Andrew's Western Civ Blogs

  Today in class we took the time to take notes on the slides about Egypt and the Nile. On new thing we learned was that Upper Egypt is 500 mile long strip of fertile land. Also, Lower Egypt is the one that contains the Delta, which is in the shape of the triangle. We also saw another main point, that the Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians. In 3100 B.C., the kingdoms were united under one kingdom. These civilizations relied on Harmony and Balance called "maat". Also, Pharaohs had multiple wives, and women had more rights then other societies. That's all for now, see you on Tuesday!

  Today in class we took more notes on the Pyramids of the Nile and what life was like back in those days. Did you know that the Nile is actually the longest river in the world, and that the people there worshiped it like a god? Also, people could starve out when a flood came because all the crops got flooded out, and were washed away. The Egyptians also lived in farming villages in 5000 B.C. In 3200, Egypt was split into two kingdoms, Upper Egypt, and Lower Egypt. They were doing so well it seemed they were doing better then the people in the Fertile Cresent. That's all for today, see you soon.

  Today in class we took our quiz on the first lesson about city-states, which hopefully I did well on. We also started the lesson on ancient Egypt, and the people of the time. The main idea of this lesson is that using math and engineering, Egyptians built huge monuments to honer dead rulers. This matters now because many of these monuments built stand as a testament to their civilization. Fortunately, I've already seen most of this material so this should be pretty east for me this time. We relearned a bunch of terms like Pharaoh and Papyrus. Alright, well that's it for today, see you soon!

  Today in class we reviewed everything we need for our quiz on Wednesday. On Friday I missed class because I was sick, but what it seemed was that I didn't miss out on too much. We did hear a very *interesting* song all about Mesopotamia and the Fertile Cresent. It also had some things on Hammurabi and his code. We also took the time to listen to a fabulous song about Rome, which doesn't even sound like him for some reason. Anyway, I hope I do well on this, as this is a quiz which I am not so sure I will do particularly well on.

I couldn't make my blog post because I was sick

   Today in class we continued the lesson of the city-states of Mesopotamia. We did it a little differently today by taking notes of the slide show that was put up rather then reading out of the book. We learned about the new and old stone ages, and how the new stone age was the start of the Agricultural age. This age was helped by the invention of the wheel and the plow, and lead to more mothers staying home to take care of the children. That's all for today, so see you on Friday.

   Today we started our new way of learning, where we read in our textbook, then discuss in the last half of the class. We started with the city-states in Mesopotamia. It's main idea is that the earliest civilization in Asia arose in Mesopotamia and organized into city-states. This matters now because the development of this civilization reflects a settlement pattern, The that has occurred repeatedly throughout history. The first farmers in this area arose before 4500bc. Sumerians are known as one of the first groups to form a civilization. That's it for today, see you tomorrow!

 Today is our very last day of Human Geo and I have to say that it has been one of my favorite classes in high school so far. Personally, I like learning history and it's always better with a teacher who makes it entertaining. I also really liked the people in my class, as they were also nice to talk to. I'm going to miss them when I switch classes, but at least there will mostly be people I know there too. I'm not quite sure what Western Civ is all about, but we'll see on Tuesday. See you then!

  Today in class, we took our test on Guns, Germs, and Steel. I hope I did alright, and I think that I did except for two questions about where crops originated from around the world. Right now we are currently making fun of youtube comments on this relaxing video. These comments are not getting any better scrolling down, and they are all just very sad. I do like listening to this music during tests, even if some others don't. I don't have a lot to write about today, so I guess I'll leave it at this.

  Today in class, we took it a little easier when we watched teen Jeopardy most of the class. We did do a little work though by going over some of the questions and what to expect on the test tomorrow. First off, we need to know which animals are on the list of the 14 domesticated animals list. Those animals are goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, two types of camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithans, and bolly cattle. We also need to know the main point: that it is all down to geographic luck. This luck comes from domesticated animals and good farmland with crops. Finally,  all great civilization have these things in common, great technology, large populations, and a well organized work force. That's all for now, see you on test day!

  Today in class we finished our video on Guns, Germs, and Steel, and we looked more into the history of some older civilizations. For example, we learned that one of the reasons New Guineans advanced so slow was the fact that they didn't have any of the 14 domesticated animals. Those animals are goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, two types of camels, water buffaloes, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithans, and bolly cattle. 13 of those animals originally came from Asia, Africa, and Europe. We also looked into the invention of steel tools, and that's what gave other countries an advantage over New Guinea.

Today in our class we kept watching our video on Guns, Germs, and Steel. So far, we have gotten into the part where they explain how the ancient people really started to speed up their productivity by utilizing animals. These animals can produce things like milk and meat, but also clothes to wear too. This is why animal domestication is shown to be beneficial for everyone. It is also said that Goats and Sheep were the first animals to be domesticated. We also looked more at farming and where different plants originated. For example, the middle east and China grew rice, and the Americas grew corn, squash, and beans. That's all for today, see you tomorrow!

  Today in our shortened class we watched more of our video on Guns, Germs, And Steel, and we learned a little more about their culture and the ways they survive in the jungle. Jared Diamond also said that all of the great civilizations have these in common: great technology, large populations, and a large organized work force. On way that the New Guineans provide food for themselves in the jungle is the Sago tree. This tree gives about 70 pounds of food  which is prepared into a dough and is then cooked. It takes days to transform it into edible food and keeps people fed for only a few days. We also saw Draa, which was a small village, and is the oldest village known today. it is said to be around 11,500 years old. That's it for today, see you soon!

    Today in class we started the videos off of the book Guns, Germs, and Steel. The Author, Jared Diamond, who is a professor at UCLA and enjoys bird watching, came up with three things a civilization needs to have an advantage over others. He's made many trips over to Papua New Guinea, which is an island nation in a remote area, to bird watch but found they were much older then some other areas while still staying very primitive. These people have very few "cargo" compared to these whites that have come over. In the minds of these Europeans they are genetically better. They also believed themselves to be placed there on a hierarchy of power, and these New Guineans believed it. That's it for today, see you soon!