In 1402 Zhu Di overthrew his nephew and declared himself the Yongle (perpetual happiness) Emperor.
I wonder what led Zhu Di to overtake the throne. Was it out of greed, like in many cases through out history? Was his nephew an incompetent ruler and he felt that he had to step in? Maybe it was a combination of both? Idk I could love more context on why Zhu Di did what he did.
Still, through the Yuan dynasty, China was exposed to foreign cultures, especially Islamic cartography, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, food, and clothing,
I never new that China had exposer to outside places by sides Rome, though now that I think about it makes since geography and with the time period.
Female infanticide has been a problem throughout Chinese history, as was, until the last century, the practice of foot-binding, which rendered generations of Chinese women crippled and semi-mobile for the sake of what amounted to a fetish of Chinese fashion.
I remember learning about this before and I've seen seen picture of the women's feet (without shoes on) and its absolutely heart breaking. It should have ended way before it ended around the 1911-1940's. I also remember a little bit about how they did the foot binding and it results in some much bending and breaking the bones, then binding them with cloth, it takes years so the girls had to start off young. again it just breaks my heart every time I think about it.
Confucius claimed he was not so much creating a new philosophy as preserving and combining the best traditions of the past, which was very appropriate in a culture devoted to reverence of its ancestors.
I remember vaguely in my eastern philosophy class about Confucius. He I believe lost his father young and grew up poor, even though he was originally a noble. He studied and started his school/teachings because of this discord around him, lots of political murders, wars, ect. He wanted order and morals brought back from the old Chinese classics. I doubled checked stuff to make sure I was getting my info right but let me know if I messed something up.
During the fifth century CE, Germanic tribes from northern Europe invaded the Roman Empire. They, in turn, were fleeing from Attila the Hun and other invaders from Asia. Eventually, the city of Rome itself fell to the barbarians in 476 CE.
When I first read this, I started being curious about these Germanic tribes. Who were these people? What was their culture like before they had to flee from Attila the Hun? I also noticed the wording, “The city of Rome itself fell to the barbarians.” Why are these people who destroyed the city of Rome called “barbarians?” Where the “barbarians” the same Germanic tribes that escaped the Huns? I don’t know about others, but I personally find the term “barbarians” both vague and kind of insulting. But that's just a personal bias of mine.
Humans as a species began in southern Africa some 300,000 years ago and after a population crisis about 150,000 years ago, modern humans seem to have left Africa between 80,000 and 100,000 years ago.
Another thing I found interesting is that this population crisis occurred over 150,000 years ago. Our professor said we don’t fully understand how this population crisis happened, which makes it even more intriguing. Was it a plague that caused the population decline? Was it because of climate conditions or some other environmental impact? I just find this interesting to think about.
And some have suggested we may have been thinking about agriculture wrong. It now seems likely that agriculture began in a very gradual process that goes back much farther than we had imagined.
I find it interesting how our understanding of the agricultural revolution has changed over the years. We as humans tend to think about history, and really a lot of things, in a chronological order. We’ve learned over the years that it isn’t always the cause, especially in our understanding of pre-written eras.