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Rice and Salt, Book 7 (The Age of Great Progress)

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:58:48 CDT

GROUP 3 {Book 7}:
Marcus Coates
Francina Osoria
Ehsan Qaium
Zack Long

Introduction:
The Years of Rice and Salt: Book Seven, The Age of Great Progress is mainly about the Industrial Revolution that takes place in India and not in the West. India has a superior navy, hot air balloons, fire-powered ships,coal industries, a shipping industry, and many more technological innovations. India is using a lot of science and technology at the moment. India uses their technologicals inventions to protect themselves from Chinese imperalism. They are making progress with medicina,math,and new weapons and machineries. Some great changes take place at this time. This great progress woudln't have taken place without the machineries because it speeded up the process of getting things done.

Index

Science and Technology

Fire-powered ships

Hot-Air Ballons: Finaly in the Skies

Medicine

Steam Engine

People

Bhakta
Sufis

The Sultan

Other

Daoism
Mughals

Ottoman Empire

Those not in this group should click on the add comments button to add the names of people, places, events and references you think the group doing research on Book III should add information on when they add pages. (Note: Those not in the group should add comments, those in the group pages).

Ottoman Empire

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:53:21 CDT

The Ottoman Empire was a ruled by Turkish. The rise of the empire was in 1299. It stretched over three continents. This empire was a follow up to the Roman empire, Byzantine Empire and many others. In 1453 the Ottomans captured Constantinople which was thecapital of Byzantine empire and later the capital to the Ottomans. That capture resulted in the fall of the Byzantine empire also occurred.

Constantinople was center for trading, selling and where all the riches were made. It was a beautiful city. The Ottoman Empire because one of the most influential. They were strong culturally and militarily. Many try to defeat them but they were too strong. They came to an end after the World War.

References:

The Years of Rice and Salt pages:479-485

Sources:

World Civilizations March 14, 2008
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/OTTOMAN/OTTOMAN1.HTM

Sufis

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:52:03 CDT

Too many people, Sufism is considered to be just a sect within the Islamic religion along with the Sunni’s and Shia’s. Just like other Muslims, Sufi’s believe in one god but along with that, they also believe that it is possible to become close to God and to experience this closeness--while one is alive. Sufism is believed to have originated near modern day Iraq near the city of Basra. From the Sufi point of view, the teachings of Sufism were transmitted from the Prophet Muhammad through whom god convoyed his teachings. Although Sufism isn’t widely practices, Sufism still exists in different parts of the Middle East.

Within the years of rice and salt, the Sufi’s are portrayed as sort of an inferior group of people who is looked down upon by other Muslims. The Sufis tended to believe certain ideas and tings without it being proven. This led them to being looked down and scorned upon by other groups of people.

References:

Safavid Empire

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:51:44 CDT

The safavid’s were one of the many Islamic empires that was located in the Middle East. The Safavid Empire lasted from began in the year 1501, and lasted until the year 1722. The safavid’s were a group of mixed origin, as they were made up of people with Azerbaijani and Kurdish origins. The empire covered, all of Iran and parts of countries such as Turkey, and Georgia. They safavid’s established the great Iranian empire, and they were the first Muslim empire to establish Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire. Under the Safavid rule, the local economy prospered, and Iran transformed to become Baghdad in the 9th century as it became the center of art, architecture, poetry and philosophy.

In book seven of the Years of Rice and salt, by Kim Stanly Robinson, the history of the Safavid Empire presented is completely the opposite of what occurred in real life throughout history. In the book, the Muslim empires are portrayed as weak with lots of infighting. This infighting leaves the separate empires very weak which allows for them to be easily conquered by a superior army which invaded from India.

Refrences:

Qing Dynasty

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:50:08 CDT

The Qing Dynasty was China's last dynasty. It was a very powerful one,too. Even though their government wasn't all that great, they were able to become one of the strongest at the time. Their shipping was the biggest in the world ( Robinson 544). At the tme the two strongest powers were the Chinese and Muslim. They had a good balance of power because the muslims were better than them at some things and the other way around.

They spread a little more with trade. The Indian empires never had a strong relationship with the Chinese. There came a time when they all went against the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty's gvernment was very corrupt. They were able to conquer some places for a while up until the wars started. By that time their military had weakened.

References:

The Years of Rice and Salt Book Seven pages: 544-547

The Sultan

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:48:34 CDT

Sultans are Muslim rulers of the Islamic region. The Head of the Ottoman Empire, the role they play in the kingdom is a very important one. The word "Sultan" comes from the Arabic term, meaning authority.

