Sisters of Notre Dame

I am really glad to have had this opportunity to read about our school's foundresses.  I found the lives of Franciose Blin de Bourdon and Julie Billiart interesting, but what stood out to me was how different their lives were and how those differences ultimately made them compatible.  I was also taken back for a moment when I read in the opening of the handout that Franciose was repulsed by Julie's infirmity.

Reading about Franciose's life was interesting from the beginning.  I wondered why she was raised from infancy by her maternal grandparents especially if both sides of Francoise's family were "landowners with impeccable aristocratic lineage."  I also want to to know how much exposure she

Ch 14 - Part 2 and Documents

"Of all the commercial ties that linked the early modern world into a global network of exchange, none had more profound or enduring human consequences than the Atlantic slave trade." (Pg 620)

This sentence really stood out me.  Profound, enduring, and consequence are such strong words but putting them together with slavery makes the impact of those words even stronger.  As I continued to read, I found it really difficult to read about Africans selling their own people into slavery.  I imagine these African people just living their lives and then one day they're captured and sold into a life

Chapter 14 - Part 1

This reading was interesting to me.  I like to think that I like progress and forward movement, but I read this chapter and all I can about is, think what are these people thinking?  How could something so simple, like the Indian Ocean Spice Trade, inspire so much need for progression, yet cause havoc amongst the groups involved.  For instance, the Portuguese, who decided to come from behind everyone else who was established in this trade and create these smaller trading posts and charging those who came through those.  The Portuguese King thought of himself as the "Lord of conquest,

While reading about the Political Transformation during 1450-1750, the first point I found interesting was how globalization changed the world.  Events like slavery connecting Africa to the West, metal trade connecting Europe to Asia, Russia making way across Siberia to the Pacific, and Christianity, all had a profound impact on the world.  In the later agrarian era, I found it interesting that Europe was strong but they were limited in what they could do across the globe.  In instances like religion, China and Japan strictly controlled merchants and missionaries amongst their societies.  Another instance of Europe’s strength but limitation is the way that African’s controlled the terms and conduct