Pros and Cons of Imperialism in Africa

Pros
1. The African people got the hospital and other public systems after the Europeans left.
2. People got educated.
3. The people in Africa came to know what kind of valuable resources were in their land
4. Railways and mines were built.
5. The cities got civilized.
6. People can speak other languages such as English and French which is an advantage for them in economy.
Cons
1. Innocent people were taken to the America as slaves.
2. It ruined the culture and changes the way of life of the people
3. The Europeans took away a lot of the good resources that could have been used to benefit the African countries.
4. More civil wars occurred after the Europeans left because they divided up the land without thinking about the relationships of the native tribes.
5. Many families were separated from each other when dividing up the land.
6. Forced labor was used to make people to gather resources for the Europeans.

Central Africa_Central Africa Today

Central Africa is rich in raw resources but most of the countries in that region are poor. Most of the people in Central Africa live in rural areas. One of the reasons is that the governments are not stable. Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the countries in Central Africa had been ruled by a dictator, Joseph Mobutu, who worsened the whole economic system in Congo. Democratic Republic of Congo is called the "treasure chest of minerals" and other countries around it are rich of copper, diamond, gold, and cobalt. The forest provide rubber, wood and food. But some obstacles such as religion and ethnic conflict, civil wars, and health slow down the whole economy of the region.
Ethnic and religion differences create a civil war, which ends up in a disaster. A mix of ethnic groups and competing desires for power led to civil war in many of the region's countries. War has made a lot of damages to economies of Central Africa. Many people get injured which gives a disadvantage in industry-it lacks labor. The fighting also destroyed all the usable land for farming and the resources that could have been used more productively. Also, people are not getting enough nutrients which lead to famine. Important industries are destroying the environment for farming. Lumber companies are cutting down the trees, destroying the rain forests, mining diamond and copper removed large areas of land and destroyed landscapes. Even though Central Africa is trying to speed up and catch up with other countries, these obstacles keep on slowing the economies down.

Africa News Current Events #3

Congo Rebels Take Advance as Militiamen Steal Govt. Weapons
The Congo rebels are taking advantages as the government force is retreating. There still is a battle going on in the rebel-held teritorry and as the soldiers and the civilians are fleeing, the rebels are stealing the government soldiers' weapons. The latest battle madea cease-fire between the rebels led by Laurent Nkunda and the government. Nkunda was glad to take the advantage of the cease-fire as there weren't enough food and supplies left for the rebels. Congolese President Joseph Kabila, was willing to meet Nkunda but thought that he would need more time to think about it. He said he would tell Nkunda that the international community expected a "durable cease-fire to address the issue of humanitarian crisis and tragedy," followed by a "durable peace and political stability." The conflict in Congo has been complicated by ethnic differences. Nkunda, a Tutsi, has repeatedly blamed the Congolese government for not helping Tutsis from attacks by Rwandan Hutus who fled over the border in the 1994, that left hundreds of thousands of Tutsis dead.
I thought that this article was intersting because it has been continuing for more than a week and it seems like their is a hope for it to finally end. It has killed many people and destroyed Congo. I think that this could lead to more stories since the Congolese government is trying to make peace with the rebels and find a solution.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/18/congo.ceasefire.rebels/index.html

Reflection on Imperialism Cartoon

What are the main visual elements?
There is a drawing of the Africa continent and there is a big foot step dug in the middke of it. In the spot where it has been stepped on is dry and the land is cracking up.

What issue is the political cartoon about?
I think that the cartoon is about imperialism and how Europeans affected the lives of the people in Africa and Africa itself as they took over the land.

What is the cartoonist's opinion on this issue?
The cartoonist thinks that imperialism was negative and that it has left a lot of damage in Africa and other countries after the Europeans had taken over the land. The native African culture and their ways of life has "dried up", and physically, a lot of raw materials had been taken away by the Europeans and there is not that much left now.

What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion?
I think that it is obvious that the cartoon shows the negative side of imperialism since there is a visible drought in the spot where there was the foot mark. I think that the dry land shows that natural resources there have been "soaked up" as much as it could and there is not much left of it could symbolize the religion and culture of the natives in that area. Because imperialism did cause a lot of conflicts and changes to the native Africans who lived there.

