OliviaW

I found this cool video showing how the borders of Europe changed throughout 1000 years up until modern day! It is cool to see the physical changes to the map and thinking of all the war that the nations had to go through in order to reach superiority over land. Slowly throughout the centuries the representation of stronger powers is shown, due to what we learned in class, including Europe's industrialization and improved weaponry. It is especially interesting how the right side of the map was dominated by the mongols towards the beginning, and then the Russians towards the end! Super cool video representing what we have learned in AP World this year! Also the music is pretty dramatic.... 1000 years of change in Europe
 * Cool Video(:**

Below, a painting is shown portraying the different castes of the 1700's in Brazil. This type of painting would be classified as a "Casta" painting. Casta was a term used in the 1700's to describe a whole group of mixed people, which was very common in this time era. The word Casta was often used to depict the three main groups of people that existed in what is Southern America Today: the pure Spanish, the pure Native Americans, and the pure Africans who were shipped to the Americas to work on the farms.
 * Unit 3**
 * Primary Source: Casta Painting**

When the Spaniards came to the New World, they did not bring their women with them. Due to that fact, they decided to intermix with the other groups of people in the Americas, which caused a new caste system to develop. This new system replaced any class organization the Natives had developed, completely wiping out the organization of their people. The main castes that developed witht the arrival of the Spaniards were Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos, Natives, and Negros.



Peninsulares were Spanish born whites, who were born in Spain and then moved to the New World to work on the plantations. They were the highest on the caste system, and had a connection to the crown in Spain. Following the Peninsulares were the Creoles. This caste was similar to peninsulares, being strictly of Spanish blood. The only difference was that they were born in the New World instead of moving their from Spain. The group of people had good jobs in the local government, but had less power than the Peninsulares.

Below the Creoles were the Mestizos and Mulattos. Mestizos had both Spanish and Native descent, and Mulattos were of both Spanish and African descent. These two classes had very little power, and mostly worked as either servants or artists. The Natives, or Americans, came second to last, and worked with farming and cultivating crops. Lastly came the slaves, who usually were of African descent. The difference between the slaves and natives was that the slaves were forced to work on the farms, whereas the Natives had a choice.

Though, the question comes up with whether or not the Natives really had a choice. Due to the fact that they were so low on the caste system, they didn't have much of a choice. It was either work on the farms or starve to death, and obviously the latter was not an appealing choice to anyone. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Natives had their own rule, with their own developed class system. There was an emperor, the priests and nobles, then the warriors, and finally the slaves.

The Spanish coming to America was a huge change in the World's economy. Their arrival led to an increase in the Slave Trade, due to the fact that the growth in a need for agriculture in the Americas lead to a need for more work labor. The arrival of the Spanish allowed a change in the Triangular Trade to occur, with more crops being able to be traded around causing the economy to grow. The Spanish arriving in America changed not only the Natives lives but the lives of Europeans and Africans. The Casta painting looks quite interesting! How common were the Casta paintings around that time period? - Stefan G Galileo Galilee is one of the most well-known of all the mathematicians, scientists, and astronomers to ever walk the Earth. His contributions to both fields had changed the way people view the world and how it works. Though, his great contributions to both math and science were not encouraged from his parents. In fact, from the day Galileo was born on February 15, 1564, his father highly encouraged him to enter the field of medicine. The work put into that job earned a larger profit than both science and math. When Galileo reached age 11, his father decided to send him to a Monastery to learn more about the field of medicine.
 * Class Starter: Galileo **

Throughout his time in the Monastery, Galileo became very close with the monks at the monastery and decided that he himself would like to become a monk. The idea of Galileo becoming a man devoted to religion was not exactly the idea Galileo's parents had in mind, so they quickly pulled him away from the monastery. At age 17, Galileo then entered the University of Pisa, a college founded in 1343, to go with his father's wishes and study medicine.

