User talk:HistoryMaster71

Hello I am historymaster71 I am 11 and live in Elgin Illinois I like chinese history, egyptian history, and hellinistic culture. I love the nations of Australia, the United Arab Emirates, hong kong, singapore, and taiwan. I could name any piece of information on any of these subjects off the top of my head. If you also like any of these subjects please just talk to me on user talk Thank you and have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 13:22, 6 June 2010 (UTC)historymaster71

Dubai
Hello to anyone who knows alot about dubai I love Dubai! it is amazing it's like the las vegas of the middle east it dwarfs new york when it comes to shopping the burj khalifa is taller then 2 empire state buildings! And everything is new! in fact Dubai is the world most multiethnic city in the world by percentage of population you could go to a street in Dubai and see a indian talking to a pakistini on their way to an italian restraunt owned by an Egyptian who's married to a british women. its a city where the impossible becomes possible. Dubai creates what everyone else would call "unrealistic" all in all Dubai is quickly becoming a world city. HistoryMaster71 (talk) 13:59, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Australia
Australia is a country and a continent!it is the only place besides north and south america where you can find marsupials! in fact north and south america only have oppusums australia has koalas kangaroos wombats and more. But it's not just Australias wildlife that makes it truly unique Australia has a rich and diverse culture and people. Ausralias first natives called aborignes probaly first came to Australia from Asia. Europeans from Spain the Netherlands and England saw Australia however none of these people permanently settled here in fact the first attempts of settlement came in the 1780's with captain James Cook of great Britain. Because of the thirteen colonies winning independence from britain England had to find a new place to send their convicts their choice Australia! in the years that followed Australia received thousands of free settlers called "squatters" a gold rush and independence in 1901. Australians would fight alongside the British in ww1 and fought against the Japanese in ww2 all in all Australia will advance on every stage in historys page.

[in case you didnt get the last part those are the ending lyrics of australias national anthem]

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 23:14, 6 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Taiwan
Taiwan is an amazing nation it is home to the worlds 2nd tallest building, a strong economy, and a rich and diverse history. Taiwans landscape is very mountinous and its climate is very hostile however Taiwan still has a diverse wildlife of formoson black bears, macaques, and formosan serows. Taiwan has an amazing history, Historians beleive that the first Taiwanese people were from southeast asia and the pacific islands. In the 15th century settlers from china started to settle in Taiwan and beetween the 14th and 16th centuries chinese and japanese pirates started establishing bases in Taiwan. The first europeans to arrive in Taiwan were the portugeese they were followed by the dutch in 1626 the spanish tried to move into Taiwan however they only won a few forts and eventually got kicked out of Taiwan, taiwan was conquered by the powerful manchu chinese and in 1895 were conquered by the japanese the japanese were unpopular in taiwan and eventually left Taiwan in 1945. When Mao zedong gained power in china the nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan and started the Republic of China [the official name of Taiwan] nowadays Taiwan is a devoloped nation with a strong economy. though china claims Taiwan as one of their provinces Taiwan is much more then that for they have accomplished something china never will and that is the freedom of the people.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 19:34, 24 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Singapore
Singapore is an amazing nation it has a great economy, a high standard of living, and a very multiethnic society. Singapores economy originally mainly depended on entrepot trade and some farming. But after singapore gained independence in 1965 the economy boomed because many cabinet ministries dealed with certain parts of the economy and since there is such low corruption in Singapore the economy was allowed to get to where it is today. the Modern day economy of Singapore is largely based on the service industry, transportation, finance, and manufacturing [you'd be suprised how many things are made in Singapore.] Singapore has a very diverse population 77% of the population is chinese 14% of the population are malays 8% are indian and the other 1% are mostly eurasian. The reason for the large multiethnic community in Singapore is because of all the oppurtunities for immigrants in Singapore. Singapores history is very interesting, the first inhabititants of Singapore were the malays but the island still remained mostly uninhabited until the island was used as a trading post by the chinese and indians, the first europeans to set foot on Singapore were the portugese in the 1500s in 1641 the portugese lost singapore [part of malacca at the time] to the dutch since the dutch had little interest in malacca the sultanate of johur was able to arise in the late 1600s. But soon a new power would dominate Singapore and that was the British they sent sir Thomas Stamford Raffles to find a base for the east india company so in 1819 raffles landed in Singapore raffles's most important decision was making free trade in other words there was no tax for goods that came or went out of Singapore. From 1819-1822 the population had increased to 10,000 and immigrants from southern china, malaysia, indonesia, india, arabia, armenia, and western europe had moved to Singapore to take advantage of the many jobs and better life in this British colony these people would be the core to singapores economic and political devolopment. over the next few years Singapore would grow even more economically and socially, during ww2 they would be occupied by Japan, and finnaly they would gain independence from Malaysia in 1965 [the Singaporeans gained independence from the British in 1945.] But there is history still to be made and i'm sure that if the singaporeans continue hitory will be made.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 12:24, 25 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Sydney
Sydney australia is an amazing city it has a diverse population, an exciting history, and a booming economy. Sydney was first settled by aborigines specificcaly by the eora people. The first europeans to come to sydney were the british with them came 11 ships, 1,030 people, and deadly european dieseases that would kill the aborigines.Early on the new colony struggled the supply ships didn't come and riots and unrest spilled across the city, however the city did grow especially under Governor William Bligh [you might know him from a mutiny on board H.M.S. bounty]over the years many free settlers started immagrating to sydney especcialy during the gold rush. Sydneys economy boomed due to britains need for raw materials and the gold rush, Sydney became fabulously rich. But Sydney was hardley hit by the great deppresion [the deppresion was the source of inspiration to write waltzing matilda Australias unofficial national anthem]also the infamous Sydney harbour bridge was completed during the deppresion. sydney is a very multiethnic city in fact 30% of "sydneysiders" were born overseas and 70% are a combination of 2 or more ethnic backgrounds most of the immigrants to sydney were originaly British and Irish but soon immigrants from Italy, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland immigrated to Sydney to take advantage of the economic, social, and political climate however modern day Sydney is filled with new immigrants who come from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka thanks to these people Sydney is a truly multiethnic city. Sydneys economy is very prosperous in fact sydneys economy represents over 8% of Australias total economy. The economy of Sydney is largely based on banking, tellocommunications, trade, tourism, and computer based industries these industries make Sydney able to compete on the world stage as an economic superpower. signs of the growing tourism industry can definantly be seen in darling harbour and the rocks which both used to be in industrial places but have been redovoloped into clean fun entertainment hubs. all in all Sydney is an amazing city a sure sign of what citys can accomplish.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 13:10, 26 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Hong Kong
