In the First semester of language arts, I learned about how people and cultures cooperate. I think that this is the primary objective of my language arts class. Prior to ninth grade I knew a ton of information already, but I think global ed explored it deeper in the recent and recent past.
One of the development skills developed better was listening to The Man in the Well. What this did was it forced me to find deeper meanings inside of things. I thought it was interesting how the writer of the story was showing the listener how people develop from kids to adults is by realizing that the world is not a perfect place. The fact is there are billions of people globally who struggle to survive. In my own personal opinion on the subject is that the places of the world who live like that, they bring it on themselves. The United States is the only country which did not believe that people need to provide for each other to progress... all the others during times of struggle screamed at capitalists for not self sacrificing themselves. My own personal opinion on the subject is relevant because it shows while we were in debate I was paying attention.
Another development skill was writing good paragraphs. At first at the beginning of the year while adjusting to the new language arts class I struggled to produce Fielder's quality work. I have met and exceeded his expectations. Coming out of the worst class in middle school for language arts, I made much more progress all year so far that all of eighth grade. One of the better quality writing pieces I have submitted was I think Paul's letter on the subject of Rwanda. I got a good grade and a very strong introduction comment on it. I originally thought I would do bad because I did not type it, and I did not spend much time at all on it because I was not sure that it was due that day. When I looked at it to turn it in, I did think it was very good. From my letter introduction: The lawlessness down here only has been worse. If I were not manager of one of your finest hotels, I would probably be death, thanks to you. Your hotel now holds 1,200 residents in an island surrounded by an ocean of terror. I saw my neighbors' son hacked to death just outside our hotel who used to come over out house and our children would play. My wife was attacked and beat until she could not walk. We do not struggle for comfort, but we struggle in a world of torture, blood, and power, Many of our guests have relatives outside Rwanda and await departure. It is widely known that by helping others in their time of need, you can help yourself- specifically by publicity. Imagine the possibilities of a good relation with the press. We could be beneficial to each other. I think he gave me the grade because I wrote a really good paper!
One last development skill I want to talk about which combines human interactions and development is debating. I remember in the Rwanda debate, I had to fight for the Rwandan Armed Forces. I think a lot of it was the actuall development individuals put into this assignment, but I also believe that there was blame on everybody was also true. What is so significant about the debate was it demonstrated that each group did do something ( of did not do something) that they could be blamed for. My own group was blamed for mass murderings, so we decided to blame the Interhamwe which the Rwandan Armed Forces was not part of. I was active in the debate, and I think I even had a few chances of angering students by challenging their group to which they could not answer! One of the groups I attacked hardly on was the U.N., and I used their mission statement to my own advantage because they were not living up to it.
One of the most interesting things I learned about human interaction in history was during the Australian unit when we just started to explore historical events as a class. The movie Rabbit Proof Fence was very informing about how the Australian government was trying to "civilize" the aborigine children by taking them away from home to relocation camps. I did not know that the Australian Government did this. What I found interesting was one of their presidents actually apologised to the natives for that.
Another interesting thing in history that I learned in language arts was about South Africa. What I think is so interesting is the fact that much of the population in the country is white an the African people's continent. In other words, a developed society surrounded by tribal peoples. I think the British should have left the Zulus alone because after the Boer Wars and gold was discovered, they forcet them to work in mines. This is similar in a way to what the Spanish were doing in South America and Mexico- force the natives to extract the gold, and ship it back to Spain.
In conclusion, I learned not only about the recent global past, but how to write a good essay about it as well.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Early Colonization
Colonies were primarily set up for the same reason: natural resources.
About 1300AD the Mongols set up a trade route between China, and as far as western Europe. Around the 1400's the Black Death struck the world. Caravans which crossed the desert stopped delivering silks, sugar and spices to Europe. The Europeans thirst for luxury was growing, and they had lost contact with the great Mongol Khans, new dreams of exploration was opened.
It is little known that Columbus actually tried to sail around the world to end up at the court of the great Mongol Khans- the last contact was before the black death, but he discovered a world of nature, almost untouched by empire and war. The discoveries of the Caribbean and its luxurious items from spice to gold made every western country want a piece of this land.The Portuguese and the Spanish lead the exploration, and pretty soon the Cape of good Hope was discovered soon followed by the circumnavigation of the globe and the discovery of the East Indies.