What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartooon more persuasive.
I think the cartoonist could have used more intersting symbols and more clear pictures because I couldn't really recognize which continent the land was.

image from:http://img.photobucket.com

Central Africa_History and Culture

Early humans lived in Central Africa thousands of years ago. However, the customs and the way people lived have changed due to the Tribes from the West Africa and the European colonists. About 2,000 ago, many people from the West Africa began to migrate to Central Africa and soon formed several kingdoms. One of them was the Kongo Kingdom, located near the mouth of the Congo River. The Kongo Kingdom grew rich as they established trade routes to western and eastern Africa and trades such things as animal skins, shells, and ivory.
The Europeans came to the region in the late 1400s. They wanted to take as many resources as possible in that area including the slaves and the items mentioned above. Some African kingdoms became rich after trading with the Europeans but they soon lost their power to the European influences. In the late 1800s, the European countries started to divide up the land between themselves and the tribes in that area that never got along had to interact. They spoke different languages and had different customs. It caused conflicts after the colonies won the independence.
The culture in Central Africa is all mixed up with the native, the Western Africa and the Europeans. The religion, the language, and even art is influenced by the outside forces. Many people in Central Africa speak Bantu language but they also speak hundreds of different languages and dialects. But the official languages of the countries are French, English, and Portuguese. Religion is also influenced by the Europeans and almost all the regions are Roman Catholic. Central Africa's traditional cultures influence the arts of the region. The region is famous for sculpture, carved wooden masks, and cotton gowns dyed in bright colors. Overall, Central Africa is a region influenced by outside forces and many cultures and the customs has been mixed.

Humanities 2-8 Scramble For Africa

1. What strategy did you use to claim land?

We used the natural resources map which shows what kinds of resources are available in each countries. We tried to claim parts of the land with the most natural resources in it especially the ones with the resources that our country needed.

2. What factors did you consider in claiming land?

First, the resources in the land and the resources that our country required. We didn't really care where, unless it did have coal and iron in it. Because coal and iron were teo of the resources that out country was looking for.

3. Who won the Scramble for Africa?

I think that Great Britain won the game because they had the most dices to claim the lands and rhey were lucky to win over other countries lands as they risked their own. And by gaining alot of land, you have higher chance of having possesion of the land with the most resources.

4. Who lost in the Scramble for Africa?
I think that Spain lost in the game as they did gain the least amount of land. And by not havign alot of land, they might not have possesion of the land withthe resources they needed.

Africa News Current Events #2

Ten Hostages Seized Off, Cameroon Freed
On October 31st, pirates had attacked a French ship in the waters of Cameroon, taking 10 crew members as hostages. Six of the captured were French nationals, two were Camerronians, one was Tunisian and onew waus Senegalese. No one was injured according to Bourbon, shiping company.
The attack in the middle of the night when 3 boats of armed man came by. The Bourban Sagitta had been loading crude oil from a field off the Bakasi Peninsula, about 180km away from Cameroon when suddenly pirates attacked the ship on the way and took 10 crews as while fleeing. French Foreign Minister had called Paris to deal with the situation. But on November 11th, the hostages were brought home safe and sound. President Nicolas Sarkozy's office and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's office said that they credited help from Cameroon's president, Paul Biya and Nigerian government.

I thought that this article was important because this article also had impact on other parts of the world-France- and it is a very recent news. It lead to more articles and at the end the hostages were released. And I thought that this article was kind of interesting that the pirates had attacked the ship and fled with 10 hostages. I didn't know that there were that many pirates in the sea near Cameroon.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/11/cameroon.hostages.freed.ap/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/31/cameroon.hijacking/index.html

Central Africa_Physical Geography

Central Africa is a region that has two distinct climates, mostly humid. Central Africa is shaped like a wide, flat bowl and in the middle of the bowl is called the Congo Basin. Many low hills and plateaus surround the Congo Basin. A huge river called the Congo River lies in the middle of the region. It is fed by hundreds of smaller rivers. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean and there are many waterfalls that lie along its route making it impossible for the ships to travel through. Central Africa lies along the equator and in the low altitudes. Therefore, most of the region in Central Africa are humid and receives warm temperature and a lot of rainfall all year long. The climate support the large tropical rain forest which is a home to such organisms as gorillas, elephants, insects and birds. The government has set up many national parks to save the forests from farming and logging. While the middle of the Central Africa is always rainy and humid, North and South of the Central Africa have a tropical savanna climate. It is warm all year long too, but it has distinct dry and wet season. There are grasslands, a few trees, and some shrubs. Dry area and desert areas are found in the far southern part of the region. The warm weather and water source make a perfect condition for the crops to grow. Common crops are coffee, bananas, and corn. Africa is rich in natural resources as well. The forests provide timber, and the rivers give out hydroelectricity. Central Africa also has a lot of valuable minerals such as diamond, gold, copper, etc. Overall, Central Africa is a region rich of natural resources.

