e-book+my+story+of+the+world

Kimberly:
Please insert sub-heading for each section of your e-book, and indent new paragraphs. This is very important. Please see the highlighted errors in your Middle Ages mini-chapter. Did you write this with Hannah or did you write this alone? There are five errors. Thus, the grade is a 90. Please make corrections to raise this to a 100.

Yours,

Mr. Baskin

//**__ Prehistory __**// ==== According to scientists, human beings started living in Africa about over 2 million years ago. The old human bones found in Africa were found in an area in Tanzania called the Great Rift Valley. Prehistory is the time that comes before history and writing, when there were no written names and dates. The period of prehistory is called the Stone Age, because during this time people flaked and sharpened used sticks and stones in order to make or invent advancements in civilization. The Old Stone Age is also paleolithic. This time period lasted from about 70,000 to about 12,000 years ago. Prehistoric humans were called caveman’s, because they grew plants and vegetables and because they hunted animals. The animals hunted by hunter gatherers are called their prey. These animals were important, because they allowed early humans to eat and not starve to death. Stone tools were made by a process called flaking, during which prehistoric hunter’s sharpened pieces of stone to give them a sharp edge. Life during the Ice Age was hard for prehistoric people, because of climatic changes. The temperature was colder; the winters were longer; and snow was deep. Some human ancestors before modern humans were named neanderthals, because their bones have been discovered in the Neander valley in Germany. They had a small, low forehead. About 12,000 years ago, people discovered that could use mix different types of metalto make tools and weapons and armor and jewerly. ====

**//__ Early Agriculture __//**
==== The last ice age ended 12,000 years ago.The earth’s climate warmed, and the earth got warmer when the last ice age ended. The earth’s climate after the last ice age ended was that the earth began to get warmer, and it affected the animals and the plan life by the number of animals and plants increased dramatically. The diet of early humans changed by the number of animals and plants increasing led to a changed in the early humans diet because they ate more wild grain and small animals. Human’s settled in one place and didn’t hunt or gather anything because farming provided a steadier supply, especially since the big game animals in many areas were hunted out of extistence. Agriculture is the raising of crops and animal for human use. It provided a way for people to live in large groups. At first hunting was easier than farming for people back then, but then it got eaiser. Domestication is to like train something to be useful to humans or to improve crops and animals. It benefits humans by having something useful to human’s back then, and to have crops grow easier so humans can eat. Surplus is an extra supply of something. Being able to create a surplus made it possible for some of the city’s people to specialize. Specialization is when someone does one job and the other does the other job. Sometimes you don’t have to do everything because you can ask another person or neighbor to help or do it for you. A civilization is a culture that has developed systems of specialization, religion, learning, and government. It means that a civilization is all the things that a city have and done. In one of the earliest cities, Catal Huyuk, summarize what plants and animals the residents domesticated and had a surplus of, and say what skilled crafts they specialized in. What good or products did they create? They created clay pots, woven cloths, and jewelry. Then they found copper and mixed it with bronze then made stuff like rings, beads, and pins. They used glassy black rocks to make beautiful mirrors and razor sharp knives. ====

Mesopotamia is one of the world’s first civilizations. The word “Mesopotamia” means land between the Rivers in Greek. The rivers that formed this area, which is called the Firtle Crescent, are the Tigris and the Euphrates.Southern Mesopotamia also goes by the name Sumer. This region was made up not of countries or counties, but of city-states, which is a powerful government that controls the waters around it. Three such city-states were Ur, Uruk, and Eride.The Mesopotamians created one of the world’s first written languages. It is called Cuneiform writing. This was made by scratching on a wet, clay table. It has about 500 symbols or picture writing that look like the thing they describe. Usually boys went to school to learn to read, writing, and do mathematics. After they left school, they became a scribe or official writer. They wrote laws, legends, songs, and records. The world first set of written code of laws, called the code of Hammurabi were written in this language. The ancient Mesopotamians believed in many gods. This is called polytheism. Most of their gods were nature gods. Ki was the god for a good harvest: Enlil was the god of rain, and Enki was the god of the water. The Mesopotamians built large step-temples called ziggur at which they worshipped their gods.
 * //__ Mesopotamia __//**

__//Ancient Egypt //__
====Egypt is located in North Africa. The Nile River is the longest river in the world. The Nile River flows north over 4,000 miles from the mountains of East Africa. The floods helped the local ancient farmers turn the Nile River into a fertile agricultural area. A lot of the silt is deposited where the Nile River empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile River helped people get food by the Nile farming. Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the land to the land to assist in the production of crops. It helped people built an economy because they were able to bathe, drink water and grow crops because of irrigation. The type of government that the Ancient Egyptians had was a monarchy. The job that the pharaoh had was to serve the judge and collect the taxes. Hieroglyphics is a system that the Egyptian had developed a writing system even before Egypt was unified. Each sign or symbol could stand for and object, such as an eye or a sound, such as the letter i. The role or jobs that the scribes had in the Egyptian society were keeping records, preparing letters, and contracts. Only boys could become a scribe when there were about ten years old. The different rank from top to bottom on the great pyramid of Giza was the weight relieving chamber. Next were the king’s chamber, then the air shaft, grand gallery, the queen’s chamber, ascending passage, entrance, descending passage, then finally the unfinished chamber. The Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods. The head of their religion was the pharaohs. Pyramids were built as tombs, or burial places, for the pharaohs. The purpose or function of the pyramids was religious and the early rulers were buried in simple mud-brick tombs. ====

