Mongol Trial Progress 12/31/13

Today I watched "Mongol Hordes: World Conquerors" to get additional information on the mongols for the trial. I have also obtained a general overview of the backgrounds of Pope Innocent IV, the abbasid Caliph al-Mustasim, and did some general research on how common pesants were potentially affected under the Mongol rule. All these people will serve as witnesses for the prosecution side of the upcoming trial.

Mongol Trial Progress 12/29/13

Today I read chapter 18 in the Traditions & Encounters textbook to better understand the events that surrounded the life of Ganges Khan and the Mongol Empire he had founded. I believe the information I have obtained will better help be understand the type of background I must have to serve as a pestant witness for the prosecution team in the upcoming Mongol Trial.

Genghis Khan: Genius or Crazy?

I beleiive that Genghis Khan was not a clever ruler, but rather a man with deep physiological issues tht revolved around his disturbed past. Basically, Khan grew up in a very poor environment that only influenced violence. In the biography it was mentioned that it was common tradition in his nomadic tribe to raid and steal the women of me abhorring tribes. In addition to this a similar nomadic time kills his father, which leads to his mother being abandoned with Khans half brothers, by his tribe. Through such harsh events take place when khan was still a young boy, and I beleve this plays a factor in his development of a violent, psychotic maniac. The biography mentions how he kills one of his half brothers over some fish. Acts of violence like this was clearly not ristricted for Genghis since nobody seemed to care that he killed his half brother. Furthermore, he decided to spare Jamuca, who was once his friend, but chooses not to watch his death when Jamuca refuses Khan's mercy. This to me makes no sense because Khan has killed in the most painfully crule ways, several captives from battle. So it dosnt make sense that he is suddenly a pacifist, and even if it is argued that it was out of the affection that once existed for Jamuca, there is another piece of evidence. In the biography it was said that he personally saved children and women from the wrath of his own men, sometimes, but in another instance where he captured Jamuca, he had slaughtered the women and even the children from his tribe. So these strange acts of violence and then sudden turnarounds make be feel that Genghis Khan had some psychological problems that reflected the brute environment he had to face as a child.

 

Life on an Early Medieval Manor (Response)

On the basis of the "Capitulary de Villis", I would characterize the conditions of material life in the Carolingian country side as good. I believe in this because, the "Capitulary de Villis" basically talks about all the stuff there is in the Carolingian country, and based on the quantity of stuff that is being accounted for, one can say that life was content. Though, I feel that not everything would be perfect because, just because there is a lot of stuff to be taken account for doesn't mean those 'stuff' will always be there. Resources of grain could disappear form a bad harvest, meat could become fewer if hunters from other territory take game from the forests of the Carolingian country side. For the most part, the "Capitulary de Villis" shows the abundance of material possessions in the Carolingian country side, and the fact that portions of these stuff is being taken by the lords show how they want an abundant supply of stuff that together establish a variety. Although this may be the case, the people also get benefits like having a established district in which there are a variety of resources available, from the different types of people that provide them.

Europe/India Map

Expansion of Tang, Sui, and Song Dynasty

Al-Ghazzali vs. Plato

Al-gazali's theology of Deliverance from error and Plato's theology of the Cave are both similar in that they both support the idea that humans should separate themselves from their sense in order to reach true understanding but the difference between the two comes from their opposing perspectives. Al-gazali believes that by severing the deceitful understanding of the senses will lead to a better understanding of god whereas Plato takes a non religious approach and claims that it will lead to true enlightenment, or rather a better understanding of the world.

Al-Ghazzali on math and religion

1.) The selections on mathematics and the scientific description of smallpox describes to me that Islamic values do not relate to math and science. It is only man's choice that can prove the logic behind Islamic values, rather than science and math.

2.) According to Al-ghazali, math and religion should should not be separated necessarily. He believes religion should not condemn mathematics, which should also not condemn religion. He believes that if the two errors of mathematics in which man believes religion is illogical because of math's logic and or man believes religion is illogical because other believers in math think it is, becomes nonexistent; then there is no reason for religion and mathematics not to be together as one.