TBAS- Can We Trust It?

Can we trust the “truthfulness” of what we read in To Be A Slave ? Why or why not? Support your answer.

I think we can trust the book, To Be A Slave, but not entirely. It is true that African people were taken away from their homes and that they were tortured. First of all, the author, Julius Lester is a teacher from a well-known college and teaches human rights. He wouldn't have written the story wihout specific facts because the book won a New Berry Honor prize which is another stong reason that this book is reliable. And thirdly, I think Mr. Coyle wouldn't have let us read this book if it was exaggerated on the slve's point of view and had personal ideas in it.

Africa News Current Events #1

U.N. Chief: Rebels 'poisonous' for Congo

This article was about the rebels in Congo. The rebels are fighting the government troops in The Democratic of Congo and the U.N. chief was concerned that the rebels will be "poisonous" for Congo. The violence and the attacks were worsening the whole issue and the situation. A lot of innocent people have been exposed to the battles and though many of them fled to other countries or the U.N. protected camps, hundreds have died during the last past eight weeks. It had started from the killings of a half-million Tutsis by Hutu militia in Rwanda and Congo's civil wars in 1994. A lot of people were killed and people near by could hear someone screaming and would find a corpse being taken away in the morning. People demanded that Nkunda and Mai Mai commanders should order their troops to stop committing such horrible crimes and that they should be responsible for all the deaths. Other countries have agreed to stop arming, financing or support armed group in anyway.

I thought that this article was important because the rebels could end up worsening the whole country. A lot of innocent people are getting murderd out in the streetins and making all the people around the country more stressed and panicked. Many people, including the neighboring countries and the U.N. have to suffer from it and is trying to work things out.

cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/07/congo.summit/index.html?iref=newssearch

5 Themes of Geography

There are people seating out in the restaurant watching the view and eating. There aren't that many people walking around and a there is a man dressed up like a waiter. The climate is very good and the sky is pretty with clouds and the sky is azure. The whole place is really bright and clean. The people are wearing normal European clothes and are just ambling through the streets. There is no car on the street. The houses are not tall and have a slanted roof. The ground floor of the buildings are shops and on top are houses where people live in.

photos.igougo.com/images/p401154-France-Paris.jpg

Violence Leads to More Violence

Evaluate this quote, “Violence leads to more violence.” Use evidence from Julius Caesar and current world events to support or reject.

The meaning of the quote is that once you start a violence, it'll never end or become worse. You should never solve things by violence because it could come back to you. I think that was what happened in Julius Caesar. Brutus and the other conspirators shouldn't have had killed Caesar without telling him what their problems were. Because at the end, they all ended up like Caesar. You wouldn't know who would be holding grudges against you. I think that happens in modern world when people murder other people usually because they hold grudges against that people. It happens in wars too. When a country A start attacking the other, B, country B won't just let country A attack their country. Some other countries who haven't been liking country A might start helping country B to defeat country A. And other countries would start making teams which will lead to a calamity and end up killing a lot of innocent people.

Brutus's Dilemma

If I was Brutus, and had to choose between my best friend and my country, I would choose to save my country and join the conspiracy. Even though Caeser is a good general and popular to the commoners, it doesn't mean that he is a good leader who can make peace and improvement to Rome. And the situation Brutus is in makes it harder for Brutus to choose Caeser over Rome, because he also loves his country and according to Cassius, Caeser will be a bad infuluence to Rome. Brutus doesn't really have the choice because Cassius is making the decisions for Brutus by making him think that many others also agree with him. Brutus thinks that Caeser will do anything he wants to do and not care about other people's suggestions. It's natural for people like Caesar who has power to become selfish and greedy.

Imperialism

Imperialism is when a powerfull country take over smaller country for land, capital and labor. Imperialism began in Europe where the countries are all small. For example, England took over India for cotton and indigo, and Muslim countries for the access to the seas. It was easier for European countries to take over countries such as India and some in Africa where there was no one big community. Also, England and the other European countries were advanced in technology. When other countries would ask for help in governing the country, they would gladly help them and slowly take over the land. That's what happened to Turkey, Persia, and Egypt. But Imperialism wasn't all that bad. It brought some advantages for the poor countries. For example, India could learn some new technology and everyone started speaking in English which now is a great advantage for them. In Turkey, after loosing all the lands, the leaders decided to modernize their country and now Turkey is one of the richest countries.