Hong Kong is an amazing country it has a very interesting history and a booming economy. The history of Hong Kong started probaly around the fourth milleninum b.c. and excavations have showed us that the two neolithic cultures who lived in Hong Kong depended largely on the sea for survival. The first records of the chinese in Hong Kong date back to around the qin and han dynasties these records talk about people from Hong Kong called the yue occupying chinas southeastern coast. during the song dynasty many northern chinese moved to Hong Kong but Hong Kong still remained sparsely populated. The first europeans to arrive in Hong Kong were the British due to chinas strict guidlines on trading the British started selling opium to the chinese but due to the problems China was facing because of the opium trade China put a ban on the opium trade in 1799 so in order for the british merchants to get around the strict guidlines set up by the chinese they would have to establish their own trading center and when the opium wars started the British had their chance. In the early battles of the opium wars the british were losing and many soldiers had to leave china their place of refuge? you got it Hong Kong. when the british established their setlement in Hong Kong the area had 20 villages with a population of around 4,000 people. The new settlement of Hong Kong faced many problems when it first started out, crime was rampant there were typhoons and fever epidemics and the population rose dramaticly from 32,983 in 1851 to 878,947 in 1931 but amidst the many problems Hong Kong had starting out the colony would thrive one of the early milestones for Hong Kong was the rapid growth and devolopment of education, health, and social services. in 1938 when guangzhao fell to the japanese many refugees fled to Hong Kong. During ww2 Hong Kong would be under occupation by the japanese, when japan surrendered in 1945 Hong Kong was finnaly free again after many long years of occupation. By the end of 1947 the population of Hong Kong swelled to 1.8 million however due to the growing population caused in the 1950's because of the many refugees fleeing the communists in china the 1960's were filled with social unrest [much like the rest of the world at the time]. in 1999 Britain gave Hong Kong back to china and know Hong Kong is an independent nation with certain important decisions made by the Chinese government. Hong Kongs economy is very interesting they retained their economic system even though china administrates them now. One of the main reasons for Hong Kongs success is that there is no tariff on imports, another industry that makes Hong Kongs economy so successful is tourism in fact 28 million people visited Hong Kong in 2007 the service industry is another very important industry in Hong Kong. All in all Hong Kong is an amazing nation that has and will endure forever.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 12:54, 28 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates [UAE] is an amazing nation it is home to the worlds tallest building, the worlds largest man-made island, [The palm jumeirah] and the only man-made structure able to be seen from space [the jebal ali port- contrary to popular belief the great wall of China can not be seen from space.] The history of the UAE is also very interesting. One major settlement in the UAE grew up on the island of umm al-nar near Abu Dhabi it was very civislised in fact artifacts show us that the people their traded with places as far away as India and China. The UAE would change forever when in A.D. 630 a representitive of the prophet Muhammed came to the UAE and converted most of the population to the religion of Islam the Caliph that succeeded Muhammed Caliph Abu Bakr crushed a revolt against his rule in the town of Dibba in Fujairah and the Caliphs that succeeded Abu Bakr would use the port of Julfar in Ra's Al- Khaimah as a military post to stage their conquests of Iran and Oman Julfar also grew wealthy from the pearl trade. The first Europeans to arrive in the UAE were the Portuguese they took control of several towns in the UAE and imposed hefty taxes on the local leaders eventually the ruler of Persia grew tired of the Portuguese and allied himself with Great Britain and the Netherlands to drive out the Portuguese they succeeded and in return the ruler of Persia gave the Dutch and the British a cut of the money made in Persias ports though this spelled good news for Persia for the UAE this meant that now the Dutch and the British were trying to seize control of their nation. In the 1700's two powerful tribal groups the Bani Yas and the Qawasim joined together today most Emiratis are decended from one of these tribes. Most people from the Bani Yas tribe were farmers pearlers and herders while most of the Qawasim were traders. Eventually the Qawasim began attacking the British because of this the region began to be known as the pirate coast, eventually an all out war beetween th Qawasim and the British pursued, the war ended when the British had succeeded in taking the pirates headquarters and in 1820 forced the sheikhs of the UAE to sign an agreement in which the Qawasim had to stop piracy. This was just the first of many agreements that were signed beetween the British and the sheikhs for example in 1835 the sheikhs agreed to let the British stop any fighting beetween their peoples and in 1853 both sides agreed to a permanent end to hostilities beetween them with this agreement the pirate coast got a new name the Trucial Coast. At the begining of the 1900's most people in the Trucial Coast relied on pearling for income and employment but this all changed in the 1930's with the outbreak of the great deppresion and the creation of the synthetic pearl by Japanese scientists the UAE's economy was devestated and until the 1960's the Trucial Coast grew poorer and poorer. However the UAE's fortunes turned in 1958 when oil was discovered off the coast of Abu Dhabi beggining in 1966 [when Sheikh Zayed took control of Abu Dhabi] the emirate was full of mass public work programs and construction projects when oil was discovered in Dubai Sheikh Rashid launched a similar campaign. In 1968 the British announced that they would be leaving the Trucial Coast in 1971 the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE [not yet the UAE] decided to form a nation called the Federation Of Arab Emirates the Federation was never formed since Qatar and Bahrain dropped out. the 7 emirates were left alone and on December 2, 1971, the United Arab Emirates was formed two months later Ra's Al- Khaimah joined the UAE.The UAE has a booming economy. the economy of the UAE can best be seen through Dubai this Emirate has diversified its economy so much that now only 6% of its GDP is made up of oil and petrochemicals. Dubai is a nonstop construction site home to the most glamourous malls skyscrapers and mass real estate devolopments. Dubai is home to giant free trade zones factories and airports in fact 7 million tourists visit Dubai each year. though dubai represents the UAE's economy the best, Abu Dhabi probaly represents the history of the emirates the best, Sharjah represents the UAE's values the best, Fujairah represents the wildlife of the UAE the best, Ajman and Umm Al- Qaiwain represent the hard working spirit of the Emirates, and Ra's Al-Khaimah represents the early lifestyle of the Emirates. All in all the Emirates working together to take a third world country and turn it into a first class devoloped nation in less then 30 years has truly made the United Arab Emirates the UNITED Arab Emirates.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 16:41, 30 June 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Alexander The Great
