reading summery- South Africa's govrnment

The country of South Africa in probably one of the strongest in it's area, though it has suffered a lot before. South Africa wanted to control it's area, and it started by beginning to force other countries to do things. For example, South Africa used Sanctions, economic/political penalties imposed by a country on another a change in policy. South Africa became a democratic country. Nelson Mandela, it's most famous president, was elected in 1994. Later, South Africa began separation races through a process called 'Apartheid'. After they did that, many European countries banned trade with South Africa, and many other companies stopped investing in it. The sanctions isolated South Africa, but still, it still had it's good things in it. For example, the were groups in South Africa that protected rights of black Africans. Today, all races in South Africa have equal rights. South Africa still has an elected president, and a government that's trying to create better jobs and conditions for black workers and farmers. Though, some industries are still controlled by whites.
Lesotho and Swaziland were both extremely influenced by South Africa. Both countries are enclaves, a small territory surrounded by foreign territory. They are located IN South Africa. Swaziland shares it's border with Mozambique. Lesotho has very few resources or agricultural lands, though it has the highest literacy rate in Africa.

Swaziland, on the other hand, has a lot of resources, which helps trading with other foreign countries.

Namibia gained it's Independence from South Africa in 1990, not very long ago. It's capital, Windhoek, is located in the central highlands. Not many people live in the East and West of Namibia, because they are mostly deserts. Though these are the places with the richest mineral resources. Namibia gains most of it's money from mining for diamonds, copper, uranium, and zinc, and also fishing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Botswana has a lot of mineral resources and a stable government. It's main economic activities are cattle raising, and diamond mining. Many international companies build their factories there, and tourism increased. Botswana has the highest rate of economic growth since 1960.

Zimbabwe suffered from poor economy in the past years. The country was hurt by high inflantation, debts, and wars. There's a lot of inequality in Zimbabwe, where the white residents own most of the farmlands and ranches. In 2000, Zimbabwe began a new program to take land from the white residents, and give it to the black ones. This action proved not to work so well, because it caused the white people to leave the country which led to food shortages.

Mozambique is the world's poorest country. It's economy was badly damaged during and after the civil war. Mozambique grows cashews, cotton, and sugar for exports. It ships many products from the interior of Africa to the rest of the world. Mozambique's economy relies on foreign land.

Madagascar and the Comoros were ruled for more than 20 years by socialist dictation. Madagascar's president is working to improve the struggling economy in his country. Madagascar exports coffee, vanilla, sugar, and cloves for sale in foreign countries. Many tourists go there to see all the fantastic animals and plants.

The Comoros are made of 4 tiny islands. There are no resources and a lot of political instability. The Comoros want to promote education and tourism.

The area of South Africa suffers from a lot of poverty and draughts that destroy the crops or land. enviormental distractions, like floods destroying places, and rain are very common too, like in Madagascar. There are many unemployed people who live in the area, and many spreading diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Living In South Africa can sometimes be very troublesome, but people get through it and see the fuller half of the cup. Like the beautiful sceneries and the amazing people.

Africa news #3

http://allafrica.com/stories/200811140530.html

Namibia: Piracy Stifles Local Music Industry

Illegal digital copying, downloading or cloning is termed stealing and this is considered a crime.
This hi-tech crime is ethically wrong as illegally copying some one's music is just as good as stealing a compact disc (CD) from a record shop, and Namibian laws are firm on piracy. John Max, the chief executive officer of Nascam, the Society of Composers and Authors of Music, believes that the problem is with lax law enforcement. He thinks that if the government would be a little more strict, people wouldn't be doing this. Customs should prevent pirated music productions from being smuggled into the country while police officers are expected to ensure these goods are not sold once they have been smuggled into Namibia. This also applies to pirated goods produced locally. Piracy is a big problem in Namibia, and John Max is working is hardest to try to prevent it from continuing.

This is news because people living in Namibia, (and in the world,) need to know that piracy is bad, and that if people keep doing it, the artist is not going to earn any money and not get as recognized as now. It also made the newspaper because the police are trying to lower the number of people doing this, so they sent a message in the paper, which everybody reads, to make sure they got it.

imperialism cartoon

• The main visual elements in the cartoon is a black map of Africa with a big footprint in the middle of it.


