Southernization Essay - Ap World History free essay sample

The idea of  Southernization  came from the observation that Southern values and beliefs were becoming more important to the success of the government, reaching a climax in the 1990s, with a Democratic  president and vice-president from the South, and Congressional leaders in both parties originating in the South. Some would agree that Southern values started to become more and more important in national elections through the early 21st century. American journalists started to use the term Southernization in the late 2000s to describe the political and cultural effects. Credit is given to the American South for different values and beliefs, including religious fundamentalism, and  patriotism  or nationalism. Other than the cultural influence, many would comply that the South had permeated the national political stage. The routine known as southernization first began in Southern Asia. By the fifth century C. E. , developments associated with southernization were present in India, from where they then spread to China, and to the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. We will write a custom essay sample on Southernization Essay Ap World History or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After 1200 they began to have an impact on southern Europe. These progressions included the discovery of bullion sources, the emergence of a new mathematics, the pioneering of trade routes, the trade in tropical spices, the cultivation of southern crops such as sugar and cotton, and the invention of various technologies. Indians also invented the concept of zero, which the Arabs eventually conveyed to the Europeans. What the West called Arabic numerals, the Arabs called Hindi numerals. The term southernization is said to be correspondent to westernization. Westernization is associated with certain developments that first occurred in Western Europe. Those advances changed Europe and in the course of time, expanded to other places, changing them as well. In the same way, southernization changed Southern Asia, later spreading to other areas, which then also underwent a process of innovation. During the early Muslim Caliphates, sugar, cotton, and citrus fruits spread north. The Arabs were the first to import large numbers of East African slaves to work sugar plantations at the north end of the Persian Gulf. By 1000, sugar and cotton had become important crops from Iran to Spain. Arabs also pioneered new trade routes and discovered new sources of silver in Tashkent and in Afghanistan that rivaled the later discoveries near Potosi in the New World. After silver became relatively abundant, Arabs sought new sources of gold in East and West Africa. By 1200 the process of southernization had created a prosperous south from China to the Muslim Mediterranean. The Mongol conquests then helped to southernize northern regions across Eurasia. Southernization was not overtaken by westernization until the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century. Only after the northwestern Europeans had added to their repertoire every one of the elements of southernization did the world become divided into a powerful, prestigious, and rich north and an impoverished south perceived to be in need of development. During the first century C. E. , Egypt started to become an important market for Indian cottons via the sea. By the coming century, these textiles were strongly needed, and by the fifth century, they were being exchanged in Southeast Asia. The Indian trade of textiles continued to expand throughout the turn of the century. The position of the subcontinent was not impaired until Britain’s Industrial Revolution, since steam engines started to power the cotton production. Another part of southernization, the search for new sources of wealth, can be traced back to the Mauryan Empire’s end. During that time, India mainly got their gold from Siberia, but disturbances from wandering people interfered with the traffic between Siberia and India. Sailors for India then began to travel around to find an alternative source, which they probably found with the help of local people who were familiar with their land. Indians and other people in the future showed this gold to international trade routes. The search for gold that was conducted by the Indians may also have led them to the shores of Africa. Although its interpretation is contentious, some archaeological evidence commends the evidence of Indian guidance on parts of East Africa as early as 300 C. E. There is also one report that gold was being hunted by Ethiopian merchants in East Africa, who were part of India’s most important trading partners. Indian voyages on the Indian Ocean were part of a more general development, bordering on current with the Mauryan Empire, in which sailors of assorted origins began to piece together the shores of the â€Å"Southern Ocean†, a Chinese term referring to all the waters from the South China Sea to the eastern coast of Africa. During that time period, the most bodacious sailors were most certainly the Malays; peoples came from what is now Malaysia, Indonesia, the southeastern coast of Vietnam, and the Philippines. Sometime before 300 B. C. E. , Malay sailors began to use the monsoons, which are the seasonal winds that blow off the continent of Asia in the colder months and onto its shores in the warmer months, to their advantage. The records of China show that by the 3rd  century B. C. E. , Malay seamen were sailing north to the southern coasts of China. They may also have been sailing east to India, through the straits that are now called Malacca and Sunda. If so, they may have been the first to institute acquaintance between India and Southeast Asia. Balance lug sails were used on Malay ships, which were square in shape and mounted so that they could swivel. This made it possible for sailors to travel against the wind, sailing into it by going diagonally against it, first one way and then the other. Modern mathematics during the time of the Gupta Empire originally came from the Indians. Western numerals, originally called Arabic since they acquired them from the Arabs, actually started in India. One of the most important features of the Indian system was the invention of the number zero. The Indian zero made the place value system of writing numbers better than any other ones that came before it. Without this system, its use was laden with difficulties and wasn’t any better than competing systems. With the zero, the Indians were able to calculate everything faster and more