Renaissance Pottery! Final Project.

I did my project on renaissance pottery, creating my own figure out of clay to reconstruct a similar piece. Indian renaissance pottery tended to be lower temperature and unglazed, just like my model. This was typically until the modern times. They would fire the red clay and with the reduction of oxegyn the clay would turn black. These renaissance potters revolved around the Native American familys in the Southwest. The Native American Renaissance pottery usually included fine line painting and "corrugated whiteware".  All different groups designed similar yet different things.  One colony used mostly red and black clay, that would be the San Idlefonso and Santa Clara groups Taos and San Juan made lovely clays for pots.  Most colonies or tribes coated their pottery with pine pitch. Pine pitch was a fnial coating to keep the pottery stronger. European: Ceramics in northern areas first appeared in about 4000 BC and, except for a brief period during the Roman occupation, continued the low temperature unglazed handbuilt tradition until the twelfth century. Renaissance pottery typically were pitchers and pots for all types of things.  Being made of things such as red and black clay, they did not glaze these creations.  They were not "easy" to make but it was a popular hobby that many people involved theirselves in.

      

The Age of Exploration

The Age of Exploration lasted between 1418 and 1620.  There were several countries that affected this time period.  They included to be Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, England and France.  These countries all had something in common, that would be the spread of their religions.  They would send out ships around the world to continue and disperse their religions.  Not only did they use it to spread religion but also to figure out the rest of the world.  Often times being so far away the people didn't exactly know what was going on out there in the world. They also found better routes to travel on this way.  Ever head of A.O.E? Well A.O.E. was used to find better sea routes through out the world.  This was a big thing for explorers because with every discovery there were more riches & fame.  With all the searching, it became almost like a race, and the people fought for the fame & riches. BRI WILLIAMS

The most important explorers, in my eyes, were Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan and Hernand Cortes.  This is because these explorers all discovered things we still involve ourselfs with to this day.  I would say that Ferdinand Magellan was the most important explorer because he sailed around the entire world.  Along with that he figured out that the world is round.  Christopher was second, being the founder of America.  Hernand explored Mexico and found out much information about the Aztecs that are included into our history until this day.

If I were living in the Age of Exploration. I would take the advantage of being a explorer therefore, if I was successful I could be very wealthy.  The trading for me would be an advantage because the amount of discoveries and tradings were increasing.

Merchants were huge in that day.  They were very successful and making much money lead to more voyages.  With all the more voyages they discovered more items that still exist in history.

The Mysterious Fall of Rome

The exact reasons for the fall of Rome were never exact.  Many conflicts arose shaking the empires stability.  The well known conflict was the raising of taxes.  Raising their taxes caused so many people to go into dept and not be able to pay their taxes.  Not paying taxes sent the citizens of Rome to prison.  Some people blamed the merchants for the raised prices and overall high prices. Sometimes, taxes were so high that people would sell their children to pay them off! The merchants being, basically, the only wealthy citizens.  Another reason for the fall, the laziness of people. Large numbers of the population stopped working; the unfortunate group of people spent much of their days doing nothing productive.  These people usually spent their days at bars, drunk, and even in the backs of theatres.  Followed by the fact that Rome's military was collapsing.  They were so pathetic that they could barely protect themselves.  Leading to the attack from Germany. The Germanic tribes may have been one of the main causes for the fall of Rome because they tore apart the city, making it worse because the Romans could not even defend themselves.  Some believe that the fall was caused because of little communication. The emperor did not do his job well; therefore, he never spoke with the village.  When he should have had town agreements with everyone, or voting’s, he just choice what he wanted.  Causing many people to rebel because some may have been against the emperor’s rules.  Another reason could be that Constantine converted to Christianity.  This threw off the whole town, causing sickness, resulting in many deaths.  Overall, historians do not know for sure exactly, what took down the Roman Empire to this day.  Yet, the story may have sounded very negative but possibly the whole dramatic down fall lead Rome to something better, as of today.  Today Rome stands tall and strong, still being known as the "Queen of the Earth", a very well respected place.

The Astronemer & Mathematics

Astonemy was huge for the Muslims, they made it big.  Muslims had many uses for astronemy, like compasses and astrolobes were used to locate direction, mostly of Makkah.  These helped those who were praying to pray in the correct direction.  Ramadan figured exact times for prayer.  Eventually, they realized that the Earth rotated.  many also questioned the fact that the Earth was the center of the universe.  Soon they found the Earth travels around the sun.




The Muslims also enhanced mathematics.  Basing things off of ideas from India and Greece.  One scholar, Al-Khwarizmi, was a mathematician and astronemer was best known as "the father of algebra".  The word algebra comes from the title of one of his books.  Alegbra was used to solve problems with unknown numbers.  Al's book on algebra was translated into Latin in the 12th century, being the most important mathematic text in the European universities.Muslims learned fractions, decimals from Indian scholars.  To this day we still use Arabic numerals.

Relationship between Islam, Judaism & Christianity

In the start, many Arab pilrims were converting to become Islamic.  As Muhammad developted a new Muslim community, more Arabs converted to Islam. As for the followers of Muhammad they were told to respect the Christians & Jews.  All these religons believed in one god, called the "People of the Book". The Islam religon spread wide across Arabia. 

The Importance of the Qur'an

The Qur'an was special because it told the story of Muhammad taking a winged horse to Jerusalem.  This was the city that directed prayers towards them.  This is where he met Abraham, Moses & Jesus.  Soon he began to pray with them all.  Soon enough meeting the seven levels of heaven, where he met God.

Muhammad on his winged horse.

