A History of World in Six Glasses

How might beer have influenced the transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural-based societies. Beer might have/had influenced the transition from hunting and gathering to agricultural-based societies. One way beer could have done this was that after the discovery of beer, the demand for beer began to increase. With increase demand for beer, farming would increase taking away time to hunt and gather for food. With less hunting and gathering, farmers eventually settled down in small areas around the Fertile Crescent to create beer. What does the story of beer tell you about social and gender roles in ancient SW Asia and Egypt? Beer can tell us a story about the social and gender roles in ancient South West Asia and Egypt. During these times, beer was used as a way of payment. Those who were given more, worked more, or had higher positions. Sumerian temple workforces were given sila of beer a day; or two American pints. Junior officials were given two sila, higher officials and ladies of the court were given three sila, and the highest officials were given five. Woman who worked a few days at a temple were given two silas. This system meant that women were given a change for jobs, and even were sometimes given more silas than men. The social and gender roles in ancient South West Asia and Egypt are therefore seem as fair, since women were given just as much or more sila than men. How important do you think beer was in the growth and diffusion of the earliest civilizations? Would the earliest civilizations of SW Asia and Egypt have been as prosperous without the discovery of beer? I think beer was an important factor in the growth and diffusion of the earliest civilizations. This is because beer led to the development of an agricultural-based society. Without the discovery of beer, who knows how long it would have taken early civilizations in the Paleolithic era realized that farming would be better and faster than hunting and gathering. With increase farming for grains, leftovers grains were made into bread, or cereals, or beer. Leftovers soon became surpluses and surpluses of food led to population increase. With larger populations, villages became communities and societies were created. Earliest civilizations of South West Asia and Egypt would have been as prosperous without the discovery of beer, only their prosperity would take longer than usual. This is because, civilizations would have to wait for their main food supplies to decrease to finally figure out other ways of gaining food. But earliest civilizations would still be prosperous. Wine in Greece an d Rome (Chapters 3 and 4) What does the story of wine tell you about wine tell you about social and gender roles in the Mediterranean world? The story of wine can tell us about the social and gender roles in Mediterranean worlds. Private drinking parties known as symposiums was an all male aristocratic ritual that took place in a special mens room (man cave). Women were not allowed to sit with men in these men rooms, giving us the reader the impression that women could either not drink wine like Greek men or that gender discrimination was intact during these times. But female servers, dancers, and musicians were allowed, but why? Perhaps because men did not see female servers, dancers, and musicians as nothing but merely entertainment and slaves. Explain how the symposia and wine-drinking related to the development of ancient Greece (as compared to the other parts of the world). Symposia and wine-drinking related to the development of ancient Greece. One way was that symposia was a good way for men to come together and plot, drink, boast, and debate. Symposia was a way for men to get together and discuss many issues; where each and every men were equal in voice. Symposium was in theory, a forum in which the participants drank as equals from a shared crater. Wine-drinking on the other hand created the caste system for ancient Greece. Those who could afford top notch wine such as Falernian. The better wine you drank, meant the more money you made to purchase the wine, thus creating your caste in society. What effects does wine have on the development of Christianity and Islam? The banning of wine in Islamic culture would be the basic start for the banning of many other foods. The prophet Muhammads ban on alcohol is said to have started from a fight between two men who were under the influence. When Muhammad sought divine help from the one and only Allah, Allahs reply was to ban alcohol so that such a thing could not happen again. As for wine, it had a different story for the development of Christianity. Wine drinking was a tradition of Greeks and Romans. When barbarians took over Rome and Greece, wine drinking seemed to have halted. But as time went on, barbarians began to take up wine drinking again, sort of assimilating themselves into Greek culture. Barbarians soon became civilized, all thanks to the tradition of wine drinking. Spirits in the Colonial Period (Chapters 5 and 6) How did spirits advance/accelerated colonialism? When the Americas were just beginning to form, spirits accelerated their colonialism. At first, sugarcane production was introduced to the Western Indies or Caribbean Islands by Christopher Columbus. The West Indies land was not suitable to grow wine