Ancient America

Ancient America: The Earliest Americans

By Madison Nef

The Aztecs, Maya and Incas were a few of the earliest civilizations known to man, the founders of some of the technology and construction that we use (in more advanced versions) today. In this paper, I’d like to give you a brief over-view of each of these civilizations.

 Aztecs

The Aztec Empire was located in central Mexico. It ruled much of the region from the 1400s until the Spanish arrived in 1519. The Aztec society was centered entirely around their gods and religions. The gods were highly exalted, and the Aztecs built large pyramids and temples in their honor. These temples were used as sacrificial chambers for the captives the Aztecs would get hold of when they went off to war. The captives would be sacrificed to whatever god whose temple it was.

The capital of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. This city was founded in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. At the height of its power, the city had a population of roughly 200,000 people. In the middle of the city was a giant temple complex, complete with pyramids and a palace for the king of the time. The remainder of the city was spread out in a grid form, and divided up into different districts. It had causeways built to get to the mainland, and aqueducts to bring fresh water into the city.

The Aztecs called their ruler the Tlatoani. The Empire reached its height under the rule of Tlatoani Montezuma I. Around the year 1517, the priests of the Aztecs began to see bad omens and signs that they interpreted to be ones of doom. They felt that something bad was going to happen… and they were right. In 1519, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico. By 1521 the Spanish had conquered the Aztecs completely and had ravaged them, tearing down most of the city of Tenochtitlan and building their own city on its roots- a place now commonly known as Mexico City.

Maya

The Maya civilization was one of the earliest and is thought to have began as early as 2000 BC. This civilization continued to have a strong presence in Mesoamerica for over 3000 years until the Spanish arrived in 1519 AD. The Maya were organized into extremely powerful city-states. Over the course of Maya history, different city-states came into power- a few of the more noted ones beings El Mirador, Tikal, Uxmal, Caracol, and Chichen Itza.

The Maya were located in Central America in an area that is today known as southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and northern El Salvador. They built hundreds of cities comprised of housing and large stone structures. The Maya were best known for their fondness of pyramids; and the many pyramids that they constructed in their time. They built pyramids to their gods that towered hundreds of feet tall, high above the jungle.

The Maya were the only American civilization to develop an advanced written language. They also excelled in mathematics, art, architecture, and astronomy. The golden age of the Maya civilization occurred during what is called the Classic Period, from 250 AD to 900 AD.

Inca

The Inca Empire was centered in Peru and ruled over much of the west coast of South America from the 1400s to the time of the Spanish arrival in 1532. This wide ranging empire did not have the wheel, iron tools, or a writing system, but what it lacked for in engineering it certainly made up for with its complex government and system of roads that would wind throughout their cities. These roads created a society where everyone had a job, a home, and something to eat- something the other civilizations could seldom guarantee.

The emperor of the Inca was known as the Sapa Inca. The first Sapa Inca was Manco Capac. Manco founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200 AD. This city would continue to be the capital of the empire as it expanded in the many coming years. While Manco Capac founded Cuzco, the Inca truly grew to be a better empire and expanded massively under the rule of Pachacuti. Pachacuti created the Inca Empire which the Inca called the Tawantinsuyu… At its height, the Inca Empire had an estimated population of over 10 million people.

The Inca were conquered by the Spanish and conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533. However, the empire was already severely weakened by civil war and diseases such as smallpox when Pizarro arrived… giving him an unfair advantage. However, when your whole population falls ill… I think it is safe to say that it is time to toss in the towel and quit.

I hope you enjoyed this elongated paper about the ancient civilizations, and that you learned something from it. I found it to be quite intriguing and I look forward to writing the following series of papers.

Maddie 

All About The Moon

All About the Moon

By Madison Nef

Let’s keep this paper nice and simple! We all know about the basics of the moon, so I’m not even going to go into detail there… instead, let’s jump right into a good 3 pages worth of facts and weird theories about the moon!

Did you know that the dark side of the moon is a myth?
In reality, both sides of the moon have and receive the same amount of sunlight. However, only one face of the moon is ever seen from Earth. This is caused by the fact that the moon rotates around on its own axis in exactly the same time it takes to orbit the Earth, meaning the same side is always facing the Earth. The side facing away from Earth has only been seen by the human eye from spacecraft.

High and low tides on Earth are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon
There are two bulges in the Earth due to the gravitational pull that the moon exerts; one on the side facing the moon, and the other on the opposite side that faces away from the moon. The bulges move around the oceans as the Earth rotates, causing high and low tides around the globe.

The moon is currently drifting farther away from the Earth
The moon is moving approximately 3.8 centimeters away from our planet every year. It is estimated that it will continue to do so for around 50 billion years to come... By the time that happens, the moon will be taking around 47 days to orbit the Earth instead of the current 27.3 days. This will completely change the lunar cycle and possibly even the calendar.

