Learn about Countires

United States

Constitution-Based Federal Republic

President Barack Obama

 Mexico

Federal Republic

President Enrique Pena(with thing over n) Nieto

                                    

China

                                   

Communist State

President Hu Jintao

                                   




  India
                                           
Federal Republic

Prime Minister Pranab Mukherjee

Afghanistan

Islamic Republic

President Hamid Karzai

                                      





  Iran

Theocratic Republic

President Mahmoud  Ahmadi'nejad

                                          


Israel

Parliamentary Democracy

President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Germany                                                    

Federal Republic

                                   
Chancellor Angela Merkel

United Kingdom

Constitutional Monarchy and Commonwealth Realm

Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II

                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                    F                                           














 

France

                                                                                 
 Republic 

                                                         
President François Hollande

Brazil

Federal Republic

President Dilma Rousseff

                                                             

                                                         


             

Venezuela                                               

Federal Republic

                                                     
President Hugo Chávez

Saudi Arabia

Monarchy

King/Prime Minister Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Aziz

Questions on the Test

How many followers does Islam have? -1.6-1.7 million followers

What does Buddha mean? -Enlightened One

Which religion was the oldest surviving monotheistic religion?      -Judaism

What are the holy books of Judaism? -Talmud and the Torah

Where do most of the Hindus live? - India

What is the holy book of Islam? - Qur'an

What is the official language of Brazil? – Portuguese

When did Christopher Columbus arrive in America? -1492

Where did Christopher Columbus land? -Near the Bahamas

According to the growth rate of Islam, in 100 years from now, will the number of Muslims be greater than, less than, or equal to, or less than the number of Christians? -Greater Than

Is Buddhism monotheistic or polytheistic? -Neither, it is a way of life

What is the oldest religion over all? –Hinduism

Christopher Columbus’s back round was Spanish, Italian, or French? –Italian

What is Nirvana? -The perfect happiness, the highest happiness

What do Islam, Judaism, and Christian religions have in come? –they are all Abrahamic religions

What land bridge did the Native Americans cross? –The Beringian land bridge

How many people in the world claim no religious filiation at all? –a billion

Just a Class

Today's class started out with excitement. I arrived our usually classroom, ready to go. Then I was told that our class today was relocated to a different class room. It was nice to have a change in scenery. I really did like this classroom. I was big and I loved the two big doors that the room contained. After about five minutes in class, we figured out that there was no teacher in our room. We called the main office to address the situation and we even sent Ricky down to the main office to retrieve information about our class' no teacher status. Then our sub finally came. I seriously could have gone a whole class without a sub. We had to write 15 terms that we think will be on the quiz so hopeful we will be able to use those papers on the quiz which was moved to Friday! :)

Quiz Questions

Q: According to the growth rate of Islam, in 100 years from now, will the number of Muslims be greater than, less than, or equal to, or less than the number of Christians?
A: Greater Than

Q: Five times a day, devote Muslims pray in the direction of what?
A: Mecca

Q: Which religion is neither monotheistic or polytheistic?
A: Buddhism

Q: Who were the first people to ever set foot in the Americas?
A: Native Americans

Q: What religion is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion?
A: Judaism

More Information about World Religions

Islam

·        Created by Muhammad

·        Muhammad was said to report revelations that came from God

·        Holy Book- Qur’an

·        There are 1.6-1.7 followers

·        Muslims are found in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East

·        Many Muslims make pilgrimages to Mecca- to the Muslims, this is the most holy city and it is the birth place of Muhammad

·        Muslim men go to Medina for a pilgrimage

·        Mecca and Medina are both in modern day Saudi Arabia

·        2^nd biggest religion

·        In 100 years= #of Muslims > # of Christians

·        5 times a day, devote Muslims should know where Mecca is in relation to where their location is and pray towards the direction of Mecca

Buddhism

·        Founded by Siddhartha Gautama

·        He was known as Buddha which means “enlightened one”

·        Neither a monotheistic or polytheism religion

·        No holy book but has the Four Noble Truths

·        No cravings for yourself

·        376 million followers

·        Most are in China, Japan, Mongolia, and many Southwestern Asian countries

