Miller Matthew History 100 Nov 5 2007 Maps of Time: Chapters 11 & 12 Chapters Eleven and Twelve focus on the emergence of modernity, or the transition the Agrarian Era to the Modern Era that created our world today. In Maps of Time, this is the eighth major threshold of history discussed by Doctor Christian. In actuality the Modern Era comprises less than one-percent of human history, however, the immense amounts of advancements and innovations made the world exponentially more complex than either the Paleolithic or Agrarian Eras. Chapter Eleven's more specific focus is on the incredible population growth that characterizes the Modern Era. The appearance of the Modern Era is marked by a magnificent spike in the human population on Earth. The Agrarian life ways set the stage for this increase in population, sedimentary communities were able to exist in much larger numbers than the nomadic people that came before them. Sedimentary people were also able to create own their resources and stockpile a surplus which also contributed to population growth. After hundreds of year went by in this way, all of sudden an explosion of innovation allowed the human race to advance in leaps-andbounds unlike anything the world had ever seen. Chapter Twelve focuses on the emergence of commercialization during the sixteenth century in Song China as well as Europe which led to capitalism. This marked a change in the forms in which wealth came to an individual. Whereas wealth used to come in tributary forms, now wealth was commercial, or more materialistic. These events naturally led to a more extensive world trade network, as well as more and more countries exchanging goods between one another. These trade networks lead to the emergence of capitalist states that where built around world trade. The emergence of a capitalistic economic system was also a big deal, as we operate under a capitalist economy in the United States today.