vines or grains for beer, instead Columbus introduced sugar canes to the Indies, creating a major sugar plantation in the West Indies. With the plantation growing, slaves were being imported from West Africa to help with the production of sugar. With more sugar being produced, more products could be made and thus more exports to England, Spain, France, and Germany. Having a staple crop, successful exports, sprits helped colonized anywhere it touched. In the 18th century, how did spirits change the balance of power amongst the western European nations? When rum was first discovered, Americas learned that to produce rum was cheaper than relying on European exports for Brady. Rum was discovered by using left over sugar production. Everyone could afford rum, from the slaves to the rich. With rum now being established as Americans favorite drink, European exports for Brandy began to decline. New England merchants began to import raw molasses rather than rum and do the distilling themselves. In 1733, a new law known as the Molasses Act was passed in London, prohibiting the amount of imported molasses into North America to sixpence a gallon. But Americans did not obey the law and smuggled molasses instead of buying them from Britain. England began to create more laws to limit the amount of molasses brought, but Americans would not listen and thus finally giving Americas the idea of their freedom. How did spirits help in the building and shaping of early America? During their fight for freedom, Americans began to turn their backs on rum and began to drink whiskey, since it was cheaper to make and easy to produce. Rum played a crucial part of the triangular trade between Britain, Africa, and the North American colonies that once dominated the Atlantic economy. Whiskey though on the other hand helped shaped America through disagreements and fights. Whiskey was an unpretentious drink associated with independence and self-sufficiency. Coffee in the Age of Reason (Chapters 7 and 8) Why did coffee become known to Europeans as the antithesis of alcohol? And how will this change the intellectual development of Europe? Coffee was known to Europeans as the antithesis of alcohol because instead of getting drunk and losing self control, coffee was known to keep on minds open and create new rationalism. This changed the intellectual developement of Europe because scholars, doctors, lawyers, and teachers drank coffee instead of wine. Instead of getting drunk in the daytime or nighttime, people would be up drinking coffee and beginning their day with an open mind instead of a closed mind. Was coffee the first true global beverage? Why or why not? Coffee was truly the first global beverage. Beginning in the Arab world, coffee was originated in the Arabia. From Mocha, coffee spread to Egypt and North Africa, and by the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia and Turkey. From the Middle East, coffee drinking spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas. How (and why) did coffee play a pivotal role in the Enlightenment and French Revolution? During the period in which coffee became popular, coffee played a pivotal role in the Enlightenment and French Revolution. Coffee was a popular drink which forced coffee houses to spring out of the ground. Coffee houses were like taverns back them. Anyone was allowed inside a coffeehouse, as long as they could afford a cup. Inside coffee houses, meetings would take place for practically anything. Government officials had no say nor clue in what was said inside coffee houses, plans would be plotted, schemes would be set, and eventually wars would break out. Along those meetings inside coffee houses, coffee was the drink of scholars, doctors, lawyers, and solicitations. Enlightenment ideas sprang out because of these people. People would talk about a change in the system while sipping on a cup of coffee. Or talk about their recent discoveries. Coffee was the drink of the wise. Tea and the British Empire (Chapters 9 and 10) Why was tea important to Chinas economy, and how did it affect Chinas relationships with other countries? Tea would not become a domestic drink in society until the 1st century BC and cultivation for mass quantities didn’t occur until the 4th century. During this period, known as the Tang Dynasty, China found itself the wealthiest and most populated nation in the world, in part due to their openness to outside influence. It was also during this time that tea found itself as the drink of choice by the nation. Explain the relationship between tea and the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the British Empire. The industrial revolution used raw materials and manufactured them into a final product. The manufactured product secured more money in the world market than the raw materials, and thus led to more money for the British Empire. The ability to manufacture these goods gave the empire the control to manage the supply and demand of the good and set the price in the world market far above the cost of the raw materials and labor included in its making. Compare and contrast how the British trade in tea affect America and India. In the United States, the British trade helped create the Industrial Revolution. Textile manufacturing soon came into place. Workers were replaced with machinery that could do a job of ten men