accurately, performing more complicated calculations, and to anticipate mathematical relationships more appropriately. These numerals, and the mathematics the Indians developed with them, are now used around the world; being just one of many indications of the all-encompassing implication of southernization. By reason of this vast progress, India captured a reputation as a place of miracles, a distinction that was not altered for many generations after the Gupta dynasty fell. As one can see, India influenced the rest of the world. India and other parts of Southern Asia developed basic ideas and technologies. Groups whom traded with many other cultures then brought these ideas to other countries. For example, many Indian crops were spread to Middle Eastern countries by the Arabs. India was advanced in many ways. They had early medicine, mathematics, astronomy, the game of chess, bronze and iron metallurgy, philosophy and literature. They also excelled in agriculture. Most societies looked to India for help in medical and mathematical situations. In the area of textiles and cotton supplying, India was highly skilled. In ancient times India pretty much clothed the world. They were only beaten by England during the industrial revolution. In ancient India, they developed early medicine. They also had the knowledge to perform advanced surgeries. India was the medical superpower of the world at this time, and  Ancient India had astronomy also. They studied the stars and sky with great interest, and could even calculate when eclipses were to happen. In the Vedas, the vernal equinox of Orion is described. These Southern Asian changes began to have a significant impact on China after 350 C. E. During these centuries, the religion of Buddhism became more and more important in China, Buddhist monasteries spread throughout the disconnected world, and cultural exchange between India and China grew along with it. One may even suggest that the process of southernization influenced the revolutionary social, political, economic, and technological developments of the Tang and Song. The Chinese reformed their mathematics, putting the assets of the Indian system into play, even though they did not adopt the Indian numerals at that time. They then went on to develop an advanced mathematics, which was extremely successful by the time the Song Dynasty rolled around. Cotton and indigo became rooted, and the Chinese first developed cotton canvas, which they used to make a more adequate sail for ships going to the ocean. In southern China, the advancement of rice production brought huge changes on the outlook of things. Before the introduction of Champa rice, the cultivation of rice had been limited to lowlands, deltas, basins, and river valleys. Once the introduction of Champa rice and its cultivation spread up the hillsides, the Chinese started using their system of terrace farming and exploited complex and practical ways of controlling the water on mountain slopes. Before southernization’s movement, northern China had always been all-powerful, intellectually, socially, and politically. The domineering center of gravity was clearly in the north, and the southern part of China was thought of as a perimeter. However, southernization altered this situation hysterically. By 600, southern China was definitely on the path of becoming the most booming and most business centered part of the empire. The most obvious evidence of this is the building of the Grand Canal. Even though the rulers were able to put the empire back together, they were reliant on the new crops in the South. Once the Chinese had gotten a hold of the compass, they followed in Columbus’ footsteps and went out on a quest to find a direct route to the spice markets of Southeast Asia. Different then Columbus, they actually were able to find them. Cities on China’s southern coast became main ports for trading via the water. Silk still stayed an important exported product, and had eventually been joined by porcelain, which was developed in China. China’s ports were also delivering merchandise to Southeast Asia, large quantities of ordinary consumer goods like iron hardware, such as needles, scissors, and cooking pots. Until the British Industrial Revolution, Song China was in the lead for the production of iron. By 1200, southernization had created a very successful south from China to the Islamic Mediterranean, based on mathematics, the finding of new ocean routes and ‘discoveries’ of coinage and crops such as sugar, cotton and spices. In the 17th  century, there were three main technologies that changed the world as we know it today. These were all Chinese inventions – the compass, printing press, and gunpowder. It is believed that the Arab people introduced the compass into Mediterranean waters. Block printing and gunpowder first came about in Italy in the 1300s, probably thanks to the Mongols. The rise of Europe’s northwest began with the allotment of southernization’s aspects that were not enclosed by geography. Because of the involvement of their southern European neighbors, they became partially southernized, but they could not participate in all conditions of the process due to their distance from the tropical sources of cotton, sugar and spices. Full southernization, and the wealth we know that northwestern Europe had, came about only after their outright seizure of tropical and subtropical territories as they rounded Africa and participated in the Southern Ocean trade. In conclusion, many scholars now believe that Europe’s northwest did not become successful until it was receiving the profits of southernization. Therefore, the rise of the North Atlantic powers should not be distorted so that it appears to be an isolated and solely European appearance. It should be characterized as one part of a hemisphere, where northwestern Europe ran to catch up with a more developed south – a race not completed until the 18th  century. Muslim and Mongol empires contributed to spreading ideas and good throughout ‘Afroeaurasia’, and very importantly to the European peoples north of the Mediterranean. Without southernization first, the Portuguese would not have rounded Africa and reached the coast of India in the sixteenth century. Moreover, the early European nations needed to make colonies in tropical areas in order to control basic goods like sugar, cotton, spices, and rice; whose spread had resulted from southernization. In conclusion, westernization, which is associated with industrialization, capitalism, and international trade, owes a debt to peoples who earlier achieved southernization.