Map of the Expansion Islam

Map of the Expansion + Contraction of the Byzantine Empire

The Quran's teachings contrasted with Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism

The Quran is written based on Allah and his expectations of Humankind. The script basically establishes an ideology that Allah is the one and only god that is superior to all. He must be worshiped through devotion and sacrifice. In addition to this the Quran also states that those who do not worship Allah are considered astray and will not be in the mercy of Allah. In comparison, Christianity and Judaism are completely different. Jesus's teachings is focused around a concept of being kind and forgiving. According the th ideology of Christianity and Judaism, those who refrain from seeking revenge for harm done, treat evil with kindness, and pray for those who hate will be blessed by god. According to Jesus's teachings, blessed are those who do good, give mercy, struggle through hunger poverty, etc. But unlike the teachings the Quran supports, Christianity and Juadism does not require sacrifice in order to be blessed by god. On the other had, the teachings of Zoroastrianism are indirectly similar to the teachings of the Quran. The reason being, in Zoroastrianism it is taught that those who follow Ahura Mazda by being good will be rewarded on Judgment Day but all those that do not follow him are evil and worship Angra Mainyu. So in Zoroastrianism there is sort of a lack of choice where people get an opportunity to choose to follow a god, because those who end up choosing not to worship Mazda are automatically considered worshipers of Angra Mainyu, which leads to no rewards or blessing; Similarly, the Quran teaches that those who are not followers of Allah and his Apostle are considered astray and will receive no blessing or mercy from god (Allah).

Justinian's Code

The role of women in the Byzantine Empire is basically, to be wives, mothers, or concubines. This can be claimed to be true because in the Justinian's code, women are only addressed in these areas os social status. They are given no authority elsewhere and are strictly controlled to only be suited for such types of roles. In Justinian's code, women are only given power over marriage, because according to the set laws described, both parties must provide consent in order for the marriage to occur. Other than this one right, women are basically given no power or authority in any other aspects of the Byzantinae society. Whereas men are grated power over deciding who marries who, and control the fate of their chidden or grand children. Men even receive authority over property during a divorce.

Justinian's background matters when reading this document because anything mentioned in it could be a direct resultant of his background. He grew up was a peasant but because of his uncle, was able to live at higher standards later on in his life. Therefore, pieces of legislation that he has approved could be particularly beneficial to pendants rather than wealthy land owners.

Decline of the Roman Empire (Decay Theory)

I agree with what the Wikipedia article, "Decline of the Roman Empire" claimed to be the cause for the decline of the Roman Empire. I agree with the idea of how the Roman Empire collapsed because of the loss of civic virtues. People were not self-sustaining and relied on barbaric mercenaries who ended up turning on them. In addition to the military decline, I concur with the article that the Roman Empire had collapsed because of the development of a nonprofitable economic system, where the Roman Empire had a market economy that and a free trade policy; flaws like this are reusable causes for inflation. In addition to this, I also agree that the many occurrences of civil wars between decided parts of the Roman army, fighting for control over the empire. What once was a strong military force, and weather it had barbarians or not, was weakened by the decline in economic status. In total, I believe the factors that the Wikipedia article gave for the decline of the Roman Empire where quite accurate and evidently possible.

Link to full article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire#Decay_owing_to_general_malaise

Collapse of the Roman Empire & Han Dynasty

Silk Road simulation #swindled&hustled! :)