in less time. Having workers and machines together under one roof meant that the whole process could be closely supervised. But the tea trade soon took its toll, with new laws coming into place in the United States, many citizens were unhappy. The Boston Tea Party of 1773, serves as a protest to the overpriced tea. Soon enough, the British tea trade would led to the United States breaking away from their motherland. The East India Companys fortunes revived in 1784, when the duty on tea imports to Britain were slashed, which lowered the price of legal tea. In India, the search for the most suitable part of India to grow tea began. Since the new India tea industry would require a lot of manpower, this provided plenty of jobs for Indian workers. Tea cultivation also promised to be hugely profitable. In comparison, both America and India profited from the British tea trade. But unlike India, America was taxed and thus leading to riots and outbreaks over tea. In the end, America was able to break away from their motherland and buy their tea for a reasonable price. As for India, profits were made that benefited the country. Coco-Cola and the Rise of America (Chapters 11 and 12) How does the story of Coca-Cola relate to the rise of capitalism and entrepreneurship in the 19th and early 20th century? How does the story show a larger global economic shift? The story of Coca-Cola relates to the rise of capitalism and entrepreneurship. Capitalism is when an economic and political system in which a countrys trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. Entrepreneurship or an entrepreneur is someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it. In 1886 pharmacist John Stith Pemberton sold about nine Coca-Colas a day. During the 1870s, Pemberton was declared bankrupt and was fired twice which destroyed his stocks. Finally, in 1884, Pemberton started using a new ingredient: coca. After Pembertons death, Asa Candler took over the company. Candler was opposed to the idea of selling coca-cola in a bottle, but in July 1899 granted two businessmen, Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead the right to bottle and sell coca-cola, resulting to the famous drink that we all love/or hate today. During the Great Depression, the Cold War, and WWI and WWII, rather than shrink at the challenge, Coca-Cola took full advantage of the challenging times it found itself in, gaining a global phenomenon. Soon enough, the United States was producing and shipping coca-cola all over the world to soldiers, to different countries. How did Coca-Cola become the worlds most recognized product? The first marketing efforts in Coca-Cola history were executed through coupons promoting free samples of the beverage. Considered an innovative tactic back in 1887, couponing was followed by newspaper advertising and the distribution of promotional items bearing the Coca-Cola script to participating pharmacies. As the country mobilized into World War Two, Robert Woodruff, president of the Coca-cola company, issued an order that every man in uniform gers a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents, whereever he ism and whatever it costs the company. (Page251) But shipping bottles of Coca-cola halfway around the world to every whereever troops were stationwas was very inefficient, thus special fountains and bottling plants were placed whereever possible. Soon enough, where ever the troops went, a Coca-Cola bottling plant was created. How does Coca-Cola affect peoples views of the United States? Is the spread of Coca-Cola an example of Americanization around the world? In some parts of the world, Coca-Cola was welcomed, but in other parts of the world drinking Coca-Cola was considered a sin. In Germany and Japan, people stated that Coca-Cola was an example of everything that was wrong with the United States. But even enemies of the United States, such as the Sovient Union, still wanted Coca-Colas to drink. Coca-Cola affect the views of people in good and bad ways. The Tibet Muslims, in protest against Coca-Cola, poured gallons of Coca-Cola on the streets. I believe that the spread of Coca-Cola is an example of Americanization around the world. Coca-Cola bottling plants brought in new machinery into differnt countries, showing these countries new technology. All around the world, Coca-Cola is served with any side dish. Wherever you go, whatever lanuage you speak, if you ask for a Coca-Cola anyone will know what you are talking about. EpilogueBack to the Source Do you agree of disagree with Standages argument in the epilogue? Will water be the most influential beverage in shaping the global situation of the next 100+ years? Why or why not? I agree with Standages arugument that water will be the most influential beverage in shaping the world. This is because, back then water was contaminated and no one knew how to fix that problem. Now though, water is a basic nessesity in everyones diet. Without water, many people are becoming dehydrated and dying of thrist. Water wont make you fat, has no calories, and is safe to drink. Without water, no livestock can be grown and land cannot be cultivated. Theres no food without water. With no livestock, we have no food, and with no food, we cant eat and will eventually die. Water will continue to influence and shape the world within the next 100 or so years.

