...WGU GKE1 GKE1TASK1WALKER Arguably one of the great societies from the past was the Andrean civilization or Inca. Before this population that totaled over 12,000,000 to the Spanish, the Incas were a self-sustained community. A significant geographical factor that contributed to the success of this empire was its location 11,000 feet up in the Andeas mountain range in South America ("Soomo," 2013). This location up in the mountains provided a great canvas to create a massive empire that provided and protected all their people. Some things that these mountains provided for these people were water from glaciers at higher elevations; this water ran downhill, the Incas built rock-cut channels that followed the streets to make this water available to all people, animals and crops ("Soomo," 2013). This mountain range might have created a challenge for some civilizations; however the Incas used it wisely. Sculpting the mountainside into terraces to grow crops like maize and potatoes, these crops did well at these elevations and temperatures. These mountains also provided a habitat for the llamas and alpaca that the Incas sheared for wool (Hughes, 2002, p. 116). All in all the Incas used these mountains well for survival and as a way to protect their people and empire. They used this resource daily, however the protected well for future generations to use. The Potato is a diverse vegetable, there was a one point 235 different species (Smith, 2011, p. 12). This tuber was...
Words: 971 - Pages: 4
...U.S. & World History Themes One significant environmental factor that has contributed to the development of Egypt’s civilization is the bond between the Nile River and the Egyptian people. The Nile River provides a large amount of water. Soil is a great productivity caused by the Nile. The water levels began to rise each July and the floods reached their full height by the end of August. The flood began to recede, at the end of October, leaving deposits of silt behind (Metz, 1990). This helped flourish the land to produce an abundance of crops for food and trade. This also attracted settlers. With the cultivating success, the Egyptian society evolved rapidly. The Nile River was also the main way to transport goods, trade with outlying communities and to communicate (Hoyt, 2013). It has shaped the life of the Egyptian society. Dr. Robert Whiting describes the geographical process as a way things spread from one place to another (Whiting, PHD, 2013). Among the early human societies, tea is an important part of diffusion. Tea was discovered in China. The ideal climate in the country was perfect for harvesting the tea leaves. Tea can be traced back to 600 BC. It is believed that tea was used for herbal medicinal qualities. Tea became a popular drink during the Tang Dynasty of China (618AD) Tea then spread to Japan in the 6th century, by a priest studying in China. The tea was used for rituals for medicinal use, it is very popular beverage in today Japanese culture....
Words: 973 - Pages: 4
...infestans infected the potato crops of Ireland causing a potato blight in the country. Over one million people died during the next five years because of this blight while over two million people Emigrate Ireland in the ten years following when the blight first struck. It was a major European famine and the last of its kind in Europe. In Irish history, the great famine is known as a watershed. The potato was the main source of nutrition in Ireland at this time especially for the cottier class, agricultural labourers and poor people in general. At least one third of people survived and depended on the potato crop. During the first year of this blight it caused unbelievable mayhem as many people who survived and depended on the potato crop had no other source of food leading to many deaths and...
Words: 1100 - Pages: 5
...GKE - Task 1: Geography and the Development/Diffusion of Human Societies Part A The Nile River was a significant geographic factor that contributed to the development of Egypt. This 6,695 Kilometer river; which is the largest river in the world contribution to Egypt's early human society in a way that is difficult to replicate. (The River Nile Facts, 2008). The Nile River provided drinking water for farmers and others who lived alongside the banks of the Nile. Also the Nile River floods predicted essentially how crops harvested. If there was too much water, the irrigation system could be damaged and if there was too little, there could be famine. This, however, did not deter the farmers, because they knew that this was their livelihood and their means of survival. The annual floods began from July to October. After the floods water receded, crops were ready for harvest from February. There were three seasons; the time of which the floods occurred , the receding of the water and the preparation for harvesting by preparing the soil and planting the seeds. There was also transportation of goods along the Nile River. This enabled the Egyptian civilization to attain economic growth. Therefore, it is clear what a significant factor the Nile River played and contributed to the development of Egypt. It's contribution was unprecedented. (Orlin, 2010) Part B The process of diffusion regarding Tea is a story that is truly amazing. The story of how Tea originated in...
Words: 1206 - Pages: 5
...so poor, especially in the southern counties of the island, that they were buried without coffins (“The Great Hunger”). In January 1847, since this laissez-faire policy proved to be a complete disaster, the government abandoned it and, under the direction of the Prime Minister Russell, the priority became to keep the people alive. The Soup Kitchen Act of 1847 aimed to provide free food through soup kitchens, which were financed by the taxes collected by local relief committees from Irish landowners and merchants. However, since Ireland was going bankrupt,...