Leadership

What are the qualities of a good leader? Who are the student leaders in Grade 8? How do they demonstrate the qualities of a good leader?

People who become leaders in a gang or in a school are people who are usually loud, dramatic, bright, handsome or pretty, and makes school interesting. These people do thing that others want to do but cannot do either because they are not allowed or not brave enough. The leader type people are very brave to do things and makes things seem fun. People around these people think that everything they do is "cool". Because school is a dull place where there are strict rules and things to learn. These people make others want to come to school.

End of Quarter 1 Feedback

My goal in the first quarter was to memorize more vocabularies by reading and improve on writing essays. I think I didn't really reach my first quarter goal. I did a really poor job on writing assignments and didn't work hard on them. The vocabularies are always the same in my essays so that proves that I hadn't really worked in learning vocabularies.
What are three specific goals that you have for quarter two in humanities?
For this quarter, I think that I should keep the same goals; improving on writing essays and learning more vocabularies by reading. I should read more educational books. I think that for this quarter, I should read more about the topic at home and improve on researching for more specific informations by using the library books instead of internet.

Reflection on Political Cartoon

What are the main visual elements?

There is a fat, gigantic man standing with a wicked smile with a tag saying “capitalism” and he is holding a thin, small man labeled “labor”. As the fat man shakes the small man, who is struggling to get rid of the fat man’s hand, money falls out from him and it goes in the bag labeled “child labor”. Underneath the cartoon, there's a poem or a poice of writing about the evils of capitalism.

What issue is this political cartoon about?

I think this political cartoon is about capitalism and the author is trying to tell the cons of capitalism. It’s about the way capitalism works for the laborers. It shows that the rich people keep on getting richer while the laborers have to work the hardest and don’t get paid well.

What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?

I think the cartoonist doesn’t like the idea of capitalism and how it works for the poor laborers. The cartoonist thinks that there must be a change in a way capitalism

What evidence in the cartoon leads you to believe that the author feels this way?

You can see that the man labeled “capitalism” is shown big and mean. It shows that the richer man has the power to "use" the people in the labor class. All he needs to do is shake the tiny, helpless laborers to get the money. It shows that capitalism is using the laborers as if they’ve got no rights.

What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

He could have shown what effects it would have on all of the readers if the way the capitalism works did not change to persudade the reader. He could have shown what was happening to the laborers more.

Quater 1 Goal Reflection

I think I haven't not made much of a progress on improving on essays though I did get many chances to write a lot in humanities. I should be more descriptive and show more than tell. Also I think I should work on making better sentences and using right words for them. I need to work on making my essays sound more like the characters and think deeply about what the characters would think about and what they’d really be like.
I think I did learn some nice vocabularies about industry and economy though I didn’t learn it by reading. But I should still work on descriptive vocabularies. I think I should read more books of different varieties and not only fiction.

1870's Stock Market Reflection

1. Buy Low…Sell High

I think the very first tip that Mr Coyle gave us was the most important. At first I didn't understand what the whole game was about and used half of my money to buy the stock that would have been popular in 1870's. And then as the years passed, the price of the stocks changed as the supplies and demand changed. Sometimes, when the stock price would get really cheap because of some small problems, you would buy it eventhough you would be taking alot of risk. In another words, we became entrepreneurs, people who take risks to earn money. At the end, the stocks that seemed to be unuseful became really expensive and it was a great advantage for the people who had bought alot of stocks when they were cheap. So you should buy stocks when they are cheap and see if you could make profits.

Pros and Cons of the IR

Pros
· When the machines were introduced to the factories, people could make more money efficiently and didn’t need many laborers.
· Faster and better transportation was invented.
· The population increased since the transportation became faster and people could grow more food.
· The country became wealthier since they could produce things more efficiently
Cons
· The machines were able to produce commodities much faster so many laborers lost their jobs.
· More women and children were forced to work since the children’s hands could get into small spaces in the machines to fix them.
· The country became polluted because of the use of coal.
· The factories destroyed the lands usable for farming.

Factory Game Day 2 Reflection

I found the game really exciting and real like we were actually working in an assembly line. Though if we were really working in a factory we'd have to close down the factory. I was one of the cutter and I enjoyed being one. I'm good at working fast and being serious about it. Besides, I like to cut and color things. But I realized that even if you do a good job of cutting the paper, the people who glue the pieces and people who color it need to do a better job to make a perfect doll. Everyone must pay attention to each other and also take care of themselves. I thought that working in groups in this case was more effective way of learning than the activity we did before. Because we could experience what it was really like to work in an assembly line and in factories.

