Thirteen thousand years ago the ravages of the last ice age we over, the world was becoming warmer and wetter. One area where humans were thriving was the Middle East. People here lived like people everywhere 13,000 years ago, like hunter-gatherers.Also, because hunting is so unpredictable, traditional societies relied more on gathering.
The middle east was the area that was home to some of the best crops and animals in the world, this area was called the Fertile Crescent. The people of the Fertile Crescent where geographically blessed with access to some of the best crops and farm animals in the ancient world, it gave them a huge head start. As the people lived there they started to discover the process of growing and producing their own plants and domesticating animals to be used to farm their own food.
What started with the sowing of wheat and penning of goats, was leading to the first human civilization! As villages grew bigger, more people could work on the land. More people could produce more food more efficiently. Freed from the burden of farming, some people were able develop more skills and more technologies.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
GUN, GERMS, & STEAL part 5 & 6
Today you (Mr. Schick) was not here today so we had a sub. We watched Guns, Germs, and Steal again parts 5 and 6. We already saw it so we just skipped to the group project. I partnered with Emily K. and we made a slide show on power point about the population and economy. We used CIA world factbook and found out more imformation to add to our side-show.
The slide show is below this post on my blogger. I hope you like it.
The slide show is below this post on my blogger. I hope you like it.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
GUNS, GERMS, & STEAL day 4
We continued watching the video today in class. We learned that out of the 14 domestic animals that are used for physical labor, South America had the llama, and the other 13 animals came from north Africa, Asia, and Europe. The middle east was the area that was home to some of the best crops and animals in the world, this area was called the Fertile Crescent. The people of the Fertile Crescent where geographically blessed them with access to some of the best crops and farm animals in the ancient world, it gave them a huge head start. What started with the sowing of wheat and penning of goats, was leading to the first human civilization. As villages grew bigger, more people could work on the land. More people could produce more food more efficiently. Freed from the burden of farming some people were able develop more skills and more technologies. Making plaster from lime stone was a major technological breakthrough. Understanding how to work with fire was the first step to work with steel.
According to Diamond the people of new guinea never advanced in technology because the spent too much time and energy feeding them selves, but then Westerners arrived and used their technology to colonize the country. The reason why "while man had so much cargo, and new Guineans have so little" it is because of geography.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
GUNS, GERMS, & STEAL day 3
Today in class we learned about how the Middle East domesticated animals. They first used the goat. The goats were used for their milk, their skins were used for clothes and warmth and their dung was used to fertilize the plants they grew. Goats and sheep were the first animals to be domesticated. There are 14 animals that have been domesticated by humans. Some of them are: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mithuns,and Bali cattle. Some fish and birds have also been domesticated. A crucial requirement for domesticating animals are that they need to get along with humans. The best animals to use for farming are large plant eating animals. Before the industrial revolution horses, oxen, yak etc.. were the most powerful "machines" on the planet at this point in history. A horse or an ox could transform productivity of land.
New Guinea never used plows cause they have animals to pull them. They just had pigs. Pigs don't give milk and cant be used for muscle power. In New Guinea the only muscle power they have are in humans.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
GUNS,GERMS, & STEAL part 2
Today in class we continued to watch the video "Guns, Germs, and Steal. In this video Diamond realizes that the question the man from Papua New Guinea asked "Why do u white men have so much cargo but we New Guineans have so little?" was far bigger and more complex then it first appeared. It was really about the roots of inequality, a question as old as human history itself.
We learned that 13,000 years ago the ravages of the last ice age we over, the world was becoming warmer and wetter. One area were humans were thriving was the Middle East. People here lived like people everywhere 13,000 years ago, like hunter-gatherers.
We also learned that because hunting is so unpredictable, traditional societies relied more on gathering. In some parts of Papa New Guinea the gathering is done by woman. An important part of food in New Guinea is wild Sego.
We learned that 13,000 years ago the ravages of the last ice age we over, the world was becoming warmer and wetter. One area were humans were thriving was the Middle East. People here lived like people everywhere 13,000 years ago, like hunter-gatherers.
We also learned that because hunting is so unpredictable, traditional societies relied more on gathering. In some parts of Papa New Guinea the gathering is done by woman. An important part of food in New Guinea is wild Sego.
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