Russian Empire

I thought the reading about the Russian and Asian Empires was really interesting. When it started off, I was first surprised to learn that the Europeans and Russian Empire were both expanding in the Americas at the same time. The Russian Empire seemed to expand much quicker than expected. From 1500-1800, the Empire had managed to expand to the Pacific Ocean. They brought Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians and Baltic peoples to the America's. I would have expected the Europeans to bring more people, but the Russian Empire's expansion was a big surprise to me.
    Religion in the Mughal and Ottoman Empire was another big topic in our reading. The central part of the Mughal Empire was most religious. With the ruling dynasty, about 20% of the population were Muslim, where the rest practiced Hinduism. Within the Ottoman Empire, its two main religions were Muslims and Christians. Turks and Arabs were also were also a big part of the Ottoman Empire. Overall, the Ottoman empire combining with European expansion started admiration and envy as well as fear for the future.