Sabrina

India is located in the Indian subcontinent, or the land south of the Himalayas. The Himalaya's control the regions climate by blocking cold air, and drawing moisture out from warm winds. The Ganges River is a spiritual river that people bath in to wash away their sins. This river runs from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

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In the 1960's, an event called the Green Revolution happened. The Green Revolution was a time when new technologies were invented and more crops were grown for the increasing population. India's growing population made many people move to the flood plains, rich land along the rivers. The monsoons bring 70% of India's rainfall each year, which results in farmers depending on this rain for their crops.======

**__Here is an Interesting Video about India's Geography;__**

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__ **India's Early History** __

=== The Harappans in the Indus Valley were an advanced civilization from 2600 B.C.E. to 1900 B.C.E.. The Harappan civilization was first to develop precise measurement and weighing equipment. The Harappans were big with trading grain, copper pots, pans, ivory, mirrors,cotton cloth, and many other types of jewelry. Instead of money, the Harappans used the swapping system of the barter. They traded ideas with the Chinese when Chinese traders brought over the idea of growing rice.The most popular way of trade was with elephants on trade routes later on used by the Aryan traders. ===

http://www.rivervalleycivilizations.com/indus.php They also made their cities in a grid system, similar to cities today. The Harappans usually grew wheat, rice, mustard and sesame seeds, dates and cotton. They had dogs, cats, camels, sheep, pigs, goats, water buffaloes, elephants and chickens They also had wells and indoor plumbing at an early time. The Harappans believed in many gods and goddesses such as Mother goddess, and Pashupati Shiva, sacred animals and trees.

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The Aryans told about their lives in holy books called Vedas for us to see who they fought, where they were, and all about their daily lives. This ancient civilization had a caste system. The highest level were the priests, then the warriors and rulers, next the farmers, then the servants and laborers, and the lowest level were the untouchables. ======  Untouchables were forbidden to enter temples, schools, and wells where higher castes drew water. Untouchables also had to sleep during the day and work at night. Once you are born in one of these social levels, you were stuck there. Women and girls were not educated and not treated equal to men and boys, no matter what level of society they were in. The Aryans diet consisted of milk, ghee, fruits, vegetables, and barley. They also ate at special events flesh from the ox, goat, and sheep.



**__Religion__**
 The Aryans had many religious beliefs, using ideas of other religions. They worshiped the Mother Goddess, the Bull, the Horned Deity, and sacred trees. They also believed in cremation. Bad people went to the house of clay, which was the domain of the God Varuna. The good people went to the World of the Fathers. Later in the Vedic age, the Hindu belief of rebirth evolved. This practice, or Karma believed the things you do in your life now will effect you later in other lives. The main gods of Hinduism were Vishnu, the preserver, Shiva the destroyer, and Brahma, the creator.

 ** __Government__ ** India's government had many levels, First was the king, who tried to preserve the kingdom and also expand it. Then were the Council of Ministers, they had the power to overrule and criticize the king. Then were the Deputies appointed by the Provincial Governor with the Council of Prominent Residents. After these levels, there were many major and minor officials. Also in the government spies looked secretly after things coming in and out of India to tell the king. The Prime Minister was paid 48,000 //panas//, the Providential Governor got 12,000 //panas//, and a spy got 1,000 //panas//.

**__Army__**
Keeping their kingdom growing was very important to the kings. Up to 600,000 men at one time were in one king's army. The //Kshatriyas// were the most valued, skillful soldiers. The //bramans// were usually the generals. The lower classes were foot soldiers. The foot soldiers used huge bows as a weapon. The army was divided into four sections. The elephants, the cavalry, the chariots, and then the infantry. T he elephants and were used at the front of the fighting line to smash the oppositions items. The cavalry were the horses used for surprise attacks and other times in need of speed. The chariots were swift and made of wood covered in metal plates. The infantry was the largest section of the army and were responsible for most of the opened battlefield fighting. They carried bows the size of them!

