seven concentric walls.
The fact that it not only was was actually surrounded by walls and the fact that it is also hard to leave. The walls make me want to stay and it will be so weird leaving the place I call home. It is the only place and I can remember and I love it here. Although I must go and make some money and start a business on the silk road. I can’t let my rug making talents go to waste. I am the best rug weaver in all of Ecbatana and must take my talents to the Silk Road. Everyone truly thinks that I will thrive on the Silk Road and many people will travel from all over the place to get the best rugs ever. With an of these thought ...
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...reminded me that nothing on the road is safe and I need to be careful. This is not my first time seeing robbers, they are all over the place on the silk road earning food and money the easy way. I am scared that eventually I will encounter one soon. I was warned of it before I started my journey. Everyone knows that there are people all over the Silk Road that try to steal from you. That is why I try to be as cautious as possible, even though at times it is very hard to be. The robbers always catch you by surprise. Plus, I have a lot of extra camels which are easy to steal so I am worried that my herd will be taken from me. Well, I should not worry too much and focus on my journey. The temperature is dropping into the low sixties and the sun is setting. My journey to Xi’an, China continues tomorrow and I can not wait to wake up and start my journey.
Journal Entry #5
Francesco Pegolotti was a Florentine merchant and politician. He wrote the The Practice of Commerce in which he expressed the personal qualities he believed that merchants were most needed to survive, which were compliancy and the skill to work with others, and have understanding. Pegolotti’s history was based on the sensitivity to local rules and customs was the key to survival. In this paper it will argue that the personal qualities that was needed to succeed in the Silk Road trade.
There is a place where not far from my hometown, which, since my childhood, still holds the secrets to life. It was a place where we were free. Free to do whatever we wanted to do, say whatever we wanted to say, it was our place, our river. It was a simple place, no paved or asphalt roads for the commotion of busy traffic, no tall buildings to block out the sunlight, no sense of time to feel rushed or anxious, no effects from the outside world. It was a beach on the coast of Lake Sakakawea called “Little Egypt.”
During the interval of time between the years 1000 A.D. and 1400 A.D., a multitude of events referring to cultural exchange transpired. In the given documents, In the sense that the Silk Road was brought under the rule of the Mongols, people felt that is was now safe to travel through the Asian continent. Most people would sometimes come all the way from Europe. A multitude of these people were merchants, missionaries, or travelers. They carried along with them goods, news, or cultures from the corners of the then ‘known’ world. These are people who contemplated a multitude of sights on their journeys, which usually ended in China or Cathay. These given documents state the many dissimilarities in politics, social status, religion, and economics which all affected the cultural exchange.
Picture an innocent looking online marketplace, similar to those in which you shop for discounted books on Amazon or cheap surfboards on eBay, except you have the option to purchase marijuana, acid, fake passports and licenses, hacking services and potentially the ability to “order a hit” on someone, this my friends, is the Silk Road and it does have a captain. He goes by the alias of “Dread Pirate Roberts,” he’s pocketed $80 million in commissions, and he is the operator of one of the most notorious online black markets which accumulated $1.2 billion in total sales with its nearly one million customers. Shortened to DPR, Ross William was the operator of the site Silk Road, until he was eventually arrested at the beginning of October this year, with the fully operational website and assets summing $4 million being seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Being named after the historical network of trades routes that allowed the integration of cultures spanning from Europe to Asia, Silk Road was home to trade of all sorts of contraband by allowing goods and services to be traded illegally, basically operating outside the formal economy. [1][2]
Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural outsider to the people he met during his travels, thus enhancing his power of observation and stimulating his curiosity. On the other hand, Ibn Battuta travelled as an insider, and consequently he judged the people he met only in light of his Muslim background.