Factory Game Day 1 Reflection

When we were assigned to make a doll out of a paper imagining I was one of the peasants and had to make a doll for my younger sister, I kind of panicked. What was I supposed to make out of a bunch of circles and a ribbon? All I could think of was a teddy bear. We only had a few minutes to finish it and we had to color it, glue it and be creative. Without hesitation I glued the two bigggest circles together as a head and a body and glued the rest on the body like I was putting the puzzles back together. I've never really made a present to someone. I had made a card but never an actual object. I found this activity really interesting because I think that it's a nice idea to learn thing in diffent ways- sometimes by writing, sometimes by acting and sometimes by making.

Rollercoaster

I couldn't help myself from shaking as my cousin dragged me towards the rollercoaster. She forced me onto the black seat and sat beside me. She tried to comfort me in all sorts of ways. Suddenly the rollercoaster quivered and it moved slowly towards the slope. I felt tense and nervous-I held tightly to the bar infront of me- as the gravity made my body feel heavier and pressed my back toward the seat. Soon we were on top of the slope and I could view the whole amusement park. I dared not to look down as a drop of perspiration ran down my neck and then I was flying. The rollercoaster fell down the slope as fast as a bullet and I could feel myself floating in the air-even with the protection-for a brief moment. As soon as my body was back on the seat, the rollercoaster started to spin around in circles. The whole amusement park went up-side down and I could feel my hair flying in the air. I couldn't even shout out for help and crouched down to make myself feel better. My heart felt like it was floating in the air- I did not like it- and I could hear my tense heartbeat pounding furiously. Soon I was on the ground and I've never felt so grateful for it.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

The saying, “Necessity is the mother of the invention” is a famous quote which has a deep meaning in it. It means that when you are in desperate need of something, you are able to invent anything that’s helpful. Some things like telephones, pens and glasses which are used in our daily life to help us do something easily were made by someone who was in need of it. Like dynamite which was created by Alfred Nobel was created for the convenience of making tunnels and digging ground. Thomas Edison created light bulbs to be able to see in light so people did not have to walk around blindfolded. And so people say that “necessity is the mother of invention” for necessity created many helpful inventions for conveniences of our lives.

http://www.imaginenationstudios.com/index.php?Ice-Sculpture

How Do I Learn Best?

How do you learn best? Visually (watching videos or reading), Auditory (listening to lectures or discussions), Kinesthetic (simulations or making or doing something). What can I do to help you learn most effectively in our classroom?
I think I learn the best by auditory-listening to lectures or discussions. It doesn't really matter how I learn but I prefer to listen to people and do class discussions. I also like to learn by watching videos and reading but doing discussions and listening will help me to think of things I didn't realize before.
You can help me learn by asking hard questions which can help me to think deeper and and think more carefully. I may understand the easy concepts but not the deep thoughts. I also like the socratic talk and listen to other people's ideas. Except I personally like to listen more than to talk.

Quater 1 Goals

What were two highlights from the first week of school?
One of the highlights from the first week of school was that I got to meet my friends again and second one was that I'm in yearbook again!

What was your first impression of Humanities?
My first impression of humanities was that there were a lot of people I knew so it would be comfortable. I also liked the fact that there were a lot of the The Simpsons toys and a big window wall!

What are two goals you have for this quarter in Humanities? (Remember a goal needs to be specific, realistic, and measurable)
Learn more vocabularies by reading or writing and improve on writing essays.

My Gang

In my gang there are Hye Jin, Min Kyung, Hye In, Youn Ji, and Yoon Ah. We usually hang out together because we speak same language and have lived in a same country. When someone is new to a school, that person will probably try to find someone from the same country and someone who looks familiar. And that's what I did when I first came here.
Hye Jin is someone I'd call first if I'd wanted to watch a movie with someone. She came to India in the same year I did and in 5th grade we were in a same class where we became really friendly. In middle school, I had a lot of classes with her and got to know her better. She's a little shy but she's really kind and she's always cheery.
Min Kyung and Youn Ji have been living here in India for a long time. So when new kids had problems, they could ask for solutions to any one of them. They are also good at English and have been in French or Spanish before any one of us so we get a lot of help from them.
Hye In and Yoon Ah are the most recent members of the gang. Even though they are new, they had such good personalities that we became friendly easily.
But the biggest reason we stick together is that we are from a same country and feel comfortable being together.