The "The Years of Rice and Salt; Book 7" the story begins as the main character, Ismail, is summoned by the Sultan, for he learns that he was able to nurse an ill girl back to good health. The Sultan "Selim" too nursed back to good health by Ismail after he became ill due to a complication with the skin. After being crowned chief doctor, the Sultan became very interested in Ismail and his studies with the body. On page 483 of Book 7, you can notice the privileges given to the Sultan. For as one can see, a Sultan can have just about anything he wants. In this portion of the story, the Sultan summons a woman who is described to be a red haired, paled skin woman. He then is said to have his way with her and afterwards, summons fourth another woman to his liking. Being the head of the empire, one with such authority can rule and have anything they desire.

References:

"Sultan." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.

Steam Engine

mcoates1 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:44:37 CDT

One of the great inventions of the Industrial Revolution was the steam engine because it gave an advantage to building many other machinery. In the book we read about fire-powered ships. Before fired-powered ships they relied on wooden ships that would take forever to get from places to places. The Ottomans were very surprised and impressed to see the invention the Indians had came up with. The fire-powered ships also known as machine ships were ran by the heat of fires. They were set up with, “heat of fires burning in furnaces that boiled water, the steam then forced by pipes to push paddlewheels, encased by big wooden housings on each side of the hull. Valves controlled the amount of steam going to each wheel, and the ship could turn on a single spot” (Robinson 493). They burned coal in the furnaces because they had a great deposit of coals. Sometimes the ship would have to be pushed away in the usual way due to the winds coming in the wrong side. They just made an upgrade to the regular ships. The ships were sent to be made by Kerala of Travancore. The furnaces, boilers and paddlewheels were created by ironmongers who were taught how to make them in Anatolia.

These fire-powered ships have a similarity to steam engine ships which were the key to the industrial revolution because it helped them get more done. As like the fire, the steam engine gave the ships an extra push to make it work faster. Both of these inventions helped imporve trade, traveling and many other nescessities. This steam engine didn't only come to work for ships but also for many other invetions to make the work get done faster in factories.

References:

The Years of Rice and Salt Book seven page 493.

Daoism... a Brief Background.

mcoates1 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:51:09 CDT

Daoism finds its' roots from Chinese origin. This religious and philosophical practice came up around the same time as Confucianism. During the fifth and third centuries B.C, the Chinese government was not as strong as it is today, and as a result, many civil wars broke out as a result of competition. In response to the large amounts of violence, Daoism sprouted hoping to give those a peaceful solution to the chaos going on between the states. This encouraged those to meditate and to seek harmony with nature. The belief of a "Oneness" with the universe and spiritual peace describes the basic foundations of Daoism. "Dao" is that oneness with the universe. This term is defined in two categories:The "Yin" and the "Yang". The Yin represents the dark negative, female. On the other hand, the Yang represents the bright, positive, male.

References:

http://www.spiritsongs.org/Daoism_Taoism_Daoist_Taoist_Confucianism_Confucian.htm
"Daoism." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.

Hot-Air Ballons: Finaly in the Skies

mcoates1 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:50:27 CDT

We know them today as "Hot-Air Balloons." They are these marvelous devices that were made to send mankind into the sky. In Book 7 of "The Years of Rice and Salt", this floating machine was considered a marvel to look at. In the beginning, Ismail the Anatomist was intrigied by the sight of the ascending devices droping bombs below onto their land. They were too high to be shot down, as well as too far to see clearly. Seeing a Hot-Air Balloon in action, during this time, was as if seeing a plane soar in the skies during World War I.

Hot-Air Balloons are, in a sense, giant balloons! They are tethered to a basket, which the proper term for is gondola, and consists of heating apparatus. Ussualy fuled by propaine, this heater warms the air that is in the balloon. In making this device fly, two principles of chemistry and physics are applied. 1.) Hot air expands. For instance, the tires on an automobile during the summer expand, therefore, one is told not to overinflate them. 2.) Hot air rises. Also in the summer time, you may notice that the upper levels of ones home is warmer than the lower portion. These two principles combined help the Hot-Air Balloon take flight.

References:

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/hot-air-balloon.htm
Lally, Vincent E. "Ballooning." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007.

