Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Assyarians

About three thousand years ago most of the modern Iraq was inhabited by the Assyarians.These people lived in the highland area around the river Tigris.The Assyarian empire lasted for over three centuries.During the 7th century B.C this empire was at its peak and streched across the area between the Persian gulf and the Mediterranean sea.
The Assyarians were graet warriors and their armies include a number of soldiers,warriors,chariots etc.During the reign of their king Shalmanesar-1 they conquered a large area including many independent states like babylon and consolidated into an empire and later kings like Ashurbanipal-2 and Sennacharib added to it.
The Assyariabs had their capital in Khosrabad.They were known for their fearlessness,trade links and great wealth.Round 600B.C their empire became too big and difficult to control it.At thios stage they were invaded by the Medes and babylons and the empire collapsed.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Iron Age

Subsequent to the use of bronze and copper,man learned how to make use of iron.It was probably in 4000 B.C that the first objeats made with iron appeared in the middle east.The first people learnt how to hammer iron into various shape.It was much later that they discovered that iron could be heated and hammered into various shapes much easily.It was around 1500 B.C that people learnt how to extract iron with heat iron core and then hammer it into various shapes.The celts of Europe were the first to use this technique.Some of the earlier implements and tools made in this manner were razor,knives,tongs,blades etc.The technique used by celts slowly became popular and around 1000B.C spread to the other parts of Europe.Around 400B.C this technique of making things out of iron spread to the other parts of the world including China.The chinese contributed to the devlopment by making powerful bellows which allowed the temperatuer to be raised much higher thus,producing iron of a better quality.Subsequently the advent of the industrial revoulution further advanced the use of iron and the devlopment continues even today.

Stone Age

About two and a half million years ago,before man earnt the use of metals,man used stone as raw material for making tools and weapons.This period was called stone age.The stone age can be divided into three parts that is Paleolithic or old stone age,Mesolithic or middle stone age,Neolithic or new stone age.During the Paleolithic age which lasted for about 10,000 years ago,the peaple learned how to use stones for cutting and chipping.They used to sharpen pieces of rocks into a tool for cutting.As a result of this they devloped the first knives,spear heads and scrapers.As the time went by they learnt how to use small chips of stones for making arrow heads and other finer powerful tool.
The next period was mesolithic period when people knew how to make smooth and finely finished tool including farming tools and weapons like the axe head out of stone.This period lasted for 9,000years.
The next period that was neolithic came after the ice age.People hunted smaller animals and fishes for survival.It was only in the neolithic period when the farming tools were devloped that these people gave up their nomadic life and settled in villages that we now call villages.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Ice Age

Today the north pole and the south pole are the biggest expenses of ice we see on earth,But what we today see is the only one-third of the ice on earth.Millions of years ago large part of Canada,Greenland and northen Europe were covered with huge expenses of ice.In the last few millions years there occured many such periods known as ice ages.In last 8,50,000 years there have been ten ice ages,with the last occuring about 12,000years ago.Even scientists also dont know why these ice ages occured.These may have been caused due to the path of the earth around the sun or changes in the angle of axis.Therotically it is said that there have been warm periods between these ice ages and we may be living in the warm periodbefore the onset of the next ice age.These theory however has not been proven.
It is believed that during the ice ages the snow accumilated in large quantities and sheets of ice extended and formed over north america and europe.In the warmer periods between the ice ages large quantities of snow melted glaciers daposited huge quantities of moraine [rocks and gravel] in many areas,large portion of land was submerged in water beacause in the rise of sea waterlevls,rivers two alterated their courses and flooded many areas.Today if all the ice was to be melt then the oceans and seas would rise by 70 metres and most areas currently at this sae lavel,Netherland and Denmark for example would be flooded.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Cro Magnon Man

The earliest and the first true man were the cro magnons.It was in south western France that excavations were revealed the remains of cro magnon man.The scientific name given to this speices was homo sapiens,sapiens meant the very wise men.
Like the neanderthals the cro magnon also lived in caves.In Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in France various cave paintings created by these people have been found.
The cro magnons were taller than the neanderthals with about a length of 5 feet.Their skeletons and bones were also like the shape of the modern man.Like the neanderthals these people also knew how to make tools from stones,however their tools were of better qualities.
These people were more intelligent then the neanderthals.They hunted wild animals for food.It is probably that these men came in Europe only after the Ice age.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Prehistoric Evolution

Most of the life forms and different types of animals devloped much before the humans and some of them even became extinct before the humans came into being.Evoulution of human beings began around 7,000,000 B.C and continued till 1,50,000 B.C when the first species of humans called Homo Erectus involved.It is believed that this evolution took probably on Africa.The first form of humans were called Homo Habilis.These creatures built and lived in shelters and made tools out of stone.The first true persons to live on the earth were the the Neanderthals,they were of the same speices as the modern man but were smaller in heights.These people lived between 1,20,000 to 35,000 years ago.It was probably from Africa that the humans to the other parts of the world.The Neanderthals were more like humans as they wore rough clothes and made tools and weapons and knew use of fire.The first modern people evolved probably around 50,000 B.C and were called Homo Sapiens. It was from this stage that the real devlopment began.This period was followed by the New Stone Age.Various civilisations followed by this.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Crops of the world

Let's gain some knowledge about different types of food.
GROUND NUTS are grown in many parts of the world,in some countries they are eaten after being roasted and salted.Oil is also extractedfrom these nuts and are used as a cooking medium in many countries.Besides this it is also used as animal feed.
WHEAT is a very impoetant grain crop mostly in the temperate regions and in some monsoon areas as a winter crop.
SUGAR BEET grows in deep and rich soil in a temperate climate and most of it is grown in Europe.
RYE is an important food stuff in North Asia and Eastern Europe and is the hardest of the cereals.Poland is the largest producer.
BARLEY is largely used as animal feed or by the breweries and malt industury.It can be harveseted within 8 weeks of harvesting.