Understanding the Modern World

Requirement

This assessment requires you to write an essay that compares and contrasts the difference between the modern world and society from the 1500s to the 1800s. The purpose of this task is for you to research and explore the changes that have transformed our lives since the emergency of the modern world.

Solution

The world in 1800s

The people of Europe and Asia lived a difficult life during the period 1500 to 1800. Whether its France or China, people struggled profusely to make their ends meet as they had no land on their own. So, they had no other option but to work on other farms or at other trades. Only free meals were what they received as their earnings. Women were involved in the rural works such as weeding, shepherding, carrying water from wells, spinning fibers, brewing, foraging for herbs and gathering firewood among a lot more other activities. The most important activities of the common people at that time were scavenging and foraging as they served a lot of purposes such as arranging food, identifying herbs for medicines, getting hay for kettle, collecting eggs and hunting birds.In other words, the daily life of the people in almost every part of the world was centered on food production. In 1800, the potent activity that used to provide substantial returns to the people across the world was procuring harvest(Blainey, 2001). Particularly women reaped the grain from the harvest and stored it for their future use. The grain then started dominating the narrative of their eating process as it was eaten in the form of bread, porridge, gruel or soup.   

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The harvesting of grain made profound impacts in the lives of people in many ways. In Europe people used barley for beer and wheat for bread which were the basic ingredients that provided more than 80% of their diet. Different types of bread were began to be sold to the rich as well as to the poor. Bread became an essential commodity and because of its profitability, bakers sometimes unscrupulously sold the bread below the official weight. While doing so, they were even hanged by the officials because this trade was controlled by laws. Also, the failure of the harvest used to cause famine in different parts of the world. The famine were also caused due to the attack of mice on granaries and according to some anecdotal evidences as well as stories from Denmark, Germany, Russia and Italy being similar to that pointed that it was cats that could make the difference between plentiful and famine. It was also a matter of concern as to how much grain should be kept aside for seed and how much of it be eaten so that famine could not set in(Blainey, 2001).

During 16th century Europe, Asia and Africa the main cereals and crops that profusely harvested were wheat, rye, millet and oats. Millets were lasted up to 20 years, so it was very important in terms of insurance policy against famine or siege. Metaphorically, oats served as fuel in this age of horses. Rye was the main crop in most parts of China and Italy, whereas, maize was termed as a wonder crop in the lands of Americas and was then started growing in other parts of the world. Apart from this, the period of 1500 also saw the spread of salt across the world originating from warmer part of Northern France through the city of Venice.Gradually, salt became one of the main elements in the process of trade among various countries of the Europe because it proved an effective bargaining tool for them. It was said that to own a salt mine was like to own a gold mine.Salt also left strong impression on the culture of Europe as the hometown of Mozart, Salzburg, virtually means ‘salt town’. People were completely dependent on it(Henslin and Possamai, 2011). 

The types of occupations that people were involved at that time were basically leather works, weaving, farming, mining and woodcutting just to name a few. Linen made from weaving was used in ships, sheets for bed along with the clothes. It used to take a lot of procedures to wash and dry these linen fabrics and nearly every household used to weave and spinthe wool. Cotton was another important crop which swept the Europe like never before. It was grown in the foreign landsespecially in India and was traded to Europe. Slowly, it captured the markets across the world and people became heavily dependent upon it for clothing.

In terms of the living standards, people of Asia, Europe and Africa, during that era, used to live in the simplest houses and slums(Macionis and Plummer, 2012). Then the houses with chimneys appeared in different places. In Europe, the houses were started to evolve. Grand houses, small windows with glasses were increasingly began to appear along with marvel. In order to make grand houses, timber was an important constituents for the people and its trade yielded very returns to them. As a result of this, there was an increasing scarcity of wood seen in countries with huge populations such as China and India.

The 21st Century World

The advancements and progress of modern world of twenty-first century can be traced back to the onslaught of Industrial Revolution during the nineteenth century. The impact of it was so profound that the course of human history was changed forever. The discoveries, inventions and technological breakthroughs of twentieth century decided the future that we are living in today. Today, the mankind have numerous reasons to be proud of its unparalleled achievements. From landing on the moon to cloning of genes, from the discovery of radio waves to the dependence on internet and smartphones, the list is replete with the tremendous success of science and technology. The world today is connected in such a way that virtually everyone seems to be sitting just next one another thanks to the globalization and advanced applications of computing in our lives(Chanda and Froetschel, n.d.). The word globalization carries various meanings for various people and the kind of historic process that was set in, it changed everyone’s life for better or worse. In terms of education, there is a world of difference between the era of 1500s – 1800s and today. The extensive research done by the scholars in almost every field of science and arts is so huge and relevant that could pave a way for a completely different future for the man.   

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References

  • Blainey, G. (2001). Dethroning the harvest. Ringwood: Viking, pp.409-429.

  • Chanda, N. and Froetschel, S. (n.d.). A world connected.

  • Henslin, J. and Possamai, A. (2011). Sociology: a down-to-earth approach. Frenchs Forrest: Pearson, pp.136-140.

  • Macionis, J. and Plummer, K. (2012). Sociology: a global introduction. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall, pp.105-113.

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