Mughals

fosoria — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:41:23 CDT

The Mughals ruled a large part of India from about the 16th century to the 19th century.The founder of the Mughals was Timur who invaded India, he was a prince. After that followed the first king Babur who who expanded it more and also the language they used was Persian. Ever since that all the rulers that followed made a great empire and were very strong. There were many attempts to over throw the empire but it was impossible. They slowly started getting part of the India back as they slowly defeated the Mughals. The Mughals were harsh and they taxed people highly. It was a centralized empire but not many people were happy and others just wanted the land.

There were many enemies to the Mughals because of their super high tax system. One of those people included the Safavid empire. After many of the other dynasties established a different tax system that made them go bad financially and just as an empire. That still didn't bring them to an end. They were finally defeated and different dynasties grew in India.

Rice and Salt, Book 3 (Ocean Continents)

ssidhu2 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:42:01 CDT

Group Members

Trez Bentley
Rachel Kassabian
Mike Martin
Sonia Sidhu
Lumia Zaman

Book 3: Ocean Continents

Years of Rice and Salt Book 3: Ocean Continents is about the journey to the New World. Book 3 starts with a conflict between Ming Dynasty (China) and Japan (Nippon). Chinese crew that was sent by the emperor and headed by Admiral Kheim. The crews were originally sent to Nippon to get revenge but ended up getting off track and traveling around the world to places unseen before. After a period of time with no wind to carry their sails, they came upon a little island with strange inhabitants. The people were friendly with them and they soon met a little girl named Butterfly. After spreading disease to the people, they took Butterfly with them and looked to her as the sea god, Tianfei. The sailors found hope and believed that the calm waters were a source of her power. They taught her how to speak Chinese and she translated some words for I-Chin into Miwok, her native language.(Which is modern day San Francisco) Later on the journey trying to just navigate back home, they come upon another native people. These people were rich with gold but proved to be much more dangerous. After leading a small group of the sailors way up into the mountains over the “island”, human sacrifice was carried out on a young boy and almost on Butterfly but after a couple shots were fired from sailors, they were on their way and back into another problem.(These people that tried to sacrafice Butterfly are the modern day Inca's) This time it did not come from different tribes, it was mother nature reeking havoc on the fleet of ships leading to the death of Butterfly and a low demeanor on the ships. At the end of the book, Kheim makes it back the China.

Toyotomi Hideyoshire
Wanli Emperor
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Miwok
Han Dynasty
Hokkaido
Kuroshio Current
Qi Energy
Omura Sumitada
Tamalpi
Tozama Daimyo
Omura

Those not in this group should click on the add comments button to add the names of people, places, events and references you think the group doing research on Book III should add information on when they add pages. (Note: Those not in the group should add comments, those in the group pages).

Omura

ssidhu2 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:16:28 CDT

According to Wikipedia:

Omura Sumitada (????, 1533-June 23, 1587) Japanese daimyo lord of the Sengoku period. He achieved fame throughout the country for being the first of the daimyo to convert to Christianity following the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries in the mid-16th century. Following his baptism, he was known as "Don Batholomeo". Sumitada is also known as the lord who opened the port of Nagasaki to foreign trade.

(Wikipedia contributors, “Omur Sumitada," accessed 2/16/08)

This reference appears on page 193.
Robinson uses this reference when talking about a secret treaty that was arranged by Omura. He also describes how Umur invited the Chinese to land and trade at a fishing village and a harbor called Nagasaki, and to some extent he explains steps that were taken for preparations intended for future expeditions.

Tozama Daimyo

ssidhu2 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:08:56 CDT

According to Wikipedia:

A Tozama daimyo (????, Tozama daimyo?) was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.

The daimyo who submitted to the Tokugawa shogunate after the Battle of Sekigahara were classified as tozama. Many of the largest fiefs were ruled by tozama. The biggest was the Maeda clan of Kaga with a value of 1,000,000 koku. Others included the Shimazu family of Satsuma, the Mori, the Date, Hachisuka, and the Uesugi. Many, but not all, of these families, had been living in roughly the same regions for centuries before the Tokugawa shogunate.

Tokugawa Ieyasu had treated the great tozama vassals amicably but later, between 1623 and 1626, Tokugawa Iemitsu was less tolerant of them. Particularly in western Japan, the tozama daimyo heavily profited from foreign trade in the mid 17th century. Their growing success was a threat to the shogunate, which responded by preventing the ports of western Japan and Kyūshū from trading.

To keep the tozama in check, the shogunate stationed fudai daimyo in strategic locations, including along major roads and near important cities. The shogunate ordinarily did not appoint tozama to high positions within the government. These went instead to the fudai daimyo.