people some times ask what makes a great leader? is it his virtues his bravery his strength on the battlefield? My answer is all of the above and know leader best describes these traits in his actions then Alexander The Great. Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Pella Macedon to Olympias and King Philip II. Alexander had a very pleasent childhood his teacher was Aristotle, from Aristotle Alexander learned alot about science, botany, history, zoology , politics, and ethics. Thanks to Aristotles teachings Alexander was able to become a great king. When Alexander was 12 a horse trader offered a horse for the enourmous sum of 13 silver talents to King Philip, Philip refused but Alexander not wanting to give up this magnificent horse intervened noticing that the horse was afraid of his shadow gently turned the horse away from the sun the horse gradually calmed down and Alexander jumped on top of the horse and rode him, and from then on Alexander and only Alexander could and would ride Bucephalas. When Alexander was 16 years old he was made regent of Macedon while Philip was away, while Alexander was regent he organized his own army to attack and defeat the Maedi [after Alexander defeated the Maedi he created the first of many cities named after him Alexandroupolis.] When Philip was 46 years old he was assasinated by one of his bodyguards, Pausanias, many people beleive that Olympius was behind the plot while others beleive that Alexander was behind the plot Whoever did organize the plot to kill Philip it left a significant impact on history for know Alexander The Great was king of Macedon. In spring 334 B.C. Alexander crossed the hellespont and entered turkey the first main battle between the Macedonians and the Persians took place at the river Granicus [Alexander won] after a few other encounters with the Persians in Turkey [and untying the Gordian knot which according to legend whoever unties it will become lord of Asia - Alexander  actually cut the knot in half with a sword but he still became lord of Asia] Alexander marched down the Agean coast being welcomed as a liberatator as he went, Alexanders second major battle against the Persians took place at Issus [Alexander won] then Alexander marched to Tyre an island city in Phoenicia, Tyre would not be as easy as some of his other battles. Alexander had to build a causeway to the island but the Tyrians burnt it down so Alexander built another causeway and after 7 months he won, and slaugtered the citys inhabitants for resisting him so fiercely. When Alexander went to Egypt he was welcomed as a liberator in fact he was even crowned Pharaoh, then Alexander decided to build a new city on the medditeranean called Alexandria, Alexander then visited the siwah oasis to consult the oracle of Amun to see if he was the divine son of Zeus-Amun, when Alexander left Egypt he had the utmost confidance that he was a god. In Iraq Alexander faced the Persians at the battle of Guagamela though vastly outnumbered Alexander won the battle and Darius fled the battlefield. Alexander marched through persia acquiring vast riches and power however the greatest treausure trove of them all was in Perseopilis hence why when Alexander reached Perseoplis he allowed his men to loot everything there except for the palace treasury that was reserved for him. then after staying for a few months in Perseopilis Alexander burnt the palace to the ground [probaly an act of revenge for the Persians burning athens.] Alexander travelled 450 miles trying to hunt down Darius when he finnaly found him he was dead killed by a distant relative named Bessus over the next 3 years Alexander pursued Bessus and put down rebbelions in Bactria in 329 B.C. Alexander captured and killed Bessus in Samarkand Uzbekistan, also around this time Alexander started behaving like a Persian emporor he adopted Persian customs and Persian dress this made his men very mad. Alexanders next conquest was India however his men hated India the monsoons the snakes, the heat, the fiersome war elaphents eventually after a few amazing victories Alexander was forced to go back home [while in India Bucephalas died in his honor Alexader named a city after him, Bucephala] Alexanders return from India was harsh many men died as they crossed the Gedrosian dessert.finnaly when Alexander made it to Babylon he only lived a few more months before he died of malaria. it is known that Alexander was planning an invasion of Arabia, Carthage, Iberia, and Italy before he died but none of his plans were carried out because all of the diadochi [or succesors, they were Alexanders generals] were fighting over his territory. But Alexanders legacy still lives on for his conquest showed us that people can put past differences behind them to create a truly great empire and that is why Alexander The Great is truly Alexander The GREAT

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 14:53, 4 July 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Ancient China
Chinese history is very interesting and very old but as any distinguished historian would say "the older the better" and in the case of Chinese history this is true. China is the oldest continuous civislization in the world it was divided into 13 dynasties of the 13 dynasties only two of the chinese dynasties were founded by outsiders these were the yuan dynsty founded by the mongols and the Qing dynasty founded by the Manchus. The Shang dynasty lasted from 1650 to 1027 B.C. during this period feudal kings controlled their people harshly and used them as slave laborers, there were however some good things about the Shang dynasty for example many chinese traditions were hatched during this time like ancestor worship and the practice of burying people with all their earthly possesions. The Zhou dynasty [1027-256 B.C.] is most famous for being the birthplace of one of the greatest philosophers of all time Confucius, confucius's teachings are based on kindness, respect, and the strength of the family Confucius also said that a great leader must be kind to his subjects and in return subjects should respect and obey their ruler, and although the Zhou dynasty was filled with political turmoil and war it was a sort of golden age in philosophy because of Confucias. In 481 B.C. China split into 7 different warring states during this period of chinese history battles became even more massive and innovations in weopondry and battle tactics gave rise to a higher death toll.Also during this period Sun Tzu wrote the art of war which has been read by just about every great military leader of all time it teaches many great military strategies such as waiting for your opponent to strike, and also how to use your enemys weaknesses against them. The Qin dynasty [221-207 B.C.] was founded by Emporor Zheng who changed his name to Qin Shi Huangdi which means sovereign Qin Emporor to show that he had total control over all his subjects[china gets its name from QIN Shi Huangdi] Qin's reing was harsh and he was a cruel leader who used his subjects as slave laborors to build the great wall of china he killed all scholers and burnt all books in China except for books on agriculture, medicine, and oracles, but Qin Shi Huangdi did accomplish one good thing for China and that was unity. The Han dynasty [207 B.C.