 __**Writing **__

 The Aryans wrote in the language of Sanskrit. It's written symbols played a role in the evolution of our present day alphabet.

**__Here is a Video that Summarizes India and it's History:__**
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__**Dress**__  From ancient times all the way continuing to now, the sari is an Indian, dress like, draping of fabric clothing piece that is worn by Indian women. The sari shows the long lasting history of India and how it's clothing has not changed much.

**__Republic Day__**
 Republic Day in India is on January 26th always and it remembers when India's constitution came on on that day in 1950. This is important because it shows India starting to become an independent republic from the United Kingdom.

__**Festivals**__
 Many festivals in India take place each year. When it comes to religion and culture, India is one of the most diverse countries though. These festivals bring the people of India together causing days off from work and no school days. These festivals vary from all different types of activities and rituals, but the most important part of them is that they bind together a civilization.

__**The Ganges River**__
 The Ganges River is a river that flows from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. It symbolizes how people bath themselves in the water on a certain day of the year to wash away their sins. This is an extremely huge part of India's people's culture.

__**Mohandas Gandhi **__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">During the early 1900's, the Indians had a struggle to get the British rule out of India. Mohandas Gandhi played a big part as a leader during this time. He organized British goods boycotts and led nonviolent protests. He believed everyone should choose what religion they want to be part of and India should have many ethnic groups. He thought the Muslim and Hindu people should come together and get along as one.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"> __**Music**__ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Some of the main, old instruments of India wer the sitar, the shehnai, and the pakhawaj. The sitar is an instrement with 17 strings. The shehnai is similar to an oboe used mostly for temples and weddings. The pakhawaj is a drum mostly made of shells and rawhide.

** Was the first prime minister of India. His daughter was Indira Gandhi. **
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__Population__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> The population of South Asia now is about 1.5 billion people, due to it's high birthrates. By 2050, India's population of 1.2 billion people is predicted to increase about by 500 million people, which will eventually overtake China. This will then be the most populous country in the world. In Pakistan, a woman in her life on average will have four children. In Afghanistan, women usually have up to seven children!

__Pollution__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Pollution is South Asia has caused a shortage of nourishing food, clean water, fresh air, and healthy rivers. Now a cloud of smoge hovers over parts of South Asia. This blanket of pollution reflects sun light, which causes the land to cool. Then this causes the air on mountains to warm. This could reduce rain given by the monsoons, and affect farming.

__**Resources**__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Though India has many problems, its natural resources show promise. Some of it's resources are coal, iron ore, limestone, mica, baux, cromite, and diamond <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">.

__**Religions**__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> India is full of many religions. Some of the main religions are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism.



__**Conflicts**__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Here are some conflicting countries and religions in South Asia:

Hindu and Muslim

Afghanistan and Taliban

India and Pakistan- They both have nuclear weapons, so when they fight or talk about fighting, the whole world holds it's breath, because they know many countries could be affected.

__**Government**__
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Here are the government styles of some South Asian countries:

India- representative democracy- people elect all of the members in the parliament

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka- democracy- have had this for a while, but they don't always enjoy their form of rights

Nepal- democratic republic

Bhutan- democratic elections


 * Secular Democracies- government based on religion**

Afghanistan and the Maldives: Islamic republic

Pakistan- must have a Muslim prime minister

Afghanistan- has a constitution and an election, but it's central government is weak\

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: center;"> **__ India's Government __**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> Drawn from Majority Party- ** Prime minister **

-elect-
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> ** __India's Government Officials__ **

India has many officials in many different roles. Here are some of those main people in their certain position.