While at the college, Galileo's reputation as a scientist began. Apparently, he was studying medicine when he noticed a lamp swinging back and forth. Intrigued by curiosity, he decided to time how long it took for the lamp to complete each swing by measuring his pulse. He discovered that no matter how far the lamp swung back and forth, it took the same amount of time (1 heartbeat) to swing both ways. Yet it is not true that the pendulum's rocking is constant and will last forever, but his discovery changed science. He went home and further looked into the idea, by setting up to pendulums, and received the same result. His discovery was used about 100 years later when Christiaan Huygens used Galileo's discovery to create the first accurate timepiece. After he had made this amazing discovery with the pendulum, Galileo decided to put more of his focuses on becoming a mathematician. While studying mathematics, Galileo has successfully created the thermoscope, a device that expresses any change in temperature (the first thermometer.) He also practiced measuring the weight of objects by developing a device that allowed him to find that gold, for example, is 19.3 times heavier than the same amount of water. After he had graduated from the University of Pisa, Galileo took on a job as a teacher at the //Accademia delle Arti del Disegno//, a university in Florence. He developed a tight friendship with a painter named Cigoli, and continued to focus on mathematics.

One of Galileo's most famous experiments is his test on Aristotle's law of nature, that larger objects hit the ground faster than lighter objects. When a few professors at the University began to discuss the probability that this law was true, Galileo decided to become on of the first to put the law to the test. He grabbed a variety of different sized balls, each with a different weight, and carried them to the top of the Leaning tower of Pisa. The height of the building and the angle at which it was tilting made it the perfect base to perform this experiment. Of course, everyone knows that when Galileo dropped the objects, they all ended up hitting the ground at the same time, proving that what Aristotle had predicted was wrong. He had proved that the mass of the objects dropped would not effect the rate of the acceleration that the objects fell at. This story came from Galileo's pupil Viviani.

Galileo also had quite an impact in astronomy. He had heard rumors that their was a device that magnified the heavens, and decided to create his own. He is not known as the inventor of the telescope, but he had improved on the past design and was the first to use the device to study the sky. One of his discoveries included black spots that appeared on the sun's surface, which helped him see that the sun appeared to rotate on it's axis. He then deduced that it would not be strange if the Earth also spun on its axis. Another one of his discoveries included Jupiter's four moons, which are often referred to as the Galilean moons today. When Galileo had first viewed the four moons, he had seen them as four points of light. Upon further observation, he decided that they were in orbit around Jupiter, which was a discovery neither Ptolemy nor Aristotle had discovered. In addition to these discoveries, Galileo also discovered that Venus went through phases, similar to the moon. This supported the Copernicus ideas:


 * 1) Heavenly motions are uniform, eternal, and circular or compounded of several circles (epicycles).
 * 2) The center of the universe is near the Sun.
 * 3) Around the Sun, in order, are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the fixed stars.
 * 4) The Earth has three motions: daily rotation, annual revolution, and annual tilting of its axis.
 * 5) Retrograde (backwards) motion of the planets is explained by the Earth's motion.
 * 6) The distance from the Earth to the Sun is small compared to the distance to the stars. (From Wikipedia)[[image:http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/files/2010/09/image005.jpeg width="317" height="300"]][[image:http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/files/2010/09/Copernicus_solar_system.gif width="325" height="287"]]

Once Galileo had made the discovery that the planets did not evolve around the Earth but instead went around the sun, he went straight to the Catholic Church to tell them of his discoveries. The Catholic Church, though, wished to believe in Ptolemy's idea instead, and decided to punish Galileo. They had originally planned to punish Galileo by imprisoning him for life, but do to his old age, they instead gave him house arrest until the end of his days. Galileo died January 8, 1642, under house arrest and was blind due to his observations of the sun.

Today, Galileo is remembered for his devotion to science, astronomy, and math. About 100 years after he died, his body was moved for burial. A fan of Galileo cut off the middle finger on Galileo's right hand as a keepsake. Today the finger is in the Museum of History in Florence. The finger has been set to point towards Rome, the home of his many amazing ideas and discoveries.

I have chosen Anaximander from the painting. He lived before Socrates, and it is known that he was the first philosopher to write down his work, but not much of it has survived today. Even though historians do not know much about his life, they do know that he greater contributed to science, especially astronomy. He began to question the universe, and decided that the universe was based off of law and order, very similar to human societies. Through his studies, he also introduced the gnomon to Grecian society. (A gnomon is the part of a sundial that allows the shadow that tells time to be cast, I never knew it had a specific name.) The main philosophy he introduced to the world was the idea of aperion, or the idea of things being indefinite, infinite, and endless. It is believed that this proposal of his was based off of the mythical being Chaos, a Greek figure that represented the deep void. Anaximander is believed to be leaning towards Pythagoras to the left in the painting below. His (Anaximander) life span is believed to be 611 BC to 546 BC. I feel that Ibn Battuta would be a perfect addition to this painting. Though he may have not contributed ot math or science directly, the stories of his travels greatly inspired many others to begin traveling, including Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta is not as well-known as Marco Polo is, which is bizarre due to the fact that Battuta traveled across farther distances. Ibn Battuta's travels also lasted longer than Marco Polo's, and he took the first journey. His addition to the painting would add to the multitude of astounding people in world history. Agreed, nice suggestion. -SW
 * The School of Athens by Raphael **