Overall, I feel like I have learned a lot from today's silk road simulation. I noticed that the silk was more than just a route for trading and intact was is a series of dealings that happen in a common area between China, India, Malaya, Turkestan,  Greece, and the Roman Empire. I was also not very surprised when I realized how unsafe the whole process was. As a representative of Turkestan my group was the center of most trading between China and Malaya and Greece and Rome. Although this may be, it didn't safe my group from getting robbed. A member of my group was fooled into a deal and gave the money before anything could be formally arranged, and the person just took the money and walked away. From this I learned that dishonesty would have been common amongst the people trading in the silk road. Then once the language and money barrier was broken with a translator and a banker did not help anybody! The banker was constantly bribed and some of the translators were being robbed. In the end only the corrupt and clever made it to the top with the majority of the money. I believe this shows reason for a nation to conquer another because if I was China or Rome and got my money swindled I would not just sit down and forget about everything after the bell rings. NO, I would have raised an army and marched on over to whichever nation took my money, and would have taken it back! In the end though, I would not say that the silk road completely detract from the societies that participated in it and I believe it was beneficial to a certain extent. Despite all the fuss, my group was successfully able to purchase weapons by selling some horses, and this was a win for me. So basically, I learned that even a broken system for trading could carry out tasks of several nations to a certain extent (where at least somebody is happy); but the real question is, for how long did this last?

This simulation was amazing. I felt like I was learning a lot about trade through the silk road, while simultaneously having a good time with it. The pros are mostly made up of the fact that it was a fun and intuitive learning experience and I recommend we definitely do this again. The cons were consisted of the fact that it teaches you things in an indirect way. I feel like there would have been situations in this simulation that could have lead be to a different understanding of the silk road trade. For example if everybody I had traded with were extremely honest and saw my deal through, until the end; I would have been lead to believe that the silk road was a fantastic trading system. So this brings me to the conclusion that this method of learning could work for other things but not all, but today was excellent in sending the message and we should definitely do this again.

Roman City Video Prompt Responses

b. What is the Forum and where is it located? Why is that symbolically significant? What other Classical Era society located politics in this way?

The Forum was a rectangular open area at the center of a Roman city and it was a vocal point for commerce and politics. Being located at the heart of the city, allowed for it to physically connect with the farmlands in outer areas and in term linking the entire region with rome. Around the Forum was government buildings, huge shops, and spiritual temples. The Roman Forum was symbolically significant because it represented the soul of a whole city that connected neighboring regions to the core of Roman culture. Similarly at the center of their cities, the Greeks had a Plateia, which were basically town squares that also had similar features and applications to the Roman Forum.


c. How does an aqueduct move water? How is this like or unlike the way a qanat worked in Persia?

The aqueducts in Ancient Rome moved water through the aid of arches and more arches. Roman constructers began by establishing a water source by the edge of a mountain or hill from where they built a bridge on top of which the water can flow to the city. In order for these bridges to be at level with the water source, which was usually high up a hill, they built arches that allowed them to extend the hight of their constructions, substantially. Upon reaching the city, the bridge lead the water to a storage facility from where the water flowed the the homes of the rich, public baths and lavatories, and public fountains. In addition the Romans had also established a drainage system from where waste water can be taken out of the city. The Roman aqueducts were similar to how the Persian qanat worked. They both applied basic constructions to obtain water from within large hills or mountain like structures. The difference between the two was that the qanat brought water from underground and to a water well or portion of land, whereas the aqueducts brought water from a higher elevation and required arches to raise a large bridge to have the water flow all the way to a city.

f. Why can’t Marcus Fabricius marry Aiden? How does this compare to attitudes about marriage in Classical Era India?

Marcus Fabricius was unable to marry Aiden because she was not a Roman citizen but later on after she was granted her citizenship by Caesar himself, for saving his life by preventing the assassination, he was still unable to marry her. This was because he got promoted by Caesar to become supervising architect for all of the empires new cities in the Phoenician frontier, and had to leave because of it. This idea of marriage compares to Classical India through the Indian caste system, which basically prevented people from different castes to marry one another just like how Fabricius was unable to marry Aiden just because she was not a Roman citizen.

Why did the Roman Republic become the Roman Empire?

Rome definitely made the transition of government from a Republic to an Empire, because of the strict control an Empire provided. With an Empire, Rome could be controlled through a single person, which proved more efficient when trying to expand, conquer, and obtain new territory; or even in applying new laws. I think, to further explain and support this statement, I would require more information about the advantages and disadvantages Rome received from the transition in government.