Tozama daimyo from Satsuma and Choshu (Shimazu and Mori clans respectively) were responsible for the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Bakumatsu era. They were not loyal to the shogunate and saw the opportunity to seize power during this time. Shimazu and Mori both united behind the Emperor of Japan to renew and westernize Japan in the face of perceived Western dangers. Afterwards, the Shimazu and Mori clans had the most influence in the military and government of Japan until after World War II.

(Wikipedia contributors, “Tozama," accessed 3/16/08)

This reference appears on page 192.
Robinson uses this reference in the chapter when the Emperor’s senior generals were looking for a way to suit his wishes, so they proposed that the Emperor’s diplomats arrange a treaty with the Tozama Daimayo. The treaty was anticipated for order that the shogun would invite the Chinese to come to one of his ports and open it permanently to Chinese trade. This would cause the Chinese navy to be forced to land at this port, and would basically make the port a Chinese port which would then be secured by the full control of the Chinese navy.

Bhakta

zlong2 — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:37:44 CDT

Bhakta is the abbess in Travancore who studies medicine along with some of the other nuns and monks. Bhakta is curious about Ismail's theory of medicine and how it differs from the Chinese theory. Unlike Ismail who has preformed a fair number of dissections, Bhakta has done almost none due to the religious ban againt dissections.

Medicine

zlong2 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:42:37 CDT

In Book 7 ofThe Years of Rice and Salt there has been some gret advancments in thier field of medicine. One of the things that helped them in the medicine was essentially a loophole around a religious barrier of preforming autopsies and dissections. The loophole was that the religious ban in Konstaniniyye did not apply to executed criminals. What shows that these dissections advance the field of medicine is that Ismail, a doctor fromKonstaniniyye, explained how affecting the nerves affects the body. "Cut th right nerve and the muscles beyond it will not move. Prick a nerve and the appropriate muscle will jump." Also the doctor answered questions about the movement of blood in the heart, movement of limbs when parts of the brain are exposed and prodded with needles and everything that he witnessed in each case of dissection.

Robert Boyle

malie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:33:45 CST

According to the wikipedia,
Robert Boyle (25 January 1627 – 30 December 1691) was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor, and early gentleman scientist, noted for his work in physics and chemistry. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law. Although his research and personal philosophy clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, he is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry.
He himself was an alchemist; and believing the transmutation of metals to be a possibility, he carried out experiments in the hope of effecting it; and he was instrumental in obtaining the repeal, in 1689, of the statute of Henry IV against multiplying gold and silver. With all the important work he accomplished in physics - the enunciation of Boyle's law, the discovery of the part taken by air in the propagation of sound, and investigations on the expansive force of freezing water, on specific gravities and refractive powers, on crystals, on electricity, on colour, on hydrostatics, etc.- chemistry was his peculiar and favourite study. His first book on the subject was The Sceptical Chymist, published in 1661, in which he criticized the "experiments whereby vulgar Spagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury to be the true Principles of Things.". For him chemistry was the science of the composition of substances, not merely an adjunct to the arts of the alchemist or the physician. He advanced towards the modern view of elements as the undecomposable constituents of material bodies; and understanding the distinction between mixtures and compounds, he made considerable progress in the technique of detecting their ingredients, a process which he designated by the term "analysis". He further supposed that the elements were ultimately composed of particles of various sorts and sizes, into which, however, they were not to be resolved in any known way. Applied chemistry had to thank him for improved methods and for an extended knowledge of individual substances. He also studied the chemistry of combustion and of respiration, and conducted experiments in physiology, where, however, he was hampered by the "tenderness of his nature" which kept him from anatomical dissections, especially of living animals, though he knew them to be "most instructing".
Besides being a busy natural philosopher, Boyle devoted much time to theology, showing a very decided leaning to the practical side and an indifference to controversial polemics. At the Restoration he was favourably received at court, and in 1665 would have received the provostship of Eton, if he would have taken orders; but this he refused to do on the ground that his writings on religious subjects would have greater weight coming from a layman than a paid minister of the Church. As a director of the East India Company he spent large sums in promoting the spread of Christianity in the East, contributing liberally to missionary societies, and to the expenses of translating the Bible or portions of it into various languages. He founded the Boyle Lectures, intended to defend the Christian religion against those he considered "notorious infidels, namely atheists, deists, pagans, Jews and Muslims", with the provison that controversies between Christians were not to be mentioned. In 2004, the Boyle Lectures were resurrected in London [2]. In person Boyle was tall, slender and of a pale countenance. His constitution was far from robust, and throughout his life he suffered from feeble health and low spirits. While his scientific work procured him an extraordinary reputation among his contemporaries, his private character and virtues, the charm of his social manners, his wit and powers of conversation, endeared him to a large circle of personal friends. He was never married. His writings are exceedingly voluminous, and his style is clear and straightforward, though undeniably verbose.