Colonies were set up across the globe with eager colonists to start over, a better place than Europe. On these colonies were plantations- huge massive scale farming that used local natives to operate. These were popular in Indonesia, India, and the American South. Other times for mining operations were also common in Central America and later in South Africa. One natural resource that stood out from material items were slaves.
Slaves are interesting because they were actual people though that was different from all the others was slaves. People being taken by the ruling class of Europe to work for them all over the world on every continent. I think that slaves were used from Africa because the chiefs were helping the Europeans for money, and Africa is primarily grassland and some jungles so it would be hard to hide in. Slaves count as a human resource because it was the division or labor.
Wherever they went they encountered natives, hostile or not, Europeans did not want to trade with them. They wanted to make profit. The great western superpowers built huge navies that sailed the world called Galleons, or Frigates. Colonies depended on large fleets for supplies and for protection against pirates. The first great naval powers were Spain and Portugal, but after the British fleet sank the Spanish Armada against an invasion, and when Portugal lost power, Britain controlled the seas, and as a result they controlled huge chunks of Africa, Asia, Australia, and early on in N. America.
In the aftermath of colonization, when WWII was over, the great resource empires could not afford to control the world for resources. After the British left India, Egypt, Australia, and eventually the rest of the nations gave up their colonies, they set up trading networks to send them exotic goods like sugar, and spices- wait, doesn't that sound like what they were after 500 years ago when Columbus tried to sail to the court of the Great Khan? Only today instead of ruling the colony, they essentially control their economy by regulating resources production.
So I can conclude about colonization not only was resources the objective of colonial Empires, but it is the only reason why hermit Europe opened its doors to the world. For further reading, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism.
About 1300AD the Mongols set up a trade route between China, and as far as western Europe. Around the 1400's the Black Death struck the world. Caravans which crossed the desert stopped delivering silks, sugar and spices to Europe. The Europeans thirst for luxury was growing, and they had lost contact with the great Mongol Khans, new dreams of exploration was opened.
It is little known that Columbus actually tried to sail around the world to end up at the court of the great Mongol Khans- the last contact was before the black death, but he discovered a world of nature, almost untouched by empire and war. The discoveries of the Caribbean and its luxurious items from spice to gold made every western country want a piece of this land.The Portuguese and the Spanish lead the exploration, and pretty soon the Cape of good Hope was discovered soon followed by the circumnavigation of the globe and the discovery of the East Indies.
Colonies were set up across the globe with eager colonists to start over, a better place than Europe. On these colonies were plantations- huge massive scale farming that used local natives to operate. These were popular in Indonesia, India, and the American South. Other times for mining operations were also common in Central America and later in South Africa. One natural resource that stood out from material items were slaves.
Slaves are interesting because they were actual people though that was different from all the others was slaves. People being taken by the ruling class of Europe to work for them all over the world on every continent. I think that slaves were used from Africa because the chiefs were helping the Europeans for money, and Africa is primarily grassland and some jungles so it would be hard to hide in. Slaves count as a human resource because it was the division or labor.
Wherever they went they encountered natives, hostile or not, Europeans did not want to trade with them. They wanted to make profit. The great western superpowers built huge navies that sailed the world called Galleons, or Frigates. Colonies depended on large fleets for supplies and for protection against pirates. The first great naval powers were Spain and Portugal, but after the British fleet sank the Spanish Armada against an invasion, and when Portugal lost power, Britain controlled the seas, and as a result they controlled huge chunks of Africa, Asia, Australia, and early on in N. America.
In the aftermath of colonization, when WWII was over, the great resource empires could not afford to control the world for resources. After the British left India, Egypt, Australia, and eventually the rest of the nations gave up their colonies, they set up trading networks to send them exotic goods like sugar, and spices- wait, doesn't that sound like what they were after 500 years ago when Columbus tried to sail to the court of the Great Khan? Only today instead of ruling the colony, they essentially control their economy by regulating resources production.
So I can conclude about colonization not only was resources the objective of colonial Empires, but it is the only reason why hermit Europe opened its doors to the world. For further reading, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism.
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