Egyptian Life

Today in class we went over a PowerPoint on Egyptians. The Upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile down South. The Lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile delta, emptying into the Mediterranean Sea up North. The Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians. round 3100BC the two lands were untied under a single king or "pharaoh".(Narmer AKA Menes). Pharaoh was an all powerful and worshiped as a god and intimately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses. Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe, which the called "Maat". Pharaohs had multiple wives and social success were through the palace. Women could inherit money from their husbands and divorce, but very few women had political power. Some gods or goddess were represented by animal heads or bodies and possibly a mix. Egyptians also had an afterlife called Ka. This is where they were mummified to preserve the bodies for the post-death life. All souls would need to justify themselves at the  point of death and be either sent to an after-world paradise or eaten by the jaws of a monster. This is as far as we got today.

Mesopotamia Quiz Day

Today in class we took our Mesopotamia quiz. I was super nervous because I felt as though I would forget little information from the book. I feel quite confident with my quiz and my answers, but I am still nervous. I studied a bit for this quiz last night and today. I am currently super tired and ready to sleep. Mr. Schick told us that the first page at least was done well by the class so that helped me feel better. I also took a grammar quiz today and did well, so that made me happy. I only have one test tomorrow, so I have to study for that. I am excited for the dress down day tomorrow because it is free and I can be comfy all day. I am not too sure what to wear yet, but I will choose later. Now I will be going to sleep and study. 

Mesopotamia Review

Today in class we went over the Mesopotamia information for our quiz tomorrow. We watched a song about Mesopotamia and we looked over the power point. Along with that we read off some questions that could be similar to the quiz. This review was helpful, but I will still need to look over my own notes or blogs. Then we watched a few other random videos for fun made from John Carroll students and some about them. One was a video of a graduated student who went on to American Idol. That was pretty cool to see. Now I have to begin studying for this quiz. I am a little nervous since it is the first quiz of the semester. This week has been pretty long for me so far, which is making quizzes difficult. Other than that it has been pretty good. I think I can remember the definitions, but anything else I may forget.

Quiz Review Day

Today we began to review for our quiz on Wednesday. A few questions that will possibly be on the quiz would be:

Cultural Diffusion- mixing or trading ideas or beliefs to different cultures
Fertile Crescent- A region between two rivers with extreme fertile land
Mesopotamia- Land between rivers
Polytheism- The belief in multiple gods
Irrigation- diverting water from its main source for agricultural purposes
Cuneiform- One of the earliest forms of writing found in Mesopotamia
Dynasty- Series of rulers often form the same family
Ziggurat- Sumerian temple built on top of a mountain for the gods
Modern day countries found at the fertile crescent- Iraq, Syria, Turkey
Neolithic Era (New Stone Age)- Advanced for its time with improved technology and advancements with stone, tools and tech
Paleolithic Era- Old Stone Age
City State- A political state or area arranged by its own government
Gilgamesh- Part of an old story telling of a great flood like in the Bible with a story of Moses
Hammurabi's Code- 282 Set laws made by the King Hammurabi, one of the earliest set of laws and earliest seen engraved in stone for everybody to see
Silt- Soil left behind after flood water recedes

Bonus: On which river was a US Military base attacked? The Tigris.
This was as far as we got in today's class. 

Civilization in Mesopotamia

Here are some notes from today's class. We began with talking about wandering nomads who drove their herds around some land. In Sumer nomads had drove their cattle down south towards Arabia. In 2350 BC the Akkadians conquered Sumer. The Akkadians brought new gods to take the place of the previous gods that had been worshiped.  The citizens were then forced to worship the new gods brought upon them. King Hammurabi of Babylon came up with his new series of laws called Hammurabi's Code. One of the major laws was "an eye for an eye". Other laws were focused on regulations for marriages, divorce and punishments for crimes. These laws are crazy to me and they seem extremely harsh. I cannot imagine seeing these punishments take place for the criminals. I understand the points behind some of these laws, but I do think many of these are extreme. I am just wondering what happened to bring some of the laws into action since most of them end with death.

Hammurabi's Code

Hummarabi's code covered many area's for their early civilization during 1792 BC. This was the first single, uniform code of law to unify diverse groups within the empire. They used existing rules, judgement, and laws for Hummurabi's code. This code had 282 specific laws for family relations, business, conducts, crimes and protection for women and children against unfair treatment . The government knew they were responsible for their societies actions. This code represented the beliefs and values for Mesopotamia. One of his most popular codes entailed, "An eye for an eye" and "A tooth for a tooth". This code was engraved in stones and copied for the town. The laws were applied to everyone, but punishments differed from the rich and the poor. These early laws were kept and used in later civilizations.

City-States in Mesopotamia

Vocab:
Fertile Crescent- A region with a curved shape and rich, fertile land.

Mesopotamia- Land between rivers facing a plain and the Mediterranean Sea. It was between the Tigris and Euphrates river.

City-State - A city and its surrounding land. It has its own government and rulers.

Dynasty- Series of rulers from a single family.

Cultural Diffusion- The spread of new ideas or products from one culture to another.

Polytheism- The belief in more than one god.

Empire- Several people, nations or previous independent states states under the control of one ruler.

Hammurabi- A strong well like leader during 1792. He was a military leader, diplomat, and noble lawgiver.

Three environmental challenges  vs. advantages for the Sumerians:
Disadvantages:

• Unpredictable flooding or little to no rain
• No natural barriers for protection
• Natural resources were limited

Solutions:

• Irrigation ditches carried water to fields for crops
• Built city walls with mud bricks 
• Traded grain, cloth, and crafted tools for wood, stone, and metal. 