• The cartoon is about all the people/countries who moved to Africa and took control of it. The continent is still suffereing from the mess that the European's left behind.


• I think that the cartoonis who drew the picture thought the same, since he drew it. The cartoon seems to say that Africa was no longer Africa, after all those people moved there and ruined it. That's where the big foot comes in. Foreigners practicaly changed Africa forever.

The Scramble for Africa

In Friday's game, we were playing as Great Britain, which at first we thought was an advantage because Great Britain was a really powerful country back then, and our only real competition was France. But when we started playing we were completely torn to pieces by the Netherlands. We got the advantage (or disadvantage) of starting first. One of the things we needed was to get the Suez canal and to find Iron, Petroleum, and Zinc. We started by first getting the Suez canal and marked some dots there. But by the second round the Netherlands wanted to negotiate and tricked us by getting some of our squares in exchange for theirs. Later they went to a 'war' with us and got their parts back, and after that they just kept attacking. But before that, we also checked our text books and found places where our resources were. We found iron, petroleum, but we didn't know were to find zinc. Still, we got most of our resources until the Netherlands came and crushed us.

I think that either France or the Netherlands won the game. They both got a lot of land and all of the resources that they needed. They conquered other countries and defeated European ones. They both had the most squares.

The teams that lost were Great Britain, (us : ) and Spain. Obviously Britain lost because we didn't get all of our resources and no access to the Suez canal. Spain lost because they didn't get ANY of the resources that they needed and also they were surrounded by all the other countries that could attack at any time they wanted.

Africa news #2

http://allafrica.com/stories/200811171365.html

Madagascar: Bracing for Storm Season

When winter hits Africa, Madagascar suffers the most. In Madagascar it's not a matter of if, but when. There, disasters are predictable: floods and cyclones happen every year. Cyclone season usually kicks off in December and runs through April, when storms hit some of the poorest regions of Indian Ocean Island. Around 70 percent of Madagascar's population lives on less than a dollar a day. Floods are also common and cause displacement of thousands of people every year throughout the island. Earlier in 2008 over 100 people died when Madagascar was hit by cyclones. The powerful winds, heavy rains and flooding affected over 340,000 people, of whom 190,000 lost their homes. 2007 was the worst year recorded for cyclones. While extreme weather events have always been part of Madagascar's history, the disaster management community is starting to take a new approach to them. Realizing the huge impact that natural hazards have had on development programmers, the focus has shifted from being reactive and limited to response and recovery after an event, to a more comprehensive approach centered on preparedness. Madagascar is starting to prepare for the hazards in big cities where a lot of people live.
This is news material because they want to tell people about the problems in Madagascar and also tell them of the country’s progress of trying to protect itself from the storms.

Africa news #1

http://allafrica.com/stories/200811130951.html

Africare Honors President George W. Bush at 2008 Africare Award Dinner

Every fall, more than 2,000 international, government and corporate leaders gather in Washington, DC, for what has become the largest annual event for Africa in the United States. Africare is a company that helps people who are suffering in Africa. They gather every year for a dinner where they award one person with Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award. On November 12 at the Hilton Washington Hotel, U.S president George W. Bush was awarded this year for creating partnerships with African governments, businesses and civil society organizations to promote economic growth. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has committed over 60 billion dollars to fight global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and more. The theme of the 2008 Bishop Walker Dinner was "Clean Water--Life's Lifeline." With 340 million Africans lacking access to safe drinking water and more than 497 million having no access to proper sanitation, the dinner highlighted the need for clean, safe water on the African continent and Africare's commitment to delivering safe water and improving sanitation conditions.

This is news material because, first, it refers to someone 'famous'. Well, obviously, the president of the U.S. is pretty famous. :]. And then it also refers to some great achievement that he made, and its also something that's happeneing right now, not two years ago..

