Last Dayy

This semester human geography was defiantly my favorite class. I feel like it was the only class I had where we could speak freely. I also loved that Grace was in the class 'cause she's the bomb. It really sucks that our class is splitting up because even though we got annoying sometimes we were all really comfortable around each other and we managed to have fun and still get really good grades. It also helps that social studies is something I'm really interested in. There's nothing that's bad to say about the class, I just hope second semester is even better :)

Review for the Test

Today in Human Geography we reviewed for the test we'll have on Friday. Here are some of my notes:

Animals that are ideal for domestication need to weight over 100 pounds, reproduce in their first and second year, and behave well will humans.
Elephants aren't ideal for domestication because they don't mature and give birth until they are about 15 years old.
Zebras are too flighty for domestication.

Domesticated Animals (there are 14)
goats
sheep
pigs
cows
horses
donkeys
backtrian camels
arabia camels
water buffalo
llamas
raindeer
yaks
mithans
balicattle
*None of them are native to Australia, Subsiharent Africa, and Papua New Guinea.
Only one of the fourteen came from South Africa
The rest cam from Eurasia

*The Middle East thrived so well because geographic luck: they had pigs, cows, sheep, goats, wheat, and barley.

Things Civilizations Need to Thrive and Progress 
- Advanced technology
-A large population
- Specialized workers

13,000 years ago, before civilizations, people were hunters and gatherers.
People live like it's the stone age in Papua New Guinea
Drah, Mesopotamia was where the first known village was.
Granery is where they stored their food.

Africa- yams
China- rice
America- corn and squash
Midwest- barley and wheat

Guns, Germs, and Steel review

Today in Human Geo class Mr. Schick was back! So we talked about what was going on the in video we watched yesterday called Guns, Germs and Steel. Grace was talking about true life and equality. Devin failed at making buckets. Arri got to class on time today! We are going to have a test on what was in the video and on Urban Geography on Friday instead of tomorrow. We could watch the video again tonight or tomorrow night as a review.
Here are some of my notes from today:
New Guineans cut down sago tree and extracted the pulp in the center and added water to make a dough.

• it isn't nutritious
• you cant store it
• it requires a lot of labor to make

Jared Diamond

• went to Papua New Guinea 
• anthropologist- studies people and societies
• author
• bird watcher
• professor at UCLA
• His theory- geographic luck 

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today in Human Geo we had a substitute and watched a video called Guns, Germs and Steel. The video started with Diamond going to New Guinea to learn about early civilizations. He wanted to know why some civilizations thrived while others never advanced. The earliest people were hunters and gatherers. They migrated with the animals, never staying in one place for long. In the middle east a team of archaeologists found the first known civilization. The village emerged at the end of a long drought. It was able to prosper because they had a way to store food for long periods of time, they planted their own food, and raised cattle.
Diamonds theory on why some civilizations thrived while others didn't was based on their food and climate. Since the People in New Guinea had such a terrible diet, their entire day revolved around collecting food so they didn't have enough time or energy to worry about advancing.
I agree with this aspect of Diamond's theory but I think there must be something else. It must be more complex then that considering it effects so much.

Urban Geo Part 3

Genoa, Italy
During the mercantile ear, the cities that thrived were embellished by wealthy merchant families who built ornate mansions patronized the arts, participated in the city government and supported the reconstructions of city centers.
- If you were wealthy you were expected to help out your community
- "idiot" meant disinterest in government

The Second Urban Revolution
Large scale movement of people to cities to work in manufacturing. made possible by:
- second agricultural revolution that improved food production and created  large surplus
- industrialization which encouraged growth of cities near industrial resources

During the second half of the 20th century manufacturers stopped using so much steel. Steel producing factories that have been abandoned creating "rust belts"

Urban Geography Part 2

Today in Human Geo we continued learning about Urban Geography. Here are my notes:

Mesoamerica 
Mayan and Aztec Civilizations 

• Many ancient cities were theocratic 
• rulers were deemed to have divine authority 
• god-kings 

Division of Urbanization 

The Greek Cities 

• by 500 BCE, Greeks were highly urbanized 
• Network of more than 500 cities and towns 
• On the mainland and islands 
• Each city had an acropolis and an agora 

The Roman Cities

• A system of cities and small towns linked together with hundreds of miles of roads and sea routes 
• Sites of Roman cities were typically for trade 
• A Roman's city's Forum combined the acropolis and agora into one space 
• Had extreme wealth and extreme poverty (between 1/3 and 2/3 of the empire's population was enslaved) 

Urban Geography

Today we went over our exam grades and then we started a new unit called urban geography. Her are my notes :
When and why did people start living in cities? 
City- a gathering of people and buildings and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics (governmennt), culture, and economics (money)
Urban- The build up of the central city and the suburban realm- the city and the surrounding environs connected to the city

In the last few years, for the first time there are more people living in cities (urban areas) than rural (farm) areas.

Shenzhen, China was an extremely rural just 25 years ago- was urbanized very quickly

There are new coal burning factories built in China almost every day ruining the air quality.

Before urbanization, people lived in agricultural villages. Life was surrounded by food. Before that, people were hunters an gatherers. (nomadic)

Two components needed to enable the formation of cities
1) agricultural surplus
2) social stratification (leadership) divide and conquer