·        Nirvana is achieved from within

Hinduism

·        Does not claim any one prophet

·        No one god

·        It is a way of life

·        Sacred texts are the Vedas and the Philosophical Epics such as the Bhagavas-Gita

·        1 billion Hindus worldwide

·        Most of them are in India

Judaism

·        Oldest surviving monotheistic religion

·        Covenant between God and his people an ethno religious group

·        Sacred books are the Talmud and the Torah

·        13.4 million followers

Great Explorers and Culture

We have learned a lot in class recently so I will type all the information that we have been bombarded with. First off, I will give you the notes that I took on all the great explorers of the Americas.

Native Americans

·       Came to America 14,300 years ago

·       Scientists proved that by the proof of human DNA in feces

·       Arrived in North America near the present day Pacific Coast Line and Rocky Mountains

·       The people that populated North America were the indo Europeans who migrated all over

·       They go to the USA from Russia (they were not all Russian) they crossed a land bridge from Russia into Alaska and that is how they got to the USA-crossed the Beringia land bridge

·       1^st ones to inhabit America, indigenous people-people who are native to a place

·       They didn’t have to fight anyone to get the land because they were the only ones there

·       They were just looking for land to live on and found America

·       They took care of the land because they were spiritual people who lived on their “sacred” land and believed they didn’t own the land

Christopher Columbus

·       Arrived in 1492 in the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

·       He captained the Santa Maria

·       Landed in the present day Caribbean Islands, near the Bahamas

·       He was trying to sail to India

·       Completed 4 voyages across to the American continents

·       There were already native Americans- about 60-20 million of them, from 1000s of years ago who were already there

·       He had to fight to conquer the Americas and captured Indians

·       He tried to conquer the Americas

·       Stayed in America and made trips back and forth

·       He thought he was in India the whole time

·       Did not respect the land

·       He didn’t work with the people there

Vikings

·       Came to Canada in 1000 AD not to conquer but to raid lands

·       Leaf Erikson was the first European to get to the Americas

·       Stayed for about 350 years

·       Respected the land

Mr. Schick presented our class with a power point to today. Here are my notes about culture.

Culture:

·       Culture: Parts of a group’s everyday life; the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all the members; these same characteristics can also link or divide a region

·       Languages, Ethnic Groups, and Religions are all part of culture

·       Language

o   Arabic unites the Arab world. How? Uses the dominant/ same language

o   If Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish; It speaks Portuguese; is it Hispanic or Latino?

o   Canada is a bilingual nation. French and English are its official languages

o   Switzerland speaks many different language and has few conflicts

o   English is now considered the world language and is used for most business transactions around the world (Lingua Franca)

·       Ethnic Groups:

o   When strong leadership dies out, the different groups fought a very bloody civil war and now they are all separate countries (Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albanians = all didn’t get along)

o   Rwanda and Burundi, two ethnic groups, Tutsis and Hutus = they both persecute each other

o   Led to war between each other

o   USA and Switzerland both have peace even when they both have merged multiple ethnic groups

o   Korea and Japan both have mostly one primary ethnic group

·       Religion

o   An unifying and disunifying force

o   5 major religions:

§  Hinduism

§  Buddhism

§  Christianity

§  Judaism

§  Islam

World Religions

Christianity is a very popular religion that contains 2.2 billion followers. This religion was founded around 30-36 AD in Palestine after Jesus's death. This religion is monotheistic. Christians believe in God, who is the central figure of their religion but they believe that there are three Gods (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in one God. Christians use the Bible as their main holy book. Here is a map of the percentage of Christianity Worldwide.

Islam is a religion that was founded in Mecca near the time 632 AD. This is a monotheistic religion like the rest of its fellow Abrahamic religions. The holy books of Islam include The Quran which is organized into chapters called surah, and verses called ayat; In addition, the entire text is divided into 30 sections called ajiza. The Islam religion has 1.3 billion followers that all worship its god, Allaah. The main geographic concentration of Islam is in Africa and the Middle East.