-A.D. 220] was founded by Gaozu a uneducated peasent who led an army of peasents to overthrow the Qin dynasty in 207 B.C. and although uneducated the Emporor realized that he needed educated administrators to help him run his empire so he gathered together an imperial civil service to help him run his empire,the civil service examination test was very hard and the curriculum barely ever changed, but if you did pass the examination you had just entered the best job in china and if you are lucky enough to be a civil servant on the national level you might just be able to enter the forbidden city [that is after you become a senior official [if you become a senior official] during the Han dynasty and other dynasties some of the worlds greatest inventions were invented in China including the compass, the rudder, gunpowder, printing, land mines, the wheelbarrow, porcalein, silk, the horse harness, the umbrella, kites, clocks, papermoney, and earthquake detectors. The Chinese religion was divided into "the three ways" Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. although there were differences in the way these religions taught chinese people were rarely persecuted for their beleifs which makes ancient china unique among other civilisations, Daoism taught that people should live in harmony with nature Daoism is probaly most recognisable by the ying-yang symbol,while Bhuddist teachings say that one must stride their entire life to reach spiritual enlightment, Bhuddism originated in India while Confucianism originated in China as did Daoism. Chinese are probaly most famous for their innovation in medicine from their wide use of herbs and acupuncture to their teachings of having a balanced diet the chinese used medicine that was ahead of their time such as sheng ma which was used to treat the common cold and works similarily to medicines that treat the common cold today certainly medical innovation is a great thing and the Chinese were full of it. Ancient Chinese city were vast suprisingly clean urban metropilis's in fact Chinese citys were built on grid patterns and had a very advanced police and trash cleanup system chinese citys were also big centers of commerce and trade where merchants from around the empire would meet to sell there wares. Chinese homes were typically divided into different sections by courtyards the rooms along the outer courtyard were used to house guests and often had a library while the inner courtyard was reserved for  the family the number of courtyards you had symbolised how wealthy you were. Chinese cuisene is renowned worldwide for its taste and the Ancient Chinese sure knew how to cook the spices and recipes the ancient chinese used are still used today and you could say there is a bit of Ancient China in all of us when we eat chinese food. Chinese silk is some of the most prized cloth in the world and along time ago it was worth its weight in gold [litterly!] and so this gave birth to the silk road a long trail that went from northern china across asia and it wasn't just silk they were trading the chinese traded spices,porcelain, tea, and lacquerware along the silk road, in fact you could say that the silk road was the worlds first super highway and world trade revolved around the road for well over 100 years. The chinese were also great navigators for while the chinese were off making a fortune on the silk road they were also hiring sailors and captains and navigators to go to foreign countries and make the natives there pay tribute to china and show off chinas prestige and power so between 1405 and 1433 Zheng He a chinese Admiral sailed to Java, Sumatra, Mallaca, Sri lanka, India, Arabia, and Africa, Zheng He visited these places with a great fleet of 317 ships manned by 27,870 men from Zheng He's voyages people from as far away as Egypt sent ambassadors to china and remembered the day that the giant fleet of humongous ships visited their shores. But sadly all empires must come to an end and after years of internal struggle and foreign nations interfering with chinese affairs china became a republic in 1912. however Ancient China has left its mark on history for the chinese compassion for their people respect for science innovation and overall accomplishment have left their mark on history and even today there are traces of the once magnificent chinese civilisation in just about every daily activity we do today.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 15:16, 13 July 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Ancient Greece
The ancient Greek culture was very unique and interesting even today many words in the English language are decended from Greek words and the olympic games that we enjoy so much today were first held in ancient Greece almost 3,000 years ago but their are many more great things the greeks gave to us and gave the world. The first greeks were stone age people who wandered from place to place looking for food but eventually settled down and started to farm gradually these farms turned into villages, the most important change for the early greeks was when they learned how to make bronze this innovation not only changed Greek society it changed the entire world. over time the use of bronze became more widespread and whoever controlled the trade routes became super rich so the villages turned into walled towns with the rich merchants as their leaders a good example of this is crete and the Minoan civilisation the minoans had a thriving economy based on trade they traded whith Egypt and other Medditearanean nations, the Minoans built giant palaces for their rulers [the upper class] such as Knossos [the labyrinth in the story of the minotaur may have been based on Knossos's hallways] we do not know much about the Minoans religious beleifs but they may have sacrificed children and they probaly regarded bulls sacred. The Minoans also devoloped a form of writing called linear A which was made up of signs and pictures but sadly no one has ever deciphered these scripts, the Minoan civilisation came to an end in 1450 B.C. because of a series of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. And so a new group of people were to inherit the crown of Greece and that was the Mycenaeans, the Mycenaeans lived on mainland greece and just like the Minoans they built giant palaces in which the nobles lived and the towns in which everyone else lived surrounded these palaces also like the Minoans the Mycenaeans were active traders an had a flourishing economy, the Mycenaeans adopted the Minoan writing system and called it linear B but sadly even with all these great accomplishments the Mycenaean civilisation ended in the 13th century B.C. after the Mycenaean civilisation ended Greece fell into a period known as the "dark age" during that time the Greeks lost the art of writing,trade decreased, and many traditional skills died out but one good thing did come out of the dark age the replacement of bronze by iron starting the iron age. Finnaly in the 9th century B.C. greece started to recover from the dark age trade increased and the first greek temples were