There is a possibility to understand certain pieces of literature outside its historical context; however, it is more beneficial to the reader if they have background knowledge. Taha Muhammad Ali was a Palestinian poet that was born in 1931. He grew up in Saffuriya, Galilee that is located in the Middle East. Ali was self-taught through his readings of classical Arabic literature, American fiction, and English poetry. Ali then proceeded to begin writing poems in the 1970s. He wrote a poem entitled “Meeting at an Airport” that was based of his personal experiences and without knowing his background information and history the reader was unclear of what exactly was meant by this poem. In the poem, “Meeting at an Airport” written by Taha Muhammad Ali, historical context is needed to understand this piece because it emphasizes the theme, the purpose of the poem, and establishes credibility (“Poetry Foundation”).
expanding horizons, hope, dreams of riches, and a new life. It was indeed a horrible and
many complications and crimes within. I was happy that I grew up here because I
The Mongols influenced the world in many great ways, one of them was their vast trade system. They relied quite heavily on trade, not only to gain resources, but also to get their inventions and objects to the Europeans and then hopefully spread from there. The Mongols enhanced the trading system by composing the “Silk Road”. The Silk Road was a path/road that the Mongols had control of and it was a trade route that many travelers and traders took. Along the Silk Road, the main resource that was traded was silk, hence the name “Silk Road.” The
The block chain is really important to preventing double-spending. Let's say a bad guy pays you five bitcoins for your favorite pokemon game. Then, let's say Satoshi finds a block, which has a lot of stuff in it, including a record saying you got 5 bitcoins from the bad guy. Now, here is where the bad guy gets to work. He's going to start from the block just before Satoshi's new block and then look for the next one. He's going to include everyone else's trade (which we can call a transaction) except for the one saying he paid you, and instead put in one saying he paid someone else those bitcoins. (He would probably send them to an extra address he has). If he has a really fast computer, he might be lucky enough to do it and make his branch
In the Journal “The Global Traffic of Human Organs”, Nancy Scheper-Hughes illustrates the global problems of the trafficking of human organs, the ethical problems, and how they can be solved. Some of theses problems include people stealing organs without donors consent, the issues of the illegal practice making it more dangerous, and the lower class people being the ones taken advantage in these situations. Nancy is put on a team to try to come up with solutions to theses problems as an ethnographer. However, an ethnographer is not supposed to use the information they obtain to directly change a culture so is can she really be considered an ethnographer?
The wonderful kingdom of the ancient Kubla Khan and the setting that surrounds it is described with heavenly, dreamlike vividness. The kingdom that Kubla Khan creates is described as “stately pleasure dome.” The word “dome” is symbolic of completion...
The Black Market is defined as people who engage in illicit trade. Smuggling of Nuclear weapons plays a role in this. The Russians, U.S., and other countries are involved. Russia has been one the move since the Cold War ended. The Russians position threat to many lives with nuclear sales. Many Russian affiliations and events are to blame including Russian Mafia, military intelligence, Trading Air, collapse in economy, and disgruntled Nuclear employees.
There exists a time when major civilizations were once divided in nature and were unaware of each other’s existence. The major civilizations developed at an independent rate, and most of the technologies and ideas were innovated without the influence of other civilizations. The Chinese were famed for their production of silk, a valuable textile coveted for its splendid texture and color. The Roman Empire was known for its wealth and domesticated animals. India was famous for its spices [1]. However, this situation then took a drastic change when the Silk Road was established by the Han Dynasty. The main purpose of this establishment was to maintain political contact with the kingdoms located in Central Asia. This route soon evolved into a trade route that connected China, Central Asia and Constantinople [2]. Sometime between 206 B.C and 220 A.D, Silk Road was known to be the main trade route that linked the west and the east [2]. The Silk Road then became one of the most iconic symbols of trade in the world, as it became the first trade route of its kind that managed to connect the west with the east. Although the Silk Road disappeared after 220 A.D due to the fall of Constantinople, it remained to be one of the most important human systems in history. This is because it gave rise to globalization, expedited the development of great civilizations and inspired the rise of maritime exploration.
This essay will discuss the significance of the Taj Mahal on a global scale in context with the themes studied in lectures and tutorials. This essay will explore the architectural significance, along with the representation of religion, criticisms and will closely examine the themes of death and memory and the significance of the Taj Mahal on a global scale.