           Buddhism was founded in the fourth or fifth century B.C. in northern India by a man known traditionally as Siddhartha Gautama.This religion is polytheistic and uses the Tipitaka as its holy book. Buddhism has between 350 million to 1.6 billion followers. In Indian, the central figure for worship was Amitabha. The largest number of Buddhists per capita is, appropriately, in Tibet.

Hinduism was founded in India in 1500 BC or earlier and is a monotheistic religion. Hinduism has no holy books and has approximately 950 million followers. Buddah is a key figure of Buddhism. Hindu is a geographical definition used for the people living beyond the river Indus or those living in India

Judaism is a monotheistic religion that was founded around 2000 BCE in Israel. Jewish people use the Tanakh as their holy book and also use the Old Testament of the Bible. Judaism has about 14 million followers and worship Yahweh and Elohim.  The largest concentrations of Jews are found in Israel and New York, USA

Sources:

·       ·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_Christian_followers_are_there_worldwide

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Christianity_monotheistic_or_polytheistic

·        http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/christianity/intro.htm

·        http://www.nowpublic.com/world/christian-population-concentration-geography

·        http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080302183416AASvQrU

·        http://islam.about.com/od/quran/tp/Quran.htm

·        http://www.hugheshistory.com/ReligionsComparison.pdf

·        http://www.opendemocracy.net/who_do_islams_worship_0

·        http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-current-geographic-concentrations-of-islam

·        http://answerplease.infoplease.com/node/33571

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Buddhism_polytheistic_or_monotheistic

·        http://www.buddhanet.net/ans66.htm

·        http://www.numberof.net/number-of-followers-of-buddhism/

·        http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Be-Ca/Buddhism-and-Mythology.html#b

·        http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-geographical-concentration-of-buddhism

·        http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/fastfacts.htm

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Hinduism_monotheistic_or_polytheistic

·        http://www.godrealized.com/hinduism/Hinduism-holy-book.html

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Central_figures_in_Buddhismb

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_was_Judaism_founded

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_was_Judaism_founded

·        http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Judaism_monotheistic_or_polytheistic

·        http://www.hobart.k12.in.us/ksms/worldreligions/Judaism/HolyBooks.htm

Culture Shown in Soda

Mr. Schick presented us was a map today. This map wasn't some boring map about financial debt or a geographical map. It was about soda. Well, it was also about pop and coke. It turns out that people all over the Untied States of America call something as simple of the word soda differently. More people in the south call the concept of soda coke and more people in the north call the concept of soda pop. More people on the east and west coast called the concept of soda soda. This map just shows how diverse our country is. On the map, there was a section color coded purple for an others section. This section could include the words seltzer, or fizzy along with the words used to express the idea of soda. Anyways, we have a new kid in our class from Nigeria. His name is Mike and he is very nice. I bet he loves out class because we always have fun and make him feel included and welcomed. I hope that Mike enjoys our class and feels welcomed in our school.

Our Second Power Point

These power points were about the explorers of the Americas. These explorers include Native Americans, Vikings, and Christopher Columbus. My group was responsible for gathering the information about the Vikings. I realized that I should really start to bring home my book that I take note in because I should re type my notes on this blog. Tomorrow I need to remember to bring my book home so I can type up the notes. Our presentation went very well and I positive we all got a good grade on this project. When the Christopher Columbus group presented the first half of their power point, I was intrigued with one interesting factoid on their slide. If I do remember correctly, the slide stated that Christopher Columbus captured some of the Native Americans and made them slaves. He even raped some of the Native American women. I do not want to celebrate Christopher Columbus day anymore because of his disgraceful actions and because he wasn't even the first person to find America; the Native Americans were the first people to find America.

Lost Boys Quiz Rview

So if I am lucky, on the next Human Geo. test or quiz, Mr. Schick will allow us to use our blogs. Because he let us use our blog for the previous quiz, I will blog about the answers to the quiz in hope that I will be able use this blog for the next quiz or test about The Lost Boys.