built it was also during this time period when the greek city states began to emerge during this time many greek citizens sailed the meditearanean setting up greek colonies as they went this opened up hundreds of new trading links and opurtunities for the greek people now greek culture and the greeks way of life had been spread to france, spain, sicily, italy, cyprus, north africa, turkey, and the lands around the black sea, but even with all the busy accomplishments and innovations the greeks of that day were experiencing they still had time to look back at the days of their ancestors when epic Achilles won victory over the Trojans and when Jason and the Argounats went searching for the golden fleece no man told these storys better than Homer though blind homer still could emphasize dramatic scenes so well that if he were alive today he would probaly win the title of best story teller in Greece, the age after the dark age was hectic, exciting, dynamic, amazing, and spectacular it saw a rise in trade population and culture. The Greeks were very religious people they beleived in many gods that controled every aspect of everyday life the greeks also beleived in the existance of demi-gods, here are a few examples of famous "demi-gods" Hercules, Theseus, Jason, and many more, another important thing in greek religion was rituals and ceromonies many of these rituals where very strange such as "scapegoating" in "scapegoating" one person is chosen to take the ills of the community then the man was cursed and thrown out of the community this was hoped to avert any ill fate the community was or might be having but there were also regular religious ceremonies such as sacrifising animals and praying to the gods. The Olympic Games are a good example of Greek religion affecting everyday lives they began in 776 B.C. in Olympia as a festival to hounour Zeus since then the Olympics were held every four years the Olympic events took place over a period of 5 days some of the events where the stadion, [short sprint] the pentathalon [discus throwing, javelin throwing, jumping, running, and wrestling all combined] the chariot race, [this was the oldest and opening sport] pankration, [a combination of boxing and wrestling except that the only rules were no biting and no eye gouging] the Hoplite Race, [a race specially for soldiers where they ran in full armor] and boxing. Athens was the largest and most powerful of the Greek city - states it was the center for Greek culture, art, drama, history, and philosophy Athens only rival was backward barbaric warlike Sparta who was still ruled by kings but Athens they were a democracy and I think that this is the most powerful thing the Greeks gave us the gift of democracy the building block of nations of revelutions and leaders the freedom of speech and the citizens participation in the government and it all started a long time ago in Athens Greece. but it took a while for Athens to get to the democratic city it would be for so many years for example one leader Draco [snake in Greek] imposed such harsh penelties on crimes that it was said that his laws were written in blood not ink even today the word "draconian" is somestimes used to describe a harsh or unfair law, finnaly a great leader came to Athens, Solon, Solon put Athens on a path to democracy he gave food to the poor, canceled the debts of poverty stricken farmers, and devised a constitution that made wealth not birth  the qualifacation for public office he also allowed all citizens accused of a crime to appeal to a court of justice another ruler Peisistratus was a very wise and fair ruler he introduced the first coins to Athens from Lydia and built the Acropolis Athens became the rich and magnificent city it is today under Peisistratus he also built the agora a gymnasium and created a drama competition. But the great years of peace and wealth for Greece did not last long for now someone else had inherited the crown of most powerful nation in the world and that was Persia and Persia wasn't content with just Asia no they wanted Greece, originally the war started when Athens and Eretria answered the calls of help from a Greek colony in Turkey that had been conquered by the Persians they lost against the Persians and now Darius wanted to punish the Greeks for interfering with his conquests so Sparta always being the war type created the Peloponnesian league to defend Greece this was the first time Greece had ever been united and they were ready to face the enemy, the day finnaly came in 490 B.C. the Athenians were vastly outnumbered so they sent a messanger to Sparta to get reinforcements but the Spartans were holding a religous festival and refused to fight so even though vastly outnumbered the Athenians won the battle of the Marathon the messenger who was sent to Athens to tell them of the victorys run gave way to the name of our modern day marathon. Darius died before he could conquer greece so his son Xerxes took over Xerxes had a great plan he made a bridge out of ships and crossed the Hellespont eventually the Greeks and Persians met at Thermopylae during this battle the Greeks lost but the Spartans fought heroically to the last man standing even today there is a monument honouring these brave men who fought and died for their nation, the Persians advanced southwards and the Athenians evacuated their city it was a smart decision for when the Persians entered Athens there was nothing there, the Persians burnt all the public and religous buildings of Athens to the ground. The next major battle in the Persian war happened at sea where the Athenians had the advantage and so the Greeks won a major victory against the Persians at Salamis eventually the war ended at the battle of plataea with a Greek victory. After the Persian war Greece and mostly Athens ascended into a golden age of prosperity and freedom,for now there was a Athenian Empire created by the Delian league which made sure that Athens had a sort of hierarchy over all other member citys. One of the advancements of Athens during the golden age were the theater plays they were made better and many more plays were written during this time the Parthenon was also built to replace the burnt down acropilis at this time. The daily life of Athenians differed greatly for example farmers diets were very simple while the aristocrats of Athens ate giant meals consisting of just about every food found in greece, farmers tended to live in simple cottages while the people who lived in the city of Athens lived in courtyarded houses but otherwise there weren't many differences beetween the people of Athens [male Athenian citizens that is] another advancement duing the golden age and throughout Greek history was philosophy some famous Greek philosephers were Socrates[taught about moral values and behavior] sadly Socrates was sentenced to death because his ideas were "dangerous" however Socrates poisened himself before he could be killed, plato [taught about law, society, wrote alot, hated democracy,], and Aristotle [taught about nature, logic, taught Alexander The Great]. But the golden age did not last forever and war started in 431 B.C. when sparta declared war on the to dangerous and to powerful "Athenian Empire", during the many years of war Athens became a refugee camp of Thousands of people which meant that since they didn't have housing for these people a deadly plauge that almost destroyed te entire city broke out finnaly Sparta and Athens made a Truce but it wouldn't last long because the Athenians made a disastaurous mistake it had to do with Sicily, Segesta  an ally of Athens wanted Athens to help them against their larger neighbor Syracuse so Athens sent a fleet of ships to Sicily however Athens underestimated the power