Life & the Teachings of Muhammad

Muhammad's life was a struggle when his mother sent him off to live with a desert nomad family. Later he returned to the city with his mother, sadly she died soon after.  Muhammad took on duties throughout his life whether it was watching the sheep or later on, trading. His teachings soon began. It all started when Muhammad received the call to become a prophet, or messenger of God, which was called a Allah. Receiving the teachings from Gabriel and the response to his question, he was terrified.  As years went by Muhammad began preaching to other Makkan's.  Believing that everyone must worship one god, and one god only.  He believed that all believers in God were equal.  Many people joined him, from clans all over, strangly though many Makkan's rejected Muhammad's preaching along with the teaching.

Life in Arabia Before Muhammad

The city Makkah, was very wealthy and it had many trade routes around the western area of Arabia.  Being a merchant at that time was a good job because it provided a good living. Since there was so much trading going on they made much money.  For the Arabs they pledged loyalty to their clan memebers. Though, the Arabs were not a united nation before Muhammad was born. There was no central government in Arabia. Tribes would occasionally launch raids to capture territories of others, to catch their animals, goods,wires & watering places. A honoring was done when someone was killed during a raid, they honored-bound to avenge that death. 


The Arabs  were on the peninsula, even though they were not a united nation, they still shared languages & culture. Arab people celebrated many ties with poetry.  Celebrating their life. At markets & pilgrimages often held  competitions. This is where poets and singings would perform.

Importance of Arabian Penninsulas

 The influence came form the more powerful with the rise of Islam.   Islam spread rapidly through-out the Middle East, North East, & parts of Europe.  Cities like, Cordoba of Spain, Cairo of Egypt, & Baghdad in Irag (of today) became the most important centers of the Islamic world.

Good things like, knowledge, ideas, technology & goods flowed through the Arab lands.  Bringing the knoweldge of paper making to Europe form China, later it became one of the most influential religions in the world.

Arabian Mountains.

The Largest mountain ranges are along the Western & Southern edges of the penninsula.  Dividing the coastal plain from the desert. 

(ignoring the arrow.) These mountains rising from 1,000 to 12,000 feet high.  Moist winds from the Indian Ocean bring much rain, close to 20 inches a year.  Keeping the area cool. 

In the winter the mountains may have a thin layer of frost.  Ancient dry river beds cut down the sides of mountains & fill with water during rain storms.

People have lived on the Arabian mountains for thousands of years.  Being so isolated, they came up with their own ways of life.  Instead of years ago, mud houses, they live in dwellings.  For farming they created step like terraces (flat areas).  Terrace walls conserved water and kept it from running off into the feilds.  Farmers also created dams & irrigation systems, storing extra rainwater in storage containers, leather bags & hollwed out trees.  This is a picture of the Asir Mountains.

 The Coastal Plains:
Dry river beds cut through the coastal plains & oftenly fill with water.  These areas are suitable for farming.  In the sixth century most of these  people were larmers on the coastal plain.  Growing, grians, fruits & vegeatbles.


 Traders also existed on the coastal plain.  Sending goods by caravan to towns like Makkah or seaports. 

 People on the coastal plain traded with merchants of places such as; India, East Africa, lands along the Red Sea & Persian Gulf. 

 Arabian Peninsulas:
Lying on the cross roads of Asia, Africa, & Europe.  Great civilizations grew up in this divine area.  Great deals of trade went through this area.  Carried silk from China, along with jewels, cotton, & spices from India. 

Sumerians built complex civilaizations along the valleys of the Tigris & Euphrates rivers in present day Iraq.  In the west, Egyptions built their societies on the banks of the Nile.  Later, Greeks, Romans, &Persian largly impacted the Middle East.

Oases...continued

 Deserts are dotted with oases. Providing great shade and water for animals & people.  Nomads for centuries traveled from oasis to oasis searching for water, and shade (vegetation).  Palm trees commonly grew in oases.  The palm leaves were the best shade givers. 

Oases dwellers grew many fruit including, dates, peaches, & grains mostly to make some sorts of bread.  Eventually, the date palm tree became very invaluable.

The Oasis

Environment:
Oases occur in areas where water has been trapped underground.  On fertile land plants will sprout up. Usually grass & shrubs.   Oases can be a few acres to very large pieces of land.

The Coastal Plain Environment & Adaptations

 Environment:
This is a coastal plain in Arabia.  Coastal PLains range between five & fourty miles each, ending in rocky cliffs.  Rain falls pretty regularly.  They usually have a few natural harbors.

Adaptations: 
For centuries farming communities thrived in  Southern Arabia. The people of Arabia built deep wells & dams & irrigation systems.  Conserving rain water in canals.  One dam lasted as long as 1,000 years, but sadly aroung 580 BC the walls broke through and water flowed out.  The coastal plains are great for farming.  Growing fruits, vegetables & grains.  Also collecting fragrant tree sap, to make myrrh & frankincense.

Nomads adapt to life.  They move around all over the desert.  When needing to stay over night they will set up a tent.  Their always on the move so portable tents will make it easier to settle.

Oasis's in Saudi Arabia provide not only shade but also nutrition. For people and animals that have been walking for miles water will help keep them alive.  Oasis's also provide vegitation for the area.  Usually not much vegitation grows in desesrts so the trees or plants that grow around the oasis will  provide much relaxing shade.

Camels were prime recourses for travel.  The nice water is a typical oasis.

my internet was down...

The indians believed in polytheism & reincarnation. The belief of many gods & the fact that if you are a good person on the 1st life that you will be a better person in the second life. Also i learned that Brahman is the most important god. The indians had the earliest irrigation system. They smelted iron. INdians leaders were scientists in many different fields.The silk road was big in INdia. They got rugs from Turks. Cotton was a very common available source that they traded. The more prints they have on a coin the more its worth.