Summery on Reading

Reading Summery

South Africa’s ancient history and later European settlement greatly influenced the region’s culture. One of the Bantu groups in the early history of South Africa called the Shona build an empire that was located in what is now most of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The Shona farmed, raised sheep and cows, and traded gold with different groups on the coast. When Great Zimbabwe was found in the late 1000s, it was a small trading and herding centre. Later, the population grew and farming and gold mining became more significant. With all those resources, it became the centre of a large trading network. In the 1400s the Portuguese explored parts of Africa on their way to trading with India. Other European’s arrived in later times. Dutch, French, and Germen settlers and their descendants in South Africa were called Afrikaners. Over time, a new language called Afrikaans evolved in Cape Colony. In the 1800s, Great Britain took over the area of the Cape. People called Boers, or Afrikaner farmers who spread out across the area of the Cape colony, resisted the British. People in Africa have hundreds of different tribes and ethnic groups, some of them really large, others extremely small. Because of the great variety of different groups, South Africans speak many other languages. In addition to the many languages, Africans also brought many religions.

South Africa Summary

Summary of South Africa

If you look out your window in South Africa, you will see truly amazing things. You can see whole, huge areas of grass, swamps, rivers, mountains, and plateaus. Most of South Africa sits on high plateaus. Parts of it reach more than 4,000 feet above the sea. An escarpment is the steep face at the edge of a plateau or other raised area. South Africa also has long, monstrous rivers. One river, called the Okavango, flows from Angola into a huge basin in Botswana. The river’s water never reaches the ocean. Africa also has different types of climates in each of its countries. The wettest place is Madagascar, while the driest is more to the western part of South Africa, close to the deserts. South Africa has many deserts, the most famous one being the Sahara. Another desert, called the Kalahari, takes up most of Botswana’s space. Although the desert gets enough rain in the North, it’s mostly just dry sand there. Old trails of ancient rivers have drained into low, flat areas, or pans. The minerals are left behind when the water evaporates from the pans. South Africa has so many resources. South Africa is full with huge forests that provide timber, while the region’s rivers supply the hydroelectricity and water for irrigation. Where it rains a lot, farmers can grow crops. But the region’s most valuable resources, however, are minerals. Mines in South Africa produce most of the World’s gold. In addition, South African, Botswana, and Namibia have productive diamond mines. Other mineral resources in South Africa are platinum, copper, uranium, coal, and iron ore.

TBAS [To be a Slave] can we trust?

Can we trust what Julius Lester says in his book, ‘To be a Slave’?

I think so. Julius used real resources. He talked to African Americans who used to be slaves and read letters from the library of congress. I think that that’s pretty reliable. I’m also sure that he travelled and got a lot of his info from the places he saw. The information he has in his book is accurate and reliable, as long as the people he spoke to and read their letters didn’t lie or exaggerated. When he wrote the book and talked to the ‘ex-slaves’ they talked to him about their experiences as slaves and he used some examples in his book. He actually wrote the whole book based on what they said, most of it is covered in letters and speeches.

5 Themes of Geography

The 5 themes of Geography are:

• Movement
• Region
• Human Environment interaction
• Location
• Place

In this picture-

1. Movement- In the picture you can obviously see the cars moving, and also maybe they were imported from some other country.Region- You can see that it’s in a developed country because of the really tall buildings. Then, if you look well enough, you will see that the ground is curved and looks like a bunch of little hills.
2. Human Environment Interaction- The roads are obviously an interaction because maybe they had to cut down trees or straighten the hill a little better to make it. And the buildings have the same reasons.
3. Location- Absolute, you can’t be sure, but relative; you can guess that it is in some street in San Francisco.
4. There are very tall buildings, it’s very sunny, the roads are curved and bumpy, there are many houses and in front of about every house there is a tree.
   

http://www.plan4preschool.org/documents/san-francisco-county.jpg

Violence leads to more violence

Violence leads to more violence

I agree with that sentence. I think that once you fight with one person and win, his friends would come back and fight you, and the cycle will go on forever, or at least for some time. Once some country starts a war with another country, the countries that are friends with one of the two countries will help them. And that, too, will continue forever. The examples in JC (Julius Caesar) for this statement are also the same. Caesar went and killed Pompey, and Pompey’s ‘friends’ (A.K.A Cassius, Casca, Cinna, etc’) are now planning how to get back at Caesar and in the end they actually kill him. I think that there is a moral here. Never get violent if you can’t afford the consequences. Caesar got violent and now he is dead. Brutus and Cassius stabbed Caesar and then killed themselves. Once you start a war, you have to be ready for whatever is going to come next.