#4

New ideas in politics and philosophy tend to emerge in social, political, and/or economic stress.

How can this be exclaimed?

Well I think that new ideas tend to emerge when we are in times of need, or are in a stressful situation. I mean there is no point for people or civilizations or communities etc. to come up with new ideas when they are not forced to, there is no purpose. So for example there is President Bush who was in office at the time of 9/11 made the decision to go to war in Iraq. Wether or not that was the right decision he still went along with his idea thinking it would be a good idea and would help our "civilization" out, America. Leaders are constantly trying to up there status and become better by bettering there civilization, so there are plenty of bad ideas but there has to be a few good ones in the mix. Right now everything in America has gone bad, stock markets are crashing, the dollar is going down, houses aren't selling for very much at all and as in overall America is in the dumpsters right now. But hopefully Obama will become our new president and plenty of new, great ideas will emerge. Wrapping this up, when civilizations or people in general are in distress or harm they find ways to make there situation better trying to create a more stable and safe environment.

#3 True or False?

Population growth the most significant development of the Classical Period. True or False?

I think that population growth is an extremely significant development, but I don't think that it is the most important one. I think that the networks of exchange also played a huge part in the development of the Classical Period and the development of today for that matter. I think that they both worked together to hand in hand to create more complex societies and cultures. The network of trades were able to spread goods so that towns and cities would become more unified, making possible for empires to form. Population growth then was able to continue intensifying and was able to build great armies because of the network of trading, they were able to have new tools and learn new ways of warring. Also the trading of food and domesticated animals played a big part in the population growth, they were able to share different foods and animals making there resources supple and allowing there kingdoms to grow in population. If you could grow or supply more food (calories) per acre then you can have more people per acre, allowing the land to fill up and become more dense. Then when the cities and empires grew denser more and more people were living in close proximity with animals which led to diseases, which led to immunity, which led to longer life expectancy, which also led to more population growth. But without the network of exchange the population growth could not succeed, they worked together to become two of the most important developments of the Classical Period.

#2

Jarrid Diamonds number one theory about the New Guineans not having any luck on progressing in technology, the Europeons becoming strong and having plenty of "cargo", and other civilizations crumbling under more powerful empires was " it is all geographical luck". The New Guineans had no crops to farm, no weaponry to use, and not enough people to create a well constructed army. They pretty much were only paying attention to feeding themselves and keeping themselves alive. The Europeans on the other hand had already established an army, weapons and steady food income. Other civilizations such as China, India, Roman Empire, etc. continue to grow faster and larger especially because they had great geographical locations. Trade links emerged and they tried to integrate larger regions, but eventually they all declined and brought the classical period to an end. 

  Farming was a big part of conquering. Before farming civilizations hunted and gathered food and that meant moving along with it when the seasons change. Before farming civilizations did not settle they moved around constantly. Once they started farming everything changed. Without crops you could not feed a civilization. The Americas were big on corn, squash, and beans. Africa farmed yams and China farmed rice. They Middle East farmed wheat and so did Europe. But Europe also had easy access to all of the big farming civilizations so they never were low on food. After they started farming crops, they started domesticating animals. Middle East had the most livestock, but it spread to Europe and Asia. That is why Europe was able to thrive because of its geographical location. It just got lucky.

#1

First of all Europeans had one of the best armies in the world at the time. So I'm sure that helped them conquer more easily. Europeans had more advanced weaponry and more effective military capabilities. Also Europe's royalty thought of marriages as business deals making certain kings and queens more powerful depending on who they married there daughters off too or allowed there sons to marry. Putting them in a position to amass power to conquer countries with there military forces. Europe was also an older and more advanced culture especially when it came to warring. I think one of the reasons why other civilizations were subjects to colonization is because a lot of them were focused on fighting against each other and not concentrating on conquering other continents or civilizations. I think over all Europe had the right weaponry, the right tools, the right skills, and all together the right idea on how to conquer other civilizations.