Monday, June 13, 2011

Extending My Learning!

   I have expanded my learning by try to speak Arabic more.  Because i already understand Arabic it is very easy for my to be able to speak it.  Arabic was my first language and i could speak and understand Arabic but when i went to school in Southborough they spoke English...obviously.... So i lost my Arabic because i was at school more then at home so i was hearing English more and my ear was getting use to hearing English more then Arabic.  I really regret not keeping my Arabic so now i have been trying to speak to my parents more in Arabic and they do the same.  I pray with my mom during Ramadan and have slowly started to actually say the prayer with her.  Then i will soon learn to write it as well!

Some words i know how to say:
-Eat
-sleep
-different foods
-run
-come
-jump
-play
-times(still learning though)
-different activities
-different adjectives

*And a lot more average day words...but you get the gist of it*

Monday, June 6, 2011

                                                                  Amazing Explorations!
 
     Advances in knowledge and technology helped make voyage of discovery possible and their several motives for exploring the world overseas.  So much of Europe sent out ships for exploration and the main nations were Spain and Portugal.
     European monarchs and merchants wanted to break from the power Muslims and Italians had on trade.  To be able to do that they had to find a trade route to Asia.  Sailors also saw this opportunity for a chance of fame and glory and of course wealth.  Nations also wanted to claim the land for themselves because they wanted to lands riches.  The final one is the spread of Christianity to be able to bring native people into their faith.
     One of the important explorers of the age was Christopher Columbus because he discovered one of the most and well known places in the world and is also a very important place.  Another is John Cabot, the one who made England's first ever voyage of discovery.  John is important because this was England's first ever voyage of discovery which is a big step for many places if they were to discover.  This now probably encouraged England even more to make as many voyages as possible in order to discover more and gain something for their country.  Lastly, Giovanni da Verrazano, the man who sailed under the French flag.  He is an important explorer because he was the one who gave France its first claims of America.  Another explorer that i feel is an explorer that has done something very big is Francis Drake.  I thing he as done something very big because he has sailed around the world and also claimed part of hat is now California for England, ignoring Spain's claims to the area.
     All explorations, discoveries and colonies affected the economy of European nations.  Discoveries affected the nation because new discoveries meant more things for the mapmakers to work with.  This caused a very different view on the world.  It helped people pay attention to the ships and improve them to be better ships when it comes to sailing.  They were able to find new things that they had never knew about before.  New lands discovered might have provided them with different items like fish and goods that would be helpful for them, maybe spices since the Europeans were big on spices.  A very important thing that the European nations are getting out of their discoveries is trade.  With all these new places to buy and sell goods, the European nations are getting a lot out of their discoveries and newly discovered land.
 
     The new discoveries affected the relationships between European nations and other nations.  In both good ways and bad ways.  The goods things are that now with all this discovered land there was now more people to be business with like buy and sell goods.  Because of the exploration, more goods, raw materials, and precious metals began to enter Europe because of trade.  Bad things are that other nations now wanted their own share of the newly discovered land even though it isn't theirs to claim.  It also became a Capitalist Economy.  This happened because merchants began to trade a lot and were becoming very wealthy.  This wealth pay for more voyages and as time went on they were eventually able to open up trading companies.  And as this became more popular and was being used more often, so more of these trading companies opened.



                                          Life of the people during the Age of Exploration!

     My life might have been affected if i was living during the Age of Exploration because i would be able to take place and be able to celebrate the great achievement.  I might even have been influenced by this achievement to go off and maybe do it one day!  Life would also be much better for me probably around that time because we now have great trading and are now interacting with other nations as well!
     I might have taken advantage of these new discoveries maybe by if i was a merchant increasing prices and now because of all the trading now with different merchants in other nations and now would become very rich.  Also I might take advantage of it by sailing a lot more to discover more for both me and my nations, but mainly myself because of all the riches i would mostlikly receive.