Happy Monday!

Today we had Western Civilization first mod. We had a discussion about the way of life of the New Guinean people. We proposed ideas about the reasons in which they act this way, or have this way of life. Some said that it was because of the schooling system, another possible reason was the government, while some even thought that they wouldn't even accept the change, and would still want to continue their way of life. We also talked about how people could take away their way of life and force them to be a part of modern civilization even if they didn't want to. We also watched Germs, Guns and Steel today. Here are some of the notes:

• Llamas are from South America
• The other 14 domesticated animals over 100 pounds live in Europe, Asia, and Africa
• Cattle, Pigs, Goats and Sheep live in the Middle East
• No domesticated animals are currently in New Guinea

Germs, Guns, and Steel con.

Today we continued watching Guns, Germs, and Steel. Here are the notes we took:

• The Middle East had barley and wheat
• Could be stored for a long time
• Nutritious and plentiful
• Draa- archaeological site of old civilizations (sophisticated)(40-50 people)
• This was the first time they settled down
• Grainerys made of mud wall, could be stored for years, protects from insects, weather, etc.
• During droughts, Middle Easterns made wheat and barely instead of hunting and gathering (domesticated plants)
• Altering or controlling (ex. growing cycle, type grown, how much) is called domestication
• China started growing rice (farming sprang up)
• The Americas grew corn, squash, and beans
• Africa started growing sorghum, millet, yams
• New Guineans sometimes ate spiders
• Food comes down to geographic luck
• Animal domestication gives more food/resources
• Animal poop helps plants
• Plants and animals mutually help each other.
• Goats and sheep were the first animals to be domesticated
• Horse and oxen helped the plow work (New Guinea doesn't have this)
• They are the best animals to be domesticated
• Large plant eating mammals
• 14 domesticated animals of 100 pounds or more in history
• goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, donkeys, bactrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, mythons, Bali cattle

Germs, Guns, and Steel

Today we watched/continued watching the movie Germs, Guns, and Steel. We also took a pop quiz. I got a 4/6 and although I strive for better grades, I will learn from this experience and use it to positively influence my future performance. Here are the notes we took today on the documentary:

• New Guineans have lived in New Guinea for 40,000 years, much longer than people have lived in the Americas.
• Whites are genetically superior, and are supposed to have more. 
• All good civilizations have large populations, specialized worker, and advanced technology for their time

I look forward to learning more about ancient civilization this semester and to learn how the world came to be. 

New Semester!!!

Today we began the second semester of the 2018-2019 school year. This means that I am now in Western Civilization. I got bumped up to honors, and i'm really excited to show myself what I can do! we watched a video today. Here are the notes:

New Guinean language and information is mainly taught through the natives
Cargo is used as evidence for power, the westerners had more cargo, meaning they had more power
Race also determines power, Europeans and white people were superior
Why do white people have more? (could be traced to inequality)
Pre-historic civilizations were more or less the same
They were nomadic, hunter-gatherers, moved where the animals were
Some hunter gatherers are still in New Guinea
Hunting and gathering is not very productive
Wild sago is an important source of food in New Guinea (cant be stored for a long time)
Wheat was the plant that led the way for modern civilization (not really)
In the middle east, wheat was stored in a mud walled building, instead of nomads, they became the first farmers
Changed the plants around them (domestication)
New Guinean people were also farmers but never got to modern civilization, Why?
Plows made the production of crops much faster, more people to feed, more money
without the animals needed, you could not use a plow
these animals were horses and ox

I look forward to learning more!