 * Prime Minister- Dr. Manmohan Singh**




 * President- Shri Pranab Mukherjee **




 * Vice President- Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari



__Ancient Civilizations__

**__Mesopotamia__**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> ** One of the first civilizations in history was in Mesopotamia. This area was located between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The word "Mesopotamia" means "the land between two rivers", so the name fits it's geography well. This fertile land was extremely good for farming. Inside of this area was a city called Sumer. The Sumerians key to success was a written language, called cuneiform. This allowed them to keep track of what they bought and sold, and to write down history for us to see today. The Sumerians also learned how to irrigate crops, and to keep religion alive by putting a temple, or ziggurat, in the center of the town. Another civilization in this time period were the Babylonians, or the people of Babylon. The Babylonians lucked out by taking over Sumer. In addition to capturing the Sumerian's land, they also took in the Sumerian's language. These two civilizations weren't the only two in Mesopotamia, the Hebrews also lived during this time. The Hebrews believed in Judaism, a religion that had monotheism, which was uncommon at that time. The Hebrews started out in Sumer, and went to Canaan. A drought there caused them to move to Egypt, where they were made into slaves. After years of working, the Hebrews made it back to Canaan. These incredible civilizations were some of the first ones every formed. As humans today, we must study ancient times, including the good and bad times, so we don't make the same mistakes, and continue the positive lessons learned.

=**__Ancient Egypt__**=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> ** Ancient Egypt was similar to Mesopotamia in the way of which it was near a river, the longest river in the world, the Nile. This was where one of the world's first civilizations sprung up because of the Niles's source of food, water, and transportation access. Egypt started out as a bunch of small towns until Menus came to rule. Menus was a pharaoh who united Egypt into one great area. He had the most power of any person at that time, and everyone was required to provide something for him. Farmers gave some of their crops to the pharaoh, and other jobs provided other items. The kings and important people were cherished, so when someone like that died, they would build large tombs and pyramids with everything that person would need for the afterlife in it. Pyramids were thought to be modeled ater the rays of the sun. The Egyptians were masters with figuring out how to build structures. In fact, they were thought to be the inventors of cement! actually! The priests would also do a special process of preserving the body through mummification. Mummification is the wrapping of the body in strips of cloth, and dipping it in chemicals to keep it in good shape for the afterlife. One king named Tutankhamen, who died when he was eighteen years old, had a hidden tomb full of gold and riches. This was an unusual find because tomb robbers during this time and in later years mostly took out all of the treasures in tombs. Historians believe that King Tut's treasures survived so many years because it was well hidden. King Tut actually wasn't remembered as a great king, but his amazing burial place today made him an important part of piecing together history. The Egyptians also had a form of writing in hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were a form of writing with pictures. Many tombs had this writing on their walls. The Egyptians left their civilization opened for us to see, and maybe someday we will be able to know more about this interesting time.

=**__Ancient Africa__**=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> ** Ancient Africa was an important time as scientists think it is the birthplace of humanity. During this time, even the climates in these areas were different from how they are today! Africa had many different kingdoms at varying times. One kingdom was Kush. Kush was ruled by Piankhi, one of the most important kings due to the fact that he defeated Egypt for a time. Kush was influenced a great deal by Egyptian culture. The Kush kingdom, under Piankhi's influence, started writing the Egyptian language and building their own kind of pyramid. In fact, Sudan has 223 pyramids, and twice as more than Egypt. Kush was famous for it's great iron tools that could be traded for gold and glass. This city was conquered by Axum, a neighboring area. Axum was known as a great trading city and people came from all over to do trading there. Travelers said that the king rode in a golden chariot pulled by painted elephants. Another kingdom in Africa was Ghana, or the "king of the gold". Ghana was known for it's gold. People would travel through the desert, carrying salt blocks on their backs to trade for gold in Ghana. Salt was very important for life in that city as salt was an important food preservative. One more kingdom in Africa was Mali, or "where the kings live". People and the king from Mali went in a caravan to visit Egypt. From there, the king would ask teachers to come back to Timbuktu with him. Even though Mali was another trading city, it became a learning center for history and law. As said before, Africa is where life might have started, so if we learn about these ancient civilizations, we can see who we are much more clearly.