Alexander's conquests

Greece and Turkey (Aegean Sea Region)

India and Greece by William McNeil

1. McNeill’s establishes the point, about how India and Greece were taken over by foreign Eurasian population and given structure and order at the same time, but developed, over time, in a completely different way. His argument is that the Indian caste and the Greek territorial sovereignty had enormous effects on the Indian and European society.  

2. McNeil defines the cast system as a system of division amongst a group of people that separates them by some feature or mark. He states that the system establishes difference in power amongst a population. The book defines the cast system to have emerged as the Aryans established settlement though India where the Aryans established a difference in color between the Dravidians and themselves; over time the different populations mixed until they were all the same. Both, the book and McNeil’s definitions for a cast system are different.

3. Three feelings and thoughts that helped maintain the idea of caste.

1. Ceremonial purity, a fear of contaminating oneself by establishing contact with a member of a lower caste
2. All castes of people, except the lowest of the lowest, had a caste to look down upon.
3. The doctrine of reincarnation and of “varna” gave the idea that all men were divided into different castes, naturally.The Brahmins at the top, then the Kshatriyas, followed by the Vaisyas, and at the bottom is the Sudras.

4. Yes, the cast system was indeed convincing due to the fact that reincarnation made logical sense when it came to explaining the natural separation in castes. The logical basically surrounded the principle of how castes were based off punishment for whatever sin a person may have done in a past life. So, basically a person was led to believe he/she exist in the cast they do, based on weather they have lead a good or bad life in a previous existence.

5. Caste itself did not allow for strong political organizations to form because people were so divided, into their separate caste, that they refused to follow any ruler or king from a different caste. The caste became a primary government for each separate population. Taxes and legislation were only followed when they are applied within the same caste; anything else was seen as foreign and unnecessary to follow.

6. The idea that, by performing a ritual perfectly, brahmans could compel the gods to grant their demands was the cause for Indian religion to shift from diety pleasing to the act of worshiping, itself.

7. The Upanishads changed the nature of Indian religion by stating that a persons only goal is to break free of the cycle of reincarnation. This changed the goals of Indian society by making it a necessity that people live conservative lives in order to break free of the cycle of life and be spiritually enlightened.

8. McNeil defines “Territorial Sovereignty”  as self governing city states that the Greeks used as method of government, and division.

9. The Greeks turned away from religion as an explanatory factor in organizing society, because philosophers who pondered about the creation of the world did not like mythical ideas but rather wanted a theory derived from the laws of nature.

10. The consequence of the Greeks’ adherence to the polis was the limitation of ideas being approved by society due to the lack of seekers of knowledge being able to be accepted in the polis system.

11. I do agree with McNeil’s argument because I feel he has made a good case on how indian and Greek societies have developed so differently, in areas of religious and scientific understanding of the world, political system, and social structures.

Why the "Great" in Alexander the Great?

Alexander is a man worth of his title, I believe. He conquered landmass larger than anybody else could at his time, which is parly the reason why I can concur in giving him the title "the great". He conquered Persia at the age of 25, showing his clever intellect at such a young age. Although he was mainly only seeking to satisfy his own goal he was still a very respected man for his great companionship, and a leader who truly fights alongside his soldiers, is a man worth calling "the great". He not only proved his himself worthy of his title but also earned it in his own time by convincing his soldiers and many other he came across, of his greatness coming from godly descent. Darius, at the time of his death, said to Alexander that he wishes for god to aid him in his pursuit to concor the world. Though Alexander was not a flawless person, I still believe that his actions have rightfully given him his title of being called "Alexander the Great". 