Lazy Day

Today we got to Human Geo late because of our class meeting. The meeting talked about school safety of what to do if there are intruders. I feel pretty safe but, I feel like there is not too much preparing to do because you are not sure of what to do unless you are in that situation. I would want to hide the most and I think that is the safest idea. We then discussed who is in our class next semester. I am in the larger class and its not unusual for me since in middle school I had 40 kids in my class, but I still don't want to be in the larger class. I'm not sure who everybody is in my schedule, but I am excited for change. Then we continued to watch Jeopardy again. This time we watched college addition. I am also excited to have a three day weekend to relax and sleep.

Watching Jeopardy

Today we watched Teen Jeopardy in class. We watched the show and attempted to answer the questions. This was fun and made me laugh. I was surprised that most of these questions were easy to answer. It was so much easier to answer than the regular Jeopardy. I am so relieved that this quarter is over and that we don't have to worry about a final and learning anything. I hope we can continue this tomorrow. I am tired so I am happy to have an easy day today so far. When I get home I want to sleep and have no homework. Jeopardy surprises me on how smart some people are and how many random things people know. I can't imagine having to know the answers to these questions on TV. This week has been super stressful trying to catch up and watch my grades so I am thankful its over. I am ready for a new semester and a fresh start.

Guns, Germs, and Steel Quiz

Today we took our Guns, Germs and Steel quiz. I was super nervous to take this quiz because I feel like there was a lot I could possibly mix up the domesticated animals or the two early civilization cites. This quiz was also super stressful for me because it is one of our last grades for this semester. This grade could make or break my current grade so I am nervous to see my results. I want to do well, but I am not positive I got the potential score I wanted. I watched the entire video over again and studied my notes so I feel as if I should have done somewhat decent. By the end of this semester I am happy to say I tried my best. I gave this semester my all and I wouldn't change anything I had done. I worked super hard for my grades and I am proud of how I did. I am also thankful that my first semester is finally over. It has been a stressful one trying to keep up with my grades. I am glad it is over and I'm excited for the next semester to come.

Final Day of Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today we finished watching Guns, Germs, and Steel. The rest of the video was about the migration form the fertile crescent. The Fertile Crescent was the origin of many strong and successful settlements. The fertile land, grown crops, and animals near by allowed for these people to have a head start at life. After a few thousand years the climate and land became too dry for the proper crops to grow and the people so the people had to leave the Fertile Crescent. This is when the people decided to move east and west of their current land. This change of latitude allowed the people to be on new land with fairly similar climate for their crops, clothes, animals, and lifestyle. This lead to great civilizations due to their region. The Europeans were the next to bring the most popular crops and animals like wheat or barley and cattle to the Americas. This is what jump started the Americas early on.

Fourth Day of Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today we continued watching Guns, Germs, and Steel. Today the main idea was Animal Domestication. This is when humans control animal breeding, feeding, and location. Animals had lots of benefits such as clothing, meat, work, warmth, fertilizer, and more. Goats and sheep were the first animals to be domesticated. The next to be domesticated were pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, bactrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithians, and bali cattle. These have been the only 14 animals fully domesticated for work. The bigger animals such as horses and cows were the most helpful for labor by dragging things like plows which was a major invention for farming to advance. Plant eating animals were the easiest to domesticate since they don't need other animals grown to feed them. Then we began to talk about how societies worked with trading services or items for other services or items.

Third Day of Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today we continued to watch Guns, Germs, and Steel. Today we learned about the places where farming and plant domestication started. First the Middle East had wheat and barley, then China had rice, the Americas had corn, squash, and beans. Finally Africa had Sorghum, millet, and yams. Most places who were able to start farming early ended up advanced, but this was not the case for every place. Papua New Guinea has been farming for many, many years , but still seem to be set back in time without advances. Papua New Guinea has food like bananas, sago, and even spiders. More productive crops can make more productive people. Advance places are the ones that have productive food which means it can be stores and savored for a long amount of time. They don't have to finishing it real quick so they don't have to waste it. Another thing is that most of these foods can grow quickly to be replenished. This is apart of Geographic Luck. That is what can determine the success of a location, its location.

Second Day of Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today in class we continued to watch Guns, Germs, and Steel. Today we discussed the three things great civilizations all had. The three things was a large population, a strong workforce, and a good food source. Daar was the earthliest civilization. They lived life by being the first to farm or domesticate plants. This was done around over 11,000 years ago. This is crazy to imagine such a long time ago that people were already beginning and discovering something about life that is still used to this day. An archaeologist named Ian Kite was the head leader in this discovery. They are finding the graininess where grain and wheat were stored and the early methods used to do this. It is amazing to see the early methods of life and how things were done. I cannot imagined starting from the beginning of life rather and having to learn about life rather than have everything figured out.  This is where we ended today.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today in class we began to watch Guns, Germs, and Steel. This video was about the development of countries depending on the geography or location. Jered Diamond came up with this theory. He thought that domesticating plants and animals advances development. The only way for a country to progress must be to have an abundance of food. Some people were convinced it was religion or God to convince people to convert to Christianity. There are haves and have nots. The haves are the things that developed places and people have. The have nots are the things that under developed places don't have.  This video began in Papua New Guinea. It was crazy to see how different people in undeveloped places live compared to developed places. Then a man named Yali asked, " Why do white men have so much more cargo than New Guineans?" This is where we left off.