Interview Questions for final project...

  It took me a while to figure out who I was going to interview or what could I write about. After talking to some of my co-workers and during some normal conversations I found what I was looking for. The topic that I am going to write about is the Civil War in El Salvador, the person that I am going to interview is 94 years old and is the father of one of my coworkers, he can give me a lot of information on the topic, since he was part of the event somehow when it occurred. I don't really know a lot about the topic, but I believe it will be interesting to know how it evolved and how it affected people at that time. Some of the possible questions that I will be asking would be: 


1) What effect did the civil war had on you and your family?


2) What are your personal feelings in regards to this event?


3) What do you feel the government could have done to prevent the war?


4) What impact did this war have after it was over in your country?


5) What was the major reason for you to decide to leave your country?


6) Who do you feel is at fault for this war?


7) If you were part of the government, What could you have done that would have affected the outcome of the war?


8) What can be done know to prevent another war from taking place in your country?


9) Out of all the other countries providing aide, Why did you decide to migrate to the United States?


10) Briefly explain how this historic event changed your life.

Islam, the Mongols & the 15th Century

   This week's readings were really interesting to me, even though it took me a while to finish, I was able to finally get it done. The first chapter, was about Mohammed and how the Islam was initially started. It was interesting to learn about all their beliefs and their actions of what is right and wrong. One of the things that I always like to know is how women were treated, so see how bad they had it back then. It seems that even though they had some kind of privileges as being able to sue for divorce in case of  not getting sexual satisfaction, they also had it really tough with the men being able to beat them up if they disobeyed or the "honor killing" part which got to the extreme. It is amazing to learn about how things have changed and evolution through the years. One thing that is important is to understand the impact of this religion and how it has shaped the world and the peoples way of thinking. Religion is something that most of us practice and even when there are so many, it is interesting to understand how one differs from the other.
     The next chapters focuses on the Mongols, The Mongols where a group of pastoral and nomadic people that had its origins in a territory above China and grew to become a powerful empire. This empire dominated Eurasia in the 1200-1500 centuries, through the use of horseback riding  and powerful armies. While ruling China, the Mongols put the Chinese to work to improve infrastructures, agriculture, water systems , etc. Another interesting thing was that the Mongols converted to Muslims, they learned the Persian language instead of the Chinese, allowed intermarriages and discriminated against the Chinese. This chapter has so much interesting and WOW stuff that it seems hard to stop mentioning all the things this group did, but it was a really good chapter.
    The last but not least was the chapter that gives us a broader view of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These centuries signified a lot of changes that left its fingerprints for the future centuries. In some places they were still living the Paleolithic life but had more advanced tools and methods to sustain their food supply. In China, after they restored from what the Mongols had done it was going back up again. Europe was going through the Renaissance period with many classical ideas coming back.  It was a whole new era reflecting a more naturalistic feeling with some of the world's greatest artists creating wonderful paintings, sculptures and music.  

Trade, China & Christianity.....

   From the readings from chapters 8,9 and 10, we can understand how the roots of some of the most important things in the business world lie deep in the past, like Strayer mentions. The most important topics covered on the chapters are: the importance of trade and how this develop during this period, China and the “golden age” , culture tradition and their strength with his dynasties, and the last chapter talks about the expansion of Christianity in Europe and how it grew.

            The development of trade and commerce dates back to the ancient times. These practices were really amazing on how they developed. Trade became the vehicle for the spread of religious ideas, technological innovations, even the spread of diseases and plants & animals  to regions far from their places of origin. The Silk Roads called after their most famous product, silk; these routes connected pastoral and agricultural peoples as well as the larger civilizations on the continents. Silk roads connected Eurasian societies by land, sea-based routes likewise connected distant peoples all across the Eastern hemisphere . Transportation costs were lower on the Sea roads than on the Silk roads because they were able to accommodate larger and heavier cargoes than in camels, like they did on the Silk roads. So ultimately the Silk roads where used to travel more luxury goods and the sea roads for more bulk goods and products for a mass market. The value of silk during those times was also really important. In some places it was used as currency and as a means of accumulating wealth.

            In China, with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, it regained its unity under the Sui Dynasty. But due to the Sui emperor and his military campaign to conquer Korea, he exhausted the states resources and prompted the overthrown of the Dynasty. The Tang and Song dynasties followed and pretty much built under the Sui foundations. These dynasties built a state structure that endured for a thousand years. The most obvious sign of China’s prosperity was its rapid growth in population which jumped from about 50 million during the Tang dynasty to 120 million by 1200, they also had remarkable achievements in agricultural production. The Chinese later invented gunpowder which led to a revolution in military affairs. China became the center of the world because of their intellectual achievements, Chinese people were more educated and saw other cultures as primitive. Even with their prosperity an power, China later had cultural problems and disagreements with Korea, Vietnam and Japan mainly due to their difference in beliefs, resistance and aggression.

            The last chapter goes into detail about Christianity and how it grew during the Middle Ages in Europe. Europe eventually became the global center of Christianity, especially Byzantium and Western Europe. When the Roman Empire collapsed that had a major impact on the way people lived and left many open to invasion and religion. Christianity took an important place in Europe and spread around the world.