__//** Ancient greece **//__
==== The civilization of ancient Greece lay on Europe in and peninsulas that stick into the Mediterranean Sea. A peninsula is an area of land nearly surrounded by water. Small harbors throughout the area give protection for ships that dock there. Two of the large peninsulas on the Greek mainland are Peloponnesus and the Crete. The city-state of Sparta, Athens’ enemy, was on the large peninsula named the Peloponnesus. Crete and Rhodes are two large Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. The civilization of the Minoa, named after King Minos, grew up on the island Crete. And the early Greek civilization of Mycenaean grew on the mainland of Greece. Crete was the most powerful city-state on Attica. This was where democracy was born. This is the form of Government in which the citizens control their government by voting. This form of government was first started by 459b.c. Later, during the Golden Age of Athens, the statesman Pericles expanded Athens’ democracy. In Athens, the citizens would gather in the court to vote on laws. Pericles was responsible for building the parthenon, which is a temple to the goddess Athena on top of the acropolis. Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. The Acropolis was a high hill in the center of the city where citizens could go for protection when enemies attacked the city. ====

__//** Ancient Rome **//__
==== The ancient civilization of Rome was founded on the Italian peninsula. The city was founded on the Latium Plain. The Tiber River flows through the center of the city. According to mythology, twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome. After Rome’s last king, whose name was Tarquinius was overthrown, Rome became a republic, which is a government in which the people elected representatives to speak for them and pass laws. (The U.S.A. has this form of government.) Rome was divided up into two social groups: plebeians and patricians. Plebeians are lower class people who work for patricians, who are rich land-owners. The patricians were not always fair towards the plebeians. So, the plebeians protested and got the patricians to publish Rome’s first set of tables. These were called The twelve Tables. The most powerful branch of Rome’s government was the Senate. It was made up of patricians. It controlled law-making and how money was spent in Rome. The citizen assemblies were elected by the plebeians from the Citizen votes. They asked the consulsto pass laws for the plebeians. There were two powerful consuls. One was head of the army and one was a chief judge. Rome wanted to be the unquestioned leader of the entire Mediterranean region. So they went to war with the civilization of Carthage over who would control the island of Sicily. These wars were called the Punic war. Julius Caesar was Rome’s first dictator, which is an all-powerful ruler. Cq11``aesar was from a wealthy patrician family, and he had built up his power as a Senator, Consul, and later as military governor of Paris [France]. After Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Senate, his adopted stepson, named Octavian Caesar, became emperor. Rome grew in power and in the size of the area that it controlled. The time when Augustus Caesar ruled was called the Pax Romania, which means Roman peace. To pay for its huge building projects, Rome collected tax money from those it had conquered. It counted the numbers of people whom it had conquered; they called this count a census. Roman soldiers built an immense network of empire’s road. Water was carried to new Roman cities on raised water bridges called water ways. Roman citizens enjoyed bloody entertainment in Rome’s immense, stadium which is where gladiators fought to the death. ====