=**__Oceania__**=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> ** Oceania is an area with rich culture and history. It includes Australia, New Zealand, and many other small islands. The part of Australia that is extremely hot and dry is called the outback. Australia's original people, the Aborigines, were the first people there. Their civilization is so old, scientists are debating today that they might have had to adapt to climate change through out their time on Earth! They were nomads and hunted and gathered food. They moved around to where the resources were. New Zealand is made up of many islands. It's original people, the Maori, were also hunters, but they set up permanent living spots and farmed the land. The first explorers of this land were Dutch. In 1606, Willem Jansz landed on the northern tip of Australia. In 1642, Abel Tasman came over and landed on an island, later named after him as Tasmania.Tasman didn't stay long though because he thought the people had no valuable goods to trade. In 1769, Captain James Cook landed in Oceania and discovered the land had promise for farming. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, first convicts, then everyday people, then more people after gold was discovered there came over. After time of colonization, Australia in 1901 and New Zealand in 1907 became independent from Great Britain. Still today, Aborigines and Maoris exist, trying to keep the spirit of their rich culture alive. In the today's world, Australia is very rich due to its natural resources, and it is completely modernized. New Zealand is still very rural, but modernization is known there. Oceania has an interesting history, so these facts about them should be passed down, so then everyone will know about them.

Still today, both Aborigines and the British live in Oceania. Now these natives are forced to live not as nomads, which is hard because they have traveled around as part of who they are and their whole history. These people are starting to adapt to modern ways, but it is important for these old civilizations to still have opportunities to practice their traditional ways.

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=**__ Modern Day Africa __**= <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">** In the 1300s and 1400s, Europeans heard rumors about the riches of Africa. When Europeans went over, the found many riches, and then the found the people. They took them as slaves back to North and South America, where they were treated very badly. Even on the boat over there, many of them died due to poor conditions. As a result, racism took place in which the Europeans thought they were better than the African people. They treated the slaves as property. After a while, imperialism, or the control of the economy and government by another country than the actually country, happened from European countries to Africa. This happened to support Europe's Industrial Revolution from Africa's resources. This made the Africans upset, They didn't have independence until after World War II. The first country to receive independence was Ghana. After, many countries followed in their footsteps, with boycotts of European goods. Many Africans were killed in their fight for freedom, but today, they can enjoy their rights happily. Still today, many people in Africa are poor, some live on less than a dollar per day, even though they have many resources. Africa's fight, now against poverty, isn't over yet. Africa had a rough time during these many years, but we will a look back and think of the people who lost their lives with great respect for them, and know they played a part in how our lives are today, making a difference.

This merging of cultures was for the worst, slaves taken, land stolen. Thankfully, today equality is stepping up, but is extremely important that everyone helps continue this work of making sure that everyone is treated equally.

=**__ Canada __**= <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">** Canada has a rich culture full of nature and history. Canada has many mountains and other land forms which resulted in much of the country's life style fitting its rural environment.The first people in Canada were vikings from Europe who arrived in Newfoundland in about 1000 C.E.. But even before them, archaeologists have found remains of some human tools and bones there to prove there were native people in Canada once. After 500 years past since the viking's exploration, John Cabot, then more explorers such as Jacques Cartier and Henry Hudson, discovered Canada again. After that find of new land, Canada was more well known. After this age of exploration, people started to settle down in this new land, and that was when the British and French started fighting over trade and land. After the French and Indian War, Great Britain won Canada. In 1867, finally Canada won self-government, then in 1871, they gained control of British Columbia. During all this, a railroad was built which joined British Colombia and Canada together. Quebec has threatened to separate from the rest of the country. Today, Canada is a multicultural place where Native Americans, French people, and British people all live in the same country along with living with many other cultures. This has made Canada a rich and strong place to live with many different cultures and ways of life happening.

Canada had a huge merge of cultures with French, English, Spanish, and Native Americans all under the same roof. Today all of these people live there, in the same towns, schools, and cities, ideas are sure to be spread, merging cultures.