Words: 1507 - Pages: 7
...Impacted World History has been impacted by so many civilizations and trade it is quite unbelievable. Yet, what is a great example of World History being impacted? A good example of World History being impacted or altered is the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is not just about the mere exchange of trades and goods. It includes the idea that the Europeans changed the very culture of many people in different areas. For one, the Europeans brought a smallpox epidemic to the America’s, which almost wiped out the people living there. This is not the only way Europeans impacted other civilizations. Many people living in China received many new crops. One crop in particular is the potato. The potato will eventually become important...
Words: 1242 - Pages: 5
...In considering the process of change in the development of Irish Nationalism between the years 1815 and 1922, how far can the Potato Famine (1845-49) be seen as a turning point? Irish nationalism has been said to have changed hugely during the period of 1815 to 1922 in which the movement of nationalism took many changes in directions to complete a vast range of goals including fair rent and Home Rule. These changes were caused by different turning points along the way of which the Potato Famine has been said a key one. The Potato Famine did cause change to an extent but was not alone in the changing in direction of the Irish nationalist movement as other turning points contributed such as Catholic Emancipation, and the first Home Rule bill which both changed the objectives and strategies of the nationalist movement to an extent. The Potato Famine can be seen as a turning point in the change of Irish Nationalism as it was the first time the country had collectively focused on campaigning for cultural nationalism and this suddenly came about due to the catastrophic changes the famine had on the majority of the classes in Ireland, especially amongst the lower-class. It not only created a deep-seated hatred towards Britain amongst the Catholic population, but also had the devastating effect on the Irish population. It led to the death of approximately one million people and, by 1850, to the emigration of a further one and a half million. It accelerated a prolonged reversal of...
Words: 2389 - Pages: 10
...Running head: GEOGRAPHY AND THE DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFUSION OF Geography and the Development and Diffusion of Human Societies GKE1- Western Governors University Geography and the Development and Diffusion of Human Societies Evaluating and researching how environmental and geographical factors, such as the availability of resources and location of land have affected and continue to affect the human race through development, distribution, and diffusion is not only intriguing but complex as well. The ancient site of Mesopotamia, appears to have been the first look at the world’s civilization. Mesopotamia; is Greek for between two rivers. This actually created a significant physical geographical factor that contributed to the Mesopotamian people, the land being fertile, and the beginning of civilization and urbanization. Mesopotamia was flat land that was situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. The land was rich in nutrients and clay that allowed for the Mesopotamian people to plant crops, build shelters to live in and store their harvested crops, also allowed for the benefits of domestication of animals. Even through all of the development of their lands it was not without transgression, they did have to overcome many environmental issues: floods, droughts, storms, dust, heat, disease and even death. The Mesopotamian people held strong and allowed them to overcome and prosper (Mark, 2009) (Guisepi, 1998) (Historical TV, 2013). With...
Words: 1313 - Pages: 6
...charge of the administration of Government relief to the victims of the Irish Famine in the 1840s. In the middle of that crisis Trevelyan published his views on the matter. He saw the Famine as a ‘mechanism for reducing surplus population’. But it was more: ‘The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people’. Such racist and sectarian views of the Irish were common enough within the English governing classes and were more crudely expressed by others. For the most part, Trevelyan’s views reflected the prevailing Whig economic and social opinion and that of the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, who held office from 1846 until 1852. Trevelyan was stiff and unbending. He firmly believed in laissez faire (essentially, the importing of food should be left to the food merchants), he thought that the Government should not intervene, and warned of the danger that people might get into the habit of depending on the state. From March 1846 he controlled the public works through the disbursement of public funds. Under Trevelyan, relief by public works in 1846–7 was too little too late but also it was slow, inefficient and sometimes corrupt. He defended the export of grain from famine-stricken Ireland on the grounds that the Government should not interfere with...
Words: 2592 - Pages: 11
...contributed to the development or expansion of the United States is the California Gold Rush and the Irish Potato Famine. The first most significant factor was the California Gold Rush. Before gold was officially discovered in Northern California on January 24, 1848, Kelly (n.d.) states that the entire population of the California territory was around 25,000. A few years after California was admitted as the 31st state in The Union in 1850, a special census was taken and the population had grown to 223,856. Kelly (n.d.) also states that in San Francisco alone, the population was approximately 800 in 1848 to well over 50,000 at the close of 1849. Before the rush, California was a vast wild wilderness that most Americans never dreamed of visiting. There were tales of savage people and even more savage wilderness and it was widely known that lawlessness and general uncivility reigned supreme throughout the new Western Territories. These tales enthralled the general public but deterred most from doing anything but follow the stories through newspaper articles and books. But with the discovery of a gold nugget at a sawmill owned by John Sutter, all of this changed. Newspapers reported the great discovery and when U.S. President James Polk confirmed the rumors in his annual congressional address in December of 1848, the California Gold Rush was on! This rush came a time in history when people of the United States were daring to dream of a nation that provided for its people through...