Calculus

malie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:29:34 CST

CALCULUS
Khalid also discovered calculus. As he is a newton-like character in the book, so he invented so many things which newton discovered in reality. For example, the law of gravity, inverse square law, tangent to the curve, and other fundamental laws. Some quotes from the book are shown as follows to show his mathematical discoveries.
"he outlined a mathematics of motion, what he called the speed-of-the-speed."Everything is moving."....... And moving objects, say a cannonball , can be measured against these two dimensions. How high or low, how left or right. Placed as if on a map.Then again, the horizontal dimension can mark time passed, and the vertical movement in the single direction. That will make for curved lines, representing the passage of objects through the air.Then, lines drawn tangent to the curve indicate the speed of the speed." (305)

"The attraction is in inverse proportion to the square of the distance away."(330)

Science and Military

malie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:42:22 CST

Analyzing the relationship between "Science" and "Military"

According to Answers.com the “Science” is described as:
The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.
According to Answers.com the “Military” is described as:
characteristic of members of the armed forces.

Combining both the fundamental ideas, the relationship between Science and Military can be analyzed more easily. In Book 4 of Rice and Salt, Nadir is the character who is greatly influenced by the Science of Military and he also tries to influence others in military. He even tries to find the military ideas in all the concepts he comes upon: One of the example could be seen in the following quote from years of rice and salt. "or gold. In that case the cannonballs veer only slightly, but over the grear distances they are cast, it becomes significant. And no one can never say exactly what the balls will hit."(301)
There is a large amount of funding invested in the Science and technology for military purposes. The biggest evidence can be the percentage of Scientist and engineers working currently on military projects. Infact, most of the scientific research projects got started by analyzing the problems in military. There are tons of research projects gets approved each year for military purposes so they can improve the conditions for military. There is also a lot of tensions going on between the scientific curiosity and military needs. A page on "Science and war" does a good job of describing these problems in greater details. It is as under:
"Due to the high degree of military funding for science and the military influence on the direction of technological innovation, what are seen as important scientific problems -- even in the area of so-called 'pure' science -- can become oriented to military interests (3). Nuclear physics, genetic engineering and plasma physics owe part of their prestige to their potential role in war. More generally, the criterion for important science has become success in manipulating and controlling nature, rather than understanding nature and human interactions with it. Seeing the world as an object for manipulation is quite suited for the technical-rational mode of governance by bureaucratic elites which is at the core of the modern war system. "
Qoutes borrowed from:
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/83Birch.html

Poison Gas

malie — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:33:55 CST

Discovery of Poison Gas

In the years of Rice and Salt, khalid actually invented the poison gas by his experiments. Khalid also suggested that Nadir could use his discovery as a weapon against his enemies and military. His description of this gas is as under:

" Different constituents, perhaps, as in metals. Only all invisible to the eye. We smell the differences, sometimes. And some can kill, as the bottom of wells. It isn't an absence of air, in those cases, but a bad kind of air, or part of air. The heaviest no doubt. And different distillations, different burnings... you can suppress or stoke a fire ...Anyway, I thought that sal ammoniac and saltpeper and sulfhur mixed, would make a different air. And it did too, but too much of it, too fast. Like an explosion. And clearly a poison." (321)

Rice and Salt, Book 4 (The Alchemist)

awoodwo2 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:35:17 CST

Introduction:

This book is about a man named Khalid who is indeed an alchemist. Unlike most alchemists he fakes his results and claims to have turned lead into gold. This as we know is impossible and upon further investigation we find that he has faked what he did. He is later sentenced to death because of this. He is not killed however, he simply has one of his hands removed, not to down play losing a hand, but in comparison to death it’s not too bad. He then has to do something that historically has happened to a lot of scientists. He is forced to develop weapons for the military. They also start to conduct science in the way that it is done today, by experimentation.

Index:

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Traian Dragomir (tdragomi@gmu.edu )
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Licenses:

Wikipedia: GNU Free Documentation License