Political Geography

       Today in class we went over the most recent test. Then we started a new unit called political geography. Country: an identifiable land area , Nation: a population (group of people) with a common culture, State: a population under a single government, synonymous with "country", Nation-state: a single culture under a single government, a nation which has the same borders as a state. More on Nations: a group of people with a shared identity culture group. Nations are culturally homogenous groups of people, larger than a single tribe or community, which share a common language, institutions, religions, and historical experience. Independent state: Has space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries (boundary disputes are ok) Has people that live there on an ongoing basis. Has economic activity and an organized economy. A county regulates foreign and domestic trade and issues money. Has the power of a social engineering such as education. Has a transportation system for moving goods and people. Has a government which provides public services and police power. Has sovereignty, no other state should have power over the countries territory. Has external recognition - a county has been "voted into the club" by other countries.

Day off

      Today in class we just had an off mod because a few people still had to take, and retake quizzes. During the off mod I did my math homework and then looked at the "Curtains" pictures. We stayed in the room and just silently worked on whatever we wanted to.

Test today

    Today in class we took the test on Cultural geography, and five major religions. It asked questions on the founders of the religions, the holy books, the location, the beliefs, and the order of how many adherents each one has. There were questions on cultural geography as well. There were questions on language, ethnic heritage, and religion. The questions were easy but you had to have memorized the answers. Meaning, it was a good idea to study. I studied and knew most of the answers. I ended up getting a 90% and received a "ding" for getting an A.

religions and cultural characteristics

      Today in class we reviewed for the test we have tomorrow. The test will be on the 5 major religions which are, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism. There are 2.2 billion Christians, in Europe, the Americas, and Southern Africa. There are 1.5 billion Muslims, located in Indonesia, Middle East, and North Africa. There are 1.1 billion Hindus, located in India, Nepal. There are 500 million - 1.5 billion Buddhists, located in Southeast Asia, Nepal, Japan, and 1.2 million in the U.S. There are 14-18 million Jews, located in Israel. The holy book of Christianity: Bible, The holy book of Islam: Qur'an, The holy book of Hinduism: Vedas, the holy book of Buddhism: 4 Noble truths and The eightfold path, The holy book of Judaism: Torah and Talmud. Founder of Christianity: Jesus Christ, Founder of Islam: Muhammad, Founder of Hinduism: unknown, The Founder of Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama, The founder of Judaism: Abraham. The 3 parts of Cultural Geography are, Language, Ethnic Heritage, Religion. English is considered a "Bridge" language.

Cultural Geography

     Today in class we talked about Cultural characteristics, which describes what the people in your culture do in their everyday life. For example; Language, Religion, Ethnic Heritage. First is language. The Arabic language unites the Arab world (middle east). The Spanish language unites the Hispanic world. Brazil is the only South American Nation which does not primarily speak Spanish. Brazil is the only South American Nation which does not primarily speak Spanish. Brazilians speak Portuguese. Canada is a Bilingual nation, French and English are its official languages. The US has no official language. Switzerland and has 4 official languages; German, French, Italian, Romansh, and there are little conflict between these groups. Worldwide English is considered a "Bridge" language used for most international business transaction. Next was Ethnic Heritage. In Yugoslavia there are many ethnic groups; Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albal. After strong leadership died out and a civil war occurred. It was split from one country into five. In Rwanda and Burundi in Africa, there are two ethnic groups; The Tutsis and The Hutus. The Tutsis are sometimes dominant in Burundi and they persecute the Hutus. Then when the Hutus dominate Rwanda they persecute the Tutsis. There is constant war. During the 100 day period between April and July 1994, 500,000 - 1,000,000 Tutsis (70% of them) were killed by Hutu majority. The religious demographic of Burundi is 3% Muslim and 91% Christian. However the US and Switzerland are peacefully merged with multiple ethnic groups in their territory. Korea and Japan have primarily one ethnic group. We learned that religion can be a unifying and disunifying force.

5 Major religions

     Today in class we continued talking about; Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism. We had students in our class ask us questions about everything we have learned so we could review. Then we started talking about what happened in France recently. We argued about solutions to the problems. Then we watched a video about a Syrian child. It started out with it being her birthday and everything was fine and then throughout the video clues about the current events in Syria. There was news reports on her TV and fighter jets flying overhead. Then bombs began to hit and her and her family were  stuck in the house without water and medicine. As they escaped her dad was left behind and the girl became ill. The video ended with the girl on her birthday again, showing how much had changed since the fighting began.

5 major religions

      Today in class, we continued to talk about 5 major religions. We talked about Buddhism. It's number of adherents is 500 million to 1.5 billion. They are called Buddhists. Their geographic location is Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan. There are 1.2 million Buddhists in the United States. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama. The follow the four noble truths. 1) There is suffering 2) Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering 3) There is a cessation of suffering 4) The Eightfold path will lead to the cessation of suffering. The Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Dedication. The next religion we learned about was Judaism. It's number of adherents is 14-18 million, it's the 9th largest religion in the world. They are called Jews. They are located in Israel and Abraham was the founder. Israel has only been around 60-70 years. The holy books are the Talmud and the Torah(The first five books of the old testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) The Jews beliefs: ethical monotheism - God is one, and concerned with he actions of humankind, the 10 commandants, and the 13 principles of faith.