Words: 1221 - Pages: 5
...Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College History Department A2 Unit 4 Coursework Module: Ireland and the Union 1815-1922 Key Issue 2: The Great Famine Introduction • Late summer 1845 – promising potato (staple food) harvest • When harvest came, crop diseased – blight • By early 1846 ¾ harvest wiped out • Peel (PM) – some measures but hunger & disease prevailed • 1846 harvest failed; Russell – some relief measures • Disease, starvation & emigration • 1847 small but blight-free harvest • 1848 Worst harvest • Ended in 1849 Background & Causes of the Great Famine • GF – significant for extent & intensity – whole country, 4 years • Fungal disease attacked potato crop • Linked to social & economic structure • Sig of land system Land tenure: • Maj of cultivated land – small class of Prot landowners; leased out to middlemen – new class of landowners who divided them up and became absentee landlords • Division & sub-division rampant in years preceding GF: 1-5 acres 24% rented by cottiers 5-15 40% 30 + 7% • Landless labourers (1m) – diff to get work – went to England for part of the year • Underemployment • Labourers paid with scraps of land • Tiny size of peasant holdings Population increase • Huge inc in pop: 1780 5m – 1845 8m (taking account of emigration) • Early marriage, high birth rate, imp health, Irish produce got high prices in England ...
Words: 291 - Pages: 2
...Introduction to Sociology Final essay Maria Mooney Gately Due: May 13, 2013 Growing up in Ireland during the aftermath of the great potato famine dictated my great -grandparents (1880-1950) decision to migrate to the United States. As Mintz and McNeil (2013) said “The Irish potato famine was not simply a natural disaster. It was also a product of social causes. Under British rule, Irish Catholics were prohibited from entering the professions or even purchasing land.” To the Irish seeking escape from disease, famine, oppression and land shortage, migration to America was viewed as the land of opportunity and hope of a better life. As America’s emerging industrial economy expanded to meet the new market demands, more immigrants arrived on our shores. According to U.S. Census Bureau in 1976 “from 1869 to 1879, the US economy grew at an unprecedented rate of 6.8% for GDP and 4.5% for NNP per capita. The economy repeated this period of growth in the 1880s, in which the wealth of the nation grew at an annual rate of 3.8%, while the GDP was also doubled”. This economic growth led society into what was known as the “Gilded Era 1865-1918” of which social Darwinism was the prevailing social concept of the time. Herbert Spencer coined the term “survival of the fittest” which attempted to justify the stratification of wealthy and poor. Spencer thought helping the poor was wrong and would interfere with the natural process. Let the inferior (poor) die off and the wealthy...
Words: 723 - Pages: 3
...a number of challenging circumstances in the period, the Great Famine forced thousands of Irish women to emigrate to the United States. The factors that contributed to Irish women emigrating are slightly more complex in comparison to the reasons why men emigrated from Ireland. Women who emigrated left behind poor social conditions that were showing no signs of improvement, the United States promised a new way of life in all forms. It has been debated that Women in Ireland had become out of touch with their Irish heritage and culture however the emigration of Irish women can be seen simply as a movement by which Irish women enhanced their way of life which still encapsulated all forms of Irish...
Words: 1788 - Pages: 8
...Throughout the course of American history America has served as a sort of safe haven for those who need to escape their previous situations in their own countries. These immigrants moved to avoid poor living situations, religious persecution, or just to have more opportunities in a new place. Though they faced many challenges, because of their perseverance they helped to make the United States of America grow and prosper to what it is today. In result of a poor harvest and a depression with the trade of linen in Ireland, Irish immigrants began flooding into the United States of America starting as early as 1729. When the American Revolution ended an estimated four hundred thousand Irish immigrants were living in America. During the sixty years...
Words: 737 - Pages: 3
...Fiction of Irish Americans History of the Immigration Beginning almost 300 years ago Irish immigrants were among the first large groups of people to migrate to the New World. With years of wars, famine, and religious persecution in Ireland, these people came to America to build a new life. Not afraid of hard work the Irish came and built a life they could be proud of; although the Irish American believes that they have been victim of discrimination. NINA ‘No Irish Need Apply’ and WASP ‘White Anglo Saxon Protestant’ is and ingrained belief that the Irish American’s “remember” (Jenson, 2004). Another current issue is the unjust treatment of the Irish seeking political asylum in the United States (McElrath, 1997). The first Irish immigrants came in the 1580s to the Carolinas long before the founding of the United States of America. It is believed that possibly hundreds of thousands of Protestant Irish immigrated in these early years. This is contrary to the urban myth of the Irish Catholic American origins (Meagher, 2009). The next big migration of Irish to America was in the 1700s to 1820s. These immigrants assimilated easily into the American way of life as most prospered at a rate that could not have been conceived in Ireland. “Nearly half of General Washington’s continental arm, including 1492 officers and 22 generals, were of Irish descent” (American Immigration law Foundation, 2001, p. 1). Even with the influx of Irish throughout early history of America, the peck of...
Words: 1191 - Pages: 5