=**__ Early Modern Europe __**= <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">** Early Modern Europe started when people of that time looked back for inspiration at the Greeks and Romans. This was called the Renaissance, or rebirth. These people, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, helped bring back literature, art, and science. This also was a religious time when Martin Luther protested against the Roman Catholic Church with new ideas for Christianity. He believed that when a person did some thing wrong, they shouldn't have to pay the pope and the church for forgiveness. His ideas spread quickly due to the invention of the printing press. This invention was so reliable and good for work, until the 19th century, it was almost completely the same since it was invented. As Renaissance towns grew, feudalism shrank. Now everyone thought of themselves as part of a nation. Soon after, a nobleman named William conquered the English and was crowned king of England. He set up strong laws controlling everyone but himself. Later on King John, after King William, was forced to sign the Magna Carta, limiting his powers and making him be controlled by the common law. Now England was very strong and united. Soon after, England was very powerful and the center of trade. Now cloth was needed. This caused an industrial revolution of new machinery for making material. Now many people moved to cities to work at factories. The conditions for working there were often poor and many children had to work in them too. Today, people look back at our Renaissance period and are glad so many good ideas were brought back from the Greeks and Romans. People today will always remember the poor working conditions of the factories and thank those hard working people to advance our industry to where it is today.

This culture merging was great because the Europeans took in Greek and Roman ideas with opened arms. They wanted to expand their minds to new possibilities. This is the ideal way every merge should happen, keep your history but combined it with another cultures thoughts.

=**__ The Middle Ages __**= <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">** The Middle Ages were a time right after the fall of the Roman Empire. It was a darker time with lots of fighting over land. Soon after the start of this time, feudalism came about. The type of government and way of life said that more powerful people should protect people with less power.This caused poorer people to pay rent to stay on noble's property, and they had to farm the land. These people were called serfs. Most people during this time lived on manors away from everyone except the family and the servants. Everyone did a different job to keep the manor in good shape. Near the manor, serfs would live in a little village made of sticks and mud. Every manor had a small church. Christianity was a huge factor of this time period. Life was just controlled by this religion. During the Middle Ages, education was dying, but thanks to the nuns and monks who would copy books by hand, reading and learning was saved. Also happening right now, Christians were making long and hard trips to Jerusalem. In 1000 C.E., Muslims no longer let them in to the Holy Land. That was when the pope sent armies on the Crusades to recapture Jerusalem. All though they then won, the Muslims fought for the land back again and recaptured it. The Crusades didn't just fight, along the way, through trade, they ended up bringing back silk, jewels, and rugs back home. The desire for those things newly found increased and soon the trade between Europe and the East was huge. Due to the merging of cultures, towns started to be formed, roads rebuilt, jobs forming guilds and much more looking back at the Greeks and Romans happened. This caused a flourishing time of arts, the Renaissance period.

The Middle Ages and the Crusades helped bring travelers from other places, all headed towards Jerusalem together and trade with goods and new ideas. When different people from different cultures are together for long periods of times, thoughts are spread and shared. This made the next period in time a much more diverse set of years.

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=** __The Western Hemisphere__ **=

