The more we read through Strayer, the more disheartened I get. Are we doomed to repeat are previous mistakes? Our human nature seems to be fueled by our constant need for wealth and power, meanwhile we deplete our natural resources doing so. Empire building requires a great amount of natural and "Human resources". This is a common theme throughout history and we continue to do so today.

Building of empires required amassed wealth and unity of the people. This was achieved through commerce, exploration, religion and warfare. These empires struggled in many aspects to achieve this, some succeeding others not. The Mughal Empire, Emperor Akbar(1556-1605) attempted to unify his people through religion. He practiced tolerance, he allowed Hindu and Muslims to practice their faiths equally. Division among them became apparent and purists of either religion made their struggle for dominance. Unfortunately Akbar's attempts for religious peace failed. The Muslim religion regained hold and many Hindu temples were destroyed. Unifying territories huge or small is a difficult task. Each empire having his own challenges to meet. Russia with its vastness and nomadic people and Japan with its many feudal lords. Was an Empires success interdependent or independent? in some aspects or all?

During this era furs(soft gold), alcohol, slaves, spices and sugar were commodities of trade. Sugar, cotton and tobacco plantations were labor intensive, work done by slaves. Sugar plantations were the most precarious and many slaves died in the process. This purpose made slaves a high in demand.

The origin of the word "slave", originated from the Slavic people of the Black Sea Region. This was the original source for forced labor.
How Africans became prime source of Slave trade -
Ottoman Turks seized Constantinople and cut off the traffic of Slavic people
Native Americans perished easily to disease, introduced by the Europeans
Christians were exempt? and Europeans were expensive and temporary.
Africans were skilled farmers, immune to tropical and European diseases, non-Christians, great no#s and were available on the network of trade.

Slaves of North America vs South America
There were clear divisions and separations in North America. In South America there was more assimilation and mixing of cultures. Racial tensions existed but not to the extent of the North American counterparts. The comment made by Ibn Khaldun(p452), is so outlandish, it really amazed me to see it in print. This is definitely something that would not be tolerated today, we've come a long way since then.

Slave Trade - how it impacted African people? Their population growth was impaired because so many were taken from their homeland. Origins of people that were taken to displace from family and their villages (p453-455). The African people did not emerge as a Empire like other civilizations. The had no concept of "African Identity", they were made of hundreds of small communities/clans that were often divided. They did not contribute any new technological advances. Imagine if no slave trade existed? How would that have impacted the African Civilization and its population. Would there have been an African Empire to contend with among the Ottoman, Chinese, or Mughal Empires?

With our current economy, do we need to return to the days of simple commerce, and dismiss our modern technology? Things may have been more culturally volatile during this time but there were great opportunities to gain wealth. What does the U.S. currently have to offer as goods? I feel we've lost ground. We need to bring back our economy by reinvesting in our country. Outsourcing work needs to come to a halt and encourage production of U.S. goods for exportation.