Everything, including people, weigh less on the moon
The moon has much weaker gravity than Earth, due to its smaller mass, so you would weigh about one sixth (16.5%) of your current Earthly weight. In fact, this lack of gravity makes the normally 180 lb spacesuits weigh a mere 30 lbs, WITH astronaut inside! This is why lunar astronauts can leap and jump in the air so high. However, this makes walking a much harder process and it takes awhile to get used to the change in gravity, and one single turn around or change of direction can take a few minutes due to the clunkiness of spacesuits.

The moon has only been walked on by 12 people, all American males
The first man to set foot on the moon was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission, in 1969. Meanwhile, the last man to walk on the moon was Gene Cernan on the Apollo 17 mission, which took place in 1972. Since then, the moon has only been visited by unmanned vehicles and rovers.

The moon has no atmosphere whatsoever
This means that the surface of the Moon is unprotected from cosmic rays, meteorites and solar winds. It also means that the moon has wide temperature variations. The lack of atmosphere means no sound can be heard on the moon, and the sky always appears black.

The moon, much like Earth, has quakes
These “moonquakes” are caused by the gravitational pull of the Earth. Lunar astronauts used seismographs on their visits to the moon, and found that small moonquakes occurred several kilometers beneath the surface, which is what is causing ruptures and cracks. Due to this fact, scientists think the moon has a molten core, similar to Earth’s.

The first spacecraft to reach the moon was Luna 1 in 1959
The Luna 1 was a Soviet craft, which was launched from the USSR. It passed within 5995 kilometers of the surface of the moon before getting sent into orbit around the sun.

The moon is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System.
At 3,475 km in diameter, the noon is far smaller than the major moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Earth is 80 times the volume of the moon, but the two are the same age. This suggests that they were created at the same time. A well-known theory is that the moon was once a part of the Earth, and was formed from a chunk of Earth that broke away due to a planetary or meteorite collision early in history when the planet was young.

The moon will be visited in the near future
NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon to set up a permanent space station. The plans are still being formed; but if all goes as planned, man may be able to make extended visits to the moon by the year 2019.

Now that we’ve gotten through some of the boring scientific facts… how about some more amusing and quirky facts about the moon? Let’s start off with the fact that when adults in 1988 were surveyed, 13% of them believed that the moon was made of cheese. THIRTEEN PERCENT! That’s more terrifying than the fact that some believe the moon is a space station, due to the fact that it rings when hit with meteorites and is a mobile moon. Also, it is technically much too large in comparison to the Earth to be TRULY considered a moon- other planets have much smaller moons compared to ours.

With that opening- here are some smaller fun facts to toss at your friends.

·        When Alan Sheppard was on the moon, he hit a golf ball and drove it 2,400 feet, nearly one half mile. On Earth this may not have been quite as amazing, but was remarkable due to the lack of gravity on the moon.

·        When footprints are made in moon dust, they can stay there for an extremely long time. There is no wind current on the moon, so nothing can disturb the footprints. Indeed, if not disturbed by launches and other astronauts, the first steps taken on the moon may well still be there. However, the launch of the ship likely destroyed the print, as Buzz Aldrin reportedly saw the American flag blow over… and it was much further away. Nevertheless, any footprints made by the famous astronauts undisturbed by takeoff are, in fact, there to stay.

·        Dr. Eugene Shoemaker was a geological surveyor and was responsible for educating the Apollo team about craters before their launch. He himself never made it into space; but it was always one of his dreams while he was alive. He had attempted to become an astronaut, but his offer was rejected due to medical conditions. However, when he died, his ashes were placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft. This craft was intentionally crashed into a crater on the moon on July 31, 1999. The mission was to discover if there was water on the moon at the time, but it also served to fulfill Dr Shoemaker's last wish. His ashes are on the moon to this day.

·        In China, the dark shadows that are on the moon are called "the toad in the moon".

Well… there you have it. 3 pages worth of odd facts about the moon. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it… I read a LOT more than what I put into this paper itself and found many of the theories to be quite interesting. I highly suggest anyone reading this to look into other theories and facts besides the ones mentioned here… there are countless things to be learned and new stuff is being found out every day.

Maddie

Art In The Middle Ages

Art In The Middle Ages

By Madison Nef

Art during the Middle Ages varied widely depending on the location in Europe and also the time period the art was made during. However, art from this time period in general could be divided into 3 different categories: Byzantine Art, Romanesque Art, and Gothic Art.  Most of this art was religious art, inspired by Catholic subjects and themes. The different styles of art included painting, sculpture, metal work, engraving, stained glass windows, and manuscripts. The end of the Middle Ages is often represented by the vast change of art at the start of the Renaissance Period.

Byzantine Art
The start of the Middle Ages is often called the Dark Ages. This is the period of time from 500 to 1000 AD. The main form of art during that time was Byzantine art produced by artists from the Eastern Roman Empire, also called Byzantium. This style of art was defined by the lack of reality in each work. The artists set aside realism in their work and focused instead on the symbolism of their art and the inspiration behind every work.