=
America was an area that may explorers explored. Explorers such as Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, and John Cabot all played a part in how our lives are today. Canada was an area that was explored by John Cabot. Canada has a cold climate, but the west coast is warm due to the warm current there. More than half the people in Canada live in the southeast due to the fact that 2 major cities are there. The largest part of Canada is the Canadian Shield, a flat region near the Hudson Bay. This area doesn't have arable land, but it does have such resources as gold and lumber. West of the Hudson Bay are the Interior Plains, which have in them large forests. Canada has the Rocky Mountains with long narrow bays in between them called fjords. The United States has similar land forms as Canada. It has the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, as well as the plains called the Great Plains. The United States climate is warmer than Canada. United States has inside of it, one very warm climate, one very climate and one in between climate.====== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">Alaska has a cold climate similar to Canada. United States has other distinct climates such as Death Valley, a very hot desert, and Hawaii, which is a tropical climate. The United States deserts are much smaller than other deserts in the world. In addition, to all of the places named above, the Western Hemisphere has Mexico. Mexico has a warm climate with thick rain forests. Below Mexico is a narrow country of Panama. In Panama, a canal was built. Before this canal was built, trips on boats were much longer, but now boats can sail directly through Panama. The canal was not a new idea, first the Spanish thought of it, but never did it, then others took the idea and ran with it.
 * This canal was hard to build due to the swamps there and many people due to the mosquitoes unleashed. Locks were also built in this canal. Locks helped ships be raised and lowered to the next body of water. In South America, land formations are similar to North America. It has mountains and rivers and also has a continuation of the Rocky Mountains called the Andes Mountains, which has many volcanoes. South America also has a large bowl shaped area called the Amazon Basin, covered in tropical rain forest with the Amazon River running through it. Rain forests today are endangered. Many animals habitats are being destroyed as are the rain forests. In conclusion, the Western Hemisphere is a diverse place with much to offer, yet many problems that must be fixed before resources and beautiful places are gone forever.**
 * This canal was hard to build due to the swamps there and many people due to the mosquitoes unleashed. Locks were also built in this canal. Locks helped ships be raised and lowered to the next body of water. In South America, land formations are similar to North America. It has mountains and rivers and also has a continuation of the Rocky Mountains called the Andes Mountains, which has many volcanoes. South America also has a large bowl shaped area called the Amazon Basin, covered in tropical rain forest with the Amazon River running through it. Rain forests today are endangered. Many animals habitats are being destroyed as are the rain forests. In conclusion, the Western Hemisphere is a diverse place with much to offer, yet many problems that must be fixed before resources and beautiful places are gone forever.**


 * The Western Hemisphere today has many cultures, forcing people in good ways to relate. This makes news with ideas travel fast, letting everyone share the riches of this areas resources by having everyone together.**

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<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;"> __The Middle East__ **

The Middle East is a huge place for the merging of cultures. This is where Europe, Asia, and Africa all come together. The oldest Arabs in this area were nomads, but today in this region are large cities and other permanent living spots. This place is an area of many birthplaces of religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All of these religions believe in one god. Islam started when Muhammad heard the voice of the Islamic god Allah telling Muhammad that he was the messenger of Allah. Soon Islam, even after Muhammad died. was spread. Even countries were conquered in order for them to become Islamic. These believers in the religion created a huge empire and was spreading quickly, more and more people following the Koran, or the Five Pillars of Islam. The first duty was faith, or saying that they believe in the one god of Allah. The second duty is prayer, or to pray five times a day facing the holy place of Mecca. The next duty is alms, or to give money to the poor. The next duty is fasting, or not eating on certain holy days. The last duty is pilgrimage, or traveling to Mecca at least once in their lives.The Koran is mostly based on holy poetry and architecture, so not many religious paintings or sculptures are made. This has a huge influence on what is now popular in the Middle East. Extended families in the Middle East oven live together, includes aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. The men in the family can have up to four wives! The men really are the heads of the family and provide for them, so all members of the house in return must obey the men. Women in this area are not treated equally, and they must wear a chador, or a dark covering and veil, in public. Oil in the Middle was first not needed, but now that is what this region is known for. Due to the oil boom, now poor people and the countries themselves are rich from oil sales. Now oil is a huge export to many areas, merging the culture of drawing oil, to other countries who don't have much oil, mostly giving to Japan. Oil is valuable, so the OPEC is now limiting the oil taken out of the Earth so the area won't run out of this precious resource.

Today, the Middle East is very diverse due to many of the different continents coming together, sharing new ideas, religion, and much more to keep this area alive, making it all blend together to make a very unique group of people. The Middle East does have many problems with the people having difficulty when it comes to religion, but hopefully peace will be a solution to these conflicts