of syracuses navy and over half of the Athenian navy was destroyed, this was a major blow to Athens but the last blow came when the Spartans joined forces with the Persians and with the Persians at their side the Spartans built a large navy finnaly after a naval blockade on Athens the spartans won the Peloponnesian war however Spartas supremacy did not last long for the alliance beetween them and Persia collapsed and Athens and Thebes joined a new Persian alliance to defeat Sparta but Persia withdrew from the alliance after they noticed that Athens was building up their own navy, eventually Thebes won the dominant posistion they did not keep that posistion for long though. a new enemy had arisen from a place no one ever thought would have any power Macedonia to the Greeks Macedonia was a backward barbaric uncultured nation whose Greek was so terrible you couldn't even tell it was Greek but Macedonia had changed a great king, Philip had united Macedonia under his rule he created a advanced military and he did all this at the best time the Greeks were to busy fighting each other that they didn't realize that Macedonia was becoming a force to be reckoned with and eventually Philip would conquer all of Greece and unite it under the Hellinic league Philip however was assasinated and so it was his son Alexanders job to spread Greek culture around the world and that is exactly what Alexander did starting the Hellinistic age the last age in Ancient Greece. Ancient Greeces legacy still lives in us today for the things the Greeks gave us remind us every day of the great Greeks who lived thousands of years ago but left legacys in the things they accomplished that will live with us forever.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 16:03, 16 July 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Ancient Egypt
What do you think of when someone says ancient Egypt? do you think of the pyraminds? or maybe youre like Herodotus the ancient greek traveler and historian who beleived Egypt was the gift of the Nile river? or maybe youre like me and when the word ancient Egypt pops up you think of an old and powerful culture with many gods and a supreme all powerful leader you think of a civilisation that was once the most powerful in the world you think of a rich and diverse culture with arts and philosophy advanced for their time, and to sum it all up ancient Egypt was the rich and powerful daughter of the nile. Early Egyptian history probaly began when people from southern Africa migrated north to find more fertile land and ended up settling in Egypt eventually powerful chiefs would start calling themselves gods [hence the orgin of the Pharoh] so rivalry and tensions grew beetween the different people of Egypt and Egypt became divided into upper and lower Egypt. Then around 2686 B.C. the rulers of upper and lower Egypt united each other this began an era of peace and prosperity known as the 3rd dynasty, it is unknown who founded the 3rd dynasty some people beleive it was Djoser othes beleive it was Nebka or Sanakht whoever it was they would have had to have been a great diplomat, of course the Phaoroah Djoser could have easily united Egypt for he gave Egypt argualaby the most important monument Egypt would ever have the first Pyramind thats right the infamous Djosers step pyramind though not as grand or large as future pyraminds it began an era the era of the pyraminds. Many people however fail to realize that Djoser just gave the orders Imhotep the royal architect carried them out Imhotep selected a rocky plateau at Saqqara for the pyramind it was an amazing feat that took approximently 850,000 tons of stone and many many men to build Imhotep was truly an amazing man. The next great pyramind builder was Snefru not only did he order the construction of the southern and northern pyraminds at Dashur he also finished the Hunis pyramind at Meidum- this was the first true pyramind, he also strengthened trade beetwen Egypt and Phoenicia and Byblos Snefru made egypt a rich nation from the many trading expeditions he sent to foreign countries but he also made Egypt a powerful nation from his campaigns in Nubia and Libya and by subduing tribes in the Sinai peninsula now many scholers refer to Snefrus reign as the golden age of Egypt and his great kindness wisdom and love for his people earned him the nickname "the beneficent king" Snefru truly was an example of the great and powerful Egyptian civilisation. however no man reflects the name of a Pyramind builder better then king khufu he ordered the building of the pyraminds at Giza however this magnificent monument came at a price 100,000 Egyptians enslaved forced to work on the pyraminds these people were replaced every 3 months with new slaves Egyptian slaves Khufus own people forced to work with no pay on his tomb, Khufu surely was not like his father who seeked to better Egypt no Khufu only wanted to build the most magnificent tomb but he did keep Egypt unified and like his father sent expeditions into Nubia to conquer it and maintained control of the valuble silver mines in Sinai so though he had many faults Khufu still kept Egypt alive by keeping control of the rich, splendid, powerful, large empire that his father and Pharohs before him had created. one of the most unknown but very important Egyptian monarch was Pepi II he is the longest reigning monarch in Human history he reigned 94 years and during his Reign he sent trading expeditions into Nubia the Punt  also he kept the massive Egyptian economy stable and repressed revolts Pepi also had two viziers one for upper Egypt and one for lower Egypt. Eventually the 1st dynasty ended and Pepis succescors were given a kingdom in ruins destroyed by political turmoil and rebelion this period is now reffered to as the first intermediate period, eventually however Egypt was unified under the middle kingdom and was ruled by Nebhepetre Mentuhotep. Nebhepetre unified upper and lower Egypt restored Egypt to its former glory and started the middle kingdom Nebhepetre also sent military expeditions into Libya Nubia and sinai, annexed northern Nubia, reopened the trade routes from Egypt to Nubia, and restored Egypts power, wealth, dignity, culture, and religion all in all this saying best sums up Nebhepetres reign "behold, no one can take his possesions from him". One of Nebhepetres succesors Senwosret made a large navy to subdue several Asian nations he also fought to gain control of Libyan oasis's [he succeded in both of these campaigns] Senwosret also maintained diplomatic and economic relations with some Asian nations and built cataracts on the nile river also he built forts in Nubia and oversaw a massive building program which included the construction of massive Obelisks and large temples. during this dynasty Egypt had no enemies trade was booming art and architecture flourished the agricultural regions produced enough food and people were generally happy, but sadly the good times came to an end and after Amenemhet IIIs reign the second intermediate period began alliances shifted viziers and governors gained more and more power wars were fought and eventually foreigners took advantage of the situation asians called Hyksos conquered Egypt it is no suprise that Asians conquered Egypt for they had been gradully moving into Egypt for many years some were prisoners of war while others were immigrant workers looking for jobs, when the Hyksos invaded Egypt they did not impose their customs on the Egyptians and instead adopted Egyptian culture, Egypt however  would be united  and the mighty Egyptians would rise once more. Hatshepsut was one of the first major Egyptian rulers after the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt she re - established trade contact with the