Medieval paintings are often thought to be odd, which definitely is the case as seen from above. Of course, during the time in which the painting was created, many people would have believed this to be a true piece of art. This painting was believed to have been created around the year 1450-1500, which surpassed her lifetime.
 * Unit 2**
 * Primary Source: Joan of Arc Medieval Painting**

Some history of Joan of Arc; She was born around the year 1412, and is believed to have died in 1431. She is most well-known for her leadership in battle, making it greater that she was a woman with great military power. When she was a young girl, it is said that visions came to her, urging her to save France. Convinced this was a message from God, she decided to help the French discover their problems while fighting the English, and helped them come together and form ranks stronger than ever before. Joan of Arc was also only 18 when she took charge, and her continuous successes in battle made people consider whether or not she was even completely human. She was burned at the stake, and died in 1431.

Joan of Arc is inspiring, and it is amazing that she was able to lead an unsuccessful army of men into a battle that was seemed to be already lost, and actually succeed in winning the war. In 1920, Pope Benedict the XV canonized her into sainthood. She is still in the memories of people all throughout the world today.

Some background on the painting itself and of medieval paintings as a whole: Paintings from the middle ages have a distinguished look to them. The earliest art included religious paintings, flat and one dimensional, and often had long narrow faces. The hands also were characterized with long slender fingers, as Mr. StanWiens would say "E.T. Hands." :-)> Later on, though, the art developed and began to resemble actual people a little better. They also began to stray from the common painting, and incorporated statues, stained glass, symmetry, and brighter colors. Medieval art from beginning to end helps us understand the development of people thorough time, and their ability to adapt and grow. Both the painting and the person portrayed help historians understand the time era even better today.

The Rosetta Stone was one of the most important pieces of history ever found. The most recent discovery being in 1799, it was found to have written upon its surface three of the main languages spoken in ancient times, allowing historians to decipher more of the writing throughout the era of the ancient civilizations.
 * Unit 1**
 * Primary Source: Rosetta Stone **

So what is the Rosetta Stone, really? Well, it is literally a piece of black granite with the three languages are carved upon its surface. A group of French explores discovered the stone initially in Rosetta, even covering the lettering in white chalk so as to read the inscriptions upon it more clearly. Soon, the French had to give it up to a group of British soldiers, leading to the reason as to why it is in England today. (found in The British Museum)

The Rosetta Stone was organized into three main sections, and each section had a different language. By closely studying the artifact, historians discovered there was a pattern in the three languages, that they all had the same message carved upon it. This allowed them to decipher the three languages: Egyptian, Demotic, and Ancient Greek.

The Egyptian lettering is in hieroglyphics, which is pretty well-known. The ancient Greek lettering follows their common 24 letter alphabet. Demotic writing is an Egyptian form of writing, and is often described as a type of cursive Egyptian. This language was developed in the later stages of the Egyptian languages. Before researching the stone, I always imagined it to be pretty small. Upon research though, I discovered its measurements were larger than I had though at first. It stands at 45 inches high, about 30 inches wide, and about 28 inches thick. It weighs about 1,680 pounds. Amazingly, you may think it is a stone carved with ancient law, maybe the secrets to the oldest ways of life when really; the stone's main purpose was to organize a way of taxes.

Don't be disappointed though, because even though that is not the all powerful answer many were hoping for, it did allow scientists and historians to learn so much more through other documents of writing The Rosetta Stone completed the missing pieces of the puzzles historians were hoping to connect. Without the Rosetta stone, we might not know as much about the ancient civilizations as we do today.

This is interesting, do they know why it was only written in those 3 languages?-SM Very detailed and and interesting information! Do you know where the Rosetta Stone is currently? -SJ