When I was reading the textbook Ways of the World, by Robert W. Strayer chapter 13. I was very fascinated by the information that was giving, for instance, I didn't know that corn was an American product that was imported back to Europe. Another fascinating fact is, potatoes was also an American product that was not available in Europe. I can't  imaging the Russians not drinking their vodka with no potatoes to make vodka. The things that I didn't like from the reading was how the Europeans wiped out whole civilizations with no mercy. I wonder if they knew they were wiping out whole civilizations and not being able to get their knowledge, would they have stopped? The other part that was negative was how they forced some natives to convert into their religion. The mixing of the natives in the Spanish colonies explained a lot to me, and know I wonder what percentage of Native American I have in my blood, and what percentage of European I have in my blood? I never thought that at one point Brazil was the main producer of sugar for the world, I wonder if that is true today? The other section of the reading was also very interesting the Russian Empire is still alive today and its called The Russian Federation. Furthermore, they are still a very powerful nation, and I was surprised that they had so much religion tolerance since 1689 and began to assimilate the European way of dress. The Russian Empire is a very interesting part of history because I thought that religious tolerance was an idea that was not too long ago created. The Asian Empire was also interesting because it talked about China and India. For example, China went into an eighty-year war to united the nation. In the Mughal Empire the most interesting person was, in my perspective, Akbar who really united the kingdoms and was a man who was years ahead of his time. For Example, He accommodated Hinduism in his empire because he realized that only 20% of his empire practiced Islam and the rest Hinduism. Although, He was a Muslim himself he didn't want to convert anyone. This is big at the time most people had rules like you convert or you die.