Three names of the boys: Daniel, Panther, John
Born in the country of : Sudan
Members of the: Dinka tribe
War in Sudan fought between the: Muslim North and the Christian/ Animist South
They left Sudan and crossed the boarder into: Ethiopia
When that country's government fell, they fled to: Kenya
The refugee camp they stayed in we run by the: Untied Nations
They organized themselves into a group to entertain themselves and discuss their situation  This organization was called: parliament
Two of the young men went to the city of: Pittsburgh
The third went to the city of: Syracuse
They noticed a big difference in the way Africans and Americans celebrated the holiday of: Chirstmas
They were required to pay back the money spent on: Air Travel
The "lost boys" held many different jobs including McDonald's: Security Guard and waiter in a restaurant
They were instrumental in building a: school and health clinic back in their "mother home land."

Quiz?

I was completely unaware that we had a quiz today. I came in and Wilfred told me good luck on my quiz. I was so frustrated when I found out that we actually had a quiz on the God Grew Tired of Us. I was thrilled when he gave us 15 whole minutes to quickly study out notes. It was like a roller coaster of anger and happiness in class today. I think i did pretty well on my quiz. I got all the answers write but I misspelled most of them. I would have definitely got an A on the quiz if it was multiple choice or i spelling didn't count. The movie would have been easier to follow if it only about the two boys that lived in Pittsburgh or just about the one lost boy that lived in Syracuse, New York. Alice was wearing a Syracuse sweatshirt when we were talking the quiz and I didn't know how to spell Syracuse so i could have easily looked at her sweatshirt and go the correct spelling but I didn't notice it and took a guess on how to spell Syracuse. I can't wait to get my quiz back.

Helping Out As A Class

I am so excited that we are actually getting involved in an organization that helps people in need. I don't think that we will be able to have John come to our school and speak for a few reasons. One is because it takes $6,000-$10,000 to even have come a speak to us. We also have to pay for his air travel fees and we have to house him. That is a lot of money and I know that it goes to an organization, but I  just don't think that we will be able to raise that significant amount of money. We could try to compromise with him. Maybe we could raise $1,000 and ask him for an hour of his time to Skype with him. That wouldn't be a horrible idea but we wouldn't get the real, true feel of his sufferings if he just Skyped with us. I also could not see how tall he is. Anyways, I hope that by next class we can find a great organization to sponsor.

Helping Out

We all need to help out in some way during our lives or else we will not be purely satisfied with the true happiness you get when you help others in need. I really love to donate money to organizations and help out by volunteering. I just get this awesome feeling inside of me when I help people in need. Getting our class involved with charity and outreach programs is a great idea. I love how Mr. Schick let us take control of the project. I liked how everyone in all the sections could work as a group on one power point document, but sometimes it got annoying. I remember beginning to type up m first charity group, Smile Train, when someone just deleted everything that I types. So I made a new page and began to type on that. Then, more people found my page and began to type on it as well. I didn't mind this but they were moving my words and messing up my spacing. I ended up typing the rest of the charity and outreach groups on a Word document and then pasting them in the online document. This was a pretty neat project and I can't wait to get involved.

Finishing a Great Film

The movie "God Grew Tiered of Us" was institutional and educational. The film inspired me to really look into helping countries that are in distress.  I have looked into participating in the Kony 2012  project and I think it is a great way to help people in need. It would be absolutely amazing if we could get John, a lost boy from the movie, to come a speak to John Carroll. I would be ecstatic if John could come and tell us about his tragedy but hopeful story. This wonderful film also educated people about the issues in Sudan. This movie taught about the war in Sudan, the lost boy's journey, and the hardship immigrants face when the come to America. The ending of the movie was toughing. The movie's main characters, Daniel, Panther, and John, all make a decent living in America. John went began an organization that helps to build health clinics in Africa and, another lost boy went  back to Africa to start a school there as well as marry his girlfriend. My favorite part of the whole movie was when John was reunited with his mother in the airport. You could definitely tell that his mother was so thankful to have her son back and to see him after being separated for 17 years. I am so thankful that I live in America where I don't have to worry about the problems that Sudan's people face.