Russia and China Economic Transitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Russia and China Economic Transitions - Essay Example The government also makes all the decisions about the use of income and how it will be distributed in the economy. In planned economy, the production, distribution and, most importantly, the pricing and investment decisions are made arbitrarily by the government. It usually employs a fixed price system and a monopoly market structure because all the major economic players are owned and controlled by the government. The proponents of this economic model argue that the government is better placed to know, and hence take care of the particular needs of its people. The free economy occupies the other end of the spectrum; the direct opposite of the planned or controlled economy. Here the economy is based on the division of labor. The prices of goods and services are set by the interaction of the market forces of demand and supply. The intersection of the demand and supply curves provides the optimum price and quantity. The proponents of this model argue that it gives the consumers the lib erty to choose what they want provided and in what quantity. The competitiveness of the market also ensures that the firms in the industry benefit by making reasonable profits that can be sustained by the market. The Mixed economy market is a blend of the planned and the free liberalized economies. It allows the prices to be set by the interaction of the forces of demand and supply but the government reserves the right to control some economic sectors that are too crucial for the country’s development. These sectors include the transport, energy and the health care sectors among others.

Urban Sprawl Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Urban Sprawl Analysis - Research Paper Example Suburbanization is defined as â€Å"a process involving the systematic growth of fringe areas at a pace more rapid than that of core cities, as a lifestyle involving a daily commute to jobs in the center†. Suburban life is characterized by the icon of the ‘soccer mom,’ whose life is spent in her minivan as she shuttles her child to and from activities, while they await the arrival of the suburban dad, whose commute to work takes him away from the center of family life. When you understand our history, the attraction to the suburbs is clear. We’ve long been driven to own and improve upon land. Cronon writes of the colonists’ argument for taking land from the Native Americans: â€Å"their supposed failure to ‘improve’ that land was a token not of their chosen way of life, but of their laziness† (55). We’re infused with the notion that land is not precious unless someone owns and builds something on it. Beyond that, we have begun to associate owning single-family residences in the suburbs with moral superiority. In Russell Conwell’s popular lecture, â€Å"Acres of Diamonds,† he asserts: â€Å"drive me out into the suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their own homes around this great city†¦and I will introduce you to the very best people in character as well as enterprise in this city†¦ A man is not really a true man until he owns his own home† ... We worship the new, the exclusive, and the private. Our sprawl entails new buildings where people flee to avoid looking at the old buildings they abandoned. The cost of such configuration, however, is quite high. It costs not only in dollars and cents, but resources, and socio-culturally as well. Sprawl is costly in terms of dollars and cents. Burchell points out that there is a budget â€Å"deficit projected under the sprawl growth scenario† (80). Local governments begin to strain under the burden of maintaining existing structures while providing new roads and services to new buildings. Suburban sprawl is extremely costly in terms of our natural resources. â€Å"In the decade between 1982 and 1992, over 13 million acres in the 48 contiguous states of the United States and Hawaii changed from forests, fields, and rangeland to urban use† (qtd. in Pendall 555). There is a finite amount of resources and sprawl does not make efficient use of them. Hayden elaborates on spra wl as â€Å"careless new use of land and other resources as well as abandonment of older built areas† (7). Something sprawl takes from the individual is the sense of community. â€Å"A cost of development that is truly impossible to measure is how much a neighborhood, town, or city contributes to or denies people a sense of place and community† (Burchell 110). Suburban sprawl creates homogenous spaces that lack character or uniqueness. People come and go in their cars and neighborly bonds are often simply not formed. Part of the reason is that suburban spaces are built around automobiles. Hayden refers to the tract-housing, common to suburban developments, as â€Å"automobile-oriented buildings† (8). Rather than being able to