Menzies' Argument of Zheng He

I believe Menzies' argument that Zheng He's fleet made it to North America because he explains it properly through evidence. Menzies' uses various old maps and sources from 1421 to evaluate where Zheng He's fleets went and why. He's able to come to a conclusion that Zheng He came from under South Africa and was gradually dragged by the wind currents northwest. From there, Menzies proclaimed that Zheng He's fleet split into two factions. One faction went north and the other went south. For example, one of Menzies' evidences is that the island of Bimini has a landscape called the "shark mountains" and contains the wrecks of chinese junks (ships). Menzies uses not only tools and sources to investigate into this argument, but he also experiences these places himself by going to them. 

Mo'ikeha's Journey

The political, social, and cultural significance of the two-way voyaging between Tahiti and Hawai'i was large. All three of these aspects are connected and affect one another. The social and political aspect would be that Mo'ikeha was allowed to marry both of the sisters, Hinauu and Ho'oipoikamalanai, which in turn granted him the status of ali'i nui of Kaua'i. When they had children, Mo'ikeha sent one of his sons, Kila to Tagiti to find his elder half-brother. After finding him, they set out to Hawai'i with other men. The cultural aspect of all of this is that in Hawai'i, there were things that were different, such as hula dancing. Overall, the two-way voyaging had cultural, social, and political significance that benefitted the citizens of both Tahiti and Hawai'i. 

Muslims and Christians: A Reflection

I read about the Muslims and their views on the Europeans. I believe that there could never be a positive/complimentary view of the Europeans because of their differences in what they believe (religion). First off, in one of the documents, it said that Christians were hypocritical and ironic because of their so called "purity". They said that they believed in being pure, but many of them sought only for themselves. For example, there were many women who became prostitutes; this doesn't symbolize purity. Another thing is that there was already too much fighting that happened between the two races. So much hatred had already built up to a point where negotiations were meaningless, they were made only to be broken. Besides, the Muslims would've never treated the Christians as equals because their (Muslims) technology was more advanced. There was just too much havoc and hatred between the two races for any profound peace to occur.