Paintings were often times flat with no shadows, and all subjects were serious, somber, and almost sorrowful. The majority of these paintings were religious pieces, the most common being paintings of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

Romanesque Art
The period of Romanesque Art started around 1000 AD and lasted to around 1300 with the beginning of the Gothic Art period. Art prior to that is called pre-Romanesque. Romanesque art was influenced by both the Romans and Byzantine Art. Its focus (much like Byzantine Art) was on religion and Christianity. Where it differed from Byzantine Art was how it was displayed- rather than just paintings, it included architectural details like stained glass art, large murals on walls and domed ceilings, and carvings on buildings and columns. It also included illuminated manuscript art and sculpture.

Gothic Art
Gothic art grew out of Romanesque art. Gothic artists began to use brighter colors, dimensions and perspective, and moved toward more realism. They also began to use more shadows and light in their art and tried out new subject matters beyond the norm of using religious figures- venturing out into animals in mythic and colorful settings.

Artists of the Middle Ages

Many of the artists from the early Middle Ages are still unknown to us. The more famous (and some of the most well-known and acclaimed artists known today) got their fame in the late Middle Ages and most are considered to be Early Renaissance artists. However, the following artists got their name in the late Middle Ages:

• Donatello - An Italian sculpture known for his statues of David, Mary Magdalene, and the Madonna.
• Giotto - Italian artist from the 13th century famous for his frescos in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy.
• Benvenuto di Giuseppe - Also called Cimabue, this Italian artist from Florence was known for his paintings and mosaics.
• Ambrogio Lorenzetti - An Italian painter of the Gothic movement, he is famous for his frescoes, the Allegory of Good Government and the Allegory of Bad Government.

In all… some of the most amazing art pieces were created during the Middle Ages and they are still being appreciated today. It is amazing that people who have been dead for centuries have left such an impact on our world through art… I bet at the time they created these pieces, they didn’t expect them to be famous and still being viewed centuries later. I would never have guessed… would you?

Maddie

Merchants in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages: Merchants

By Madison Nef

Merchants in the middle ages were business people who participated in retail and trade. The term “merchant” comes from the Latin term “mercer” which means trafficking and from the French term “mercies” which means wares. Thus, the medieval merchant was seen as both a trader and trafficker of wares across countries. These merchants would trade wares amongst each other and look for good things during their travels, and then sell them at festivals, fairs and in shops. 

In the middle ages, society was divided into three main categories that defined where you stood in the ranks of life. These three categories were the clergy, the peasants and the fighters/nobility. Merchants were not included in these categories and they were largely discriminated against. The reasoning for this was that many of the people in the three categories looked up merchants as those trying to enrich themselves at the expense of society… though in reality, that was what tax collectors and just about everyone was doing to begin with. Through all of this, these three categories DID rely on merchants heavily in order to transport goods, trade and buy wares.

When merchants first started to form their own class, the clergy got annoyed- especially with their activities involving banking and trading. To even the score, the clergy convinced most of the community that the activities the merchants were partaking in were against the will of God and were pure evil. Because of this, the merchants were the brunt of much abuse and blame whenever a natural disaster (such as drought, disease, or famine) struck.

The nobility were particularly against the merchants. In the eyes of nobility, merchants were perceived as misers. The nobility’s behavior was quite the opposite of that of the merchant- nobility loved to spend their money excessively on high-end items, while merchants were always looking for a deal and coin-counting to save money. This is what I like to call common sense- but that was apparently frowned on back then.

In the 13^th and 14^th centuries, merchants became important staples on society as the nobility became even richer and peasants became better placed to buy goods from the merchants that they came with from other foreign countries. Many merchants in these times were Genoese and Venetians.

Merchants were very vicious and would many times argue and even battle over trade routes, through which all the wares they sold would come through including spices, cloths and perfumes and even food. Though many of the bloodiest wars during the Crusades were about religion, there were also a majority of wars fought over trading rights and merchants trying to gain control of routes.

In time, merchants began to make a name for themselves and were considered to be ranked as workers. While this was still a low rank in the social scale, it was far higher than the social standing of a peasant. However, merchants had a decidedly better life than any other on the social scale… peasants worked long hard hours in the fields surrounding farms and the nobility lazed around their palaces and mansions all day. Meanwhile, merchants got to travel around the world collecting goods… by the late 14^th century, merchants were some of the wealthiest known people and held influential positions in the local government.

So… that’s how merchants lived back then. Nowadays, merchants are extremely common and found all over- we like to call them clerks and other names depending on where they work. They are no longer rich, or considered to have better lives than commoners… in fact, they’re all around us. You may be one yourself! It’s funny how the world changes so fast… only a few centuries pass, and things go to the complete opposite end of the scale.

What do you think of merchants? Let me know.

Maddie