Bahagvad Gita Compare and Contrast

Bhagavad Gita

• Live life selflessly
• perform action without desire for reward
• focus on the duty not the fruit
• way of life
• Krishna & Arjuna
• there is a soul
• if all requirements are met soul will go to heaven (reach moksha)
• if requirements are not met soul will be bound to repeating cycle of birth and death

Confucianism

• way of life 
• Confucius
• 5 relationships
• Father-son
• Elder brother-younger brother
• King-minester
• friend-friend
• husband-wife
• 5 virtues
• ethics and politics the key to "the way"
• ancestor worship

Zoroastrianism
there is a soul (needs to be saved)
way of life
cosmic balance between good and evil
Judgment day in 12,000 years (good souls go to heaven, bad souls burn forever
enjoy the world and its pleasures in moderation
honesty towards others, good thoughts and deeds, be a good person
Ahura Mazda (good god)
Angra Mainyu (bad god)

Conclusion: The information provided in the Bhagavad Gita is similar to that given in the teachings of Zoroastrianism since they both discuss the human soul and how it can receive salvation. Unlike these two religious teachings Confucianism stands as a non-religious teaching for how to live, focusing more on earthly bound duties.

Why are Arabic Numerals Significant?

Arabic numerals are significant because they represent the earliest version of commonly used number values/signs today. These Arabic numbers made the very basis for the invention of calculus in early Indian society that allowed advanced calculations. Thus the idea of these numbers spread quickly and proved to be the dominant system for mathematics, instead of other number systems such as the roman numerals.

How to have prevented the collapse of the Han Dynasty?

The Han Dynasty was one of the most influential Dynasties in China. Under its rule, the Chinese culture was able to expand to Korea, Vietnam, and Central Asia. Although, with great expansions came great economic and political troubles that I feel the rulers of the Han were just not ready for. To begin with, I believe the Han Dynasty did not necessarily have to collapse. Intact I am about to share, what I would have done to save the Han Dynasty from falling to its doom.

There were several problems in the structure of the Han Dynasty to begin with. I am not going to say that the only way to save the Han Dynasty is to have it begin with a different governmental structure than it did because it is clearly unlikely that a ruler from around the first century BCE would listen to a governmental offer that establishes equality between the ruler and his subjects. In this case I would also not say that to prevent the Han Dynasty from falling, a more wise and less greedy person must have stepped in. Instead I shall explain where I believe things could have been turned around for the better in the Han Dynasty's fall. If you look back closely, each ruler that succeeded the last made attempts to rectify the last rulers mistakes. For example, when Liu Bang had given too much land and power to family members, and found them to be nowhere at the time of need, other the rulers that succeeded him decided not to give family members lots of land and instead give it to officials that can regulate minor districts of citizens. Then came along Han Wudi, who emphasized the importance of education that previous rulers failed to acknowledge as useful, but he too soon fell because of investing too much in the attempts to prevent the Xiongnu's rule. The were a strong nomadic group that was able to spread their influence in a good part of Asia but were stopped my the Hans Military under Wudi's rule. Along with stopping this threat, Wudi also expanded his empire to most of central Asia, Korea, and Vietnam. Though this secured the safety of the empire it brought several problems involving stability. Too much money was spent in stopping the Xiongnus and expanding the empire, therefore leaving economic unbalance where the rich were growing too powerful and the poor were growing too week. Poor people were engraved in debt and had to sell of their land to the rich or sell themselves as slaves, who also served the rich. With such instability, rebellions and banditry made sure the Dynasty fell. So how could this have been prevented? When the ruler Wang Mang came into power he had attempted to establish as system where there was a limit to the amount of land a person could hold, but this idea filed due to poor delivery of an explanation to the people on how this would work. Therefore the rich neglected to give up their land and the poor did not gain anything; rebellions and banditry continued. I believe that if Mang had built more upon his idea and assured that there were certain limits to property ownership there wouldn't have been such a huge instability in the Hans society, since it was an agricultural based society. Meaning that if land was accessible to most people, they could harvest and form a stable structure for a working economy.

Daoism in one sentence

Daoism is the practice of being one with nature and it's changes, and not attaching yourself to worldly things by basically living life as simplistic as you can be.