**//__ The Middle Ages __//**
==== The approximate dates of the Middle Ages are from A.D 500 to 1400s. Charles Martel’s was a Frankish leader whose grandson, named Charlemagne, lead the Franks and who spread Roman Christianity throughout Europe. Charlemagne (it means “Charles the Great”) conquered many lands, including present-day France, Germany, and Italy. The pope crowned Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor because Charlemagne had spread Roman Christianity throughout the territory that had previously been controlled by the Roman Empire. The form of government in the Middle Ages was called feudalism. This was a way to keep the peace in Europe. It was a system of governing based on ownership of land and service to a landowner. In the feudal system a lord gave land to the nobles, who in turn gave loyalty to the vassals. The vassal received an area of land called a serf in exchange for his loyalty to the lord. The “pledge of allegiance” made by a vassal was called an oath of fealty. The vassal promised to protect the lord, if asked, and to act as a soldier. When a vassal wore armor on horseback in defense of his lord, they were called knights. They followed a Code of conduct. Knights had to know music and poetry, have good manners, and protect the church. A serf was a person who was bound to work on a noble’s farmland. Serfs had to pay their lord taxes in the form of crops or produce. A manor is a settlement that had a village, farmland, a mill on it, and a central manor house. ==== ==== During the Middle Ages, a tribe from Scandinavia, called the Norse (Vikings) tried to exert their control over Europe. One such tribe, named the Vikings traveled throughout Europe. They terrified people, and stole from towns and burning them. They were also great explorers who settled in Iceland, Greenland, and even in North America. In 1066, Willam the conqueror crossed the English Channel from the north coast of France. He defeated the Saxon king of England at Hastings, who was named Harold. William made himself King of England. William brought elements of the French culture to England and established a strong government. The English king of England, King John, was forced by his vassals to sign an important document called the Magna Carta. This “Great Charter” was important, because it said that King John could not violate the rights of free men. The Magna Carta said that the king could not unfairly raise taxes, or make unfair demands of goods or labor from his citizens.The primary religion in the Middle Ages was normandy Catholicism. This religion made its influence felt throughout the Middle Ages. Monks were religious follower who lived in monasteries and who dedicated themselves to serving god and to do acts of kindness and good works. In one room in the monastery, called the scriptorium, monks copied ancient Latin and Greek texts onto books. Women who devoted their lives to serving god were called nuns. They lived in convents. ==== ==== A cathedral is/was a huge Christian church. In the Middle Ages, thife of the community centered around cathedrals. The Crusades was a series of wars that Christians fought to regain control of the Holy Land. Including Jerusalem and the surrounding lanstill more. Crusaders battled with the Muslims, who were then in control of the Holy Land. The reconquista was a long war fought by Christian armies in an attempt to recapture Spain from Muslum control.A craftsman was a man who makes products, such as coats or stained-glass. A salesman sold those crafts. If you were an apprentice to a master craftsman, you had to learn basic crafts. An apprentice craftsman would go on travels in order to get to know other towns and other ways of working. They went on foot and often spent years wandering through the many countries before they returned home or found a city that had a place for a master of their trade. An apprentice to a craftsman is just starting to learn the craft. You would become a master craftsman only after you had been an apprentice and served your time as a journeyman and finally completed a master piece. If you created this, you would be declared a Master and be admitted to a guild. A guild is a knight of master craftsmen. A guild made sure there were no more masters of any trade than was necessary. A member of a guild was expected to support his fellow members and not steal their trade, and not cheat his customers with poor goods. In 1348, a terrible disease struck Europe called the Black death or the Bubonic plague. The plague was transmitted by fleas carried by rats. The Plague killed one-third of the European population. ====

**//__ The Renaissance __//**
==== The French word “renaitre” means “to be rebirth” and that’s exactly what happened in the Renaissance. In the Renaissance, people had a rebirth of interest in the ancient roman and Greek civilizations. During the Renaissance there was a rebirth of interest in humanism, which is the name for concern with human interests and human values and with the human experience. The Renaissance, which began around 1350, changed the way Europe thought. The Renaissance began in the Italian city of Florence, because it was a city made rich because it was a center of shipping and banking. The people of Florence had excellent goods and a better chance of selling their goods.The de medici family was very wealthy banking family. The best known of the Medici family was lorenzo de’ Medici. Any gifted young artists would be taken into the Medici household and be educated. Lorenzo de’Medici gave his support and protection and art to many scholars and artists. The term for such a supporter of the arts is a patron. One very important artist whom Lorenzo supported was Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo created many great paintings, such as “The Last supper” and “The mona Lisa.” But his other areas of interest and expertise were engineering, music, and the natural world. Leonardo was the first artist to create perfect three-dimensional perspective. This was a new way of drawing and painting. It allowed the artist to make an object in the picture appear realistic to the viewer. Another major Renaissance artist was Michelangelo. He made many wonderful sculptures and paintings. Some of them were his famous painting of Bible scene on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his sculpture, “David”, which shows the Old Testament biblical hero as a Roman or Greek warrior. To understand what the Protestant Reformation was, we need to understand what “protestant” means and what “reformation” means. The verb “reform” means to change something in order to improve it. So a “reformation” is something that has been reformed. To protest against something means to complain about something’s fairness. The Protestants were named well, because they protested against the church the rome, who is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants did not like the way the priests and monks of the Roman Catholic Church were selling indulgence letters. This was a letter of forgivness for sins that a priest gave out in exchange for a payment of money. The German priest Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses as a protest against indulgences. He nailed this document to the door of his church in Wittenberg, Germany. In this document, Luther protested that it was not true, or correct, Christian belief to sell the forgiveness of sins. The invention of the printing press with movable type, in 1455 by Johannes Gutenburg, helped speed up the spread of ideas, like Martin Luther’s ideas. It printed faster than a person could write, which was the old way of copying documents or books. The Protestant Reformation in England began when King Henry VIII broke away from the Pope, because Henry wanted a divorce and the Pope wouldn’t grant him one. Henry formed a new church called the Anglican Church, or Church of England. Henry VIII became richer and more powerful after the split with Rome, because he took over the church land and money that had been owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I [the first] was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth was known for her intelligence and courage and for helping England overcome religious differences and foreign enemies. She led her people through these times and against the spanish Armada in 1588. During Queen Elizabeth I’s reign lived the great William Shakespeare. He was an actor, poet, and a play writer. The plays of Shakespeare show a deep understanding of human thoughts and feelings. When he died in 1616, Shakespeare had written 37 plays and 154 poems. He is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language who ever lived. ====