Punt and built many giant temples, restored many old temples and had four giant obelisks erected at Karnak. But the greatest Pharoh of this time is most likely Thutmose III Thutmose planned to invade Kadesh in asia for many nations had been mobilizing and planning an attack on egypt so Thutmose had to make sure these people knew who was boss, Thutmose set off on the 1st of his 17 military campaigns against Syria-Palestine he layed siege to Jopppa and other important cities such as Tyre,Thutmose was a great military leader who used his military innovations tactical skill and brilliant knowledge of his surroundings and applyed them on the battlefield, he conquered all of palestine all of syria extended Egyptian rule to the Euphrates he defeated the Mittanians founded a new Egyptian empire conquered Nubia and extended Egyptian control all the way to the fourth cataract he repaired and made many temples he filled Egypts treasury with gifts and tribute from around the world and encouraged trade expedition sadly however Thutmoses and Hatshepsuts new Egyptian Empire ended but it did not end for the worst because the new dynasty the 18th dynasty would be a golden age in Egyptian history. Amenhotep III was about 12 years old when he became Pharoh during his succesful reign he crushed a revolt in the Kush promoted international trade, maintained foreign diplomatic relations with other countries, built giant temples, sphinxes, and a very large palace complex, this saying probaly sums up Amenhoteps reign the best "The leader of his soldiers the first of millions". Pharoh Akenhaten was a strange leader he changed Egypts religion and made everyone worship the Aten or sun disk instead of the traditional worship of osiris, ra, and others, he also changed his name from Amenhotep meaning "Amun is satisfied" to Akhenaten meaning "he who is benificial for the Aten" Egypts economy began to suffer because of Akhenatens focus on religion and nothing else many priests went out of work and many temples were abandoned ,when Akhenhatens reign ended a decree went out it said that all statues of Akhenhaten must be destroyed and that all releifs inscriptions and statuary of Aten and Akhenhaten must be destroyed. Perhaps the most recognizable Pharoh in Egyptian history is Tutankhamun this famous Pharoah became leader of Egypt when he was 8 years old and though young Tutankhamun was a great leader for he promoted international trade which his father Akenhaten neglected he also moved the capital from Akhetaten back to Thebes [for religous purposes]and rebuilt many temples that had been neglected under his fathers reign, Tutankhamun also re-hired the priests and allowed the worship of the old Egyptian gods, sadly Tutankhamun died from unknown reasons when he was 18 however he will always live on as the boy king who ruled Egypt. eventually the great golden age of these Pharohs would come to an end for a period of unrest was soon to follow this signaled the end of a golden age these interal conflicts and struggles for power weakened as powerful priests began to gain power and as wars outside of Egypts borders forced many people to leave their lands many of these refugees fled to Egypt to seek refuge while other refugees such as people from Nubia and Libya looked to Egypt not as a place of refuge but as a place to conquer sadly for the Egyptians the people who they had for centuries enslaved, subdued, and conquered, the Nubians, now wanted to conquer and enslave the Egyptians and this they did but not for long for the Egyptians always drove out foreign invaders and it wouldn't be long till the Egyptians drove the Nubians out of their borders. Seti I was perhaps the greatest Pharoh of the new kingdom for he reconquered Syria-Palestine [lands that had been lost under Akhenaten] he also conquered the Sinai peninsula and fought the Hittites Seti attacked Libya and sent military campaigns into Nubia and the Kush but Setis brilliant acheivement didn't stop there for not only was he a military genius he also was a genius when it came to architecture, he innaugerated a massive building program which included the construction and reperation of many Temples but an even greater pharoh would come during this age and that was Ramesses III. Ramesses began his brilliant military career when a messenger told him that the Libyans were advancing into Egypts borders so Ramesses prepared his troops he trained and supplied his troops well and now Ramesses was ready to fight and when the battle day finnaly came the Egyptians won by a landslide against the libyans however Ramesses did not have a long time to celebrate because Asian invaders who were fleeing invasions in their homelands were heading to Egypt not to seek refuge but to seak land, one of the most infamous invading groups were the sea peoples at first Ramesses conquered the sea peoples land forces valiently and bravely and then turned his attention to the sea Ramesses won a great naval victory at sea against the sea peoples and established a 6 year peace, however the good times came to an end when the libyans attacked a Egyptian garrison, Ramesses quickly mobilized his troops and fought back obviously winning against the Libyan troops, after this years of peace acsended onto Egypt however the Egyptians would eventually be conquered by the Persians then the Macedonians and then the Romans. But Egyptian civilisation still lives on as mummy movies make millions at the box office and schoolchildren are taught of the mass accomplishments of the Pharohs the Egyptian legacy lives on as the home to the only ancient wonder of the world still standing the pyraminds of Giza its legacy also lives on as every major mueseum has an Egyptian exhibit people even today marvel at the great buildings erected by the pharohs, but it was ordinary farmers, merchants, craftsman, men women and children, not the Pharohs who made Egypt the great civilisation that it is remembered by today.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 21:00, 27 July 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

Julius Caesar
When someone mentions the Roman republic what immidiatly pops into your mind? Do you think of the Punic wars, maybe Scipio Africanus, or do you think of the wise and brave man Julius Caesar who made Rome the great empire we read and learn about today. when Caesar was born in 100 B.C he was named Gaius Julius Caesar, he was born into nobility and so had a better chance in life and since his parents were one of the groups of families who had lived in Rome since it was founded he had a much better chance in politics as well. Caesars childhood was probaly spent the same way as any Roman aristocrat child would spend their childhood he probaly played with carved animals, rocking horses, balls, marbles,and many board games however the fun carefree days of childhood would end soon for Caesar had to go to school. Julius started school when he was either six or seven his tutor was a man named Marcus Antonius Gnipho he was from Gaul [modern day france] but had been raised in Greece with Gniphos help Julius became a great public speaker. when Gaius turned 16 he was officialy a man, However he had to take on the role as man of the house also for Julius's father Gaius had died. Caesar would soon have his own family for when he was 17 he married the 13 year old cornelia she was the daughter of the most powerful senator in Rome at the time, and after a few years cornelia and Julius had their first child Julius's daughter julia. During this time there two different political "parties" in the senate these were the Populares who favored giving more power to the common people, while the other political "party" the Optimates wanted the senators to stay in control, when Julius