Confucianism: What is it?

I have read book one and book two of "The Chinese Classics--Volume 1: Confucian Analects" by James Legge. Here is a short response on what I think about Confucianism after my reading.

Confucianism is not a religion, but rather a 'way of life'. I believe this is true because in my reading I had not encountered anything that struck me as religious, since everything mentioned sounded more like guidelines on how to live a certain way. Confucius was being referred to as the first two chapters "master" in The Chinese Classics--Volume 1: Confucian Analects and as a master and founder of Confucianism he teaches other how to lead a proper life. "The Master said, To rule a country of a thousand chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, and sincerity" (Legge 4; Line 8; Book 1). This here is a sample of how Confucianism is proven to be more of a 'way of life' because Confucius is taking about how a ruler should rule a large country if he wishes to be successful. I also believe that the book supports the idea that people are born good because it has examples of people being good or being corrupted to be bad from originally being good.. "If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with the rites of propriety? If a man be without virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with music?" (Legge 11; Line 9; Book 3). This quote basically shows how people were originally born to be good. According to this quote from the book, people are born with good intentions for their fellow man, and make several inventions, like music, to make the life of humanity, as a whole, better. "if the people be led by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover be good" (Legge 7; Line 4; Book 2). In this quote the book supports how people are made bad by a system full of complex rules but also suggest that if they were led to live morally good lives from the start, they will be good. "While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filal (Legge 5; Line 13; Book 1). Here Legge writes about how if a man's son is does not stop following his father's teachings after he has died,for three years, he can be called a son. This basically shows how the book supports the fact of people being born good because this quote represents a sort of understanding in how the world can corrupt the son of a dead father but if he can stay loyal to his fathers ways for three years he is illegible to be called a true son. So basically in order to be corrupted one must have started with being good, which is why I believe this quote also supports why this book supports the fact that people are born good.

Map of Persia

Zarathustra on Good and Evil

Zarathustra makes quite a few assumptions on the nature of humans and their ability to be able to make morally good choices of their own free will. These assumptions may hold two sides, like everything he had preached, about Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, how there is a good and evil side. He claims that those who choose evil will suffer for their wrong doings but those who do good will be rewarded. From this it can already be assumed that Zarathustra believes that people will choose the good side over the bad side because it is only natural for them (a human) to want to be rewarded rather than be punished. This dose not mean he thinks all humans will side with him on the path of good. He believes that there is a positive and negative energy in people that drive them to do good or bad. He obviously wants everybody to side with being good since he greatly emphasizes on the rewards and "joy of salvation" a person would receive if they chose to be good. Zarathustra might also believe those who refuse to acknowledge the existence of these two gods will lead bad lives because they do not choose to follow Ahura Mazda let alone Angra Mainyu. Therefore its almost like he wants people to follow and practice Zoroastrianism of their own free will but at the same time is not giving them a choice by frightening them of the bad things that will come from leading bad lives, indirectly meaning lives without the practice of Zoroastrianism.

History Head Comment Assignment

For this Assignment I have selected Hiren Patel's poster/blog and the region he has done is, India.

