Chapter 11-13

Chapter eleven
I found chapter 11 to be the most interesting of all the three chapters. It talked of how Christianity was the most widely growing religion in China. It was also mentioned how the Arabs are moving more and more to Judaism. I found this to be interesting because I actually thought that Judaism was more widely known then Christianity. I also thought that the way that Christendom transformed and where it took root was fascinating. It took root in three major areas of the world. Those being India, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. All of this while being transformed by African cultures. It was fascinating to learn that we as a people had something to do with the transforming of Christendom. The one thing that I do not agree with even though maybe in that time it was true is the fact that Allah was the one and only true good. The book was denouncing the idea of the trinity. They basically were telling the Christians that Allah was the only way. I believe that this is not true. I do not think that it was fair for the Christians to have to denounce the trinity and believe only in Allah. The book referred to this type of conversion as "Social Conversion". In my mind it is stilled a forced conversion because it only benefited one belief and said that all other beliefs are wrong. Even though some converted easily to avoid the tax I think that I would have stuck with what I believe.
Chapter Twelve
This chapter was a little harder to capture but after rereading it I caught on to it a little more. I found the Mongol Empire to be very interesting in of itself. I found the fact that it was divided after the death of Chinggis Khan kind of surprising because I thought that this was a strong Empire and could handle anything. This empire left a big imprint on society. It seemed that everybody feared the Mongols because they were big and powerful Empire. It seemed like they could conquer anybody and any country they wanted. When the Mongols first took over China they wanted to exterminate everyone in Northern China but this idea did not go over well. They then decided to use China's rules of taxation to their advantage. The Mongols conquered two more countries after China. I believe this is why they were feared so much. Persia was attacked twice by the Mongols and it was way more destructive then that of China's take over. The Mongols then took over Russia. The Mongol take over of Russia was the worst of all of the take overs.
Chapter Thirteen
This is were I first learned about the Ottoman Empire and the ares that it encompassed. The one thing that I learned was that the Ottoman Empire had "control over much of the Middle East, costal North Africa, the lands surrounding the Black Sea and even further into Eastern Europe." The Ottoman Empire was a lot bigger then I thought.