entered the senate he joined the Populares because his late uncle Marius had led the "party" before his death, once Marius had died Caesars father- in - law Cinna became the leader of the Populares [Cinna was actuuly dead when caesar went into the senate], however with all these good connections came many bad connections as well for example Cinnas lifelong enemy Sulla was the leader of the Optimates and when his enemy Cinna died he became Dictator of Rome Sulla knew that Caesar could be pottentialy useful and so he told him to divorce his wife to cut off all connections he had with Cinnas family Caesar however refused and left Rome for he was know the hated enemy of the most powerful man in Rome. when Julius left Rome some of his friends arranged for him to join the staff of Marcus Minucius Thermus who was the governor of Asia Minor [modern day Turkey] soon after Caesar arrived in Asia Minor he was given an important Diplomatic assingment Marcus Minucius was engaged in a war against a man named Mithridates, the King of Pontus he had been stirring up trouble all over the place including the island of Lesbos where he encouraged the people there to rebel against there Roman overlords, to put down this rebbelion Marcus needed an important ally to help him this man would be Nicomedes the king of Bithynia so Marcus sent Caesar to tell the king that it was time to send his fleet that he had promised to send to Marcus to asia minor. The mission was a complete success and Julius became great friends with King Nicomedes and governor Marcus, Caesar also had his first real taste of combat at this naval battle and became a sort of war hero. Caesar had many foreign adventures at this time including getting captured by pirates when he was captured he teased and joked around with the pirates telling them that he would return and crucify all of them sure enough Caesar stuck to his promise and after he was set free he hunted the pirates down and crucified them. finnaly in 78 B.C word came to Caesar that his former enemy Sulla had died And so Julius returned to Rome a young 22 year old ready to expand his power, he started out in the courts his skill for public speaking made him one of the best lawyers in Rome, he tried many of Sullas old followers for corruption and by doing so became a hero to the poor and oppressed people of the roman republic they hailed Caesar as a friend of the poor, Julius went back to Asia minor to attack King Mithridates once more, and served as assistant governor to Spain. In 65 B.C. Caesar Became the official in charge of public entertainment he threw lavish shows and became very very popular because of them, finnaly in 60 B.C. at the age of 40 Julius was elected to serve as consul and he made sure that he would be a powerful consul by having two very powerful allies to support him pompey and crassus [crassus was the richest man in the entire Roman republic.] after Caesar finished his year long term as consul the senate made him the military Governor of southern Gaul Julius had 20,000 loyal soldiers to protect his province and he used them to fight back against the many tribes who hated Rome he used diplomacy ,military tactic, superior weapons and sheer numbers to win battles, it was truly in Gaul more than any place else that the military genius we know today as Gaius Julius Caesar was born. While in Gaul Julius also found time to cross the English channel twice to try to conquer Britain however the Brits fought so well that Julius turned back to Gaul and never came back, While Caesar was in Gaul Rome was being torn apart by conspiracies against the government, riots, and many politicians were being murdered by political opponents and to add it all up Rome was on the merge of a power grabbing civil war Pompey versus Caesar the Optimates joined Pompey while the Populares joined Caesar finnaly on the night of January 10, 49 B.C Caesars army crossed the Rubicon river and entered Rome prety soon Pompey and his supporters fled Italy, so Caesar set off to fight Pompey and finnaly after 18 months of civil war Pompey was killed, but not by Caesar no he was killed by Ptolemy XIII the 14 year old ruler of Egypt eventually Julius found out and went to Egypt, now at the time Egypt was ruled by the Macedonian Ptolomys Alexandria their capital was a sort of east meets west kind of city it had amazing egyptian and greek architecture and a multiethnic people, however the cultural acheivement of the Ptolmys wasn't the only thing that caught Caesars attention, Ptolmys 21 year old sister Cleopatra caught Caesars eye and in 47 B.C. she gave birth to his son , when Alexander left Egypt he sailed to Asia Minor to fight against King Pharnaces II of Pontus [the son of King Mithridates] it only took Caesar 4 hours to destroy the army of Pontus, and during the victory parade Julius's soldiers carried signs exclaiming "Veni,Vidi,Vici" ["I came,I saw, I Conquered."] When Caesar entered Rome in 46 B.C. he had the utmost confidence that he would be supreme ruler of the city. Meanwhile caesar changed the senate filling it with his supporters and excluding his enemies from any kind of power, caesar built a new senate house,temples, and markets, in fact Caesar even made the boast "I inherited Rome a city of stone i left it a city of Marble" Julius also reformed The calender adding leap years and even to this day the month July is named after Julius Caesar. In 45 B.C. Caesar became dictator for life he started acting like a king he presided over senate meetings on a golden throne, he put statues of himself in some of Romes holiest temples, coins even started bearing his images. Julius Caesar had to much power this is what a group of 60 senators, led by Brutus were thinking and on march 15, 44 B.C. the senators stabbed Gaius Julius Caesar to save the republic but really they were signing its death warrant. Julius Caesars legacy lives on Wherever we are if its as small as eating at little caesars or watching one of many succesful theatrical productions based on his life or as big as a meeting in the United States senate, throughout history power hungry dictators have been replicas of Caesar such as Napolean Bonaparte who made himself first consul of france and had complete power over the Directory [ the Directory is similar to a small senate.] All and All Caesar was a great military leader and a great man but he is a great example of how when given to much power even the most honest of men can be corrupted.

HistoryMaster71 (talk) 19:49, 18 August 2010 (UTC)HistoryMaster71

SOPA
Hi I'm HistoryMaster71 i love wikipedia and am a proud member i love free speech and i love how wikipedia and the wiki ideals protect free speech. free speech is in my opinion one of the highest achievements of humanity the U.S.A brags about it's protection of rights but Income Inequality, Racial Hate, Interventionism Abroad, Torture, The death penalty are all things the U.S. Practices if SOPA were to pass then this would be another liberty that America fails to uphold. America is not China i do not want a great wall blocking me from Wiki information America is not Iran or North Korea were supposed to be a democracy every form of the media must be allowed information must be accesible humanity needs freedom, liberty, justice, equality, and wikipedia upholds all these ideals. Wikipedia I am with you all the way SOPA must be stopped we must protect our freedoms of everything including speech. If Thomas Jefferson were present he would remind the U.S.A. that we are all endowed by the creator certain inaliable rights among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness my pursuit of hapiness is wikipedia. Thank You Kindly Sincerely History Master 71 HistoryMaster71 (talk) 01:35, 17 January 2012 (UTC)