         -Hello Hiren, before I say anything, I just want to say that I like how your poster exceeds the expectations. You did a phenomenal job in illustrating the different aspects of early civilizations in the region of India, especially with number five, where you so clearly showed the class distinctions between various classes in the Aryan society. In addition I also found that you typing out the key instead of hand writing it, made your poster much neater, overall. Whereas I believe writing it out might have taken up more space and made it less legible. Although you have done very well in putting together your poster, I do see a few flaws that could have been improved on. The images on your poster would have made a more appealing view if they were organized in a better way and also I thought you could have improved on how you showed which image represented which theme and which exterior images were related to which internal images. I thought navigation was harder than it had to be, with your poster. Besides these two minor issues, I overall, loved how you made your poster. Of course, I did not choose to write about your poster just because it was beautiful. I choose your poster because I found some interesting similarities and differences between the early Indian civilizations you have illustrated on your poster, and the Latin American civilizations I illustrated on my poster. One of the biggest thing I found similar was the development of agriculture and its effects. I was clearly able to relate my work and yours to see just how similarly the development of agriculture had lead to large complex societies consisting of cities with very similar social classes. I feel that the cast system in the Aryan civilization was highly similar to that of the Olmec civilization, where there was a ruler at the top, followed by priests, artisans, and commoners versus the Aryan's brahmans, kshatriya, vaishyas, and shudras. On the other hand, there was also a difference I noticed, between the Indian societies and Latin American societies. Latin American societies did no develop irrigation systems since water was always abundant in that region whereas in India the weather was not always suited for growing crops. Latin American societies also did not have any domestic animals like your Indian societies did, therefore the wheel was not invented in Latin America like how it was in India. In conclusion, Hiren, you have done a fantastic job and in my opinion, you have met and exceeded the expectations as far as informative content goes. I must ask though, why did you choose to print out pictures for the majority of your poster instead of drawing the images yourself?

History Head Project

Assigned Region: Latin America 

Group Members: Jay Patel, Hammad Sadiq, Prateek Rana

Hello, fellow Bloggers, this here is my first AP World project. It is about how the average person lived in the first person of time. My group was assigned Latin America, which as you can see is highlighted in black on the images above. Latin America consisted of several civilizations and we will be summing up the experiences of an average person in these complex societies. The poster displayed above consists of a first and second part. The first part being the most important, which is the head with the images representing five themes respectively. The second part being that of a key consisting the five themes that the images support or symbolize, accordingly. 

Image 1: I choose to draw this image to represent patterns and impacts of interaction between humans and the environment because the Olmec people have displayed such examples by developing a complex society, through agriculture power. As it can be seen in the image, once agriculture was discovered, the abundance in food permitted a larger and more organized civilization with more potential for social expansion.

Image 2: This second image is supposed to visualize development and interactions of cultures of a worker society where like it is shown in the image, commoners labored to build large monuments and palaces for their ruler/leader. Sculptures of large heads were built by commoners and servants, in respect to the ruler they live under. 

Image 3: Image three is a representation of how societies such as the Olmec came to an end through civil conflicts over politics, religion, and power. Starting by emerging in the minds of ordinary citizens, these conflicts ended with the destruction of the very cities they inhabited. In the end the cities burned as social classes became meaningless and the people who were once part of a great civilization had dispersed or disappeared.  

Image 4: In this image the expansion of economic systems in Latin America is illustrated. With the discovery of Jade and Obsidian several civilizations had developed skills in metallurgy leading to their development in Jade and Obsidian weapons, which were eventually used to trade with neighboring societies that offered them pottery or other goods as such.   

Image 5: In the final image on the poster, I have choose to display how common citizens of these societies in Latin America honored their ruler or king by sculpting figures of their head on a larger scale. These resulting large head served to be a sort of token of gratitude and respect citizens had towards their ruler/king. Therefore such actions please the ruler or king who takes his subjects into his good grace, formally establishing a social structure or class difference between the ruler and his subjects. 

My first AP World test experience!

Being my first test in the AP World course, I was not disappointed at what I saw on the test today. I had expected it to be somewhat like what it had appeared. Although, I do not think I have scored significantly well. The test was difficult for me because of its length, which oddly enough is the same issue I find with other tests as well. So that is sort of consoling to me because it means that the test was not hard because of it simply being a AP World test. This also means that if I did not do well on this test it can only mean I had not sufficiently prepared for it, and from the looks of what some other classmates are saying, about how they found it easy, I feel like I am correct. For the most part I was not surprised by any questions on the test mostly because I had prepared for the worst. That only means I was mentally prepared for the 'beating' I would receive from this test. Whatever the results may be I can only hope to learn from my mistakes and use the knowledge obtained from this to prepare for my next test. Furthermore I encourage myself to prepare several days in advance for such kinds of tests.